Chapter 540 - 461: An Era of Great Contention (Part 2)

This in itself was the greatest acknowledgment Bai Yuan could receive.

In a hundred years, the Northern Garrison Army had only recognized three Grand Generals.

Xu Dingchun, Dong Wanjun, and then Bai Yuan.

Although Bai Yuan's official title wasn't Grand General of the North, he was Dong Wanjun's disciple and Xu Dingchun's grand-disciple. That alone was enough.

Moreover, in these last two major battles, Bai Yuan had led from the front, and his kill count surpassed everyone else in the army.

On the battlefield, that was the ultimate morale booster.

He didn't even need to do anything else. In the eyes of the soldiers, he was already their Grand General.

Bai Yuan walked up onto the Great Wall.

He saw Yang Fangyu directing the soldiers to re-establish their defenses.

Yang Fangyu was a veteran of the Northern Garrison Army. Everyone knew him, so he commanded with practiced ease.

Everything was proceeding in an orderly manner.

Bai Yuan walked to Yang Fangyu's side. "Have you tallied the number of barbarians and members of the Demon Race who died below the wall?"

Yang Fangyu grinned proudly.

"Tallying our own losses is easy, but counting the enemy's is much harder. Still, since you're the one asking, Ah Yuan, consider it done."

He swallowed.

The battle had raged for days, and he'd been holding his post on the Great Wall without a sip of water for three days and three nights.

Even a Sensing Martial Artist would feel parched.

Bai Yuan took a crystal-blue pill from his robes and tossed it to Yang Fangyu. Yang Fangyu swallowed the pill without a moment's hesitation.

Given his friendship with Bai Yuan, he wasn't the least bit worried it would harm him.

Soon, his eyes lit up.

A cool sensation spread from his throat, and the feeling of dryness vanished instantly. The effect was long-lasting, and his energy was significantly restored.

Yang Fangyu smiled. "Across the two battles, a total of three thousand barbarians and five thousand members of the Demon Race have died."

Eight thousand!

That was a staggering number.

Don't be fooled by the historical records that casually mention slaughtering a hundred thousand enemies or burying a million alive.

In reality, aside from a great deal of exaggeration, most of those casualties didn't come from direct combat. The largest numbers came after a total rout: soldiers trampled to death in the chaos, or those who threw down their arms and fled into the mountains, only to be counted among the dead.

So, eight thousand was already a significant number.

Moreover, all eight thousand of them possessed the strength of Martial Artists.

That was even more terrifying.

Bai Yuan's brows furrowed slightly.

'What is he really trying to do?'

These two battles were tantamount to suicide for the Celestial Heart Sect, both in terms of tactics and actual results.

Yang Fangyu also gazed deeply to the north.

"All we can do is be fully prepared."

...

"Should we launch a third assault?"

The Tianxin Sect Leader stared at Mo Tian, his face devoid of expression.

For him, launching a war required only a single command. These barbarians and the Demon Race would then fight to the death for their faith.

This was also the most terrifying thing about the Celestial Heart Sect.

This was the reason why, of the Demon Sect's two great branches, the Soul-Chasing Tower had been able to exist in Xuan Yang for ages while the Celestial Heart Sect was completely driven from the Northern Desert. It was because the Soul-Chasing Tower was merely an organization of assassins.

No matter how formidable, it couldn't cause much of a stir.

But the Celestial Heart Sect was different. Its ability to bewitch the hearts of the people was too powerful; it could even shake the very foundations of Xuan Yang.

Therefore, the emperors of Xuan Yang had, for generations, regarded the Celestial Heart Sect as a dire threat.

Mo Tian inhaled the scent of blood that permeated the air.

A morbid excitement showed on his face.

"It's enough. It's enough," Mo Tian said.

The next instant, he sat cross-legged on the ground in a meditative posture, a faint red glow appearing around him.

The Tianxin Sect Leader watched the scene dispassionately.

His ancient face, which had been placid for a century, showed a rare flicker of shock.

'The Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Array?!'

Mo Tian's lips curved upward slightly. "So you recognize it."

The Tianxin Sect Leader stared fixedly at Mo Tian, unwilling to miss a single detail.

It was because the Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Array had been lost for several millennia.

Previously in Dingzhou, the Celestial Heart Sect had deployed a blood array, but that array was merely an imitation of the Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Array.

But the Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Array was created by the Demon God himself.

No matter how the masters of the Demon Sect tried to imitate it in later generations, their creations could never compare to the true Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Array.

