123: Chapter 123 The Nether Bone Displays Its Power, Counterattacking the Soul Cultivator

The Asura Survivors outside the army formation ceased their attack, dragging their broken bodies to either side, kneeling amidst the piles of corpses with their foreheads pressed against the blood-stained earth.

A stone gate split open in the middle section of the cliff wall, and twelve Asura sacrificial guards draped in animal-skin robes carried out a blood-bone altar, dragging heavy chains under their feet.

In the center of the altar sat a withered Asura with six curved horns on its head, holding a bone staff strung with hundreds of grayish-black bone shards.

It lowered its eyes, and the bone staff struck the altar. The lingering souls within the canyon immediately shrieked, detaching from their corpses in droves.

The lingering souls rose from the piles of corpses, merging into the churning grayish-black air currents. The blood patterns inside the cliff caves also lit up, sending power accumulated over many years to the altar.

Wang Shan locked onto the middle section of the cliff wall and raised his hand to mobilize the Artillery Battalion. Wang Mu pressed down the attack command flag of the artillery unit first.

"Blood mist seals the altar, and there is an isolation Formation inside the mountain. The Formation eye hasn't been exposed; firing heavy artillery now will only waste ammunition."

"Then we'll blast the entire cliff wall down. I don't believe it can continue casting spells while buried in stone."

"The artillery barrels have been firing for three consecutive days. If we force a full-load salvo, half of the heavy artillery will have to be sent back to the Casting Workshop. We must force it to reveal its position first."

Wang Mu recalled the outer Rejuvenation Formation, deployed all Formation Plates within the army formation, and established a Divine Thought connection surrounding the twenty thousand armored soldiers.

The Medical Cultivator Camp issued Soul-Stabilizing Powder to the wounded. Those unable to remain conscious were sent back to the Divine Kingdom; they were not allowed to stay within the formation and drag down the nodes.

The Asura sacrificial priest raised its bone staff, and the hundreds of bone shards collided with one another. The grayish-black air currents gathered above the canyon pressed down toward the army formation.

The Divine Soul storm crossed the shield wall and the nether bone mysterious armor, entering the Sea of Consciousness of every soldier. The killing intent left behind by the Asuras before death transformed into roars, crashing back and forth within their minds.

Several young Martial Masters in the front row swayed, their comrades' armor covered in blood, their ears filled with the dying screeches of the Asuras.

They gripped their war blades tightly, the blades still facing outward. The formation positions engraved into military discipline locked their feet in place and also locked the direction of their blade strikes.

Over a hundred years of training in the Shura Field had long since taught them how to form ranks, fight, transport the wounded, and maintain Formation Plates under the pressure of Soul Power.

Wang Shan had set a military rule: No matter how chaotic the Sea of Consciousness becomes, you must remember where you are standing. You can lose your blade, but you cannot lose your formation position.

The twenty thousand soldiers' footsteps were connected. The front-row shield soldiers struck the ground with their heavy shields, while the rear-row blade soldiers followed the rhythm to adjust their breathing and smooth out their surging Qi and blood.

The Soul-Cleansing bone patterns on the nether bone mysterious armor lit up in succession, with ghostly blue light spreading from the chest armor to the shoulders and back, then connecting along the formation lines into the army formation beneath their feet.

Each set of nether bone mysterious armor shared a portion of the impact. The twenty thousand sets of armor connected into a whole, and the Divine Soul storm was split across the entire army formation.

The frenzied killing intent lost the opportunity to erode any single individual, forced instead to repeatedly crash against the Divine Thought connection, its power ground away layer by layer by the Soul-Cleansing bone patterns.

Wang Mu sat at the central formation hub with the command flag laid across his knees, his half-step Golden Core Divine Thought following the formation lines to connect into the Sea of Consciousness of the twenty thousand soldiers.

"Immovable Wisdom King Army Formation, guard the spirit, settle the thoughts. No one is to bear it alone; hand everything over to the army formation."

The military order spread through every battalion along the formation lines. The soldiers, who had originally been bracing themselves individually, released their Divine Thought defenses, guiding the killing intent that had invaded their Sea of Consciousness toward the formation lines beneath their feet.

