Daqin Zhentiansi

The Northern Border Guardian Army's square formation stood solemnly at the edge of the barrier's halo, their dark heavy armor reflecting a cold luster, their demon-slaying spears pointing diagonally at the dark sky, exuding an iron-blooded silence.

Xue Dingyue's elite Eagle Guards were scattered across high cliffs and icy hills, like lurking falcons, their heavy arrows, crackling with lightning, already silently nocked onto the powerful strings of the rune-inscribed crossbows.

Further away, the "Immovable as a Mountain" formation of Panshi Camp was fully activated, with its earth-yellow aura connecting to the earth's veins, forming a solid and heavy base around the outer perimeter of the city.

The air was filled with the scents of frozen earth, preheated metal, and a faint, condensing malevolent aura.

Zhang Yuan's divine sense clearly "saw" things thousands of miles away:

On the battlefield of the Ice Dragon Altar, on the western ice peak, Lei Hao stood like a giant sculpted from ten thousand years of mysterious ice and northern lightning, on a makeshift command platform on an ice cliff.

He was clad in heavy black armor covered with dark gold scales, and with each breath he brought up a white mist like frost. His aura was domineering and deep, blending seamlessly with the roaring war machine beneath his feet.

Behind him, on the thousand-foot-wide ice cliff, was not a scattered array of crossbows, but a solemn formation of hundreds of "Frost Prison Crossbows" improved by the master craftsmen of the Ministry of Works!

These massive war machines do not operate independently. They are grouped into sets of three, with their bases buried deep in the ice. They are connected by thick metal arms that are marked with intricate "extreme cold Dao patterns," forming a huge node of the "Frozen Prison Array" that covers an area of ​​several miles!
Inside the ice peak, the rune masters wore solemn expressions, their hands forming hand seals as they continuously channeled the immense energy transmitted from the core of the Rift Valley barrier into the foundation of the array, then evenly distributed the energy to each rune crossbow string.

Deep blue, almost black, icy energy gathered and compressed wildly on the rune string, which was as thick as a child's arm!
It's not just simple light, but something that has condensed into a nearly tangible glacier-like substance!
The biting cold spread like tangible ripples, freezing the moisture in the air instantly into countless tiny ice crystals that clattered and tinkled as they fell onto the cold metal crossbow arm.

The temperature around the crossbow formation plummeted, the air thickened like a solid, and even the cold wind was frozen in mid-air, making a faint "crackling" sound.

Even through their thick armor, the soldiers of the Xuanjia Army felt the biting cold; their breath kicked up icy shards. The hard frozen ground beneath their feet became even more brittle and hardened under the low temperature, groaning under the weight of the cold.

The strongmen responsible for operating the crossbow had to take turns using their vital energy to resist the cold in order to barely keep it steady.

Lei Hao's gaze, like a cold probe, pierced through the churning demonic mist below and precisely locked onto the core of the altar.

The altar base, flowing with filthy demon blood and covered with a huge frost bone dragon totem.

Around the altar, tens of thousands of Frost Wolf Guards let out deafening howls, Ice Crystal Bats hovered in the low sky, and Frozen Corpse Guards formed a ring formation with bone spears in hand.

The demonic aura intertwined with the eerie power of the altar itself, forming a suffocating, icy, and deathly realm.

Below the ice peak.

Deep within the frozen soil surrounding the altar base, dozens of Ministry of Works "Drilling Camp" assassins, operating specially made "underground mole carts," had already arrived at their designated positions.

They drove dozens of massive, millstone-sized "geyser" covered with sharp barbs and vibrating runes deep into the most vulnerable frozen rock junction.

At this moment, at Lei Hao's instruction, an old elder with gray hair in the core of the rune array suddenly slammed down on the array plate's pivot!
"Om-!!"

A deep, resonant hum that made one's insides tremble came from the depths of the earth!

This was not a loud explosion, but a terrifying vibration with a high frequency and extremely strong penetrating power!
Visibly, the thick frozen soil around the altar base cracked open like glass being repeatedly struck by a giant hammer, instantly revealing countless crisscrossing fissures!
The millennia-old ice silently cracked and arched!
The hidden earth vein fire poison, like a mad dragon that has been imprisoned for thousands of years, was awakened and let out a muffled and suppressed roar. The scorching air, carrying pungent sulfurous fumes, gushed out from the newly torn crack!

A symphony of thunder and destruction.

Right there on the ice peak, at the very moment when the icy energy accumulated to its peak!
Lightning flashed in Lei Hao's eyes, and his raised right arm slashed down like a battle axe, his roar piercing through metal and splitting rocks, drowning out the deep roar of the earth:
"Frost Prison - Sky Rift! Release!!!"

The frozen land turned into a torrent!

"Buzz—Boom—!!!"

Hundreds of deep blue ice streams, imbued with the ultimate freezing power, resembled a glacial waterfall that had suddenly shattered from the heavens!

