: It's the Old Monster in the Stone!

2024-12-21 Author: Gu Zhenren

: It's the Old Monster in the Stone!

Flames shot into the sky, waves of heat rising.

Boom!

The wooden giant transformed by Long Ye, standing fifty to sixty feet tall, toppled backward and crashed heavily to the ground!

The vast and vigorous vitality that had once been his advantage now became his fatal weakness under the burning of the Lifeless Flame.

Everything in the world has its counterbalance. Extremes are easily restrained by other extremes—this is the natural order!

Thus, the world of cultivation is harmonious and unified.

Sun Lingtong rubbed her forehead and sighed, "So tragic, truly tragic."

"Long Ye stole the spotlight and took the worst beating."

"The Two Note Kingdom really threw everything they had at him."

"Even the toughest guy couldn't withstand that!"

As if hearing Sun Lingtong's sigh, the giant in the flames suddenly crackled, like the sound of firewood burning.

Long Ye's robust body trembled occasionally in the fire.

It was indeed a pitiful sight.

Ning Zhuo looked up, his gaze seeming to pierce through the mechanical dragon and the corpse of the old monster in the stone, through the sky, all the way to the clouds above.

"The Two Note Kingdom still has ambushers up there!"

Ning Zhuo then retrieved the images from the Thousand-Mile Wandering Dragon, carefully observing the trail of fire from earlier.

He sensed a strong tactical intent in that fiery line.

Ning Zhuo fell into deep thought.

"The Lifeless Flame is one thing, but Long Ye's condition is very strange. He's been burned into a deep sleep—there must be a reason for that."

"What method did that army in the sky use?"

A thought struck Ning Zhuo, and he suddenly remembered a piece of intelligence from the Fire Cloud Camp.

"Among the Fire Cloud Camp's battle formations, there's a variation called 'Flame Tongue Points the General.'"

"This move concentrates the full power of the battle formation into a single point, targeting individuals on the battlefield."

"Especially those powerful generals!"

But just this move alone couldn't have put Long Ye into such a strange slumber.

Ning Zhuo continued to observe, employing various detection methods in turn.

Soon, his eyes lit up as he uncovered the truth.

"It's the 'Fevered Heart Attack' technique!"

"This is a spiritual attack method, a divine art."

Divine arts are techniques that use spirit and will as their main medium.

Fevered Heart Attack—it can plunge the target into a state of anxiety and irritability, igniting a feverish fire in their spiritual sea.

If the affected cultivator cannot calm their anxious and irritable emotions, they cannot extinguish this fire.

And such feelings of anxiety and agitation only fuel the flames further.

The stronger the fire, the more it provokes negative emotions like anxiety and irritability.

Thus, a vicious cycle forms.

"So, Long Ye appears unconscious, but in reality, his upper dantian is filled with feverish fire."

"As the saying goes, 'fevered heart attacks,' making him so agitated he can't move at all!"

Shuang Jing, his armor already in tatters, also looked up at the sky.

"Fire Cloud Camp, it must be the Fire Cloud Camp!"

His expression was complex.

On one hand, he couldn't help cursing Sun Gan inwardly.

He had always thought the Fire Cloud Camp was still stationed in Cangling Immortal City. Yet, they were secretly marching high in the sky.

Shuang Jing prided himself on his status, never expecting to be kept in the dark about such arrangements.

He felt a surge of anger at being kept out of the loop.

But on the other hand, he had to admit that Sun Gan's decision was wise.

"The enemy's intelligence-gathering ability is strong; they've figured out our rear army's march timing and route."

"If Sun Gan hadn't kept it secret, the Fire Cloud Camp would likely be in trouble by now."

"Precisely because he even kept his own people in the dark, we have this winning move now!"

Thinking this, Shuang Jing gritted his teeth secretly.

He gazed at the ruined camp, littered with corpses and debris.

"What a devastating loss!" Shuang Jing, once full of ambition, now felt his aspirations turn to sorrow.

