46: Chapter 46 A Just Gang Fight, A Broken Arm to Establish Authority

As soon as hundreds of deep-sea elites with the aura of Foundation Establishment surfaced, the entire atmosphere of the city defense changed completely.

The previous pleasure of slaughtering cannon fodder using heavy crossbows, heavy armor, and terrain was instantly suppressed into a different kind of heaviness. Anyone could see that this batch of enemies in front of them could no longer be easily shredded by low-level Cultivators and Cold Iron Armored Soldiers alone.

They were either heavily armored, incredibly swift, or adept at using poison and entangling their foes.

On top of that, standing behind them was Demon General Fuhai, who was at Foundation Establishment Perfection...

This round was the true death trap.

Yet, Demon General Fuhai still did not send all of his elites forward at once.

He merely waved two of his tentacles, sending over a dozen bone-spurred Deep-Sea Krakens at the very front to probe forward first. Once those krakens entered the shallows, they did not charge blindly like the cannon fodder sea beasts. Instead, they intentionally dispersed, using the piles of corpses, reef hollows, and blind spots beneath the wall to constantly move laterally, clearly probing the crossbow positions and formation openings for the elites behind them.

"This beast is probing the intervals between our volleys."

Su Qingli saw through the opponent's intention almost instantly. Her fingers flew across the Formation Plate. "My Lord, if we continue to fire volleys at our previous rhythm, it will figure out our string-changing and position-filling times in three rounds at most."

Lu Changyuan said, "Then don't make it so easy for him."

"Stagger the firing of the crossbow positions for the first two rounds. The Sea Cavalry Battalion is not allowed to go too far from the gates; only focus on plugging the gaps. Foundation Establishment Cultivators, prepare!"

Once the order was given, the mystic ice spirit-breaking crossbows, which had been firing in neat volleys, immediately changed their tactics.

Three on the left, five on the right, four in the center, staggered front and back, filling positions diagonally.

Those Deep-Sea Krakens that had just crept up clearly had not expected Blue Moon Island to adapt so quickly. Two of them had just used the reef hollows to avoid the first round when they were pierced through the ribs by the second round of diagonal crossfire, their massive bodies rolling and crashing into the sea of blood. However, the remaining few managed to use this window to force their way close to the base of the first city wall.

In the next breath, the true elites pounced.

A pitch-black Sea Shark Demon with a saw-like spine suddenly bounded upward, leaping several Zhang high off the corpses of its peers, biting directly toward the western crossbow positions. Another strange fish covered in green scales surged up along the water currents beneath the wall, opening its mouth to spew a massive cloud of corrosive black mist, forcing an entire section of Qi Refining Cultivators to retreat in haste.

In just a brief encounter, the pressure on the city wall surged to more than double what it had been when slaughtering the cannon fodder.

Just as Lu Hu led the Sea Cavalry Battalion to plug the eastern gap, Leng Feng had already brought several newly advanced Foundation Establishment Cultivators to directly confront that Sea Shark Demon on the western side. Leng Feng's sword light was already fast, and now that he had reached Foundation Establishment, unleashing it made it even more ferocious. He slashed three times in succession at the side of the Sea Shark Demon's neck, finally tearing open a bloody gash in its scales.

But at that very moment, Demon General Fuhai moved.

He did not slowly press forward.

Instead, his entire massive body suddenly sank beneath the sea surface.

"Watch out!"

Lu Changyuan's pupils contracted, and he barked out a warning almost the exact instant the demon vanished.

But he was still half a beat too late.

The previously calm water vapor directly above the city wall suddenly seemed to be violently crushed by an invisible giant hand. In the next instant, a terrifyingly massive black shadow squeezed out of midair. Eight tentacles, like giant ropes hanging from the sky, lunged straight toward the middle section of the city wall where Lu Changyuan stood!

He had no intention of staying outside and slowly grinding them down.

All those previous elites and cannon fodder had merely been deployed to create this single instant for a decapitation strike.

The terrifying pressure of Foundation Establishment Perfection crashed down. Many surrounding Qi Refining Cultivators gasped for air on the spot, and the stone bricks beneath their feet shattered in unison. Demon General Fuhai's thickest main tentacle whipped through the air, its white bone spurs at the tip aiming straight for Lu Changyuan's head.

He wanted to smash this Lord of Blue Moon Island into mincemeat with a single blow in front of everyone.

Yet, there was not a trace of panic in Lu Changyuan's eyes.

