Chapter 610 - 554: Turtle Shell, Meeting

Chapter 610: Chapter 554: Turtle Shell, Meeting

As the camps were established, the war fell into a stalemate of repeated bombardments.

It seemed monotonous, but the amount of Spirit Stones being consumed each moment was astronomical. An ordinary Golden Core Clan, even if it exhausted its entire treasury, couldn’t last for more than a few minutes in a war like this.

—Wars of attrition were always like this: a contest of foundations and resources, lasting until the moment the balance was finally broken.

"WOOOOO—"

A Horn sounded from within the Heroic Pass once again. The beast tide, which had been showing signs of scattering, swiftly regrouped to launch a counterattack against the Spiritual Boats.

Seven or eight Golden Core Great Demons led a massive flock of Demon Birds, a swarming, dark cloud that dove toward the Spiritual Boat belonging to Jinyun Valley. With their wings tucked in, they looked like a volley of colorful, sharp arrows!

"SCREE!"

The Little Chick perched on Chen Che’s shoulder disdainfully raised its head, flapped its wings, and let out an eagle’s cry.

Instantly, the swarm of Demon Beasts was like a cloud of flies on rotting meat that had been suddenly disturbed. The dense flock of Demon Birds scattered outwards with a WHOOSH. Some of the lower-Realm Demon Birds even lost control and plummeted from the sky, THUDDING onto the ground.

Even the leading Golden Core Demon Birds fled in a panic.

Only one pitch-black falcon, after a brief moment of panic, continued to swoop in at full speed.

Chen Che’s gaze shifted. He snapped the Wind and Cloud Fan in his hand shut, tossed it into the sky, and it transformed into a great rod. Like the Sea-Crossing Purple Gold Beam, it slammed down directly onto the creature’s back.

"CAW!"

Amidst its pained cry, a series of CRACKS and POPS erupted from the falcon’s body. It smashed violently into the ground with the speed of a meteor. With a tremendous BOOM, the earth caved in.

Meanwhile, the Little Chick, with Chen Che’s permission, flew out from the Spiritual Boat. It caught the slowest-fleeing Golden Core Great Demon and pinned it firmly to the ground with its talons. After pecking the creature’s skull open, it began to feast heartily.

Beaten back, the beast tide began to regroup in the distance at the sound of the Horn, looking as if they were preparing for another assault.

"Well, we’ve firmly established our footing now," Lu Yuntian said, scanning the surroundings. "All that’s left is to figure out how to break through this pass." Seventy to eighty percent of the beast tide was gone. The remainder posed no threat to the several hundred Golden Core Cultivators from the two sects.

Chen Che glanced over.

Across the vast grasslands, camps had already been set up in formation, directly facing the pass.

Unlike the Mist Rain Tower’s single-file formation, the allied sects’ encampment resembled a ’Plum Blossom Array’—each individual camp was centered on its respective Hall and spread out, ensuring that the firepower of each Hall could be concentrated.

The ’plum blossom’ formed by these camps, in turn, became the nucleus for unleashing their firepower.

Many Cultivators could also be seen, hastily constructing Arrays.

"It’s not that easy."

Chen Xi, who had been an Emperor in the Mortal World, immediately dampened Lu Yuntian’s optimism:

"Sieges are the hardest battles to fight. In the wars of the Mortal World, you might not be able to take a city even with a ten-to-one advantage in troops. If you can’t break through in a few days, it could take a year, or even three to five!"

"And that’s only if the enemy runs out of supplies..."

His words seemed to dampen their own morale while boosting the enemy’s. Zhao Shifeng, Xiao Chan, and Meng Changtu all frowned, looking as if they wanted to say something but held back.

Chen Xi added,

"The enemy also outnumbers us by thirty to forty percent; our only advantage is the number of Golden Core Cultivators. Cultivators are not like mortals. If the enemy is determined to drag this out into a war of attrition, there will be no end in sight."

No one wanted to fight a battle with no end in sight.

Cultivators were no different.

"That’s why the enemy spared no expense to build this pass right here!"

Chen Che took a step forward, placed one foot on the ship’s rail, and gazed into the distance.

’Even though the camps are built, the enemy’s Golden Core Cultivators still haven’t shown themselves. This is a very tricky situation. As long as they remain hidden, their presence is a deterrent, and it also prevents us Golden Core Cultivators from acting rashly!’

Turning around, Chen Che looked at Chen Xi.

"You’re the only one among us who has commanded large-scale wars. If it were you, how would you fight this battle?"

"The usual tactics: sow discord, induce surrender, create chaos behind enemy lines, or concentrate all our military might into a single point and force a breach."

Chen Xi stepped forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Chen Che. "But none of those methods will work here! And as long as their Golden Core Cultivators remain hidden, we’ll be stuck in this stalemate. It’s just a matter of who breaks first."

"The Star-Picking Sect’s Spiritual Boats are landing over there."

The elder withdrew his gaze.

Chen Che turned to look and, sure enough, saw Spiritual Boats descending on their right. Most of them, however, landed in front of the main encampment, serving as defensive fortifications.

"Let’s land as well!"

In just a few minutes, only a few dozen Spiritual Boats were left floating in the sky. Not wanting to be a sitting duck, Chen Che waved his hand.

The camps for Jinyun Valley and the Pill Hall were joined together.

The outermost layer was made of colossal rocks cut directly from the mountains of Chu State. Each rock was ten zhang high and four zhang thick, stacked to form watchtowers over a hundred zhang tall.

Behind the watchtowers were layers upon layers of stacked sandbags, followed by vast stretches of tents and simple dwellings.

Countless Crossbow Beds were arrayed up a slope, aimed directly at the distant Celestial River Mountain Range.

As they walked through the camp, their ears filled with the whistling of heavy crossbow bolts. Occasionally, a bolt would scrape against a defensive Array, sending a shower of sparks into the air before embedding itself deep in the ground. It truly felt like walking through the heart of a war zone.