Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1405 Evenly matched
The death of a commander can be sensed by the commanders around him. They can immediately know the disappearance of a flag.

Therefore, Lu Ning knew the moment the chief envoy died outside the Gou Chen city wall. The death of the chief envoy would undoubtedly cause a great uproar, but fortunately only a few people would know the result immediately.

Lu Ning did not think that the commander-in-chief would lack vigilance when he knew that there were multiple demon kings in the opposing camp. It was impossible for ordinary demon kings to break through the absolute formation and kill the commander-in-chief. The previous battle at Guan Yuan was achieved only after the attack of three demon kings.

"Hey, Qin Shu, I'm not good at perceiving souls. Can you sense if there's anything wrong with the souls on the battlefield right now?"

"I'm sensing... my sensing range is not that large!" Qin Su stared at the distant sky. The dark clouds gathering there could be seen by anyone with eyes, but the huge distance was far beyond the range that ordinary people could observe and analyze, and Qin Su was not even the First Palm Order Envoy.

Lu Ning couldn't see nearby, the thickness of the city wall was beyond the limit of the demon's eyes. She also couldn't move her position now, the artillery fire in the distance was still a sword hanging over her head.

The bird-shaped demons that just flew over his head were probably the same type as the demons that had challenged him before, but they were much smaller. The demonic objects they threw were all intercepted, but Lu Ning didn't think the demons would not consider this.

The more losses they suffered under the suppression of the Ten Absolute Formations, the more importance they would pay to the Ten Absolute Formations.

=
Outside Lingjiang, a large number of demon corpses were thrown into the red river. The demons' blood immediately dyed the river into a darker red color, and a large amount of cursed stench spread towards Lingjiang City along with the water and fog.

These demons were killed by their subordinates who were also demons and thrown into the river. The demons that killed them, whether they were in human form or not, had dead branches and leaves all over their bodies, and the weapons in their hands were also made of dead wood, which looked like they would break at the touch.

The one who ordered all this was a haggard old man who sat by the river leaning on a cane. The end of the cane was sticking into the water, and there was a faint, imperceptible black aura emanating from it.

The demon army, the marshal of the Lingjiang army, the demon king Peng Zu. His wrinkled face showed no sadness or joy, and he was not like Emperor Xin who liked to show off and build a huge chariot to show his status.

"Ten thousand people."

War is war, and Peng Zu doesn't care about the means. If he can kill everyone in the city, it will be his victory.

Death spread to Lingjiang, and the moment it came into contact with Lingjiang City, countless solid ice formed on the city wall, colliding with the spreading darkness. The power of the rituals collided, and it only depended on the energy consumption of both sides, but this happened to be Ye Cong's weakness.

The Ice Formation is not afraid of any attacks in front of the formation, and is also good at assisting in combat. If it is compared to martial arts, then it is outstanding in terms of techniques and moves, but the demons have to fight it directly with internal strength.

Ye Cong sensed the problem as soon as he came into contact with the other party. He had rich experience in warfare and had seen plague tactics before. This time it was not a plague, but it was more vicious than the plague. Under the blessing of the ritual, it spread death directly into the city. As long as it was touched, few people in the city would survive.

"The enemy is coming..."

Under his command, the Ice Mirror conveyed this message to all the generals, and then began to twist the entire Lingjiang Ice Array structure. It quickly changed from a defensive state to an offensive state. The enemy wanted to exhaust him, so how could he compete with the opponent's weakness?
The river began to freeze rapidly, and the ice layer changed from a defensive state to a sharp blade. Ye Cong, who had been immersed in the ice array for a long time, was not as skilled in controlling it as Lu Ning. He did not need to issue any instructions, and the blade automatically followed the cold fog and aimed at all living things in the cold fog outside the city.

Then, a red light appeared on the ice blade.

The red water formation added a further layer of power to the ice formation at the right time. Then, the ice knives scattered out. The first batch of thirty-six ice knives tested instantly created thirty-six blood-mist-filled pathways among the demon army near the river.

Peng Zu sneered when he saw this.

"Kill, kill. The more you kill, the closer death will be to you..."

