Bombardment

Deputy Director Gao, who had been speeding ahead, suddenly stopped atop a massive boulder. The flying sword hovering at his side gave a clear, ringing cry, then its blade instantly burst into blazing flames. It transformed into a crimson streak of light and shot toward a mutant beast that resembled a wild boar, its entire body covered in rock-like scales, as it lunged from the dense forest ahead!

"Screech!"

The flaming flying sword pierced precisely into the mutant boar's eye socket. Blazing Sword Qi erupted in an instant. The boar let out a shrill, miserable howl, and its enormous body crashed to the ground. Its head had already been burned charcoal-black, giving off a choking stench of scorched flesh.

Deputy Director Gao merely twitched his fingers, and the flying sword nimbly wheeled back, trailing a string of sparks as it hovered beside him once more. Its tip still spat crimson light.

Almost at the same time, three wolf-shaped creatures shot out from the bushes on the left so quickly that they left afterimages behind. Their fur gleamed with an unnatural metallic sheen, and their claws tore through the air with piercing whistles.

"Thunder, come!"

Wang Jianchao gave a low shout. After tossing out a talisman, a dazzling bolt of electricity gathered in his palm, then transformed into three small spears of lightning that struck precisely at the three Mutant Demon Wolves!

"Crackle!"

The electricity exploded. The three demon wolves convulsed all over, collapsed to the ground smoking, and gave off the stench of burnt fur and electrocuted flesh.

Liu Xin guarded Wang Jianchao's flank, gripping her gun with both hands as she warily watched the surrounding grass and trees.

Yang Wenqing landed behind the three of them, holding a gun in one hand and the Azure Edge short sword in the other. He found that he barely had any chance to intervene.

"Threat eliminated. There is an energy signature from a spirit herb beneath the giant tree on the right. Judging by its aura, it is a Soul-returning Herb."

Yang Wenqing's Golden Core immediately detected the energy signature Deputy Director Gao had mentioned. He located the target without error and put it into his storage pouch. By then, Deputy Director Gao and the other two had already continued advancing. Gunfire also echoed from other parts of the forest, so he hurriedly cast a Lightness Charm on himself and sped up to catch them.

Two minutes later...

They encountered another skirmish and successfully harvested another Soul-returning Herb. Then, dense rustling that made their scalps crawl suddenly came from the ground ahead.

Yang Wenqing then saw a black tide surge up from beneath the humus layer. They were Golden-armored Spirit-devouring Ants, each as large as a fist, with dark golden shells and savage mouthparts!

These mutant ants had hard shells capable of resisting ordinary blades. Worse still, they numbered in overwhelming quantities. Once they closed in and latched onto someone, it was extremely difficult to break free.

"Golden-armored Spirit-devouring Ants! Be careful—their acid can corrode spiritual energy shields!" Deputy Director Gao warned. The flames around his hovering flying sword flared brighter, clearly preparing for a wide-area sweep. But against such densely packed small targets, the flying sword's efficiency would be greatly reduced.

"Let me handle it!" Wang Jianchao shouted. He suddenly crushed an Energy Crystal in his right hand. Pure spiritual energy erupted instantly, guided by both his hands into a massive hand seal ten times more intricate and profound than the one he had used for lightning arts before. Blinding lightning frantically gathered before him, producing heart-palpitating, thunderous crackles.

"Thunder Net Heavenly Snare!"

With his sharp shout, a gigantic net of lightning formed from countless leaping arcs appeared out of thin air. It covered an area thirty meters across and descended over the golden ant tide!

"Sizzle—crackle—!"

The moment the electric net came into contact with the ant swarm, an unbroken series of shrill noises erupted.

The Golden-armored Spirit-devouring Ants' hard shells were like paper mache before the violent power of lightning. They were instantly electrocuted into charcoal, and a strange fragrance spread through the air.

