Chapter 494: Slaughter
The barbarian Golden Core led his subordinates and fought Ning Zhuo’s mechanical army for a short while. Realizing the latter’s strength, he decisively retreated.
Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong controlled the mechanical puppets and seized the opportunity to pursue and attack. After killing many barbarian cultivators, they saw their opponents sprint down the mountainside and flee.
Sun Lingtong transmitted with spiritual sense: “Should we keep chasing?”
Ning Zhuo glanced at the battle group at the foot of the mountain. The Three Generals Camp had far fewer people than the enemy army and was already close to being surrounded.
His thoughts raced. Gritting his teeth, he said, “No! First destroy this enemy camp.”
Earlier, the spear-wielding barbarian Golden Core cultivator had been arrogant and had taken the initiative to lead a force to attack, only to be defeated by Ning Zhuo.
The enemy camp was still intact, and a few barbarian soldiers remained, constantly shooting arrows in Ning Zhuo’s direction.
Ning Zhuo led the mechanical puppets to the entrance of the enemy camp, then suddenly halted the advance.
The advantage of mechanical puppets being obedient and well-behaved was fully demonstrated at this moment.
If it were a normal army lacking proper training and discipline, some soldiers would have been too excited to obey the sudden order to stop and would have continued charging forward.
“Little Zhuo?” Sun Lingtong felt puzzled.
Ning Zhuo withdrew his gaze from the Mechanical Ring. Just now, his Mechanical Ring had slightly contracted. Although the movement was extremely subtle, it still served as a warning.
Ning Zhuo dispatched both his thoughts and spiritual sense simultaneously, splitting off fifty mechanical puppets from the main army and sending them into the enemy camp.
Inside the camp were a handful of barbarian soldiers—old, weak, sick, and disabled.
In the final moments of their lives, they all displayed great bravery, shouting as they charged forward, only to be mercilessly slain by the mechanical puppets.
But as the barbarian soldiers died, a formation within the camp revealed itself and rapidly activated.
Neither Sun Lingtong nor Ning Zhuo could identify the formation. Judging by the formation runes and talismans, they appeared to be written in ancient archaic script.
Fed by the blood sacrifice, the formation erupted with waves of purple-black smoke. The smoke surrounded the nearly fifty mechanical puppets.
Ning Zhuo tried to control them but found the difficulty skyrocketing.
At the same time, the purple-black smoke began drifting without wind, rapidly floating toward Ning Zhuo!
How could Ning Zhuo dare be careless? He immediately withdrew his spiritual sense and stopped using the Buddha Heart Demon Seal to perceive the mechanical puppets within the camp.
The purple-black smoke instantly lost its target and spread halfway through the air.
Out of caution, Ning Zhuo quickly commanded the remaining three hundred mechanical puppets to retreat.
The purple-black smoke engulfed the entire camp, then once again drifted toward Ning Zhuo.
No matter how Ning Zhuo repositioned his army, the purple-black smoke swiftly adjusted its direction and always floated toward him.
Sun Lingtong activated his Innate Spirit Eyes and observed for a moment before guessing, “It might be connected to military force, Little Zhuo!”
The more than four hundred mechanical puppets under Ning Zhuo were all officially registered soldiers of Liangzhu Kingdom.
They belonged to the Red Flower Camp.
At the moment, the main force of the Red Flower Camp was on another route. Only Ning Zhuo’s mechanical army was here. Thus the purple-black smoke locked onto Ning Zhuo and kept approaching.
“If that’s the case, then it’s easy to handle!”
Ning Zhuo took a deep breath and clapped his hands together in front of his chest with a crisp sound.
Mana surged through his body as he simultaneously mobilized military force. He originally intended to cast his most proficient spell—Tree Realm Descent.
But after a second thought, he immediately switched to a fire-attribute spell.
Fire Attribute—Nine Heavens Fire Dragon Art!
From the Nine Heavens descended divine fire, blazing fiercely, fire dragons burning away evil!
Ning Zhuo murmured the incantation under his breath, speaking rapidly.
In the next moment, more than half of his mana and military force were consumed, transforming into three fire dragons that charged toward the enemy camp shrouded in purple-black smoke.
Dragon roars resounded as blazing flames spread rapidly across the entire camp.
The Nine Heavens Fire Dragon Art was one of the most classic fire-attribute spells, renowned throughout the cultivation world. The spell simulated the divine fire of the Nine Heavens, condensing it into the form of fire dragons to burn enemies.
The number of fire dragons increased according to the cultivator’s cultivation level.
Qi Refining cultivators could only produce one fire dragon. Foundation Establishment cultivators could produce two. Ning Zhuo, though currently only at the Foundation Establishment stage, possessed Golden Core–level combat power, so he condensed three.
One reason the Nine Heavens Fire Dragon Art was a classic fire spell was because it suited a cultivator’s entire path—from early to middle to late stages.
Once mastered, it could often be used for an entire lifetime.
The power of the fire dragons would also scale with the cultivator’s strength.
The purple-black smoke was burned away by the flames. Fire surged into the sky, forming a sea of fire.
