Heavenly Thunder Defense

It still wanted to go after another enemy, but Zeng Feixiong brought his blade down and hacked off half its head. Only then did the spirit warrior turn to flying ash.

Faced with such a fierce foe, the Blackwater City troops had no fight left in them and hurried back. After all, they had been ordered to explore, not to fight to the death.

He Chunhua weighed the situation. Even if he could win, it would be a bitter victory. Besides, the enemy commander still looked full of vigor; taking on another twenty or thirty men alone seemed no trouble for him!

Sun Fuping seemed to see the worry in his heart. "Don't worry. As long as you call upon your fortune, you can hold out for a long time."

By now, Zeng Feixiong had led the remaining troops back into formation. His left arm had been slashed, and the whole limb was nearly hanging off, yet he seemed not to notice. He simply raised his blade to the sky and roared, "With one heart and one mind, we defend Great Yuan!"

Everyone roared together, "With one heart and one mind, we defend Great Yuan!"

The beast-head atop the staff suddenly blazed with light.

It was pale green, touched with gold, yet it made the resentful spirits nearby stop their pursuit and raise their hands to shield their eyes, as if the light were blinding. Their mounts tossed their heads and swished their tails uneasily, stamping their hooves.

This was the fortune of the homeland, carried by the Kite Coins attached to He Chunhua's staff and drawn forth by the State Preceptor!

It was the faith and shared resolve gathered from the life force of every living person in Qiansong Prefecture, now blending with and bolstering the morale of Zeng Feixiong and the other prefectural soldiers. In an instant, it transformed into a mighty, righteous force!

If those dozen or so enemies had been ordinary resentful spirits, rather than spirit warriors who had fought a hundred battles in life, the light would have annihilated them on the spot.

Zeng Feixiong turned and shouted at Situ Han, "Why aren't you shouting?"

Situ Han was taken aback. "We... we have to, too?"

"You've been enlisted in the Blackwater Garrison. You're one of us now, no longer bandits or wandering raiders!"

So their enlistment had been for real? With life and death on the line, Situ Han turned and gave an order. His men joined the main force in shouting the battle cry.

With several dozen more people joining in, the change in quantity finally sparked a change in quality.

The beast atop the staff dimmed its radiance, then suddenly threw back its head and roared at the sky.

A glowing green orb flew from its mouth. It swelled in the wind, becoming a great green bird more than five zhang tall, with a high crest, brilliant tail feathers, and a graceful form.

It circled once above the crowd, then shot upward into the clouds.

This was the divine beast that gave Great Yuan its name, the Azure Kite, guardian of the realm.

Of course, the Azure Kite itself remained in the capital. What had appeared here was merely the embodiment of fortune.

As it vanished into the clouds, the gray mass blanketing the sky began to churn into a vortex. Lightning snakes danced within it, and countless blue-violet flashes glimmered among the clouds.

Many resentful spirits still wandered in the air. Seeing this, they scattered in all directions like a school of fish chased by a white shark.

Only a few breaths later, a thick bolt of lightning crashed from the sky, striking the eye of the talisman formation with pinpoint accuracy.

The lightning snaked along the formation Sun Fuping had drawn. From above, the entire formation shone with a silvery glow.

All these changes sounded elaborate, but they had taken only a few dozen breaths.

Faced with such a display, the Great Wind Army soldiers who had become spirit warriors finally showed fear and backed away again and again.

They had witnessed countless strange powers and arcane arts in life, but in death, they feared the might of heaven most.

After all, they were ghosts now.

The commander tilted his head, and at once a rider charged forward.

The instant the horse's hoof stepped onto the talisman formation, a flash of lightning erupted, and horse and rider vanished into thin air.

As if refusing to believe it, the commander hurled his eighteen-chi spear like a javelin once more.

A crack of lightning rang out. The spear had not pierced even a foot into the formation before it silently melted away.

This was the Heavenly Thunder Defense Sun Fuping had summoned with the State Decree. The greater the fortune attached to the State Decree, the greater the formation's power.

The strength of an entire prefecture ought to be enough to hold off a mere dozen spirit warriors.

"Governor He, I'll leave this place to you." Sun Fuping patted He Chunhua on the shoulder, turned, and headed for the pool.

"Wait!" He Chunhua called out as he saw Sun Fuping trying to slip away. "I'm coming with you!"

"You can't." Sun Fuping pointed to the staff standing in the formation. "The State Decree will stop working if it gets more than a hundred zhang from its master. I need every one of you holding the line here, in case the resentful spirits pursue us into the pool."

Only then did everyone notice that the old man had somehow managed to include the entire pool within the Heavenly Thunder Defense formation. As long as the formation remained intact, the resentful spirits could not return to the pool.

The State Preceptor wanted to go in and claim the treasure himself, while leaving them to guard the entrance. He Chunhua's face darkened, but he knew that bringing so many people here was precisely why Sun Fuping had come. Still—

"I'll look after your son. You'll see each other again soon, you and your boy. Don't worry!" In a hurry, Sun Fuping gave He Chunhua a brief reassurance, then leaped into the pool.

With a splash, he vanished too. Only the candle he had tossed beside the pool remained, its flame still flickering faintly.

Situ Han fumed. "That old bastard used us!"

He Chunhua's expression shifted several times. Suddenly, he summoned Zeng Feixiong to his side. "Take a few men and help Lingchuan."

Although He Lingchuan had long been a lucky general, he was alone in a place full of unknown dangers, and the Sun father and son had ulterior motives. As a father, He Chunhua could not help worrying.

Zeng Feixiong acknowledged the order, quickly picked five men, and leaped into the pool.

He Chunhua stared at the water, knowing he had been outmaneuvered again. Sun Fuping had deliberately left him and the Blackwater troops outside. It was an open scheme: to defend against the Great Wind Army spirit warriors, his hundred-odd men could not enter the blood pool.

But when he drew his gaze back, he paused. "Why is one of the Great Wind Army spirits missing?"

Situ Han said, "One slipped away while you were talking to the State Preceptor."

He Chunhua knew that boded ill, but still forced himself to rally everyone. "The Great Wind Army may have been powerful in life, but now they're ghosts, unwelcome in this world and constrained by divine arts! As long as we stay calm and hold firm, the Heavenly Thunder Defense will be an iron wall!"

An army's morale depended on confidence. If he wanted the State Decree to keep working, he had to do everything he could to raise their spirits.

Everyone had seen the power of the thunder for themselves, and their confidence surged. The beast-head's radiance grew brighter still.

But just then, Situ Han pointed toward the horizon and exclaimed, "What's that?"

The night was pitch-black. The lightning and thunder in the clouds had vanished, but an unusual red glow shone in the western sky.

The light drew closer and closer.

He Chunhua saw it too, and his face changed. "Reinforcements. That spirit warrior went to fetch them."

What was wrong with these Great Wind Army spirits? Unlike other resentful spirits, they had not lost their wits. They could not only figure out how to wound the living, but even knew to call for reinforcements.

This was trouble. He Chunhua couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath. A fresh wave of Great Wind Army spirits was bearing down on them!

He Lingchuan was startled when he fell into the water.

He tried to swim back, but his body wouldn't move. An inexplicable force was dragging him down with all its might.

The water was dark red and dim. Even with his eyes open, he couldn't see very far.