120: Chapter 120 Heavy Artillery Barrage, Army Formations Push Through

The Asura bone horn changed its rhythm again; the remnants withdrawing from the front line quickly diverted, and a second legion pressed up from the rear, their numbers several times greater than before.

The Red Plains were covered by dense footsteps; heavy shields, blood blades, and spears connected into a vast tide of troops, extending all the way to the foot of the barren mountains tens of miles away.

More than a dozen Asura giant beasts walked at the very front of the army array. Stone platforms were mounted on their backs, and each platform stood with dozens of Asura warriors holding heavy crossbows.

These giant beasts stood over ten zhang tall, their four legs covered in blood armor. Every step they took crushed the ground, and the air currents expelled from their nostrils kicked up sand and stones.

Behind the giant beasts, the Asura remnants formed sixteen Blood Sharp army arrays. Blood Qi surged from within every Asura, gathering above the army arrays.

The incomplete Law was drawn by the army arrays, and dark red air currents seeped from the fissures in the wasteland, gradually infusing the blood blades and armor of the charging troops.

Tens of thousands of Asuras struck their shields simultaneously. The sound of war drums drowned out the wind, and the second wave of the charge was launched along a frontal battle line ten miles wide.

Wang Mu stood on a temporary high platform, flipping through the wartime master register quickly, marking the position and advancement speed of each Asura army array into the formation map.

"Sixteen army arrays in the front, with ambush troops on both the left and right flanks. The giant beasts are responsible for breaking the shields, and the commanders in the rear have not yet entered the battle line." Wang Mu did not even lift his head as he reported the enemy's formation layout.

The messengers delivered the assessment to each camp, and the Immovable Wisdom King Army Formation immediately contracted its two flanks, increasing the thickness of the shield wall to five layers.

Wang Shan did not withdraw the vanguard back into the passage; instead, he ordered three thousand shield-bearers to cross the piles of corpses, leaving enough area for heavy artillery coverage.

"Once the Artillery Battalion finishes the first round, the shield-bearers will press forward with me!" Wang Shan pointed with his crimson flame saber, his voice like a booming bell. "Whoever falls behind can chase after us on their own; I won't stop the army array to wait for anyone!"

The Artillery Battalion in the rear removed the final layer of protective formation curtains, and two hundred Purple Mansion-grade rune heavy cannons drove out of the passage one by one, their cannon wheels pressing into the red soil.

These heavy cannons had been improved over a century. The cannon bodies were cast using high-grade metal and Green Abyss bone materials, and the internal spirit-conducting formations had also been replaced.

Blood-breaking formation patterns were added inside the cannon chambers, specifically designed to destroy tyrannical blood qi and the Physical Body, while the cannonball shells were engraved with Pure Yang Fire Liquid ignition talismans.

Two hundred cannon teams quickly took their positions. The maintenance soldiers spread out the pressure-bearing Formation Plates, and the loaders pushed the first batch of blood-breaking cannonballs into the chambers.

The Asura giant beasts crossed the first pile of corpses, and the stone crossbows on their backs fired simultaneously. Thick crossbow bolts flew across the wasteland toward the Artillery Battalion.

The Immortal Dao Cultivators raised the Formation Flags, and a second-tier defensive formation map unfolded above the Artillery Battalion. The crossbow bolts struck the formation curtain and broke into several pieces one after another.

Three of the crossbow bolts penetrated the outer layer of formation light and knocked over a heavy cannon. The nearby maintenance soldiers immediately rushed up to secure the cannon carriage.

The injured loaders were dragged away by the Medical Cultivator Camp, and the replacement personnel stepped over the scattered parts, pushing the cannonball back into the tilted cannon chamber.

Wang Mu waited until the sixteen Blood Sharp army arrays entered the designated area, then swung the command flag in his hand forward without uttering a word.

Two hundred Purple Mansion-grade rune heavy cannons fired simultaneously. The blood-breaking formation patterns inside the chambers lit up all the way to the muzzles, and the recoil shook the ground, creating deep pits.

The first round of cannonballs flew over the shield array, trailing red-gold flames as they smashed into the Asura vanguard, the impact points covering more than a dozen Asura giant beasts.

The exploding Pure Yang Fire Liquid burned inward along the giant beasts' blood armor, and the blood-breaking talismans burrowed into their blood qi meridians, severing their connection with the army arrays.

The three giant beasts charging at the very front collapsed on the spot, their heavy bodies rolling forward, crushing the stone platforms on their backs and the surrounding Asuras into the soil.

The remaining giant beasts let out roars, their blood armor falling off in sheets. Just as they wanted to continue their charge, the second round of artillery fire landed in the army array.

Dense cannonballs covered the Asura vanguard. The exploding shockwaves overturned the shield walls, and the blood-breaking power spread to both sides along the connections of the army arrays.

