Chapter 942: Attack

Wind Rises in Kyushu

Within Darkmoon Forest Pass, Lu Ye had just closed his room door, determined not to get involved in the day's turmoil, when he heard an enraged female voice: "Li Taibai, get out here! Today, I'll tear you limb from limb!"

He was startled, unable to fathom why someone would be looking for him, especially considering the immense power emanating from the speaker—clearly a Divine Ocean realm cultivator!

He had only been at Darkmoon Forest Pass for two days. If he had offended anyone, it could only be Tan Shu, whom he had killed the day before.

She must be here for revenge.

If that were truly the case, then today's events were certainly linked to yesterday's.

He frowned secretly. Although he didn't know who the Divine Ocean realm cultivator shouting was, she was undoubtedly from the Vast Sky Alliance. It was highly probable she was a senior relative of Tan Shu. To launch a large-scale assault on the pass because of Tan Shu's death—what an unintelligent move!

Outside the pass, Liu Yuemei's gaze swept across the area, still finding no trace of Li Taibai. Her fury surged. Her eyes shifted, glaring hatefully at Lin Yue and Zhang Kun, gritting her teeth: "You brought this upon yourselves."

With that, she turned and darted back to her own camp.

"Prepare for battle!" Zhang Kun commanded grimly. Given the current situation, today's battle was unavoidable. Liu Yuemei had clearly lost her reason. Unless the Myriad Demon Ridge handed over Li Taibai, the Vast Sky Alliance would not retreat.

However, the two factions were adversaries with deep-seated enmity. Not to mention that Li Taibai's actions the day before had benefited Myriad Demon Ridge, and his monstrous talent was evident in his ability to kill a seventh-stage cultivator with only a third-stage True Lake realm cultivation. Even for an ordinary cultivator, Myriad Demon Ridge would never surrender them.

There was only battle!

Inside and outside the pass, the atmosphere instantly became tense, charged with hostility. Thousands of Vast Sky Alliance cultivators had already formed their assault formation, slowly advancing towards Darkmoon Forest Pass like a looming black cloud.

Upon reaching a certain distance, the Vast Sky Alliance cultivators' speed suddenly accelerated.

Simultaneously, a furious roar erupted from the battlements of Darkmoon Forest Pass. "Kill!"

In an instant, on the city walls, numerous formations hummed, their power activated. Streaks of powerful attacks transformed into bright light, striking the approaching enemies.

A few months prior, the Solitary Mountain Pass of Myriad Demon Ridge had also been attacked, but that time, the attackers were the fire spirits, who had been sealed for a long time and had lost their minds.

Faced with Solitary Mountain Pass's various countermeasures, the largely irrational fire spirits immediately suffered heavy casualties.

However, the Vast Sky Alliance was not the fire spirits. Since they had come to attack the pass, they were naturally fully prepared.

As Darkmoon Forest Pass's attacks arrived, the defensive formations on the front line of armored warships of the Vast Sky Alliance army instantly activated, forming massive shields that blocked all incoming attacks. Numerous Vast Sky Alliance cultivators then hid behind these armored warships, rapidly pushing forward.

One side fiercely attacked, the other advanced while enduring a barrage of assaults—the great battle had begun!

Lu Ye had already leaped onto the rooftop, looking down from above. From a distance, he witnessed the scene. Even though he wasn't directly involved, his fighting spirit surged, making him wish he could rush into the fray and fight.

Since he began cultivating, he had been involved in many conflicts, even achieving a terrifying record of single-handedly annihilating two thousand enemy cultivators from Myriad Demon Ridge. However, a battle of this scale felt entirely different from anything he had experienced before.

In such a vast environment, the cultivators of the two major factions were like two converging torrents. Every cultivator within them was part of the flow; no one could remain aloof. Even the most timid soldier could easily have their fighting spirit ignited.

But he truly could not get involved in today's events. Li Taibai was a sword cultivator from Myriad Demon Ridge.

Yet Lu Yiye was a soldier cultivator from the Vast Sky Alliance!

He had killed Tan Shu to stand up for his third senior brother, so he felt no psychological burden.

But he could absolutely not be an enemy of the Vast Sky Alliance in such a situation. So, he could only wait and see.

As the offense and defense continued, the Vast Sky Alliance army drew closer to Darkmoon Forest Pass. However, in battles like these, the defending side historically held the advantage.

Following Zhang Kun and Lin Yue's deployment, the Vast Sky Alliance's armored warships gradually sustained damage. Without the armored warships as protective barriers, the Vast Sky Alliance cultivators hiding behind them immediately suffered some casualties.

Attacking a pass was never easy. Unless there was an overwhelming numerical advantage, no one would willingly initiate such a conflict.

Yet, the cultivators from Startled Waves Lake Pass had started a war today, which not only put Zhang Kun and Lin Yue on alert but also heightened their vigilance.

Liu Yuemei had indeed lost her reason, but she was, after all, a formidable Divine Ocean realm cultivator. She couldn't be unaware of the disadvantages of attacking a pass. Since she knew the drawbacks yet still forced the assault, she must have had some confidence.

What was her reliance?

Zhang Kun and Lin Yue didn't know. All they could do was remain vigilant and prepared.

As the thousands of Vast Sky Alliance cultivators gradually advanced, casualties continued to mount. Fewer than half of the armored warships at the forefront remained. A large number of Vast Sky Alliance cultivators, now without protection, had to constantly maneuver to dodge incoming attacks.