It was no longer a simple arrow, but a destructive torrent several meters in diameter, condensed like liquid ice that had been frozen for millennia!

They tore through the frozen air, emitting a shrill howl like ghosts and gods, and with an annihilating will to freeze everything, they bombarded the frost bone dragon totem that was coiled in the core of the altar with perfect precision!
The moment the ice flow came into contact with the totem, the totem's eerie green light flickered and dimmed wildly like a candle in the wind!
"Boom boom boom—!!!!"

The accumulated earth vein fire poison mixed with highly toxic smoke and dust, like erupting volcanic lava, surged fiercely upwards from the cracked base of the altar!
A terrifying pillar of crimson, viscous, boiling energy, carrying a destructive will to incinerate everything, fiercely met the deep blue, icy torrent descending from the sky!
"Sizzle—! Sizzle—BOOM!!!!"

Two completely opposite, yet equally extreme, destructive forces collided violently at the core of the altar!
Time seemed to stretch out and freeze at this moment!
The deep blue ice flood instantly froze the crimson fire pillar into a strange blue-red mixed crystal!

But the freeze lasted for less than a breath!
The ice and fire energies, forcibly compressed into an extremely small area, under pressure exceeding their limits, underwent the most thorough and violent annihilation reaction!
A sphere of destructive light, too dark to be seen with the naked eye, with an extremely dark center but an edge bursting with blindingly bright white and crimson light, was like a destructive star lit up on an altar!
Immediately afterwards, this man-made, short-lived, destructive star exploded!

The first level is "silence and obliteration".

As the shockwave spread, sound seemed to be swallowed up!

The air within a radius of several miles was instantly sucked out, and the howls of all the demon soldiers and the cracking of the ice came to an abrupt end!

The visible shockwaves resembled an invisible giant fist.

Wherever it passed, the mysterious ice and totems on the altar surface, and even the nearby demon soldiers, silently decomposed, melted, and turned into the finest dust!
The second layer is the "ice crystal storm".

What followed was a deafening, soul-ripping roar!

The ice and fire matter that was caught in the core was thrown out, forming a visible, tsunami-like wave of ice-white destructive shock!

The waves surged and roared, a mixture of countless shattered fragments of mystic ice, the remains of demonic soldiers, and the embers of burning poisonous fire!

It's like a giant white wall that stretches to the sky and the earth, advancing wildly in all directions with overwhelming force!
Wherever it passed, millennia-old ice peaks collapsed and shattered like sand dunes!
Tens of thousands of demon soldiers, whether they were frost wolves nearby or ice bats several miles away, were like being caught in an invisible meat grinder. They were instantly frozen by the extreme low temperature and then exploded into a sky full of scarlet ice crystal powder under the violent impact!

The icy mist mixed with the blood-red powder, forming a bizarre and terrifying pinkish-white mist wave!
The third layer is "the city burned by fire from the ground".

The residual heat released from the explosion's core ignited the demonic aura and sulfurous fumes that filled the air, forming a brief but intense vortex of eerie blue demonic fire, like a gaping maw of an abyss, which devoured and burned the last struggling remnants of the army!

The aftershocks spread far and wide.

The shockwave whipped up ice dust and snow waves hundreds of feet high, like a real avalanche that would destroy the world, sweeping across the thousands of miles of ice plains with unstoppable force!

The hundreds of large and small demon caves and lairs attached to the altar crumbled and collapsed like ice sculptures exposed to a furnace in the ripples of destruction, buried under the ever-growing white ruins that exuded a chilling cold and a burnt smell!

Before the dust settled and the snow waves continued to churn, Lei Hao's icy voice pierced through the chaotic air, clearly reaching the ears of every Xuanjia Army soldier, showing no sign of complacency after victory.

"Black Armored Army, heed my command—arrow barrage, pierce the enemy's heart!"

"The left-wing Crimson Scale Cavalry tears through the fleeing troops!"

"Xue Dingyue's Eagle Guard, lock onto the demon general, and deliver a fatal blow!"

"Tuoba Han, lead your elite mountain spirit warriors to clear the altar ruins, leaving not a single demon alive!"

"Yu Wanjun's heavy cavalry battalion, hold your ground and be ready to provide support at any time!"

"Target—the fleeing enemy in the northeast! Slaughter them all! Kill!!!"

Orders must be obeyed without question!

"Roar—!! Break the demon! Break the demon! Break the demon!"

The main formation of the Xuanjia Army erupted with a roar that shattered the heavens!
Like a taut bowstring suddenly released, a massive black arrowhead instantly took shape.

A massive steel arrow cluster, composed of the inner ring of Xuanjia Dragon Cavalry, the outer ring of Crimson Scale Light Cavalry, and the flanks of Mountain Spirit Warriors, tore through the still-lingering icy mist and dust, and with an invincible momentum, crashed into the densest part of the remaining demon soldiers who were fleeing in terror!
In an instant, swords flashed like a forest, warhorses neighed, and the severed limbs of demon soldiers flew in the cold wind!
Xue Dingyue's Eagle Guard, like the eyes of death, flashed frequently from the high ground.

