166: Chapter 166: Automated Defense, Activated!
The Hook-nosed Elder struck in a fit of rage, sending a streak of bloody true essence flying with swift, ferocious speed, carrying a foul stench as it instantly reached the two soldiers.
The members of the Blood Evil Sect all wore cruel smiles.
They seemed to have already envisioned the bloody scene where those two ignorant mortals would be blasted into smithereens.
However, the scene that followed caused their smiles to instantly freeze on their faces.
Just as that streak of bloody true essence was about to strike the soldiers.
"Hum—" A soft sound rang out.
A pale blue, semi-transparent energy barrier appeared out of thin air in front of the two soldiers.
The bloody true essence, with power enough to split stones, collided with the barrier and vanished without a sound, like a clay ox entering the sea, not even stirring a ripple.
The entire process was extremely fast.
From beginning to end, the two soldiers did not even blink, their guns remaining steadily pointed at them.
"What?!" The Hook-nosed Elder's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
His full-strength attack had actually... been blocked just like that?
And blocked by a layer of light film that looked thinner than paper?
"This... what kind of formation is this?"
"Such strong defense! But why can't I feel any spiritual energy fluctuations?"
"When did they set up this formation?"
The members of the Blood Evil Sect were all dumbfounded.
What was happening before their eyes had completely exceeded their scope of understanding.
"Warning! Warning!"
"Malicious attack behavior detected!"
"Target locked, threat level: Medium."
"According to Article 3 of the 'War Zone Safety Regulations', initiating Level 1 automated defensive counterattack."
A cold, emotionless, synthesized electronic voice suddenly rang out across the valley.
This voice seemed to come from the heavens above, clearly reaching everyone's ears.
The people from the Blood Evil Sect were completely confused.
What warning? What regulations? What automated defense? What kind of nonsense was this?
Before they could even react.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" On both sides of the mountain gate and in several hidden corners of Qingyun Peak, eight dark, metallic gun turrets suddenly rose up!
These turrets had menacing designs and were filled with a cold aura of slaughter.
They adjusted their angles at an extreme speed, their pitch-black barrels locking onto every single person from the Blood Evil Sect with absolute precision!
A shadow of death instantly loomed over the hearts of all the Blood Evil Sect cultivators.
"Not good!" Alarm bells rang out in the Hook-nosed Elder's heart; an unprecedented sense of crisis made the hairs on his entire body stand on end.
Without a second thought, he immediately raised his protective true essence and roared, "Quick! Form the Blood Evil Formation! Defend!"
However, it was too late.
"Fire." The cold electronic voice delivered the final command.
The next second.
"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat—!" A deafening, dense roar, like a violent storm, resounded throughout the entire valley!
Eight automated gun turrets simultaneously spat out tongues of deadly fire!
Hundreds, if not thousands, of crimson energy projectiles trailing long flames wove together into an airtight web of death, pouring toward the members of the Blood Evil Sect at a speed impossible for the naked eye to track!
"Ah—!" Piercing screams rose one after another.
For those Blood Evil Sect disciples whose cultivation was only at the early or middle stages of Foundation Establishment, their protective true essence was as fragile as a sheet of window paper in the face of those violent armor-piercing rounds designed specifically to penetrate energy shields.
Almost the moment they made contact, they were torn to shreds!
Immediately after, their bodies were riddled with holes by countless energy projectiles, exploding into mists of blood!
They couldn't even let out a complete scream!
In just a single exchange! In less than the time of a single breath!
Of the thirty-plus people the Blood Evil Sect had brought, over twenty were blasted into bits of flesh scattered everywhere on the spot!
As for the rest, apart from the Hook-nosed Elder and two other helmsmen at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, who relied on their deep cultivation and numerous magical treasures to barely sustain a bloody light barrier and hold on, everyone else was completely wiped out!
The entire battlefield instantly turned into a bloody hell on earth!
"Ho... how is this possible?!" The Hook-nosed Elder hid behind the bloody light barrier, watching his subordinates who had been wiped out in an instant, and watching the rain of bullets exploding into clusters of energy fireworks on his shield, his entire being stunned.
His brain had completely shut down.
This... what kind of attack was this? Was it a magical treasure?
But what kind of magical treasure could fire thousands of attacks in an instant?
Moreover, the power of each attack was comparable to a full-strength strike from a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivator!
How could they fight this? This was simply not a battle on the same order of magnitude!
Their cultivation that they were so proud of, the spells they relied on for survival, appeared so ridiculous and powerless in the face of such overwhelming, pure, and unreasonable physical strikes!
On the other side of the valley, the disciples of the Qingyun Sect were also dumbfounded.
They stood there with their mouths agape, blankly watching those eight "iron lumps" crazily spitting out tongues of fire, watching the people from the Blood Evil Sect fall layer by layer, like wheat being harvested.
Just a moment ago, they were still feeling nervous and angry about the arrival of the Blood Evil Sect. But now...
There was only one emotion left in their hearts. That was... pity.
It was too miserable. Truly too miserable.
In their eyes, the Blood Evil Sect had always been a serious threat, a flood monster. Yet, in front of Aunt-Master Jiang Ning and these "craftsmen," they hadn't even lasted a minute before they were about to be completely wiped out?
These demonic cultivators who usually burned, killed, looted, and committed all kinds of evil were, at this moment, like a group of quails huddled in a corner, trembling.
This scene was truly too shocking.
"I... I'm not dreaming, am I?" A young disciple pinched himself hard, wincing in pain.
"So... so this is how fighting can be done?"
"Is... is this what is called... automated defense?"
Everyone's gaze subconsciously turned toward the black-clad woman who had remained calm from beginning to end.
At this moment, in their hearts, Jiang Ning's image had become synonymous with "God."
In the Command Center, Zhang Liancheng watched the few red dots still struggling to hold on on the screen and pursed his lips.
"Chief Engineer, should we keep firing? If we keep going, those few will also be turned into sieves."
"Cease fire," Jiang Ning said indifferently.
What she wanted was to establish authority, to intimidate. Not to wipe them out completely.
Leaving a few survivors to go back and report the news would have a better effect.
"Understood."
Following Zhang Liancheng's order, the storm-like gunfire ceased abruptly.
The entire valley instantly returned to silence. Nothing remained but the thick, inseparable scent of blood and the smell of gunpowder smoke in the air.
Inside the bloody light barrier, the Hook-nosed Elder and the remaining two helmsmen were already covered in blood.
Although they hadn't died, they were all wounded, their true essence exhausted, gasping for breath, their faces full of the terror of those who had narrowly escaped death.
Looking at the severed limbs and broken arms around them, and at the corpses of their fellow sect members that were no longer recognizable as human, they felt a chill rise from the soles of their feet straight to their scalps.
Devils! These people were devils!
Just then, Jiang Ning's voice came slowly.
"Now, can we sit down and have a proper talk?"
Her voice was not loud, yet it exploded in the ears of the Hook-nosed Elder and the others like a thunderclap.
The three of them trembled, raised their heads, and looked at the woman who was slowly walking toward them.
In their eyes, there was no longer any of the previous arrogance or greed. Only the most primitive, the most pure... fear remained.