Chapter 595: Chapter 165: Melee
The Barbarian Clan Golden Core Cultivator led his subordinates in a skirmish against Ning Zhuo’s Mechanical Army and, realizing the latter’s strength, decisively retreated.
Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong, controlling the Mechanical Puppets, seized the opportunity to ambush, and after inflicting many casualties on the Barbarian Cultivators, they saw their opponents fleeing down the mountain along the mountainside.
Sun Lingtong transmitted through Divine Sense: “Shall we continue to chase?”
Ning Zhuo glanced at the battle at the foot of the mountain, where the forces of the Three Generals Camp were far outnumbered by the enemy and were nearly surrounded.
His mind raced, and he bit his teeth: “No! First, we’ll destroy the enemy camp.”
Previously, the Barbarian Clan Golden Core who wielded a spear had been overconfident, leading his troops to strike, only to be routed by Ning Zhuo.
The enemy camp remained intact, and some Barbarian soldiers continued to shoot arrows in the direction of Ning Zhuo.
Leading the Mechanical Puppets, Ning Zhuo arrived at the gates of the enemy camp and suddenly halted his troops.
The advantage of the obedient Mechanical Puppets was fully demonstrated at this moment.
Had it been a regular army, if the training was inadequate, and military discipline hard to enforce, at this moment there would undoubtedly be soldiers overexcited, ignoring the sudden stop in orders, and continuing to charge forward.
“Little Zhuo?” Sun Lingtong felt puzzled.
Ning Zhuo shifted his gaze from the Mechanical Ring; just now his ring had subtly contracted, and although the motion was very slight, it still served as a warning to Ning Zhuo.
With a thought, Ning Zhuo harnessed his Divine Sense and dispatched fifty Mechanical Puppets into the enemy camp, separating them from the main force.
The enemy camp had only a few Barbarian soldiers, all of whom were old, weak, sick, or disabled.
In their final moments, they showed bravery, charging forward with shouts, and then were mercilessly slain by the Mechanical Puppets.
But as the Barbarian soldiers died, an Array within the camp revealed itself and activated rapidly.
Neither Sun Ning nor Lingtong could identify the origin of the Array, noticing that its Array Patterns and Talismans were all of an ancient language from a long-forgotten era.
The Array, powered by the Blood Sacrifice, emitted plumes of purple-black smoke. The smoke surrounded the Mechanical Puppets tightly.
Ning Zhuo tried to control them but found the difficulty had skyrocketed.
Meanwhile, the purple-black smoke unbelievably moved without wind, drifting swiftly towards Ning Zhuo!
Ning Zhuo dared not take it lightly, promptly withdrawing his Divine Sense and ceasing to sense the Mechanical Puppets in the camp using the Buddha Heart Demon Seal.
Without a target, the purple-black smoke lingered midway.
Out of caution, Ning Zhuo hastily commanded the remaining Mechanical Puppets to retreat.
The purple-black smoke enveloped the entire military camp, then once again shifted towards Ning Zhuo’s direction.
No matter how Ning Zhuo moved his troops, the purple-black smoke would quickly adjust, always drifting towards him.
Sun Lingtong stimulated her Innate Spiritual Eyes and after observing for a moment, half-guessed: “It could be a connection between military forces, Little Zhuo!”
The more than four hundred Mechanical Puppets under Ning Zhuo’s command were all listed as soldiers of Liangzhu Country.
They belonged to the Red Flower Camp.
With the main force of the Red Flower Camp on another path, only Ning Zhuo’s Mechanical Army remained here, hence the purple-black smoke locked onto Ning Zhuo, moving closer continuously.
“If that’s the case, then it’s easy to handle!”
Ning Zhuo took a deep breath and clapped his hands in front of his chest with a crisp snap.
His body’s Mana surged as he mobilized the Military Power, ready to execute his handiest technique, the Tree Realm Descent Technique.
But on second thought, he quickly switched to a different Fire-attribute Spell.
Fire-attribute — Nine Heavens Fire Dragon Technique!
From the Nine Heavens descends, Divine Fire ablaze, Fire Dragons purge evil!
Ning Zhuo chanted quietly, his speech rapid.
The next moment, with most of his Mana and Military Power expended, he formed three Fire Dragons that charged towards the enemy camp shrouded by the purple-black smoke.
The roar of the dragons rose, flames blazed fiercely, and quickly spread throughout the enemy camp!
The Nine Heavens Fire Dragon Technique is one of the most classic Fire-attribute Spells in the Cultivation World, mimicking the fire of the Nine Heavens to condense a dragon-shaped fire, capable of incinerating enemies.
The number of Fire Dragons increases with the Cultivator’s Cultivation Level.
Qi Refinement Realm has one dragon; Foundation Establishment Stage has two, and although Ning Zhuo is at Foundation Establishment Cultivation, he possesses Golden Core Combat Power, thus was able to form three dragons.
One of the reasons for the classic nature of the Nine Heavens Fire Dragon Technique is that it is commonly used by Cultivators during their early, middle, and late stages.
If cultivated successfully, it can be used for a lifetime!
The power of Fire Dragons also varies with the strength of the Cultivator.
The purple-black smoke was incinerated by the flames, which rose into the sky, forming a sea of fire.
In the fiery inferno, tents, weapons, War Chariots, and so on quickly turned to ashes, and even the ground was scorched into a reddish-brown glass-like solid.
The entire enemy camp had become a giant furnace, with fierce flames raging into the sky, turning the night sky a glowing red.
Waves of heat rolled in, distorting the air. The distant rocks and woods all appeared blurred, as if about to melt at any moment.
Boom!
A violent explosion suddenly erupted within the enemy camp.
The retreating Barbarian Golden Core Cultivator with a spear had a grim expression. The double trap he meticulously prepared in the camp had failed.
“Darn it! It just had to be a Mechanical Army,” the spear-wielding Golden Core raged with frustration.
The Golden Core Cultivator locked his gaze onto Ning Zhuo, determined to engrave the image of this foe deeply into his heart.
At this moment, Ning Zhuo contained the sea of fire to only burn the enemy camp and not spread to the woods, avoiding catastrophe to the entire Heavenly Pillar Giant Tree Mountain.
Dressed in white with black hair, he stood on the mountainside, overlooking the foothill.
Bathed in the light of the fire, his figure was elongated, casting a shadow on the distant mountain wall, resembling a dark Immortal of Colossal Spirit.
Seeing Ning Zhuo’s demeanor, the spear-wielding Golden Core was also emotionally stirred.
With bitterness filling his mouth, he thought: “The opponent is merely a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, while I am a noble Golden Core.”