79: Chapter 79 Luring the Enemy Deep

Even as they were scorched black, emitting sizzling sounds, they continued to charge forward frantically.

"Boss! It's no good! There are too many snakes! We can't kill them all!"

"My torch is about to go out!"

Under the endless onslaught of the snake swarm, the circular formation began to totter.

Just then, King Tiger suddenly felt the scene before him start to blur and distort.

He saw those ferocious venomous snakes transform into voluptuous, naked beauties, posing seductively and giggling like silver bells at him.

"Come... hero... come and have fun with us..."

"Illusion!"

Alarm bells rang in King Tiger's mind!

He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, and the intense pain instantly brought him back to his senses!

Where were the beautiful women before his eyes?

It was clearly a black giant python, thicker than his thigh, that had already opened its bloody maw and was lunging directly at his head!

Beside him, his brothers all seemed to have lost their minds, wearing infatuated smiles on their faces as they opened their arms and willingly embraced the fatal venomous snakes.

"Squelch!"

"Ugh..."

Sounds of sharp teeth piercing flesh and suppressed groans rang out continuously as one living life after another was silently devoured by the venomous snakes amidst the illusion.

"No—!!"

Watching the tragic scene before him, King Tiger let out a roar of grief and indignation!

He brandished his steel blade, wanting to save his brothers, but it was all too late.

The entire woodland had completely turned into a death Hell constructed of venomous snakes and illusions; the last sight he saw was countless colorful venomous snakes, like a black tide, completely submerging him...

The next day, when Gao Feng saw King Tiger again, he was no longer in human form.

Of the twenty "Ghost" team members who went with him, only three had managed to escape back, and all of them were poisoned and on the verge of death.

If it hadn't been for Gao Feng using spiritual spring water to sustain their lives, they would likely have already become cold corpses.

Listening to King Tiger's intermittent description, filled with fear and unwillingness, Gao Feng's expression was so gloomy it could almost drip water.

His fists were clenched tightly; he had ultimately underestimated the eerie and unpredictable Spell power of this world.

The intelligence failure cost him a heavy price.

Seventeen of the most elite seeds of Panshi Stockade had died inexplicably in that damned venomous snake illusion.

This was the first true, crushing defeat that Panshi Stockade had suffered since its establishment!

At the same time, from this painful lesson, Gao Feng gained a more intuitive and cautious understanding of the Snake Shaman's abilities.

He knew that his previous so-called "harassment" and "weakening" were merely insignificant trifles to the true core combat power of the Wuhui Tribe.

As long as that old monster, the Snake Shaman, was around, the Wuhui army could never be easily defeated.

"It seems that small skirmishes are useless."

A cold, resolute Killing Intent flashed in Gao Feng's eyes, "It's time to have a real, head-on fight with them."

After nearly ten days of continuous harassment by the "Ghost" squad, although it ended in a crushing defeat, it was undeniable that the Wuhui army was already exhausted and their morale had hit rock bottom.

Coupled with half of their provisions being burned, their already scarce supplies had become even more inadequate.

Upon learning that the "Ghost" squad had been almost completely wiped out by the Snake Shaman, Clan Chief Blackwood felt a sense of relief, but the days of torture and huge losses had completely exhausted all his patience.

He did not want to wait any longer; he wanted to immediately find the nest of those damned rats and then crush them into powder with the most powerful force!

Thus, with the Snake Shaman's implied "tacit approval," Clan Chief Blackwood completely abandoned the plan of steady advancement, ordering the entire army to break camp and set out, disregarding any terrain or supply restrictions, and advance at full speed toward Panshi Stockade!

He wanted to wash away all their shame with a most hearty and decisive battle!

And this was exactly what Gao Feng had hoped for.

He knew that the enraged beast was finally going to step out of its lair and charge headfirst into the slaughterhouse he had prepared for it.

"Pass on my order!"

Gao Feng issued the final instruction to the core members of Panshi Stockade who had been waiting for a long time, "The second phase of the 'Luring the Enemy' plan is officially launched! Everyone, immediately enter the pre-set battlefield—Twin River Valley! I want to make that place the burial ground for all the Wuhui people!"

With Gao Feng's command, the entire Panshi Stockade, this precision machine that had been running at high speed for nearly half a month for this war, let out its final and most deadly roar!

Panshi Stockade poured out almost in full force, and all the capable soldiers, under the leadership of Du Wei and Liu Chengfeng, flowed like a rushing stream from all directions into a common target—Twin River Valley!

The great net of death, woven by Gao Feng's own hands, was finally ready to be closed.

"General, are we really going to ambush them here?"

