211: Chapter 211 The Immense Power of the Thunderstorm Bead

The Cultivators on the front lines of Chimang Ridge retreated like a receding tide, leaving only Wang Daoyuan standing at the ruined Formation eye of the second defense line.

His back appeared lonely in the night, yet like a nail, he was firmly hammered into that charred rock.

The Golden-Armored Corpse Puppet had already rushed within a hundred zhang of the first defense line.

Wang Daoyuan took a deep breath, cupping the Thunderstorm Bead in his palm, while simultaneously sliding a Minor Teleportation Talisman out from his sleeve. The Thunderstorm Bead clenched in his palm was scorched hot by him; he could no longer wait.

If he waited for the Golden-Armored Corpse Puppet to completely step into the narrowest part of the mountain pass before detonating it, the distance would be too close, and everyone would be affected by the explosion.

Hum—

A streak of brilliance suddenly pierced through the ink-black night curtain, rolling thunder distorting the surrounding air, and the black mist and corpse Qi within a radius of a hundred zhang were mostly dispersed.

Yantu, who had fused into the body of the Golden-Armored Corpse Puppet, instantly perceived a fatal crisis. His Divine Soul experienced a burst of burning pain, and he cried out in shock: "It's a one-time-use explosive treasure! Retreat quickly!"

However, the body-riding puppet secret technique bound his Divine Soul with the Golden-Armored Corpse Puppet. The massive corpse body turned around sluggishly, making it simply too late to withdraw from the explosion range.

"Detonate!"

Wang Daoyuan crushed the final detonation incantation.

The sound of the Thunderstorm Bead landing was very soft, as light as a drop of water falling onto the surface of a lake.

Then, the world turned into a blinding, ghastly white.

The air within a radius of several hundred zhang was instantly ionized, and the violent thunder shock wave swept outward in all directions, swallowing everything along the way.

The ochre-red rock at the main mountain pass of Chimang Ridge fractured and charred under the strikes of tens of millions of silver-purple spiritual thunders. The rock surface was melted by the thunder light into a glazed hard shell shimmering with electrical light, and gravel splattered everywhere amidst the electric arcs.

All nodes of the triple defensive Formation overloaded and collapsed at the exact same instant, the Formation Flags turned into flying ash, the Formation Plates exploded into fine fragments, and the Formation-protecting spiritual light flashed and vanished like shattered fireworks.

At the center of the explosion, the Golden-Armored Corpse Puppet endured the most violent thunder strike impact.

The power of the Thunderstorm Bead had already exceeded the defense upper limit of this Golden-Armored Corpse Puppet.

Under the bombardment of the ferocious divine thunder, its dark golden scales charred and peeled off in large swaths. Lightning drilled into the body along the gaps of the armor, burning the withered muscles and distorted bones underneath.

Its right arm was forcefully severed from the shoulder by the thunder, the bones below the left leg's knee joint shattered inch by inch under the shock of the thunder light, its massive body was flipped to the ground by the shock wave, and a huge hole the thickness of a water vat was blown open on its chest.

Dark green corpse fluid mixed with stray electrical light gushed out like a fountain. Upon hitting the ground, it was vaporized by the residual thunder power, corroding large patches of charred pits, and the entire corpse puppet almost became a pile of scrap iron.

Yantu's Divine Soul, integrated within the body of the Golden-Armored Corpse Puppet, endured an equally massive impact.

The Corpse Soul Mark trembled violently, and the violent thunder power invaded his Sea of Consciousness along the Divine Soul connection. The Golden-Armored Corpse Puppet was heavily damaged, and his Divine Soul was shaken to the point of almost dissipating, completely losing the ability to resist.

The Bronze-Armored Corpse Puppets charging closely behind the Golden-Armored Corpse Puppet were torn to pieces in patches like falling leaves in the wind by the shock wave. Several Silver-Armored Corpse Puppets were blown backward, their iron-hard bodies twisting and deforming mid-air before heavily slamming onto the mountain rocks hundreds of zhang away.

The moment the Thunderstorm Bead burst open, Wang Daoyuan had already crushed the Minor Teleportation Talisman, teleporting to behind the third defense line two hundred zhang away.

The residual impact of the Thunderstorm Bead was jointly resisted by the third defense line and all the Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

As the sky-full of thunder light gradually dissipated, Wang Daoyuan peered through the gaps of the thunder light and smoke dust, seeing that the Golden-Armored Corpse Puppet was still struggling in an attempt to stand up.

"Kill!" Wang Daoyuan roared hoarsely, shooting a Heavenly Halberd Talisman directly at the Golden-Armored Corpse Puppet.