The Tianxin Sect Leader had dedicated his entire life to restoring the Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Array.

He had never, ever imagined that he would witness Mo Tian perform the original, most authentic version of the Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Array.

"One bone falls, ten thousand spirits rise. I beseech the Demon God to purify the people of this world..."

A sound like the chanting of a Demon God came from Mo Tian's mouth.

As time passed, the sound of his chanting grew louder, until it echoed throughout the surrounding mountains for three miles around.

Countless Celestial Heart Sect followers had gathered here.

Upon hearing the chant, countless followers knelt in unison, their expressions pious and solemn.

The Tianxin Sect Leader's eyes became fanatical.

He, too, placed his right hand on his chest and slowly knelt.

"Supreme Demon God, purify the people of this world!"

Soon, a roar with the force of a landslide tore through the sky, so loud that even the Northern Garrison Army, far away on the Great Wall, could hear it.

...

「On the Great Wall.」

Bai Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly.

He had, of course, sensed the commotion over there, but the distance was too great, and he couldn't see what was happening.

Suddenly, a scorching heat flared in his chest.

Bai Yuan stared intently at his chest. 'The Divine Palace Profound Soldier is warning me!'

This meant that a power at or above the Divinity level had locked onto him.

'Is it the Tianxin Sect Leader?'

'Is he going to make a move?'

Bai Yuan's thoughts raced.

But through some unseen connection, he quickly determined that his attacker was not the Tianxin Sect Leader.

There was not a trace of panic in his eyes.

'Since I've come to the Great Wall, I naturally have a way to deal with the Tianxin Sect Leader.'

The distant sound grew ever more immense. At the very instant it reached its peak...

A pillar of bloody light, a thousand feet wide, shot into the sky.

The pupils of the Northern Garrison Army soldiers on the Great Wall contracted as one.

Yang Fangyu's face was a mask of disbelief as he watched. He murmured, "What kind of power is this?"

A feat of this magnitude was far beyond his imagination.

The next instant.

A colossal figure slowly emerged from the pillar of bloody light.

It had the appearance of an unnervingly strange young man, but it stood a full three hundred feet tall—a horrifying sight.

Chaos erupted on the Great Wall.

The soldiers of the Northern Garrison Army feared neither death nor the ferocious experts of the Demon Sect, but the colossal Blood Glow Giant before them was simply beyond their comprehension.

Humans are always most terrified of the unknown.

Bai Yuan stood silently on the Great Wall.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

At that moment, the Blood Glow Giant was staring right at him.

BOOM!

A heaven-shattering BOOM shook the mountain forests. It was a scene of apocalyptic destruction. The Blood Glow Giant was striding toward the Great Wall.

Yang Fangyu grit his teeth.

"Anyone who abandons their post will be executed without mercy!"

The moment he finished speaking, a thousand Battle Commanders drew their weapons with a collective SHIING.

Yang Fangyu suppressed the terror in his heart.

He raised his right hand high, then swung it down sharply.

"Fire!"

Countless arrows flew in a volley toward the Blood Glow Giant. But then, a bizarre scene unfolded: the arrows passed straight through the giant's body and landed in the forest beyond.

"How is that possible?"

Yang Fangyu stared in shock at the arrows falling into the forest.

'The Blood Glow Giant can ignore physical attacks?'

'How the hell are we supposed to fight this!'

Immunity to physical attacks meant that nearly every tactic the Northern Garrison Army had was useless.

For a moment, Yang Fangyu was completely at a loss.

The Blood Glow Giant's movements seemed slow, but its sheer size meant each step covered a hundred meters. In just a few breaths, it had reached the base of the Great Wall.

Slowly, it raised its fist.

BOOM!

An earth-shattering explosion erupted.

With a single punch, the Blood Glow Giant blasted a hole in the formidable Great Wall!!

"This..."

Yang Fangyu, the old patriarch, and Sang Fu stared at the collapsed section of the wall nearby, speechless for a long time.

They had no way of dealing with such a heaven-defying power.

Not unless a Divinity Grandmaster intervened.

Yang Fangyu turned to Bai Yuan. "Our only choice is to ask for Grand General Xu's help."

That's right.

Xu Dingchun was their trump card.

The last time Bai Yuan went to Ximo, it wasn't just to fight a battle there. He had also brought something back.

That was the Northern Garrison Army's true ace in the hole.

But what surprised Yang Fangyu even more was—

Bai Yuan slowly shook his head.

"Not yet."