6kv Chapter 179 Initial Formation of the Merged Land
Chapter 179 Initial Formation of the Merged Land
Lin Chen walked along the city wall, moving towards the most critical points of the defense. A soldier was knocked to the ground by the impact of three fourth-tier ferocious beasts simultaneously scaling the wall from the side. In the next instant, Lin Chen filled the soldier's position, cleaving down the first beast that had reached the top with a single sword strike, then forcing back the other two following closely behind. The beast tide surged relentlessly, and his sword continued to swing, the starlight on the blade constantly flashing and fading, almost never fully receding between consecutive strikes. Each swing allowed only enough time for a breath. The entire defenders on the wall moved in the same rhythm—someone fell, and someone immediately took their place, like an old machine repeatedly polished, constantly running, wearing down, and continuing to run.
As the midday sun blazed overhead, the beast tide's onslaught showed no sign of abating. The city walls were littered with the remains of ferocious beasts and splattered blood, making them slippery to walk on. A thick, dark red substance coated the soldiers' armor plates, spear shafts, and the crenellations. The defenders had exhausted most of their arrows and logs; several archers' fingertips were bleeding, yet they continued to draw their bows and fire. The demonic forces behind them continued to drive new beasts to fill the gaps, their numbers showing no signs of decreasing. Han Polu stood atop the highest point of the city wall, waving for reinforcements to the front lines. His armor was soaked with sweat, then dried by the wind. Lin Chen peered through the crenellations, through the gaps in the surging beast horde, and saw several unmoving positions of beast-tamers within the demonic ranks behind them. Their positions remained unchanged; the lines controlling their demonic power extended from beneath their feet, like invisible threads connecting each controlled beast in the tide, continuously transmitting control signals.
He proposed a plan to Han Polu to flank and attack the beast tamers. Han Polu initially disagreed, his gaze lingering on Lin Chen for a moment: "The main force of the evil race is behind the beast tide, with two evil generals at the Fusion Realm. If you go there, you'll be walking into the lion's den. We can't outlast them, but if you perish outside the pass, this battle is truly over." Lin Chen's reply was brief, simply stating his assessment: "It's better than dying at the pass. If we drag this out any longer, the pass will be breached sooner or later, and then the entire city's inhabitants will suffer. I have the power of the stars protecting me; the evil forces can't harm me." Han Polu remained silent for a few moments, then turned and shouted to the messenger: "Open the city gates, launch a feint attack from the front to draw the main force's attention. You lead your men out through the secret passage on the west side, be extremely careful."
As the city gates swung open, Han Polu personally led his troops in a frontal charge, their ranks arrayed and battle cries deafening. The main force of the evil race was indeed drawn to their attack, and the attention of the two Earth-Melting Realm evil generals also focused on the front. Simultaneously, Lin Chen led five hundred elite youth soldiers out of the pass through a hidden passage on the west side. The passage was narrow, allowing only one person to pass at a time, and its exit was located three miles outside the pass, on the edge of a dry riverbed, hidden by withered grass. The troops filed out, advancing rapidly towards the rear of the evil race, their steps firmly planted on the relatively hard sand.
The beast tamers' position was set up about a mile behind the beast tide, consisting of about a hundred people sitting around several large beast-drawn carts. Each person had a bronze plate engraved with soul-controlling runes in front of them. They were completely focused on maintaining the connection to control their evil power, and no one looked back to be on guard, nor did any of them expect any troops to flank them. The moment Lin Chen gave the order to charge, the five-hundred-man assault team rose simultaneously from the low-lying area, like a knife slicing in from the side, directly piercing the beast tamer's position. By the time the beast tamers reacted, the knife was already at their feet. Leng Feng was the first to cut in from the south side of the position, his battle blade sweeping across, shattering the bronze plate in front of a beast tamer before he could even get up, severing his control. The others followed closely behind. Although the beast tamers were highly skilled, their defenses were weak while controlling their evil power, and within a dozen breaths, more than half of them were killed or wounded. Fragments of bronze plates and scrolls of evil runes scattered all over the ground at their feet.
