Witch Wind

Chapter 423 Precise Sniping Kill (Part 2)

The deep sound of drums and horns began.

From the Sun Wu army formation, massive numbers of heavy crossbows emerged. These crossbows, each tens of feet wide and nearly a hundred feet long, were crafted using the methods of immortal warriors and possessed unbelievable power.

The crossbow bolts of the heavy crossbow are giant pillars, and are disposable immortal artifacts.

When the crossbow bolts are fired, they move with the force of thunder. Once they hit their target, they unleash a terrifying shockwave of heavenly lightning, the destructive power of which is enough to threaten even a Great Luo Golden Immortal.

Such crossbow bolts, fired simultaneously by tens of millions of crossbows, rained down in a dense barrage, instantly locking down the battlefield.

With a long roar, Jin Ma Chao turned and left with his heavy cavalry.

Gan Ning and the young general also halted their troops, commanded their cavalry, and retreated to their own fleet formation, one in front and one behind, covering each other.

The roar was incessant, and lightning flashed wildly.

A hail of crossbow bolts landed precisely on the heavy cavalry formation commanded by Jin Ma Chao.

Jin Ma Chao brandished his sword, and eight thousand heavy cavalrymen simultaneously raised their weapons and unleashed a flurry of attacks, shattering the falling crossbow bolts. Countless electric dragons descended, the terrifying impact causing the army formation to tremble slightly. Some heavy cavalrymen who had been wounded in the previous battle coughed up blood from their seven orifices, and tiny sparks of electricity continuously spewed from their bodies.

Soon, the eight thousand heavy cavalry withdrew to Zishu.

The twelve celestial bodies simultaneously emitted bright light, and the array of light pillars, stretching for tens of millions of miles, condensed into a huge innate Bagua diagram, easily blocking the barrage of crossbow bolts that followed.

Countless crossbow bolts exploded on the thick Bagua light and shadow, with continuous loud noises, but the military formation formed by the twelve Yuan Chen remained completely still.

As a result, Sun Wu's crossbow formation stopped firing, and millions of heavy crossbows spread out to the left and right like goose feathers, scattered on both sides of the ship formation, echoing each other, looking as if they were ready to sweep the battlefield at any time.

Jin Ma Chao let out a breath and muttered a curse at the cowardly Jiangdong rats.

A military officer stepped forward to assess the injuries of the heavy cavalry.

The eight thousand heavy cavalry were all formidable cultivators, well-equipped, and possessed the innate treasure chariot, a weapon combining offense and defense, as the core of their formation. Therefore, although everyone was wounded, the most serious injuries were only a few dozen puncture wounds and internal injuries from lightning and fire. After taking medicine and recuperating for three to five days, they recovered completely.

Body cultivators are known for their strong vitality, so it's not a big deal for them.

On the contrary, Gan Ning's Jin Fan bandits and the tens of thousands of light cavalry under the young general's command suffered considerable losses. Of Gan Ning's 30,000 Jin Fan bandits, three to five hundred corpses remained on the battlefield, all of whom were at the level of half-step Great Luo to the peak of Great Luo.

The young general's command of over 100,000 light cavalry was even weaker, roughly at the early to full Taiyi realm. Their equipment was also inferior to that of Jin Ma Chao's 8,000 heavy cavalry. As a result, the battlefield was littered with dozens of corpses here and hundreds there, with at least 15,000 bodies scattered across the tens of millions of miles of battlefield.

Then Liu Bei said softly, "That Jin Fan bandit has indeed improved. But that young general is the same young general from Qu'a back then, isn't he?"

Jin Ma Chao, holding a long sword, approached Liu Huangshu, took a breath, exhaled a breath with a faint smell of blood, and nodded, saying, "Your Majesty is right. This young general made a stunning appearance in Qu'a back then, and then disappeared without a trace. Later generations thought he was just a fictional character."

Jin Ma Chao sighed, "However, his spear technique is truly exquisite, only slightly inferior to General Zilong. Moreover, he seems to possess some special bloodline, as his strength is actually comparable to that of this humble general."

Xing Tianli's lips twitched.

He and the three women exchanged glances—the young general had the bloodline of a great shaman surging within him, and moreover, it was a mixed bloodline of Gonggong and Zhurong, with the power of water and fire bursting forth, its instantaneous explosive force was truly astonishing.

Prime Minister Zhuge also laughed and said, "This young general, even to this day, no one knows his real name. Within Sun Wu, he is only known as 'Qu'a.' He is truly an extremely low-key person who is very good at protecting himself."

Guan Yu stroked his long beard and exclaimed, "This young man actually managed to withstand General Ma's blade for so long. It's clear that within Sun Wu, he's already approaching the top ten among the famous generals. Tsk, what a pity, a pearl cast before swine!"

