Chapter 66: Fearless

Smoke billowed under the city gate, obscuring the ground.

He Lingchuan wasn't idle either; he waved at the crowd and called out, "Alright, time for the second round!"

He had good eyesight and saw that Nian Songyu had swatted away the first few fiery crossbow bolts. The man was indeed formidable after his berserk transformation, and He Lingchuan thought it best to finish him off for good.

Since the first round had already been fired, effectively severing ties with the Grand Preceptor, firing a second or third round would merely confirm their complete defiance. Everyone had even fewer objections, and they all busied themselves with reloading.

The second round was also successfully launched.

Only then did He Lingchuan realize that while the studded projectiles were deafeningly loud, the catapults might actually be more terrifying in terms of power. Although they didn't explode on impact, these modified catapults on the city gate surprisingly had a rapid-fire function. Once fully loaded, they could hurl twenty-four rolling stones consecutively!

If manually operated, errors would be inevitable; but in Dragon City, controlled by the Black Jiao, all twenty-four shots landed almost in the same spot, precisely where Sun Fuping stood.

He Lingchuan imagined himself in that position: if he were standing where Sun Fuping was, he'd be flattened into a paper doll before the fourth fireball hit—or rather, crushed into paste.

So, had they managed to interrupt Sun Fuping's evil spellcasting?

Demonic apes and sand panthers, formed from scorched earth and lava, took shape again one after another. They charged forward and began to claw and tear.

Stone balls, studded projectiles, and other miscellaneous debris turned this open space into ruins once more, with a large pile of rubble.

Even the Black Jiao lowered its head, wanting to see if the two were alive or dead.

Ignoring the surrounding gasps, He Chunhua's mind raced.

The Blood Sacrifice Array was already active and would take effect in an instant. What should he do? Was there still any way out?

His gaze fell upon the commanders of the Great Gale Army, ten zhang away.

These resentful spirits had not gone far; they had only retreated a short distance and stood motionless.

He Chunhua suddenly had an idea and gestured to them again—

"Attack!"

"Attack the Sky Thunder Array!"

Had they been alive, the Great Gale Army would never have turned their weapons against Zhong Shengguang. But at this moment, one of the remaining wills of these valiant spirits was to obey military orders and advance fearlessly!

Thousands of valiant spirits uniformly turned their heads, once again gathering the surrounding resentful spirits and driving them towards the Sky Thunder Array, with the valiant spirits themselves following closely behind.

Soon, nearly a thousand resentful spirits crashed into the array and vanished into thin air.

There were no wandering resentful spirits nearby now, and the shouts of the Great Gale Army officers and soldiers pierced the sky.

Then, they raised their sabers, spears, and lances, and charged towards the array!

Hoofbeats thundered, and the horses seemed like dragons.

Facing such a force head-on was like standing at the head of Guantang Bridge, watching the great tide of the sixteenth day of the eighth month surging towards you.

He Chunhua roared, "Abandon resistance, and dodge!"

Then, the Great Gale Army collided head-on with the Sky Thunder Array.

This time, the array's tremors were more violent than the previous two.

The first three rows of valiant spirits turned into ashes before they even had time to roar.

Successors filled their positions without the slightest hesitation.

The sky thunder boomed, but the number of valiant spirits dispersed was visibly decreasing.

Finally, as the sixth row of valiant spirits also charged in, He Chunhua's Command Medallion lost its last trace of green light.

The beast head of the staff finally opened its mouth, and the Kite Coin fell to the ground, but its sound was drowned out by the thunder of hooves.

The Sky Thunder Array was broken.

This was certainly due in part to the Blackwater City soldiers abandoning resistance and losing their fighting spirit, but more so to the excellent and powerful charge of the Great Gale Army.

He Chunhua ignored everything else and strode rapidly out of the array.

His urgency set the best example, and others followed suit, even trampling on each other in their haste.

They had barely rushed two zhang outside the array when pained screams came from behind.

He Chunhua turned his head, and the sight chilled him to the bone:

The red light of the Blood Sacrifice Array shot up into the sky, more than ten times more intense than before.

Among his hundred or so subordinates, some exited the array faster than others. When the red light suddenly appeared, dozens had not yet managed to escape in time. They instantly collapsed to the ground, as if all strength had been drained from their bodies.

But no one dared to enter the array to help, because their skin rapidly shriveled; three breaths later, they were skin and bones, their fingernails fell off, and their hair turned white and withered like straw.

He Chunhua watched with his own eyes as a confidant pleaded for help, his hand already reaching out of the array. The man originally had small, triangular eyes, but because his face had shriveled into a skull, his eyeballs protruded, round and bulging.

He Chunhua had intended to pull the man out, but when he reached the edge of the circle, he still withdrew his hand. Finally, the man's eyeballs rolled out of their sockets and onto the ground.

Situ Han was quicker; seeing his brother collapsed at the edge of the array, he quickly used the back of his saber to drag him out. But the man was paralyzed from the waist down and continued to wail on the ground.

When the red light dissipated, only dozens of skeletons in clothing remained within the array, along with strands of hair fluttering in the wind.

And within the array, a ball of white light had appeared unnoticed; before anyone could clearly see it, it swiftly shot into the pool well!

Strangely, while resentful spirits and humans could both enter the pool well, the ball of white light surprisingly could not.

It was bounced back.

The white light seemed disbelieving, and struck twice more, failing both times.

When the Blood Sacrifice Array activated, the Great Gale Army also stayed far away, as if knowing its power; only when the red light disappeared and the Sky Thunder Array lost its effectiveness did the Great Gale Army gather around.

The ball of white light seemed to have caught their attention. When it bounced off the pool well, several Great Gale Army leaders exchanged glances as if sharing a telepathic understanding, and first cast out a catching net.

The white light, as if it had eyes, dodged instantly, but to its surprise, the catching net expanded several times in mid-air and still enveloped it in one swift motion.

The Great Gale Army pulled in the net, and immediately struck the white light through the net's mesh with sabers, spears, swords, and lances. Every strike landed solidly on the white light.

Their weapons were not corporeal, yet they shattered after just a few strikes, and even the arms holding the weapons gradually became ethereal. Nearby soldiers raised their blades and severed the leaders' upper arms at the shoulder, which finally halted the transformation of their soul bodies.

As valiant spirits, such injuries were nothing significant; they would recover in due time.

The Great Gale Army commander who had first clashed with He Chunhua and the others saw this and once again threw his weapon like a javelin, hitting the white light squarely.

The remaining generals also followed suit.

Seeing this, Situ Han also flung out his long saber, but it pierced through the pool well and fell inside, causing no damage to the white light at all.

He Chunhua said, "Pure weapons won't work."

Just as the Great Gale Army was about to inflict a second wave of damage on the white light, the latter suddenly blazed with brilliant light.

That light was so intense that, let alone humans, even the valiant spirits had to recoil.

Fortunately, the strong light only lasted for an instant; by the time everyone recovered, the white light had vanished from the spot.

The Great Gale Army generals stood for a few breaths, as if they had received some message or made some decision, and then led their respective troops into the pool well.

Since they had no physical bodies, there was no need to rush; as grand as their exit from the pool well had been, their return was equally swift.

In a mere dozen breaths, there was not a single valiant spirit left in front of the temple.

Everyone stood by the array, breathing heavily, unable to utter a sound for a long time.