298: Formation like a net

Late at night, three days later.

The alarm bells of Iron Wall Pass tore through the night sky without warning.

"Enemy attack! Section C, everyone prepare for battle!"

Piercing roars exploded alongside the blaring of horns.

Su Ming rose almost instantly, fully dressed. Grabbing the Formation Plate by his pillow, he rushed out of Stone House No. 7.

The world outside was already in chaos.

Under the black curtain of night, countless green points of light wandered outside the pass like ghost fires, accompanied by tooth-gritting scratching sounds and low growls.

"It's Red-Eyed Wolf Yaos! Over a thousand of them! And there are Wind Bei in the back blowing wind!"

Zhao Tieji held his massive formation pliers and stood at the very front of the defense zone, shouting loudly, "Old Liu, take your men and hold the left flank! Chen Chuan, don't let any that slip through the net get inside! Su Ming, watch the Formation nodes; the light screen cannot break!"

"Understood!"

Su Ming crouched low and quickly ducked into a semi-underground bunker located behind the defensive line.

This was the Formation control position for the Section C Third Squad.

Through the observation hole, Su Ming saw the snow plains outside the pass. Densely packed Red-Eyed Wolf Yaos were surging forward like a tide. These wolf yaos were as large as oxen, their eyes glowing crimson, and they spat foul, poisonous smoke as they ran. Behind the wolf pack, several small, fleshy-winged "Wind Bei" were perched on the backs of the alpha wolves, letting out sharp shrieks and whipping up wind blades that slammed violently against the defensive light screen.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The light screen trembled violently, sending out ripples.

"Damn it, why are there so many this time!" Zhao Tieji smashed the head of a wolf yao that had squeezed through a gap in the light screen with his hammer, splattering himself with red and white brain matter. "Brother Su, can the Formation hold?"

"It can hold, but we can't just take it head-on!"

Su Ming's voice rang in the ears of the squad members via transmission talismans, sounding excessively calm.

He sat cross-legged inside the bunker, his fingers spread wide, with his fingertips connected to over a dozen faint blue threads of spiritual power.

These threads passed through the ground, connecting to twenty-four Formation Plate nodes buried along the front of the defense zone.

Over the past few days, Su Ming had studied the "Detailed Explanation of the Formation Hub." Combining it with Lin Yu's "programming mindset," he had linked the formation plates—which originally functioned independently—into a dynamic "formation web" using spiritual power threads.

"Let them in a little," Su Ming barked softly.

"What?" Zhao Tieji was stunned.

"The Spiritual Pressure on the first three light screens is overloaded; holding firm will cause them to explode. Let them into the buffer zone, and I'll handle them."

Su Ming didn't explain much and gave his finger a slight hook.

The originally indestructible first light screen suddenly split open a gap.

Seeing this, dozens of Red-Eyed Wolf Yaos, already crazed with bloodlust, immediately roared and charged in, pouncing straight toward Chen Chuan and the others behind the line.

"Seeking death!" Chen Chuan snorted coldly, his longsword unsheathing.

But before he could strike, Su Ming moved.

"Sink."

Su Ming pressed the five fingers of his left hand down sharply.

The ground beneath those wolf yaos suddenly became soft as mud; the originally hard permafrost instantly turned into quicksand.

Caught off guard, the dozen or so wolf yaos in the lead had their front legs sink right in. Their immense momentum caused their bodies to tumble forward violently, rolling into a heap like dumplings falling into a pot.

"Cold Mist."

Su Ming pressed two fingers of his right hand together and flicked them upward.

The Formation Plates buried on both sides instantly spewed out a large amount of white, freezing mist.

It wasn't ordinary fog, but a heavy mist mixed with viscous Water Spiritual Energy.

The wolf yaos were coated in this mist, and their movements slowed instantly. Their originally swift pounces turned into slow-motion replays.

"Kill!"

Though Zhao Tieji was surprised, his reaction was lightning-fast. How could he pass up such an opportunity to beat a dog in the water?