A deep, resonant drumbeat rose into the sky.

That day, Sun Ce, who had a rather unpleasant encounter with Sun Quan at the banquet in the main hall, was dressed in a brilliant black heavy armor, with a blood-red battle robe underneath and a scarlet cloak. He rode a magnificent black horse with bulging muscles that looked like cast metal, and held a tiger-headed spear in his hand. He slowly walked out from the central army of Sun Wu.

Prime Minister Zhuge laughed: "This Sun Bofu is indeed shrewd... cough, it's actually difficult to strike up a conversation with him."

Sun Ce was the former lord of Jiangdong, and logically, Liu Bei should have personally confronted him. However, now that Liu Bei has ascended to the throne, the difference in their status is immediately apparent. How could Liu Bei possibly personally engage in verbal sparring with Sun Ce?

However, if Liu Bei didn't step forward, given Sun Ce's seniority and status within the Sun-Wu group, even if Guan Yu or Zhang Fei personally intervened, they would still be criticized behind their backs—Shu Han is arrogant, looks down on its fellow countrymen and old friends, and the real leader doesn't show up, leaving their own sworn brothers to entertain the other side's powerful ruler...

Unfortunately, the Shu Han state had a strong sense of honor.

Cough cough, if these words get out, it won't sound very nice.

Therefore, Prime Minister Zhuge said that Sun Ce's appearance alone clearly showed his intention to make a scene on the battlefield, which made it difficult for Shu Han to deal with him - because they could not find anyone of equal status to fight against him!

What if Liu Bei had personally intervened...? Afterwards, the Sun-Wu group had their own explanation—"Look, look, it wasn't that we surrendered without a fight, it's just that the Sage bullied the weak and personally intervened to suppress our King. Cough, do you know what the Sage means? Ah, the Sage personally took action, he's truly shameless."

These words are equally unpleasant to hear and equally shameful.

Just as Sun Ce slowly moved forward, leaving the heroes of Shu Han speechless for a moment, Ran Min, eager for a kill, pounced out from behind Xing Tianli. He took off running, creating a whirlwind that covered thousands of miles in the blink of an eye, heading straight for Sun Ce. The halberd and axe, reforged by Xing Tianli with the heart of the World Tree, cleaved through the void and hurtled towards Sun Ce.

"Sun Ce, the Hegemon of Jiangdong, what a grand title... Bah! You dare to use the name of the Hegemon?"

"Young man, let me, Ran Min, test your skills... You certainly don't know my reputation... Bah! I, Ran Min, the Great King of Wei, am here! You Jiangdong brat, eat my precious treasure!"

Ran Min charged forward quickly, and by the time Guan Yu and the others tried to stop him, he had already reached Sun Ce.

Liu Bei smiled but remained silent.

Prime Minister Zhuge clapped his hands and laughed: "Wonderful, wonderful! King Ran Min is also the ruler of a country. This identity is a perfect match."

Sun Ce stared blankly at Ran Min, who was charging towards him.

As Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang just said, Sun Ce's decision to appear alone was somewhat calculated—regardless of how the Shu Han group responds, Sun Ce will be able to maintain a moral high ground in public opinion afterward, and there will always be something to say about him.

Whether Liu Bei intervenes or not, even if Sun Ce's army is defeated, surrenders, or becomes a subject of Shu Han, there will always be something to say about it afterwards.

But then a crazy man appeared out of nowhere and completely shattered Sun Ce's plans!

Enraged, Sun Ce thrust his tiger-headed spear, its cold light gleaming, straight at Ran Min's vital point: "Where did this madman come from? Liu Huangshu, you've gone too far!"

Who is Ran Min?
Unheard of, unknown... Sun Ce assumed this was a sacrificial lamb deliberately sent by Shu Han to cause trouble, pure cannon fodder. Therefore, facing Ran Min's weapon swung from afar, Sun Ce only used thirty percent of his strength in this thrust.

These mere cannon fodder from Shu Han, even thirty percent of their strength would be enough to defeat them...

The halberd fell with a deafening clang, striking the tip of Sun Ce's spear. Sparks flew, lightning flashed, and Sun Ce, caught off guard, let out a muffled groan as his spear was violently cleaved from his hand by Ran Min's halberd strike. He was also utterly disheveled, being sent flying backwards from his mount by Ran Min's blow!
Before Sun Ce could react, Ran Min swung his other hand ruthlessly, his long axe flashing with a cold light. With a 'plop', he smashed Sun Ce's head off. This black horse, which had consumed countless rare and precious treasures and was forcibly nurtured into a Taiyi Perfection Realm cultivator, had its head cleaved high into the air, and blood sprayed dozens of miles away.

