125: Chapter 125 Core Forbidden Zone, Peak Golden Core

Ten Source-Pulling Formations completed their operation, the Origin at the outer periphery of the Shura fragment had been drained, city walls lacking leyline support collapsed in large swaths, and the legion completed its final round of regrouping.

With second generation nether-bone xuan armors repaired, Medicinal Pills replenished, and cannon barrels recast, the three-way legions regrouped at the Seventh City, and the twenty thousand main battle legions crossed the Shura city to head straight for the fragment core.

The closer they got to the hinterland of the fragment, the denser the residual blood patterns on the ground became; the mountains and rivers were distorted by the Law, and bone pillars hundreds of feet high rose from the ground, their shafts covered in broken weapons.

The ground-probing Formation Plate needed recalibration every hundred miles as the incomplete Tier 3 Law disturbed the spiritual power, and the moment several Formation Cultivators released their Divine Thought, their Sea of Consciousness suffered an onslaught from the blood baleful qi.

Wang Mu ordered the exploration distance to be shortened, forbidding scouts from straying more than thirty miles from the army Formation, while the Artillery Battalion and engineering battalion stayed behind in the central Formation, with the three-layered defense Formation diagram operating continuously.

Wang Shan did not rush the advance, leading the ultimate Martial Masters at the front of the army. Every time they passed a bone pillar zone, he had the shield soldiers drop their Formation and sent the Formation Hall to clear the underground blood patterns.

The remnant Shura forces on the periphery of the fragment were nowhere to be found; there were no ambush forces or garrison troops along the way, only shattered fragments of bone horns scattered on both sides of the mountain path.

No one lowered their guard, for the entity capable of commanding ten cities, Martial Ancestor commanders, and Shura sacrificial priests had yet to show its face.

On the third day of the legion's advance, the mountains ahead split down the middle, and a sea of blood mist covering several thousand miles blocked the road, from which came the heavy sound of dragging chains.

The Formation Cultivator pushed the spirit-probing plate into the blood mist. The moment the plate's surface crossed the edge, the scale measuring the Divine Soul fluctuations spiked to the top, and the Formation patterns within the plate instantly burned away.

"There are high-tier Laws within the blood mist, with Tier 3 remnants occupying the majority, so conventional spirit-probing Formations cannot measure the terrain."

Wang Mu took the burned Formation Plate and opened its shell. The Spirit Stones inside that stored the Divine Thought imprints shattered, and blood baleful qi seeped outward along the cracks.

He threw the Formation Plate into the purification box and turned to order: "All armies form up! Open two layers of the defense Formation diagram first, elite units hold the center, and push the Artillery Battalion to the front line."

The twenty thousand armored soldiers changed Formations on the spot, three thousand shield soldiers raised heavy mysterious iron shields, blade-wielding and spear-wielding soldiers filled the Formation lines, and the Sword Qi Battalion flanked the left and right of the Artillery Battalion.

Wang Shan walked to the edge of the blood mist, his crimson flame saber slashing out a surge of qi and blood that swept away tens of feet of mist ahead, revealing a large expanse of skeletons buried in the barren earth.

Skeletons were piled layer upon layer, spreading from the edge of the blood mist into the depths, with the remnant armor of Shura, alien races, and the Human Race mixed together, many skeletons maintaining a kneeling posture.

The Formation Hall laid out blood-cleansing Formation Plates inward along the skeletons. For every hundred feet of road cleared, the shield soldiers advanced a hundred feet forward, keeping the legion constantly under the coverage of the Formation diagram.

After half a day of pushing forward, a ten-li passageway was cleared out of the blood mist, exposing the core forbidden area behind the mist to the front of the legion.

In the center of the forbidden area stood a thousand-foot-tall White Bone Altar, with countless bones stacked into steps, and dark red blood flowing along the gaps, all converging at the bottom of the altar.

Hundreds of blood-bone Formation pillars were buried around the altar, with each Formation pillar locking a withered corpse. Death Qi and blood qi entangled in the upper air, shrouding this land.

Behind the White Bone Altar, there were no cities or mining areas; all the leylines remaining from the Shura fragment led to the altar, and the core Origin was hidden beneath the altar.

Wang Mu looked at the leyline map and raised his hand to outline three Formation nodes: "The altar is connected to the entire fragment; forcibly bombarding it will trigger a backlash from the Law. We must seal the forbidden area first."

The Formation Hall split into nine teams, laying down land-locking Formation Plates along the edge of the blood mist, while the Artillery Battalion divided two hundred heavy artillery pieces into four rows, aiming at the four directions of the altar.

The moment the legion stepped into the forbidden area, the blood-bone Formation pillars that had been dormant for many years lit up simultaneously, and the dark red blood detached from the ground, flowing backward up the altar steps.

The altar shook accordingly, bones scraping against one another, and the thick chains buried underground were pulled straight by a giant force, causing the surrounding barren earth to collapse successively.

Wang Shan raised the crimson flame saber, and three thousand ultimate Martial Masters pressed onto the front line, shifting the Immovable Wisdom King Army Formation from a defensive to a load-bearing Formation.

The ground directly in front of the altar split into a deep valley, and a bloody light soared into the sky from within. A giant hand covered in heavy armor gripped the rock wall, forcibly pulling a massive body up from beneath the earth.

The Shura was over thirty zhang tall, with eight broken horns on its head, heavy armor covered in blade scars across its chest, and dozens of broken chains wrapped around its waist.

It took a step forward, blood patterns spreading outward from beneath its feet. The qi and blood pressure of the Golden Core Peak pressed toward the legion, causing the barren earth beneath the feet of the front-row shield soldiers to collapse along with it.

Wang Pingan's Divine Thought swept past; the opponent's qi and blood intertwined with the Law, its Golden Core Peak coercion unmasked and just a step away from a higher level.

