You call this the way of the sword?

Duan Kang made his choice. He put away the strategic map, cut off all external communications, disguised himself as a "dead man" who had lost contact with the battlefield, and then headed to the nearest Tianhe Battle Scar.

Battle scars are very dangerous places, and for many years, various races have exhausted all means to explore them.

They even went so far as to open a passage for higher-level beings to explore lower-level battle scars, but each time they returned empty-handed, demonstrating that the dangers within the battle scars could not be measured by level.

Even so, Duan Kang was still very decisive when taking action.

It's not as simple as choosing whether or not to participate in this nation war instance, and the answer is no.

Compared to the outcome of national wars and battlefield hegemony, Duan Kang was more concerned with his own survival.

The root cause of this kind of egoism, besides being intimidated by Fengtian, is more the potential drawbacks brought about by a long period of peace and an overemphasis on victory.

In order to launch a full-scale battle, the Demon Alliance made many preparations for Pingchuan and boasted about their absolute advantage, which made many lesser demons feel that they were sure to win.

The blind confidence born from the belief in certain victory, when shattered, leaves fragments that pierce the heart and cause one to break down more easily.

Duan Kang was like that, and there were many other rising stars like him among the demons and ghosts, even in the garrisons in various places. No one expected that the human race would suddenly launch an attack and take the initiative to provoke a war.

No one could have imagined that the human race, once it took action, would mobilize the entire population for war.

"My God, what is this?"

"Hiss... Have humans gone mad?"

Just as Duan Kang left, countless newly recruited demons and ghosts, on their way to the assembly point, witnessed this scene through the strategic map.

Starting from the central part of the plains, human strongholds and legions appeared one after another, manifesting as dense red dots, representing enemy forces. Then, the red dots spread rapidly, covering the entire map, indicating that they were sweeping and advancing.

One can imagine that some demons who are oblivious to current events or who do not heed the military's warnings might suddenly turn around during a hunt and find a vast expanse of human cultivators stretching across the sky.

A level advantage that arrives six months early?

does not exist at all.

Soon, our own bases also took measures, and a large number of green dots appeared in the city.

The red and green forces first came into contact in the sand dunes and Gobi Desert, devouring each other, and the red and green light spots quickly disappeared.

This was the stronghold attack and defense battle that Xiao Bingning witnessed, and it was also the first battle of the Pingchuan War.

To be precise, it was the second war, but after a large-scale war began, the truth presented to the world was inevitably filtered.

It is unknown when it began, but the first and most important battlefield disappeared from the strategic map of the Demon Alliance's rising star, the Volunteer Army.

This battlefield is Huicheng, the first target of the demon race's forced crossing.

"Damn it, it's the Wind and Thunder warship again!!"

"No matter what method you use, blast it down!!"

"There's only one person left in Fengtian, find him!!"

Above the battlefield of Huicheng, dark gray thunderclouds surged, with lightning flashing purple and red intermittently.

One of the white lightning bolts persisted, gliding through the air at an irregular speed like a shooting star, leaving a trail of crimson-purple lightning and fire in its wake.

Further back were some ranged skills that locked onto the target, and a group of crossbowmen who used external force to fly and pursue it, seemingly determined to catch up, all desperately chasing after that lightning bolt.

They didn't just chase after it; no matter what methods they used to surround and intercept it, they were all eventually left behind by the lightning.

This was supposed to be a swift and decisive battle of annihilation, but since the first wave of those who crossed the river arrived, now it's the third wave, and it's still not over.

The reason for this situation can be summarized in one word: strategic miscalculation.

Upon arriving at the battlefield, the first wave of invaders deployed a barrier, a common feature on ordinary battlefields, designed to block the enemy's retreat and prevent reinforcements.

According to the main strategy of quickly annihilating Fengtian and then switching from defense to offense, such a conventional barrier would have been sufficient. However, the loss of more than a dozen strongholds in a short period of time made the measures taken by the demon army in haste both correct and wrong, resulting in a fatal strategic misjudgment.

The correct approach was for them to immediately open the passage for a forced crossing, intending to suppress Fengtian with overwhelming force. This likely reflects their understanding of Fengtian's strength, but their level of understanding was clearly insufficient.

Considering the mobility of all Fengtian members who can fly, and the long period of ambush before passing through Huicheng to reach the next stronghold, the barrier used by the demon race has a very large range.

The distance between the ground and the air alone was as high as 1,500 meters, showing that they were determined to annihilate Fengtian.

However, the failure to quickly kill Fengtian led to a series of conflicts between the conventional barrier and the battlefield of the forced crossing.

First, the battlefield area enclosed by the large barrier gave Lightning enough room to escape, making it difficult to pursue and annihilate, fundamentally affecting the strategic core.

Secondly, the highest point of the barrier pierces through the clouds, which is what drives the transgressors crazy the most.

Because a conventional barrier should keep out all external objects, including clouds, but these were forced through by external forces. The battlefield rules were activated, and an anomaly occurred. The lightning, which seemed to be divine punishment, did not fall immediately, but it caused a qualitative change in the thunderclouds.

Lei Yun infiltrated the interior of the barrier from the very beginning, becoming a hiding place for Yang Qingfeng and Qiao Lie.

At this moment, it unleashed an inexhaustible stream of thunderous power for the use of the Wind and Thunder Warship.

Yang Qingfeng probably never thought of using this thunderous power until his death, because he had no idea what would happen if he forced it in, but Qiao Lie did.

Knowing that the demon race would inevitably attempt to cross the river, Qiao Lie had been thinking about countermeasures. Later, he came to a similar conclusion to Yang Qingfeng—they could not defeat them head-on, and the only option was to delay until reinforcements arrived.

The conclusions may be the same, but the methods cannot be the same.

Qiao Lie returned to the capital immediately, back to his home after several years of absence. When he saw his father again, there was no joy, no gossip, only robbery-like plunder.

He seized a high-level wind and thunder assault ship that could use heavenly lightning as its kinetic energy, and then activated it with his pitifully small amount of magic power. Like a madman, he borrowed the power of heaven and fought against the earth, indirectly engaging in a fierce head-on confrontation with the demon race's powerful cultivators.

This battle was indeed very intense, but Qiao Lie only made one move.

It means that the warships will appear and then run for their lives.

He didn't know how long he would have to run, or whether he would be caught and beaten by the forcibly crossing over.

In short, there was no turning back once the arrow was released. After revealing himself, he became the primary target of all the crossing warriors, successfully covering Yang Qingfeng, who was still in the sea of ​​clouds.

After enduring the fierce onslaught of the first minute by the ferrymen and experiencing various thrilling and perilous situations, Qiao Lie was horrified to discover that he was still alive. He then went completely mad, occasionally bursting into extremely humiliating maniacal laughter during his escape.

He was laughing, mocking the demon race's forced crossing.

His laughter was exaggerated, as if he had truly gone mad, rather than being provoked.

The premise for this illusion is that the Crossing Warriors have already killed eight Fengtian people, and Qiao Lie's madness just happens to fit the situation of "madness caused by hatred after his teammates have been brutally killed".

However, none of the demon race's powerful warriors discovered that Qiao Lie's escape route followed a pattern.

He didn't take the pursuers below level 5 seriously. Like a fly, he repeatedly went to provoke the level 5 strong cultivators, trying to attract their attention and distract them.

At this moment, the sword explosion would always erupt in silent, tacit agreement.

Yang Qingfeng remained standing quietly in the sea of ​​clouds, blasting for about 15 minutes, until the teleportation array below suddenly erupted with strong fluctuations.

The first Tier 6 Transcender has arrived on the battlefield.