Chapter 54 Yunbai's Counterattack

Captain Zeng Fu's situation was even more perilous. He had to both fend off the Fate-Fallen Demon Monster's desperate counterattack and split his attention to rescue Du San, who was being heavily "cared for" by the Demon Birds a dozen zhang away.

His back was wide open!

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

Three sharp claws, like poisoned daggers, viciously tore through his protective soft armor, leaving several terrifying wounds on his broad back that were deep enough to see bone, with flesh curled outward.

The venom invaded instantly, and his movements became visibly sluggish and stiff!

"Captain! We can't hold on like this!" Li Ying, while enduring the intense pain from her right arm being pecked by a Demon Bird, tried her best to use her Spirit Gun to snipe at the Demon Birds harassing Fu Lianchuan.

They hadn't brought any effective anti-air weapons at all!

These First Realm Middle Stage Demon Birds had limited individual threat, but two dozen of them occupied an absolute aerial advantage. Like flies, they were impossible to drive away or kill completely, constantly inflicting wounds, injecting toxins, and obscuring vision, dragging the squad into a quagmire where they grew weaker the more they fought and could not escape.

Du San gritted his teeth tightly; he had been grazed on the cheek by the wingtip of a Demon Bird, and blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

The Formation Flag in his hand trembled as he inserted it into the ground; the screeching of the Demon Birds and the sound of them cutting through the air constantly disturbed his focus. When inserting a crucial Formation Flag into its final position, the angle was off by half an inch due to the interference of a Demon Bird's pounce!

Hum!

An unstable surge of spiritual power came from the core of the Formation. The spiritual power circulation of the entire nearly-completed "Moshou Luogu Formation" instantly developed a fatal stagnation.

"Give me a little more time!" The veins on Du San's forehead bulged, and drops of sweat fell onto the ground.

How could the Fate-Fallen Demon Monster let this golden opportunity slip by?

It let out a triumphant roar, its giant maw opening again. This time, what it spat out was not ordinary poison mist, but a thick, viscous toxic miasma like ink, churning with eerie green light. The concentration of the toxic miasma was several times higher than before, instantly swallowing the nearest Captain Zeng Fu and Yun Bai completely.

Visibility plummeted to less than one zhang.

Yun Bai felt that every breath was like inhaling molten lava, his lungs burning with intense pain.

What was even more terrifying was that a cold, slimy sensation, like countless icy tentacles, frantically wrapped around him!

"How can this be?" Yun Bai's first reaction was confusion. "Could the barrier talisman and the miasma-breaking pill have failed?"

Something was wrong!

A feeling he was all too familiar with struck him.

It was a Divine Sense attack!

Yun Bai's heart shook violently, and he instantly realized—this was a mental attack mixed into the toxic miasma by the Demon Monster!

In the blink of an eye, a thought flashed through his mind!

The light in his eyes instantly became dull, his body suddenly stiffened, and he stood frozen in the thick fog like a puppet whose Soul had been extracted.

"Yun Bai!" Seeing this, Captain Zeng Fu's eyes were wide with rage, his urgent roar piercing through the toxic miasma.

He wanted to rush over to rescue him, but he was tightly entangled by several fearless Demon Birds, and his back sustained new wounds.

A wild, joyful green light erupted in the Demon Monster's single eye. Dragging its injured leg, its giant front claw, carrying a sharp whistle that tore through the air and wrapped in immense force, viciously swiped toward that "lost and Soul-less" figure.

This swipe vowed to smash him into a pulp of flesh.

Just at the critical moment when that giant claw, covered in barbs and dripping with poisonous saliva, was about to crush Yun Bai's skull!

In Yun Bai's lowered eyes, a sharp gleam erupted like a volcano!

"Now is the time!"

His stiff body, like a fully coiled spring, slid half a step to the side at an incredible speed and angle!

At the same time, his lowered long sword erupted with faint spiritual light, like a dormant poisonous Dragon emerging from its cave, sweeping from bottom to top, carving out a stunning, fatal arc that condensed all his strength and killing intent!

Sshhh!!!

The sword edge precisely cut into the joint of the Demon Monster's front leg! Deep enough to see bone! Black-green, foul-smelling tainted blood gushed out like a broken dam!