On the steep cliffs tens of zhang high on both sides of Twin River Valley, the newly appointed First Battalion Commander King Tiger looked at the winding valley path below, which was so narrow that it could barely accommodate a few people walking side by side, his face carrying an undisguised excitement and nervousness.

"Nonsense!"

Liu Chengfeng, dressed in a scholar's robe and holding a white paper fan, stood at the edge of the cliff, letting the whistling mountain wind blow his robes.

His face wore a confident smile as if he had everything under control, "This is the prime location personally selected by the Stockade Master for those barbarians. Look!"

He pointed his fan downward, "The valley entrance is wide and flat, enough to let their entire army pour in without any precautions. But the further they go inside, the narrower the terrain becomes, and that bullshit giant python won't be able to maneuver at all. And we are in a commanding position, waiting for the exhausted enemy. Heaven's timing, geographical advantage, and human harmony are all in my hands. How can we not win this battle?"

Under his supervision, days of secret preparations had completely turned this place into a true death Hell.

At the entrance of the valley, a large number of trenches and cleverly camouflaged horse-trapping pits had been dug, with the bottoms densely packed with sharpened hardwood bamboo spears taller than a person and cold, gleaming iron spikes.

The cliffs on both sides were heavily guarded, with dozens of giant military ballistae, urgently manufactured by the Artisan Battalion, firmly fixed in preset firing positions, with mountains of huge boulders and logs piled up beside them.

And within the winding valley path, it was filled with countless simple landmines made of black powder and sharp iron pieces, as well as tripwire traps connected to various insidious mechanisms.

As for the exit of the gorge, it had been built into a sturdy small fortress using huge boulders and logs.

"Iron-Faced Judge" Du Wei was leading the five hundred most elite Tiger Guard Battalion heavy-armored spearmen of Panshi Stockade, standing in strict formation; they would meet the enemy's final charge here, becoming the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Everything was ready, and now only one step remained—to lure that injured beast, which had completely lost its reason, into this slaughterhouse carefully prepared for it.

"Chase! Chase them! Don't let that pretty boy get away!"

At the very front of the Wuhui army, a fierce Wuhui warrior riding on a giant python was waving his scimitar and roaring frantically.

At the end of his vision, a "defeated army" of over a hundred people from Panshi Stockade was fleeing in panic, casting aside their armor and weapons; the leader was none other than the Panshi Stockade Stockade Master—Gao Feng—whom they had hated to the bone for the past ten days!

He looked extremely disheveled, as if he would collapse from exhaustion at any moment.

This made the pursuing Wuhui warriors even more excited and crazy; they had no suspicion at all, like sharks smelling blood, diving headfirst into the seemingly calm but actually treacherous Twin River Valley.

Behind them was the main army personally led by Clan Chief Blackwood, their faces filled with the grim and gleeful anticipation of killing their enemies, completely unaware that they were walking step by step toward that predetermined end of destruction.

The entrance to Twin River Valley was like a silent beast opening its bloody maw.

The vanguard of the Wuhui army, those dozens of arrogant black-scaled giant pythons, urged by the fierce warriors, rushed in without any precautions, carrying a rumbling roar and a nauseating stench.

Following closely behind was the two thousand elite barbarian troops personally led by Clan Chief Blackwood; they surged in like a black tide, carrying boundless Killing Intent.

Everyone had only one goal in their eyes—the figure fleeing in panic ahead, that Panshi Stockade Stockade Master Gao Feng who had humiliated them for the past ten days.

Hatred had burned away the last shred of reason, and victory seemed within reach.

No one noticed that after their entire army poured into the gorge, the sky seemed to darken a little.

The towering cliffs on both sides slowly closed like two ruthless giant hands, casting a large shadow that completely enveloped them in this narrow death zone.

The air was filled with an indescribable, oppressive silence of death.

"Something is wrong!"

In the center of the army, the Snake Shaman, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his cloudy, cold snake-like pupils.

His nose twitched slightly in the air, as if sniffing something.

"There is the smell of death here."

He spoke hoarsely, his voice carrying a trace of vigilance that even he himself had not noticed.

"What smell of death?"

Beside him, Clan Chief Heimu was immersed in the pleasure of being about to slay his enemy with his own hands. He waved his hand impatiently and said, "Snake Shaman, I think you've grown senile in your old age! That brat is at the end of his rope, and his lair is right before our eyes! Today, I will definitely twist his head off and use it as a chamber pot!"

"Clan Chief!" Snake Shaman's voice suddenly turned sharp. "The Feng Shui here is wrong! This is a place of extreme misfortune where 'a tiger falls to the flatlands and a Dragon is trapped in the shallows'! We should not stay here long; we must immediately..."

