Heavenly Thunder Defense

It still wanted to attack another enemy, but Zeng Feixiong raised his blade and brought it down, cleaving half of its head off, and only then did the heroic spirit dissolve into fly ash.

Facing such a fierce enemy, the Blackwater Garrison lost their fighting spirit and retreated rapidly. After all, they were here on orders to explore, not to fight to the death.

He Chunhua calculated that even if he could win, it would be a pyrrhic victory, especially since the enemy leader still looked as vigorous as a dragon and as fierce as a tiger; it seemed like he could take on another twenty or thirty people in a duel without any trouble!

Sun Fuping seemed to perceive his inner anxiety: "Rest assured, as long as you utilize the national fortune, you can hold out for a long time."

At this moment, Zeng Feixiong had already led the remaining troops back into the formation. His left arm had been slashed, nearly severed, yet he acted as if he felt nothing, only raising his blade toward the sky and shouting: "Unite our strength, protect our Great Yuan!"

The crowd roared in unison: "Unite our strength, protect our Great Yuan!"

The beast head on the staff suddenly erupted with brilliant light.

It was a pale green hue tinged with golden light, yet it forced the surrounding vengeful spirits to stop their pursuit and shield their eyes, as if the radiance were blindingly intense. Their mounts also shook their heads and tails uneasily, stamping their hooves against the ground.

This was the national fortune, catalyzed by the State Preceptor and imbued within the Kite Coins of He Chunhua!

It was the confidence and consensus condensed from the vitality of all the living people in Qiansong Prefecture, fused and reinforced by the morale of Zeng Feixiong and the other garrison soldiers, immediately transforming into a majestic and righteous aura!

Had those dozen or so opponents been ordinary vengeful spirits rather than heroic spirits who had fought a hundred battles in life, they would have been instantly annihilated upon being touched by this light.

Zeng Feixiong turned his head and barked at Situ Han: "Why aren't you shouting?"

Situ Han was startled: "W-we have to as well?"

"You have been incorporated into the Blackwater Garrison; you are one with us now, no longer sand bandits or marauders!"

So their recruitment was for real? Since they were now bound by life and death, Situ Han turned and gave an order, and his men joined the main force in shouting the slogan.

With these dozens of extra people joining in, the quantitative change finally triggered a qualitative shift.

The light of the beast on the staff retracted, and it suddenly let out a roar toward the sky.

A cyan, luminous orb flew out from its mouth, and as it met the wind, it grew into a giant cyan bird over five zhang tall, with a high crest, magnificent tail feathers, and an elegant posture.

It circled above the crowd once before soaring upward into the cloud layer.

This was the guardian spirit beast for which the Great Yuan was named.

Of course, the true Azure Kite was still guarding the capital; what appeared here was merely a manifestation of national fortune.

When it vanished into the clouds, the dense gray clouds covering the sky were instantly churned into a vortex, where electric snakes danced wildly, and no one knew how much purple-cyan light was hidden within the cloud mass.

There were still many vengeful spirits wandering in mid-air, but seeing this, they scattered and fled like a school of fish pursued by a great white shark.

Only a few breaths later, a thick bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, hitting the eye of the formation with pinpoint accuracy.

The electric snakes slithered along the formation Sun Fuping had drawn. If one looked down from the sky, the entire formation was glowing with a silvery light.

This series of changes sounds laborious to describe, but in reality, it only took a few dozen heartbeats.

Facing such a display, the heroic spirits of the Great Wind Army finally showed fear and retreated repeatedly.

They had seen countless strange arts and abilities in their lifetimes, but in death, they feared the might of heaven above all else.

After all, they were now ghosts.

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

As soon as the horse's hooves stepped onto the formation, a flash of lightning struck, and both rider and horse vanished into smoke.

The commander seemed unwilling to accept this, and once again threw his eight-foot-long spear like a javelin.

With a "crack" of electricity, the spear pierced less than a foot into the formation before it, too, silently dissolved.

This was the Heavenly Thunder Defense summoned by Sun Fuping with the help of the State Decree. The stronger the national fortune attached to the State Decree, the greater the power of the formation.

Using the strength of an entire prefecture to counter a mere dozen or so heroic spirits should be sufficient.

"Governor He, I leave this place to you." Sun Fuping patted He Chunhua on the shoulder and turned to walk toward the pool.

"Wait!" He Chunhua saw he was about to slip away, "I'm going with you!"

"You cannot go." Sun Fuping pointed to the staff standing in the formation, "The State Decree loses its effect if it is more than a hundred paces from its master. I need every one of you to hold the line here to prevent the vengeful spirits from pursuing us into the pool."

Only then did the others notice that the old man had quickly and stealthily included the entire pool within the Heavenly Thunder Defense formation. As long as the formation did not vanish, the vengeful spirits could not return to the pool.

The State Preceptor wanted to go in and seize the treasure himself, yet he forced them to guard the gate. He Chunhua's face darkened, but he knew that Sun Fuping had brought so many people along precisely for this purpose, but—

"I will look after your son; you and your boy will be reunited soon, rest assured!" Sun Fuping was in a hurry and offered He Chunhua a hasty word of comfort before jumping into the pool.

"Thump," he vanished, leaving only the candle on the edge of the pool, its flame still burning dimly.

Situ Han said indignantly: "That old man is using us!"

Expressions shifted across He Chunhua's face, and he suddenly summoned Zeng Feixiong to his side: "Take a few men and go help Chuan'er."

Although He Lingchuan had long been a lucky charm, he was alone in an unpredictable place, and with the likes of Nian and Sun harboring ill intentions, as a father, he truly could not rest easy.

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

He Chunhua stared at the pool water, knowing he had been outmaneuvered again. Sun Fuping had intentionally left him and the Blackwater Garrison outside; this was an overt scheme, for to defend against the assault of the Great Wind Army's heroic spirits, his hundred-odd men could not enter the blood pool.

However, when he looked back, he was slightly startled: "Why is there one less Great Wind Army spirit?"

Situ Han said: "While you were talking to the State Preceptor, one of them slipped away."

He Chunhua secretly thought it was a bad sign, but he had to pull himself together to encourage everyone: "No matter how powerful the Great Wind Army was in life, they are ghosts now, rejected by heaven and earth and limited by supernatural arts! As long as we remain calm and steadfast, the Heavenly Thunder Defense will be an impenetrable wall!"

The morale of an army stems from confidence; if he wanted the State Decree to remain effective, he had to strive to bolster the troops' spirits.

Everyone had witnessed the power of the heavenly thunder with their own eyes, and with their hearts now settled, the glow of the Beast Head grew even brighter.

But just then, Situ Han pointed toward the horizon and let out a surprised sound: "What is that?"

The night was pitch black, and the lightning and thunder within the clouds had vanished, yet the western sky was glowing with an unusual red light.

That light was drawing closer and closer.

He Chunhua saw it clearly as well, and his expression shifted: "It's reinforcements. That wisp of heroic spirit from earlier must have gone to fetch them."

What was wrong with these Great Wind Army spirits? Not only did they retain their wits unlike other vengeful ghosts, but they knew how to scheme to injure the living and even understood how to call for backup.

This was trouble. He Chunhua couldn't help but draw a sharp breath; this new wave of Great Wind Army spirits was coming on aggressively!

￥￥￥￥￥

He Lingchuan had also been given a massive fright when he fell into the water.

He tried to swim back up, but to his dismay, his body wouldn't budge, and an inexplicable suction force was dragging him down with all its might.

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