76: Chapter 76 The First Cry of Purple Thunder, the Mystery of an Empty Shell

As the black fog pressed onto the Northern Ridge of Xuangui Island, the first thing to light up were the talisman lines Chen Mo had just finished repairing.

Thirty-seven old talismans trembled simultaneously.

The edges of the talisman paper were dampened by the humidity, but the light did not extinguish.

The outer ring of the Purple Thunder Exorcism Array lit up as well.

Fine threads of lightning emerged from the lightning-struck wooden stakes in the shallows.

It was not a lightning net that covered the sky and earth.

Nor was it a mature, large-scale formation.

It was merely a thin, short, and intermittent layer of purple light.

Yet when the first batch of demonized sea beasts crashed into it, their pace was disrupted.

The Black-Scaled Sea Wolf at the very front crashed headlong into the lightning threads, and half of its fur was charred instantly.

The Bone-Spiked Sea Lizard behind it could not stop its momentum and continued to charge forward, trampling over the corpses of its own kind.

The formation base, weighed down by the Evil-warding Sand, emitted a low hum.

The lightning threads did not dissipate.

On the city walls, a defender shouted.

"It held!"

No sooner had this shout arisen than the second wave of sea beasts had already charged to the reef line of the Northern Ridge.

The number was greater than anticipated.

At least two thousand.

All of them were low-tier.

Yet low-tier demonized sea beasts were the least valuable and the most suitable for filling the lines.

The first row of Loose Cultivators guarding the formation soon realized that blocking did not mean it would be easy.

The corpses of sea beasts piled up on the shallows, and those behind continued to trample over the corpses to charge forward.

Every time the lightning threads lit up, the Evil-warding Sand in the formation base dimmed a fraction.

Two of the lightning-struck wooden stakes could not withstand the continuous collisions; their bodies cracked, and purple light leaked out from the fissures.

A boat guard from the Li family wanted to retreat, but was grabbed by the one-armed man behind him.

"Is it your turn to retreat?"

The boat guard's face turned pale.

The one-armed man slapped the Evil-warding Talisman he had just received onto his shoulder.

"Since the medicine has been used on you, you will stand for a full quarter-hour."

The boat guard gritted his teeth and returned to brace behind the wooden stake.

Lu Changyuan did not praise him aloud.

He merely recorded this scene in the military talisman register.

Northern Ridge Battalion, First Group, did not retreat.

Outer Port boat guard, filled the position once.

These were not great merits.

But military morale was built up bit by bit through such small tallies.

Lu Changyuan stood on the high platform of the Northern Ridge, the military talisman in his hand lighting up.

"Northern Ridge front line, hold only, do not pursue."

"Open half a gap on the eastern shallows."

"Lu Hu, take the cavalry and cut into the waist of the second wave."

Lu Hu acknowledged the order.

Fifty Sword Ray Cavalry charged out along the eastern shallows.

They did not collide head-on with the beast tide.

The Purple Lightning Seahorses drew an arc, hugging the water line.

The cavalry's long sabers slashed diagonally, specifically cutting those sea beasts that had been disorganized by the lightning threads but were not yet completely dead.

One slash to cut the legs.

One slash to sever the neck.

Do not linger in battle.

Do not go deep.

Only cut the beast herd apart from front to back.

Chen Mo stood behind the talisman lines, clutching a stack of old talismans in his hand.

His grandson had been placed in the medical shed in the rear.

The old man's eyes were red, but his hands were surprisingly steady.

"The third stake has dimmed!"

A young Loose Cultivator shouted.

Chen Mo immediately flicked out a lightning-replenishing talisman.

The talisman paper stuck to the lightning-struck wooden stake, and the purple light lit up again.

That young Loose Cultivator was stunned for a moment.

Chen Mo roared, "What are you looking at? Replenish the sand!"

The young Loose Cultivator picked up a bag of Evil-warding Sand and stumbled toward the formation base.

Halfway there, he was pounced on by a sea beast that had rushed onto the reef surface.

Two Loose Cultivators nearby immediately stepped forward.