In its right hand, it dragged a fragmented blood blade, with seventy percent of the blade body remaining, and the back of the blade retaining complete Tier 3 Law patterns.

The Shura Grand Commander raised its head, thick blood baleful qi overflowing between the gaps of its heavy armor. Its mouth opened wide, and the roar transformed into tangible sound waves.

The sound waves rolled across the White Bone Altar, sending skeletons flying along the way, crashing head-on into the legion's Formation screen, pressing massive cracks into the outer defense Formation light.

Hundreds of shield soldiers retreated in unison, their boots plowing open the barren earth, the Formation patterns on their shield surfaces flickering erratically, and the Cultivators maintaining the Formation eyes suffered the rebound shock together.

Wang Mu's command flag fell, and two hundred Purple Mansion-grade rune heavy cannons bypassed trial firing, directly completing the first round of coverage according to predetermined landing points.

Pure Yang explosive shells crossed the shield Formation, liquid fire and blood-breaking runes falling toward the Grand Commander, and the area around the altar was swallowed by artillery fire.

The heavy artillery recoil pressed the ground downward, loaders pushed in the second batch of shells, and without waiting for the smoke and dust to clear, the second volley of the Artillery Battalion followed closely behind.

Two rounds of artillery fire pounded the Grand Commander's chest armor and legs, Pure Yang liquid fire flowing along the armor plates, and blood-breaking runes drilling into the gaps of the armor.

The Tier 3 patterns on the fragmented blood blade lit up, and a layer of dark red Law light screen covered the Grand Commander's entire body, blocking the force of the cannonballs on the outside of the heavy armor.

The artillery fire leveled hundreds of feet of land in front of the altar, failing to pierce that layer of Law light screen or even dislodge the armor plates on the Grand Commander's chest.

Unwilling to waste ammunition, Wang Mu turned his command flag horizontally, stopping the volley and having forty heavy cannons switch to segmented bombardment to suppress the Grand Commander's left and right routes.

"The Grand Commander's cultivation is still at the Golden Core realm, and what is blocking the heavy cannons is that fragmented Magical Artifact. First, cut off its leyline connection with the altar."

The Formation Hall adjusted the nine teams, and three hundred Purple Mansion Cultivators formed Formations along the edge of the forbidden area, channeling spiritual power through the land-locking Formation Plates to cut into the altar's leylines.

Sensing that its leylines were obstructed, the Grand Commander raised the fragmented blood blade overhead, forcibly extracting the altar's blood qi with the blade body and condensing it into a hundred-foot blade radiance.

Before the blade radiance fell, the Formation screen in front of the legion had already been pressed open with a fissure, the blade's edge pointing straight at the central army's command tower and heading directly for Wang Mu's command node.

"Shield soldiers take half a step back, ultimate Martial Masters enter the Formation, and connect all qi and blood into the Immovable Wisdom King Army Formation! Anyone who dares to bear the pressure alone will be dealt with by military Law!"

Wang Shan hoisted his blade and crossed the first layer of the shield wall, three thousand ultimate Martial Masters pressing forward synchronously, heavy mysterious iron shields stacking from three layers to nine layers, and the army Formation's qi and blood converging toward the front.

The Shura Grand Commander swung its arms with the blade, a hundred-foot blood-colored blade radiance crossing the forbidden area, cleaving through the artillery fire along the way and fiercely slashing onto the Immovable Wisdom King Army Formation.

The nine-layered shield wall caved inward successively, more than a hundred heavy shields on the outermost layer snapping on the spot, and the remaining force of the blade radiance surged into the bodies of the three thousand Martial Masters along the shield Formation.

The second generation nether-bone xuan armors lit up in unison, the qi and blood guiding Formation dispersing the impact, causing the three thousand men to sink at their feet, with blood gushing from the mouths and noses of some armored soldiers.

Wang Shan supported the crimson flame saber with both hands, the blade body horizontal in the center of the shield wall, pouring a century of compressed qi and blood entirely into his arms, his muscles bulging under the pressure.

The blood-colored blade radiance continued to press downward, the Formation patterns on the crimson flame saber breaking section by section, pressing a deep pit into the earth beneath Wang Shan's feet, yet his knees did not bend by even a fraction.

The rear Martial Masters rotated according to their Formation positions, those whose load reached the limit withdrawing into the second layer, while substitutes stepped on the fragments of broken shields to fill the qi and blood nodes.

Wang Mu connected two sets of Tier 2 defense Formation diagrams into the army Formation, the Formation's power lifting upward along the shield wall and trapping the blade radiance a hundred feet outside the center army.

"Can three thousand men handling a single blade get any more humiliating?" Wang Shan's chest heaved as he pushed the crimson flame saber upward again.

"You only qualify to settle accounts if you survive and hold your ground! Everyone, listen to my order, push this blade back!"

The three thousand ultimate Martial Masters shouted in unison, the army Formation's qi and blood surging up once more, and the nine-layered shield wall advanced forward simultaneously, pushing the hundred-foot blade radiance away from the center army's front line.

Lacking the replenishment of the altar's blood qi, the edges of the blood-colored blade radiance disintegrated first, and the remaining force was diverted by the defense Formation diagrams, smashing into the wasteland on both sides of the army Formation.

The blade radiance left two deep trenches where it landed, breaking all bone pillars and Formation patterns along the way, while the Immovable Wisdom King Army Formation held its ground, leaving the command tower undamaged.

Tyrannical blood light overflowed from the Shura Grand Commander's eyes as it raised a hand to slice open the armor on its chest, pouring its vital essence directly into the fragmented blood blade.

The Tier 3 patterns on the blade body lit up, dazzling red light piercing through the blood mist as the entire White Bone Altar poured its power into the blood blade.