28: Chapter 28 The Battle to Defend the Ancestral Hall

In an instant, the wind ceased, and the clamorous battlefield fell eerily silent for a moment.

It was not the disappearance of sound, but a higher level of deprivation.

Chen Xiao's full divine sense and killing intent, at the Late-Stage Qi Refining realm, were like an invisible giant hand, gripping the throat of the entire North Mountain Hollow and compressing all noise into nothingness.

The air solidified like iron, and every player felt a trembling from the depths of their souls, as if they were being stared at by the vertical pupils of a natural predator, causing even their thoughts to become sluggish.

In the center of the battlefield, only that sword tip remained.

Chen Xiao's sword.

That sword was jade-green throughout, shimmering with radiant light, and was named "Qinghong."

At this moment, it was no longer just a magic artifact; it was an extension of Chen Xiao's lifelong cultivation and monstrous fury.

"Qinghong Sword Art · Mountain Breaker!"

There were no earth-shattering phenomena, only a cyan sword radiance, pure to the extreme, bursting from the tip of the sword and cutting across the sky.

The sword radiance was not fast, perhaps even somewhat slow, but wherever it passed, space seemed to be twisted and folded by an invisible force.

The ground was plowed open into a deep, smooth trench, and the gravel, broken wood, and even light itself along the way were annihilated into the most primitive particles the moment they touched the sword radiance.

This was the all-out strike of a Late-Stage Qi Refining cultivator!

It was a true immortal sword technique capable of cleaving a mountain with a single strike!

Its target was none other than "Shield Mountain," who had just regrouped and stuck his giant door-panel shield into the ground again!

"Damn it all..."

"Shield Mountain" subconsciously cursed, his muscles instantly tensing to their limit, every fiber groaning under the unbearable burden.

He did not dodge, nor was there anywhere to dodge.

That sword radiance had already locked onto all of his energy.

There was only one thing he could do.

Roar!!!

With an inhuman roar, "Shield Mountain" poured all his strength and all his conviction into that "Epic-grade Door Panel" in front of him, which had been made from century-old ironwood looted from the Black Wind Stockade warehouse and reinforced with three layers of steel plates!

Behind him, a dozen heavy-armored players reacted simultaneously, roaring as they piled their own shields and bodies layer upon layer, forming a desperate and tragic wall of flesh.

"Hold it! Create an opportunity for the suicide squad!" "Shield Mountain's" voice sounded muffled from within the human wall.

The cyan sword radiance arrived.

There was no thunderous roar as imagined.

There was only a slight "pfft" sound, like a red-hot iron rod probing into butter.

That defensive line, forged from the flesh and conviction of over a dozen people, was as fragile as a thin sheet of paper before that seemingly slow sword radiance.

Door panels, steel plates, shields, bones, flesh...

Everything was silently decomposed and vaporized.

"-9999!"

"-9999!"

"-9999!"

A series of terrifying damage numbers, crimson to the point of turning black, simultaneously popped up above the heads of the dozen players, who then dissolved into bubbles.

The sword radiance pierced through the human wall, its momentum undiminished, and slashed fiercely onto the weathered Lu Family Ancestral Hall behind them.

Boom—!!

The sturdy stone wall of the Ancestral Hall was forcefully cleaved open, creating a massive gap several zhang long, sending dust and smoke soaring into the sky and debris flying everywhere.

Countless ordinary memorial tablets enshrined within shattered into powder under the aftershock of this force.

Only the memorial tablet belonging to the ancestor, Lu Bei, in the deepest part, flashed with golden light and remained as steady as Mount Tai.

The power of a single sword strike was terrifying indeed!

The entire battlefield fell into deathly silence.

All surviving players stared blankly at the massive gap and the patch of ground that had been instantly cleared, a chill shooting from the soles of their feet straight to their scalps.

Was this... the strength of the final BOSS?

How are we supposed to fight this?

In mid-air, Chen Xiao slowly sheathed his sword, his face turning a shade paler, but the satisfaction in his eyes intensified.

He looked down at the ants below, who were silent as cicadas in winter, a sense of pleasure in controlling everything welling up in his heart.

So what if they are crazy?

So what if they don't die?

In the face of absolute power, all struggle is futile!

However, his smile lasted less than three seconds.

At the entrance of the Ancestral Hall, that familiar white light lit up again, one after another.

"Cough... cough! Damn it, I really got one-shot! Didn't even leave a whole corpse!" "Shield Mountain's" figure was the first to solidify. He patted the non-existent dust off his body with lingering fear, his face pale.

"Boss, you're still alive!"

"Brother Shield Mountain is awesome! That sword strike just now was so cool, too bad I didn't record it!"

The dozen or so players who had just been "annihilated" respawned, laughing and joking as if what they had just experienced wasn't death, but an exciting roller coaster ride.

