Yellow Turban Warriors!

Seeing this, Ling Xiao slowly curled his lips into a bloodthirsty smile. "You've come at just the right time!"

He knew full well that if he could wipe out the Burning Flame Guard in this battle, his prestige in the army would rise another step.

The Burning Flame Guard was an elite force of the Yantian Sect. Every last one of them was a death soldier, trained in the Quick Success Cultivation Method, and not one had weak cultivation.

Just as Ling Xiao was about to give the order to charge without hesitation, another deputy general quietly approached and whispered in his ear, "Your Highness, His Majesty contacted me. It seems he wants to know what you plan to do next..."

Ling Xiao's pupils contracted slightly.

This deputy general was actually the Thousand-Faced Illusion Lord in disguise!

Ling Cangqiong had always believed he had subdued the Thousand-Faced Illusion Lord long ago. He never realized that the moment the man infiltrated the Nine Nether Sect, a control spell had already been planted in him...

"That old bastard. Hmph!" Ling Xiao snorted, a sinister glint and a calculating look flashing in his eyes. He asked impatiently, "Where's my big brother?"

"Where's my big brother?" he pressed again.

At that moment, he suddenly asked about Ling Tian's whereabouts.

The deputy general disguised as the Thousand-Faced Illusion Lord shuddered. He grunted, and strange Black Mist rose in his pupils as he slowly replied, "The First Prince... is at Falling Phoenix Slope..."

"Falling Phoenix Slope?" Ling Xiao lightly twirled the tip of his spear, a meaningful smile curling his lips. "What a fine place."

By then, the Blazing Heaven Guard had already charged toward them in a furious wave.

Yet the sharp-eyed Ling Xiao instantly realized that this group of Burning Flame Guard was not truly an elite force.

"Change formation. Crane Wing Formation." Ling Xiao gave the order.

In an instant, three thousand iron-armored soldiers moved as one, swiftly spreading out. The Heaven Dipper Battle Array transformed into a colossal iron crane, wings spread as if poised to take flight.

Amid the tense situation, no one noticed Ling Xiao's left hand, held behind his back, quietly forming a strange incantation: the Soul Guiding Seal!

Then he suddenly raised his spear high, and a blood-red command arrow shot straight into the sky.

It looked like a signal for the entire army to charge. But hidden within the arrow, the Nine Nether Soul Guiding Curse had already slipped silently into the bodies of every soldier in the Burning Flame Guard.

"Kill!"

At his command, the two armies collided.

Just then, something strange happened. The Burning Flame Guard, who should have been ferocious beyond compare, suddenly slowed down. Black markings gradually surfaced beneath their crimson armor.

The Black Armored Army in the front ranks thrust their spears into the enemy formation, cutting through it as if there were no one there!

"His Highness is mighty!" Seeing this, the soldiers cheered, their voices ringing through the heavens.

Ling Xiao only sneered inwardly.

Under the control of the Nine Nether secret technique, the Burning Flame Guard were following his lead and "fleeing" toward Falling Phoenix Slope.

Thirty miles east of the battlefield lay Falling Phoenix Slope.

At that moment, Ling Tian was locked in a bitter fight there.

The Blood Wolf Mercenary Group had trapped the Three Venerables beside him in a formation, while Ling Tian himself had been forced to the edge of a cliff. His situation was perilous.

Suddenly, earth-shaking cries of battle came from the distance. The group of "fleeing" Burning Flame Guard was charging madly in his direction!

"Big brother, watch out!" Ling Xiao's voice, mingled with the din and chaos of the battlefield, carried all the way to Ling Tian.

Before Ling Tian could react, the Burning Flame Guard pretending to "flee" suddenly blew themselves up all at once, like a band of fanatical martyrs.

A destructive force erupted in an instant. Blood Mist billowed like a raging tide, and terrifying shock waves swept in every direction. Wherever they reached, many cultivators from the Blood Wolf Mercenary Group and the forces beside Ling Tian vanished in an instant, reduced to dust.

The Blood Mist churned violently, like the gaping maw of a fiendish demon.

Through that blood-curdling haze, three dark figures shot out like ghosts, aiming straight for Ling Tian's heart.

In the blink of an eye, the Nine Nether Sect's Soul Severing Stab was only three inches from Ling Tian's chest!

The Nine Nether poison coating the Soul Severing Stab glimmered with a frigid, dark light. Its edge was razor-sharp, and it had already lightly cut through the front of Ling Tian's robe.

Every assassin of the Nine Nether Sect had reached the ninth level of the Divine Vault. Their power was terrifying beyond compare.

"Bang!"

At the critical moment, the pouch at Ling Tian's waist burst open like a volcano that had been building toward eruption.

Golden light burst forth, brilliant as the rising sun, illuminating the battlefield shrouded in Blood Mist.

The mysterious seeds Chen Lin had given him suddenly transformed into Yellow Turban Warriors at this moment of life and death.

Their towering bodies rose from the ground like five golden peaks, firmly guarding Ling Tian at the center.

One, two, three, four, five!

"What is this..." Ling Tian's pupils contracted sharply as five mysterious golden marks suddenly appeared in his Spiritual Sense.

In that fleeting instant, it was as if inspiration had struck him. He stirred his thoughts and barked, "Crush them!"

The three assassins at the ninth level of the Divine Vault had clearly been caught completely off guard by this sudden turn of events. They were sent flying.

True Fire, as if drawn from the very heart of the sun, coiled around the Yellow Turban Warriors. Every heavy step they took cracked the ground like an earthquake.

The Yellow Turban Warrior at the front abruptly swung its enormous palm at the assassin on the left. The blow held world-shattering force. Air compressed beneath its hand, forming ripples clear enough to see.

The assassin on the left did not even have time to scream before he was slapped into the cliff wall like a rag doll.

His entire body was embedded deep in the rock. His bones were shattered, and all life had left him.

Seeing this, the assassin on the right knew something was terribly wrong. His body instantly turned into a cloud of black smoke as he tried to escape certain death.

But the second Yellow Turban Warrior was ready. It opened its mouth and spat out a stream of golden flame.

The fire seemed alive, curling nimbly around the cloud of smoke and forcibly refining it back into human form.

Trapped within a web of golden flames, the assassin let out a heart-rending howl. His skin cracked away inch by inch before his eyes, and in barely a moment, he had become a charred skeleton.

The assassin in the middle was the most cunning. Seeing that the situation had turned against him, he suddenly conjured a Ghost Face Shield, trying to withstand the attack crashing down like the collapse of heaven and earth.

But the third Yellow Turban Warrior was utterly undaunted. It did not dodge. Its bowl-sized fist roared with wind and thunder as it slammed down with the force of a thunderbolt.

With a crack, the Ghost Face Shield shattered like fragile glass.

The punch's remaining force tore straight through the assassin's chest, carrying his shattered heart out through his back. His eyes widened in disbelief, and then he slowly fell.

From elsewhere on the battlefield, Ling Xiao watched it all unfold, unable to keep a flicker of surprise from rising in his heart.

"What kind of method is this?" he wondered. "It seems my scheme failed this time."