Before he could finish speaking, a sudden change occurred!

"BOOM!!!" A heaven-shaking and earth-shattering roar exploded from the entrance of the canyon!

It was the dozens of oversized black powder explosive barrels that Gao Feng had buried, all detonated at the same time!

The violent shockwave, like a Category 12 hurricane, swept across the entire valley entrance, sending countless debris and dust into the sky, blocking out the sun!

Following that was the even more terrifying sound of a mountain collapse—the soldiers of Panshi Stockade, who had been waiting on the cliffs for a long time, pushed down tens of thousands of pounds of loose boulders with all their might!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The boulders descended from the sky with irresistible force, completely burying the entire canyon entrance along with the rear guard of the Wuhui Tribe that hadn't managed to enter yet!

The road they came by was completely sealed off—this was closing the door!

"No! We've fallen into a trap!" The smile on Clan Chief Heimu's face froze instantly, replaced by endless horror and rage!

He finally understood that that damned Qian people brat wasn't running away at all; he was inviting them into the urn!

However, this was only the beginning.

Just as the Wuhui Tribe army fell into chaos because their retreat was cut off, the Grim Reaper's scythe was quietly raised from beneath their feet!

"Hiss-roar!!!" The ground beneath the black-scaled giant python rushing at the very front suddenly collapsed!

Its massive body, weighing ten thousand pounds, instantly plunged into the bottomless giant pit that Liu Chengfeng had carefully camouflaged!

"Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!" A series of teeth-aching sounds of blades piercing flesh rang out densely!

At the bottom of the pit, hundreds of giant ground spikes, whittled from the hardest ironwood and repeatedly tempered with tung oil and fire, instantly tore through the seemingly impenetrable scales on its belly, aided by the giant python's terrifying weight and forward momentum!

Countless ground spikes, each over a zhang long, pierced through its belly and out through its back!

Dark green, foul-smelling blood, mixed with shattered internal organs, gushed out like a fountain!

That war beast, which had once been invincible on the battlefield, was now like a giant meat worm skewered on an iron rod, letting out the most shrill and desperate cry of its life!

This was not the end!

After the first pit, there was the second, the third, the tenth... one giant pit after another was triggered like the opening mouths of demons!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Seven or eight more black-scaled giant pythons couldn't stop their massive bodies in time and followed in their predecessor's footsteps one after another!

Their massive corpses piled up layer upon layer, instantly blocking the already narrow valley path completely!

The giant pythons behind were blocked by their companions' corpses and hissed anxiously.

The fierce Wuhui Tribe warriors sitting on top of them were scared to the point of Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering by this sudden and incredibly tragic scene!

They finally understood that what awaited them was not an easy victory, but a carefully prepared death trap!

Above the high cliff, Gao Feng looked down at the Wuhui Tribe army, which was completely enveloped in fear and chaos, with not a ripple of emotion on his face.

His eyes were as cold as ice that had not melted for ten thousand years.

Everything was within his calculations—from the Wuhui Tribe's marching speed to the time they entered the canyon, from the giant python's impact force to the depth of the pits and the angle of the ground spikes...

Every link had been repeatedly simulated hundreds of times by him, Liu Chengfeng, and the entire core team of Panshi Stockade, precise to a hair-raising degree.

This was modern military thinking, a dimensional reduction strike against the cold weapon warfare of this era!

Gao Feng slowly raised the three-pointed, double-edged blade in his hand, the blade pointing down at the Wuhui Tribe army, which was like lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

His voice was not loud, but through the already arranged speaking tubes, it clearly rang in the ears of every soldier of Panshi Stockade on both sides of the canyon: "First round of volley, begin."

"Hum—hum—hum—hum—!" Following Gao Feng's order, dozens of giant military ballistae on the cliff, painstakingly crafted by the craftsman battalion, simultaneously emitted a teeth-aching, terrifying roar!

The sound did not resemble the vibration of bowstrings, but rather the first angry roar of an ancient beast suppressed to the extreme!

Following that was the whistling of death!

Dozens of special armor-piercing ballista bolts, made from whole pieces of ironwood with forged steel arrowheads and as thick as an adult's arm, tore through the air, turning into streaks of black lightning almost invisible to the naked eye, and with thunderous momentum, accurately shot into the crowded main force of the Wuhui Tribe whose path forward was blocked!

This was the real feast Gao Feng had prepared for them!

"Puchi!!" A whistling giant ballista bolt, carrying terrifying, destructive power, was the first to hit the chest of a Wuhui Tribe personal guard who was holding a giant shield and trying to protect Clan Chief Heimu.

That giant shield, made of special Yao Beast hide and hardwood, capable of withstanding ordinary sword slashes, was as fragile as thin paper in front of this giant ballista bolt.

