44: Chapter 44 Intellectual Overwhelming, Cannon Fodder Filling the Enemy Lineup

Demon General Fuhai did not strike immediately.

He hovered just beyond the horizon, his eight tentacles, thick as giant pillars, swaying slowly beneath the surface like a shadow capable of crushing the entire sea. His pair of eerie green demonic eyes swept from the city walls to the shallow water Formation, and then from the shallow water Formation to the anti-cavalry barriers and the hidden crossbow emplacements. There was not a shred of the pure bloodlust found in low-level sea beasts in his gaze; instead, it revealed a kind of nearly cold calculation.

Lu Changyuan only glanced at him once, and his heart sank slightly.

This thing was truly difficult to deal with.

He was not here just to wreak havoc.

He was watching.

Watching how thick the defensive lines of Blue Moon Island were, watching how long the crossbow emplacements could hold out, and watching which section of the city wall would show cracks first.

The next moment, Demon General Fuhai suddenly raised one of his tentacles and slammed it heavily onto the sea surface.

Boom!

A giant wave exploded, the crest surging more than ten zhang high.

And with this strike, the tide of sea beasts, which had initially retreated slightly due to his pressure, seemed as if their last shred of instinct had been whipped away; they roared and lunged toward Blue Moon Island once again.

This time, it was even more vicious than before.

And more chaotic.

No, it was not chaos.

Lu Changyuan realized it very quickly; the so-called "chaos" was merely an appearance he was intentionally showing to the city walls.

Those charging at the very front were all fierce fish and crustacean sea beasts with the thickest scales and largest bodies; in the middle were a large number of low-level water demons driven mad, specifically used to fill the Formation eyes and anti-cavalry barriers; further behind were the faster long-tailed sea wolves and bone-spiked sea lizards, capable of vaulting onto the shallows by using the corpses of the front row.

He was not gambling.

He intended to use the lowest and most worthless lives to grind away, layer by layer, all the advantages Blue Moon Island had gained through terrain and Formation.

"He is suppressing the Formation in waves."

Su Qingli stared at the Formation Plate, her voice colder than the sea breeze: "The front row is specifically there to consume the traps, the middle section to fill the path, and the rear row to step on the corpses and breach the perimeter. He wants our shallow water Formation and anti-cavalry barriers to become useless on their own."

Lu Changyuan nodded: "Then let him fill them."

"The crossbow emplacements should lock onto the rear row first; do not be in a rush to fire. Since he wants to use cannon fodder to probe our firepower, let him see enough of it first."

The order was passed down, and the twenty mystic ice spirit-breaking crossbows on the city walls slowly adjusted their angles. The cold iron crossbow arms were lowered bit by bit, tightened to the limit, yet they never actually released the strings.

But Demon General Fuhai changed his Formation at almost the same moment. A large swath of low-level sea beasts that were originally going to charge directly onto the shore suddenly shifted sideways, forcibly shielding the batch of long-tailed sea wolves and bone-spiked sea lizards behind them, as if he had been guarding against that round of heavy crossbow volleys from the city walls all along.

Lu Hu's eyelids twitched as he watched: "This beast even knows how to use cannon fodder to block crossbow bolts?"

"He even wants to fill the Formation; using cannon fodder to block crossbow bolts is nothing," Lu Changyuan's voice was deep, "Do not be anxious. The more meticulous he is now, the more blood he will shed later."

Although that was said, the pressure on the city walls began to rise visibly.

The shallow water Formation erupted one after another.

The hidden mines and vortex Formation eyes originally buried on the seabed were forcibly detonated prematurely under the endless pile of flesh and blood. While large swaths of sea beasts were blown to pieces, after the explosions, the once most lethal shallow water kill zone was also forcibly worn thin.

The anti-cavalry barriers began to loosen.

First, the first row of cold iron anti-cavalry barriers was knocked askew by giant armored beasts, and then the corpses, broken shells, and clotted blood of sea beasts constantly jammed into the gaps, allowing the fierce creatures behind to squeeze forward along the pile of corpses.

What was more troublesome were those Qi Refining Cultivators on the city walls.

They were originally the thinnest layer of Blue Moon Island. Previously, relying on the rewards after the great battle, military merits, and new armor, their morale had been boosted, but cultivation cannot be made up for in one night. At this moment, under the high-intensity operation of opening Formations, controlling talismans, transporting crossbow bolts, and filling positions, in less than an hour, some people began to look pale, their internal Qi running dry.

The first place to have problems was the secondary Formation entrance at the southwest corner.

That side was not originally the main defensive line, and the defensive positions were mostly filled by Qi Refining Late Stage Cultivators who had only recently been added. During daily city defense drills, they could still catch their breath by relying on rotations and the Spirit Gathering Array in the rear, but at this moment, the beast tide was pressing up layer by layer like a madman, giving no room for anyone to swap shifts.