This was the scent emitted by the spiritual-energy-infused flesh of the Golden-armored Spirit-devouring Ants, a rare nourishing delicacy on the market.

The lightning lingered for several breaths before slowly fading. The golden ant tide that had been so terrifying moments ago had now become patches of charred remains covering the ground. Only that distinctive meaty fragrance proved they had ever existed.

"Clean up the battlefield. Gather the intact flesh. Move quickly!" Deputy Director Gao ordered calmly, his flying sword circling low overhead on guard.

Yang Wenqing immediately stepped forward and quickly collected the intact remains into his storage pouch.

"Boom!!!"

The sound from before echoed again, and this time it was even fiercer. Close behind came a terrifying, visible blast wave mixed with a thick stench and violent spiritual energy, sweeping toward them like a tsunami!

Wherever the blast wave passed, trees swayed violently, branches and leaves danced wildly, and even smaller rocks on the ground were hurled into the air. Yang Wenqing felt his chest tighten and immediately used the Golden Light Bodyguard Spell to form a golden shield around himself.

Deputy Director Gao's expression abruptly turned incomparably grave. With a sweep of his sleeve, he fixed his eagle-sharp gaze on the center of the forest and said in a deep voice, "What a powerful aura. There is at least one demon creature close to the Foundation Establishment Realm, or perhaps the Spirit-gathering Altar itself has bred some kind of monster!"

Wang Jianchao and Liu Xin's expressions also became extremely solemn. A demon creature nearing the Foundation Establishment Realm was far beyond those mutant beasts they had faced earlier. It was enough to pose a fatal threat to them.

Yet even Yang Wenqing was not nervous, because the Prefectural Soldiers had set up cannons. Even a true Foundation Establishment Cultivator would meet a bitter end here.

As they were thinking this, three red signal flares immediately rose from the camp behind them. They were the signal for bombardment!

"Maintain Concealment. The bombardment will begin in five minutes."

As Deputy Director Gao gave the warning, he took out a talisman and activated it. The talisman in his hand then ignited without wind, turning into a heavy yellow stream of light that sank into the ground beneath his feet.

"Hum—"

The ground trembled slightly. A thick rammed-earth wall instantly rose from the earth, firmly sheltering all four of them behind it. Runes flowed across the wall's surface, radiating an aura as steady as a mountain.

Five minutes passed in the blink of an eye.

"Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—!"

Shrill, piercing whistles drew closer from afar, like Death screaming as it swept overhead. More than a dozen blazing spiritual lights with long flaming tails shot into the sky from the camp behind them like falling meteors. They tore through the bizarrely colored sky painted by the Barrier and smashed ruthlessly into the heart of the forest!

The next moment—

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The earth shook and the mountains quaked!

The explosions from the first volley merged into a terrifying roar that seemed to rip apart eardrums. Even from a considerable distance away, with the earthen wall and forest weakening the impact, Yang Wenqing still felt as if a giant hammer had slammed hard into his chest. His ears rang, and the ground beneath his feet heaved violently like waves.

Then dazzling white light erupted from the center of the forest, instantly swallowing everything. It was followed by towering smoke, dust, and torn remnants of trees, forming an ever-expanding mushroom-shaped column of debris.

Immediately afterward, another scorching blast wave mixed with the smells of earth, splintered wood, and scorched matter swept over them like a tsunami for the second time, slamming heavily into the earthen wall with a dull impact.

And this was only the beginning!

Blazing tail flames streaked across the sky once more, then...

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—!"

Deafening explosions echoed again, ceaselessly battering the earth and everyone's hearts. The center of the distant forest had already turned into a fiery death purgatory. Blinding flashes lit up the dim forest again and again, while rolling smoke covered the heavens and blotted out the sun.

Before this heaven-might-like power of destruction, an individual's bravery seemed so insignificant.

Yang Wenqing pressed close to the trembling earthen wall, feeling the seemingly endless roar and shaking. His heart was filled with awe for absolute power.