"Crack!" The shield was instantly pierced! The giant bolt's remaining momentum did not diminish; it easily tore through the thick leather armor on his body, penetrating from his chest and exiting through his back!

That personal guard, who could be called the elite of the elites of the Wuhui Tribe, didn't even have time to scream before his body was carried backward by the huge force.

And this was only the beginning!

The giant ballista bolt, stained with blood and bits of flesh, lost almost no power after piercing the first personal guard and continued to fly forward!

"Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!" A series of scalp-numbing, muffled thuds of blades piercing flesh rang out one after another—the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth...

This terrifying giant ballista bolt actually pierced through the bodies of seven Wuhui Tribe fierce warriors wearing heavy armor in a straight line before it lost its energy and slanted into the ground!

One arrow, seven lives!

And there were dozens of such death arrows!

For a moment, the entire Wuhui Tribe army seemed to be under a bloody rainstorm made of steel and death!

Patches of Wuhui Tribe warriors fell like wheat being harvested, their bodies easily torn and pierced, severed limbs and arms splattering everywhere, blood spraying crazily onto this desperate land like cheap ink.

The entire canyon was instantly completely enveloped by a thick, inseparable smell of blood.

"No... no... this isn't real..." "Devils! They are devils!!" "Run! Quickly get out of this hellish place!"

The surviving Wuhui Tribe warriors completely collapsed!

They looked at their companions who had been easily skewered together, looked at the bloody scene that resembled a painting of Hell, and the last shred of pride and ferocity belonging to barbarian warriors in their hearts was completely shattered!

They began to flee desperately in any possible direction, regardless of everything!

However, how could Gao Feng give them this opportunity?

"Second wave... release!" Gao Feng's cold voice, devoid of any emotion, rang out again.

This time, what poured down from the cliff was no longer ballista bolts, but rolling stones and battering logs that had been prepared for a long time!

"Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!!" It was like ten thousand horses galloping, the mountains collapsing and the earth splitting!

Countless boulders the size of millstones, and logs as thick as a man's embrace with both ends sharpened, whistled down from the cliff dozens of zhang high, carrying a terrifying inertia capable of destroying everything!

They emitted a dull, heart-palpitating sound of breaking wind in the air, and then smashed fiercely into the Wuhui Tribe army below, which was already in total chaos.

This was a thorough, ruthless crushing based on physics!

In the face of this most primitive and violent power originating from nature itself, any individual martial prowess and formation coordination seemed so small and ridiculous.

Those who were hit did not survive; their bodies, along with their bones and internal organs, were crushed into a pile of indistinguishable, bloody meat paste by the terrifying weight and impact force the moment they made contact.

The splashed blood could even shoot up several zhang high; the entire scene was bloody and spectacular, filled with a kind of cruel violent aesthetics.

The Wuhui Tribe army completely collapsed.

They were no longer an army, but a group of terrified lambs locked in a slaughterhouse waiting to be butchered!

"Ah—!!" Clan Chief Heimu looked at this one-sided massacre before him and let out a roar filled with endless grief, indignation, and unwillingness!

He knew that even if he could luckily escape today, he and this Wuhui Tribe army he was once so proud of were completely finished—their spines had been broken, and their military soul had been extinguished!

"Snake Shaman!!" He turned his head abruptly, his blood-red eyes staring fixedly at the withered old man who had been hiding behind him from the beginning to the end, watching all this happen with a calm face!

"Is this the absolute power you spoke of?! Is this the feast of flesh and blood you spoke of?! You damned old liar! I'm going to kill you!!"

Clan Chief Heimu went completely crazy! He grabbed his remaining half-broken scimitar and was about to pounce on Snake Shaman!

However, Snake Shaman only looked at him coldly; there was not a ripple of emotion in those turbid snake eyes, only endless indifference and disdain, as if he were looking at a ridiculous clown jumping up and down.

"Clan Chief," he opened his mouth slowly, his voice still hoarse and cold, "Failure is not terrible. What is terrible is losing the courage to face failure. You disappoint me."

As he spoke, he tapped his snake-bone staff lightly, and a vast, invisible Mental Energy instantly radiated out!

Clan Chief Heimu, who was about to pounce on him, froze abruptly, his whole body unable to move as if he had been cast with a immobilization Spell!

A look of extreme terror appeared on his face—he discovered that his body was completely out of his own control!

"You... what did you do to me?!" he roared.

"Nothing." A cruel smile curled up on the corner of Snake Shaman's mouth, "It's just to let you realize your final value. My children still need more food."

As he spoke, he began to chant that ancient, evil Spell again.