"Aooo!!!" The Demon Monster let out an earth-shattering howl, its massive body stumbling backward due to extreme pain and loss of balance, crashing heavily onto the ground and splashing mud everywhere.

The Demon Birds that were originally entangling Du San, Fu Lianchuan, and Li Ying, seeing their "boss" injured, immediately abandoned their targets and turned to attack Yun Bai.

The pressure on the others instantly decreased.

"Good!" Captain Zeng Fu's spirit was greatly boosted. Ignoring his injuries, he slashed his long saber furiously, splitting two Demon Birds in front of him in half, and strove to close in on Yun Bai.

This perilous "ruse of feigning defeat" by Yun Bai had bought a precious moment of respite for the near-collapsing squad.

However, the situation remained as precarious as a pile of eggs!

As the Demon Monster roared again and again, the number of supporting Demon Birds did not decrease but increased, as if they were endless.

Du San's Formation was in jeopardy due to that half-inch deviation, and the placement of the final few nodes was extremely difficult.

What was even more terrifying was that the heavily injured Fate-Fallen Demon Monster, although no longer engaging in melee combat, had fallen into complete madness. It recklessly continued to spew toxic gas, turning the entire Hanze Ravine into a dead zone that corroded bodies and twisted minds!

The barrels of Li Ying and Fu Lianchuan's Spirit Guns were glowing red, completely overheated and jammed.

Captain Zeng Fu looked around: Du San was teetering under the harassment of the Demon Birds, Li Ying and Fu Lianchuan were covered in wounds, Yun Bai, despite wounding the Demon Monster, was also heavily exhausted, and he himself was poisoned multiple times with his spiritual power depleted...

Despair, like a cold viper, coiled around his heart. A flash of pain and determination crossed his eyes, and he finally squeezed that heavy word through his teeth:

"Retreat! Retreat immediately! Send a distress signal! If we keep holding on, we'll all die here!"

...

...

...

Just as the squad was preparing to release the distress signal, a peculiar humming sound suddenly came from the sky. Immediately after, dozens of spiritual energy beams descended from the sky, precisely hitting the flock of Demon Birds in the air.

"It's Xinyue Hall's flying boat!" Li Ying shouted in surprise.

As if to confirm her shout, an elegant, streamlined flying boat brazenly tore through the thick toxic miasma, appearing above the battlefield like a giant whale breaking through waves.

The flying boat was not large, but the sense of salvation it brought to everyone at this moment was real.

The hull was made of a kind of deep cyan spiritual wood that shimmered with a cold metallic luster, its lines smooth and full of a sense of power. The most eye-catching feature was the huge golden seal characters painted on both sides of the boat—'Team A-3'—shining brightly in the dim daylight, exuding an unquestionable majesty.

The Spirit Cannon arrays on both sides of the flying boat were like unfolded steel wings, runes circulating on the muzzles. Every volley spat out destructive streams of light, weaving into a dense web of firepower that blasted the Demon Birds that had luckily dodged the first round of attacks into pieces in mid-air.

Even more astonishingly, a huge circular hole suddenly opened at the bottom of the main flying boat, and a giant net woven from countless golden spiritual threads, shimmering with runic light, was instantly ejected. It accurately covered another flock of Demon Birds attempting to scatter and flee, and a dozen fierce Demon Monsters were tightly entangled like flies caught in a web, struggling and screeching in vain.

The roles of attacker and defender had reversed!

A Cultivator wearing Confucian robes and a high crown stood tall at the bow of the main flying boat. His expression was solemn, and he solemnly unfurled a scroll of ancient bamboo slips with both hands.

Yun Bai recognized that it was a Confucian Cultivator.

Wherever the sound of his chanting reached, the remaining Demon Birds were struck in their heads by an invisible heavy hammer, their flight posture instantly becoming crooked, tumbling and colliding in the air like drunkards.

They let out chaotic and terrified screeches, completely losing their will to fight, and fled in all directions while wailing, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

"Team A-3 of Xinyue Hall, here on orders to provide support!" A loud, steady, and highly penetrating voice came from the flying boat, clearly resounding through the valley. "The air has been cleared; we leave the ground to you all!"