Chapter 1227: Xuanlu Takes Action

As for the cave entrance, the Bixia army continued its assault. After losing more than a dozen lives, the spiked hard stakes were finally moved aside. However, enemy soldiers poured out of the cave continuously, engaging in close combat with the Bixia forces.

The more Xuanlu Ghost King observed these enemies, the more his brow furrowed.

Commander Shi asked, "Are these also ghosts?"

"They aren't considered ghosts; at most, they are spirit monsters. They are attached to iron-skinned figures and are fighting your army." The Ghost King's avatar, its eyes glowing red, could discern their true forms.

"Iron-skinned figures?" Commander Shi was startled. He examined the enemies closely but couldn't spot anything unusual.

The Ghost King's avatar suddenly extended two fingers and lightly touched his eyelids. Commander Shi felt a chill pierce his eyelids, a coldness that went straight to his heart. He couldn't help but shiver, and when he opened his eyes again, he was astonished:

Facing him were not living people at all, but rather iron-skinned figures that leaped and moved. They fought the Bixia soldiers with an eerie semblance of reality, screaming and falling when struck by blades or arrows.

This scene was both grotesque and terrifying. Commander Shi was even more concerned about how to fight this battle. No commander would want to sacrifice the flesh and blood of their subordinates against such iron-skinned monsters in a game of attrition.

In that short time, several scouts he had sent out earlier returned, reporting another piece of bad news: the forest path, which was clearly only a few hundred paces long before, now seemed to stretch for thousands of paces without end!

"A ghost maze?" Commander Shi immediately asked Xuanlu Ghost King's avatar, "What should we do?" What he was thinking, however, was that with a Ghost King's avatar right beside him, how could it not see through this "ghost maze"?

"Hold your ground and find another way out."

Xuanlu Ghost King was well aware of the Bixia army's quality. If a sudden retreat order were given, the Bixia soldiers would likely flee wildly, ignoring the arrows raining down from behind. At that point, everyone would fear being left behind to face the arrowheads, making any organized fighting retreat impossible. Their quality was too poor! If this were his former army, he would have chopped off dozens of heads himself before the enemy even made a move.

Yet, iron-skinned figures continued to emerge from the cave. While their appearance wasn't human, their weapons were real, drawing blood and claiming lives when they struck. Therefore, the cave still had to be defended. Holding the advantageous terrain, they had to kill every single one that emerged, or every squad, to avoid excessive casualties on their own side.

"These spirit monsters typically only appear in places with special, self-contained rules, such as a minor realm or an illusion." The Ghost King's avatar waved its hand, and more than a dozen fiends drifted outward. "Find the exit, and you can leave."

"A minor realm? When did we enter a minor realm?!" Commander Shi realized the gravity of the situation. For their opponents to trick them into a minor realm right under the Ghost King's nose meant their magical proficiency was far from low. Tonight's battle was going to be troublesome.

Though the Ghost King's avatar spoke nonchalantly, it was seething with rage internally. Its connection with its main body had suddenly been severed! This meant the place was temporarily sealed off. "Whether it's a formation or a minor realm, even if it seems completely sealed, there's always a slim chance of escape." The key was, where was this flaw hidden? They didn't know the size of this minor realm or its fundamental rules. While simultaneously dealing with the iron-skinned figures emerging from the cave, finding a flaw would be incredibly difficult.

Xuanlu Ghost King's main body led 1,300 men to attack Cotton Village. His fighting style was equally brutal: a full round of long-range rocket fire, then ordering the Bixia soldiers to charge Cotton Village, with archers providing a second volley of concentrated fire midway. The buildings in Cotton Village were also constructed from local materials, built with wood from the valley, unlike Stone Accumulation Village which had houses made entirely of stone. The Bixia soldiers' arrowheads were coated with oil, igniting wood on impact. The enemies inside the wooden houses were alerted and, as expected, burst out. A dense swarm of Situ family soldiers emerged.

While He Lingchuan hosted a grand banquet in Stone Accumulation Village, these soldiers had been waiting in the dark for half the night, ready to ambush the Bixia forces and Xuanlu Ghost King. As it turned out, their opponents attacked first. Fortunately, they were fully armored and prepared for battle, able to grab their weapons and fight at a moment's notice.

The valley floor was not expansive, making cavalry charges difficult, which prevented the Bixia cavalry from utilizing their full advantage. Xuanlu Ghost King surveyed the scene, noting that the number of Situ family troops in Cotton Village was roughly as he had estimated, around a thousand. If Jucheng could have spared another five hundred men for him, he was confident he could defeat these enemies even faster. But they refused to provide any more. What difference was there between two thousand and two thousand five hundred? In his view, since Commander Shi had already disobeyed orders, why not be more thorough? He sighed, thinking that the Bixia people were petty and narrow-minded, and would hardly achieve great things in the future. Once this battle was over, he would do well to seek out new partners.

Thinking this, he pointed forward, and dozens of corpse-puppets behind him charged. These corpse-puppets were different from the small animal puppets that had previously infiltrated the village to gather intelligence. The largest among them was a colossal elephant with six long, uneven tusks protruding in various directions, looking like a clay figure molded by a child who was either careless or simply lacked skill. However, the power of these six tusks was truly astonishing. Just by lowering its head and plowing forward, combined with its massive size like a bulldozer, enemies unable to avoid it were either impaled or crushed into paste. Numerous Bixia soldiers charged forward, following close behind it.

The other corpse-puppets were also bizarre. One monster, three *zhang* long, resembled a centipede or house centipede, but its sides were covered with hard, mantis shrimp-like blades. It would seize a person and then coil around them in a twisting embrace. Those unfortunate enough to be ensnared would scream as their bodies were cut open, their bellies slit, and their intestines spilled. The experience was akin to being slowly sliced into a thousand pieces. Another corpse-puppet barely maintained a humanoid shape, but it stood a *zhang* tall, was covered in many limbs, and was as fat and robust as a mountain. Situ soldiers hacked and slashed at it with blades and spears, but their attacks were entirely absorbed by its thick layers of fat, failing to harm its internal organs. This creature felt no pain whatsoever and simply chopped its opponents to pieces with a backhand strike.

These dozens of corpse-puppets possessed explosive combat power and were unstoppable. Following his past tactics, just two waves of charges from them would typically cause the opposing army to collapse, allowing the Ghost King and his allies to leisurely step in and finish the slaughter. Furthermore, Xuanlu Ghost King's signature ability was to compel his soldiers to fight to the death. His abilities far surpassed those of his avatar. Hundreds of shadowy threads emerged simultaneously, controlling all the Gao Pu people who had signed contracts, making them wield their blades against their own countrymen.

Xuanlu Ghost King also spotted several key figures from the Situ family. It seemed Situ Yu highly valued the man named He, even sending his trusted confidantes as reinforcements. However, their luck had run out; these individuals were destined to die here. As he unleashed these moves, the Situ army's formation was indeed disrupted. Xuanlu Ghost King immediately deployed the corpse-puppets and Gao Pu puppets to cut the enemy army into several sections, each to be surrounded and annihilated.