NOVPUB
Chapter 160: Chapter 157: The Defense of Baihe City
"Boom!"
Steed galloped.
While Gu Jinlai was arranging the defense of Baihe City, a group of more than a hundred people hurriedly rode their horses towards the city.
The leader, shockingly, was Zhan Hongying, President of the Fengyun Meeting and Alliance Leader of the Star Sky Alliance, at the Refining God Peak, and a master of Martial Arts.
Beside him were several Refining God powerhouses, and a dozen Hugging Pill Masters.
"Heavenly Monarch Gu."
As the group arrived, Zhan Hongying saluted from afar, "The devils attack, and all human cultivators must stand up, exterminate the devils, and defend our lands. The leader of the alliance learned of the uprising in Yunqi Mountain and ordered us to reinforce. We, as the first batch of reinforcements, have come ahead. The leader will gather the elite of the Star Sky Alliance and should arrive in a day or two."
"Star Sky Alliance."
Gu Jinlai put down what he was doing and saluted the crowd: "Thank you, Alliance Leader Zhan for your assistance. I plan to form a few peripheral teams made of Refining God and Hugging Pill Masters to strike at the devils and buy time for the counties under Baihe City to evacuate. Please gather your people, Alliance Leader, and we will set off shortly."
"By Heavenly Monarch Gu’s command."
Zhan Hongying saluted and started making arrangements, then he brought over a girl who looked delicate and sweet, "Heavenly Monarch Gu, this is Nie Qingqing, the adoptive sister of our Alliance Leader Nie. She will act as our liaison, and you can relay any new orders to us through her."
"Nie Qingqing."
Gu Jinlai looked towards the young girl.
Nie Qingqing also stepped forward, saluted Gu Jinlai, and spoke confidently: "Heavenly Monarch Gu and my brother refer to each other as brothers, so I will also call you Brother Gu. I’ll be in your care for the coming period."
Her speech was concise, and with a sabre by her side and her heroine attire, she emanated a spirited and heroic air.
"I’m very happy that you could come to help. You’ll be busy running between the two sides."
Gu Jinlai nodded, accepting Zhan Hongying’s arrangement.
In a way, Nie Qingqing was the link between Lingxiao City and the Star Sky Alliance. Even though she was only a minor Hugging Pill Master, he would not underestimate her.
After making arrangements for the Star Sky Alliance’s people, squads rapidly mobilized to hunt down the devils and fierce beasts heading towards Taihe City.
Although the squads dispatched were elite teams led by Refining God masters, facing tens of thousands of devils, they still couldn’t have a significant impact.
After all, even the weakest devil had cultivation comparable to the peak of Qi Refinement.
Some powerful Upper-level Demons could even combat Refining God Immortals for a short duration.
Not to mention that they were also leading tens of thousands, even up to a hundred thousand-level fierce beasts.
As commands were transmitted swiftly, the devil vanguard had already reached sixty miles outside Baihe City.
Seeing this, Gu Jinlai no longer hesitated and left Baihe City immediately.
Outside Baihe City, a massive troop was already waiting there.
The most eye-catching in the troop was undoubtedly Gu Ya, covered in a metallic sheen, a Mechanical Tyrannosaurus.
Apart from them, the rest were cultivators carrying Short Range Defense Cannons, Thunder Gatling Guns, as well as bows and packages of explosives.
"Patriarch, all the teams have been assembled, just waiting for your command,"
Gu Chifeng, mounted on a T-Rex, appeared beside Gu Jinlai.
Yes, T-Rex.
After the defection to the Great Sun Heavenly Sect, the number of Heavenly Masters under Gu Jinlai had already exceeded ten.
Among these double-digit Heavenly Masters, several were skilled in Beast Taming.
They brought with them six ready T-Rex’s.
These T-Rex’s were aptly assigned to Gu Chifeng, Gu Luochen, among others.
Now, these four-to-five meter tall T-Rex’s were equipped with Short Range Defense Cannons, and also wearing specialized War Armor, almost equivalent to a scaled-down version of a Mechanical Tyrannosaurus.
"Then, let’s go. We’ll ambush them at the Jade Belt River,"
Gu Jinlai mounted the Mechanical Tyrannosaurus Gu Ya and leaped up.
He hadn’t planned to make a last stand at Baihe City.
No way, the devils were different from human armies.
The walls of Baihe City might stop a human army, but they absolutely couldn’t stop those strong, agile devils.
If the battlefield were set in Baihe City, even if he eventually managed to repel the devils, there probably wouldn’t be many survivors left in Baihe City.
Therefore, intercepting them at the Jade Belt River to weaken the enemy’s strength before having the final battle under Baihe City was the most logical combat strategy.
The army set forth.
Although there were only hundreds of Demon God Warriors, their firepower was so immense that it surpassed that of tens of thousands of troops.
And behind them was a powerful force of thousands.
This force was comprised entirely of Qi Refinement and Gang Condensation Realm experts, intermixed with a few Hugging Pill masters.
They were from the elites fleeing from the Star Sky Alliance, Taihe City, as well as reinforcements from Lingxiao City, Changjun City, Yuanhua City, Sunset City, and Baihe City.
As for the Purgatory Sect and the Meteor Star Guard...
The devils arrived too quickly; they had not yet caught up.
This group of over a thousand people, under the leadership of Gu Jinlai, quickly joined the teams originally responsible for containing the devils, stationed twenty miles outside Baihe City at the Jade Belt River.
Here, this was the battlefield Gu Jinlai chose.
...
"Heavenly Monarch Gu, we’ve been skirmishing on the perimeter to try to delay their progress and buy you time. However, there are just too many devils, including some that specialize in speed that hunt us. In the end, we’ve only managed to kill twenty-one devils and a hundred and eighty-four fierce beasts,"
Zhan Hongying reported with the Hugging Pill Masters of the Star Sky Alliance.
