This chapter has been brought to you by me, WanderingGummiofDoom, and Brian.
Chapter Four Hundred and Thirty Five – Red Eyes
Burning, beautiful streaks of light in the distance were the sword light energies from flying swords rushing by.
The light of fire, explosions, and all kinds of spells reflected against Liang Wei’s handsome face. The scar on his face was like an earthworm struggling at the boundary of light and darkness.
He had stopped breathing. The upcoming climax to the battle caused the temperature of his blood to rocket up. His mouth and throat was dry, and there seemed to be a fire burning in his chest.
He suppressed the desire for combat in his chest. His stubborn gaze was focused and fanatical in the light.
But Liang Wei quickly frowned.
The two sides had not fully come into contact. They were still in the early stages of probing. In Liang Wei’s eyes, the actions of the black ship sword xiu were somewhat amateurish. He couldn’t help but be bewildered. Twinkling Brilliance Formation was not an obscure battle formation. Even though the Twinkling Brilliance Formation that these Kun Lun sword xiu used had many modifications, but it did not deviate significantly from the conventional structure of a Twinkling Brilliance Formation.
There were many methods to of deal with the Twinkling Brilliance Formation, but almost all the solutions followed one rule, attack the central defense area. The central defense area of the Twinkling Brilliance Formation was its strongest defensive area, but it was also the crux of the entire battle formation. If that was broken, the entire battle formation would quickly be defeated.
Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation was one of the battle formations that xiuzhe battle generals most frequently used. Supposedly, the one who had created this battle formation was a sword xiu battle general. As a testament to its exceptional power, the formation had gained widespread usage in less than two hundred years.
The black ship’s battle general seemed unfamiliar with the Twinkling Brilliance Formation. Compared to the spectacular command abilities he had shown earlier, the skill he showed now was as if a completely different person had taken command.
Had someone else taken control of their side?
Liang Wei found it weird.
———
Gongsun Cha really did not know the Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation.
But his eyes were very powerful. The two seemed to just begun their face off, but this short face off was enough for Gongsun Cha to pay close attention to this unfamiliar battle formation.
The Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation was really exceptional. It actually was the skeleton of a battle formation that gave enough room for battle generals to react to many situations as required. Ming Lie was very skilled in using the Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation. This was his best battle formation, and his wariness of Gongsun Cha could be seen from this course of action.
But even though he was wary, Gongsun Cha did not panicked. He widened his eyes. The battle formation stirred his interest.
A very powerful formation!
Seven sword xiu to a group, groups that then interlocked. There were all kinds of illusory formations that had been carefully arranged. All of the xiu in each group tightly grasped their flying swords, waiting. But what shocked Gongsun Cha was not this profound battle formation, but the talismans that this group of people wore.
The entire battle formation was shrouded in the light of the talismans!
Seeing this, Gongsun Cha’s eyes became red!
Compared to their enemies, they were just street beggars. Each of the sword xiu had one or two fourth-grade talismans, all the flying swords they had were also fourth-grade! Each of those jindan could be described as being bathed in the light of treasures, and it was blinding! Even more exaggerated was that the entire battle formation was covered in a layer of faint blue light.
The enemy even had large scale battle formation talismans!
When compared to his side, the talismans they had were mostly third-grade. The number of fourth-grade talismans could be counted on his fingers. The only thing that comforted them were the flying swords on their hands. They were all Gold Crystal flying swords that Zuo Mo had forged in the Golden Crystal Sand Sea for everyone.
But there were more than two thousand people in Vermillion Bird Camp. No matter how powerful Zuo Mo’s Great Day Banded Flame was, it was a vast amount of work to forge more than two thousand flying swords. In order to save time, he had created a mass forging method that could forge twenty Gold Crystal flying swords in one go.
But the Gold Crystal flying swords created through this method were lacking compared to the ones he had forged at the start. Low fifth-grade, and each possessed two very practical formation techniques, [Sharpness] and [Air Sweep].
[Sharpness]increased the sharpness of the flying sword and [Air Sweep] greatly increase the speed of the flying sword. After great efforts the xiuzhe of Vermillion Bird Camp had basically all comprehended sword essence. These two formation techniques could be used to their full power in their hands.
Compared to the flying swords on their hands, the talismans on their bodies were really poor. No wonder Gongsun Cha’s eyes turned red when he saw the light of the fourth-grade talismans on the enemy sword xiu.
Zuo Mo was greedy and money-hungry. His style of disliking individuals with good talismans had deeply influenced everyone else.
Without any additional motivation, the entire Vermillion Bird Camp seemed to be full of adrenaline, all of them excited as they greedily rubbed their hands, their faintly red eyes sweeping to and fro on talisman decorated bodies of the enemy sword xiu.
“Daren, let an go to test the waters,” Lei Peng widened his eyes and rumbled with an innocent face.
The laziness on Ma Fan’s face instantly disappeared. He spat out the grass stem in his mouth and silently raised a thumb up at Lei Peng. Hearing this, like magic, a mirror had appeared on Nian Lu’s hand and he was combing his bangs in the mirror.
The other sword xiu of Sky Peak Platoon raised their chests and tried to seem very authoritative and brave.
Sly!
Someone got there first again!
The other divisions looked with unfriendliness at this group. Many people had vexed expressions. That Lei Peng looked like an idiot, but how come he could act so quickly?