This was precisely the moment he had been waiting for.

"Qingli!"

With a loud shout, Su Qingli pressed both hands into the main Formation Plate. Several core formation eyes that she had been holding back suddenly lit up simultaneously beneath the Lords Mansion and the city wall. In the next instant, a dark blue formation light, deeper and more solid than the outer defensive formation, rose with a roar, acting like an invisible cage that enveloped Demon General Fuhai from the inside out.

The Forbidden Great Array.

This was Blue Moon Island's true trump card, a defensive layer that was never lightly activated under normal circumstances.

Demon General Fuhai had clearly not expected Lu Changyuan to hold back this formation until he personally pounced onto the wall. The moment his demonic body fell into the range of the formation's light, his internal Qi flow suddenly seized. That harmonious pressure of Foundation Establishment Perfection was forcefully ground into the dirt, and even the main tentacle striking toward Lu Changyuan slowed down by a fraction.

This fraction of a second was enough.

Instead of retreating, Lu Changyuan advanced. He flicked his longsword, slicing in right along the edge of the main tentacle. At the same time, his other hand crushed three high-grade Talismans. A massive flurry of icy chains and flames exploded across Demon General Fuhai's body, temporarily pinning down his other tentacles that were just about to unfurl.

Yet, the truly fatal blow did not come from his sword.

It came from the others.

Lu Hu arrived.

Leng Feng arrived.

Shi Jian, the several newly advanced Foundation Establishment Cultivators around Su Qingli, and the dozen or so core members who had just been forcibly elevated by the Lotus Leaf last night—all of them arrived.

No one was going to play by the rules of a duel with this great demon of Foundation Establishment Perfection.

The pent-up fury that everyone on Blue Moon Island had harbored all night simply did not allow them to care about rules.

"Attack together!"

With a furious roar from Lu Hu, his long saber, carrying the force of thunder, slashed violently into Demon General Fuhai's flank. Leng Feng's sword was like a sinister white line, specifically snaking toward his joints and the bases of his suckers. Shi Jian was even more direct, swinging a Cold Iron Heavy Hammer straight at the middle of another tentacle; even if he couldn't shatter it, he would at least knock its movement off course.

The remaining dozen or so Foundation Establishment Cultivators threw out the resources Blue Moon Island had accumulated over the past few months as if they cost nothing.

Talismans, flying needles, chains, armor-piercing short spears, frost formation spikes...

All of them were unleashed upon this demon general.

Demon General Fuhai had originally wanted to rely on a sudden close-quarters approach to decapitate and kill Lu Changyuan in one strike, then use his formidable presence to collapse the city wall's defense in one go. But he never expected that Blue Moon Island's actual tactic would be like this.

It wasn't the leader stepping up to fight.

It was a whole pack of Foundation Establishment Cultivators pouncing to beat him up together.

Under the suppression of the Forbidden Great Array, his most powerful pressure was shaved down by a layer first. Then, hit repeatedly by various Magical Artifacts and Talismans, his massive demonic body was covered in over a dozen wounds in almost an instant. In the most brutal strike, Leng Feng even thrust his sword right along the edge of a sucker, carving out a chunk of mucus-covered flesh.

Demon General Fuhai immediately let out a screech of extreme rage. A large volume of ink-like demonic fluid violently sprayed from his mouthparts, intending to use the foul ink to obscure their vision and escape.

But Su Qingli seemed to have anticipated this move. With a turn of her Formation Plate, a curtain of water immediately pressed down in midair above the wall, catching the demonic ink in the middle and keeping it from spreading.

"My Lord!"

Lu Hu's roar exploded.

Lu Changyuan had already arrived.

He had held back his true killing move earlier precisely to wait for Demon General Fuhai to reveal a flaw under the group beating. At this moment, as the great demon's eight tentacles simultaneously dealt with over a dozen Foundation Establishment Cultivators, his thickest main tentacle finally exposed an opening of less than half a foot when Lu Hu and Shi Jian forcefully hammered it off course.

Lu Changyuan shot forward like an arrow, closing the distance.

He compressed his Foundation Establishment Middle Stage true essence to the absolute limit, causing even the longsword in his hand to let out a strained hum. In the next instant, he did not strike at the head or the flank. Instead, he sliced his sword directly into the old wound at the base of the main tentacle that had already been violently cracked open by the others.

Pfft!

This strike finally sliced through bone, flesh, and membrane.

