Longzang

Chapter 474 The Witch Clan's Handiwork
The damp air had turned into drifting rain, and as the spirited horse galloped by, it was as if it were swimming across a small river.

Sun Lie pressed his head forward, and every knight had a piece of their aura attached to him, like a thread, allowing him to know the location of every scout in the team at all times. When necessary, Sun Lie could also send back a portion of his own power to enhance that knight's abilities.

This is the power of his Dao Foundation. He remembers that when he first entered that mysterious world and met Wei Yuan, Wei Yuan was very surprised by his Dao Foundation.

The next day, Sun Lie was taken to a small camp with fifty cavalrymen, and someone told him that this would be the scout cavalry camp from now on, and that he would be the commander.

A faint stench of blood lingered in the air, making Sun Lie feel nauseous. It was the smell of human blood, to which he was extremely sensitive; every time he smelled the blood of his own kind, it would cause his abdomen to spasm and make him want to vomit. However, his powerful physique could suppress any unwanted reactions, including pain.

Soon the source of the bloody stench appeared. It was a small scout squad that had been entangled by the Mo Xue Feng Xing, who outnumbered them several times over. The two sides chased and fought back and forth, with people falling one after another.

The scout team was down to five men, fighting and retreating, but instead of fleeing, they dragged thirty enemies away slowly into the distance.

Sun Lie sensed them from a great distance, but he didn't stop or go to their aid. Instead, he continued charging deeper into the Witch Domain. With a leap of his warhorse, Sun Lie crossed the three-hundred-mile boundary, and the world before him suddenly changed!
The once pale green horizon turned a deep green, puddles on the ground increased significantly, and the green of the earth began to show signs of black. Swarms of mosquitoes the size of a palm were everywhere.

Sun Lie suddenly reached out and snatched a giant mosquito from the swarm of mosquitoes more than ten feet away. Its abdomen was constantly swelling and contracting, and there was a distinct golden ring on it.

These are giant golden-ringed mosquitoes that only appear deep within the Witch Domain. In the past, they would only appear about 500 miles around the boundary, or even further. They are extremely sensitive to their environment. As the Azure Nether expanded, they gradually retreated, but now they have reappeared about 300 miles away.

Sun Lie understood all too well what this meant. The Witch Clan was clearly about to do something, and it must be something earth-shattering, otherwise they wouldn't have strengthened the Witch Domain on such a large scale and then tried every means to block off this three-hundred-mile line.

Sun Lie suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, realizing he had overlooked a detail. In the past ten days, his scouts had achieved numerous small victories, with an exchange ratio reaching as high as one to three. This pleased him greatly, and he hadn't noticed that no scout unit had broken through to beyond three hundred li.

Sun Lie suppressed his unease and continued forward. He knew that the silent Dharma Aspect cultivator in the group would relay everything to the Realm Lord. He could also sense something hidden within his group, but he couldn't detect its presence at all.

As the cavalry continued forward, the ground beneath them suddenly rippled slightly, and something unknown detached from the cavalry and swam rapidly in another direction.

But it hadn't swum far when two blurry figures emerged from the bushes and gave chase.

Sun Lie continued forward, when he could feel a significant tremor in the ground to his side, followed by a strong stench of blood on the wind. In that direction, hundreds of scouts and members of the Inkblood Vanguard were engaged in a fierce battle. As the tremors intensified, all the Inkblood Vanguard members instinctively huddled together in one direction.

Countless scouts emerged from the mist, numbering as many as five hundred! This was the main force of the scout battalion, and their appearance immediately plunged Mo Xuefeng into despair.

However, the Mo Xue Feng Xing, with only two hundred riders, fought to the death. Dark green mist began to rise from the ground, and one Mo Xue Feng Xing rider after another appeared, quickly exceeding a thousand! They swiftly encircled and surrounded the main force of the scout cavalry, and the two sides began a fierce battle.

Although the scout cavalry was at a clear numerical disadvantage, they fought to the death, and the Inkblood Vanguard only had a slight advantage, with casualties even exceeding those of the scout cavalry.

As the main force of the Inkblood Vanguard appeared, Sun Lie's cavalry suddenly accelerated and rushed towards the depths of the Witch Domain at full speed!

At this moment, another small figure rushed out from the group. Although it was small, its speed was incredible, and in the blink of an eye, it was more than ten miles away.

A figure appeared in the sky, on the ground, in the water, and in the grass, chasing after the small shadow. But then, a faint silver line burst out from the cavalry, chasing after the four ambushing witches ahead.