Hundreds of Asuras had just raised their blood blades when their armor was torn open by the artillery fire, while the Asuras in the rear were struck by flying heavy shields and knocked into their own ranks.

Gaps appeared in all sixteen Blood Sharp army arrays simultaneously. The blood qi that had originally connected into a whole was severed into dozens of segments by the artillery fire, and they could no longer support each other.

Wang Mu's command flag continued to press forward, and the Artillery Battalion did not cease fire; the third round of cannonballs extended five miles backward along the impact points of the first round.

Red-gold flames erupted one after another across the wasteland. Before the Asura rearguard could cross the wreckage of the vanguard, sheets of artillery fire were already falling upon their heads.

Stone crossbows, siege rams, and vehicles transporting blood food were destroyed together, and dozens of passages supplying the front line were all blocked by the upturned soil.

The centurions and chiliarchs within the Asura army arrays waved their flags frantically, attempting to have their units bypass the artillery zone, but they could not find a complete path of retreat.

The artillery fire plowed dozens of clearings along the battle line, each clearing running through from the vanguard to the center army, with severed limbs and broken armor covering the cracked earth.

The fourth round of artillery fire turned to the left and right flanks. The ambush troops hiding behind the barren mountains had just rushed out when they were met with the pre-calibrated blood-breaking cannonballs.

The rock walls were bombarded and collapsed one after another, and large chunks of mountain rock smashed into the Asura ranks, trapping the two flanking ambush forces in the mountain paths, unable to move forward or backward.

Wang Mu withdrew his command flag, and the Artillery Battalion immediately ceased coverage. The loaders replaced the overheated cannon chambers, and the maintenance team checked every pressure-bearing Formation Plate.

In just four short volleys, two hundred heavy cannons emptied their first batch of ammunition magazines, and also severed the second wave of the Asura offensive right in the middle.

Wang Shan raised his crimson flame saber, the blade reflecting the firelight that had not yet extinguished, as the twenty thousand main combat troops in front stepped over the wreckage of the shield walls simultaneously.

"Immovable Wisdom King Army Formation, push forward and flatten everything! Those who are injured stay in the inner array; anyone who dares to leave the array to steal credit will be dealt with according to military Law."

Three thousand shield-bearers pulled out the profound iron heavy shields embedded in the ground. The five-layer shield wall quickly became three layers, and the width of the army array spread out toward both flanks.

The blade soldiers pressed behind the shield-bearers, and the spearmen filled the gaps in the battle line, with half-step Golden Core and half-step Martial Ancestor experts guarding various nodes.

Twenty thousand nether bone mysterious armor units moved forward in unison, the armor plates clashing to produce a rhythmic sound. With every step the army array took forward, rows of footprints were left on the ground.

The Asura vanguard climbed up from the artillery fire. After losing the support of the giant beasts and the army arrays, they still brandished their blood blades and lunged toward the Immortal Martial shield wall.

The shield-bearers raised their shields to strike, the heavy shields smashing into the Asuras' chests, and the long spears in the rear rows immediately thrust out, pinning them down onto the shattered wasteland.

Dozens of Asuras charged into the battle line from the side. The blade soldiers did not pursue them; the second layer of the shield wall took the initiative to open a gap, letting them into the pre-set killing formation.

The gap closed, and the Asuras' retreat was sealed off by the shield-bearers. Hundreds of crimson flame sabers slashed down from three sides, cutting them down along with their blood blades.

There was always a casualty passage left inside the army array. After the injured armored soldiers withdrew from the front line, the reserve team immediately filled their positions, and the speed of the advance did not decrease.

An Asura chiliarch led hundreds of personal guards to charge the army array head-on. Bloodline secret techniques caused their bodies to swell by several feet, and their strength climbed accordingly.

Wang Shan stepped over the shield wall and swept out with his crimson flame saber. A century of compressed blood qi was infused into the blade, cutting the three foremost Asuras in half at the waist.

The chiliarch raised its heavy blade to counterattack. After the blades collided, the heavy blade snapped in response, and Wang Shan lifted his leg and kicked, sending it, along with its armor, flying back into the ranks of the personal guards.

"You've grown big enough, but the strength in your hands is still far from enough. Go roll back into the Blood Pool and be remade for a few years!"

Hearing this, the Immortal Martial Legion did not look back or laugh. Each camp continued to advance at its original rhythm, and the Asura personal guards were soon swallowed by the shield wall.

Wang Shan did not linger; he retreated back to the army array node, handing the frontal battlefield over to the commanders of each camp to be responsible for.

The legion system that had been honed for two hundred years did not require him to kill every enemy with his own hands; he was only responsible for dealing with the hard targets that might tear open the battle line.

