Spirit Cultivation Practitioners' attacks on the mind and spirit were silent and impossible to guard against.
For ordinary people to see an attack on the mind and spirit, it required a life-or-death struggle under conditions of extreme mental tension.
Psionic cultivators had it easier.
Whether it was the brain-forging transformation brought about by Innate Qi, or the Psionic Vision that came naturally with Solidified Daoist Arts, both could capture the trajectories and images of attacks on the mind and spirit.
Thus, the martial artists' nearly disastrous situation was stopped in its tracks!
The Hungry Ghost Scene released by Geng Liangchen had transformed half a neighborhood into a living hell. The crazed Dongyang soldiers, gripped by the terror and madness of having their flesh devoured, began attacking indiscriminately. The rhythm of the suppression was immediately thrown into disarray, exposing large areas of firepower gaps they could no longer cover.
A dozen seconds of firepower gaps.
A distance of several dozen meters.
For elite soldiers, that was enough to launch a charge and break through.
Not to mention this group of Qi Cultivation Practitioners whose physical functions had already surpassed those of ordinary humans.
"Charge with me! By the Immortal Master's Order, leave no one alive!" The one who stepped forward and roared was Zhao Jian. At that moment, he seemed like the Giant Spirit God descended to earth, his muscles stacked over his body like granite.
This Qi Cultivation Grand Completion muscle monster had had his defense and strength specialized by Lan Yi according to his talents. He looked just like a bronze statue in a temple.
Even when a dozen rifles fired at him in unison,
Zhao Jian did not even furrow his brow.
Conversely, if a Dongyang soldier fell into his hands, the sight of Zhao Jian—who could tear devils apart with superhuman strength—destroying human tissue would easily make one think of tearing paper or pulling noodles, such smooth and pliable things. The joints of bones and the connections between sinews and muscles were all ripped and wrenched apart by brute force!
Blood and courage were what martial artists never lacked.
The machine guns and artillery had all been tied down.
With the Vajra Zhao Jian charging across the battlefield like steel in front of them, and the mysterious, unfathomable pressure of the Immortal Master behind them, the martial artists—who already hated these Dongyang people, guilty of every murder, arson, and robbery, to the marrow—had their blood and courage fully roused. They immediately surged forward through the thinning hail of bullets!
The Dongyang front line was almost shattered in an instant.
Having lost the cover of the heavy machine guns and artillery,
the Dongyang soldiers, who had finished a round of rifle fire but had not yet had time to reload, were stunned to see ferocious, snarling Xinghan martial artists charging right up to them! These Dongyang soldiers, with their rigid minds, instinctively thrust the bayonets on their rifles forward!
Kill!!!
What happened when ordinary people clashed at close quarters with monsters like Qi Cultivation Practitioners?
The fate of a Bagua Sect martial artist offered the perfect illustration.
Facing the swift thrust of an ordinary man's bayonet, he relied on superhuman reflexes to sidestep with ease. With a turn of his hand, he removed the bayonet from the muzzle, then gripped it and followed through with a slash!
With a wet splurt, the bayonet forged from refined steel, enhanced by the martial artist's strength, sliced as smoothly and cleanly as cutting a cake, opening the chest of the Dongyang soldier who failed to react in time. The opened chest cavity, bones and all, spilled steaming organs all over the ground in an instant. The martial artist who brushed past him was already pouncing on his next target like a butcher.
The Dongyang soldier, staring blankly at his chest hanging wide open, felt the indescribable agony only as he died. But he no longer had the strength even to scream, and collapsed straight to the ground.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!!
"Ke ke ke ke! Dongyang devils, you're just scratching an itch for me!!"
Because of his robust physique, Zhao Jian had been targeted by several Dongyang soldiers. He bared his teeth in a feral grin. His body looked as heavy as a god-statue carving, yet possessed a terrifying burst of speed that defied common sense. Zhao Jian enthusiastically spread his arms and gave the four Dongyang soldiers before him an enthusiastic bear hug.
Crack!!
The strength of Qi Cultivation Grand Completion tightened in that embrace.
The four Dongyang soldiers, lifted directly into the air, instantly let out screams of agony. Their ribs, spines, and internal organs were crushed into meat paste as if run over by a heavy truck. Their eyes bulged bloodshot from their faces, and their extremely distorted features revealed how terrified and desperate they had been before death.
This was simply hell.
When the remaining Dongyang soldiers nearby saw Zhao Jian's ghost-god-like actions, they stood frozen for a second. Then they began fleeing without even looking back.
They fled without regard for anything.
They threw away their rifles, flung off their caps, and discarded their ammunition belts. They tossed away everything that hindered them and began scrambling over one another in their rout.
The Dongyang front line had collapsed.
The Dongyang officers cursed furiously. On a battlefield, once an army routed, its fate was to wait for death. They had once routed soldiers of the Qing Imperial Court and the Fist Cult, so they knew very well that routed soldiers facing bayonets and bullets were like cattle and sheep being driven along. Not to mention that what was driving them now was far more terrifying than bayonets and bullets.
Whoosh!
It was like a gust of wind, and also like a chill.
The soldiers running amid the rout suddenly became vacant-eyed. They forgot what they were doing and forgot where they were. Looking around in confusion, they seemed to feel some inescapable dust winding around them.
Their memories had broken.
The next moment, their heads drooped, and their memories were severed forever.
Huo Yuanjia's inconspicuous, illusory figure suddenly emerged behind them.
Lost Footsteps, Wither and Flourish, Parting and Abandonment.
Huo Yuanjia had also completed that step in battle as naturally as water flowing into a channel. His mind-and-spirit power was Dust of Selflessness. Applied to himself, it made people unconsciously overlook his existence—the kind where they would ignore him even if he stood right before their eyes. Applied to enemies, it caused large sections of their memories to temporarily go blank.
In a life-or-death struggle,
suddenly forgetting what you were doing or where you were, unable to distinguish the situation—let alone several minutes, even a few seconds was enough to die several times over.
The fleeing Dongyang soldiers were easily approached and had their necks snapped by Huo Yuanjia while still lost in confusion.
"Hm?"
Huo Yuanjia suddenly furrowed his brow.
A hungry ghost suddenly appeared beneath his feet. Drooling, its mouth stretched so wide that even its back teeth were exposed. Its eyes full of greed and longing, it abruptly sank its yellow, decayed teeth toward Huo Yuanjia.
The next moment, gray dust suddenly swirled.
The hungry ghost was instantly smashed to pieces by the dust.
Huo Yuanjia had been attacked by an assault on the mind and spirit. Geng Liangchen's Hungry Ghost Scene was unique. Huo Yuanjia was not the only martial artist affected by the Hungry Ghost Scene. Some Qi Cultivation Practitioners were also beset by hungry ghosts and were scrambling to hide in corners beyond the reach of Geng Liangchen's sight and perception.
Lan Yi had explained the attacks of Spirit Cultivation Practitioners on the mind and spirit to them: they had to see or sense a person in order to lock onto them.
"Geng Liangchen?"
"Zhao Jian, something's wrong with Geng Liangchen."
"I'll watch this place. Go check on him!" Huo Yuanjia shouted loudly. He suspected that something had happened to Geng Liangchen.
"Don't order me around!" Zhao Jian snapped unhappily. He had disliked Huo Yuanjia ever since childhood and had only recently reconciled with him. Even so, his body honestly ran toward Geng Liangchen's hiding place—the direction from which the greatest number of hungry ghosts were crawling out.