A young Cultivator had just slapped the third Water-Stabilizing Talisman into the Formation eye when his wrist trembled violently due to the excessive drain of his Qi, and he collapsed to his knees on the spot. Another person nearby wanted to help him, but was struck through the seam of his face mask by a broken bone flying in from the waves, blood instantly smearing half his face. Before the two could retreat, the old veteran soldier responsible for suppressing the Formation in the rear dragged them back with red eyes and filled the vacancy himself.

But filling the position only meant holding on for a little longer.

Three breaths later, the old veteran soldier was also bleeding from his mouth and nose due to the backlash from the Formation Plate, but he did not retreat a single step.

Because everyone could see that as long as this Formation entrance collapsed first, the Mortal evacuation slope behind, which had not yet been fully evacuated, would be the first to be exposed to the sea tide.

Similar scenes soon played out one after another elsewhere.

Some people, after their Qi was exhausted, chewed dry spirit-replenishing powder, their faces twisted with bitterness, yet they still had to continue forming seals; some had their palms scorched by talisman fire, and could only wipe their hands on their armor before continuing to transport crossbow bolts; others, who clearly could no longer stand steady, still had to hold onto the secondary Formation Plate with their companions, refusing to let that sliver of Formation light die out first.

At this time, defending the city was no longer about who was braver.

It was about who could drag out half a breath more for the people behind them before being squeezed dry alive.

The most sinister part was that Demon General Fuhai seemed not to want to give them even this "half a breath."

Whenever a section on the city walls was slightly slow in swapping shifts or the Formation light weakened slightly, the number of sea beasts he drove over would immediately increase by a notch, forcing Blue Moon Island to be unable to clear any room for a complete rotation.

Su Qingli had already swapped three batches of personnel, and fine sweat had already seeped out on her forehead.

"The seventh Formation eye on the west side is overloaded; two Qi Refining Late Stage Cultivators are already vomiting blood."

"The Spirit Stones in the secondary Formation Plate on the east side are burning too fast; at this rate, it can hold for at most two more hours."

"Three auxiliary soldiers in the first row of defensive positions on the south side have been swept away by the waves, and Shi Jian has already filled the gap."

Report after report was handed up, like blunt knives, slowly grinding into people's hearts.

Lu Changyuan could see that Demon General Fuhai had no intention of breaking the city in the first wave.

What he wanted was to squeeze dry the most fragile layer of mid-to-low combat power of Blue Moon Island first.

As long as the Qi Refining layer began to collapse in droves, no matter how strong the Foundation Establishment Cultivator was, it would be impossible to plug every gap.

This was the gap that Su Qingli had pointed out in Chapter 39.

It was not that they were not sharp enough.

It was that they were not thick enough.

Below the city walls, a wave wrapped in corpse parts and sea beast remains slammed up again. Two Qi Refining Cultivators were in the middle of driving the talisman ropes to suppress the Formation and had no time to dodge; they were immediately pounced upon by a bone-spiked sea lizard on half of the battlements. Fortunately, a centurion nearby cut off the sea lizard's neck with a single slash, but the two Qi Refining Cultivators were still knocked flying, rolling on the city bricks and coughing up several mouthfuls of blood.

This was only the beginning.

Afterward, similar casualties began to appear one after another.

Some were swept down by waves after their Qi was exhausted, some had their shoulders pierced by flying bone spikes while reloading at the crossbow emplacements, and some, though not yet dead, were pressed firmly in place by their companions to continue driving the Formation.

Because at this time, no one could retreat.

Retreat one step, and below is the entire island.

Lu Hu's face was tense as he watched, and he couldn't help but whisper: "Master, if we let him grind us down like this, the people below will be the first to be unable to hold on."

"I know."

Lu Changyuan was still staring at the sea surface.

Demon General Fuhai was waiting.

Waiting for the Formation to explode empty, waiting for the Qi Refining layer to collapse, waiting for him to be unable to resist revealing his true trump card early.

But he was not in a hurry.

Another half a quarter of an hour passed, and the last chain of water mine Formations on the periphery of Blue Moon Island was finally completely exhausted in the pile of flesh and blood of swarms of sea beasts. Accompanied by a deafening roar, the last string of explosions beneath the sea surface erupted one after another, churning the seawater for dozens of zhang around into a blood-red color.

And after the explosions died out, that outer defensive line, which had been firmly held by the Formation, was finally empty.

Seeing this scene, a hint of nearly mocking coldness appeared in the eyes of Demon General Fuhai.

He slowly raised one of his tentacles, pointing it at the city walls of Blue Moon Island.

The tens of thousands of cannon fodder sea beasts in the rear immediately let out hisses even more frantic than before, as if the entire sea had been boiled, and they pressed onto the shallows, which were no longer intercepted by the outer mine Formation, all at once.

"It is coming."

Su Qingli's voice was deep.

Lu Changyuan finally raised his right hand.

He looked at the shallow beach of blood and mud that had been forcibly filled with the corpses and bones of countless low-level sea beasts; there was no anger in his eyes, only a kind of ruthlessness that became even colder after being pushed to the extreme.

"Let them see."

"What is meant by industrial cultivation."