They were afraid, but not completely afraid.

The penalty for death was experience points and equipment durability, but as long as the ancestor was still there, and as long as the quest rewards were still there, then everything was still profitable!

Chen Xiao's pupils suddenly contracted into the most dangerous needle-points.

What did he see?

His all-out sword strike was enough to reduce Mid-Stage Qi Refining cultivators to ash, yet these people... they...

They were alive again?

And, completely unscathed?!

A sense of absurdity and chill that could not be described in words rose, for the first time, truly from the depths of Chen Xiao's heart.

And it was in this very instant that his mind trembled!

"Now is the time! For the ancestor's golden coffin! For the Profound-grade magic artifact! Blazing Fire Hall! Charge for me!!"

"Demolition Office Director's" iconic and inflammatory roar exploded on the other side of the battlefield like a thunderclap on flat ground!

Carrying that ghost-headed broadsword that was wider than his door panel, with blood-red eyes, he was the first to rush out from behind the cover.

Behind him were hundreds of "Kamikaze Suicide Squad" members who had long since disregarded life and death!

They had no defense, they had abandoned all encumbrances.

The weapons in their hands were varied; some were looted long swords, some were crude spiked clubs, and some were even just holding a sharpened stone.

They had only one target—Chen Xiao, who was dazed in the sky!

"Kill!!!"

The suicidal charge launched by hundreds of people simultaneously, that gathered, primitive, barbaric, and reckless momentum, actually made the veteran Chen Family Cultivators in the sky feel a palpitation.

"A bunch of lunatics!"

"Stop them!"

The Chen Family Cultivators finally snapped out of the shock of their Patriarch's sword strike, one after another summoning their magic artifacts and activating spells, trying to intercept this group of suicidal ground troops.

For a time, fireballs, ice cones, and Flying Swords rained down, bursting into brilliant and deadly blood flowers among the charging crowd of players.

[Player "Mercy Under the Blade" has died.]

[Player "One Shot Ends Grudges" has died.]

[Player "My Buddhist Name is Reckless" has died.]

The death notifications were scrolling even more crazily than before.

Players were falling like mown wheat, dropping in droves and turning into white light.

But, no one retreated!

One fell, and the person behind immediately stepped over his "corpse" to continue the charge.

White light kept lighting up at the entrance of the Ancestral Hall, and the newly spawned players didn't even look at their status, grabbing the lowest-level wooden sticks provided by the system and joining the torrent of the charge again.

"We've closed the distance! Fifty meters left!"

"Gossip Reporter Little Trumpet's" sharp voice echoed in the crowd. She wasn't charging at the front but was weaving through the crowd, using her agile movement technique to provide real-time battle reports for everyone.

"Chen Family's left flank, that fat guy in blue, he's out of mana! He just cast three Fireball Spells in a row! Get him!"

"The Taoist with the whisk in the back row is a healer! Find a way to kill him!"

Intelligence was more important than any divine weapon on the chaotic battlefield!

"Received!"

In the crowd, a skinny player with the ID "I Love Exploiting Loopholes" gave a weird laugh and fiercely threw a pottery jar from his hand.

The pottery jar traced a precise parabola in the air, crossing a distance of several tens of meters, and accurately smashed onto the blue-clad fat man's protective spiritual aura.

Crack!

The pottery jar shattered, and a thick, foul-smelling liquid emitting an eerie green glow covered his spiritual shield.

That liquid was the [Potent Corrosive Potion] that "Skillful Hands Mending" had led a group of life-skill players to brew for three days and nights, using the stomach acid of "Tusked Wild Boar" mixed with dozens of poisonous herbs.

"Sizzle—"

With a soft sound, the blue-clad fat man's originally stable protective spiritual aura was instantly corroded, creating a large hole, as if plastic had been splashed with sulfuric acid!

"My spiritual aura!" the fat cultivator turned pale with fright.

Before he could react, over a dozen poison-tipped crossbow bolts and dozens of bricks smashed down on his head.

Pfft, pfft, pfft!

Blood splashed, and that Mid-Stage Qi Refining cultivator didn't even have time to scream before he was beaten into meat paste by this wave of "physical attacks" from mortals, falling from the sky.

[Ding! Successfully killed a Chen Family elite cultivator! All participants gain +200 contribution points!]

"Well done!"

"Hahaha! Cultivators are nothing special after all!"

The news of the first kill greatly boosted the morale of all players.

They discovered that as long as they could break that turtle shell, these high-and-mighty immortal masters could die just the same!

Chen Xiao's complexion had turned from iron-blue to a furious, dark purple.

"Trash! A bunch of trash!" he roared in anger, "Form a formation! Form a formation for me! Use the power of the formation to crush them all!"

However, it was too late.

The players' charge had completely disrupted the formation of the Chen Family Cultivators.

