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Chapter 15: Gravel Demon Punishment
The Arbitrator smiled coldly, "You want to show off? Then I'll let you taste some suffering."
With arms outstretched, the Arbitrator's palms glowed with a green light. The strange light emanated from his hands and surged toward the nearby corpses. The Arbitrator shouted, "Gravel Demon Punishment!"
As the green light reached its peak effect, Ji Zichen saw that the corpses were now under the Arbitrator's control. There were no fewer than a hundred dead bodies nearby. Suddenly, these corpses began to rise into the air, ascending high above Fierce Death Valley. The ascent of the bodies did not cease; they continued to rise until they shrank to the size of a palm, at which point they solidified and transformed into stone, resembling bodies made of rock.
Far beyond Mountain Valley, Wei Deputy and the remaining soldiers witnessed this bizarre phenomenon. Their hearts raced as they stood in stunned silence, unable to comprehend what was happening. The corpses had shrunk to palm-sized figures; Ji Zichen, Xia Lian, and Saint King could not clearly see the transformation into stone, but their instincts told them something was amiss.
Xia Lian looked up in astonishment and asked, "What does the Arbitrator intend to do?"
Ji Zichen strained his eyes to see the airborne corpses more clearly, trying to understand what trick the Arbitrator was playing. However, human vision is limited, and Kiko could discern nothing; the scene before him resembled hundreds or thousands of ghosts suspended in mid-air.
With such a massive number of corpses floating up, even Saint King could not grasp the Arbitrator's intentions. He could only speculate that perhaps the Arbitrator intended to drop these bodies on them. While falling corpses from a height could indeed be deadly, given their skills and reflexes, it did not seem like a significant threat. Nevertheless, the spectacle was terrifying.
The power of this Gravel Demon was truly extraordinary; it was capable of levitating so many corpses simultaneously. Saint King thought to himself, "Even if I had dozens of my own kind, I couldn't achieve this."
Corpses are not birds; they have no wings and rely solely on the Gravel Demon's strange strength to float in the air. After staring for a while, Saint King noticed that the floating corpses seemed to create a double image. Ji Zichen also felt his eyes strain; in truth, they had only been gazing upward for a few breaths.
Suddenly, these corpses plummeted downwards. Upon seeing their descent speed, Ji Zichen was shocked; the bodies fell like terrifying cannonballs aimed directly at them.
The corpses accurately pierced through the clouds as they fell. Because Saint King's stature was taller than Ji Zichen's, he had a better vantage point and finally caught sight of the true nature of those falling bodies.
The method of attack from the corpses matched Saint King's earlier speculation; however, he had not anticipated that these corpses would transform into stone. The stone blocks were on an entirely different level compared to their flesh-and-blood counterparts.
Saint King widened his eyes and shouted at Ji Zichen and Xia Lian, "Watch out! Those corpses have turned to stone!"
Initially, Xia Lian stared blankly at Saint King, as if he couldn't comprehend what was being said. How could corpses turn into stone? Had Saint King made a mistake?
Fortunately, Ji Zichen understood Saint King's warning. He quickly grabbed Xia Lian and pulled him to safety. Saint King appeared somewhat flustered but could only evade as well.
Ji Zichen focused his energy and conjured a Wind Barrier to shield them from the falling Stone Corpses. The impact of the Stone Corpses was overwhelming; the Wind Barrier buckled like a rubber ball, compressing under the force before springing back to its original shape.
At that moment, Xia Lian snapped out of his shock. Ji Zichen held him tightly, causing Xia Lian's face to flush. Ji Zichen shouted to Saint King, "Get out of Mountain Valley now!"
Saint King nodded in understanding. As the Stone Corpses continued to plummet, they shattered upon hitting the ground like broken stones. Although Ji Zichen felt sympathy for the fate of these corpses, he knew they had to prioritize their own safety. The descending Stone Corpses were relentless, chasing after them like a torrential downpour. Ji Zichen exerted all his strength to leap out of Mountain Valley.
However, when Ji Zichen, Saint King, and Xia Lian reached the outskirts of Mountain Valley, they were surprised to find many soldiers gathered there. This was unexpected for Ji Zichen; he had never imagined there would be so many people present. The rain of Stone Corpses did not relent simply because others were around; the Arbitrator was also pursuing them.
Seeing that the soldiers outside the valley had not yet fled, the Arbitrator felt a surge of joy. Upon appearing, he lifted the corpses from the ground and launched an even fiercer attack, sending countless Stone Corpses hurtling toward the soldiers.
The sudden appearance of chaos startled the gathered soldiers. Many collided with each other while trying to escape. Stone Corpses crashed down on those who fell, shattering their armor and bones. Panic ensued among the soldiers.
Wei Deputy witnessed the Stone Corpses raining down like a terrifying deluge. Many had nowhere to hide and began to scream; one soldier's head was crushed at an awkward angle as he collapsed.
Xia Lian and Ji Zichen took refuge within the Wind Barrier, temporarily safe from harm. As they watched soldiers being killed one after another, Xia Lian summoned ten Vengeful Spirits to aid them. Whenever a Stone Corpse threatened a soldier, a Vengeful Spirit would leap up and knock it aside, allowing the soldier to escape unharmed. However, with so many Stone Corpses falling, even ten Vengeful Spirits could only do so much.