He swung his giant hammer, bringing with it a storm of blood and gore.

The wolf yaos, trapped in quicksand and covered in frost, were unable to dodge. They could only let out screams of agony as they were smashed into meat paste.

Chen Chuan's sword was even faster than lightning, specifically harvesting the throats of the wolf yaos that were still struggling.

In this wave of impact, not a single person from the Section C Seventh Squad was injured.

"Satisfying!" Zhao Tieji wiped the blood from his face and laughed heartily. "Brother Su, your Formation is divine! These beasts are like they're voluntarily sticking their necks out to be slaughtered!"

Inside the bunker, Su Ming did not smile.

Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead, and his hands moved faster and faster, his fingers looking as if they were playing a stirring musical composition.

While this "formation web" was flexible, it placed an enormous drain on Divine Sense and spiritual power. Every vibration of a spiritual power thread required his precise control.

"Watch out, the Wind Bei are about to release wind blades! Position Qian Three, dodge!"

Su Ming suddenly gave a warning.

Zhao Tieji and Chen Chuan instinctively rolled to the sides.

The moment they left their spots, three crescent-shaped wind blades whistled past, slamming violently into the ground and carving out three bottomless ravines.

"There they are!"

A cold light flashed in Su Ming's eyes.

He had captured the positions of those Wind Bei.

"Rise!"

Su Ming slammed his hands together.

Several discarded Formation Plate fragments scattered at the edge of the battlefield, which had seemed useless, suddenly glowed with a faint light.

Several sharp ice spikes thrust out from the snow without warning. Their angles were incredibly tricky, stabbing right into the bellies of the Wind Bei that were preparing to cast another spell.

"Awoo—!"

The Wind Bei let out shrill screams and fell from the backs of the alpha wolves.

Without the support of the Wind Bei, the wolf pack's offensive immediately weakened by thirty percent.

"Nicely done!"

The captain of another squad nearby couldn't help but roar in approval at the sight.

For a full hour.

Along the Section C defensive line, the sounds of battle and shouting filled the sky.

Other squads were struggling to hold on, but in the Section C Seventh Squad's zone, though it looked precarious with the light screen opening and closing, any Yao Beasts that rushed in were immediately controlled, separated, and then efficiently killed.

Su Ming was like an invisible commander, weaving a web of death with those unseen threads of spiritual power.

When the first light of dawn finally pierced the darkness, the wolf pack left behind a field of corpses and retreated like a receding tide.

Zhao Tieji sat down on a pile of corpses, panting heavily. The giant hammer in his hand was already somewhat deformed.

"It's over..."

He looked around and found that although his squad members were all injured and their spiritual power was exhausted, not a single person had died.

In a medium-scale yao attack, this was practically a miracle.

Su Ming crawled out of the bunker, his face as pale as paper and his steps somewhat unsteady.

"Brother Su."

Zhao Tieji struggled to his feet and walked over to Su Ming.

This man, usually loud-mouthed and gruff, now looked at Su Ming with a gaze that held an unprecedented solemnity.

"I used to think Formation Masters were just people who hid in the back doing repairs."

Zhao Tieji reached out a blood-stained hand and clapped Su Ming heavily on the shoulder. "Today, I'm truly convinced."

Not far away, Chen Chuan, who was wiping his longsword, also looked up.

That Sword Cultivator, usually taciturn and cold as ice, looked at Su Ming and gave a rare, slight nod.

"Thank you."

Chen Chuan's voice was still cold and hard, but only those who knew him well understood how much weight those two words carried.

Su Ming waved his hand, wanting to squeeze out a smile, but found his facial muscles were somewhat stiff.

"We're all just trying to stay alive," Su Ming said softly.

*Beep.*

The token at his waist vibrated.

Su Ming looked down; his military merit value flickered and jumped.

Besides the basic defense military merit, there was an extra line of small text at the end:

"Excellent tactical coordination, significant enemy kills, extremely low losses. Extra reward: three hundred points."