Longzang

Chapter 1069 Marching North

The battle against the mountain people was different from the battle against the Ji army. Wei Yuan strictly forbade all the cultivators of the Tai Chu Palace from leaving the protective range of the military aura, and at the same time distributed all the luck he could on his body.

Ling Canglan's top-tier fortune had already been imbued into the broken Hanyuan Sword and handed over to Yu Zhizhuo. Yu Zhizhuo personally activated the Heavenly Crafting Furnace, preparing to use the broken sword and its fortune together to forge a new spiritual weapon for Wei Yuan, to replace Cibei.

There was still some time before the spirit weapon was completed, and one last offering was needed. According to Yu Zhizhuo, the attributes of the offering would determine the attributes of the new spirit weapon. And for now, the offering would naturally have to come from the mountain people.

The mountain people's army was split in two by the Taoist guards' checkpoint, and one of the routes was blocked by the fortress. Now Wei Yuan is facing half of the mountain people's army.

At this moment, the vanguard of the Azure Nether Army had already begun to engage the mountain people. Many tanks slowed down and continued to bombard the mountain people, while the machine guns on the tanks roared incessantly.

Some of the heavy artillery was set up again and began to bombard the mountain people, while other heavy artillery continued to advance and occupy positions for extended firing.

Tens of thousands of elite heavily armored Qingming vanguard soldiers, each wielding a heavy shield in one hand and a hand cannon in the other, slowly advanced behind the chariots.

Numerous Dao Foundation cultivators flew directly to the two flanks of the mountain to seize the high ground. After successfully capturing the high ground, they immediately set up prefabricated fortifications on the spot. Then, groups of four Dao Foundation cultivators carried infantry cannons to the mountaintops and began to bombard the area.

Some mountain dwellers also rushed over, and the two sides started a melee on the spot, fighting for positions.

A group of Dharma Aspect cultivators were hidden within a square, metallic military formation, primarily tasked with intercepting the boulders and powerful spells thrown by the mountain people.

Several mountain giants also stood atop the opposite peak. They reached out and grabbed at the ground, instantly producing a massive boulder in their hands, which they then hurled fiercely at us. The boulder was initially just an ordinary-sized object, but it grew larger and larger as it flew, eventually becoming a small mountain!
The giant tossed it casually, and it traveled more than ten miles.

The continuous hurling by dozens of giants made it difficult for the Azure Nether army to advance. All the Dharma Aspect cultivators were doing their best to destroy the giant rocks that were being thrown at them, otherwise, even the chariots would not be able to withstand being hit by these boulders that weighed hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds.

Despite the efforts of the cultivators of Taichu Palace to intercept them, the mountain giants were numerous, and giant rocks would occasionally break through the blockade and crash into the Qingming Army formation, instantly turning hundreds of warriors near the point of impact into mincemeat.

The Qingming troops continuously bombarded and strafed the mountain people with tank cannons and rotary cannons. Both sides suffered casualties, but the mountain people clearly suffered more casualties.

Just then, countless cannonballs rained down on the foremost peak, instantly engulfing it in flames. The four mountain giants were completely engulfed by the bombardment, with only one surviving. But even that giant was engulfed in flames, howling as he charged down the mountain, smashing and attacking indiscriminately, killing many mountain people in the process.

A much larger mountain giant charged at it, slammed it to the ground, and then slit the wounded mountain giant's throat with an axe, ending its suffering.

But before he could even stand up, he was engulfed in heavy artillery fire. When the smoke cleared, all that could be seen was a massive, charred corpse.

Wei Yuan and Zhu Xiu stood amidst the military aura, constantly using their divine sense to guide the heavy artillery shells fired from behind, concentrating fire in one area at a time to bombard the mountain giant.

Hundreds of heavy cannons fired at the same time—a sight that not only the mountain people had never seen, but even many of the old men of Qingming had never witnessed.

The mountain people lost more than ten giants in succession, while the ordinary mountain people could not break through Qingming's firepower net, and a stalemate was reached for a time, with many mountain people falling every moment.

Dozens of mountain giants gathered together. When the heavy cannon shells fell, some giants threw stones to detonate the shells in mid-air, while others used earth magic to raise rock walls and slabs to block the shells.

The giants' concentration was exactly what Wei Yuan wanted. He immediately ordered the heavy artillery already positioned at the rear to deploy. Moments later, hundreds more heavy artillery roared into action, and a total of a thousand heavy artillery pieces continuously bombarded the area where the giants were gathered. The incessant explosions kept the giants from even raising their heads!

The bombardment lasted a full quarter of an hour, with no sign of abating, and the giants hit by it were all wounded. The protective rock layer that had just been summoned was shattered by the bombardment.

For the first time, dozens of mountain giants at the Dharma Aspect level were completely suppressed by nearly a thousand heavy cannons, and the giants' magic power and physical strength were rapidly depleted.

