Chapter 556: Traversing the Battlefield
“Nine Heavens Fire Dragon Art…” Lone Fang saw his wolf pack wiped out by the fire dragons and could not help but feel slightly startled. “Ning Zhuo’s strength seems even greater than what the intelligence described?”
Three fire dragons circling around oneself, stirring up a sea of flames that burned and destroyed surrounding living beings while maintaining stability around the caster—this required powerful and extremely delicate control.
After all, this was an offensive spell. If the control were poor, it would instead harm the caster himself.
But judging from Ning Zhuo’s counterattack, his control was refined and effortless, achieving the effect of using offense as defense.
Using offense as defense!
Anyone who frequently practiced spells knew that achieving this was actually very difficult.
“Didn’t the intelligence say that Ning Zhuo was only sixteen or seventeen? At such an age, and mainly cultivating puppet arts, how could he have had the time to diligently practice spells?”
It was precisely this misjudgment that caused Lone Fang to “bury” a batch of wolf troops with his own hands.
He was still hesitating whether to send another group of mountain wolves to deal with Ning Zhuo when the pressure on the main front suddenly increased sharply. He immediately threw aside the thought of targeting Ning Zhuo and began concentrating fully on commanding the main army.
Awooo!
The three fire dragons soared freely. One opened the path ahead while the other two accompanied Ning Zhuo on both sides.
The fire dragons were blazing and powerful, yet they always maintained a certain distance from Ning Zhuo himself.
Five Viscera Temple Divine Spirit Art — Fire-Element Heart Temple!
Much of Ning Zhuo’s spiritual sense resided inside the Heart Temple. The divine statue within the temple bore his own appearance. By relying on the heart to control the fire element, every fire-element spell he cast reached the level of refined control.
Thanks to the three fire dragons opening space on the battlefield for him, Ning Zhuo could continuously deploy mechanical puppets and reorganize his army.
While controlling the three fire dragons, Ning Zhuo also commanded the mechanical army, weaving through the battlefield.
If he held a fixed position, he might gain an advantage locally. But by crossing the battlefield, he encountered all kinds of powerful enemies.
The fire dragons held their ground in the middle section of the battlefield for a short time before their momentum steadily weakened, until they were finally completely exhausted.
Military Art—Bluffing!
Mu Lan once again drew her bow and aimed an arrow at the Blood Shadow Cave Lord.
Blood Shadow Cave Lord: ?!
Startled with fear, he hurriedly retreated, riding a streak of blood light as he traversed the sky above the battlefield.
North Abyss Freezing Ray!
Life-and-Death Separation Flame!
Dozens of icy beams and deadly fire lines shot simultaneously toward the Blood Shadow Cave Lord.
Although the city wall defenses of the Liangzhu Kingdom’s frontline camp had a massive breach, most of the heavy war machines remained intact and still possessed formidable offensive capability.
The Blood Shadow Cave Lord could resist them, but he had no intention of wasting Nascent Soul power against war machines.
The intensity of the battle made him feel increasingly strained. He had to conserve his strength as much as possible.
Thus, he did not hesitate and descended to the ground.
The war machines stopped targeting him.
This was because there were many allies on the ground. Randomly concentrating fire risked friendly casualties.
Once friendly casualties occurred, it would easily shake the army’s morale and fighting spirit, causing a significant drop in combat power.
The Blood Shadow Cave Lord, however, had no such concerns.
After landing, he immediately suffered attacks from all directions.
He snorted coldly and flung several hundred blood beads around him.
Bang bang bang…
The blood beads exploded one after another, blowing surrounding cultivators to death or severe injury.
The battlefield around the Blood Shadow Cave Lord was suddenly cleared out.
He spread his arms and tilted his head back, taking a deep breath.
The next moment, large amounts of blood energy surged out from the corpses and wounds of cultivators scattered across the ground, eventually flowing into the Blood Shadow Cave Lord’s body.
The blood energy surrounding him thickened once again.