A soldier screamed as two Stone Corpses struck him simultaneously; nearby horses suffered broken legs from the onslaught. Wei Deputy immediately ordered the iron shield soldiers to form a protective circle with their shields raised overhead like a roof against the falling Stone Corpses. Unfortunately, due to the sheer number of descending corpses, many soldiers holding shields had their arms shattered by the impact.
Wei Deputy could hardly believe that after winning such a difficult battle, they would have to face another severe blow.
At that moment, a soldier peered through the gaps in the iron shield and spotted a wave of dark figures approaching from afar. "Wei Deputy, look over there! Someone is coming!" he shouted.
The newcomers were not within the range of the fallen Stone Corpses. Wei Deputy focused his gaze and recognized the leading figure as Great Seat from the Hall of Malevolence. A chill ran down his spine. "Reinforcements from the Hall of Malevolence have arrived!"
Wei Deputy had initially planned to regroup his forces outside Mountain Valley before entering Fierce Death Valley to gain full control. However, with reinforcements arriving so quickly, he had no choice but to abandon that idea.
Seeing the battlefield littered with corpses and more Stone Corpses falling from above, Great Seat's expression turned excited. "This place is truly interesting! Let’s join in!"
Great Seat brought three thousand Cult members with him, who surged into the fray like a tidal wave. Upon seeing Great Seat in the distance, Arbitrator decided to stop letting Stone Corpses fall to avoid harming his own men. The soldiers here had already suffered heavy casualties from his previous attack. Arbitrator resolved to leave the battlefield cleanup to Great Seat while he focused on dealing with Ji Zichen and a few others.
Ji Zichen noticed that the descent of Stone Corpses had momentarily halted. She dispelled her Wind Barrier and summoned Fire Buddha Bead, which darkened as a fire dragon roared to life and lunged toward Arbitrator. Seeing the fire dragon approach, Arbitrator smiled slightly. "If you want to fight, I’ll play along."
The fire dragon did not leap directly at Arbitrator as Ji Zichen had expected; instead, it danced in the air. Arbitrator aimed at a corpse crushed by a Stone Corpse and hurled it toward the fire dragon. The dragon exploded in mid-air between Arbitrator and Ji Zichen, sending flames leaping in all directions.
Some sparks splattered onto Wei Deputy's iron shield, but those inside remained unharmed due to its protection.
However, one spark pierced through three incoming Cult members from Hall of Malevolence before finally extinguishing.
Wei Deputy saw that their enemies were numerous; they had only about three hundred Yu Ren left. No matter how hard they tried, victory seemed impossible. The first wave of the new Cult members had already breached the center, and Wei Deputy feared that facing them head-on would lead to catastrophic consequences.
He ordered his soldiers to lower their shields and chose wisely to retreat instead of pressing forward with an attack. Saint King noticed that Ji Zichen had begun her assault. As Arbitrator dispelled Ji Zichen's fire dragon, Saint King activated his abilities and charged toward Arbitrator, claws raised to strike. Arbitrator let out a hearty laugh and swiftly retreated.
Xia Lian also took action, summoning the Vengeful Spirit to engage the Arbitrator head-on. The Arbitrator looked at Xia Lian with a faint smile and said, "Xia Lian, do you still not understand? Then I can only treat you as an enemy."
Xia Lian did not respond, continuing to use the Vengeful Spirit to entangle the Arbitrator. Ji Zichen drew the Demon-Slaying Sword, and the three of them worked together against the Arbitrator.
Their battle was merely a part of the larger conflict on this battlefield. Wei Deputy retreated while observing his soldiers resist the advancing Cult. He ordered the Artifact Archer Soldiers to shoot magical arrows, and a wave of approaching Cult members fell dead to the ground. Wei Deputy's bodyguard urged him, "Wei Deputy, you must leave! We will hold them off."
The situation was becoming increasingly dire; those who remained had only one possibility—they would be swept away by the newly arrived Cult.
Wei Deputy glanced at his Cavalry unit, knowing that if he did not leave, they would not disperse on their own. Tears welled in his eyes as he felt moved by the sacrifice of these soldiers.
Without hesitation, Wei Deputy issued orders for the Cavalry to retreat with him. As arrows rained down from the Cult, he carefully deflected them with his sword. A squad of Cult members charged forward recklessly, and Wei Deputy swiftly struck them down. His group fought while retreating, which effectively slowed their pace.
Although their retreat was slow, they gradually created distance between themselves and the newly arrived Cult.
At that moment, another wave of soldiers appeared from the south. A soldier shouted, "Reinforcements! It's the soldiers from Zhang City!"
Wei Deputy looked toward the distant fluttering flags; indeed, it was Zhang City's troops. Their sudden arrival invigorated him.
Though fewer in number than the incoming Cult, Zhang City Soldiers showed no mercy in their fight against enemies.
The Zhang City Cavalry charged into the rear of the Hall of Malevolence, buying precious time for Wei Deputy's retreat.
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