By now, the wooden walls were already mostly collapsed, as hordes of zombies charged into the camp and fought with the Gu Masters.
Upon seeing this, Fang Yuan was already certain this zombie army was manipulated by Ding Hao.
If it was an ordinary zombie group, they would all swarm in like bees or the black-hair zombies would attack after the white-hair zombies died. Where would there be battle tactics like shown here, someone was clearly controlling them from behind!
And no doubt, the one controlling these zombies was Ding Hao.
Fang Yuan remembered the Second Zombie King left behind an inheritance after exterminating the clan on Mu Bei mountain. The inheritor of this inheritance was Ding Hao. He later went on to become Second Zombie King's eldest disciple, and although he was of demonic path, he was very loyal.
Later in the battle between Righteous and Demonic on Yi Tian mountain, he took the place of Second Zombie King of his own choice and died in the battle.
"I had thought of looking for you but to think you would deliver yourself to me, that saves me a lot of time."
Fang Yuan's plan had been to use this Ding Hao to eradicate the caravan and kill everyone. Although he had methods to attract the beast groups, it wasn't easy to control the size of it.
The caravan strength had already decreased to a very low level and if large amounts of beast groups were attracted, it would instead cause his own life to be in danger. It would be even more troublesome to protect Shang Xin Ci on top of that.
Under such circumstances, Ding Hao was the perfect chess piece.
"But where is this guy hiding?" Fire blazed all around. Fang Yuan narrowed his eyes and observed his surroundings.
"He needs to be at a high ground if he wants to observe the battlefield and command the zombie army. Of course, he might have other Gu worms which could give him a bird's eye view of the camp. Regardless, the place he is hiding in should be convenient to escape…"
Fang Yuan lost the earth hearing ear grass and possessed no other investigative methods, thus he had to rely on speculations.
The battles were becoming more desperate; while hundreds of zombies were scattered all over the ground, there were also catastrophic losses to the Gu Masters. Under the endless flood of the zombies, the Gu Masters retreated bit by bit and soon reached the central area of the camp.
There, a bunker was made by piling up goods and some rank one Gu Masters were using many methods to reinforce it.
"There are too many zombies, the defense here will fall sooner or later."
"We need to break the siege!"
"Break the siege, how will we break through? There are dozens of black-hair zombies!"
"It would be better to reinforce our defense and wait for dawn. The zombies would receive a huge decrease in strength under the sunlight. We won't even need to make a move and they will retreat by themselves."
Arguments arose, and people were divided into two sides; one wanted to break through while the other wanted to defend their positions.
The two sides kept on arguing while the zombie horde was already pressing closer.
This temporarily formed caravan showed its biggest weakness right now; being unable to truly unite and lacking a strong figure to take control of the situation.
Fang Yuan had been observing the situation as a spectator; now, he suddenly stood up: "Stop shouting!"
The noisy scene quieted down almost instantly.
In everyone's eyes, he was a rank three peak stage Gu Master, one of the strongest experts in the caravan. Especially now at this critical life and death juncture, Fang Yuan had even more authority.
Fang Yuan swept his cold and sharp gaze at everyone. His ugly face, under the illumination of the fire, was menacing and ruthless.
"All those that wants to stay and defend are idiots! Why should we stay here if we can break through?" He fiercely scolded, giving off a strong impression.
The Gu Masters who were shouting about staying and defending showed indignant expressions but they didn't dare to retort; while the Gu Masters who insisted on breaking the siege were joyous.
"Lord Hei Tu is wise!"
"Lord Hei Tu, we will follow you."
"Right now, only Lord Hei Tu can save us from this desperate crisis!"
They continued to praise Fang Yuan to the high heavens, wanting to make him take charge of the dangerous assault.
However, Fang Yuan sneered and cursed: "Shut up! You bunch thinking of breaking through are even greater fools!"
"Ugh…" The Gu Masters that were praising Fang Yuan stiffened, their expressions fluctuating rapidly; while those who insisted on defending their positions showed ridicule and mocking expressions.
"Then, Sir Hei Tu, what do you suggest?" Jia Long's expression was dark as he spoke in a heavy voice with an unkind gaze.
"Hmph, be it defending the position or breaking through the siege, the situation needs to be investigated properly first. Do you know the scale of this zombie horde? What if there is a large group of them hiding in the darkness, wouldn't breaking through then be walking right into a trap?
And if this is just all of them and you guys insist on defending your positions while you could clearly escape, the bloody odor would attract more zombies and you would just be sending yourselves to death." Fang Yuan spoke with such vigor that his saliva went flying out.
Nobody would show a good expression after being scolded harshly.
Chen Shuang Jin asked in a gloomy voice: "Then what good suggestion do you have?"
Fang Yuan opened his eyes wide in anger and pointed at Chen Shuang Jin: "You fools, your brain is filled with shit! I have spoken for so long and no one understands! Of course we are going to break through but first we are going to check our surroundings. Investigative Gu Masters, you need to work hard!"
Being pointed out by Fang Yuan and reprimanded, Chen Shuang Jin's expression turned ugly and a fire burned in his heart. However, he still vividly remembered that time when Fang Yuan killed Ou Clan father and son, so he could only suppress his anger.