One used a long fork to prop open the beast's mouth.

The other slapped an Evil-warding Talisman into the sea beast's eye socket.

The sea beast screeched and rolled away.

The young Loose Cultivator climbed up, his face covered in blood.

He did not retreat.

He continued to run forward, clutching the Evil-warding Sand.

Lu Changyuan saw this scene, his eyes darkening slightly.

This was what it looked like when military morale began to return to the lines.

It was not kneeling and shouting about undying loyalty.

It was being willing to hold the position for one more breath after receiving the medicine and knowing that someone would fill the gap behind them.

The old formation platforms of the Northern Ridge artillery began to roar.

Three stone platforms had been temporarily converted into lightning-fire formation platforms.

Every shot consumed Spirit Stones and Evil-warding Sand.

The power was not great.

But it was enough to blast the low-tier demonized sea beasts into rolls.

The black fog was torn open by the lightning-fire in several places.

Lu Changyuan soon discovered something was wrong.

The beast herd was numerous.

Yet scattered.

There were no high-tier sea beasts suppressing the formation.

There were no demon generals who truly understood command.

There was not even a third-stage charging formation change.

This did not look like an attempt to seize Xuangui Island.

It looked more like they were being forced to fully activate the newly repaired formation lines.

Lu Changyuan raised his hand.

"Stop one artillery platform."

Li Heng, standing beside him, changed expression slightly.

"Deputy Envoy Lu, stop it now?"

"Stop the third one on the eastern side."

"Use only the talisman lines and cavalry to fill in."

Li Heng gritted his teeth and followed the order.

After the third lightning-fire formation platform on the eastern side dimmed, the beast herd indeed surged toward that side.

It was too fast.

It was as if someone had been waiting for a gap to open there for a long time.

The eastern talisman lines were immediately bent under pressure.

Three Cultivators guarding the formation were pounced on and knocked into the shallow water.

Just as one of them was about to be dragged into the fog, Chen Mo's grandson rushed out from the side of the medical shed and slapped an unfinished Evil-warding Talisman onto the sea beast's back.

The talisman did not form.

It only exploded into a blinding puff of white smoke.

But that momentary white smoke was enough for the people nearby to drag the wounded back.

Chen Mo turned his head and saw this scene; the talisman brush in his hand nearly snapped.

"Who told you to come out!"

The youth coughed up a mouthful of black blood, but held tightly onto the wounded man's collar.

"Grandfather, the talisman lines are short of people."

Lu Changyuan glanced at them and immediately issued an order.

"Retreat the medical shed ten zhang."

"The youth is credited with half a merit, and is not allowed to step forward again."

This mention of half a merit made the youth's eyes light up.

It also caused several people nearby who had just wanted to shrink back to plant their feet firmly in the water again.

Lu Changyuan's gaze turned cold.

"It is not the beast herd finding the weak spots on its own."

"There is someone in the fog watching the formation."

Lu Hu was currently leading the cavalry cutting back from the eastern side.

Lu Changyuan used the military talisman to transmit the order.

"Do not pursue the beast herd."

"Cut behind the fog."

Lu Hu did not ask why.

The fifty riders immediately turned.

The Purple Lightning Seahorses stepped on the waves and entered the fog.

A few short, sharp screams came from the fog.

A moment later, Lu Hu dragged back a half-dead black-scaled Cultivator.

The person was wearing seaweed armor, and a grey bone fragment was embedded in the center of their forehead.

The grey bone fragment was still heating up.

Lu Changyuan reached out and pressed down on the bone fragment.

A wave of chaotic images rushed into his Sea of Consciousness.

It was not a complete memory.

It was just a few segments of commands remaining in the bone fragment.

A black tide line.

An empty frontal battlefield.

Countless low-tier demonized sea beasts being driven toward the Meteor Trench.

Further in, a crack team clad in black armor bypassed the trench and disappeared into the deeper undercurrents of the Outer Sea of Xuangui Island.

The images were very fragmented.

And not clear enough.