Wei Yuan calmly watched all this, silently calculating the giants' remaining strength. Then, his momentum suddenly surged, his figure flashed, and he pounced on the giants!
Suddenly, a red rock appeared from the side, flying in silently. Although the rock was not large, the surrounding scenery was noticeably distorted.

The rock was moving faster than anyone could imagine, reaching Wei Yuan's side in an instant! At this moment, a seemingly ordinary, short mountain dweller appeared in the distance, but a rock peak with a metallic sheen appeared around him, clearly indicating that he had already reached the realm of Imperial Realm cultivators.

The rock swept past Wei Yuan's body, and Wei Yuan immediately shattered like a bubble, turning into nothingness—a mere phantom.

The illusion shattered, and Bao Yun's figure appeared where Wei Yuan had been standing, her face somewhat pale. The mountain dweller, Yu Jing, suddenly felt an inexplicable heat around him; sunlight had appeared under the previously gloomy sky, and it was sunlight from an unknown source!
The mountain dweller, Yu Jing, screamed and turned to run, but a scarlet longsword had already silently slashed past his waist, cleaving him in two!
This sword strike, set against the backdrop of the Great Sun, followed the Yin principle, its contradictions perfectly balanced, catching the mountain dweller Yujing completely off guard before striking him squarely.

However, the mountain dweller Yujing's lower body suddenly accelerated and disappeared into the distance, while his upper body fell limply to the ground, wriggling meaninglessly.

Wei Yuan, wielding the Crimson Night Immortal-Slaying Sword, appeared beside the mountain dweller's upper body. He swung the sword and cleaved it open, only to discover that the upper body was just a sponge-like mass of flesh, with no internal organs or vital organs at all; it was merely a decorative lump of flesh.

Wei Yuan then realized that the mountain dweller Yu Jing's vital points were either in his left or right leg. Such a peculiar physical structure would make even a powerful sorcerer envious.

Fortunately, although they failed to kill the opponent, they at least severely injured him, and they should not see Yujing for several months.

Wei Yuan thought with slight regret that it would be better if the Scarlet Night Immortal-Slaying Sword were more powerful. Although this sword is essentially a celestial artifact, it is currently incomplete and lacks spiritual essence, so its true power is only equivalent to a high-grade Imperial Landscape Spiritual Treasure.

Amidst the bustling world, the laurel tree suddenly stirred. Several branches bent down, looking at the thick trunk and the bark that was taut and about to crack, and hesitated.

The Moon Goddess is inherently aloof, but her tree trunk is as thick as a bucket, making her difficult to see. She needs to do something about it.

Wei Yuan was on high alert, having already used up all 11,000 mission abilities, and the entire Qingming army was mobilized.

The tanks began their advance, climbing the steep slopes. The heavy artillery barrage continued relentlessly, relentlessly suppressing the mountain giants. Numerous infantrymen, in squads of dozens, launched attacks on the mountain people, while artillery fire gradually extended its reach, with shells often landing less than twenty feet from the Azure Nether infantry.

After the mountain people retreated from Yu Jing, Qing Ming's hundreds of thousands of troops suddenly launched a full-scale offensive. The mountain people were caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties in the blink of an eye.

Just then, a section of mountain several hundred feet high suddenly collapsed, slowly crashing down on the Qingming army passing below!
A mountain giant of the Imperial Realm emerged from the mountain peak. It had been hiding there until the Azure Nether Army passed by before suddenly launching its attack.

But it suddenly roared in pain, raised its fist, which was over ten feet long, and slammed it hard into the empty space next to it!
A red figure was thrown off the mountain giant and fled into the distance. However, although the mountain giant's heavy fist landed on empty air, the invisible shockwave it generated instantly caught up with the red figure.

The red figure suddenly sank down, but then bounced up and disappeared in an instant.

Enraged and with nowhere to vent his anger, the mountain giant slammed his body against the mountain peak, accelerating its collapse.

Suddenly, a maddening voice rang in its ears: "Come, come with me to the heavens, today I, the Daoist, will teach you what rules are!"

The Mysterious Moon True Lord appeared, placed his hand on the mountain giant, and carried him into the heavens. The mountain giant felt that the collapse of the mountain was inevitable, so he accepted the challenge.

But before it flew into the sky, it suddenly had a bad feeling. Looking back, it saw that the Azure Nether army below the mountain suddenly accelerated, half of them rushed forward and half of them turned around, while the troops blocking the way scattered at the same time.

The massive force moved in unison, their coordination incredibly precise, and in a matter of moments they managed to evacuate the troops from the mountainside where it was about to collapse.

The mountain collapsed with a roar, and in the end, only a hundred or so people from Qingming failed to escape in time.

Wei Yuan then ordered another all-out attack.

(End of this chapter)