Chapter 1346: Assault on the Mountain

Chapter 1346: Chapter 1346: Assault on the Mountain

"Can you tell me who you are now?" Shan Cai Chen asked after finishing his previous statement.

"Pei Yan!" Confirming his suspicion about the mistake, Pei Yan happily revealed his name without hesitation.

"Pei Yan? You are the Pei Yan?" Due to needing to focus on his own cultivation, Shan Cai Chen hadn’t seen Pei Yan’s competitions, but his name frequently appeared in Su Fengchen’s reports about the situation, making it clear that the rise and fall of the White Deer Institute was closely tied to this person.

Thinking about this, Shan Cai Chen’s cloudy eyes flashed with cold light as he looked at Pei Yan and sneered, "I never thought that our millennia-old foundation at the White Deer Institute would be destroyed by someone like you."

"Don’t say it like that! If you hadn’t brought it upon yourselves, I wouldn’t have bothered to destroy you. You did this to yourselves; I merely accelerated the unveiling of the mystery! The rest has nothing to do with me. Of course, if you seek revenge, I don’t mind, but I think you might not survive today. Ahem! Honorable seniors, I’ve delayed long enough; isn’t it about time to begin?"

Boom! As soon as Pei Yan finished speaking, the towering mountains outside the White Deer Institute’s gate suddenly erupted inside out, and the Mechanical Puppet Insects, previously only the size of a finger, had absorbed the source energy from the Array Talismans in the mountains over time, expanding to the size of a brawny ox. When they unleashed the soil imbued with special source energy, they exploded out, shattering rocks and earth.

The collapse of the mountain resounded like a bugle for attack. While the opponent was momentarily stunned, Murong Longxiang of the Infinite Thunder Sect and Situ Maocai took the initiative. Murong Longxiang shouted, "Our sect’s thunder technique is the nemesis of evil creatures; these two evil dragons are ours to deal with."

Murong Longxiang chose the most suitable opponent for himself. No matter how much power these altered evil dragons possessed, they were ultimately dead entities trapped in their souls, greatly diminishing their strength. As long as he and his junior brother were careful during the fight, guarding against any manipulation from behind to avoid mutual destruction, the battle seemed unlikely to bring severe danger.

The two charged at the evil dragons while Jin He Xuan naturally went after his ancestors. He cared little for the fates of others, having come today merely as a spectator to witness the complete demise of the Dragon Breeding Institute’s remnants. However, as someone with the strength to fight from the Dragon Realm, he felt obligated to ease his ancestor’s suffering and set his soul to rest. After completing this, he intended to unleash his remaining fury upon the entire White Deer Institute.

No matter these three’s motives in choosing their opponents, the remaining seven faced only the four Supreme Elders of the White Deer Institute. In this moment, there’s no talk of honor or the rules of the Jianghu; the seven joined forces to assault them. Unfortunately for Chu Luochen, the Manor Lord of Celestial Sword Manor, as the other three sects comprised pairs of brothers attacking one person, he found himself fighting alone, which, although not causing defeat, was far from easy compared to others and could be described as perilous.

Seeing this, Wan Qianli, watching anxiously from outside the array, found himself powerless with his skills hovering around ordinary Heavenly Dao level but still below the supreme level. Wanting to join the battle but fearing he’d become a burden, he was fortunate that Wangchaizong, overseeing the field, discerned the problem. Following his signal, Zhao Mozhang, one of the Six Guards Army’s Supreme Generals, shouted and joined the battle, relieving the Manor Lord’s predicament.

A chaotic battle erupted in the sky, and simultaneously ground warfare commenced. The collapse shattered the Mountain Protection Array and left the White Deer Institute defenseless. Amidst falling debris and surprise attacks from giant Mechanical Puppet Insects, disciples previously guarding the mountain wall left behind corpses as they retreated to the sect’s second line of defense.

Simultaneously, leveraging the Mechanical Puppet Insects to clear the way, the Six Guards Army, under Wangchaizong’s command, bypassed the chaotic battlefield involving over ten supreme Heavenly Dao figures and launched a pincer attack on the White Deer Institute from both sides.

The collapsed stones across the mountain path posed no true obstacle for the Six Guards’ soldiers, generally at levels five to seven. They leapt like agile lynxes, swiftly and orderly advancing towards the institute’s inner court. Along the way, they encountered many injured White Deer Institute disciples unable to retreat. Left behind and facing the approaching army, these individuals chose to surrender, but met only with the Six Guards Army’s merciless blades.

From the moment the battle began, the White Deer Institute disciples had lost the option to surrender. Their fate rested solely on whether living could yield useful information, determined exclusively by the Embroidered Robe Envoys. Since those standing idly by, waiting to sweep the battlefield, hadn’t declared them worth sparing, the Six Guards strictly followed the Brigade Commander and higher-ups’ orders: annihilate the traitors, no exceptions.

With the Six Guards Army demolishing building after building within the White Deer Institute and killing resisting enemies inside, those inner court disciples gathering here extended the army’s advance by sacrificing their lives. This halted the army’s progress before the institute’s second line of defense.

Now facing the outer perimeter of the White Deer Institute’s inner court, breaking through this barrier meant reaching the core area—the place where the Space Passage ceremony was being held. The institute’s walls, previously not high, had been augmented through magical means into towering fortifications over thirty meters high. This posed a challenge as, despite the Anti-Air Array preventing air travel nearby, the Six Guards soldiers could scale the walls using their cultivation techniques. However, doing so exposed them to the White Deer Institute disciples’ attacks from atop the walls, leading to certain casualties.

At this point, the Six Guards Army could not afford to hesitate. With limited space preventing the deployment of siege weapons, the army opted for a direct assault. Upon reaching the mountain’s top, under the direction of their Brigade Commanders, they split into three waves. One, positioned at the rear, pulled out issued talismans and began chanting, releasing spells. The second wave, in the midst of the formation, prepared bows and arrows. The foremost troops, shielded by Mechanical Puppet Insects, commenced their assault on the walls.

Arrows carrying condensed source energy preceded the army’s arrival at the walls. These arrows, comparable to worldly siege crossbow bolts, whistled through the air, striking the inner court’s protective array. The source energy collision with the array created ripples, and under the array’s flickering light, eerie shadows ascended to the wall’s top.