Xing Tianli clapped his hands: "Oh dear, what a waste!"

A black horse from the Taiyi Realm, what excellent material!

Ran Min, however, had long since figured out Xing Tianli's temperament. He lunged forward, heading straight for Sun Ce, whose weapon had fallen from his grasp. At the same time, he delivered a powerful scorpion kick, sending the horse's head and body flying like streaks of light towards Xing Tianli. Xing Tianli smiled slightly, and a three-foot-tall Tower of Creation materialized above his head. A wisp of divine light of creation swept through the tower, enveloping the mangled remains of the black horse.

Strands of divine light immediately surged forth, swiftly dissecting the bloodline and body structure of this black horse, comprehensively analyzing all its mysteries at the cellular and molecular level.

Dozens of incubation chambers sprang up out of thin air. In the viscous, life-energy-rich liquid, the embryos of dozens of fine horses condensed out of thin air. They were injected with the bloodlines of various strange and unusual creatures and began to evolve and mutate towards a more powerful, more divine, and more incredible level.

Infinite changes were rapidly taking place within the Tower of Creation.

Outside, Ran Min was like a madman, relentlessly beating Sun Ce... Sun Ce's spear slipped from his hand. He tried to retrieve it, but it flew back again and again, only to be cleaved away by Ran Min before it could return to his grasp.

After hundreds of times, the tiger-headed spear trembled violently, its celestial light dimmed, and it kept emitting mournful clangs. It was clear that it had been traumatized by Ran Min's frenzied beating. Even when Sun Ce summoned it with all his might again, the tiger-headed spear flew back much slower, hesitant and not daring to get close.

Helpless, Sun Ce had taken dozens of halberd strikes and hundreds of axe blows. His heavy black armor was riddled with sparks, and blood spurted from the corner of his mouth. He could only raise a spare cyan Flowing Wind Spear and engage Ran Min in a fierce battle.

This Flowing Wind Spear is entirely blue, with a transparent and crystal-clear luster. It is wrapped in wisps of flowing wind and its speed is extremely fast. It is clearly a spiritual treasure weapon that contains the Great Dao of Wind and wins by speed.

But this gun is clearly extremely light, lighter than a goose feather.

Sun Ce, wielding this long spear, clashed with Ran Min, clearly indicating that his weapon was not to his liking—he was known as the Little Conqueror, and his style was characterized by wide-ranging, powerful attacks.

At this moment, he held a light and flimsy spear, clashing with the divine weapon in Ran Min's hand that was ten thousand times heavier than the stars. Each collision caused Sun Ce to tremble violently, making him stagger backward.

Sun Ce was extremely frustrated, but at the same time, he was becoming more and more alarmed as the battle progressed—he didn't know Ran Min at all, and had never heard of Ran Min's name before. Where did this guy come from? His strength was even greater than that of the strongest generals in the Sun Wu group!
From the rear fleet, a group of Sun Wu generals rushed out.

Gan Ning, the commander of the Jin Fan clan, angrily cursed, "You traitors of Shu Han, you are not human! How dare you launch a sneak attack?"

There was also a general with a resolute face who drew his phoenix-tail longbow from a distance. With a high-pitched twang of the bowstring, arrows flashed across the sky.

'Puff puff puff puff puff puff,' the dense rain, like a typhoon hitting banana leaves, struck Ran Min, who was blocking Sun Ce's path and beating him up, almost simultaneously. This guy was so engrossed in the fight that he had completely forgotten that there were so many Sun Wu generals behind Sun Ce.

The arrows were incredibly fast, powerful, and densely packed, executed with exquisite archery skills. As the arrows pierced the air, there was a subtle sense of leaping and teleporting. Caught off guard, Ran Min was struck by countless arrows in succession.

Each arrow that struck Ran Min produced a terrible cracking sound, the arrows exploding and causing droplets of blood to bloom on Ran Min's flesh, before being completely obliterated.

Countless arrows rained down, causing Ran Min to splatter blood all over his body. The powerful impact made him sway, and his every move became chaotic. Taking advantage of the situation, Sun Ce counterattacked, his Flowing Wind Spear creating a whistling sound, hitting Ran Min more than a million times in the blink of an eye.

Even though Ran Min was thick-skinned and extremely sturdy, he was still badly injured when facing the fierce attacks of Sun Ce, a master of the same realm. Many parts of his body were pierced by the Flowing Wind Spear, and he kept retreating as blood splattered.

Xing Tianli snorted coldly, waved his hand, and the Tongtian Seal soared into the air, bringing with it a terrifying howl as it rushed straight to the battlefield.

