42: Chapter 42 Blood Soul Ore

"This is... a pledge of allegiance."

Keyboard Warrior Governing the Nation rubbed the cold jade slip, his fingertips seemingly able to feel the unwilling resentment Scorpion had etched into it with the blood-written words before he died.

The smile on his face grew increasingly intrigued, like a mouse that had discovered the entrance to a granary.

He did not immediately make this astonishing discovery public, but instead unhurriedly opened the private chat channel with Gossip Reporter Little Trumpet.

[Private Chat] Keyboard Warrior Governing the Nation: Little Trumpet, I'm sending you a big scoop.

Send this thing, exactly as it is, to that "friend" of yours.

In the next second, an image of the jade slip, imprinted with the accounts and the blood-written words, lay quietly in the chat box.

...

In an inconspicuous corner of Black Stone Market City, Chen Kang's breathing suddenly stopped.

On the virtual light screen visible only to him before his eyes, the image sent by Gossip Reporter Little Trumpet burned into his soul like a red-hot branding iron.

The numbers in the accounts matched perfectly with the deductions, suppression, and forced silence he had experienced in Black Spider Hall over these years.

And that line of blood-written words completely tore the last shred of reverence he held deep in his heart for the Demon Lord Night Radiance to pieces.

So, it wasn't just me.

So, even someone like Scorpion harbored such resentment.

So, the entire Heavenly Demon Sect was nothing more than a tool for that old demon Night Radiance to exploit at will for his own unspeakable purposes!

A rage from being deceived and fooled, mixed with long-suppressed emotions, erupted violently.

He clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white from the excessive force.

[Private Chat] Gossip Reporter Little Trumpet: Your former boss doesn't seem like he'll last much longer.

Our boss says that the Lu Family Army always welcomes capable friends.

[Private Chat] Gossip Reporter Little Trumpet: Now, you can make your choice.

Will you continue to linger in that demon den that might discard you like a chamber pot at any moment, or... change places, and uprightly take back what belongs to you?

Chen Kang stared fixedly at the light screen, his chest heaving violently.

After a few breaths, he took a deep breath, the hesitation and resentment in his eyes replaced by a resolute coldness.

He raised his hand and, with a speed that was almost trembling, typed out a line of text.

[Private Chat] Chen Kang: The Heavenly Demon Sect's Grand Protector, the Black-Robed Demon Envoy Fierce Shadow, has personally led three hundred of the sect's elite "Black Demon Guards" to bypass the West Mountain, targeting the... Blood Soul Stone Mine that you are currently mining.

[Private Chat] Chen Kang: Fierce Shadow is at the Foundation Establishment Mid-Stage, his methods are ruthless, and he is a loyalist to Night Radiance.

The Black Demon Guards are at least at the Qi Refining Fifth Layer and are skilled in combined attack formations.

They intend to seize the mine and cut off your war supplies before you can react.

[Private Chat] Chen Kang: They will arrive within one hour.

The moment the message was sent, Chen Kang felt a wave of exhaustion, but what followed was an unprecedented sense of relief.

He knew that from this moment on, there was no turning back.

Meanwhile, in the entire "Xianxia World" server, a solemn and dignified, yet slightly gloating system notification sound rang in the ears of all players.

[World Event: Eve of the Demon's Arrival]

[Event Background: The Heavenly Demon Sect's patience has run out, and the Demon Lord's minions have quietly set out. A blitzkrieg aimed at cutting off the logistics lifeline of the "Heavenly Chosen Filial Grandson" is about to begin! Defend your mine, hold onto your dignity, and let those dark-skinned bastards know who the true masters of this land are!]

[Mission Objective: Hold the Blood Soul Stone Mine until the enemy forces retreat or are completely wiped out.]

[Mission Rewards: Massive Contribution Points, Experience Points, War Treasure Chests, and increased Family Reputation.]

[Failure Penalty: Permanent loss of the Blood Soul Stone Mine, Family Level -1, and all players' cultivation level drops by one stage.]

"Holy crap!"

"It's here, it's here! It's finally here!"

"Damn it, cultivation drops by one stage? This penalty is too harsh!"