However, Ye Cong's formation changes were not over yet. After confirming the enemy's position with his ice knife, he immediately changed the formation again. An ice wall rose from outside the city, and a maze with the same rules as Lingjiang sprang up from the ground, trapping all the demon troops along the river inside.

Colleagues who had been cooperating for a long time immediately followed suit. As soon as the city gate opened, the two armies of Hongsha and Hongshui rushed out and attacked the demon army trapped in the maze. Lingjiang had practiced this kind of cooperation many times and was very skilled at it.

Inside the ice maze, Peng Zu finally smiled. He raised his staff, and the dead branches and leaves on all the demons began to grow wildly. They stabbed the walls of the maze with their weapons, and then were captured by the rules of the maze. The ice pieces exploded from their bodies and died instantly. However, the dead branches continued to grow, and dead objects would not die again. The ice layer also began to be gradually pushed open and broken by this dead growth, until some walls were completely destroyed and stained with the color of death.

Ye Cong in the city suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. Normally, the spells cast would not have any backlash, otherwise it would be too useless. However, he could feel that the abilities used by the demon king attacking the city this time were different from the demons he had fought before.

"Eternal life has an end."

Peng Zu walked forward, black dust flying around him, and the demons that kept falling wailed before dying. "Wanzhong" was a sacrifice that was too suitable for his ability, so suitable that he didn't need to send any more powerful demon kings to assist him. The real battle was still in Guanyuan. Peng Zu was very confident that he and Lingjiang could reach the end of their lives together.

=
Guanyuan is the first city in Lingzhou, but on the day of declaration of war, no large army was seen approaching.

Huang Kui would naturally not neglect this city. The commander-in-chief of the army attacking Guanyuan was none other than Xu Fu, one of his trusted teachers.

The Earth Demon King did not need any testing. Before the war began, he had walked around the three cities and was quite familiar with the surrounding situation. Guanyuan seemed to be built on a plain, as if it was easy to attack but difficult to defend. In fact, if anyone dared to attack this city on the plain, they would be smashed to pieces by the formation artillery on the high towers twenty miles away.

To win the city, a strong attack is the worst option. Therefore, Xu Fu had to besiege the city first, and then make plans for the future. On a larger scale, at a distance that was almost invisible from the Guanyuan city wall, the assigned demon soldiers had spread out and lit the altar. Since the establishment of the Saibei Demon Army, tens of thousands of rare treasures, antique masterpieces, and fairy secret weapons that had been collected, refined, stolen, and looted were destroyed in the refining fire taught by Xu Fu. All the meanings contained in them were lifted up by the flames and penetrated into the sky. The colorful streamer of the treasure formed a curtain that cut off the sky and the earth. The sacrifice called "all things" was completed when the demon soldiers finally threw themselves into the fire. At that moment, everyone in Guanyuan City, no matter how many friends, colleagues, and relatives were around, felt a loneliness that was isolated from the world.

A person with a strong will will soon wake up from this loneliness, but not everyone has such willpower. More civilians suddenly fell into this lonely psychological state. The fear of war and the grief of losing their homes, which had been suppressed by the power of Qin Taishi for a long time, suddenly broke out, causing a lot of chaos in an instant.

However, an accident also occurred when Xu Fu, who initiated the ritual, started it.

The activation of "Everything" requires a total of five thousand small altars as nodes. When all the nodes are activated at the same time, the influence of this ritual will reach its maximum. However, just now about twenty nodes failed to start.

This is a problem that should not occur in theory. Guan Yuan is on high alert. Xu Fu carefully considered and conducted a large-scale inspection around each altar to avoid interference from some ambushes. If the other party wants to attack the nodes, they can only send enough masters to attack those nodes today. These masters cannot be ordinary, but must at least be able to compete with a few demon generals. This condition, as long as they are not directly related to the Ten Absolute Formations, few people meet the conditions.

Does Guan Yuan have any other support?

At this moment, a ball of vast aura suddenly exploded from the top of Guanyuan City. This aura also acted on the mind, just offsetting part of the effect of "everything".

Jiang Yao stood on the top of the city wall, opened the scroll in his hand, and looked at the sky curtain seriously. "Isolation" is just a psychological attack. The curtain cannot really block the communication with the outside world like the "Dragon Breaking" in Yingyin, but... maybe it is more dangerous.