The Divine Thoughts of the twenty thousand people converged above the circular formation, condensing into a phantom of the Immovable Wisdom King sitting cross-legged with eyes closed, its palms suppressing both sides of the army formation.

The Divine Soul storm crashed into the Immovable Wisdom King phantom, the grayish-black air currents wrapping around its shoulders and back, tearing downward, but they were unable to pass the massive, cross-legged figure.

The impact borne by the Immovable Wisdom King phantom was diverted through the nether bone mysterious armor and then sent into the Origin of the Northern Nether Earth by the Nine-Layer Spirit-Gathering Formation.

The Soul Power ley lines left behind by the Skeleton Wasteland caught this force, and the Soul-Cleansing Formation stripped away the distracting thoughts of slaughter, leaving only pure Soul Power that could be absorbed.

The offensive launched by the Asura sacrificial priest using tens of thousands of lingering souls, upon falling into the army formation, was instead converted by the Origin of the Northern Nether Earth into power to maintain the Divine Thought connection.

A Martial Master who had originally been suffering from a splitting headache opened his eyes again. The agitation in his Sea of Consciousness had receded, and his Divine Thought was slightly more refined than before the battle started.

The same change appeared in every formation position. The army formation did not fall into chaos, and the outline of the Immovable Wisdom King phantom solidified accordingly.

On the cliff altar, the Asura sacrificial priest raised its bone staff again. The twelve sacrificial guards slashed their wrists, pouring their Qi and blood into the formation lines beneath their feet.

The second round of the Divine Soul storm pressed down, its power far exceeding the previous one. The grayish-black air currents were also wrapped with the lingering will left behind by a fallen Martial Ancestor commander.

The Martial Ancestor's lingering will, carrying high-level pressure, slammed into the head of the Immovable Wisdom King phantom. The cross-legged phantom shook violently, and several cracks split open on its shoulders and back.

In the center of the army formation, over a hundred armored soldiers with weaker Divine Thoughts collapsed within their formation positions. The Medical Cultivator Camp had already been guarding both sides, and Soul-Stabilizing Pills were immediately placed into their mouths.

Substitute armored soldiers took over the formation line nodes, and the nether bone mysterious armor reconnected into a whole. The cracks on the shoulders and back of the Immovable Wisdom King phantom closed up accordingly.

Wang Shan guarded the front formation eye; while his Sea of Consciousness was bearing the impact of the Martial Ancestor's lingering will, his feet remained nailed to his original position.

"Those instructors in the Shura Field hit harder than this. To think it dares to press over with such meager means; it really takes us for raw recruits."

None of the surrounding Peak-realm Martial Masters were distracted. The heavy pressure continued to grind repeatedly through their Sea of Consciousness, and they simply mobilized their Qi and blood according to the rhythm of the army formation.

On the cliff altar, the Asura sacrificial priest waved its bone staff, its movements becoming increasingly urgent. The flesh and blood of the twelve sacrificial guards were continuously drained by the formation lines, their shriveled bodies hanging on the edge of the altar.

The speed of the sacrifice continued to increase, and the blood-bone altar could not withstand the power; surface cracks extended all the way to the feet of the Asura sacrificial priest.

The grayish-black storm was compressed into a spear of Soul Power, abandoning the entire legion to strike directly at Wang Mu in the central formation hub.

As long as Wang Mu fell, losing unified coordination, the twenty thousand armored soldiers would be eroded one by one by the residual killing intent.

Wang Mu raised the command flag. The Immovable Wisdom King phantom closed its palms, clamping the Soul Power spear that had pierced into the army formation between them.

The spear pushed forward several zhang, and the phantom's arms were damaged in succession. Wang Mu bore the pressure from the formation hub alone, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth and spilling onto the battle register.

He did not tend to his injuries, his gaze moving along the path of the Soul Power spear, using this impact to counter-trace the location of the altar.

To maintain the power transmission, the Asura sacrificial priest could only open a portion of the isolation Formation. The complete Soul Power route finally registered on the Spirit-Probing Plate.

A coordinate lit up on the formation map. Wang Mu pointed the command flag toward the left side of the canyon, locking onto the mountain belly two hundred and seventy zhang above the ground.

"Sword Qi Battalion, left cliff wall number three, sixty zhang inward. Three thousand men, form the Origin-Returning Spirit-Slaying Formation, and strike with only one sword!"

