Daqin Zhentiansi

Chapter 654 This belongs to the Zhen Tian Division, the Grand Examination

If it were anywhere else, as the personal guards of the Marquis of Qingyang, even with a powerful enemy in front of them, the 50,000 soldiers wouldn't even flinch.

But this place is the boundless East Sea, where legend says sea monsters roam.

Here, everyone's courage is diminished by a third.

"Just as my senior brother said, Marquis Qingyang has a backup plan." Pei Lie, standing on the deck of the ferry, spoke softly with a complicated expression.

On the one hand, he breathed a sigh of relief that Qingyang Hou had another backup plan.

This means that Marquis Qingyang did not rely solely on his 100,000 disciples of the Nine Yang Sword Sect to protect his army.

On the other hand, it turns out that their 100,000 sword cultivators were not the real reliance of Marquis Qingyang.

Then their importance is greatly reduced.

"The Marquis of Qingyang is the head of the Great Qin Heavenly Guard. How could such a person not have a backup plan?" The middle-aged man in the green robe beside Pei Lie held his sword with both arms, his eyes flashing with a sharp light.

Nie Duanqiu, the number one second-generation disciple of the Nine Yang Sword Sect, a Dongxuan Realm cultivator, and the third disciple of Wu Daoling.

This time, the Nine Yang Sword Sect truly sent their elites.

The warship cut through the waves, and the waves it created caused the seabirds circling around it to cry out and spread their wings to flee.

Amidst the waves, a black rocky island came into view.

"boom--"

The clouds above the sky burst open, and ten bronze giant ships tore through the air as a fierce wind suddenly appeared.

"That's... a floating, sea-suppressing warship!"

On the ferry, Pei Lie looked up and exclaimed in surprise.

Nie Duanqiu, standing beside him, couldn't hide his shock. He stammered, "Is that the legendary Zhenhai Ship, capable of suppressing the four seas and traversing the void...?"

The entire fleet watched as ten giant ships docked.

These floating sea-suppressing boats, each over a thousand feet long, are designed to correspond to the nine palaces of the Chinese zodiac, and their bows are decorated with a relief of a "wave-breaking sea-suppressing beast".

Each beast head carries a sea anchor engraved with thunder patterns.

The Xuanwu cloud pattern that appeared on the hull resonated and trembled with the nine bronze pillars on the island not far away.

Thirty-six demon-slaying crossbows on both sides of the boat gleamed with a cold, star-like light.

Each bolt fired from the Demon-Slaying Crossbow can directly tear apart the cave of the Great Demon of the Cave Profound Realm.

The Zhenhai Ship is a national treasure forged by the Ministry of Works over a century!

"Bodhi, the Chief of the Secret Medicine Department of the Heavenly Suppression Bureau, leads three thousand elite Blood Spider Guards to heed my command—"

A purplish-black poisonous miasma tore through the void, and an old man in a green robe descended from the sky, riding on a bronze spider puppet, with eight hundred half-demon assassins behind him, their eyes bloodshot.

"Reporting to the Marquis, the Secret Medicine Division has dispatched twelve poison cultivators at the Cave Profound Realm and three hundred at the Grandmaster Realm, carrying Netherworld Poison Fire capable of burning down a thousand miles of demon lairs!"

Bodhi, the Medicine Master of Secret Medicines, is a renowned master of medicine who is said to be able to bring the dead back to life and heal the wounded.

This person actually came to the East China Sea in person!
Twelve Caves of Profound Truth, three hundred Grandmasters—and this is just the Secret Medicine Division of the Heavenly Suppression Bureau, which is not known for its combat prowess!

So this is the true strength of Qingyang Marquis's forces!

The 100,000 disciples of the Nine Yang Sword Sect stared in shock and disbelief at the figures of the Grandmasters.

"The Marquis of Qingyang actually dispatched the Secret Medicine Department. Is this to reorganize logistics and rescue efforts?" Pei Lie muttered to himself.

Before he finished speaking, the waters in the east surged like a dragon.

The leader of the Spirit Array Beast Taming Division, riding a golden-winged roc, swooped down and landed, his Taoist robe fluttering in the wind: "Five hundred golden-winged riders and three thousand thunder-winged tiger riders of the Spirit Array Division, take your positions!"

"Reporting to the Marquis, our company has seven Free and Unfettered Realm array masters and forty-nine Grandmaster Realm beast tamers, who can set up the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Remnant Array!"

As Zhen Xuan's voice still echoed, a figure stepped out from the void.

Lu Tianshu, the head of the Demon Suppression Division, shouldered the Demon-Locking Chains and stepped into the void.

Grandmaster.

"Eight hundred Demon-Binding Blood Guards of the Demon-Suppressing Division are on standby! Reporting to the Commander, our division is accompanied by three Great Demons at the peak of the Free and Unfettered Realm, thirty-six Demon-Suppressing Envoys at the Grandmaster Realm, and the Myriad Demon Records have awakened the essence of the Flood Dragon!"

The three highest authorities of the Heavenly Suppression Bureau are: Martial Arts, Immortal Suppression, and Demon Suppression.

At this moment, thunderclouds surged across the sea. Yao Putuo, the commander of the Secret Medicine Bureau, rode a three-legged toad, breaking through the waves. Eight hundred Blood Spider Guards, bound by demon-binding ropes, emerged from the purple miasma. A hundred-mile-long celestial array of light formed a protective barrier. Xuanpan, the chief of the Spirit Array Bureau, sat on the back of a golden-winged roc, while three thousand Thunderwing Tiger Riders transformed into streams of light, sealing off the sky.

