The Battle Begins (Please Follow and Bookmark)

The sudden attack made Wang Ping and the others' eyelids twitch. Command flags immediately flew throughout the military camp, and the soldiers, who had just finished eating and had not even had time to digest, were jolted out of their comfort by the thunderous blast and military orders!

They began forming ranks, but they were painfully slow. Wang Ping heard the Shu County Deputy Magistrate and several officials shouting things like "rebellion." Perhaps deep down, they believed that only they could attack others; no one would ever dare attack them.

A Quarter Hour later, chaotic Footstep Sounds came from the Mountain Forest. A huge group of monsters rushed out from the road into the mountains and charged the foremost Sentry Tower, followed by several mobile catapults.

"They're moving forward to adjust their range. We have to stop them!"

When Guangxuan shouted, Wang Ping instinctively moved to rush out and stop them, but Xia Yao held him back. She said, "The situation is unclear. Charging out like this would be extremely dangerous. Who knows how many hidden arrows are waiting in the dark for us!"

She was right.

Guangxuan leaped into the camp and urged the Shu County Deputy Magistrate to gather soldiers to reinforce the Sentry Tower ahead. At the same time, he dispatched ten Qi practitioners from Sanhe Temple to provide support.

Seeing this, Wang Ping's impression of Guangxuan improved greatly. Though the man was steeped in worldly dealings, he acted without dragging his feet.

Over a hundred monsters quickly charged up to the chevaux-de-frise before the Sentry Tower. Quite a few were killed by arrows fired from the tower along the way, while a group of Militia wielding iron forks and round shields decisively stepped forward.

Every thrust of the Militia's iron forks wounded a monster, sometimes even killing one outright. Some monsters, unable to endure the harassment, tried to leap up and engage them at close quarters, only to be blocked by the shield wall formed from their round shields. Then all manner of weapons came crashing down on their heads.

It had to be said that the Militia's fighting style restrained the chaotic monsters well. The monsters were simply too tenacious, though. If there had been fewer of them, this group of Militia might really have held them back.

The scales of victory could tip in an instant. Watching the Militia be swallowed by Monsters and Spirits, Wang Ping silently recited the Calm Heart Incantation. At that moment, he somewhat admired the composure of those generals recorded in the history books.

Just as the Sentry Tower was about to fall, the Qi practitioners of Sanhe Temple suddenly arrived and halted the monsters' charge. Yet the catapults had already been set up on the nearby high ground, and the soldiers in the Sentry Tower beside Wang Ping and the others hurriedly sent out flag signals.

Below, military orders flew about in another frenzy. Two hundred armored soldiers had assembled in the center of the camp. At the command, they advanced at great speed to reinforce the battle at the Sentry Tower ahead, with three hundred Militia on each flank accompanying them as cover.

Wang Ping lightly nodded as he watched the marching formation below. Daoist Yucheng's Collection of Books recorded methods of marching and warfare. In cold-weapon battles, the finest soldiers had to be placed at the front, because warfare in the age of cold weapons depended on morale and formation. Once the front ranks collapsed, there was no need to continue the war.

But reality could sometimes be absurdly fantastical. The elites everyone believed in might be the biggest cowards of all. The two hundred armored soldiers had barely left the camp when whistling boulders crashed down from the sky. After two such volleys, these "elites" collapsed outright—and the Military Officers leading the formation were the first to break.

Some fled toward the pontoon bridge behind them, while others crashed into the Militia on the flanks!

"Deserters shall be beheaded according to military law!"

Guangxuan's voice rang through the formation, and he controlled his sword to slay several fleeing soldiers. But it was already too late. An army had to be put in order before battle, not at a critical moment in the war.

"Don't panic! We'll hold the line! Once we win this battle, we can divide up land and houses!"

At that critical moment, a vigorous man's voice rang out from the Militia. "They're only Lesser Demons. Haven't we killed plenty of them before? There are just a few more this time! Come on, like always—sing, move!"

Before long, local ballads rose with the advancing troops. The Militia formations on both flanks, which had nearly fallen apart, miraculously gathered again. Some armored soldiers were also infected by their spirit and regrouped in the central army.

"Something is wrong with them..."

