Chapter 2196: Battle of the Wood Tribe (Part 1)

At the center of this procession, there was a black demonic vessel, several times larger than the other flying vehicles. Most of it was enveloped in faint demonic energy, and vaguely visible within were masked demons dressed similarly.

The aura emanating from these demons was noticeably more powerful than that of the demons in the other flying vehicles.

“How much longer until we reach Kapok City? This time, I went to great lengths to divert all three Mahayana-stage opponents, and I paid a heavy price to secretly return to the Spirit Realm, unseen by the Wood Clan. Therefore, this operation must succeed; failure is not an option!” a hoarse, aged voice suddenly echoed from within the demonic energy surrounding the colossal vessel.

“Reporting, Lord Tuntian! At our current speed, it will take approximately half a month to reach Kapok City!” another male voice replied with extreme deference.

“Hmph, unacceptable. The speed is too slow. Yuansha and the others might not be able to hold off those three old devils for too long. Increase our遁speed! We must reach Kapok City within ten days. Once the sacred tree in the city is destroyed, the Wood Clan will naturally be powerless to protect their remaining territory. The importance of that sacred tree to the Wood Clan far exceeds your imagination,” the aged voice commanded dispassionately.

“But Lord Tuntian, our current speed is already the fastest the ‘Arc Moon Flying Vehicle’ can achieve while in stealth. If we increase it further, I fear we won’t be able to evade the Wood Clan’s scouts,” the man replied with hesitation.

“It doesn’t matter! The allied army is already beginning to collapse and is currently retreating, consolidating their forces. As long as we are careful, there should be no problem. Besides, with this old man personally overseeing things, even if Wood Clan scouts are discovered, how could they possibly send a message back alive?” the aged voice sneered.

“If Lord Tuntian is willing to act personally, then there will naturally be no problem. I will relay the order immediately!” the demon man replied with delight.

A short while later, the black demonic vessel and all the flying vehicles trembled, their escape speed greatly increasing. A low hum emanated from them, and they could no longer maintain their previous silence.

Seven days later, Han Li, who was sitting cross-legged beneath the colossal tree, suddenly stirred and opened his tightly shut eyes.

Almost simultaneously, a man and a woman seated on either side of him also awoke from their meditation.

Without a word, all three looked up towards a specific point in the sky.

In just a few breaths, the sound of something breaking through the air echoed from the horizon!

A flash of green light, and a sword light several feet long shot forth. After a few blinks, it headed directly towards the giant tree in the valley.

Han Li narrowed his eyes and, without hesitation, beckoned with one hand towards the distance.

The sword light arrived above the valley, circled once, and then descended towards the giant tree.

Han Li grasped with five fingers, and the green light coalesced, instantly forming a misty green miniature sword illusion several inches long in his hand. Within it, a white jade slip was distinctly encased.

With a rub of his hands, the green light dissipated, leaving only the miniature jade slip.

Han Li held the jade slip between two fingers, placed it against his forehead, and instantly probed it with his spiritual sense.

Beside him, Cao Ji and Fei Xiaoxi watched solemnly.

A moment later, Han Li removed the jade slip, casually tossed it to the large Wood Clan man, and spoke calmly.

“In one hour, the demon army will officially enter the grand formation. The entire annihilation formation will officially activate the power of the Wood Realm in half a day, trapping and killing two-thirds of the demons within.”

“The demons truly fell for it. As long as we can annihilate this portion of the demon army within the formation, even if the allied forces cannot counterattack the occupied territories, it will severely cripple the demons, rendering them unable to launch another offensive for a certain period of time.” Cao Ji said, a look of great joy on his face after reading the jade slip. He then handed the jade slip to Fei Xiaoxi.

“In that case, we will follow orders and activate the formation power on time. As long as all thirty-six formations are activated simultaneously, the demons trapped within the grand formation will surely meet their demise,” Fei Xiaoxi said with a slight smile after sweeping her spiritual sense over the jade slip.

“Naturally. However, once all the formation restrictions are activated, we will also only be able to enter, not leave. Tell everyone else to be extra vigilant,” Han Li instructed calmly, his eyes glinting.

“Yes, I will immediately relay the order and personally oversee the arrangement of personnel again,” Cao Ji replied without hesitation.

Since the defensive forces here were primarily Wood Clan members, it was only fitting for this Wood Clan Integration-stage cultivator to give the orders personally.

“Then, I will go inspect the restrictions to see if there are any omissions or issues?” Fei Xiaoxi also offered proactively.

“Very well, I appreciate your efforts, fellow daoists. I will remain here to oversee. If either of you discovers anything unusual, please notify me immediately,” Han Li nodded, not objecting.

Below, the large Wood Clan man and the Yaksha woman both stood up and flew off into the air.