"Something's wrong!" Zhang Kun suddenly exclaimed from the city wall.

Lin Yue also noticed something was amiss. Judging by the Vast Sky Alliance army's rate of advance, they should have already started counterattacking by now, as they were close enough. Only by counterattacking could they weaken the defensive formation of Darkmoon Forest Pass. Only by breaking Darkmoon Forest Pass's defensive formation would attacking the pass be possible.

But in fact, even at a range where they could counterattack, the Vast Sky Alliance still made very few moves. They seemed intent only on pushing even closer to Darkmoon Forest Pass.

"Beware of ghost cultivators!" Lin Yue cried out, her spiritual sense surging as she began to probe in all directions. She had initially thought the Vast Sky Alliance might have sent some ghost cultivators to secretly sabotage the formation, but after a thorough search, she found nothing.

Myriad Demon Ridge's offensive grew fiercer, and Vast Sky Alliance casualties increased.

Even so, the cultivators from Startled Waves Lake Pass continued to advance methodically.

An incense stick's time later, the Vast Sky Alliance army had advanced to within a hundred *zhang* of Darkmoon Forest Pass!

The cost for this was immense. Since the battle began, not a single Vast Sky Alliance cultivator had launched an attack; they had been entirely focused on defense and evasion.

Yet, Zhang Kun felt no joy, because the more this situation persisted, the more it demonstrated the Vast Sky Alliance's absolute determination to assault the pass.

A strong sense of unease gnawed at him, but he truly couldn't understand what the opponent intended to do, so even if he wanted to prepare, he didn't know where to start.

"They're trying to forcefully break the formation!" Lin Yue exclaimed.

Having advanced so close, the Vast Sky Alliance's intention was clear: to breach Darkmoon Forest Pass's defensive formation in one fell swoop.

But… could they do it?

If they failed, the Vast Sky Alliance would suffer terribly. At such close proximity, the Vast Sky Alliance cultivators had less room to maneuver. If they couldn't break the formation and couldn't escape, their entire army was highly likely to be annihilated here. In that case, even if Liu Yuemei and the other Divine Ocean realm cultivator survived, they would inevitably face military tribunal by the Vast Sky Alliance.

That would be a far worse outcome than dying in battle.

"Kill!" A sharp cry suddenly burst from Liu Yuemei. With her command, the situation on the battlefield seemed to undergo a miraculous change.

Having pushed all the way to Darkmoon Forest Pass, many Vast Sky Alliance cultivators had seen their comrades get injured and die, and their hearts were already filled with suppressed anger with no outlet.

At Liu Yuemei's command, all Vast Sky Alliance cultivators unleashed their fury.

Each of them took something out of their storage bags and hurled it towards Darkmoon Forest Pass. Instantly, a ferocious barrage of attacks rained down like a violent storm.

But strangely, these attacks did not have strong spiritual energy fluctuations, nor did they feel particularly dangerous.

"What are those?" Lin Yue strained her vision, seeing that what the Vast Sky Alliance cultivators were throwing were pieces of what looked like spirit stones. She immediately wondered, "Fire Spirit Stones?"

Her mind was full of questions: Why would the Vast Sky Alliance be throwing so many Fire Spirit Stones?

The energy inside Fire Spirit Stones was indeed unstable, and if they were struck or collided, they could explode, causing some damage. However, the simple explosion of Fire Spirit Stones would not pose a significant threat to Darkmoon Forest Pass's defenses.

The Vast Sky Alliance's reliance... was *this*?

Just as she pondered this, she heard Zhang Kun beside her suddenly exclaim: "No, it's Blasting Fire Spirit Stones!"

Lin Yue's heart skipped a beat. She felt like she had heard of Blasting Fire Spirit Stones somewhere before, but she didn't have time to recall more. The overwhelming barrage of Blasting Fire Spirit Stones had already crashed onto the defensive light barrier of Darkmoon Forest Pass.

Boom...

Boom boom boom...

Following the first sound, a continuous, almost unified, roar of explosions followed. Huge firelight billowed out like a volcanic eruption.

The explosion of each Blasting Fire Spirit Stone was equivalent to the full power strike of a True Lake realm cultivator.

In that instant, at least twenty thousand Blasting Fire Spirit Stones detonated simultaneously. How terrifying was the power generated?

Lu Ye, who was watching from the rooftop, felt his eyelids twitch violently. He never imagined he would witness such a scene.

He was too familiar with this item.

This was precisely what he had refined.

But this item was something Qian Wudang had him refine, property of the Department of Law. How could it be here?

Although he didn't know why the Blasting Fire Spirit Stones were here, he knew his trouble was immense.

The first time something he had refined appeared in a battle between the two factions, it was being used against him. How utterly ridiculous.

And judging by the quantity of those Blasting Fire Spirit Stones, it seemed all the ones he had refined earlier were being used.

All for a decisive victory!

The detonation of twenty thousand Blasting Fire Spirit Stones was equivalent to the full power strikes of twenty thousand True Lake realm cultivators, exploding simultaneously in a very short period.

Darkmoon Forest Pass's defensive formation, while formidable and even capable of withstanding strong attacks from Divine Ocean realm cultivators, instantly dimmed and became precarious.

Countless ripples spread across the formation's light barrier, creating a magnificent spectacle.