Many became dissatisfied with Fang Yuan's aggressiveness; but at the same time, in this situation, such aggressiveness instead gave them a sense of indescribable security.
Soon, a group was organized to break through the siege under Fang Yuan's manipulation.
"Break through that direction." Fang Yuan said solemnly as he pointed towards southeast direction
"Yes, Lord Hei Tu!"
"Remember, scouting is the priority, protect yourselves and retreat if you can't continue." Fang Yuan smiled and patted the group leader's shoulder.
The group leader's heart immediately relaxed and Fang Yuan's image in his mind was no longer as repulsive as before.
The zombie horde reached the final defensive line and battles issued everywhere. Breaking the siege group charged forward three hundred steps before they were forced to retreat.
"Too terrifying, I discovered at least hundreds of zombies in the darkness at that side." The investigative Gu Master's heart was still fearful as he made the report.
Everyone turned slightly pale at these words.
"No problem, take a rest. Second group, break through that direction!" Fang Yuan commanded.
This group charged through four to five hundred steps before they had to retreat.
"There are too many zombies…" The investigative Gu Master was pale.
Fang Yuan let them rest, and said to the newly formed third group: "Go in that direction."
"But that side is a valley." The group leader was somewhat puzzled.
Slap.
Fang Yuan slapped the man: "If I say go, then go. Don't give me nonsense!"
The group leader was stunned by the slap, but he didn't dare to meet Fang Yuan's angry gaze so he turned around and led his group to the direction Fang Yuan pointed.
Fang Yuan had organized three breaking the siege groups, sending them out to probe the situation and finally rule out the possible areas.
"The only place remaining is that high slope now. If I am not wrong, Ding Hao is definitely hiding there." Fang Yuan sneered inwardly and continued to arrange breaking the siege groups.
"These people are really not giving up." Ding Hao's brows furrowed but soon relaxed, "Haha, you guys might have been able to break through if it was an ordinary zombie horde, but too bad for you, this zombie horde is being controlled by me…"
He mobilized the zombies in the darkness to constantly replenish any gaps. At the same time, he deployed massive forces towards several areas.
Several rounds later, the casualties in breaking the siege groups increased to a disastrous amount.
"This is enough, breaking through can't succeed, we can't make any more sacrifices in vain!"
"Sigh, looks like we can only defend our positions…."
"Everyone persevere, endure till the sun rises, these zombies would be weak as paper then."
"Stop your nonsense, success is in sight! I will personally lead this time. Bai Yun, you stand guard here." Fang Yuan cursed and aggressively insisted on breaking through.
Because of his aggressiveness, Gu Masters could only form another group.
Eight Gu Masters charged out with Fang Yuan in the lead; with enormous strength combined with snow silver primeval essence and Canopy Gu, he was able to easily force his way through the encirclement.
"Damn, that side is somewhat thin…" Ding Hao also couldn't prevent Fang Yuan from breaking through.
He hadn't thought Fang Yuan would choose this side to break through; this side was a dead end and he had continuously mobilized the zombies to other sides to fill up the gaps caused by the previous break through attempts, causing the zombies in this side to be the least in numbers.
"They really succeeded!"
"They broke through!"
The people in the camp were looking at this scene with wide eyes.
Although in the process, five Gu Masters died, Fang Yuan and the two other Gu Masters successfully broke through.
"We are saved, quick, let's break through that side!" Everyone was joyous in the camp.
"Don't even think about succeeding!" Ding Hao gritted his teeth and immediately mobilized zombies to fill the gap.
The camp was still in the process of organizing while white-hair zombies were already covering the area Fang Yuan broke through. There were also five black-hair zombies pouncing upon Fang Yuan's group.
The two Gu Masters were shell-shocked.
"Follow me!" Fang Yuan shouted and charged towards the direction where Ding Hao was hiding.
The two Gu Masters couldn't think properly because of their fear and subconsciously followed Fang Yuan.
"Hmph, choosing to run towards me, hahaha, it seems even heaven wants you dead…" Ding Hao's lips curled up as he looked proudly towards two zombies beside him.
These two zombies were huge, with green hair covering their body. They were green-hair zombies which was stronger than black-hair zombies and could show a power equivalent to that of a thousand beast king during night!
Ding Hao was only able to raise these two during his many years in the mountain.
"Go." He willed and these two green-hair zombies immediately charged out.
Eighty steps later, they met Fang Yuan's group.
Fang Yuan met one head-on; even though he had strength of two boars and a crocodile, they were evenly matched and both were sent back several steps from the collision.
The two remaining Gu Masters battled the other green-hair zombie, but they were being pressured and the situation already looked dangerous.
"Let me help." Fang Yuan activated jumping grass and lept towards the battle.
The two Gu Masters were exulted and were about to express their thanks, but without warning, two spiral bone spears shot towards them.
Psh Psh... two piercing sounds determined the two Gu Masters' deaths.
"Eh?" Ding Hao had been observing the battle and seeing this unexpected change raised a huge doubt in his mind.
This distraction caused the two green-hair zombies to slow down.
The next words Fang Yuan spoke caused even more shock to Ding Hao.
Only to hear him shout: "Ding Hao, get out here!"