He couldn't help but lament, "If the Fire Cloud Camp's movements weren't a secret, they would have been the enemy's primary target."

"Then I wouldn't have been the main focus of their attacks."

"My losses wouldn't have been this severe!"

The thought made Shuang Jing's heart ache as if bleeding.

But he quickly steadied his emotions, his eyes fixed intently on the giant in the flames.

A gleam shone in his eyes as he bolstered his own morale: "If we can take Long Ye's life, all our losses will have been worth it!"

Long Ye himself was once a peak Nascent Soul level expert, though his cultivation had declined to late Nascent Soul stage in his old age.

However, once he entered battle, employing various spells and divine arts to enhance himself, his combat power easily returned to peak Nascent Soul level.

He could even slightly surpass the Nascent Soul limit, reaching quasi-Transcendent level.

Long Ye's combat ability was truly formidable.

Beyond that, Long Ye's defeat held significant political meaning.

As the temple master of the Dragon King Temple, he was an important representative of the Ginseng Whisker Dragon King in the mortal realm.

If he died or was captured alive by the Two Note Kingdom, the impact on morale for both sides would be immense.

Military morale, though intangible, is critically important.

These factors manifest directly on the battlefield, reflected in the strength of an army's forces.

"Right, the old monster in the stone!"

"That shameless old thing, where did he go?"

"If we can capture him, we can recover most of our losses!"

At the thought of the old monster in the stone, Shuang Jing, this scion of a noble family, gritted his teeth in fury.

Sun and Ning were halfway to the Red Flower Camp, watching Long Ye engulfed in raging flames, then glancing toward the Red Flower Camp.

With Long Ye down, the Red Flower Camp's morale soared, and their military strength multiplied several times over!

It was no longer the right time for Sun and Ning to cause them trouble.

The firelight reflected on Mu Lan's pale face as she rarely smiled and whispered, "Uncle Zhang, I won the bet!"

Zhang Zhongyi sighed, "Yes, you won, we won. But the risks involved were far too great."

Suddenly remembering something, he asked immediately, "General Mu... did you know the Fire Cloud Camp was hiding in the sky?"

Mu Lan shook her head, "Even Shuang Jing didn't know; of course, I didn't either."

"I simply seized what I saw as a potential opportunity and went all in."

"That's what my father taught me—war is about finding the path you believe most likely to lead to victory and having the courage to bet on it!"

Zhang Zhongyi's expression was complex, "Although the White Jade Camp suffered heavy casualties, the most severely injured among the commanders and deputies are still clinging to life. I'll do my best to treat them later."

"Plus, we were the first to arrive as reinforcements. Even if the nobles and high families in the royal capital investigate, they'll only think well of us."

"Before even joining the main battle, we've already achieved such a favorable turn. General Mu, you've more than halfway reached your goal of revitalizing your family."

Mu Lan nodded, "A good start, very smooth."

"But it's not enough yet."

"I still need to demonstrate the Mu family's strength in direct confrontations. In short, the more military merits I earn, the better the hope for my family's revival."

As the two spoke, the four Nascent Soul cultivators from the Six Caves Sect also arrived at the scene's edge.

"Long Ye?!"

"Is that... the Lifeless Flame?"

The Blood Shadow Cave Master and the Scorpion Cave Master exclaimed in succession.

The Demonic Heart Cave Master looked at Lu Hongtu, "No wonder the Great Cave Master retreated in time; our situation was already precarious!"

Lu Hongtu smiled bitterly, "More than precarious? Long Ye used the Dragon King's roots, and that vast vitality only fueled the Lifeless Flame's power. With such towering flames, who among us can go in to rescue him?"

"Who has that capability?"

The Demonic Heart and the other two Nascent Soul cultivators paled.

"Then... we retreat?" Demonic Heart Cave Master hesitated, communicating via spiritual sense only.

Lu Hongtu's face darkened, about to nod, when his gaze suddenly froze, showing shock.

He saw a round stone sphere charging into the towering flames with an unprecedented, desperate recklessness!

It's the old monster in the stone!!

(End of )