When the two evil generals at the Fusion Realm noticed the disturbance behind them, they had already split up to return and provide reinforcements. One of them was faster, his entire body surging with intense evil power as he drew an arc across the wasteland, passing over the scattered remains of the beast-drawn carts. By the time he reached Lin Chen, his bone blade was already unsheathed, whistling down with heavy evil power.
Lin Chen raised his sword to meet the attack. The instant the blade clashed, his feet sank half an inch into the ground, his lower legs tilting slightly forward under the immense pressure. His opponent's cultivation was clearly superior; the evil energy was mixed with a heavy, viscous pressure, each collision sending him staggering backward. His tiger's mouth split open after the first impact. But he didn't retreat, constantly adjusting his position using the Star-Stepping Technique to avoid being locked into the same direction by the opponent's relentless attacks, maintaining his footwork during each moment of being knocked back. The opponent's evil energy surged into his meridians in the clash, only to be forced back by the star energy. The two forces repeatedly tugged at his body, stretching his meridians to their limits only to loosen them again, then stretching them again, then loosening them again. In this continuous confrontation, he felt the texture of the star energy within his dantian gradually change—his meridians were repeatedly washed by the opposing force, the star energy becoming denser, more aligned with the meridian walls, and its flow becoming increasingly smooth. The ground beneath his feet responded subtly with each step he took. A force surging from the depths of the earth seeped into his meridians, mingling with his stellar energy. It slowly gathered, settled, and solidified in his dantian, condensing into a core vortex that was even more compact and substantial than before. The aura within his body continued to rise, from the peak of the Transformation Realm, crashing against the barrier above.
The evil general's bone scalpel was blocked by Lin Chen's sword in the next strike. This time, he did not retreat. Silvery-white star energy overflowed from the sword, and at the point where the blade touched the bone scalpel, the evil power was being pushed back by the star energy. The evil general's eyes changed from contempt to astonishment. He felt the power from the opponent's sword was constantly increasing, no longer retreating as before. At that moment, Lin Chen felt the power of the earth beneath his feet had completely merged into the star energy in his meridians, becoming one with the vortex of qi in his dantian. The barrier shattered under the continuous impact. His aura surged in that instant, the silvery-white star energy lost its superficial luster, becoming more solid and heavy. A force of earth flowed around the outer layer of the star energy, making his sword not only sharp, but also possessing an unshakeable weight and a sense of cohesion.
The evil general's bone knife was directly knocked away by the next strike. Lin Chen's sword momentum didn't subside; it moved forward, the star energy infused with the power of the earth condensing into a thick silver trajectory on the blade, slashing down with power converging from both above and below. Stars shattered the earth. When the sword light swept past the evil general's protective evil energy, that originally solid defense was cleaved open like dry, cracked soil before him, without any hesitation. The evil general's body split open from the middle, falling to the sides in different directions. The dust raised when his corpse hit the ground mixed with the lingering black smoke, creating a murky gap in the afternoon light.
Seeing this, another evil general at the Fusion Realm stopped before unleashing his evil power, took two steps back, and turned to flee into the depths of the wasteland. Lin Chen, supported by his Star-Stepping Technique, caught up with him. With the help of his newly established earth perception, each step he took landed precisely on the most solid layer of soil in the wasteland. As the other general turned to look back, the sword had already pierced through his ribs and penetrated his heart.
After the two evil generals were killed, the remaining evil soldiers, unable to hold out any longer, scattered in different directions. The uncontrolled beast tide lost its unified direction; some stood still, some trampled each other in the chaos, and some began to turn back and disperse into the depths of the wasteland. The remaining evil energy on the wasteland was dispersed by the afternoon wind. Fragments of the bronze discs on the beast-driving position were trampled into the sand, and several black flags planted diagonally in the ground were uprooted by the wind, tumbling down the slope for dozens of steps before finally embedding themselves in the mud of a low-lying area.
Lin Chen stood on the wasteland, watching the cheers erupt from the defenders on the pass. He sheathed his sword, feeling the newly formed vortex of energy within his dantian; the power was heavier and more stable than before. For a fleeting moment, he withdrew his gaze, looking beyond the pass to the faint outlines of human habitation in the distance.