Han Li, meanwhile, closed his eyes again beneath the tree, his expression as calm as ever, as if he truly had not taken the impending arrival of the demon army to heart.

Half a day later, rumbling sounds suddenly echoed across millions of miles of land. Across vast areas centered around the thirty-six formation clusters, towering giant trees simultaneously emerged from the earth.

Each tree was as thick as a water vat and grew at an astounding rate, instantly reaching over a hundred zhang in height, transforming these regions into endless seas of forests.

The various demon detachments that had been lured into the formations, whether on flying artifacts or using their own flying escape techniques, instantly lost control and plummeted from high altitude due to the invisible restrictions in the void.

Only demons at the Void Refinement stage or higher could still barely hover in the air, but their consumption of magical power increased severalfold compared to normal, and they could not fly too high.

Although most demons were thick-skinned and suffered no injury from the fall, it threw the demon army into immediate disarray.

In contrast to the demons, the allied forces of other races were well-prepared for this anomaly. Moments before the anti-air restrictions appeared, they had already descended to the ground.

Within the forest, countless green lights flashed, and the originally dense allied forces of various races vanished in an instant.

Even Integration-stage demon lords, scanning the forest with their immense spiritual sense from high in the sky, were shocked and enraged to find absolutely nothing.

Several million demons were deep within the forest, yet for a time, they could not find a single enemy.

But at the next moment, the terrifying power of the Wood Realm Great Formation began to manifest.

First, an indescribable, strange fluctuation suddenly rippled outwards from the centers of the thirty-six formation clusters simultaneously, quickly sweeping through every part of the forest. Innumerable pure wood spiritual energies appeared out of thin air among the trees and surged madly into some particularly gigantic trees.

A loud "rumble" echoed!

Those colossal trees, without any warning, rose from the ground. Then, after flashing with emerald light, they transformed into giant tree-men, each about a hundred zhang tall. Wielding their massive fists, they charged towards the demons in every direction.

Not only that, other trees near the demons, after absorbing more or less wood spiritual energy, also saw their branches and leaves greatly expand, sweeping towards nearby demons or directly transforming into logs to smash down upon them.

Caught off guard, the demons immediately screamed in agony, suffering countless casualties.

However, there were also many high-level demons trapped in the great formation. They reacted swiftly, issuing commands, and immediately, the well-trained demons in various areas converged, either collectively unleashing various demonic artifacts or forming demonic arrays, temporarily stabilizing their positions.

But since the Wood Realm Thirty-Six Heavenly Annihilation Formation was a clan's ultimate protective formation, its power was naturally far greater than this. Almost as soon as the demons, at considerable cost, had just finished clearing out all the giant tree-men and nearby trees, a wave of green energy swept through the high sky. Suddenly, strong winds began to blow, and streaks of white hurricane energy appeared out of nowhere, intertwining and rolling to form massive wind dragons that savagely lunged at the demons below, baring their f fangs and brandishing their claws!

After the wind dragons passed!

Countless emerald green leaves appeared out of thin air in the sky. After a series of clear chirps, they transformed into sharp blades, raining down like a torrential storm...

After more than a dozen continuous waves of such restrictive attacks, several million demons suffered heavy casualties, with more than half dying. The remaining demons were either astonishingly powerful or protected by high-level demons with formidable divine abilities; otherwise, they would have been unable to endure such fierce attacks.

However, although the Wood Realm Great Formation was profound and powerful, launching such a large-scale attack against so many demons at once naturally consumed an astonishing amount of energy!

Even with vast quantities of spirit stones, numerous spirit veins, and thirty-six backup sacred trees providing pure spiritual energy, after these dozen-plus waves of attacks, the great formation was unable to continue launching offensives. It merely maintained its enemy-trapping effect, slowly waiting for its energy to recover.

According to the formation's energy absorption rate, the next attack would take at least another half a day!

Outside the Wood Realm Annihilation Formation, the demons suddenly felt a flash of green light ahead. A thick, immense green light barrier silently materialized, like a heavenly canopy, separating them from their comrades ahead and severing all contact.

These demons naturally became alarmed and enraged. Led by some high-level demons, they immediately prepared to attack the light barrier.

They believed that under such a concentrated assault, no matter how profound the light barrier, it would not hold out for long.

But at that very moment, in front of the vast, canopy-like light barrier, a white light suddenly flashed, and countless gigantic light formations appeared out of thin air.

“Not good! Attack quickly! They are teleportation formations!” some high-level demons reacted extremely fast, immediately recognizing the origins of these light formations and crying out in great alarm.

But these commands were clearly too late!

After a shimmering flash of misty white light from within the formations, innumerable figures of allied forces appeared out of thin air, overwhelming the senses and nearly filling the entire sky!

The next moment, battle cries erupted!

The allied forces unhesitatingly charged towards these remaining demon troops.