53: Chapter 53 Allied Forces Pressing In, Anvil and Hammer

After half a night of slaughter, the river surface outside Reed Island was filled with tens of thousands of Low Grade water monster corpses mixed with the broken wood and planks of the Wen Clan's vanguard fleet, bobbing up and down with the waves.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

The dull sound of war drums rolled from the horizon where the water met the sky, shattering the floating ice on the river.

The main force of the Three-Clan Allied Army, finally spurred by the destruction of the Wen Li vanguard fleet, tore away their last pretense and bore down on the city with an overwhelming, violent posture.

The central flagship was fifty zhang long and constructed entirely from hundred-year iron wood.

Standing at the very front of the flagship's deck were three old men with unfathomable auras.

The leader, dressed in a crimson robe with silver hair dancing wildly in the river wind, was none other than the Grand Elder of the Cloud Mist Wen Clan, Great Elder Wen Nuting.

Beside him, the Grand Elders of the Cold-Rock Zhao Clan and the Fierce Wind Xue Clan also wore grim expressions.

Great Elder Wen Nuting looked down upon the isolated island shrouded in a gray-blue Formation light screen, his eyes burning with rage as he surveyed the wreckage of the vanguard fleet.

"A fine Lin Family reject..." Great Elder Wen Nuting pinched the ship's railing with his withered fingers.

"To actually use an unknown evil technique to control a Low Grade beast tide and destroy my Wen Clan's vanguard... If I do not extract your Soul and refine your spirit today, and light you as a sky lantern to boil oil, I, this old man, swear I am not human."

"Brother Wen, calm your anger." The Grand Elder of the Zhao Clan sneered from the side.

"A mere brat at the Middle Stage of Qi Refining, even if he got lucky and obtained some ancient fragment on beast control, is merely a mantis trying to stop a chariot in the face of absolute power."

"The Spiritual Qi on this island is abnormally dense. That old fox, Patriarch Lin Zhenhai, would rather leave the main island empty than fail to send people to guard this place to the death. There must be a world-shaking treasure hidden underwater that could change the landscape of Huaishui County."

The Grand Elder of the Xue Clan's eyes were filled with greed. "Break this turtle shell, slaughter every living thing on the island, and this stroke of fortune will belong to our three clans."

Meanwhile.

On Reed Island, at the center of the grand Formation, on the Peak of the eaves of the wooden house on the water.

Lin Ze stood in a green robe, facing the wind.

The strong wind blew his robes, making a hunting sound, his eyes fixed on the fleet.

"Three at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining, over a hundred warships... What a grand gesture." Lin Ze sneered.

Beneath his feet, five hundred Mortal clansmen had long since been led by the old Village Chief Lin Cang into the sturdiest underground fortress in the inner ring of the Formation.

Those two hundred Mortal elites, clad in cold iron heavy armor and holding black iron heavy crossbows, were panting from the recent slaughter, but their eyes were bloodshot as they stared outside. As soon as the Immortal Master gave the order, they were ready to use their flesh and blood to fill any gap.

But Lin Ze knew that the coming battle was no longer a realm where Mortals could intervene.

"Hum..."

At this moment, deep within Lin Ze's Dantian and Qi Sea, the Divine Sense closely connected to the Canglang Sword Array suddenly felt a palpitation.

This second-grade Low Grade killing Formation was obtained by The Old Patriarch Lin Zhenhai at great cost from the Canghai Sect and handed to him personally by Seventh Great-Uncle the Instructor.

To comprehend its Entry, Lin Ze had spent day and night deducing the Formation patterns.

Just now, deep within the main Formation Plate at the core of the array, a long-dormant Divine Thought awakened quietly after sensing the overwhelming murderous intent of the Three-Clan Allied Army outside.

This was a strand of natal Divine Thought that The Old Patriarch Lin Zhenhai had secretly sealed into the Formation eye when handing over the Formation Plate.

Lin Ze composed his mind, closed his eyes slightly, and his Divine Sense instantly submerged into the eye of the sword array.

Within the dark blue Formation pattern space, the voice of The Old Patriarch Lin Zhenhai exploded in Lin Ze's Sea of Consciousness.