But it was enough to make one's spine turn cold.

Lu Changyuan let go.

The grey bone fragment cracked in his palm.

Lu Hu asked, panting, "Master, what did you see?"

Lu Changyuan did not answer immediately.

The battle on the Northern Ridge reef line was nearing its end.

After losing the guidance within the fog, the low-tier beast herd began to charge chaotically.

Although the Purple Thunder Exorcism Array was crude, it was enough to block them batch by batch in the shallows.

Chen Mo led the talisman masters to replenish the talismans.

Li Heng led the formation masters to replenish the sand.

The Sword Ray Cavalry cut back and forth.

Before dawn, the last batch of sea beasts was suppressed under the Northern Ridge reef.

The Xuangui Island defenders did not have zero casualties.

Twenty-seven people died.

Over one hundred and thirty people were injured.

But the supply warehouse was not breached.

Two and a half of the three active lines were still lit.

For the Xuangui Island that was about to fall apart last night, this was already a victory.

The defenders did not cheer.

Many were so tired they sat directly in the blood.

Chen Mo held onto his talisman brush, his hands shaking so much he could barely hold it.

His grandson was helped to the rear of the formation line, and upon seeing with his own eyes that the old man was still standing, he called out "Grandfather" in a hoarse voice.

Chen Mo did not turn back.

He simply straightened the last replenishment talisman.

Lu Changyuan did not let everyone disperse immediately.

He called Li Heng, Chen Mo, the one-armed man, and the two Outer Port boat guards to the front of the formation line.

"Register the dead, the injured receive medicine first, those with light injuries reinforce the lines, those with heavy injuries retreat to the rear shed of the Central Army."

"Keep the contamination boxes in Warehouse No. 3 sealed; no one is allowed to open them privately."

"Report the numbers of the Evil-warding Sand, Evil-warding Talismans, and purification powder used last night by team; if a single bag is missing, it will be investigated."

Hearing this, several Loose Cultivators who had just crawled out of the blood felt their expressions relax instead.

What they feared was not the rules.

What they feared was that after fighting for a whole night, no one would care about the medicine, no one would care about the injuries, and no one would record who had stood on the line.

Lu Changyuan turned to look at the black-scaled Cultivator dragged beside the reef.

The person was not yet dead; after the grey bone fragment in the center of their forehead shattered, black blood kept gushing out of their mouth.

"Confine separately."

"Do not lock him in the same place as Commander Zhao Lingyue."

"Add two more Evil-warding Talismans outside the formation prison and feed him purification powder to sustain his life."

Lu Hu was stunned, "Keep him alive?"

"Keep him."

Lu Changyuan said, "This type of bone fragment mostly only keeps commands, not the origin."

"A living captive is different."

"He may not know the whole picture, but one can slowly ask which water routes he traveled and whom he met."

After this was said, the several defenders nearby finally truly realized that last night's battle was not the end.

It was just that Xuangui Island had snatched back the right to catch its breath from the chaotic situation.

Lu Changyuan walked to the edge of the high platform and looked toward the direction of the Meteor Trench.

The horizon was still black.

But that black was too steady.

It was too steady to be a frontal battle.

It was more like a signboard set up by someone.

Li Heng said in a low voice, "Deputy Envoy Lu, can we consider this night defended?"

Lu Changyuan looked at the cracked grey bone fragment in his palm.

"This night has been defended."

"But those who attacked Xuangui Island were not the main force."

Lu Hu's expression changed.

"Then where did the main force go?"

Lu Changyuan looked up.

At the end of the distant horizon, the black fog did not dissipate.

Instead, it bypassed the north side of Xuangui Island and flowed slowly toward the deeper Outer Sea.

His voice was very low.

"If the Meteor Trench side was just a decoy."

"The true elite force has likely already bypassed it."

The first ray of dawn light fell on Xuangui Island.

The lingering light of the Purple Thunder Exorcism Array was still flashing.

And in the further distance, a dull horn sounded from the depths of the sea.

As if some behemoth had finally crossed the frontal defense line.