The tents, weapons, war chariots, and other objects in the enemy camp quickly turned to ashes in the flames. Even the ground was burned into a crimson glass-like substance.
The entire enemy camp had become a gigantic furnace. The raging flames soared into the sky, illuminating the night in a deep red glow.
Heat waves rolled outward, constantly crashing toward them. The air distorted, and the distant rocks and forests appeared blurred, as though they might melt at any moment.
Boom!
A violent explosion suddenly erupted in the enemy camp.
The retreating spear-wielding barbarian Golden Core cultivator wore a gloomy expression. The carefully prepared double trap he had arranged in the camp had both failed.
“Damn it! Of all things, I had to run into a mechanical army.” The spear-wielding Golden Core was filled with resentment.
His gaze locked firmly onto Ning Zhuo, determined to carve the image of this enemy deep into his memory.
At this moment, Ning Zhuo restrained the sea of fire, letting it burn only the enemy camp rather than spreading into the forest and harming the entire Sky-Pillar Giant Tree Mountain.
With white robes and black hair, he stood on the mountainside, overlooking the battlefield below.
Under the reflection of the blazing fire, his shadow stretched long, cast upon the distant mountain wall like the silhouette of a dark Great Spirit.
Seeing Ning Zhuo’s bearing, the spear-wielding Golden Core’s mind wavered.
His mouth was full of bitterness as he thought, “The opponent is only a Foundation Establishment cultivator, while I am a Golden Core.”
“The reason for this defeat lies in the powerful military system of Liangzhu Kingdom. We had already mobilized barbarian tribes from various mountains in advance and trained them rigorously.”
“But the tribes have too many internal conflicts and cannot cooperate well. How could their battle formations compare with those of Liangzhu Kingdom?”
“However, the concept of a mechanical army is excellent. Its practical combat results are impressive. Thousand Peaks Forest should also create a few of them.”
After destroying the enemy camp on the mountainside, Ning Zhuo quickly inspected his mechanical army.
Originally there had been more than four hundred mechanical puppets. After the battle just now, nearly one hundred had been lost, leaving just over three hundred.
“At least two hundred thousand medium-grade spirit stones have been lost,” Ning Zhuo estimated.
Such a loss would equal nearly half a year’s income for an ordinary Golden Core cultivator.
“I spent over two hundred thousand medium-grade spirit stones in exchange for my current Golden Core-level combat power.”
“That’s actually quite worthwhile.”
At that moment, Ning Zhuo suddenly gained a new realization.
The essence of the various cultivation arts was essentially the pursuit of cost-effectiveness—using more ingenious methods to utilize resources and achieve greater results.
Cultivation arts were like a lever. The more advanced and profound the technique, the fewer and cheaper resources were needed to pry out greater and stronger power.
Ning Zhuo swept his gaze across the battlefield.
Both Sun Lingtong’s reconnaissance and Wanli Dragon’s scouting confirmed that there were no other ambushes nearby.
Ning Zhuo’s expression remained calm as he led the mechanical army down toward the foot of the mountain.
The mechanical army flowed downward like a long river.
The spear-wielding Golden Core cultivator led part of the remaining troops and launched ranged attacks on Ning Zhuo.
Under the enhancement of the Swift Wind Light Step Formation, Ning Zhuo’s mechanical army moved lightly and swiftly, dodging many attacks and rushing to the side of the Three Generals Camp.
The dual-axe Golden Core who was besieging the Three Generals Camp cursed furiously.
The spear-wielding Golden Core had failed to intercept Ning Zhuo, allowing him to attack from behind. As a result, Ning Zhuo’s mechanical army and the Three Generals Camp now formed a pincer attack.
“Come support us!” the dual-axe Golden Core shouted desperately.
The spear-wielding Golden Core had retreated earlier to preserve the members of his tribe.
His tribe had few members, and the people beside him now were the seeds for the tribe’s future survival. They could not be lost.
But now, allowing Ning Zhuo and the Three Generals Camp to achieve victory through a pincer attack was something he also did not want to see.
Grinding his teeth, the spear-wielding Golden Core hurried to reinforce them.
The dual-axe barbarian Golden Core loudly encouraged morale: “Hold on! Hold this line!!”
He also encouraged himself inwardly: “It’s fine. We can hold. We have the Wilderness Hunting Formation!”
The barbarians did indeed have battle formations.
But these formations were extremely ancient and had been passed down since long ago.
The Wilderness Hunting Formation was a typical example.
It originated from barbarian cultivators cooperating closely while hunting on the plains. Over time, it evolved into a dynamic battle formation.
As the name suggested, it leaned toward hunting and offense rather than defense.
Ning Zhuo did not hesitate or pause. He led the mechanical army and directly crashed into the enemy formation.
The barbarian battle formation resisted for only dozens of breaths before it could no longer withstand the pressure. The mechanical army pushed and crushed forward, killing large numbers of barbarians, breaking the formation lines, and charging inside.
One of the main reasons was Ning Zhuo’s frequent spellcasting.
He did not care about the lives of the mechanical puppets—though mechanical puppets had no life to begin with—but the barbarian cultivators were different. They were flesh and blood.