With each tremor of the bowstring, a blinding bolt of lightning would tear through the sky, pinning the demon leaders and junior officers who were trying to organize a resistance to the scorched frozen earth!

Tuoba Han's barbarian warriors, like tigers among sheep, beat their war drums and launched a final mopping-up operation on the scorched ruins.

The Ice Dragon Altar, which the Xu Zhou demon race relied on as the pillar of the western front, and its vast defensive network, were completely destroyed under the "Ice and Fire Funeral Song" meticulously prepared and ruthlessly executed by the Riftwind Guard City!
Riftwind Fortress.

Demon-Suppressing Platform.

Zhang Yuan's eyes snapped open!

Just as the devastating shockwave from the Ice Dragon Altar swept across thousands of miles, he clearly felt the terrifying energy vibration transmitted through his divine sense.

Without any hesitation, his right palm, which was resting on the armrest of the platform, pressed down instantly!

"Om-!"

The core array plate of the Demon Suppression Platform hummed, and a condensed, almost tangible, dark golden beam of light shot into the sky, injecting into the barrier light shield above the city!

The once rock-solid dark gold barrier now rippled violently, like a deep pool where a boulder had been thrown in!
The powerful impact was transmitted back through the divine thought link, causing Zhang Yuan's black python robe to flutter slightly without any wind.

But his eyes were sharp as a hawk's, firmly stabilizing the output of the core array plate, and his deep yet penetrating command instantly spread throughout all the core nodes of the city:
"Rock-Solid Camp! Immovable as a mountain—Fortified!"

"Barrier core, energy increased by 20%!"

"Rune Array Tower, three sets to maintain in rotation!"

"Logistics Department, prepare for the reception of the wounded, activate the Level 1 emergency response plan! All personnel, prepare to receive the aftershocks!"

Inside the acropolis, the initial panic upon sensing the fluctuations in the light of the barrier was quickly quelled by Zhang Yuan's clear and firm commands.

The soldiers of the Rock Camp roared in unison, slamming their shields into the ground, injecting their thick blood and energy into the base of the formation.

The talisman tower shone brightly, and the talisman masters sweated profusely as they maintained the energy channels.

The battlefield thousands of miles away has been reduced to scorched earth. The collapse of the Ice Dragon Altar is like tearing open a huge wound in western Xuzhou. The symphony of destruction, intertwined with ice and fire, still lingers.

However, both Zhang Yuan, who stood on the Demon-Suppressing Platform enduring the aftershocks, and Lei Hao, whose battle robes were stained with blood and who charged forward with his spear, knew that this was not the end.

The collapse of the western defense line will be like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, inevitably provoking the most turbulent and frenzied counterattack from the Xu Zhou demon race and even those watching from deeper within.

The silence of the ice field is merely a brief respite before an even greater storm.

The heartland of Xuzhou.

Deep in the icy abyss.

The dark clouds churned violently, as if being repeatedly hammered by an invisible giant hammer, emitting a low roar like a landslide or tsunami.

The two enormous vertical pupils of the Shaking Mountain Demon Emperor, resembling lava lakes, burned with blazing fury at the core of the black clouds. Each violent tremor caused the surrounding ice, frozen for millennia, to groan in despair.

"Ice Dragon, my ally... Altar... Lei Hao, you brat! Great Qin—!!!"

Thunderous thoughts crashed against the walls of the abyss, filled with excruciating pain and furious rage at the destruction of accumulated strength.

That Ice Dragon Altar was not only an important source of power, but also the fulcrum for him to rule the western part of Xuzhou and draw on the power of the Ice Soul. Now, it has been reduced to ruins and scorched earth under the thunderous blow!
Just as the Xuanjia Army was pursuing the remaining enemies and clearing the battlefield, a strange change suddenly occurred on the scorched frozen earth and white ice dust!
The space, which had been in chaos due to the annihilation of ice and fire, suddenly began to twist and stretch violently!
The pungent smell of gunpowder and frost seemed to be forcibly repelled by a heavier substance, and a nauseating, sticky, glue-like odor filled the air.

That was a demonic aura mixed with high-grade sulfur, decaying star dust, and some kind of void annihilation energy!

"Crack--!"

A piercing sound of shattering glass exploded in the void!
Dozens, even hundreds, of deep spatial rifts, shimmering with an ominous dark purple aura, appeared out of nowhere on the scorched ruins, like huge wounds forcibly torn open by invisible claws!

Dark energy churned and writhed at the edge of the crack, like the mouthparts of a living creature!
Immediately afterwards, figures emerged silently from the crack, exuding an overwhelming and terrifying pressure!

They are not demons!

Their forms and auras are completely different!

These are all demons from outer space! (End of Chapter)