Since they have to defend the city, the tourists should use all their best skills. Jiang Yao also uses the most powerful prop in her hand - the Paradise of Tranquility.

[Falling into darkness: cursed item.

Send a curse to a human settlement, and also bear the corresponding curse effects yourself.

The curse will be divided into seven stages. With each stage, the effect of the curse on oneself will increase, and the ability in the scene will be enhanced according to the strength of the curse.

The curse can be actively interrupted by the holder. After interruption, the item cannot be used in the next scene and the holder will bear the curse effect at the time of interruption without enjoying any benefits.

The curse ends when the bearer leaves the cursed area or dies.

Paradise of Tranquility: Suppress the emotional changes of everyone in the area, lose the ability to perceive emotions, reduce emotional intelligence, and become emotionally indifferent. After all the emotions of everyone in the area have stopped fluctuating, enter the next stage.

Pillar of Reverence: Over time, all people in the area will develop faith in the caster of the curse, and lose their sense of life. If more than ten people commit suicide due to extreme faith, the area will enter the next stage.

God-making Hall: All people in the area spontaneously build a place of idolatry for the cursed and organize a religious social structure. They lose the ability to leave the area and begin to condense the cursed godhood. When the first religious war begins, it enters the next stage.

Land of Holy War: Visitors have not yet entered this stage.

——Until now, deep inside the prison called faith, there are still countless people who were once called gods still screaming. Their words are meaningless, and their actions are meaningless. They are prisoners who are being burned on the pillars of God, and their sentence is forever. 】

Cold sweat slid down Jiang Yao's forehead. She had fought in places where the level of technology or ability was far higher than this scene, but at this moment, it might be more critical than those times.

Outside the city, sparks exploded from the broken altar, and some spiritual light remained on the neatly chopped treasures, but it was also slowly dissipating. The gray-clothed man wearing a bamboo hat slowly sheathed his sharp sword and exhaled a foul breath.

The bodies of demons were lying around, each of them had their vital parts cut off instantly, a single sword strike was fatal. And there were three people dressed in similar clothes patrolling here, finishing off the demons that were still strong and alive.

Another altar, only a hundred meters away, was torn apart by the demon-suppressing officials. Some of them were not very satisfied and complained, "Why are these demons setting up the sacrificial rituals so crudely... The distances between the altars are not the same..."

"Don't think about that. Sacrificial rituals can be used in all kinds of situations, and demons are not as good as us in using them." Ning Ke clapped his hands and called his subordinates, "We are the most suitable for carrying out these sabotage operations, but unfortunately we don't have enough manpower. The demons have set up too many small altars."

"Hey, Ning Ke, our current state..." Lin Xiyin walked over somewhat uncomfortably and clenched her fists lightly. Dealing with the demon general was originally a difficult task for her, but now she felt that she had gained a lot of experience in dealing with demons and could kill them easily.

"It's just some experience. I didn't let Li Duanyu use his full power." Ning Ke said, "Just use it. It's harmless."

Lin Xiyin still had some hesitation in her eyes, but she suppressed her doubts in her heart because of her trust in her friend. Practicing Hunyuan Yiqi since she was a child had long made her not believe in the power that came for free. The problem was that Ning Ke knew very well that the power that Li Duanyu gave her was for free.

The old generation of tourists have a lot of knowledge that the new generation cannot compare to, and Li Duanyu's "enlightenment" is just like that. Ning Ke didn't know the full effect, but he knew that Li Duanyu could inject all the power, experience, memory and even habits gained in the scene into a person's body, making him almost a replica of himself in the scene, except that he didn't have the skills brought in from outside the scene.

There are only two restrictions: one is that there is a limit on the number of people in the same scene, and the other is that the same person can only receive it once. From Ning Ke's observation, this ability will not have any impact on Li Duanyu's strength. As for the number of people, in addition to the 20 elites selected from the demon-suppressing officials who received his initiation, Li Duanyu himself did not know where he found a group of people from Guan Yuan, and the number of people who received the initiation was about 100.

This upper limit on the number of people is not small. No wonder Li Duanyu is often rumored to hide quietly until the end of the scene before taking action to solve the final problem. Of course, the abilities within the scene will become stronger as it accumulates to the final stage.