Regardless of friend or foe, once they realized what he was doing, they cursed loudly and began focusing fire on him.
The Blood Shadow Cave Lord snorted coldly and pointed forward. Immediately, a streak of blood light erupted from his fingertip, piercing through several barbarian cultivators rushing at the front.
He then flew again and once more charged into the area inside the city wall.
The blood-light streak he released pierced forward all the way, eventually slanting toward the rear of Ning Zhuo’s mechanical army.
In a single instant, it destroyed every mechanical puppet along its path. The blood poison corroded outward, damaging many nearby puppets as well.
Ning Zhuo made a decisive judgment and abandoned all the puppets infected by the blood poison.
“Blood Shadow Cave Lord!” Sun Lingtong exclaimed from inside the Dragon Head Cabin, revealing hatred in his expression.
He had not forgotten the attack he suffered from the Blood Shadow Cave Lord during the previous infiltration of the Six Caves Sect headquarters.
Ning Zhuo’s expression turned solemn as he once again realized: “In a battlefield pushed to white-hot intensity, the pressure of death is everywhere, forcing every cultivator to fight with their full strength. Lone Fang is like this, and so is the Blood Shadow Cave Lord!”
“Fortunately, I’m in the middle section of the battlefield rather than the core area.”
During this recent period, Ning Zhuo had been cultivating diligently with the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel, causing his physical foundation to grow rapidly and allowing him to sustain more augmentations from the Warrior Returns Art.
But judging from the previous battles, the upper limit of Ning Zhuo’s combat power still remained at the Golden Core level.
The core combat zone was clearly a meat grinder for Nascent Soul cultivators. Ning Zhuo felt there was no need to step in and suffer needlessly.
Ning Zhuo led his mechanical puppets and continued approaching Lin You.
Mo Yechen rode his demon pet, the myna bird, flying above the battlefield.
As the battle intensified, his opponent was no longer Li Jiuqu but the demon cultivator Bai Ling.
Bai Ling’s true form was a white crane, also an aerial creature, so its flight techniques naturally required no explanation.
The two fought each other while also resisting countless attacks from the ground.
The ground battlefield gathered the largest number of soldiers, while the sky battlefield belonged only to the strong.
This was because the battle intensity on the ground was lower than in the sky, since spells easily caused friendly casualties.
But in the sky, concentrating spells on a target was far easier.
Once cultivators rose into the sky, one of their difficulties was that enemies could simply look up and unleash long-range spells.
Only the strongest cultivators could withstand such concentrated attacks.
And once the strong seized control of the sky, they could heavily suppress enemies on the ground.
Thus, since the start of the chaotic battle, both armies had been competing for control of the aerial battlefield.
Divine Ability—Crane’s Lament Across the Sky!
Bai Ling suddenly stopped in midair and cried out toward the heavens. A surging wave of sound expanded rapidly in all directions. Mo Yechen retreated while countless soldiers staggered and fell. Large numbers of cultivators died on the spot.
In the trailing waves of the sound, countless cultivators fell into cultivation deviation.
Retreat!
Ning Zhuo quickly withdrew, abandoning most of his mechanical puppets.
The divine ability rampaged through his Sea of Consciousness, causing his face to turn pale.
Blazing Wilderness Mind-Healing Flame!
He formed hand seals and ignited a flame within his Sea of Consciousness.
Because of Bai Ling’s divine ability, all the harmful thoughts created within Ning Zhuo’s Sea of Consciousness were burned away by the flames.
Meanwhile, Ning Zhuo’s own thoughts were preserved intact.
Ning Zhuo exhaled a breath of turbid air and stabilized himself once more.
Before the battle against the Heaven and Earth Twin Ghosts, dealing with the aftermath of Bai Ling’s divine ability would have been extremely troublesome. After all, the Buddha Heart Demon Seal only activated during critical moments.
But now, Ning Zhuo could handle such trouble with his own methods alone.
Ning Zhuo reached into his Storage Bag. With a sweeping motion of his arm, he replenished the formation of his mechanical army.