Xia Yao spoke softly, then her gaze fell on the sentries before shifting to the foremost Sentry Tower.

Something truly was wrong. The government troops' collapse had been far too sudden.

The battle at the Sentry Tower ahead was already nearing its end. Two of Sanhe Temple's ten Qi practitioners had died, while the remaining few were covering one another as they retreated...

This sudden battle was about to enter its most crucial confrontation!

After the monsters seized the Sentry Tower, several hundred more Monsters wielding crude weapons sprang out from the Mountain Forest. Taking advantage of the higher ground, they formed ranks in the open space beside the tower and coldly watched the reinforcements advancing below.

"Are they planning to charge?"

The moment Feng Miao finished speaking, a dense roll of drums sounded from within the Mountain Forest. Driven by the drumbeats, the hundreds of monsters all roared and charged toward the formation of Militia.

"I'll go test the waters first!"

Feng Miao grabbed at the air with her right hand, and a jet-black Great Saber appeared in her grasp. In the next moment, she had already rushed down from the Sentry Tower. After a few leaps, flames flickered along her blade, and she plunged into the monsters' charging force.

As crimson flames surged upward, a roar erupted from the Mountain Forest. Then a massive pitch-black figure sprang out. As he leaped, the twin blades in his hands descended from the sky along the flow of spiritual energy, slashing toward Feng Miao's head.

Clang!

When the Metal Collision rang out, Wang Ping finally saw the black shadow clearly. It was disgusting. Its head was covered in wounds stitched shut with iron wire and thick with black bristles. Its mouth resembled a wolf's, but it too had been sewn shut with iron wire. It wore black armor all over, and even its nimble tail held a blade.

When Feng Miao blocked the monster's twin blades, the blade gripped in its tail swept toward her waist. Fortunately, Feng Miao reacted with incredible speed and withdrew in time. Yet that withdrawal gave her opponent a vast opening to attack. What followed would be a storm of furious assaults.

At that moment, Guangxuan in the rear seized the opportunity and committed over half the Qi practitioners to the battle, weakening the charge launched by the several hundred monsters. Wang Ping spotted people from Thousand Wood Temple among them, including Wang Kang. His cultivation was insufficient, so he stood at the rear of the attacking formation.

Seeing this, the Monsters on the other side no longer held back. Dozens of heavily armored monsters of all kinds sprang from the Mountain Forest. Each was shrouded in Demonic Qi, and most wielded spiked maces.

In this world, Monsters underwent Shapeshifting due to the influence of spiritual energy, not as a result of cultivation. After Shapeshifting, some became wildly frenzied, while others became calm. Only a small number could continue sensing spiritual energy and cultivate further. Most could only live as they had before Shapeshifting, merely becoming somewhat smarter.

Behind those monsters stood a human. Demonic Qi also billowed from his entire body, and an additional pair of arms had been grafted beneath his original ones. Four long blades danced like tigers in the wind in his hands, two of which circled around him in a fierce gale stirred by Demonic Qi.

"Another Qi practitioner driven into a corner who chose to become a demon..."

Xia Yao sighed and formed a hand seal for a spell. Spiritual energy formed a faint, flickering barrier around her, and then she raised her sword to meet that strange human.

In the blink of an eye, the battlefield was filled with earth-shaking battle cries. The Militia formation raised their shields and stopped the charge of several hundred monsters!

Wang Ping looked toward the end of the mountain road and thought, The Mountain God of North Mountain hasn't appeared yet, has he?

North Mountain's Mountain God was a Tiger Demon. Fifty years ago, he had accepted the Xia Kingdom's investiture and taken charge of the Group of Demons in North Mountain. At the time, his cultivation had been about equal to that of an ordinary human Qi practitioner.

With North Mountain in such chaos, that Mountain God definitely could not be uninvolved.

As Wang Ping thought this, he also prepared to act, intending to help Feng Miao deal with her opponent first before the two of them reinforced the other battlefields. But at that moment, a strange shriek came from the sky. A gigantic Eagle dived straight toward the Militia formation, and a Shapeshifting Tiger Demon rode upon its back.

By the looks of it, that was the Mountain God people spoke of.

At the same time, a piercing Breaking Void Sound descended from above the Clouds. Secret Method Cultivators were fighting there!