Three thousand Purple Mansion Cultivators rose from within the circular formation. Spiritual power converged into the sky along the Nine-Layer Spirit-Gathering Formation, condensing into a hundred-zhang giant sword.

The Asura sacrificial priest realized its position was exposed, and the bone staff immediately turned toward the Sword Qi Battalion, the Soul Power spear also withdrawing from in front of Wang Mu.

It attempted to interrupt the three thousand Cultivators' formation using the Divine Soul storm, but the Immovable Wisdom King phantom had already turned its palms, blocking the returning grayish-black air currents outside the army formation.

The Sword Qi Battalion Cultivators did not look up to find the altar. They stared at the formation lines beneath their feet, adjusting the direction of their spiritual power according to the coordinates marked by Wang Mu.

The hundred-zhang giant sword condensed into shape; no spiritual power leaked outward from the blade, all the power compressed toward a single point at the sword's tip.

"Strike!"

The command flag fell. The hundred-zhang giant sword pierced through the blood mist and struck head-on into the left cliff wall; the outer isolation Formation was pierced through after supporting for only half a breath.

Dozens of zhang of mountain rock collapsed inward. The blood patterns, caves, and altar hidden within the rock layer were all covered by the Sword Qi.

The twelve sacrificial guards still maintained their sacrificial posture, but their bodies had already been severed by the crisscrossing Sword Qi, and they fell into the collapsing rock layer along with the formation lines beneath their feet.

The Asura sacrificial priest raised its bone staff to block in front of it. The Soul Power shield at the head of the staff had just formed when the hundred-zhang giant sword already pierced through the altar.

The bone staff snapped in the middle, and the hundreds of bone shards strung upon it shattered completely. The lingering souls, having lost their restraints, scattered in all directions.

The Asura sacrificial priest was swept into the falling rocks by the Sword Qi. Flesh, animal-skin robes, and bone staff fragments mixed into the mountain rocks, leaving no complete form behind.

The cliff wall collapsed downward from a height of over two hundred zhang, boulders filling the foot of the mountain, and the remaining Asura sacrificial guards were also buried within the rock layer.

The Divine Soul storm enveloping the canyon lost its source. The grayish-black air currents were guided by the Soul-Cleansing bone patterns and sent in batches into the Soul-Cleansing Formation beneath the army formation.

The Immovable Wisdom King phantom remained sitting cross-legged above the twenty thousand armored soldiers. Only after the last shred of killing intent was purified did Wang Mu release the Divine Thought connection.

Many soldiers opened their eyes again; their Sea of Consciousness still felt swollen, but their hands holding blades and raising shields remained firmly at their original positions.

After checking the formation ranks of each battalion, Wang Shan looked toward the cliff wall that had been collapsed by the sword strike and knocked his fist against the nether bone mysterious armor on his chest, which was glowing with ghostly blue bone patterns.

"When we go back, record a great merit for the Casting Workshop. This set of armor didn't waste their ten-plus years of effort."

Wang Mu closed the blood-stained wartime register and ordered the Sword Qi Battalion to recover their spiritual power on the spot, while the Formation Hall collected the pure Soul Power that had not yet dissipated.

Having lost the control of the sacrificial priest, the Asura Survivors on both sides of the canyon no longer had any Battle Intent. The remaining troops dropped their weapons and fled along the rear mountain path.

The Immortal Martial Legion did not pursue. Three days of bloody battle, coupled with the Divine Soul impact, had pushed the state of each battalion to the edge of its capacity.

Wang Mu had the circular formation maintain for another two hours. Only after confirming there were no more sacrificial fluctuations within the cliff wall did he order the shield soldiers to open the path ahead.

The boulders blocking the end of the canyon were blasted into pieces by the Artillery Battalion. Daylight shone through the gap, falling into the battlefield covered in corpses and bones.

The twenty thousand nether bone mysterious armor re-formed their ranks, stepping over the broken altar and the weapons abandoned by the Asura Survivors, and advanced steadily out of the canyon.

The Asura race had successively deployed legions, Martial Ancestor commanders, desperate charges, and Divine Soul killing formations, layering blockades across the canyon, yet the final core defensive line was still trampled flat by the Immortal Martial Legion.