Three thousand li south of "Mutual Destruction Ridge," more than forty Demon Lords stood shoulder to shoulder in a line. From time to time, a few of them would whisper to each other.
The middle-aged Demonic Cultivator surnamed Wu and a short-haired Demonic Cultivator stood among the crowd, their Divine Senses constantly probing towards "Mutual Destruction Ridge."
There, more than twenty Demonic Soldiers and South Sea cultivators were relentlessly launching a barrage of attacks on the grand formation below.
"Brother Wu, that squad of replacement cultivators finally arrived today. Otherwise, the order Lord Tie Dong issued two days ago to conquer Windy Cool Mountain within five days would have been really difficult to complete."
"Five days... these past two days have been truly unbearable. We've held back until today, taking a huge risk. If the information about the replacements was false, then the past two days would have been wasted. For these two days, we haven't repeatedly probed Windy Cool Mountain with our Divine Senses , fearing it would alert the enemy cultivators. The Spirit Power fluctuations from a large number of cultivators flying earlier suggest they've just completed the handover. Lord Tie Dong can't wait any longer. Hehehe, he ordered us to launch an all-out attack while the enemy has just taken over. The reason I had the attack teams launch long-range attacks before getting close was to see how fast they would react. The result is that the reaction of their formation is clearly one or two times slower than a few days ago. This is a phenomenon that should only happen with newcomers who are unfamiliar with the situation."
As the two were speaking, the expressions on the Wu-surnamed Demonic Cultivator and the short-haired Demonic Cultivator suddenly froze. They then exchanged a glance and burst into loud laughter.
"It's this old trick again, trying to lure us into an Illusion Formation . But the speed at which this grand formation is changing is much clumsier. You, immediately order the forward attack to stop and retreat. I will inform Lord Tie Dong . This time, we will shatter their 'turtle shell' in one fell swoop and see how long these cultivators can last in a direct confrontation without any cover."
After the Wu-surnamed cultivator finished speaking quickly, he immediately took out a Voice Transmission Talisman , muttered a few words, and flicked it out. The talisman rapidly vanished into the sky.
The short-haired Demonic Cultivator also immediately sent a Voice Transmission Talisman to the Demonic Soldiers in the midst of their attack, ordering them to cease immediately and retreat.
Subsequently, the short-haired Demonic Cultivator said, "Fellow Daoist Wu, you are responsible for attacking in more directions. Later, 'Mutual Destruction Ridge' will be left to me and the other fellow daoists to capture."
The Wu-surnamed cultivator nodded. He was still confident in the short-haired Demonic Cultivator ; moreover, he really did have to coordinate attacks on other defensive points.
Among the twenty-odd Demonic Soldiers attacking "Mutual Destruction Ridge," the short and stocky Demonic Cultivator whom Li Yan had met in the small courtyard in "Zhouyang Town" was attacking the "Mutual Destruction Ridge" below with another Demonic Cultivator by his side.
The short and stocky Demonic Cultivator looked at the place they were attacking below. Several subsidiary peaks had already collapsed there, trees were sent flying, and rubble was piled up, creating a scene of devastation amidst smoke and fire.
After watching for a short while, the short and stocky Demonic Cultivator said to the Demonic Cultivator beside him, "Look at the situation down there. Did we really cause this much damage?"
The Demonic Cultivator he asked was no longer the one who had been his vice-captain in the small courtyard. That person had fallen into a trap set by Windy Cool Mountain during a major battle half a month ago and had ultimately perished along with four Desolate Moon Continent cultivators.
"Probably not. It's likely another illusion created by their grand formation. This situation has occurred many times. Whenever we send someone in, they fall into the enemy's grand formation and end up trapped."
Although the Demonic Cultivator said this after carefully scanning the area with his Divine Sense several times, his tone was uncertain. Each of their teams was responsible for attacking one direction of "Mutual Destruction Ridge."
But the formations of these human cultivators were much more intricate than those of the Demon Clan. They were vastly different from the grand and sweeping formations of the Demon Clan.
Just like the scene below them now, even under the probe of their Divine Senses , they had difficulty distinguishing truth from falsehood.
It was similar to the aftermath of every attack they had launched over the past month. The enemy would either show scenes of the grand formation collapsing, mountains toppling, and caves caving in, or scenes of vast numbers of cultivator corpses lying dead tragically.
At first, this made the Demonic Cultivators truly believe they had breached the defenses. But every time they sent someone forward to step inside, the cultivators would disappear one by one without a trace. Only then did they realize the high level of the enemy's illusion arts.
Later, when they encountered this situation again during an attack, although they were more cautious, the purpose of the attack was to occupy the territory. So even if they suspected it was an illusion, they still had to find a way to investigate.
The final result was heavy casualties time and time again. Although some managed to escape, they were covered in wounds.
This time was no exception. Seeing another scene of utter devastation before them, with wolf smoke rising, mountains and rocks cracking, and debris flying, the short and stocky Demonic Cultivator even saw the Spirit Power shields of the Desolate Moon Continent cultivators inside the grand formation flickering as they looked up at him warily. For a moment, he was also unsure if it was an illusion.
"Just send two South Sea cultivators down to find out."
After repeatedly scanning the area with his Divine Sense multiple times, the other Demonic Cultivator found to his frustration that he still couldn't tell if the scene below was a formation illusion. A fierce glint flashed in his eyes.
Subsequently, he immediately looked down and said to a few cultivators who had just stopped their attacks, "You, and you! Go down and see if this formation has been broken!"
Those few cultivators had just stopped their arts. Their hearts were filled with a sense of bewilderment and numbness, wondering when this kind of life would ever end.