Wang Mu followed the army array with the mobile high platform, and the Formation Hall moved the Spirit Gathering Formation Plates forward in batches, re-establishing supply nodes every five miles of advancement.

The Artillery Battalion in the rear completed the replacement of the cannon chambers, and the heavy cannons were dragged to the front line by geomantic vein carts, their cannon wheels crushing Asura corpses as they stopped three miles behind the army array.

The third Asura legion attempted to use the blood river to circle to the rear. Wang Mu retrieved the terrain records from the master register and immediately split off fifty heavy cannons to turn around.

The cannonballs smashed into both banks of the blood river, and the river channel was blocked by the soil and rocks blasted from the embankments. The Asuras who were crossing the river were swept downstream by the blood water and fire liquid.

A thousand-man Immortal Martial unit guarded the riverbank. They did not stray too far from the main combat army, only responsible for killing the remnants that crawled out of the river channel.

Asura remnants continued to pour out from the barren mountains and low fortresses. Their numerical advantage remained vast, but the number of troops capable of forming complete army arrays was becoming fewer and fewer.

After losing the command of the army arrays, the scattered Asuras could only rely on the ferocity of their Bloodlines to charge, and what greeted them were the orderly, rotating shield walls and blade arrays.

Whenever the Immortal Martial army array advanced five miles, the Artillery Battalion would first blast open the low fortresses ahead, and then the shield-bearers would cross the ruins to clear out the remaining defenders.

The Asura ambush troops hiding underground had just crawled out of the fissures when the Formation Maintenance Team activated the ground-probing formation, and the spearmen thrust into the soil along the formation pattern markers.

An underground blood cavern was voluntarily detonated by the Asuras, and blood qi burst through the ground, attempting to pollute all the Spirit Gathering nodes in the center of the army array.

Wang Mu threw down a Soul Purifying Formation Plate, and Pure Yang Fire Liquid was poured into the blood cavern along the ground trenches, sealing the rushing blood qi back underground with a formation curtain.

A hundred Martial Masters lifted Pulse Suppressing Stones and smashed them into the cavern entrance, with the Formation Hall following closely behind to carve a Seal; the entire army array did not stop because of this.

The Asura legion in front saw that the blood cavern had failed and began to retreat, but more than a dozen commanders sent out personal guards to supervise the battle, killing the fleeing soldiers one after another.

The remnant troops were forced to turn and charge, but they could no longer organize the Blood Sharp army arrays, and the units were split apart by long spears as soon as they approached the shield wall.

The battle line advanced ten miles, then twenty miles from the passage entrance, and all the black stone low fortresses along the way had their upper levels shorn off by the heavy cannons.

Thirty miles out, an Asura encampment hurriedly raised a defensive formation light, and the space behind the camp walls was packed with reassembled Asura remnants.

Wang Mu did not let the legion charge the camp directly. The two hundred heavy cannons were divided into four columns, aiming sequentially at the camp walls, formation eyes, stone crossbows, and the army flags in the rear.

The first column of artillery fire shattered the formation curtain, the second column collapsed the camp walls, the third column cleared out the stone crossbows, and the fourth column of cannonballs landed in the command area.

The Asura army flags snapped in the artillery fire, and dozens of Asura generals responsible for coordination were killed or injured, causing the entire encampment to lose control.

Wang Shan led the army to press over the ruins, the shield wall blocked the camp exit, and the blade soldiers entered along the left and right paths, splitting the remnant troops into several areas.

This battle lasted until the sky darkened, the firelight on the Red Plains had not yet extinguished, and Asura corpses paved the road leading to the heart of the fragment.

The Immortal Martial Legion had advanced thirty miles, its formation remained tight, the camps on the front line rotated shifts in order, and both the Artillery Battalion and the Medical Cultivator Camp retained their full combat strength.

The Asura army was forced to withdraw from the encampment, the remnants gathered toward the rear of the distant blood river, and the sound of the bone horns also shifted from offense to summoning the commanders.

The twenty thousand main combat troops stopped at the thirty-mile defense line, not pursuing the routed troops. The shield walls were set down again, and the Spirit Gathering Formation Plates were connected to the temporary formation towers.

Wang Mu quickly tallied the legion's combat losses; the number of deaths was still zero, there were three hundred and twenty-one seriously injured, and the lightly injured had already been treated in their respective camps.

Wang Shan swept his gaze across the end of the battlefield, where several high-level auras that had been suppressed for a long time were moving, and the Asura remnants along the way knelt and bowed to make way one after another.

The bottom-level cannon fodder had been mostly wiped out, and the Golden Core and Martial Ancestor-level commanders behind the Asura camp could finally no longer hold back; several violent blood shadows crushed the ground and lunged straight toward the core of the army array.