The Formation Breaks, The Man Dies

Wang Daoyuan had read many books about Demonic Beasts, but he had never heard of any Demonic Beast possessing such peculiar spells. Those present were all common Demonic Beasts, with no unusual species among them.

The merchant caravan seemed to be stalling for time.

Although the caravan had far fewer people than the Demonic Beasts and was outnumbered, they held a decisive advantage in cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage. However, the Foundation Establishment cultivators of the caravan did not utilize their advantage to proactively attack and alleviate the pressure on their Qi Refining stage cultivators.

During the Demonic Beasts' first probing attack, the Foundation Establishment cultivators did not intervene at all. During the second probing attack, they only helped after the Demonic Beasts had already broken into the caravan formation. When the Demonic Beasts scattered and fled, they did not pursue them.

The cultivators ambushing east of Returning Goose Valley numbered over a thousand that Wang Daoyuan could see alone. Normally, the Demonic Beasts hid in the dense forests west of Returning Goose Valley, so the number of cultivators ambushing there should be even greater.

These people could have easily resolved the group of Demonic Beasts in the valley without any pressure. Their delay in acting was likely because they considered the prey too insignificant.

With too little information, Wang Daoyuan couldn't deduce much. He decided to stop thinking and focus on observing the battle, waiting for the moment the mystery would be revealed.

In the valley, the Demonic Beasts, having failed for the second time, were naturally unwilling to give up and were preparing for a third assault.

A Black Eagle let out a cry in the air and dived straight towards the caravan formation, followed closely by over a thousand other Flying Beasts.

Given the speed of the Flying Beasts, they would reach the caravan formation in at most five breaths. Compared to Ground Beasts, Flying Beasts were faster and more agile. Even a volley from Spirit Crossbows would hit only a few, and Talismans posed no threat to them.

This time, the caravan's Foundation Establishment cultivators stopped feigning ignorance. As the Black Eagle launched its charge, they all took action.

Eleven Foundation Establishment cultivators rushed forward, followed by eleven flying swords that shot into the sky, weaving through the flock of Flying Beasts and drawing trails of blood.

Colorful feathers rained down from the sky. Bodies of Flying Beasts, large and small, plummeted to the ground.

In just one breath, over a hundred Flying Beasts met their end by the swords. The numerous Flying Beasts were not foolish; they dared not charge directly at the Foundation Establishment cultivators and instead scattered in all directions, their fierce attack being neutralized once again.

Several second-tier Demonic Beasts naturally could not stand idly by. They roared and led all the Demonic Beasts in a charge. The Black Eagle also reorganized the Flying Beasts to harass the caravan cultivators and cover the ground beasts.

Seeing the Demonic Beasts launching a full-scale assault, the caravan immediately responded: a grey-robed cultivator engaged the Black Eagle in a one-on-one fight, while three other Foundation Establishment cultivators were dispatched to hold off the remaining three second-tier Demonic Beasts. The remaining seven Foundation Establishment cultivators were divided: four continued to slaughter the Flying Beasts, and three attacked the Demonic Beasts on the ground.

The Qi Refining cultivators were also not idle. They flipped open the roofs of the carriages, revealing the great weapons stored inside – giant Spirit Crossbows, identical to those mounted on the walls of Golden Goose City. Immediately after, the Qi Refining cultivators took out mid-grade Spirit Stones and installed them on the giant crossbows.

Wang Daoyuan, not skilled in Artifact Refining, couldn't discern the grade of these giant Spirit Crossbows, but he was certain that they were at least second-tier magical artifacts. Coupled with mid-grade Spirit Stones, these giant crossbows definitely had the ability to kill Foundation Establishment cultivators.

There were over twenty carriages, meaning over twenty giant crossbows. Originally, if the Demonic Beasts had swarmed, the caravan formation would have been breached. Now, with these giant crossbows, the outcome was still uncertain.

The Qi Refining cultivators quickly activated the giant crossbows, and over twenty beams of light, as thick as an arm, shot out, heading straight for the beast horde.

Instantly, the beams of light traversed a mile and pierced into the Demonic Beast horde. The Demonic Beasts, having learned from their first attack, did not cluster together but had dispersed.

