Forge a path to success.

Chapter 238 One Against a Thousand

“When I used to read martial arts novels, I really liked the plots where heroes clashed with armies,” Chu Hengkong said. “On one side, a large army was pressing in, heavily armored and well-equipped, with cavalrymen ready to charge and archers with their bows taut… On the other side, there was only one person, carrying his sword or knife, and perhaps a flask of wine. When arrows rained down, he drew his weapon and charged towards an enemy that outnumbered him by hundreds or thousands.”

"That sounds cool."

"He's incredibly handsome, which is why I've always liked him," Chu Hengkong chuckled. "People who don't understand romance might say the hero turned into a hedgehog in the end, that he died charging into battle before he could even touch the enemy's armor. Back then, I thought there would always be someone in the world who could take on a thousand men, that there were once invincible warriors, but we've never actually seen them..."

Later I became that kind of person, but I never encountered such an opportunity.

“Now you have your chance, don’t you?” Ji Huaisu laughed. “How romantic! Let’s drink to this romantic adventure.”

She actually took out a gourd and poured two sips of the remaining wine into a small ice glass. This was confiscated from Qingye that night at the banquet, to prevent the girl from drinking too much. They drank and toasted, laughing happily.

“I really admire you two heroes for still being able to laugh. I’ve cried until I have no tears left.” Vande said expressionlessly. “I don’t think we’ll turn into hedgehogs. We’ll be struck by lightning and turned into asphalt. Many years later, a new batch of brave warriors will dig us up and say, ‘Wow, this is the heroic 35th generation veteran…’ They’ll salute us and then continue on their way to their deaths.”

The deafening thunder completely drowned out Vande's lament. Lightning danced like snakes in the thick clouds, and the murky rain, falling in mid-air, became sharp knives. Looking around, all he could see was a dark mass—not the night, but the enemy army.

The demons growled in the shadows, and corpses paced within them. Further away, three demons roared, and giant corpse puppets raised their weapons. Rain blades slashed through their skin, and foul-smelling black blood mingled with their flesh, flowing down and merging into the earth. At a glance, the total number of the heretical army exceeded fifty thousand. They surrounded the settlement, as if darkness itself had become the hand of despair.

The army's opponents were merely three individuals, sitting in the rain drinking, like slightly larger raindrops. What seemed like a vast distance was but a step to the demons, yet they dared not advance. Not a single outsider dared to act.

The Divine Slash was stuck in the ground, rainwater slicing across its charred blade. Its ferocity was only partially revealed, a trace of malevolence like the half-closed eye of a ferocious beast, its mere presence enough to deter all heretics.

"This scene is even more magnificent than I imagined."

"You can still retreat now if you're scared."

"How could that be?" Chu Hengkong laughed. "That's more like it!"

The ice cup shattered on the ground, and the assassin and the knight rose simultaneously. At that moment, command overcame fear, and the massive army was officially mobilized, water droplets and ocean waves charging towards each other!

The Divine Slash lifted from the ground, its blade slicing through the leaping demon's body, easily cleaving it in two. Shadows, like blood, seeped into the blade, and the Divine Slash emitted an excited creak. Chu Hengkong shed the enemy's corpses, his blade flowing smoothly like water. The arc of the blade traced a black circle in the rain, that arc piercing through the enemy ranks, slicing through thousands of bodies, the overflowing blood forming a murky fan shape amidst the army.

He sheathed his sword, and with a sudden burst of energy from his fan, the force of his strike erupted three times in a short instant, shattering nearly a tenth of the army's strength!
The method of controlling weapons by the mind of the people allows the master of the weapon and the weapon to be of one mind and body, and to perform all kinds of supernatural powers with just a little strength.

Ji Huaisu cheered and pointed her light shield at the sky. Rain swirled at her feet, transforming into towering waves. These waves surged through the gap Chu Hengkong had slashed, blowing away the outermost enemy soldiers and sending the two of them directly into the center of the enemy formation. A blinding light radiated as they landed; she drew her shadow blade and slashed around herself, shattering all the shadows cast by the intense light.

The puppet army at the rear of the battle line fell, their massive bodies easily severed as their shadows were cut. A mad demon, its body fragmented, launched a sneak attack from behind, but Chu Heng kicked away the sand-dust claws with his bare foot. A flash of blood-red energy incinerated the elemental body into ashes. An assassin puppet burst from the ground, attempting to restrain the killer with a bone cage, but the knight slashed down with his sword, cleaving the torture device and the puppet's body in two.

"Is that all?" the assassin chuckled. "Not quite enough."

"Don't be like that, staying in nightmares for too long will make you rusty~" Ji Huaisu said.

"How much more valuable is the rusty guy than before?"

"I'd guess one in ten?"

That's why I said it wasn't enough—

Weapons clashed in perfect unison as they slashed, the combined force of their intent and magic sending surrounding enemies flying. They stood back to back, simultaneously drawing their swords, the resulting gusts of wind shaking the earth and coalescing into a two-tone whirlwind. Nearly a fifth of the enemy vanished in that instant, and the assassin and knight pointed their weapons at the castle atop Black Mountain.

They laughed simultaneously, "Send me at least ten times the number of troops, Demon King!" At this moment, the army had only just launched its first offensive, yet the enemy was already nearly breaching their battle lines. Indeed, there are heroes in this world who can take on a thousand men single-handedly; even an army of fifty thousand could not stop their advance!