More than half of Demon General Fuhai's thickest main tentacle was sliced through by the sword light. Before the last bit of remaining flesh could hold, Lu Hu and Leng Feng's attacks followed up one after another.

Crack!

The entire main tentacle severed and crashed down!

Pitch-black demonic blood sprayed out like a waterfall, instantly drenching half the city wall. When that terrifyingly thick severed tentacle slammed onto the ground, it even cracked the surrounding stone bricks.

For the first time, Demon General Fuhai's dark green demonic eyes truly revealed shock, anger, and an unmistakable trace of fear.

He was injured.

And the injury was far worse than he had anticipated.

What was even more terrifying was that this was not the open sea, where he could crush everything using his size and the advantage of the waters. This bunch of lunatics on Blue Moon Island had no intention of fighting a fair duel with him; they were using formation suppression, terrain, and numbers to corner him to death.

If he stayed any longer, he might truly lose his life here.

Thus, in the next instant, Demon General Fuhai actually endured several more heavy blows to his back and flank. He violently spat out an even larger cloud of demonic ink, and his remaining seven tentacles exerted force simultaneously as he threw himself backward out of the city wall, heedless of everything else.

Lu Changyuan originally wanted to pursue.

However, that cloud of demonic ink actually contained extremely heavy corrosive and turbulent forces, which even caused the Forbidden Great Array to shake. By the time everyone forced their way through the ink to look, Demon General Fuhai had already crashed into the outer sea, dragging his severed arm and a large portion of his remaining forces as he fled eastward in a wretched state.

With his retreat, the deep-sea elites who were still fighting to the death beneath the wall instantly fell into chaos.

Some wanted to rescue their master and retreat, while others wanted to seize the chaos to make a desperate charge. However, without the demon general personally presiding over them, no matter how fierce their offensive was, they ultimately lost their momentum. The crossbow positions on the wall and the Sea Cavalry Battalion seized the opportunity to execute another round of slaughter, leaving behind a massive pile of corpses before watching the remaining black tide slowly recede.

Only when the last mobile sea demon vanished into the edge of the night sea did the entire city wall of Blue Moon Island finally fall completely silent.

Yet, this silence was far from relaxing.

Rather, it was a hollow feeling of having survived a disaster.

Many Qi Refining Cultivators only realized at this moment that their hands were trembling, their armor plates were clattering, and what they stepped on was entirely demonic blood, shredded flesh, and broken bones. Quite a few of those Dao Soldiers, who had been fighting with bloodshot eyes just moments ago, now sat directly against the battlements, panting heavily.

Lu Changyuan was not doing well either.

Blood stained the corner of his mouth, the web between his right thumb and index finger was split open, and at least one of his ribs beneath his armor had been fractured by Demon General Fuhai's previous strike. Yet, he could not care about any of this right now, his eyes fixed intently on the dark ink stains that had not yet completely dispersed on the eastern sea surface.

He had fled.

But he couldn't have gone far.

More importantly, since Demon General Fuhai could command thirty thousand vanguards and hundreds of elites in this sea area, there had to be a stronghold, supplies, and a lair behind him.

And for a vindictive and suspicious great demon who had lost his main tentacle, the place he was most likely to go right now...

Was either his hiding place...

...or his treasure vault.

Leng Feng wiped the demonic blood from his face, glanced east in the direction of his gaze, and lowered his voice. "My Lord, the direction he fled in is the Deep Water Zone that he usually forbids anyone from approaching."

Lu Hu ripped away a piece of shredded flesh stuck in the seams of his armor, the fierce glint in his eyes not yet faded. "If we pursue him now, we might be able to make a massive haul."

Su Qingli, however, frowned first. "The city defense has just finished a round of battle; both the Formation Plates and the crossbow positions are on the verge of overloading. If we divide our forces now..."

She did not finish her sentence.

Because she knew that Lu Changyuan surely understood this as well.

This was not a simple matter of "to pursue or not to pursue."

It was a new trade-off.

Lu Changyuan slowly raised his hand, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. The killing intent in his eyes, which had just repelled the demon general, did not dissipate; instead, it buried itself even deeper.

"First, secure the city wall and count the casualties. Not a single crossbow position or Formation Plate is allowed to fall into disorder."

"And then."

He stared at the increasingly dark sea surface to the east, the corners of his lips slowly curling into a cold, grim arc.

"Bring me the sea chart."