Chapter 496: Fire Conquers the Enemy

Everyone looked towards the foot of the mountain.

There, like a black tide, were the terribly decomposed corpses of demonic beasts. They stretched from the base of Boundary Mountain all the way to the horizon.

At this moment, the sun was setting, twilight descending. The last rays of twilight flickered in and out among the clouds, making the world alternately dim and briefly bright. Like a dying flame in the wind, it struggled and strove to send its last blessing to the humans on Boundary Mountain.

Finally, the afterglow faded. The land plunged into endless, boundless darkness.

What approached them was a vast, mighty army of demonic beast corpses, each like a mountain. Although Jiang Fan had previously brought back living corpses, they were already well-prepared for an army of the dead. Yet, when they saw the endless army of grotesque, rotting corpses approaching them from up close in the darkness, they couldn't help but feel a chill of fear. Fear, like a beast of the night, pounced on them from the darkness.

Rumble! Boundary Mountain shook violently once more, triggering large avalanches. Everyone looked up. It was a hundred savage elephants lined up, once again slamming their massive bodies violently against Boundary Mountain. Their skeletons had become brittle from years of decay. After the previous impacts, most had already cracked. A few had lost their heads completely from the impact. Yet, after retreating a hundred zhang, they charged again, striking Boundary Mountain relentlessly.

Their strange actions puzzled the people on the mountain peak. Li Qingfeng and Lu Xiunian, who had long defended this place, watched the avalanches on Boundary Mountain. After a moment of thought, they suddenly understood the elephants' intention.

"Stop them quickly!" Li Qingfeng shouted, "They're trying to break through the ice and snow on Boundary Mountain to expose the rocky slopes, making it easier for the corpse army to climb!"

Boundary Mountain had endured a thousand years of wind and frost. Its surface was already covered in a smooth layer of ice. Previously, only agile demonic beasts like monkeys and spiders could easily scale Boundary Mountain; other demonic beasts found it extremely difficult. The corpse army before them consisted of dead demonic beasts. In terms of agility, they were far inferior to their living counterparts. Therefore, if they wanted to ascend Boundary Mountain, the smooth ice layer was the first obstacle they had to overcome. The Demonic Priestess was clearly a competent commander. She had made arrangements in advance, deploying a hundred savage elephants to shatter the ice layer first, even at the cost of their destruction. In this way, the exposed, rugged stone slopes would allow the corpse army to climb easily.

A glint flashed in Lei Zhenhai's eyes. He decisively said, "Kill them!" He took action first, pulling out a charred piece of wood, which was clearly a lightning-struck log. It contained the residual lightning power from when the heavenly tribulation struck the wood.

"Go!" He channeled his cultivation technique, drawing out the lightning from the lightning-struck log, and pointed it at a savage elephant. ZAP! Lightning instantly surged forth. It transformed into a finger-thick purple bolt, piercing the sky and striking a savage elephant. In an instant, a large amount of death energy steamed out of the elephant's body. As the death energy dispersed, the savage elephant collapsed with no sound, crushing the elephant next to it.

Elders from various sects successively took out fire talismans, some directly unleashing fire cultivation techniques. All together, they aimed at the hundred savage elephants. Just as Jiang Fan had said earlier, these corpses were evil creatures, extremely fearful of things with strong yang energy. When fire landed on them, it immediately burned out the death energy within their bodies. The ignited elephants frantically squeezed sideways, setting nearby elephants ablaze as well. The more than twenty streams of fire ignited over thirty elephants.

The towering flames not only illuminated the battlefield but also the eyes of the people on the mountain peak. The corpses were not invincible! The disciples from various sects were greatly encouraged. They lit their prepared torches and threw them towards the foot of Boundary Mountain. Most lacked sufficient strength to throw them a hundred zhang, so they fell on the slope, some closer, some further. A few with enough strength managed to throw one directly into an elephant, successfully igniting it. But this did not deter the disciples from continuing to try. After all, thanks to Jiang Fan, they had an countless supply of wood, more than they could ever use. And so, torches, like a meteor shower, arced through the night sky, creating lines of varying lengths.

The hundred savage elephants charging Boundary Mountain finally succumbed to the saturated torch attack. As they made their fifth charge against Boundary Mountain, most of the elephants had already been ignited and collapsed one after another. The remaining ten or so had their bodies shattered beyond recognition from impacting Boundary Mountain, no longer able to cause effective impact on Boundary Mountain.

In the center of the corpse army, on the back of an inconspicuous demonic beast, the Demonic Priestess, with her hands behind her back, watched the movements on Boundary Mountain from afar. Her cold, beautiful face revealed a hint of surprise: "Using fire to counter my corpse army? Hmph! That human boy's handiwork!"

This time, she led the corpse army to attack. Only the Demon Emperor knew of it. The operation was sudden and swift, giving the Heavenly Secret Pavilion no chance to gather intelligence. The goal was to catch the human defenders off guard. It was infuriating that the little human had captured a corpse puppet in advance, alerting the human defenders on Boundary Mountain. And based on the characteristics of that corpse puppet, they had developed certain preventive measures. Otherwise, just a hundred savage elephants could easily clear the ice layer on Boundary Mountain. Then, the corpse army would surge up, making quick work of it!

"I will definitely kill you with my own hands!" Remembering Jiang Fan's face, the Demonic Priestess's hatred was hard to appease. Watching the hundred savage elephants being burned one after another, there was little ripple in her eyes as she indifferently gave the command: "Advance!"

Squeak, squeak, squeak! From within the corpse army, suddenly, rats the size of earth dogs emerged. Only their skeletons remained, and a mass of black smoke pulsed in their eyes. Their numbers were immense, over a thousand! They were incredibly fast and agile, leaping onto the smooth slope and rapidly climbing upwards.

"Kill them! Don't let them get close!" Lei Zhenhai once again drew a bolt of lightning from the lightning-struck log, striking a rapidly scuttling rat demon. *Thud*. The death energy in the rat demon's eyes dispersed, and it immediately rolled over a few times, lying motionless as if its soul had departed. Seeing this, the elders and disciples from various sects dared not hesitate. They all took action. Instantly, flames soared again, illuminating the entire snow-covered slope.

Compared to the savage elephants, the rat demons were much weaker. The slightest touch of fire immediately rendered them immobile. In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the snowy slope was littered with rat demon corpses. Ouyang Jun was panting, his eyes gleamed with excitement as he taunted, "Come on, sending a bunch of small rats? Are you looking down on us?"

Hahaha! The disciples, who had been constantly on edge, relaxed with excitement after achieving successive small victories. The corpse army wasn't as terrifying as they had imagined. Countering them with fire was effortless.

Jiang Fan stood at a higher vantage point, looking down at the ground covered in rat demon corpses, his brow furrowed. There was no reason to send such weak rat demons to their deaths. That Demonic Priestess didn't seem foolish.

Suddenly, a rat demon that died near its companions caught Jiang Fan's attention. The environment had been dim earlier, so he hadn't noticed. Only now did Jiang Fan realize that a fist-sized leather pouch was tied to the rat demon's abdomen. It was bulging, containing something unknown. As the rat demon died, the leather pouch was rapidly dissolving. Looking at the other rat demon corpses, without exception, similar leather pouches were tied to their bellies.

Jiang Fan's expression changed, and he immediately warned, "These rat demons have something on their bellies! Quick, clear away their bodies!" The real threat wasn't these rat demons themselves at all, but the unknown leather pouches on their abdomens!