On the ground, the trap team commanded by "Infrastructure Maniac" was constantly creating landslides, ground spikes, and tripwires, making it impossible for the cultivators attempting low-altitude flight to defend against them.

In the sky, the "biochemical weapon" troops led by "Demolition Office Director" were throwing bags of lime powder, chili powder, and even foul mud dug from swamps up into the air as if they cost nothing.

These things might not kill anyone, but they could greatly obstruct vision and contaminate magic artifacts, making those cultivators who were obsessed with cleanliness almost go crazy.

The battle situation, unexpectedly to everyone, was dragged into the rhythm most familiar to the players—a chaotic, dirty, and disorganized mess of a fight!

The mana of the Chen Family Cultivators was rapidly consumed in the continuous fighting.

And the players seemed to possess endless "revival coins."

With one side waning and the other waxing, the scales of victory actually began to slowly tilt towards this group of "maniacs."

"Patriarch! We can't hold on! Our mana is almost exhausted!" A Chen Family elder, dodging a crossbow bolt fired from a tricky angle in a disheveled manner, said with a trace of panic in his voice.

Chen Xiao looked around; everywhere he looked, he saw the disheveled figures of his clansmen and the group of maniacs below who were fearless of death and seemed to grow in number the more he killed.

The absurd chill in his heart had now turned into bone-eating fear.

This was not a war.

This was a natural disaster!

It was an endless plague of locusts!

"No... impossible! How could my Chen Family's century-old foundation be destroyed by the hands of a group of ants!"

Chen Xiao appeared like a madman; he suddenly bit his tongue and spat a mouthful of essence blood onto the "Qinghong Sword."

Hum—!

The long sword let out a mournful cry, the cyan light surged, and a terrifying pressure far exceeding before descended once again.

He was going to risk it all!

"Everyone! Focus fire on the BOSS! He's about to use his ultimate!" "Shield Mountain's" voice rang out again.

This time, the response to him was the roars of all the players.

"Kill!"

The dozens of remaining players of the "Kamikaze Suicide Squad," led by "Demolition Office Director," launched their final, and most resolute, charge.

They ignored the sword qi on Chen Xiao's body that was enough to slice skin, ignored the threat of death, and had only that figure floating in mid-air in their eyes.

"For the ancestor's mysterious gift!"

A player roared, and in the second before being sliced in two by the sword qi, he fiercely threw the broadsword in his hand.

A female player screamed as she detonated all the explosive talismans on her body, turning into a ball of fire, just to delay Chen Xiao for a moment.

"War God Number One" took the lead; he even threw away all his weapons, and his whole body was like a cannonball, crashing straight into Chen Xiao, wanting to use his own flesh and blood to create an opportunity for his companions.

Pfft!

His body was easily pierced by the Qinghong Sword.

But before dying, he held onto Chen Xiao's arm tightly and, using his last bit of strength, let out an earth-shattering roar:

"Brothers! Now is the time! Fuck him!!!"

The opportunity!

The opportunity for a kill, forcefully created by dozens of lives!

"Do it!"

"Shield Mountain," "Infrastructure Maniac," "I Love Exploiting Loopholes"... all the living players, at this moment, poured out everything in their hands that could deal damage.

Hundreds of attacks, from all directions, like a great net of death, covered Chen Xiao, who had been held back by "War God Number One" for a moment.

In Chen Xiao's eyes, for the first time, true despair was revealed.

He wanted to break free, wanted to dodge, but that mortal corpse was holding him like iron pliers.

His mana had already been consumed by seven or eight tenths in the previous battles, and the secret technique of stimulating essence blood made him even weaker.

He could only watch helplessly as those crude swords, dirty stones, and talismans flickering with weak spiritual light completely engulfed him.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

-5! -13! -8! -47! (Talisman Critical Hit)

One insignificant damage number after another, like a screen-scrolling message, jumped crazily above his head.

He, a dignified Late-Stage Qi Refining cultivator, the Patriarch of the Qingxi Chen Family, would ultimately be scraped to death by a group of ants in such a humiliating way!

"I am not reconciled..."

These were the last three words Chen Xiao left in this world.

The next second, his body was torn into pieces by countless attacks.

[Ding-dong!]

A crisp, pleasant sound, like the voice of heaven, resounded in every player's mind.

[Congratulations to all players for successfully killing the final BOSS "Qingxi Chen Family Patriarch - Chen Xiao"!]

[World Event: Final Defense, quest completed!]

The entire battlefield was silent for a second.

Immediately following it was a sky-shattering, frenzied cheer!

"We won! We won!!"

"Holy shit! The BOSS dropped loot! It dropped! Golden light! It's golden light!"

"Demolition Office Director" was the first to react from the ecstasy. He used all his strength to let out an earth-shattering shout:

"Don't just stand there, dammit! Loot the corpse! Raid their home base!!!"