Chapter 684: Sword Cry

Chapter 684: Chapter 460: Sword Cry

A great battle was on the verge of breaking out when a message arrived from Cui Dong City. Fang Qingyuan had told him he would arrive early, but had not contacted him since. For Cui Dong City to wait until now to inquire showed considerable composure.

Fang Qingyuan used his Divine Sense to connect with the Token in his robes. Its function was similar to the Unity Hammer from before; a pair of them could be used to exchange messages, but its range was limited to within a hundred li.

The Token was now vibrating, which meant Fang Qingyuan was within a hundred li. This fact alone was enough to put Cui Dong City at ease.

Cui Dong City’s message on the Token was direct: he asked that when Bear Wind made his move, he would do so according to Cui Dong City’s requests.

It was a reasonable request. After Fang Qingyuan used his Divine Sense to reply in the affirmative, the Token went silent.

This exchange went unnoticed, and Fang Qingyuan had the leisure to observe the nearby Cultivators.

Most of the Cultivators wore wooden expressions, apparently accustomed to such scenes. Only some of the younger faces betrayed any nervousness, clearly unaccustomed to a grand formation of several thousand people.

Some were afraid and others were excited, but all these varied emotions were overshadowed by the hundred-zhang-long body of the mirage dragon above.

The massive mirage dragon circled above the Illusion Sword Alliance’s six-thousand-strong army formation. At a time like this, the feelings of any single individual within the army were irrelevant.

Cui Dong City finally revealed himself. He was positioned at the very center of the army formation, the Mirage Dragon Banner standing tall beside him.

Next to Cui Dong City stood a withered old man: Cui Yuanchen, the current Alliance Leader of the Illusion Sword Alliance.

Cui Yuanchen’s face was pale. The continuous wars over the years had taken their toll, even on a Golden Core Cultivator like him. He was at the Mid-stage Golden Core, his Cultivation Realm lower than Cui Dong City’s.

But with Nascent Soul Ancestors presiding over them, one’s Cultivation Realm was no longer the top priority. As the Alliance Leader of the Illusion Sword Alliance, he simply had too much to worry about.

“Have you contacted our reinforcement?”

Beneath the massive banner, Cui Yuanchen asked in a low voice. Cui Dong City, his mind still focused on the circling mirage dragon above, answered quickly:

“He has arrived, though I don’t know his exact location yet. But he isn’t the type to go back on his word. We signed a contract; if he reneges, he’ll suffer the consequences.”

“Sigh… It is a helpless situation, but what could either of us do? From now on, you must walk this path alone.”

After this brief lament, Cui Yuanchen gently caressed the Bronze Oil Lamp hidden in his robes, his expression a mixture of complex emotions.

Cui Dong City looked as if he wanted to speak but held back, ultimately forcing himself into a state of deliberate calm.

There was no one else near them, but even so, some things could not be spoken aloud. Some issues are insignificant when ignored, but once brought to light, they carry an unbearable weight.

As time passed, the distant eight-thousand-strong army of the White Mountain Sword Sect advanced before the Sharp Gold Alliance’s Land Realm.

Many Cultivators from the White Mountain Sword Sect were in disbelief, faced with the Sharp Gold Alliance uncharacteristically gathering their army in formation.

For the past decade, the Sharp Gold Alliance had always adopted a passive, defensive strategy. Aside from a few direct confrontations at the very beginning, the conflict had been a tedious war of attrition.

‘Could it be that today we fight to the death?’

The thought flashed through the minds of many Cultivators. After the initial excitement, what followed was mostly relief. They had had enough of these days.

“Five Elements Sword Array, activate!”

Without any needless words, a command rang out from the White Mountain Sword Sect’s formation. The five Five Elements Sword Pillars, borne on the backs of giant, humped tortoises, rose into the sky in unison. They transformed into five colossal sword phantoms, each some fifty zhang in length, carving profound arcs through the air as they smashed down toward the distant Sharp Gold Alliance formation.

In the distance, a golden Magic Sword materialized above the Sharp Gold Alliance’s formation and forcefully blocked the blow.

The Cultivators of the Illusion Sword Alliance watched this scene with great excitement. Yet, accompanying this brilliant spectacle, the faces of many Cultivators within the eight-thousand-strong formation suddenly turned deathly pale.

“Quick, take your Qi Recovery Elixirs! Don’t resist the Command Flags as they draw upon your Magical Power! Hold on!”

Shouts of encouragement and coercion erupted from every corner of the White Mountain Sword Sect’s ranks. The price for such a mighty blow was that many Cultivators were completely drained of their Magical Power. But even so, the Myriad Phenomena Sword Array was not satisfied; it craved still more.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Five consecutive booms announced the official start of the battle.

While the White Mountain Sword Sect clashed with the Sharp Gold Alliance, the Illusion Sword Alliance was not idle. They launched a fierce assault on the “turtle shell” defenses of the Thick Earth Alliance. However, the giant mirage dragon was ill-suited for storming fortifications. Against the great defensive array deployed by the Thick Earth Alliance, the battle between the two sides seemed more like a perfunctory exercise.

It was nothing like the fight between the White Mountain Sword Sect and the Sharp Gold Alliance. Fueled by new grudges piled on old hatreds, as well as an ideological conflict over the path of the Sword Dao, both sides were desperate to annihilate the other. There was no way they would hold back.

Thus, they unleashed their True Fire from the very beginning, making for an exceptionally explosive scene.

After another violent clash of the giant swords, a swath of miscellaneous-path Cultivators on the fringes of the White Mountain Sword Sect’s formation collapsed in silence.

Their bodies were withered and dry. All their Magical Power and life essence had been utterly drained by the Command Flags in their hands, turning them into expendable fuel for the White Mountain Sword Sect.

“Ah, I can’t take it anymore! I want to go home!”

A despairing cry rang out, but in the next instant, a sharp flash of sword light streaked past, and the Cultivator who had broken down was instantly decapitated.