Above the battlefield, meteors fell like burning stars.
Gu Fangchen stood at the heart of the formation. His body emitted a fine cracking sound as torrents of spiritual energy battered him without pause.
Yet the one hundred and eight Demon-Suppressing Nails stood firm like the Sea-Calming Needles, forcefully maintaining his physical form.
After all, Demon-Suppressing Nails were designed to seal the cultivation of martial practitioners above the Third Rank. Their strength was naturally extraordinary.
If they were so easily broken, then Lord Gua Gua would never have been able to torment the players to death and beyond using just a puppet.
At this moment, Gu Fangchen felt his divine sense expand to an unprecedented level, blanketing the world like a god.
Three hundred zhang away, a heavy cavalryman reined his horse and trampled a Qiongman soldier, snapping his spine. Seven hundred steps away, a crossbowman's quiver held seven arrows remaining... every minute detail reflected within Gu Fangchen's mind.
This was the power of the army formation, the absolute cheat that united the will of the commander and his soldiers on the battlefield.
It was as if the entire army had become his limbs, every muscle twitching in sync with his will.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The one hundred and fifty thousand heartbeats thundered almost as one, like drums shaking the heavens.
Gu Fangchen felt his own heart about to leap out of his chest. His temples throbbed violently as his blood surged uncontrollably. He wiped beneath his nose, and his fingers came away stained with bright red.
He exhaled deeply.
"If not for the spiritual energy from the Fire Essence Ore vein supporting me, and the Five Qi Mystic Gate Formation dispersing the pressure, my spirit would have burst from the flood of information the instant this army formation activated."
Still... this was way more thrilling than playing with a mouse!
A pity he couldn't fool around now, issuing micromanagement orders like "crossbowmen, move five meters to the left"...
"Shi Le, three steps toward the southeast! Duck!"
The command pierced through the thunder of battle and sounded directly in their minds.
Shi Le's body jolted. Instinctively, he lunged three steps in that direction, bending low just in time to dodge three poisoned bone arrows fired by a Qiongman warrior from behind.
Hmm... moving people five meters to the left was doable after all.
Shi Le had no time to thank him before hearing Gu Fangchen again:
"You two maintain the charge. Your target is the enemy commander. Aim for a single decisive strike."
"Understood!"
Shi Le and Yao Jin answered together.
"Vanguard lancers, converge! Form the wedge and break through!"
The front-line spear soldiers roared in unison. Three thousand iron spears formed a triangular formation and thrust forward simultaneously, tearing open a rift within the torrent of wolf cavalry.
The empowered spears pierced through armor without losing momentum. Like a blazing dragon plowing through the fields, they reversed the charge and broke the Qiongman lines.
For a moment, the tide of battle turned completely, and the Qiongman cavalrymen and their mounts fell into chaos.
...
When Agaro saw the blazing fire dragon soaring into the sky, his face changed drastically.
"The White Dragon Army Formation?"
"No... impossible! The Blood River Repentance Formation is still intact. Xiao Yinghao can't be on the battlefield. How could anyone else activate an army formation?!"
"There was no mention of a 'Military Dao' cultivator in the intelligence reports..."
But as he watched the Great Wei army rip open the front lines, panic began to stir in his chest.
If even he felt it, how much worse must it be for the soldiers below?
Agaro steadied himself, his face turning grim. He bellowed in Qiongman tongue,
"Hold the line! Are you so easily cowed by mere bluster? What kind of warriors are you?!"
He drew the short knife from his waist, sliced open his palm, and gripped a tooth-shaped bone talisman hanging from his neck.
This was a gift from the former Great Tian Sa, a relic of a Qiongman "Heavenly God."
The Qiongman Heavenly Gods possessed forty-eight teeth, a natural sign of sainthood.
Teeth, the hardest part of the human body, symbolized unbreakable courage.
"Grant us, almighty Heavenly God, your invincible courage and strength!"
He raised the blood-soaked tooth high. The intricate spirit markings upon it flared to life, spreading invisible ripples through the air.
