Chapter 1816 - Tactics
Apart from Mystic Bloodtoxin, black fog began gathering within the formation and turning into acid rain. The rain covered everyone in the battlefield, greatly reducing their visibility. The rain was called Deluge Toxin and it was everywhere within the formation, impossible to avoid. Only those who consumed the antidote made by the Fushen Clan would be spared by the toxins of the formation. The invaders were completely afflicted.
Apart from the toxins, the formation also had a fog that could affect the souls of the enemy. The first wave of troops to enter the formation were the wargodeans and their beasts. It didn't take long before their blood vessels were stained black, a sign of the toxins invading their body. Many of them vomited blood and died on the spot. The Deluge Toxin could permeate the body from any surface, no matter where it fell. In fact, it corroded surfaces and made bloody holes to enter the body. Just like that, a large number of wargodeans fell to the ground like rain, only to be cleanly consumed by the bugs below with not a single bone left behind.
Even so, that much was within the wargodeans' expectations, having been at war with the Fushen Clan for so long. A large number of them had clad themselves with armor provided by the celestial orderians, allowing them to last longer. Their loud war cries echoed throughout the formation, drowning out the sound of Fushen Gongyi's flute. Even while the Divine Sun Palace wasn't blasting at Fushen Valley, the whole place seemed to shake.
Countless cries were heard as blood was spilled and abilities were unleashed. Light pierced the darkness, only to be quickly drowned out again. The entire world descended into a mess of blood and anguish, a picture of hell itself.
Fushen Gongyi was fighting at the very front. His eyes were bloodshot as he continued blowing his flute nonstop. The other members of the clan had similar flutes, using them to direct their insects with sharp notes. The insects worked in tandem with the dark fog and toxins to create a giant headache for the enemy. The notes of the flutes represented the soul of the Fushen Clan. As long as the flutes kept playing, they wouldn’t retreat. As long as the flutes were heard, they would never be eliminated.
The dark battlefield was the most terrifying part for the invaders. All sixty million troops had charged into it, yet the battlefield didn't seem the least bit disturbed. Tianming also fought at the front lines, where he could perfectly see how violent the clash was. The scale of the battle was far beyond that of the Myriaddragon Mountains. During the prior battle, the Myriad Solar Sects' forces had only included thirty million from the Ninedragon Army, with the others only joining later when the tide of battle had already turned. The battle at Fushen Valley was far more brutal in comparison, highlighting the polar opposite wargodeans and Fushens. One was the invader, and the other was the defender.
"It doesn't matter if I die as long as I get to kill a traitor like you!"
"You’re nothing but drunken lunks who've oppressed us for far too long! What other tricks do you have apart from turning traitor?"
It was sixty million against fifty million, the latter of whom had the support of more than three hundred million gods and the Nonacrypt Fushen Formation. They were also fighting on terrain they were familiar with. By now, all of them had been enraged by the repeated bombardment of the Divine Sun Palace.
The Fushen Clan synergized well with the Ninedragon Army. They formed small groups of five with a Fushen Clan member as the leader, weaving in between the wargodeans to avoid direct confrontations. Instead, they led them into swamps filled with poison before engaging them. Tianming and Fushen Gongyi had decided on that tactic before the battle had even started. They were to disperse, bait, and kill! Other factors aside, the sheer fact that they had sixty million troops meant there were always bound to be those who fell straight into the muddy swamps, only to be greeted by angry Fushen Clan members who fought like vengeful swamp demons, all wielding some variant of a curved blade to cut off the heads of wargodeans and totemancers alike as the toxins corroded their enemy.
"I didn't think that the advantage offered by terrain would allow the Fushen Clan to perform this well!" Tianming felt thankful that he had trusted Fushen Gongyi and gone with his strategy. They were quite the cunning people, with ruthless methods to dispatch their enemies and the patience to wait for the right moment. They would doubtless be terrifying enemies to have, but it was just as reassuring to have them as allies. While the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb had brought forty million troops, far more than the number of Fushen Clan troops, Tianming had still let them take the lead.
"On the one hand, we have ruthless and cunning people that fight without surrendering, opting to sacrifice themselves rather than retreat before the celestial orderians. On the other hand, the so-called righteous wargodeans stooped low to lick the feet of the celestial orderians like dogs," someone said.
"Good and evil really isn’t that easy to determine. If it were you, would you side with the gloomy and underhanded Fushen Clan or the wargodeans?"
The lack of an answer itself proved the questioner right.
"Brothers, listen to my instructions: we should retreat in that direction."
"Dammit, friends, swarm him and cut his face off!"
"Fucking hell, this bastard's blood stinks! Hahaha!"
Nonstop slaughter was present all across every corner of the formation. The battle was now at its climax. The heavy assault of the Fushens had long scattered the sixty million troops from the Divine Sun Palace and was turning the battle in the Fushens' favor. Even Tianming had underestimated how savage and stubborn they could be. They were used to hiding in the wilderness, giving them a huge advantage over the enemy, whom they toyed with like fools. That just went to show how important the battlefield itself was. Had they been fighting on flat and open ground, the ten million Fushens would never be able to show so much prowess. Not to mention, the mounted wargodean cavalry could easily steamroll them. But here, even the strongest mounts would have trouble inside swamps. Once their legs broke, insects could just swarm them.
The piercing sound of the flutes signaled that the Fushens still controlled the battlefield and were fighting fiercer and fiercer. The army from the Divine Sun Palace was suffering from a nightmare before the next blast even came. If they kept fighting despite that, they would no doubt suffer heavy casualties. The wargodeans and totemancers could only use abilities and totemic calamities to scatter the toxins around them and crack the swamps to make a wider area for them to congregate in. Only when they had each other's backs would they be able to prevent the Fushens from driving them into the swamps. Flashes of abilities and totemic calamities illuminated the battlefield; however, the troops of the Myriad Solar Sects didn't fear such abilities. In fact, they were even more proficient in them.
Blood, severed heads, and limbs, as well as lifebound beast carcasses, could be seen everywhere. Thanks to the Mystic Bloodtoxin, the battlefield hadn't been stained red with blood. Instead, the toxin turned the blood green. Pools of green formed within the formation, forming yet another toxic trap that kept spreading the toxin to the enemies, who didn't have antidotes. Everyone on the battlefield was intoxicated in one way or another, and the longer they stayed that way, the worse it would be for them. The Nonacrypt Fushen Formation was especially effective against the elites, greatly boosting the might of the Fushens. The blood of the dead only made the toxins more potent.
Tianming watched it all with his heart beating faster and faster. Thankfully, the Myriad Solar Sects aren't going against the Fushen Clan. They were terrifyingly powerful at resisting. Tianming had never seen a group of people as fierce as them. Every one of those incredibly slender and gloomy fellows were sinister and merciless.
While both sides suffered casualties, the Myriad Solar Sects were faring much better. Even so, the Divine Sun Palace was still in the game and the sun emperor was still the greatest threat. Once more, the golden head brightly glowed and sent another blast of Divine Wrath to pierce the darkness. A flaming golden pillar fell from the sky and smashed against the top of the Nonacrypt Fushen Formation with full fury and brilliant force! The sun emperor had warned his troops not to approach the area he would attack in advance. That was the core of the formation, where the three hundred million gods who supported it were located. The blast was even more damaging than all that came before.
That instant, the flute notes grew many times louder. "Attention, everyone!"
The sharp sound represented the fighting spirit of the Fushens. They grit their teeth under the solar radiance and used all the power in their bodies to shift the defenses of the formation to the very top, forming a gigantic black metallic barrier that blocked the blast.