His spiritual sense probed the bottom of the Storage Bag and discovered that half of his reserves had already been consumed.
Such a level of loss had never happened before.
When his spiritual sense spread outward again, Ning Zhuo helplessly discovered that his aggressive charge had actually carried him farther away from Lin You.
Leading his army in a charge through the battlefield, the omnipresent pressure and sudden attacks had forced Ning Zhuo and his mechanical army to repeatedly alter their route to avoid danger.
The result was almost like drifting with the current. Not only had the distance to the target not shortened—it had grown longer.
However, Ning Zhuo’s fighting spirit remained fierce and his determination unwavering. Taking a deep breath, he charged once more.
Three-Layer Li Fire Shield!
Thick Earth Armor, Stone Plate!
Fire-element and earth-element defensive spells enhanced his body, while the Warrior Returns Art continuously increased his combat strength.
Ning Zhuo could clearly feel that the pressure on him was rapidly decreasing!
Wood Element—Root Vine Entanglement.
Vines burst out from the ground, instantly strangling more than a dozen barbarian cultivators.
Earth Element—Earth Python!
A massive yellow-brown python formed from soil and stone appeared, as thick as the trunk of an ancient tree. Heavy yet agile, it swept across the battlefield, knocking several boar demons flying and opening a path for Ning Zhuo.
Fire Element—Nine Heavens Fire Dragon Art!
Three fire dragons appeared once again. With roaring flames, they ignited a blazing domain of fire, erasing the siege against Ning Zhuo and turning danger into safety.
“I’m still getting stronger!” Ning Zhuo felt exhilarated.
The power of his Nine Heavens Fire Dragon Art was clearly stronger than before.
The fire dragons cleared the way, and cultivators unable to retreat in time screamed as they perished in the sea of flames.
Ning Zhuo’s performance in crossing the battlefield became increasingly dazzling, finally drawing serious attention.
Three Golden Core enemy cultivators blocked his path. They unleashed a joint spell attack, forming vast fields of blade light that illuminated the battlefield.
Mechanical puppets were sliced into countless fragments within the blade light.
Ning Zhuo’s mechanical army lost more than half its strength in an instant!
Ning Zhuo snorted coldly, stomped his foot, and clapped his hands before his chest.
Wood Element—Tree Realm Descent!
Towering ancient trees burst from the ground, forming a vast forest. In only a few breaths, the battlefield around Ning Zhuo was completely transformed.
The ancient trees formed natural barriers, resisting the fierce blade light before being chopped into countless wooden fragments.
After excessive consumption, the blade light’s power greatly weakened.
Seizing the brief moment of respite, Ning Zhuo replenished his mechanical puppets and led his army to break out!
Various Five Elements spells descended upon the three Golden Core enemies.
The three Golden Core cultivators hurriedly cast defensive spells, struggling to resist and appearing quite disheveled.
Just as they prepared to counterattack, Ning Zhuo opened his mouth and exhaled.
Metal Element Spell—Mysterious Gold Slash!
A bolt of golden lightning shot forth with unstoppable sharpness, directly piercing through one of the Golden Core cultivators, killing him instantly before he could even scream.
The remaining two Golden Core cultivators froze in shock.
Ning Zhuo repeated the move, spewing two more bolts of golden lightning that instantly killed them both.
Huff… huff…
Ning Zhuo breathed heavily. His mana consumption had reached a warning threshold.
He quickly swallowed medicinal pills and raised his mana reserves again.
The metal-element spell Mysterious Gold Slash was an offensive technique he had focused on cultivating after mastering the Metal-Element Lung Temple.
Its power was tremendous, but the cost was correspondingly huge.
Of course, when Ning Zhuo released this spell, he simultaneously infused focus into the Metal-Element Lung Temple.
The combination of the two amplified the attack power, allowing him to kill three Golden Core cultivators in succession.
Witnessing such ferocity, some nearby enemy cultivators began actively avoiding him.
Ning Zhuo had successfully established his dominance, and the resistance ahead suddenly diminished by more than half.
