Chapter 97: To Respond in Kind

Moon King Hall had an illustrious reputation in Myriad Mountains, becoming well known around these parts. It had a Grand Archfiend, after all, second to a Sovereign in power.

The King Hall part of its name pointed at a gathering of Kings, and also at its might.

This time, Moon King Hall became enraged, and Moon Fiend sent out a kill order: ‘Wipe out Yan Mountain and you may enter Moon King Hall!’

The Divine Palace Archfiends in the vicinity reacted on the spot since not all of them had the protection of a Grand Archfiend. Who would care if you died? Just look at Prodigious Fruit Mountain, crushing it was but a trifling matter.

As long as they hoisted Moon King Hall’s banner and refrained from stepping on Sovereign’s tail, then everything else was of little importance. They would be able to roam unrestrained, in Myriad Mountains at least.

Many Archfiends began wagging their tongues at this news, “These are tragic times for Yan Mountain. Having offended Moon Fiend, it will soon end up in ruins.”

“They say that four Divine Palace Archfiends are mobilizing their armies!”

“Four Divine Palace Archfiends!? Isn’t that close to five thousand Great Fiends and around two dozen Archfiends?”

“This is the largest battle in Moon King Hall’s lands over tens of years!”

All kinds of Great Fiends flew around Yan Mountain in the hope of peaking at its secrets. Yan Mountain has officially become public enemy number one, but it didn’t want to send its fiend army to pointless death so it refrained from letting its fiends leave Yan Mountain’s nearby areas.

Now it was a crucial time for their transformation, with Chen Ming unwilling to let them die like nothing.

In this time of war, at the external palace, Chen Ming was hearing Black Python’s report, “Mountain Lord, four Divine Palace Archfiends gathered their armies so far. They are Mountain Grizzly, Madam Spider, Silver Wing, and Forest Ogre! Please look over the information regarding their subordinates.”

Chen Ming skimmed through it. Mountain Grizzly was an earth grizzly, and while on the ground he had the strength to move mountains. Madam Spider was a poison expert, dabbing in the venoms of scorpions, snakes and the like. Silver Wing was a silver goshawk, boasting an impregnable plumage. Forest Ogre had an extremely refined cultivation; some say that he lived for more than a millennia, and wasn’t a monster in name only.

None of them were easy to deal with.

“Ding! You triggered a storyline challenge mission, D rank: to survive or perish, that is the question. Please repel the invading enemies. Reward: 80,000 spiritual knowledge, 3,000 fame. Failure: Yan Mountain’s destruction.”

The mission has arrived. He now had no choice but to do battle, and not just fight, but win.

Chen Ming asked Black Tiger, “How long before the fiend army finishes its change?”

“It needs fifteen more days.”

“How many achieved it so far?”

“A thousand.”

“Let’s go inspect their strength.”

The three went to the army camp and called for the thousand soldiers to attention. Chen Ming ordered three hundred of them to form a battalion, then said to Black Tiger, “Go and try them out.”

“Good, I want to see for myself how great is this Blood Regalia and Warding Sword Art!”

The battalion soon assembled into a square formation. Black Tiger began, “Release the blood aura. I will be testing your progress!”

A red mist slowly rose from the three hundred troops and shrouded them. Black Tiger said, “I will first begin by examining your defense!”

Black Tiger reached for his black iron mace, then send it crashing down on the battalion. It collided with the blood aura and it actually sent the mace flying!

Even Chen Ming rose an eyebrow at this, Everything that comes from the system is high-rated stuff!

Black Tiger was impressed, This blood aura is too strong, and it only came from three hundred fiends.

Coming back after he retrieved his mace, Black Tiger continued, “Come at me so that I may test your strength.”

The battalion swarmed him, the blood aura making them ferocious as tigers and as mighty as dragons. Three hundred flying sword came at Black Tiger, who only waved his mace to block them. Yet this wasn’t something that could be withstood so easily, visible from the steady steps he took backward.

Chen Ming quickly set up the Eight Extremes Array around Black Tiger to save him.

“Great, I am now clear of your power!”

Black Tiger might have lost miserably, but it didn’t seem to phase him at all, “Blood Regalia and Warding Sword Art is indeed an art meant for war. From what I understood just now, a hundred can face against an Archfiend, and three times that can kill a Divine Palace!”

Chen Ming nodded. This went along with his conjecture.

Black Tiger laughed, “With eight thousand Blood Regalia and Warding Sword Art soldiers, there’s no need to mention the four Divine Palace Archfiends when not even Moon King Hall can withstand it. We can win this! Not even a thousand mountains can block a legion of eight thousand Blood Regalia and Warding Sword Art soldiers!”

Chen Ming said, “Carry on with the transformation, I cannot let them fight for now. I’ll just have to go give them a surprise myself. Black Python, with me.”

Once the eight thousand fiends finished, Chen Ming would finally have a fighting chance. And in a crucial time as now, he wanted to avoid any slip-up.

Black Python’s stealth cultivation method wasn’t bad at all, with low chances of being discovered. And he could even guide the other party’s movements. By bringing him along, Chen Ming would give the enemy endless headaches, while he, an array master, had no fear of being surrounded.

The two didn’t go by cloud. With such a big plan in mind, they would be easily spotted. As they crossed through the forest in the mountains, Chen Ming spoke, “Who is the first to arrive?”

“That would be Silver Wing, with two of his Archfiends as the vanguard.”

“Where is the best place to surprise them?”

Black Python led the way through the forest, and as the night descended, the two spotted a camp being raised. Before starting the hunt, Black Python indicated, “That is one. And because we are familiar with the terrain, it is easy for us to track their movements.”

Chen Ming launched the eight swords, “Let’s respond in kind. Since they came to our doorstep, let us give them a warm welcome.”

From the dark sky, eight swords fell. Such an obvious attack wasn’t something an Archfiend could possibly miss, “What’s happening? Go see if we’re under attack!”

With the descent of the swords, ice spears began rising from the ground all over the camp, passing through the bodies of each Great Fiend, as blood pooled on the ground. A firestorm formed and soon ignited everything, as lightning showed no sign of stopping from falling across the camp. They struck the Great Fiends, sending them in chaos, then starlight followed, cutting off their limbs.

Chen Ming came out of the darkness and gazed upon the helpless Great Fiends, “Ain’t this a nice surprise?”

Chen Ming laughed wickedly, flew inside the black cloud, then came down holding a giant broadsword, hacking at the camp, “Eight Extremes Annihilation Sword!”