72: Strange fog surrounds the city, army of bones
On the city wall in the south of the city, Qin Jiang stood looking into the distance after the city gate was closed.
A thick white fog, accompanied by dark clouds, spread, engulfing everything.
He recognized it as fiend fog, so dense it was almost black!
Damn it! Is this how the fiend tide is?
How many fiends are hidden within such a thick fiend fog?
He looked around, then quickly walked to a beacon tower, took a signal rocket from beside it, lit it, and watched it explode in the sky.
Before long, signal rockets also exploded in other directions of the outer city.
Seeing this, his heart eased slightly, but a deep sense of dread remained.
The fiend fog covered the sky and earth, surging from all directions, leaving no possibility of escape!
Just as he was contemplating how to respond, the fiend fog had already approached Black Mountain City, but it stopped about a hundred meters from the city wall.
At this moment, everything as far as the eye could see was obscured by the dense mist, making Black Mountain City seem like an isolated city.
Clang, clang, clang!
A sound of clashing metal came from the dense fog, and a dark figure gradually became clear.
Whoosh—!
The dark figure charged out of the mist on horseback, revealing himself to be Long Yuesheng, who had left the city earlier.
"Brother Qin, save me!"
He shouted loudly, having fought his way from a hundred li away, with no chance to rest, almost killing his way back in one breath!
If not for the Blood Flame Golden Spear in his hand, which had some restraining effect on fiends, even if his Thousand Feather Spear technique was more divine, he would have died on the way!
Even so, he was now almost at the point of exhaustion!
Seeing this, Qin Jiang did not hesitate, immediately diving down.
At the same time, the fiend chasing Long Yuesheng also revealed itself, a giant white bone skeleton!
No, not one!
Qin Jiang's pupils constricted, his body suddenly accelerated, and he stomped on the horse's back, directly scooping up Long Yuesheng and returning to the top of the wall.
Looking back again, he saw that a dense army of skeletons had already rushed out of the mist.
Their speed was extremely fast, catching up to Long Yuesheng's black horse in just a few breaths.
Chichichichi!
The sound of sharp claws tearing flesh rang out, clearly audible even from dozens of meters away.
Qin Jiang's eyes narrowed; he clearly saw that the white bone skeletons' claws cut through the black horse's body with almost no pause.
This meant that these white bone skeletons' claws were much sharper than ordinary swords!
After a few breaths, the white bone army retreated, leaving only a broken, blood-stained skeleton on the ground.
Long Yuesheng propped himself up with the Blood Flame Golden Spear, stood beside Qin Jiang, and looked at the horse's skeleton, a hint of sadness in his eyes.
This warhorse had fought with him for a long time, but he never expected it to meet such an end.
"Has anything happened in the city these past few days? Have those demons arrived?" he asked, adjusting his emotions.
"The Gang Leader is severely injured, so I became the Red Tiger Gang's head seat, temporarily taking charge of the Red Tiger Gang. As for those demons, many have arrived," Qin Jiang said.
Long Yuesheng nodded as if relieved; he had known about Lu Xuanwu's severe injuries for a long time, otherwise, he wouldn't have agreed to the demons entering the city.
"It's good that they've come. Those demons have a significant background and are skilled in enchantment, which can greatly boost morale, and even turn people into emotionless killing machines when necessary."
Qin Jiang's eyes moved slightly, not asking further; it was impossible for no one to die with fiends besieging the city.
"Magistrate Long, what did you go out of the city to do? Was it successful?" he asked.
He didn't believe Long Yuesheng had failed to escape and retreated; if he truly wanted to escape, he could have done so much earlier, there was no need to wait until now.
Long Yuesheng shook his head, "It failed. I originally planned to personally go for reinforcements, but I was forced back halfway."
This time, he had intended to go to the county city to invite people, but he miscalculated, not expecting this outbreak to be so fast!
Qin Jiang nodded, looking forward, and asked, "How should we deal with this fiend tide?"
He had no experience dealing with a fiend tide, but Long Yuesheng was clearly more experienced, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to kill his way out of the fiend fog.
Moreover, while he was good at one-on-one combat, he would struggle to command a team of more than twenty.
Long Yuesheng's eyes darkened slightly, and he sighed, "This is no longer a fiend tide; it's an already formed fiend domain."
Qin Jiang looked at Long Yuesheng, seeing worry in his eyes, tinged with a hint of panic, an expression he had never seen on him before.
"What's the difference between a fiend domain and a fiend tide?" he asked.
Long Yuesheng sighed slightly, "Once a fiend domain forms, an Eye Fiend-level fiend will be born. That is an existence above the Grandmaster, and there is no way we can deal with it.
Even if all the Divine Sense masters in Black Mountain City swarmed it, they would absolutely not be a match for an Eye Fiend; that is a true existence comparable to a Secret Martial Artist!"