Where the ripples passed, the eyes of the Qiongman soldiers turned crimson. Their auras surged, and they roared ferociously as they charged forward.
Standing upon the head of his giant serpent mount, Agaro glanced toward the silent Blood River Repentance Formation and muttered, "It must be nothing more than a Great Wei ruse..."
The giant serpent twisted restlessly.
Above, the fire dragon formed by the army's energy wavered suddenly, flickering like a candle in the wind as if about to be extinguished.
But it quickly reformed, though clearly weakened.
Agaro's eyes lit up, and he laughed aloud.
"So it was a bluff after all!"
"Hold the line! Every one of you, hold! Once this false formation collapses, victory will belong to Qiongman!"
After several more clashes, the fire dragon indeed began to falter. Parts of the formation line scattered to the flanks.
Agaro's confidence surged. When he saw Shi Le, whom he had wounded earlier, turn pale and cough blood, his aura faltering as he appeared to retreat in panic, Agaro burst out laughing and spurred his serpent forward.
"After me! Today we'll wipe out the Great Wei dogs to the last man!"
...
"The prey has entered the trap."
Gu Fangchen's lips curved upward. His divine sense clearly perceived four figures racing swiftly along the banks of the Sishi River.
They were the four remaining Formation Dao cultivators of the White Dragon Army. The formation map for "The Marshlands of Dreaming Clouds" had already been transmitted to them through his divine sense.
Each of these men was a seasoned veteran capable of constructing a formation even while on the move.
Lines of spiritual script began to appear midair, floating into place.
Shi Le reported meticulously,
"The feigned retreat is complete. Heavy infantry losses at thirty percent!"
"Retreat another hundred zhang, then divide into two groups."
Shi Le and Yao Jin led their battered soldiers in a frantic retreat toward the valley, even tossing aside their banners in apparent panic.
Their disarray only fueled Agaro's excitement.
If he won this battle, he would be hailed as a hero among the Qiongman!
"Boom!"
The giant serpent crashed through the mountain wall.
"Rumble..."
From the upper reaches of the Sishi River came a deep rumbling, faint beneath the roar of battle.
Yao Jin led his troops into the valley floor, while Shi Le fled up the slope.
Agaro hesitated only a second before chasing after Yao Jin. The Qiongman cavalry charged down the steep incline, sparks flying as bone armor scraped against stone.
Shi Le was already spent, he could be hunted down later.
But this valley was a dead end. Once Yao Jin's force was trapped, the Great Wei army would have no hope of turning the tide!
The serpent's tail swept out, and dozens of soldiers exploded into a mist of blood.
Yao Jin roared, grabbed the serpent's tail, and heaved it aside with a mighty throw.
"Boom..."
Agaro rose into the air, suddenly realizing something was wrong.
"Boom!"
A thunderclap split the heavens.
He looked up to see a curtain of rain pouring down from the sky.
The golden spiritual patterns forming a barrier had dulled his senses, and now, it was too late.
The Sishi River broke through its bindings, unleashing the torrential flood stored within "The Marshlands of Dreaming Clouds," pouring into the gorge like a collapsing sky.
Agaro shouted in fury and horror,
"Are the Great Wei people insane?! This is mutual destruction!"
Of course not.
It was one thing to gamble with the lives of common soldiers, but risking commanders like Yao Jin and Shi Le on a one percent chance was far too dangerous.
Gu Fangchen took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and roared,
"Rise!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!..."
The Fire Essence Ore veins underground detonated in succession. Blazing heat melted earth and stone in an instant, transforming them into molten magma.
Harnessing the power of the grand formation, Gu Fangchen directed the magma to erupt upward, colliding with the torrent of river water to block the flood surging toward Yao Jin and the others.
Above, within the army overwhelmed by floodwaters, countless life-flames flickered in Gu Fangchen's perception, each flare representing a soldier's sudden rise in cultivation.
[It's Always Me Who Carries], activated!