If it weren't for their families being held captive by the Demonic Cultivators , they would have deliberately let the other Desolate Moon Continent cultivators kill them in battle long ago.
The two cultivators who were called out paused slightly, a sense of sorrow rising in their hearts. They had seen this kind of thing happen many times before, and today it was finally their turn. Although their hearts were already numb, and seeing others die in an instant was just like a fleeting, brilliant firework, when it was their own turn, the feeling of a fox grieving for a dead rabbit instantly welled up. (TN: A Chinese idiom, "when the rabbit dies, the fox grieves," describes feeling sorrow for the fall of one's own kind.)
"Junior Brother, I'll go down first this time. You follow behind me. If you sense something is wrong, immediately send a warning and turn back. With an early warning, those Demon Lords won't make things difficult for you. Don't they just want a clear result?" the older of the two cultivators secretly transmitted to the younger one beside him. In this Demonic Cultivator squad, only the two of them were left from their sect.
The cultivators beside them were recent replacements. They weren't familiar with them anyway, and were now looking at them with pity.
Since it was possible both of them would die, the older cultivator thought for a moment and sighed in his heart. He didn't want to die either, but if he argued with his junior brother now about who should go down first, the Demonic Cultivators behind them would probably activate their restriction tokens directly.
At that time, the two of them would lose their senses and go down in a daze.
Then he remembered how his junior brother had blocked an enemy attack for him and saved his life not long ago. After a moment's hesitation, he made his decision.
"Senior Brother..."
The junior brother let out a low cry after hearing his senior brother's voice transmission, but his senior brother had already taken a step forward and was heading down.
Just then, the two Demonic Cultivators behind them suddenly froze. The same Demonic Cultivator who had spoken before immediately shouted, "You two, come back! We're retreating!"
The sudden order first stunned the two South Sea cultivators in front. They immediately stopped in their tracks and looked back in confusion, only to see that Demonic Cultivator gesturing for them to hurry back.
Although the two South Sea cultivators didn't understand what was happening, a sense of having survived a calamity instantly rose in their hearts. The two brothers exchanged a glance, and with a flex of their arms, they shot back rapidly.
If they could live for another moment, they would deal with what came next later. They couldn't be bothered to think about so much. The other South Sea cultivators also looked bewildered, their eyes fixed on the two Demonic Cultivators . This was an extremely rare occurrence. Usually, a retreat order was only given when both sides were locked in a stalemate and casualties were heavy.
It was just that the expressions on the two Demonic Cultivators' faces showed the other cultivators that they were also filled with confusion and an inexplicable unwillingness.
Below, within the grand formation, Wuye and his group of cultivators were looking up at the sky. Although the sky had become incredibly dark, they could still clearly see the situation outside.
A squad of cultivators was desperately attacking the grand formation, sparing no Spirit Power . Even though Wuye and his team were inside the formation, they could feel the deafening roars and the violent fluctuations of Spirit Power coming from the formation.
After they had attacked for a while, Wuye had already received Li Yan's voice transmission, and the cultivators above had all ceased their arts.
Through the afterglow of the various colored explosions, Wuye and his team saw clearly that it was a squad of over twenty people. Behind them, two Demonic Cultivators were staring at them with burning gazes.
"Fellow Daoist Li has already made this place appear as a breached area. These people will attack soon. We must be ready to strike at any moment."
Wuye immediately knew that the enemy had been affected by the formation's illusion and issued the order.
As Wuye's voice fell, many cultivators behind him began to grow nervous. The moment for a face-to-face clash was about to arrive.
However, there were also many who were extremely relaxed. When these cultivators and Demonic Cultivators came down, although they heard that not everyone could be individually separated, some cultivators could still be isolated in different areas.
Their first wave of attacks would definitely be a sneak attack on the enemy. Under such circumstances, it shouldn't be too difficult, and their casualties would surely be low.
Sure enough, just as the cultivators above stopped their attack, two cultivators with ashen faces and wary expressions flew down towards them. One of them was slightly faster and was already approaching the entrance to the formation's Gate of Death.
Just as everyone was holding their breath, the two cultivators, one after the other, suddenly stopped just as they were about to reach the entrance of the Gate of Death. At the same time, they heard the shout of a Demonic Cultivator .
Li Yan was scanning every part of the outer formation with his Divine Sense . He was judging the Spirit Power fluctuations at each point of attack, sensing the strength of the enemy.
Based on the intensity of the enemy's attack, he controlled the compass, causing various breach illusions to appear in different parts of the grand formation.
As the illusions were generated at each attack point, Li Yan felt under the scan of his Divine Sense that he was doing it in an orderly manner. Whether the enemy believed it or not, at least he felt he was being very careful, not overlooking any detail.
The Gates of Death that he had temporarily opened were in the areas with the most ferocious attacks. According to this effect, the enemy should have made some progress.
He had created all of this silently, making it feel very reasonable and natural to himself.
Just as he had opened a few Gates of Death, the enemy Demonic Cultivators did indeed begin to send people forward to investigate. But suddenly, these Demonic Cultivators , who were attacking from different locations around "Mutual Destruction Ridge," all ordered a halt to the investigation.
This change was too sudden. It was not only beyond the expectations of Wuye and his team, but Li Yan saw even more. To his complete bewilderment, the hundreds of people who had just been rushing over with great momentum, as if they had all received a simultaneous voice transmission command, after just one wave of intense attacks... actually, retreated in unison towards the south.
Faced with this bizarre attack, even though Li Yan had never participated in a large-scale battle between the two sides, an unknown sense of foreboding rose in his heart!