He drove forward rapidly, quickly shortening the distance between himself and Lin You.
“Stop right there!” A demon cultivator with an eagle head and human body shrieked sharply, stepping forward to intercept Ning Zhuo.
It was Chen Lingfeng!
He came from Wind Pillar Peak. His talent was so outstanding that the Dragon Ginseng King had personally taken interest in him and nurtured him. He was one of Grandfather Long’s right-hand men.
Wind Element—Hundred Blade Storm!
In the next moment, Chen Lingfeng pushed both palms forward. Mana poured out wildly, transforming into more than a hundred wind blades that spun and shot toward Ning Zhuo.
Ning Zhuo activated defensive spells to protect himself.
But the mechanical army around him suffered devastating damage, with barely one-tenth remaining.
Chen Lingfeng’s combat strength was extraordinary—he was a peak Golden Core cultivator. With a single strike, he nearly annihilated the entire mechanical army.
Military Art—Warrior Returns Art.
Ning Zhuo’s combat power rose once again.
Puppet Construct—Heavy Armor Blood Ape, Dasheng.
Puppet Construct—Shadowblade — Night Tiger.
Ning Zhuo’s expression grew solemn. He knew Chen Lingfeng’s combat strength was astonishing. Facing him alone was manageable, but breaking through his blockade required powerful reinforcements.
Fortunately, Ning Zhuo had exactly that.
So he directly released the two fierce generals in his possession.
One stood nearly two zhang tall, clad in heavy armor made from Red Sun Copper, Myriad-Strike Mysterious Iron, and Diamond Stone—Yuan Dasheng, focused on defense.
The other was pitch black with silver-white lines embedded across his body, eight feet tall, with a tiger head and human body—Meng Yahu, ruthless and domineering.
Wind blades came again.
Yuan Dasheng stepped forward like a city wall, completely shielding Ning Zhuo.
He raised both arms before his face, crouching slightly.
“Lord, this general will guard you completely.”
“Mm.” Ning Zhuo nodded slightly, then glanced sideways at Meng Yahu and softly said, “Go.”
Meng Yahu replied respectfully, “Yes, Father God.”
He activated talismans, concealing his figure as he silently moved to assassinate Chen Lingfeng.
Chen Lingfeng’s expression became solemn. His eyes narrowed, ears raised, and his spiritual sense activated instantly.
Wind Element—Listening to the Wind to Discern Position!
From countless chaotic sounds, he accurately captured Meng Yahu’s footsteps.
Several wind blades shot out immediately, forcing Meng Yahu to defend and reveal himself.
Meng Yahu’s ambush had failed, but that did not mean Ning Zhuo was helpless.
With the two Golden Core–level mechanical constructs stabilizing the situation, he replenished mechanical puppets while launching long-range spell attacks.
Ning Zhuo’s current combat strength had not yet reached peak Golden Core level, but it was enough to threaten Chen Lingfeng.
Chen Lingfeng had no choice but to summon strong winds and retreat from his position rather than endure the spell bombardment head-on.
After several rounds of combat, the battle zone they created forced other cultivators from both sides to keep their distance.
After multiple exchanges of offense and defense, both Ning Zhuo and Chen Lingfeng were breathing heavily.
“As expected of one of the top Golden Core cultivators in the Thousand Peaks Forest Coalition Army,” Ning Zhuo remarked.
Chen Lingfeng, however, was somewhat shocked.
“A mere Foundation Establishment cultivator can fight me to a standstill. Is this the level of humanity’s top geniuses…”
“But I am also a genius among the demon race!”
Chen Lingfeng’s competitive spirit ignited.
Since childhood, his talent had been recognized by the Dragon Ginseng King. His exceptional aptitude had always been a source of pride.
Innate Talent—Frenzied Wind Bones!
A chaotic wind erupted from within his bones, surging outward through all forty-three thousand eight hundred seventy-seven pores across his body, causing his hair to whip wildly and his eyes to grow unfocused.