On the other side, Zhao Qian also arrived with a group.
From their appearance, it seemed they suffered greater losses, with some Hugging Pill Masters still covered in blood.
"Elder Gu..."
"Can you still fight?"
Gu Jinlai asked.
"Yes!"
Zhao Qian gritted his teeth: "These devils have slaughtered Taihe City, killed countless elite soldiers of the Purgatory Sect. Even if I fight to the last moment, I will tear a piece off them."
"Okay."
Gu Jinlai nodded, his gaze shifting toward the opposite bank of the Jade Belt River.
Although the Jade Belt River was not very broad, being two to three hundred meters wide, its waters were not rapid; otherwise, this defensive line would have become much more solid.
"Elder Gu, the devils have driven a large number of fierce beasts and mauling beasts. Although the percentage of fierce beasts is not high, the number is at least forty thousand..."
Zhao Qian warned.
"I know."
Gu Jinlai nodded again.
He had chosen the Jade Belt River as a defense point because it was exactly twenty miles from Baihe City.
And the artillery he produced, due to technological reasons, had a maximum range of only twenty to thirty miles.
Although he only had eight cannons to date, their intimidating power against these beasts and mauling beasts was even greater than their lethal power. A single round of cannon fire would scatter those beasts and mauling beasts driven by the devils.
"Roar!"
At that moment, a series of deafening roars rang out from afar, accompanied by the thunderous rumbling of thousands of beasts charging.
"They’re coming."
Gu Jinlai sat atop a mechanical tyrannosaurus, looking up.
By now, he could see some huge-bodied devils appearing on the horizon.
As the army of devils and beasts approached, a terrifying giant ape, nine meters tall and exuding brutal murderous aura, appeared in his sight.
Demon Ape Commander!
This was the strongest of the Demon Apes from the Yunqi Mountain Range.
An upper-level demon who had achieved a Demon True Body.
As Gu Jinlai spotted this great demon, the great demon also became aware of the thousands of people across the river led by Gu Jinlai.
"Roar!"
Accompanied by a roar, the demon ape’s body swelled!
From nine meters, it quickly grew to a massive twenty meters.
Demon True Body.
Cultivators called it the Undying Demon Body.
When employing the Undying Demon Body, the Demon Ape Commander’s strength and defensive power greatly increased, the attacks from ordinary Hugging Pill and Gang Condensation cultivators couldn’t even break its skin, and even the flying swords of Divinity Transformation Cultivators could not tear its flesh.
The key was...
The overwhelming brutal and evil aura it emitted soared straight into the sky. Even though it was still several miles away, it caused the faces of the cultivators behind Gu Jinlai to turn pale.
If they were ordinary soldiers, they would have already started to crumble.
"Devils, they are always devils, no matter how inherently powerful they are, they can’t compare with humans, who are considered the leaders of all creatures."
Gu Jinlai proclaimed loudly, "Over the years, no less than eight hundred devils have died by the hands of our Lingxiao City personal guards, including many great devils. We won’t fail against this Demon Ape!"
As he finished speaking, he took out a mirror-like spiritual artifact: "Signal the artillery to fire!"
"Yes!"
Soon, a chorus of agreement came from the mirror.
Before long, faint rumblings seemed to come from their rear, followed immediately by a sharp screech that tore through the sky, rolling in from behind them.
While the Refining God Immortals and Hugging Pill Masters were still trying to figure out what was happening, deafening roars already erupted from the groups of devils across the Jade Belt River.
"Boom!"
Flames and thick smoke, along with dust, blasted outward.
Hit by the artillery shells, the first line of devils and beasts were torn to shreds by this explosive force.
The spreading shockwaves even flung nearby fearsome beasts and devils, weighing hundreds or thousands of pounds, into the air.
For the less defensively powerful beasts and devils, they were immediately torn apart, scattering into a mist of blood.
One artillery round killed at least a dozen beasts and devils.
"What is this..."
Zhao Qian and Zhan Hongying couldn’t help but widen their eyes.
Looking at the eight rising clouds of smoke, their eyes filled with horror.
"Judging by the sound, these attacks seem to come from Baihe City! But Baihe City is at least twenty miles away! An attack range of twenty miles, that’s even farther than the flying swords of Divinity Transformation Cultivators!"
"Heavenly Monarch Gu... has he forged a new Slaughter Spirit Artifact!?"
Gu Jinlai paid no attention to everyone’s shock.
A round of artillery fire brought slight chaos to the charging army of devils and beasts.
As the second round of artillery fire landed, the more intelligent devils fared slightly better, but the beasts driven by them were clearly frightened, starting to scatter and flee.
Since the Jade Belt River was right in front, these beasts and mauling beasts instinctively fled backward, significantly slowing down the advancing speed of the devils.
However, this situation lasted only a moment before more devils abandoned driving the beasts and mauling beasts and surged out, plunging into the Jade Belt River, roaring as they swam at high speed toward the human army on the opposite bank.
"Prepare."
Gu Jinlai called out sharply.
Immediately, multiple short-range defense cannons and several "Thunder" Gatling guns raised their barrels, targeting the swiftly approaching devils in the river. 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓅𝓊𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
As some devils were about to cross the Jade Belt River, approaching within four hundred meters of Gu Jinlai and his forces, Gu Jinlai gave the order.
"Fire!"
"ZZZzzzz!"
"Dada dada dada!"
Suddenly, six spirit-summoning short-range defense cannons, two true spirit-activated short-range defense cannons, and over twenty "Thunder" Gatling guns roared simultaneously!
Fierce flames mixed with a deadly metal storm furiously poured down on the swarms of devils swimming from the river.