However, with over two thousand Demonic Beasts gathered in the narrow valley, no matter how dispersed they were, they couldn't appear sparse.

As the over twenty beams of light approached, hundreds of Demonic Beasts were in the path of the light beams. Seeing the beams heading towards them, these hundreds of Demonic Beasts immediately dodged.

Unfortunately, compared to the beams of light, the Demonic Beasts were too slow. The foremost Demonic Beasts, just as they made a dodging motion, were pierced by the beams. Only those that were agile and positioned further back managed to escape.

The twenty-odd beams of light carved out over twenty passages through the beast horde, killing more than two hundred Demonic Beasts and causing a loss of over one-tenth of the beast horde.

The only drawback was that none of the second-tier Demonic Beasts died. However, they were also startled by these beams of light.

The only thing the Demonic Beasts could be thankful for was that a single mid-grade Spirit Stone could only power the giant crossbow for one shot. After the beams of light were fired, the Qi Refining cultivators immediately replaced them with new mid-grade Spirit Stones.

The replacement of the Spirit Stones took three breaths of time, during which the Demonic Beasts took the opportunity to charge forward. At their current speed, the giant crossbows could only fire two more shots. After these two shots, the Demonic Beasts would be able to break into the caravan formation.

Three breaths later, the second volley was fired. The beast horde was too close; except for the second-tier Demonic Beasts, they had no time to react before being directly killed by the beams of light. The beams of light once again carved out over twenty passages through the beast horde, and nearly four hundred Demonic Beasts perished.

Combined with the kills from the Foundation Establishment cultivators' flying swords, the Demonic Beasts were reduced to less than two thousand. The beasts were terrified, and some had already begun to flee. However, under the roars of the second-tier Demonic Beasts, the fleeing beasts returned to the horde, charging forward with gritted teeth.

Another three breaths passed, and the third wave of light beams arrived as expected. This time, the casualties among the Demonic Beasts were even greater, with over six hundred falling. The ground beast horde was left with just over a thousand, and the surviving beasts were on the verge of collapse.

The three rounds of volleys had completely shattered the Demonic Beasts' courage. Even though they were only one step away from the caravan formation, most of the Demonic Beasts still dared not jump in.

The ground beast horde hesitated and did not advance, while the Flying Beasts, on the other hand, pressed forward bravely. Neither the giant crossbows, the hand crossbows, nor the Talismans could inflict fatal damage on the Flying Beasts; what the Flying Beasts feared most were the flying swords of the Foundation Establishment cultivators.

However, after being slaughtered by the Foundation Establishment cultivators, the Flying Beasts became even more dispersed. Because they were flying, they were not restricted by the narrow terrain, and the over thousand Flying Beasts scattered everywhere. A single pass of a Foundation Establishment cultivator's flying sword through the flock of Flying Beasts could only kill one or two.

With their speed and agility advantage, the Flying Beasts easily broke into the caravan formation, killing people.

A Hawk at the peak of the first tier dived down. Its body shifted several times in the air, successfully dodging the light arrows shot by several small Spirit Crossbows and several Talisman attacks, before lunging at an elder.

Seeing the Hawk lunging at him, the elder dropped his Spirit Crossbow and was about to take out something to defend himself. Unfortunately, his speed was too slow, and the Hawk seized him by the crown of his head with one claw.

The Hawk released its claw, forcefully pushed off the elder's head, flapped its wings a few times, and flew back into the air.

On the elder's crown, four bloody holes appeared, and blood streamed down his face. The elder seemed unwilling to accept his fate, struggled a few times, and finally collapsed powerlessly.

Similar scenes were constantly unfolding within the caravan formation. Seeing the Flying Beasts slaughtering the caravan cultivators without any pressure, the Ground Beasts also regained a sliver of courage and charged into the caravan formation, joining the melee.

The situation was dire; the caravan had no hope of turning the tide. Under the combined assault of over two thousand Demonic Beasts in the open space, only death awaited them.

Soon, fewer than ten cultivators remained alive within the caravan formation. Even those who were alive were all heavily injured. Three of them took out Earth Escape Talismans and fled underground. The other cultivators did not have Earth Escape Talismans and, moments later, all died at the hands of the Demonic Beasts.