Then, the six or seven great shamans who were lying in ambush were lured away, and Sun Lie immediately felt the pressure ease, so he advanced at full speed and rushed over four hundred miles in a short while.

The Dharma Aspect cultivator, who had remained silent throughout, suddenly drew his weapon: a multi-barreled flying sword machine gun with a sword case hanging on its side containing two hundred flying swords. Finally, the Ink Blood Vanguard appeared to intercept them, and then Sun Lie also drew his flying sword gun. At that moment, a strange buzzing sound suddenly rang out from the rear of the formation. The machine gun in the Dharma Aspect cultivator's hand spun rapidly, and the flying swords, almost one after another, swept swathes of Ink Blood Vanguard off their horses in an instant!

Sun Lie and the others fired simultaneously, and the dense rain of flying swords scattered the Mo Xue Feng Xing team, then rushed through them and continued forward.

This was Sun Lie's plan: first, to send out scouts in waves, starting small and gradually increasing in number—a tactic he frequently employed. Finally, he would deploy the entire main force of the scout battalion, attempting to devour the opponent's bait in one fell swoop, just as he had done before. If the Mo Xue Feng Xing's bait could hold out a little longer, the main force of Mo Xue Feng Xing, lying in ambush, would arrive, and a true decisive battle would ensue!

This decisive battle is exactly what Mo Xue Feng Xing wants, and it's what Sun Lie has been trying his best to avoid.

In the final battle, the Inkblood Vanguard will undoubtedly suffer greater losses, with a casualty ratio potentially reaching two to one. However, in the end, they will only be severely damaged, while the Scout Cavalry will be nearly wiped out.

By using his entire scout cavalry battalion as bait, Sun Lie was confident he could draw the attention of the Wu tribe, causing them to overlook the interception of his small force. Even if they discovered his true objective, they would only send a large force to intercept him, preventing him from escaping back, rather than blocking his path.

Unbeknownst to the Wu tribe, Sun Lie's plan this time was a one-way trip; all he needed to do was deliver the Realm Lord's spies to their destination.

Sun Lie was originally worried about being intercepted by the Great Witch of the Witch Clan and was prepared to sacrifice all his team members. He believed that as long as he led the Dharma Aspect cultivator across five hundred miles, they could complete the mission.

Fortunately, it now seems that the Realm Lord did indeed have a hidden hand in the team, which lured away all the great witches who were lying in ambush along the way, and the last silver figure gave Sun Lie an indescribable instinctive fear, which was obviously not an ordinary Dharma form.

The cavalry charged at full speed, breaking through two more waves of interception along the way, and finally broke through five hundred li!

Before Sun Lie lay a dark green world, devoid of anything but swirling mist. The Witch Clan had erected yet another barrier!
Sun Lie gritted his teeth, about to continue charging forward, when suddenly he saw three great shamans appear in the sky ahead, blocking his path. This time, he was truly in dire straits.

Just then, a faint figure suddenly flew out from the cavalry, passing through the three great shamans in an instant and disappearing into the distance!

The three great shamans staggered and fell from the sky as if they were drunk. After falling to the ground, they rolled around in pain and could not get up at all. They had no idea when they were injured.

The Dharma Aspect cultivator who had been silent in the group suddenly patted Sun Lie, pointed to the three Great Shamans in front of him, and said, "Go finish off the two of you, and the rest of you take one. Retreat in ten breaths."

Sun Lie obeyed subconsciously, and returned ten breaths later, only then asking, "But we haven't discovered what the Witch Clan is planning to do yet."

The Dharma Aspect cultivator said expressionlessly, "Mission complete, retreat. The rest is the Realm Lord's business."

Sun Lie was always decisive, and immediately led his team to attack Qingming.

At this moment, Wei Yuan flew like lightning, passing over the Wu Clan's defenses before they could react, and in the blink of an eye, he penetrated thousands of miles and broke through the last barrier.

The true arrangements of the Wu Clan finally appeared before him: a deep trench several feet deep and ten feet wide, where hundreds of thousands of Wu Clan laborers were desperately digging, stretching ever towards Qingming.

The excavated soil and rocks were piled up at both ends of the deep ditch, raising the embankments on both sides. Countless Wu tribe craftsmen and laborers drove long wooden stakes, each several meters long, into the embankments on both sides of the deep ditch. In the distance, natural pools of water were connected, becoming small waterways, and countless flat-bottomed boats with a draft of only one or two feet moved through the waterways, transporting craftsmen, laborers, materials, and food.

Further away lies a large natural lake, now dammed. Once the sluice gates are opened and the water released, this deep ditch will become a canal, leading to the Azure Sea.

(End of this chapter)