Gongsun Cha thought and then nodded in consent. “Stay safe.”
It was the first time he saw the battle formation. Letting Ma Fan and the others go to test the waters would allow him to see this formation clearly.
Ma Fan and the others were overjoyed. No matter what, they had gotten the accomplishment of the first strike!
Even the usually complacent Ma Fan was excited, shouting at the top of his lungs, “Brothers, we need to show these brats the power of our Sky Peak Platoon!”
Everyone in Sky Peak Platoon was eager to fight!
Ever since more and more people comprehended sword essence, the status of Sky Peak Platoon became more and more awkward. They also needed a victory to bolster the status of Sky Peak Platoon as the elite of Vermillion Bird Camp!
As all the members of Sky Peak Platoon assembled. Everyone’s gazes landed on them.
———
Liang Wei did not speak, and the feeling of strangeness increased. When he saw a little team exit the black ship sword xiu, he was finally sure that the black ship battle general did not know the Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation.
A battle general who did not recognize the Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation?
This absurd conclusion was impossible to him, especially when he considered the spectacular command from earlier. The feeling of absurdity rose.
“No way, they don’t even recognize the Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation,” a subordinate exclaimed.
“Maybe they have unorthodox training?” another subordinate spoke uncertainly.
Liang Wei paused to consider this and felt that it was plausible. Unorthodox battle generals were not uncommon. In truth, not every yao could attend a yao art house, and not every yao art house had the ability to educate a battle general. Only the yao art houses with great power had the ability to nurture battle generals.
Learning to be a battle general was a long process compared to learning yao arts. It was much harder to find the job, other than joining the military. Due to this, the yao who learned to be battle generals mostly came from rich families.
According to what Liang Wei knew, this situation wasn’t just unique to the yao, xiuzhe, and mo had the same problem.
Unorthodox battle generals would occasionally have spectacular attacking abilities, but compared to educated orthodox battle generals, there was great differences in terms of their control and ability to assess a battle.
The he had thought that it was a yao battle general inside the boat because the other’s battle had the flavor of yao, but now he wasn’t so sure.
He also felt anticipation.
Unorthodox battle generals were full of unpredictability. This kind of unpredictability would usually cause them to be defeated, but this unpredictability would also create headaches for their opponents.
No one was willing to meet an opponent that did not act rationally.
———
Sky Peak Platoon charged into the Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation.
The Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation was a variant of the Northern Dipper Battle Formation. The entire battle formation was divided into seven intersecting areas. However, while other variations of the Northern Dipper Battle Formation used the Heavenly Pivot star as the center of the formation, the Twinkling Brilliance Battle Formation was creative in using the seventh star, the Twinkling Brilliance Star as the center of the formation.
There was a long history of sword xiu using the Northern Dipper Seven Star Formation in techniques. From the beginning sword scriptures, to the seven person formations, to mountain guarding formations, then to large scale battle formations, its structure could be found throughout the entire history of sword xiu development.
There were reasons that sword xiu preferred the seven star formation. The sword essence gathered through a seven star formation was very good, and it was multi-purpose as it could be used for both offense and defense.
However, Ma Fan truly lived up to being the former core under Lil’ Miss. His tactical abilities were several levels above normal sword xiu. The position he chose to attack was very special.
The Northern Dipper Seven Star Formation was shaped like a spoon, and the place Ma Fan attacked was the place where the spoon and the handle joined, the Celestial Balance.
Entering the attack range of the other’s battle formation, everyone felt their surroundings changes.
It was as though they suddenly entered a patch of grassland. Under their feet was a green carpet of grass that spread out endlessly. A curving great river was like a belt of jade that slowly flowed.
A gentle wind blew past. The smell of green grass that Ma Fan liked the most entered his nose.
An illusory formation!
Without needing his orders, the two sword xiu behind him shouted at the same time, two golden energies flew out of their hands and burrowing into the ground!
Boom-om-om!
The illusion of the grassland instantly shattered!
Sword xiu mostly were generally not skilled in illusory formations. The enemy had cast the illusory formation by relying on the talismans they were carrying. How could they stand up to the attack of fifth-grade flying swords?
The illusion broke, and the surroundings returned to normal. But seven sword energies had already reached them!
The other hadn’t expected the illusory formation would trap them, it was a distraction. The attack that followed was the true killing move!
“Follow behind me!” Ma Fan shouted a reminder. His movements were fast, his flying sword lightly swinging and a transparent and irregular sword energy charged at the incoming sword energies like ripples of water!
This was a new sword move created from merging his [Illusory Shadowless Sword of Destruction] into [Clear Sky Sword Scripture].
When this move was combined with his third stage sword cultivation, its power was explosive!
The other members followed closely behind him, the flying swords in their hands unmoving as though they did not see the incoming sword energies.
The ripple and the incoming sword energies of various colors crashed together without any finesse!
Pew pew pew!
When the sword energies hit the ripple, it was like a handful of pebbles landing in water and created many ripples.
The water ripples and the sword energies were like two bubbles that hit each other, cancelling each other out they disappeared at the same time.
The faces of the sword xiu on the other side changed slightly, their pupils contracting!
Sword essence manifestation!
An elite!
Translator Ramblings: So poor, we are so poor, we only have fourth-grade talismans for a few thousand people. This reminds me how far Zuo Mo has come from his yellow paper crane that doesn’t even have a grade.