“What terrifying young people…” the spider muttered. “It’s always the same, like a shooting star streaking across the night sky, but instead of falling, they resolutely hang on the horizon. Your teachers were like that back then, so I feel fear whenever I see them.”

The Spider-Legs stood atop the city walls of the Nightmare Capital, its gaze fixed on the distant, misty wilderness, yet its vision was crystal clear. Just as the warriors would grow stronger within the city, the messengers could now rediscover some of their former glory. The enemy's choice was unexpected; he had assumed the vanguard would lead the rest of the warriors in a desperate fight, but it turned out there were only two of them.

No, it was two people standing on the shoulders of a hundred. Through his energy perspective, he saw a boundless life force descending from the Tree of Light, falling upon the two. All the warriors in the settlement, young and old, surrounded the sacred pillar, sending out their energy in a united formation. Among the hundred were Jie An wielding a pestle, and the people of the mist who should have been forgotten long ago; they were all contributing their power without regard for the cost, just to save the two vanguard soldiers a single ounce of their strength.

The heroes must use their power for the most crucial moment, so the battles before that will be fought by everyone else!

"All troops, leave those two and launch a full-scale assault on the settlement. We must at least force the War Demons to exhaust the Skyfall Stream once," the Spider Limb ordered. "Ember, can you still draw your bow?"

"My flame will not be extinguished until death."

Burning Ember stood at the highest point of Nightmare City, drawing back the burning bowstring. His posture was perfect, meticulous; he had once been a hunter in the mountains, where a misfire meant the loss of food and tomorrow. Flames surged from his glowing arm into the bow, forming a semi-fluid arrow.

The magic fire arrow of point 3, the most standard apprentice spell.

The burning embers spun the longbow, the bowstring coiling around the arrow. The bow's movement was frozen in light, each degree of shift creating a new bow. Flames spread like petals, nocking identical arrows onto the newly formed bows. Three thousand six hundred flaming arrows retreated with the fiery fingertips, the bowstring, twisted to its limit, infused with power. He released, and three thousand six hundred beams of light shot into the thick clouds, refracting into a rain of burning arrows!
"The rain that never ceases to burn."

The battlefield was illuminated by raging flames, and countless fire rains fell from the sky, like divine punishment from mythology. The rain of arrows encompassed the entire battlefield, not only the battle formation between the two, but also the settlements within its range. Every flaming arrow relentlessly pursued the heat, chasing the hero from all directions, unwilling to give up unless blocked or annihilated.

Without a second thought, Ji Huaisu slammed her hand on the ground, and the Triple Dragon Seal Mountain rose up from the earth. Her power continuously poured into the mountain, making the seal temporarily contend with the rain of arrows.

"Can we hold out?" Vande asked, his heart pounding with fear.

"No big deal, just a little numbness in my hand!" Ji Huaisu shouted. "I'll hold the settlement, let's rush to the city gate first!"

Chu Hengkong grabbed her arm and charged forward, ignoring the rain of arrows, carving a bloody path through the army. Burning arrows, drawn by the heat, followed, but could not keep up with the assassin's unparalleled speed. In just three seconds, they had entered the middle of the ancient battlefield, where thunder rumbled amidst the fiery clouds, and purple lightning bolts were unleashed at the messenger's call.

"Zhou Lei, it's your turn to go on stage."

"Anger, hatred, resentment, and sorrow—the lightning punishment gathers..."

A purple giant reappeared from the clouds, holding in his hand a bolt of lightning as thick as a building. The lightning, twisted with malice, refracted in the air into a forest of lightning that tore the sky apart. A long, mournful roar of cursed thunder, like a thunder god driven mad by a curse, unleashed a severe divine punishment upon the earth.

"Curse! Curse! Curse!!"

Each call caused the lightning to surge, and each curse doubled the number of lightning trees. The destructive power of the lightning punishment became three times... nine times... twenty-seven times!
"Can it really hold up?!" Van der screamed amidst the thunder. "I don't think it will work!"

Zhou Lei swung his fist into the air, and tens of thousands of bolts of lightning struck the center of the battlefield simultaneously. The iceberg, worn down by the rain of fire arrows, could not withstand this violent blow, and Ji Huaisu created a transparent staircase in the air.

Chu Heng leaped onto the icy steps, raising his blade to meet the descending lightning. The raging thunder struck the charred blade, the lightning gleaming it, yet the blade was held back by his inner energy, unable to penetrate the martial artist's body. He swung his blade in mid-air, with twice the power as before. The purplish-black blade light danced like a bird, piercing straight through the giant's chest.

Steel Edge Flow - Returning Strike. Take the hit, and receive double the return!
The cursed lightning in the clouds collapsed upon impact, and Ji Huaisu seized the opportunity to change her armor, switching to the speed-focused Steel Armor Army. She caught her partner and stealthily rode the wind, like a sword flash cutting through thorns. Raindrops rushed backward at breakneck speed, and the scenery blurred as they sped along. They crossed the mountains that had crumbled during the Battle of Wenyao and arrived at the highest point of the royal city gate.

"Get up, you old fools!" Ji Huaisu roared. "Come out and fight!"

She unleashed a water jet like a battering ram, slamming it into the city gate of Nightmare City!
(End of this chapter)