The Strange Battle

The beast horde and the merchant caravan were separated by only about two li. Even though the demonic beasts leading the charge were thick-skinned and not known for speed, they still possessed cultivation.

With spiritual power coursing through them, they could cover this distance and enter the Spirit Crossbow's range within twenty breaths.

The cultivators in the caravan held their Spirit Crossbows, aiming at the charging beast horde, ready to fire. After more than ten breaths, the beast horde was only a hundred zhang away from the caravan's formation.

The grey-robed cultivator shouted, "Fire!"

Over eighty cultivators simultaneously activated their Spirit Crossbows. The Spirit Stones mounted on the Spirit Crossbows flashed, and arrows of spiritual energy shot forth.

With over eighty arrows of spiritual energy shot into a horde of several hundred demonic beasts, it simply wasn't enough. Moreover, these demonic beasts were all thick-skinned.

The first volley only brought down five or six demonic beasts, and they were merely injured, with no demonic beasts killed.

However, these Spirit Crossbows could fire continuously. After the first volley of arrows, a second volley fell within half a breath. This time, the demonic beasts couldn't dodge in time, and more were injured, but still, no demonic beasts died.

The third and fourth volleys, as the distance between the two sides closed, the power of the arrow rain increased.

With the fifth volley of arrows, over twenty demonic beasts fell, and one black bear was precisely shot in the eye. The spirit arrow followed the eye socket, piercing into its back of the head, killing the black bear on the spot.

The sixth volley of arrows brought down over thirty demonic beasts, with five fatalities.

At this point, some demonic beasts that had comprehended innate spells began to retaliate with their own spells. However, their spells hitting the caravan's formation only made a sound and had no effect whatsoever.

Furthermore, using spells would slow down their charge, which was a terrible trade-off. The demonic beasts stopped their spell attacks and charged forward head-on.

After three more volleys of arrows, over a hundred more demonic beasts fell on the battlefield, with over thirty of them dead. The more than three hundred demonic beasts still capable of charging were all wounded.

The demonic beasts leading the charge had lost the will to fight and were fleeing in disarray.

The tenth volley of arrows, due to the chaotic movement of the demonic beasts, only brought down fifty-odd.

After the tenth volley of arrows, the Spirit Stones on the Spirit Crossbows were depleted of spiritual power and needed to be replaced. Replacing the Spirit Stones and re-activating the Spirit Crossbows required three breaths.

The demonic beasts took full advantage of this brief window, fleeing the Spirit Crossbow's kill zone at a speed faster than their charge, and even managing to rescue some of their injured comrades who had fallen.

After the caravan cultivators replaced the Spirit Stones, they continued firing, eliminating the severely injured demonic beasts that had fallen. After three volleys of arrows, all the severely injured demonic beasts were dealt with.

Less than half of the five to six hundred demonic beasts managed to retreat.

Four second-tier demonic beasts became enraged and dispatched over three hundred more beasts, such as leopards and wolves, which were known for their speed.

This attack learned from the previous failure. Instead of charging forward in a single mass, they dispersed and attacked from multiple directions.

As a result, the caravan cultivators' Spirit Crossbows could no longer fire in unison, forcing them to split up and deal with different enemies individually.

Although these demonic beasts were agile and the Spirit Crossbows couldn't fire in unison, resulting in few being hit, they lacked scales and tough hides. Once hit, they would either be injured and fall, or die.

As soon as the demonic beasts entered the Spirit Crossbow's range, casualties began to appear, though only a few demonic beasts lost their combat effectiveness.

The inability to fire in unison severely weakened the killing power of the Spirit Crossbows. Ten breaths later, the demonic beasts reached the caravan's formation, having suffered less than a hundred casualties.

The agile demonic beasts easily leaped over the outer carriages and broke into the ranks of the cultivators.

All the demonic beasts roared excitedly. Over two hundred demonic beasts had charged into the caravan's formation, while the caravan cultivators numbered only about eighty.

The space within the caravan formation was narrow, with no room to maneuver, forcing them into close combat.

Demonic beasts' physical bodies were far stronger than human cultivators of the same tier, and they had an absolute numerical advantage. Under normal circumstances, it would not take more than fifteen minutes for the human cultivators to be completely wiped out.

The family cultivators ambushing near the small hill became restless, with Wang Daoxing even preparing to shout and charge out to help.

However, experience trumped youth. Wang Shouye, having anticipated this, grabbed him. There was a vast gap in their cultivation and combat abilities, rendering Wang Daoxing unable to even move.

Wang Daoyuan immediately covered his mouth to prevent him from shouting.

Seeing the unrest among the group, Yang Zhiyuan transmitted his voice again, "Those who move rashly will die!"

At this moment, inside the caravan formation in the valley, the sounds of spell collisions erupted one after another, with flashes of various colors appearing continuously.

Dust and smoke obscured the sky, making it impossible for those outside the caravan formation to see the situation within. The Foundation Establishment cultivators in the air also continuously attacked the demonic beasts, but their efforts were largely ineffective.

Fifteen minutes passed, and the battle continued, with more and more demonic beasts fleeing the formation.

Another half an hour passed, and the battle was essentially over. The dust and smoke dissipated, and everyone could finally see the outcome of the battle.

Within the small caravan formation, the ground was covered with demonic beast corpses, with a rough estimate of over a hundred bodies.

The caravan side also suffered heavy losses. Out of over eighty cultivators, thirty were killed, and twenty were injured, ten of whom were severely wounded and unable to fight any longer.

Neither the demonic beasts nor the surrounding ambushing forces expected such a result.

Wang Daoyuan, however, began to understand. The ground around the caravan formation was littered with shredded paper. From his professional perspective, these were likely fragments of talismans. Some cultivators even had Golden Armor Talismans affixed to them, with phantom images of golden armor surrounding their bodies.

Conservatively estimating, the battle just fought consumed over five thousand talismans. On average, each cultivator had used over sixty talismans.

Over sixty talismans were not much for Wang Daoyuan, but he was a Talisman Master, so it was normal for him to have many talismans. However, for cultivators who did not know Talisman Crafting, they typically wouldn't have more than twenty talismans on them.

First, everyone had a Spirit Crossbow, then thousands of talismans, and the carriages themselves were specially reinforced and indestructible. The configuration of this caravan was excessively luxurious.

Wang Daoyuan found it somewhat strange, as the battle before him was filled with peculiarities:

This caravan in the valley was clearly bait to lure the demonic beasts. The purpose of bait was only to catch fish; once the fish took the bait, the bait itself lost its value.

Why would the Netherworld Sect spend such a great price to arm this bait? The Netherworld Sect was an evil sect, not a charity, and would not spend such a huge price to protect bait that had no further value.

Furthermore, the behavior of these demonic beasts was also extremely bizarre. First, the demonic beasts used the black gale to conceal their spells and increase their spell damage range; then they sent out thick-skinned demonic beasts to launch a probing attack; after the probe failed, they accurately judged the weakness of the Spirit Crossbow's synchronized fire and changed their tactics, successfully turning the assault into a melee.

This series of operations completely exceeded the intelligence level of demonic beasts and even reached the level of an excellent human commander.

Demonic beasts of the second tier and above all possessed innate spells, whether for strengthening their bodies or for ranged attacks. However, this black gale, with its immense power and long range, and its ability to increase spell damage range, was definitely not something an ordinary demonic beast could possess.