A cold wind from the northwest carried the clanging of chains as Lu Tianshu, the head of the Demon Suppression Bureau, arrived, riding the spirit of a dragon. Each swipe of the three-zhang-long golden-scaled phantom stirred up thunderstorms.

"Reporting to the Marquis!" Mu Changchuan, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, stepped onto the main ship under the fluttering banners, his measuring tape at his waist flashing with light.

"Three thousand craftsmen from the Ministry of Works have come with the Zhenhai Ship. They have already embedded seventy-two Yuwang water-avoiding pearls into the ship, added eight hundred catties of dragon bone mixed with the reverse scales of a dragon, and reinforced all the black armor cabin doors. It can withstand the full force of a nine-headed black dragon's attack for three days and nights!"

Marquis Qingyang's hunting expedition in the East Sea has actually mobilized so many elites and powerful warriors!
The 50,000 newly recruited guards on the deck, and the 100,000 sword cultivators on the ferry, were all dumbfounded.

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All 50,000 new soldiers boarded the Zhenhai ship.

The 50,000 soldiers couldn't even fill a single Zhenhai boat.

The broad and powerful warships, and the gleaming array of weapons, made all the soldiers clench their fists.

"Damn it, I get it now. We martial artists from the Eastern Jianghu are just frogs in a well..."

The black-armored soldier with a short beard reached out and stroked the five-zhang-long crossbow bolt in front of him, feeling the spiritual patterns on it, and murmured to himself.

Indeed, the soldiers who boarded the ship at this moment all looked dazed.

The fleet, comprised of the Zhen Tian Si army and the Ministry of Works' craftsmen, headed towards the island ahead.

East China Sea, Zhenhai Island.

This place was originally a supply point for the Qin Dynasty navy. At the heart of the island stand thirty-six giant bronze pillars engraved with immortal seal script, which are said to be the "Pillars of Heaven and Sea Suppression" used by King Yu of the Great to suppress the sea eye during his flood control efforts.

Three months ago, a tsunami destroyed the reefs on the east coast, exposing lava caves thousands of feet deep underwater.

A large number of demonic beasts awakened and took hold by the ancient demonic energy, and the base of the bronze pillar was stained with blood and a strange "living sacrifice rune" appeared.

When the fleet reached thirty miles outside the island, they could already see blood-red light soaring into the sky above the entire island, and demonic energy permeating the air.

One by one, the Zhenhai boats slowly came to a stop.

"My lord, the coral reefs in the southwest of Zhenhai Island have been occupied by sea monsters, and the island is surrounded by a dense swarm of Xuanjia turtles."

The white-robed female cultivator standing behind Lu Tianchu clasped her hands and spoke.

Her name is Bai Zhi. She is one of the deputy heads of the Demon Suppression Division, a half-demon, and has the cultivation level of the peak of the Cave Profound Realm.

Its bloodline talent allows it to detect demonic energy from thousands of miles away and distinguish their species.

On the Zhenhai Ship Tower, the three powerful figures, several leading experts from the Nine Yang Sword Sect, and five new army commanders all looked up at Zhang Yuan, who stood solemnly in front of them.

Zhang Yuan nodded slightly, and Yin Jiuyou stepped forward, waving the command flag in his hand.

"call--"

In an instant, all eighty-one holes on the bottom of the Zhenhai Boat spewed out "Earth Fire Spirit Burst".

Dark red magma, carrying poisonous miasma, surged into the sky, turning the three-headed, storm-ridden Bone-Eating Fish King into molten iron.

Chu Zhaonan, the Nine Yang Sword Cultivator, had his pupils trembling.

He clearly saw the dragon's essence merge with the star array, forming a celestial killing formation of "dragon swallowing the Big Dipper" on the dome!

Amidst the deafening drumbeats, nine colossal bronze pillars blazed with a blood-red light that shot skyward.

Ten floating Zhenhai boats hovered a hundred feet in the air outside Zhenhai Island, their black tortoise cloud patterns resonating and vibrating with the bronze pillars.

The three-zhang-long Dinghai anchor at the bow of the ship gleamed with a ghostly blue lightning light.

This was cast by the Ministry of Works using the reverse scales of a nine-headed black dragon, and the seventy-two water-avoiding pearls on the anchor chain are absorbing and exhaling the spiritual energy of the sea tide.

Fifty thousand black-armored guards and one hundred thousand Nine Yang Sword cultivators lined up on the deck of the ship, their hearts pounding as they gazed at the magnificent battlefield below.

Zhang Yuan stood with his hands behind his back, his voice booming like a tsunami: "Send orders to the Three Departments."

"The Secret Medicine Division will poison the coral reef monsters within three quarters of an hour; the Spirit Array Division will draw the brilliance of Sirius to the Dinghai Anchor at midnight; the Demon Suppression Division will control the dragon's essence to tear apart the Xuanjia Turtle swarm before dawn."

His eyes revealed a deep depth.

This battle is the first battle fought by the Three Commanders in the East Sea. He wants to show the 50,000 newly recruited guards and the 100,000 disciples of the Nine Yang Sword Sect what the true strength of the Great Qin is!

"This is the Grand Examination of the Heavenly Suppression Division."

(End of this chapter)