"Harsh is good! Brothers, grab your weapons! Let's screw them!"

"Pot Lid Army, assemble! Coordinates: Blood Soul Stone Mine. Anyone who doesn't arrive within three minutes will be dealt with according to military law!"

"Madmen of the Divine Wind Battalion, let me see if your blades are still sharp!"

"Talisman Sea Alliance, prepare long-range firepower. Take all those Fireball Talismans and Ice Spike Talismans we crafted from the warehouse! Today, we're going to fight a rich battle!"

The entire Lu Family territory instantly turned into a pot of boiling water.

Countless beams of white light shot up into the sky; this was the scene of players using Town Portal Scrolls and then rushing to the front lines via teleportation arrays.

...

The Blood Soul Stone Mine was located in the midst of barren red hills.

The air was filled with a faint scent of sulfur and blood, and the exposed ore shimmered with an ominous dark red light under the dim daylight.

Nothing grew here; there were only jagged, strange rocks and howling, eerie winds.

Liver Emperor V87 was directing a group of production-class players, fixing the last [Giant Catapult - Mark I], which he had designed himself and called an "industrial miracle," onto the high point of the hill.

"Fast! Fast! Fast! Check the stability runes on the lever again! Loading crew, get those boulders coated with night soil ready; we're going to give those demon brats a biological strike in a bit!"

His voice was loud, and his eyes burned with a fanaticism for infrastructure construction.

At the entrance to the mine, a defensive line composed of countless door panels, pot lids, and even dismantled iron railings had already taken formidable shape.

Immovable as a Mountain stood at the very center of the defensive line. He had a burly figure, and the door panel shield in his hand, reinforced with century-old ironwood, was almost half a person tall.

His expression was calm, like a true mountain, and his gaze swept over the "Pot Lid Army" position he had established with his own hands.

Behind the shield wall was Charge to the End and the "Divine Wind Battalion" he led.

These PVP fanatics seemed a bit restless at the moment, holding various weapons and gazing longingly into the distance, like a pack of hungry wolves that had smelled blood.

"Say, Brother Mountain, are we just going to wait here like this?" Charge to the End tapped the ground with his [fine steel broadsword], making an impatient sound. "Why don't we let the brothers sneak over and ambush them!"

Immovable as a Mountain didn't even lift an eyelid, his voice steady as iron: "Our mission is to defend. Before we know the enemy's specific strength and tactics, any active attack is foolish. Your task is to guard my flank, and... be a blade when I need one."

"Tch, coward." Charge to the End muttered under his breath, but knowing the other person was right, he could only suppress his impatience.

Just then, on the distant horizon, a patch of dense black clouds was sweeping over at a speed visible to the naked eye.

That was not a real cloud, but a malevolent cloud formed by the gathering of pure demonic energy.

Above the malevolent cloud, three hundred Black Demon Guards in black heavy armor stood silently, their faces cold. Their auras were connected, forming a single entity that pressed down until the air was almost frozen.

The leader was a figure cloaked in a black robe, with their face shrouded in shadows.

It was none other than the Heavenly Demon Sect's Grand Protector, Fierce Shadow.

His eyes, hidden under the hood, indifferently swept over the defensive line below, which could be called rudimentary and even somewhat ridiculous, and the corners of his mouth curled into a sneer of disdain.

"A bunch of... ants."

He slowly raised a pale hand and gave a light wave forward.

There was no extra nonsense, no pre-battle taunting.

"Kill."

One word, like a horn of death.

The three hundred Black Demon Guards moved instantly, turning into three hundred streaks of black light as they descended from the sky, their standard-issue black long halberds tracing trajectories of death in the air.

"Raise shields!!"

Immovable as a Mountain let out a thunderous roar, slamming his door panel shield heavily into the ground, his whole body seemingly merging with the earth.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The continuous, violent sounds of impact echoed throughout the valley.

With the first wave of impact, the Pot Lid Army's defensive line shook violently.

The pot lid in a player's hand was instantly eroded and pierced through by the demonic energy attached to the long halberd, along with his chest.

He didn't even have time to let out a scream before he turned into white light and disappeared.