Qin Jiang was stunned to hear this. An Eye Fiend? Above the Grandmaster! An existence comparable to a Secret Martial Artist!
"Just how strong is a Secret Martial Artist?" he couldn't help but ask.
Although he had already seen a hint of it from the potential points required for leapfrog deduction, he still couldn't truly imagine the power of a Secret Martial Artist.
Long Yuesheng shook his head, "They are by no means comparable to Divine Sense Martial Artists. That is a Realm beyond the mundane, an existence known as non-human!
Cultivate a legendary Secret Manual, and once mastered, one will have the power to destroy a city with a single blow!"
Destroy a city with a single blow?!
Qin Jiang's pupils constricted, and his gaze involuntarily fell on the city wall beneath his feet.
Such a thick city wall, even if he wanted to smash a gap in it, would take at least a day; yet someone could destroy it with a single blow?!
Such power was more than ten times that of a Grandmaster!
The gap between a True Martial Artist and a Secret Martial Artist was actually this great?!
What kind of wondrous object is the Origin Diagram? To be able to increase a Martial Artist's power so much?
Involuntarily, he was somewhat expectant, how strong would he be when he mastered this power?
"Magistrate Long, can you obtain a Secret Manual?" he asked.
Long Yuesheng looked at him with some surprise, "I don't even have one myself."
Qin Jiang suddenly realized, "I was presumptuous."
Long Yuesheng smiled and shook his head, "Actually, it's not impossible to get one. If you join the Bronze Bell Sect, with your talent, you would naturally be able to obtain one.
Moreover, Secret Manuals are different from True Martial Arts. Simply obtaining the Secret Manual is useless; you must go to the core area to absorb Secret Manual Origin Power to master it."
Qin Jiang's eyes lit up slightly. Secret Manual Origin Power! That must be the so-called Origin Diagram!
Click, click, click!
Suddenly, a sound of bones rattling came from his ears.
Qin Jiang and Long Yuesheng looked over, only to see that the bloodstains on the black horse's skeleton had disappeared, completely turning into white bones.
Wisps of fiend fog surged from behind it, enveloping it.
Thump, thump.
Hoofbeats sounded, and the eye sockets of this black horse's white skeleton turned into two swirling black voids, its body moving as if alive.
Thump, thump, thump!
It charged towards the city wall, and at the same time, a dense army of white bones also rushed out from the fiend fog behind it.
Qin Jiang and Long Yuesheng's eyes showed surprise, they exchanged glances, both seeing confusion in the other's eyes.
Especially Long Yuesheng; Qin Jiang didn't know much about fiend domains, but he had experienced them several times, yet he also didn't know that a fiend domain actually had the ability to transform fiends! This had never happened before!
Immediately, the corners of his mouth curved up, a sign of extreme anger turning into a smile.
My warhorse, how dare you transform it into a fiend?!
"Brother Qin, dare you charge down with me?"
Qin Jiang laughed loudly at this, "Hahaha! Why not!"
As his words fell, he was the first to charge down the city wall, directly killing his way into the white bone army with just his iron fists!
Seeing this, Long Yuesheng also showed no weakness, directly raising his spear and charging down!
He possessed natural Divine Power and remarkable recovery; in just this short while, he had recovered most of his strength and was not afraid of a fight!
Outside the city, Qin Jiang was like a fierce tiger entering a sheepfold, wantonly slaughtering the white bone army, but the number of these white bone skeletons was extremely large, like leeks cut down again and again.
He discovered that the power of these white bone skeletons was almost equivalent to that of an ordinary Martial Artist.
Some powerful mutated skeletons, such as those with bones as crystal clear as jade, or some beast-like white bone skeletons, could even reach the level of a second-rate master.
In terms of pure strength, they were even not weaker than some masters who had just entered the Divine Sense Realm.
However, due to their clumsy movements and lack of any technique, they posed no great threat to him.
After a period of fierce fighting, footsteps sounded on the city wall behind him.
"It's the Head Seat! Quick! Bows and crossbows ready!"
Kong Hai's voice rang out, accompanied by the sound of bowstrings being drawn.
"Fire!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Arrows pierced the air, arriving in an instant. Thumb-thick arrows directly pierced through a row of white bone skeletons, then bounced off the antlers of a deer-shaped skeleton.
"Those above the Divine Sense Realm, follow me and kill!" Kong Hai raised his axe and shouted, leaping directly off the city wall.
The remaining few hall masters and deacons who had mastered the Red Tiger Fist also charged in, with only Sun Qianzhao and Elder Chen staying on the city wall to manage the situation, directing the bows and crossbows to attack the concentrated areas of the white bone army.
In a short while, everyone had gathered, and they took turns rotating, slaughtering the white bone army like a meat grinder.