Yantu wanted to raise his hand to block it, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't raise it.

He widened his eyes, his eyes filled with lingering venom. A "he-he" sound came from his throat, yet he could no longer utter a single word, replaced instead by endless despair.

At the very rear of the Bronze-Armored Corpse Puppet ranks, the ten Foundation Establishment Demonic Cultivators saw that the Golden-Armored Corpse Puppet had lost its combat capability. They couldn't help but slow down their pace, instantly losing their footing, yet they didn't dare to retreat immediately.

Fortunately, seeing that the triple Formations at the Chimang Ridge mountain pass had completely vanished, they could only bite the bullet and drive all the remaining corpse puppets to launch an attack, trampling over the ruins and charging straight at the Righteous Path Cultivator camp.

Both sides completely plunged into a close-quarters bloody battle unhindered by Formations.

Unlike the tragic bloody battle at the main peak, the defensive battlefield of the three peaks in the western section of Chimang Ridge had a relatively milder situation.

Eagle Beak Mountain was the westernmost of the three peaks in the western defense line of Chimang Ridge. Its terrain was the most precipitous, yet it was also the most isolated one.

With sheer cliffs on three sides, it was connected to the main mountain by only a ridge of less than ten zhang. Garrisoned here were fifty members of the Li Family led by Li Xuanji.

Simultaneously with the launch of firearms and the general attack on Chimang Ridge, Eagle Beak Mountain also welcomed its test.

According to Yantu's pre-war deployment, Ghost Bone Daoist, a Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator of the Corpse Puppet Sect, led five Foundation Establishment demonic Cultivators, eight Silver-Armored Corpse Puppets, over two hundred Bronze-Armored Corpse Puppets, and over a thousand Iron-Armored Corpse Puppets to attack the three peaks in the western section of Chimang Ridge.

Ghost Bone Daoist personally led a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage demonic Cultivator and four Silver-Armored Corpse Puppets to attack Eagle Beak Mountain, intending to cut off the retreat route of Chimang Ridge's western section.

However, this time, the demonic Cultivators hit a brick wall.

After settling into Eagle Beak Mountain, Li Xuanji made a tactical arrangement vastly different from other defense zones.

He had ten Qi Refinement Stage clansmen divided into two groups: one group was responsible for activating the trapping-killing Formation and defensive Restrictions, while the other group was fully equipped with Talismans to serve as long-range firepower support.

Forty Innate Martial Artists were arranged by him at the observation posts on the three-sided sheer cliffs, each equipped with fifty various first-grade Talismans and three second-grade Talismans, allowing them to consume the corpse horde from a distance without engaging in close-quarters hand-to-hand combat, replenishing them immediately after use.

The core of this tactical arrangement was the massive Talisman inventory accumulated by the Li Family over the decades prior to the war.

This time, the Family's expedition to resist the Demonic Path drew upon thirty percent of the Talismans in the Family treasury.

Li Xuanji himself was a High Grade Talisman Maker. Over the decades, the second-grade Talismans he had accumulated were not a small number.

Before the war, Li Changqing had handed him three third-grade Heavenly Halberd Talismans and three third-grade Thunder Fire Talismans. Of course, these two types of third-grade Talismans would not be used until the very last moment, so as to avoid exposing Li Changqing's actual Talisman Making quantity.

Aside from Talismans, Li Changqing had also transferred the Black Armor Turtle and the Flying Purple Nether Scorpion to the battlefield to help the Li Family clansmen fight.

When Ghost Bone Daoist led the corpse puppets to climb the western sheer cliff of Eagle Beak Mountain, what they encountered was a style of combat they had never seen before.

The Li Family Cultivators did not engage in close-quarters hand-to-hand combat with them at all. To save spiritual power, they didn't even release a single Spell attack.

As soon as the corpse horde began climbing the sheer cliff, dozens of first-grade blazing fire Talismans and ice cone Talismans flew down from the peak.

These low-grade Talismans could not cause fatal damage to Foundation Establishment demonic Cultivators and Silver-Armored Corpse Puppets, but they were more than enough for Bronze-Armored Corpse Puppets and Iron-Armored Corpse Puppets.

After a round of volley fire, a score or so of the Bronze-Armored Corpse Puppets clinging to the very front were blown to pieces, plunging from the sheer cliff over a hundred zhang high and smashing to smithereens on the rocks.

The demonic Cultivators wanted to fly up to the peak to launch a forced attack, but the terrain of Eagle Beak Mountain was too tricky, with sheer cliffs on three sides and only a single ridge passage available for transit.