"-589!"

A terrifying damage number floated above his head.

"Holy crap! Armor penetration damage! This monster's attack is so high!"

"Hold! Hold! The people in the back, fill the gaps! Damn, you only lose 5% of your experience when you die once, what are you afraid of!"

"The ancestors are watching us! For the golden coffin!"

The players' deaths did not bring the slightest fear.

The vacant positions were instantly filled by players from the back row.

Their eyes remained fanatical, and they held their shields more steadily.

Fierce Shadow's brows furrowed slightly.

The scene of them collapsing at the first touch, as he had envisioned, did not happen.

The reaction of these "foreign demons" exceeded his understanding.

Are they not afraid of death?

No, it was a state even stranger than not fearing death, as if death to them was nothing more than an inconsequential... logging off.

"Talisman Sea Alliance! Saturation attack! Coordinates: the middle of the enemy formation, scrub the ground for me!"

On the hill, Keyboard Warrior Governing the Nation waved his fan and gave the order.

In an instant, thousands of the lowest-level [Fireball Talismans], [Ice Spike Talismans], and [Wind Blade Talismans] were activated, turning into a torrent of colorful spells that blanketed the Black Demon Guards' formation.

The power of a single talisman was negligible and couldn't even break through the Black Demon Guards' protective demonic energy.

But when hundreds or thousands of spells exploded at the same time, quantitative change led to qualitative change.

"Rumble—"

The roar of explosions was endless; ice and fire intermingled, and wild winds raged.

The Black Demon Guards' proud combined attack formation showed chaos for the first time.

Their demonic energy was consumed drastically, and their movements faltered.

"Well done!" Charge to the End roared excitedly.

However, Fierce Shadow just snorted coldly.

He extended a finger and tapped lightly in the void.

"Demonic Devour."

A point of pure darkness bloomed at his fingertip and then suddenly expanded.

It was a fan-shaped black shockwave, silent, yet containing a terrifying power that annihilated everything.

Wherever the shockwave passed, whether it was the players' shields or their bodies, they were like drawings erased by an eraser, quietly disintegrating and dissipating.

On the front defensive line, a huge gap was forcibly torn open.

Nearly fifty Pot Lid Army players evaporated instantly under this blow!

The entire battlefield went silent.

All the players gasped.

"Holy crap... is this... a one-hit kill?"

"This BOSS NPC is unreasonable!"

Charge to the End's pupils contracted suddenly, but the fanaticism in his eyes increased rather than decreased.

He gripped his broadsword tightly, about to lead the Divine Wind Battalion to rush up and plug the gap.

"Stop!" Immovable as a Mountain's voice sounded in the legion channel, carrying unquestionable Majesty. "Your task is not to plug the gap! Look at that black-robed leader! His move just now couldn't have been without a cost! I want you... to tear him apart!"

"But your defensive line..." Charge to the End hesitated for the first time.

"Don't worry about my defensive line!" Immovable as a Mountain roared. His door panel shield was already covered with cracks, and blood kept flowing from the arm holding the shield. "Pot Lid Army! Listen to my order! Gather towards me! Use your lives to fill this gap for me!"

The remaining Pot Lid Army players did not hesitate in the slightest, roaring as they rushed toward the gap of death, using their own flesh and blood to meet the butcher knives of the Black Demon Guards.

They told Charge to the End with their actions that the duty of a Tank is to create an output environment for the DPS, even if the price is being smashed to pieces.

Charge to the End's eyes turned red.

He stared fixedly at the rock-solid back of Immovable as a Mountain, and then looked at the brothers who rushed up to die without hesitation.

He took a deep breath, raised the [fine steel broadsword] in his hand, and pointed the blade directly at Fierce Shadow in the distance.

"Divine Wind Battalion! Follow me... charge!"

At the command, the Divine Wind Battalion, this long-suppressed sharp blade, was finally unsheathed.

They bypassed the meat grinder battlefield at the front, and like a red torrent, along the flank, they stabbed straight into the heart of the enemy formation!

Their target was only one—

That black-robed Demon Envoy who was high and mighty, viewing them as ants!