"Ze'er, the enemy's main force has taken the bait."

The Old Patriarch said.

"These fools thought they saw through my empty city strategy, thinking Reed Island is the weak point our Lin Family is desperate to protect, not knowing that this is a grave I carefully dug for them."

"Ze'er, listen well!"

"The Three-Clan Allied Army has sent out all their elites, and their main islands are now internally empty, but our Lin Family did not hold fast to Feiyun Island as they wished."

"For two years, I have exhausted the Family's foundations to secretly build those two second-grade Low Grade flying cloud wave-breaking ships using black water iron crystal, and they are now completely finished and launched."

"I have personally led twelve Late Stage of Qi Refining Grand Elders, and five hundred core death soldiers to board the warships."

"We have bypassed the main shipping lane, using the cover of wind, snow, and night to completely cut off the retreat of the Three-Clan Allied Army."

"This is a national war, and even more so, a massive gamble."

The Old Patriarch's words were like rolling thunder, stirring up huge waves in Lin Ze's Sea of Consciousness. "Our tactic is the 'Anvil and Hammer'."

"You, and this Reed Island under your feet where the Canglang Sword Array is set up, are the hardest 'Anvil' on this Yunmeng Marsh."

"You must, like a nail, be firmly nailed in place! Resist their main force's craziest bombardment for me, and drag these hundred warships firmly in this water area."

"And I, along with the Lin Family's flying cloud wave-breaking ships, am the 'Hammer' descending from the sky."

"As long as you hold for half an hour, I will complete the final encirclement. At that time, the Three-Clan Allied Army, caught between two fires, will be nothing but scrap metal on this anvil for us to forge and refine."

"Ze'er, this battle concerns whether our Lin Clan can unify the outer water area and henceforth rank among the great Foundation Establishment families."

"Can you hold on?"

Lin Ze stood on the eaves, listening to his Great-Grandfather's resolute strategic deployment, and slowly closed his eyes.

Anvil and Hammer.

What a peerless killing scheme of deceiving the heavens and crossing the sea, of pulling the firewood from under the cauldron.

Everyone thought the Lin Family would wait for death on the main island like cowardly turtles. Who could have imagined that The Old Patriarch, who had just achieved a Breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Stage and was nearing the end of his Lifespan, would dare to entrust the "Anvil"—such a crucial, high-pressure position that could be shattered at any moment—to a sixteen-year-old boy who had just broken through to the Peak of the Middle Stage of Qi Refining.

Lin Ze slowly opened his eyes and said.

"Great-Grandfather, rest assured."

"As long as I, Lin Ze, am here, this Reed Island..."

"Even if the gods descend, they will have to break their teeth on me!"

"Your grandson awaits the sound of Great-Grandfather's hammer falling upon this anvil!"

"Boom!"

The exchange of Divine Thought happened in a flash. Outside the grand Formation, the attacks of the Three-Clan Allied Army had already arrived.

"Fire the cannons for me!"

Great Elder Wen Nuting stood on the flagship and waved his withered hand violently.

In an instant.

Hundreds of blinding pillars of Spiritual Qi, mixed with colorful high-grade Talismans and Magical Artifact Flying Swords, turned into a meteor shower and smashed toward the outermost "Water-Moon Heaven-Blurring Array" of Reed Island with a destructive force.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The moment the first wave of salvo landed, the originally azure light screen of the Water-Moon Heaven-Blurring Array twisted and buckled violently, erupting with a cracking sound.

The entire land of Reed Island trembled crazily, and the water of the Cold Spring stirred up monstrous waves.

"Crack..."

Having only held for three breaths, this first-grade Medium Grade grand Formation, which had protected Lin Ze for countless days and nights, finally reached its limit under the absolute crushing power of the Three-Clan Allied Army's main force.

The light screen was covered in cracks and would collapse at any moment.

"Hahaha, this broken Formation can't hold on."

"What kind of Lin Family Genius? In front of a real fleet, he's just a paper lantern."