When this Heavenly Seal was first forged, it was designed for heavy and violent strikes.

Along its journey, Xing Tianli has experienced hundreds of small and medium-sized worlds. After refining the Heavenly Dao of those worlds, it has gained countless benefits from them. Among them, it has collected more than thirty pieces of the 'World Mother Shell' that was shed when the world was born, which is an object that concentrates the essence of innate heavy and turbid energy.

Along the way, Xing Tianli refined all these original fetal shells into the Tongtian Seal.

The innate heavy and turbid energy is inherently extremely heavy. The primordial shells of more than thirty small and medium-sized worlds have merged into one, and their weight is terrifying. Even with Xing Tianli's current physical strength, he can only barely lift it.

He unleashed all his magical power and hurled the Heavenly Seal.

A wisp of murky light pierced through the void, and wherever it passed, even the naked eye of a mortal could see ripples of the Great Dao rapidly spreading outwards from that wisp of light.

The Heavenly Seal was too heavy. When it flew out, it was like a large stone crashing into a small pond, and the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth was involuntarily affected.

Dozens of Sun Wu generals were charging forward, about to reach Sun Ce and join him in attacking Ran Min. Suddenly, a beam of light fell overhead, and Gan Ning, the Jin Fan general at the forefront who had been cursing the loudest, let out a strange cry and jerked his head to the side, avoiding a fatal blow.

The Heavenly Seal fell heavily, striking Gan Ning on the back.

With a muffled thud, Gan Ning's entire upper body nearly exploded into a cloud of blood mist. He groaned, blood spurting from all seven orifices. His armor shattered, and even the defensive magical treasures he wore close to his body were either crushed or dimmed by the attack, almost disintegrating.

Gan Ning turned and left without saying a word.

His upper body was reduced to a few broken ribs and half a spine barely held together; his physical body, spirit, and vitality were almost shattered by the single blow. Even with his quasi-saint level abilities, such injuries would be extremely difficult to heal without 30,000 to 50,000 years of recuperation.

It wasn't just physical damage; the very foundation of Gan Ning's quasi-saint body was also shattered.

This is a wound, the kind of injury that cultivators fear and avoid the most.

The foundation of the Dao is damaged; this injury is quite serious.

Dozens of Sun Wu generals exclaimed in unison, looking up in horror at the Tongtian Seal that had risen into the air once more. They all stopped their charge, weapons in hand, glaring menacingly at the Tongtian Seal, ready for battle, fearing that they might suffer another fierce blow like Gan Ning.

Xing Tianli pointed his finger at the Heaven-Reaching Seal, making this terrifyingly powerful treasure hover high in the void, and coldly said: "Well, everyone, in a one-on-one fight, this humble Daoist will not interfere... If you dare to bully the few with your numbers, don't blame this junior Daoist for not giving face to the famous generals in history books."

When Xing Tianli said this, his face was radiant, and his whole face was flushed.

Hey!
If he could return to his homeland from his past life, and if his adopted sons, who were once his roommates, were still alive, he would definitely tell those bastards—you know what? I crushed Gan Ning with one seal! Gan Ning…you know what? That showy Jin Fan thief you guys always recruit and capture in the game!
Xing Tianli licked his lips, staring intently at Sun Ce's handsome and imposing face.

Since Gan Ning has already taken a hit, why not give Sun Ce a really hard one too?
Hey!
The celebrity collecting obsession has kicked in!

He has already obtained many couplets and banners personally written by Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei... He could easily adopt a different method of collecting these items for the Sun Wu group.

For example, how about beating up all the famous figures of Sun Wu one by one?
As Xing Tianli pondered, deep within the Sun Wu fleet behind him, amidst the massive military formation, several heavily armored warriors stood on the deck. Their faces were concealed by thick face shields, and their eyes gleamed with a hazy red electronic light.

They were separated by an unknown distance of hundreds of millions of miles, yet they locked onto Xing Tianli's figure.

"Red alert target detected."

"Maria's Conquest Legion marks this as a red alert target: Taoist, cultivator, Xing Tianli, Wu Clan bloodline... First order: Capture alive; Second order: Destroy..."

"Correction, correction... Xing Tianli's energy level is Quasi-Saint level."

"Comparing the time coordinates, the time Xing Tianli left Tailan Star... standard time unit..."

"Cultivation progress is too astonishing, triggering the destruction warning for the Nine Provinces' top cultivators... The original first-sequence command is invalidated... Commands are changed... Destroy directly, at any cost, destroy!"

"Instruction awaiting confirmation."

In the heart of the Wu kingdom, somewhere, Dong Zhuo, who was about three zhang tall, suddenly had a scarlet electronic light flash in his eyes.

"Sniper."

(End of this chapter)