Chapter 721

Chapter 721: The Black Sea

  After the young lady infiltrated the underground ruins, the valley on the surface enjoyed a brief period of tranquility.

  Outside the valley, there were powerful border troops stationed to guard it, and those inside the valley also felt a temporary sense of relief. Although they did not know how to deal with these soldiers of the House of Plantagenet, over the course of several hundred years, the impression of the dynasty’s strength had deeply ingrained itself in everyone’s mind.

  ”There should be peace now with those people out there,” said a middle-aged man from the Chi Clan standing on a mountain path in the valley, carefully observing the situation outside.

  ”Come down quickly, Uncle Jing. You’re too exposed up there and might fall,” shouted a young man under twenty from behind.

  ”Huh, what kind of talk is that? In my youth, I was once a Ghost Slayer,” he started to say, but his expression froze mid-sentence.

  ”What’s wrong?” asked the young man below, noticing something amiss.

  ”Th-there are so many demons,” he stammered, disbelief in his eyes.

  Compared to the scattered demons before, these new ones running through the vast wilderness and mountains seemed even more frenzied. They appeared to be drawn by something, surging towards the valley.

  ”Close the gates! Raise the guns! Get the crossbows ready!” Orders were passed down through the ranks of the border troops.

  These border troops, who had just rested for half a day after a long journey, were forced to rise again for battle.

  With the help of hastily constructed fortifications, black arrows shot out from behind the battlements, killing the approaching demons on the spot. Facing stronger demons, the Dragon Knights in the sky occasionally swooped down with blazing lances, piercing and tearing them apart.

  However, this time, the demons were no longer afraid, as if possessed, continuously charging at the valley. Some strong lizard dragons or giant snakes even charged through the arrow rain, pushing down the battlements to enter.

  Watching this, more red-painted iron wagons were pushed forward by the rear lines of the border troops. These steel fire wagons were arranged in a line, angled by the soldiers to shoot at the advancing demons.

  The rockets’ tails ignited with intense flames, shooting out rapidly, filling the air with smoke and a pungent smell of fire.

  Facing the dense onslaught of demons, these enchanted rockets proved extremely effective, often piercing through several demons before stopping.

  As a result, numerous corpses began to pile up on the open ground, and the demons in the rear used these bodies as cover, reducing their casualties.

  Affected by the impact of the demons, the residents in the valley were awakened and began asking about the situation outside with concern.

  Tu Haozhang stood on a high platform at the rear of the border troops, watching the opposite side with a Western-made bronze telescope.

  This forced him to furrow his brows.

“There’s a chance that what Miss Jialan said might be true, and this time it may not be a natural disaster but a human-made calamity.” Demons wouldn’t suddenly become smarter or change their minds; their reckless behavior suggests there must be someone driving them from behind.

The governor’s concerns have accurately hit upon the real situation in the Ximu mountain range.

One day ago, at the Zhaoye Palace’s base camp in the Ximu mountains.

A man holding a feather fan stood on an open ground in front of the building, his expression stern.

“Have you found any results from your search?” he asked.

“Reporting to Senior Apprentice Uncle, we’ve searched thoroughly, but we still can’t guess which one of us broke the isolation barrier,” reported a disciple dressed in purple and white robes.

“It seems our opponent is quite cunning, or perhaps this was an accident,” Immortal Heiling muttered as he paced back and forth in the open space.

“If the main sect had discovered the truth, they wouldn’t be so silent; they would have sent people over immediately,” he analyzed mentally.

If it wasn’t the main sect, then it must be some outsider who happened to come here. Judging from the remaining traces, the person who broke the barrier did so less than a week ago.

There’s no one inside the base camp, and no other evidence. The intruder might wonder why this place has been abandoned, but they won’t conclude that we’ve rebelled.

It’s not wise to act rashly now; it would only alert them.

But one thing is certain: if the intruder has found this place, they must have some connection with the Yama Palace. They might already be on their way to the main sect to inquire about it.

Now, the problem is how we should explain our absence from the base camp and the disappearance of many disciples, including Jade Sword.

Although Crane Feather’s cultivation talent is average, his mind isn’t dull. He started analyzing the pros and cons of various decisions.

After a long while, he stopped pacing and turned around.

“We need to go down again and activate the treasure of the Yama Palace to incite and drive these demons in the mountains. We’ll clear all living things in the Ximu mountains.”

“Why are you suggesting this now, Senior Apprentice Uncle?” The disciple hesitated, unsure. Killing for self-preservation is different from indiscriminate mass slaughter.

“Do you understand anything? The main sect will send people over soon.”

“If the Ximu mountains were peaceful or if the matter wasn’t significant, they would certainly investigate thoroughly what happened in the base camp.”

“But if demons run rampant and are about to lose control, the people from the main sect won’t be concerned with the details; they’ll focus entirely on fighting.”

“At that point, we can say that Jade Sword and other disciples died battling the demons, and our side suffered heavy losses, forcing us to relocate. That’s why we weren’t at the base camp.”

“Furthermore, with such a great enemy at hand, they won’t have extra strength to punish us for our actions.”

“Once everything is settled, we’ll be seen as heroes who fought against the demons.”

In the main sect, even those few old-timers couldn’t come up with enough reasons to kill us.”

After a round of words, Crane Feather managed to persuade the other disciples around him and used the treasures from the newly discovered Yama Palace underground ruins to drive away the demons that emerged from the depths.

Gathering these scattered demons from the entire Sunset Mountain Range to one place, they launched an assault on the remnants of the Chi Clan and attacked the secluded valley shrine. This way, they could achieve their ultimate goal of completely destroying the dragon vein restrictions in the Sunset Mountain Range, liberating the underground ruins, and thus utilizing the former secret realm of the Yama Palace.

In recent years, under Immortal Crane Feather’s leadership, these Nightly Palace disciples had continuously delved deeper into the underground ruins, unlocking one by one the seals of the past and exploring within.

Although many of the Heavenly Gaps were chaotic and inaccessible, some relatively intact ruins still provided them with clues to slowly restore the secrets and creations of the former Nightly Palace.

It wasn’t until early this year that they finally found that special secret realm used for auxiliary cultivation in the Yama Palace within a remote Heavenly Gap.

They attempted to activate this secret realm but found the results were not as expected, which left everyone disappointed and somewhat regretful.

Later, through the restored records and documents, they gradually realized that the poor performance was due to the lack of nourishment from the dragon veins.

However, the dragon veins of the Sunset Mountain Range had long been fragmented by broken Heavenly Gaps and temporal rifts, making them difficult to utilize and most of them polluted and unusable.

The only main dragon vein capable of restarting the secret realm lay beneath the secluded valley, which was also why they decided to use the demons to attack that location. Moreover, to prevent the Chi Clan from discovering or leaking information, they had to eliminate all the people in the valley.

But things didn’t go as planned when the Sunset Border Army arrived too quickly, before they could recall the demons. Now, the Nightly Palace disciples were caught between a rock and a hard place.

After all, it was easy to drive the demons, but recalling them was beyond their control.

On a distant peak, Immortal Crane Feather stood with a group of purple-robed disciples, watching the situation in the secluded valley.

“Alas, we did not want this, but since you have come, stay here,” he said.

“Who made you obstruct my quest for eternal life? You deserve to die.”

Soon after, a huge horn inscribed with sinister patterns wailed, stirring the nerves and consciousness of the demons, making them increasingly frenzied and fearless, charging toward the valley below the sunset.

The earth was filled with dark red, hideous figures. Various howls and growls echoed, forming a continuous ocean of demons that gradually engulfed every corner of the view, advancing toward the valley at sunset.

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(End of Chapter)