Under waves of Ning Zhuo’s Five Elemental Spells, they died miserable deaths.
This was the first time Ning Zhuo had truly experienced warfare involving armies.
For him, it was a novel and unique experience that stirred his heart.
When he had clashed earlier with the spear-wielding cultivator’s army, the pressure felt like a bowl of thin porridge.
Fighting the dual-axe Golden Core’s army increased the pressure somewhat—but only to the level of rice instead of porridge.
Even though the enemy had formed a battle formation, it was still rather loose.
“They lack training. Their soldiers come from many origins and hold old grudges against each other. They cannot unite.”
“That’s why they have many people but insufficient military force.”
“In contrast, the Three Generals Camp is far better trained. And my mechanical army follows orders perfectly.”
“But the most crucial factor is the difference in national power.”
Ning Zhuo’s mechanical army and the Three Generals Camp both had the support of national power.
But Thousand Peaks Forest had not established a nation. Their armies possessed only military force, without the assistance of national power.
It was not that the Dragon Ginseng King did not want to establish a nation—it was simply extremely difficult. Even Soul Formation–level beings did not dare attempt it lightly.
To establish a nation, three conditions were required: national fortune, national treasures, and a sovereign.
Usually, the sovereign must possess a King’s Mandate. This alone blocked countless ambitious figures.
The barbarian army fell into peril under the pincer attack.
Even when the spear-wielding Golden Core rushed back with reinforcements, it was already too late.
The dual-axe Golden Core roared in fury and abandoned the Three Generals Camp, turning to attack Ning Zhuo instead.
The Three Generals Camp immediately seized the opportunity and rapidly changed formation.
The results of their day-and-night training were fully displayed.
They swiftly switched from the Triangular Arrowhead Formation into the Iron-Wall Formation.
During their time resting in Canglin Immortal City, the Three Generals Camp had trained frantically, mastering another battle formation.
And this one was a classic defensive formation.
Because of this, Liu Er, Guan Hong, and Zhang Hei were liberated. Previously, the Triangular Arrowhead Formation required the three of them to frequently occupy the formation core and nodes.
Now, the Iron-Wall Formation required only one person to preside over the formation.
Zhang Hei and Guan Hong were freed like a black tiger escaping its cage and a red dragon breaking its chains as they charged into battle.
The barbarian army naturally had more than just two Golden Core cultivators. When they saw the two generals charging out, several Golden Core cultivators intercepted them midway.
Zhang Hei unleashed the Black Wave Overheaven Technique. With his Innate Wild Python Tendons within and the Black Serpent Spear without, he grew stronger as the battle continued, his attacks becoming increasingly fierce.
Guan Hong activated the Red-Faced Blood Calamity Scripture, wielding the Blood Dragon Blade, and suddenly executed a military art—Single Blade Charge!
A torrent of blood light transformed into a blade radiance that pierced straight through the barbarian army.
A barbarian Golden Core roared angrily and lunged toward Guan Hong.
Guan Hong did not dodge. His long beard moved without wind. The eight-foot beard suddenly reflected blood light.
Innate Talent—Thousand Whiskers Reflect Blood!
The blood light combined offense and defense. Under its illumination, it surged forward like a crimson river, sweeping a barbarian Golden Core into its current.
The barbarian Golden Core screamed in terror, but after only a few breaths, he was reduced to a puddle of blood.
The essence within the blood was immediately absorbed by Guan Hong’s blood light.
This was the hallmark of demonic arts—using other cultivators as cultivation resources.
Guan Hong swiftly killed one barbarian Golden Core, while Ning Zhuo’s Five Elemental Spells injured another.
During this time, the spear-wielding Golden Core attempted a sneak attack, only to be forced back by one of Ning Zhuo’s metal-attribute spells.
The spear-wielding Golden Core retreated rapidly, his eyelids twitching.
Ning Zhuo’s ferocity was genuinely terrifying.
All kinds of spells rained down indiscriminately, even damaging many of his own mechanical puppets.
Even Liu Er, seeing Ning Zhuo’s combat style, could not help but sigh.
“As expected of a great clan’s disciple. How many mechanical puppets must be destroyed for this… how much money must be lost?”
Liu Er held the Primal Yellow Sword and presided over the Iron-Wall Formation, not taking the initiative to attack.
“Die!” Amid the fierce battle, Zhang Hei suddenly roared, causing his Golden Core opponent to fall into brief dizziness.
In the next moment, the Black Serpent Spear pierced the enemy’s heart. Zhang Hei then grabbed the cultivator’s head and crushed it like a bursting watermelon.
The second barbarian Golden Core cultivator fell!
The barbarian battle formation had already collapsed and suffered backlash. Seeing the terrifying might of Zhang Hei and Guan Hong, their fighting spirit plummeted again and again.
Feeling the sharp drop in the military force supporting them, several barbarian Golden Cores conferred briefly before admitting defeat and retreating up the mountain.
Ning Zhuo, Guan Hong, and Zhang Hei seized the chance to pursue, killing countless enemies.