On the warships, the Cultivators of the three clans burst into heaven-shaking wild laughter. They seemed to have already seen the scene of the Formation breaking, the people dying, and the Spirit Stones and treasures waiting for them to seize.

"Nothing more than this." Great Elder Wen Nuting sneered.

"Pass the order, prepare to board the island and cleanse the city. Leave no living thing on the island!"

However.

Just as the light screen of the Water-Moon Heaven-Blurring Array "popped" and completely exploded, dissipating into the air as dots of Spiritual Qi light.

The laughter of the Three-Clan Allied Army was cut short, as if their throats had been tightly gripped by an invisible hand.

Because, after the grand Formation shattered, what appeared before them was not trembling Mortals, nor was it the Lin Family reject waiting to be slaughtered.

It was a slender youth in a green robe, standing with his hands behind his back on the eaves.

He raised his right hand, his slender fingers pressed together like a sword, pointing directly at the black clouds and warships pressing down from above.

"Did you really think this Water-Moon Heaven-Blurring Array was the only turtle shell I had on this island?"

Lin Ze smiled.

Deep within his Dantian and Qi Sea, that massive "Heavy Water Vortex" suddenly stopped rotating.

In its place, countless drops of "Limit-Breaking Heavy Water," condensed to the extreme and emitting a dark blue divine radiance, surged through his Meridians and poured madly into the Cold Spring below, precisely connecting to the twelve first-grade Medium Grade Peak Magical Artifacts acting as Formation eyes... [water shadow snake bone sword].

"Since you like frontal assaults so much..."

"Then come and taste the flavor of a second-grade killing Formation!"

Lin Ze pointed his fingertips to the sky and slashed violently.

"Canglang Sword Array... Defensive Array, Ten Thousand Sword Water Lotus."

"Get up for me!"

"Hum."

Accompanied by Lin Ze's furious shout, the water veins within a five-mile radius of Reed Island seemed to come alive at this moment.

"Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!"

Sword hums exploded crazily from the water waves in all directions.

In the eyes of the thousands of Cultivators of the Three-Clan Allied Army, twelve dark blue physical Flying Swords broke out of the water and hovered in mid-air.

Immediately after, the water of Yunmeng Marsh for several miles around was forcibly drawn away by a terrifying and peerless second-grade Formation intent, flowing upstream and transforming into thousands of dark blue water-Qi swords, each a zhang long.

These thousands of water swords did not rush to attack, but under the precise micro-manipulation of Lin Ze's Limit-Breaking Heavy Water magic power, they crazily intertwined, circled, and overlapped, with the wooden house on the water as the core.

A "Dark Blue Water Lotus," entirely condensed from sharp Sword Qi and heavy water pressure, bloomed abruptly above Reed Island.

Every petal of this water lotus was composed of hundreds of rapidly rotating heavy water swords, emitting a second-grade Low Grade absolute pressure that made Souls tremble!

"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!"

The second wave of main cannon beams from the Three-Clan Allied Army's warships smashed fiercely onto this massive "Sword Qi Water Lotus."

But this time, there was no shattering, no buckling.

All the spiritual energy cannon fire, Talismans, and Magical Artifacts, the moment they touched the petals of the water lotus, were ground into the most primitive spiritual energy dust by the rapidly rotating Canglang Sword Qi, dissipating into the wind and snow without even causing a ripple.

"This... how is this possible?"

On the flagship deck, Great Elder Wen Nuting's murky old eyes bulged, filled with unbelievable horror.

"A second-grade Formation... how is this possible?"

"He is only sixteen, a brat at the Middle Stage of Qi Refining, how could he possibly invoke it?"

"We've been tricked." The Grand Elders of the Zhao and Xue Clans beside him sucked in a breath of extremely cold air.

"That old scoundrel Lin Zhenhai, to think he would be willing to place a second-grade Formation Plate in such a remote place."

"Weren't you going to extract my Soul and refine my spirit?"

In the center of the sky full of dark blue sword shadows, Lin Ze stood in his green robe, fluttering in the wind.

He slowly lowered his eyelids, his eyes piercing through the heavy water waves, locking onto those people on the warships.