NOVPUB
Chapter 1059: Chapter 998: Madness_2
Li Zhirui was aware of this, but still couldn’t help comparing the two families. After all, the Zhang Family was stronger and closer, weren’t they?
Other cultivators, upon seeing the Zhang Family cultivators’ sorry escape, had their newfound admiration vanish in an instant. Moreover, they had to control their own expressions to avoid losing face in front of the retreating cultivators and inviting trouble upon themselves.
Hidden within the formation, on guard against the Devil Race, several integrating cultivators of the Zhang Family were also observing the performance of their clansmen. Their faces grew uglier by the moment.
"A bunch of trash! They’re going to lose all the face of our family!" one of them growled through clenched teeth.
They knew that this generation had been too well protected and was generally lacking in many areas, but they didn’t expect them to be this poor. So poor that they were even worse than a bunch of loose cultivators!
It was just a rank six Devil Beast. Its attacks seemed mighty, and a torrent of divine powers followed, but there were hundreds of them, and half were Lianxu cultivators. If they had just kept their composure and joined forces to deal with it, there wouldn’t have been much damage.
Yet they scattered in all directions!
It was easy to imagine how severe the casualties were: many clansmen were seriously injured, and over a hundred fell directly.
What was more serious was that they had exposed a huge flaw. How would they fight against the Devil Race in the future?
Once the Devil Race learned of their weakness, they would relentlessly pursue them.
If they could only hide within the formation to attack the Devil Beasts, then this great battle would not have much of an effect in tempering them. If so, weren’t they really becoming useless?
The more they thought about it, the more incensed the integrating cultivators became. The space around them seemed to freeze, and a trace of their oppressive aura leaked out.
Li Zhirui pretended to glance unintentionally in that direction, quickly withdrew his gaze, and thought to himself: ’Right, such a bunch of useless people really need someone to protect them.’
Unfortunately, unless the Zhang Family wished to wage an all-out war against the Devil Race, these integrating cultivators couldn’t take action. They could only watch this vexing situation unfold helplessly.
At the same time, the performance of that trash served as a warning to Li Zhirui.
Indeed, it was necessary to protect the younger generation that had not yet grown up, but it should not be overdone. If they were protected like flowers in a greenhouse, unable to withstand a bit of wind and rain, it would be a disaster both for them and the family.
Fortunately, the Li family had done rather well in this regard.
After breaking through to the Golden Core, they encouraged their members to gain experience around the fringes of the mountains. Although they would have some life-saving Spiritual Objects, that was all. No matter how talented they were, no cultivators would secretly protect them.
And in the face of such a brutal war, the Li family would not stop them from participating. After all, they were protected by a formation, so safety was relatively high. If they were not allowed to make a move even in this situation, then they were indeed cultivating useless people.
"Zhang Family this..." Xiaoqing stopped in mid-sentence.
Li Zhirui shook his head; some things were better understood than spoken.
Moreover, given the current strength shown by the Zhang Family, if they wanted to see the outcome of this great battle, they would likely have to endure many twists and turns.
Zhang Family cultivators had completely lost face on the battlefield, and the casualty rate was enormous. Hundreds had gone out in high spirits, but in less than a quarter of an hour, less than half returned alive.
After they fled back to the formation, they realized how foolish they had been, bringing even more shame to the Zhang Family. Each of them had an awkward expression, appearing extremely embarrassed and uncomfortable.
"Seize the time to recover. In half an hour, the family will reassign members to dive into the beast tide and fight the Devil Beasts!" A deep voice resounded in their minds.
Most of their faces turned extremely pale in an instant. They didn’t expect that after barely escaping death and returning alive, they would be thrown back into the fire pit!
Moreover, this time would be even more dangerous. After all, their injuries could not fully recover in half an hour, and their strength was greatly reduced.
Originally, those integrating cultivators didn’t want to use such aggressive methods. They initially planned to proceed step by step, gradually tempering the younger generation, giving them time to grow.
But the performance of the first group of clansmen was too poor!
If that generation of cultivators was all like this, without using harsh measures, they might not see any results. To meet the family’s expectations, after some discussion, they decided to adopt extremely aggressive training methods.
Li Zhirui no longer had the spare energy to observe the situation of the Zhang Family because the performance of those cultivators was so poor that it greatly boosted the morale of the Devil Race.
In an instant, countless devil beasts swarmed forward, their divine powers pouring down like a torrential downpour upon the Formation, and even though the Zhang Family had arranged a powerful Defensive Array, it still undulated with waves under the assault of the Devil Race.
Li Zhirui had no choice but to concentrate his attention, focusing on countering the devil beasts’ attacks to alleviate the pressure on the Formation.
To remedy the foolish actions of the Zhang Family, other Cultivators also fought desperately, frantically mobilizing their Mana to diminish the attacks of the Devil Race.
Everyone knew that if the Formation were to be breached by the Devil Race, they would be thrown into grave danger!
For there was no second line of defense constructed; once the Devil Race broke through the Formation, there would be no strongholds left to defend, and the entire Thousandfold Mountains would be enveloped in the flames of war.
With the Devil Race’s immense numbers, achieving this would be all too easy; conversely, the Cultivators could not focus, worried about defenses collapsing behind them.
Especially for those mortal towns, they were completely powerless against the devil beasts, and no one could foresee the number of mortal deaths.
It is known that mortals are the foundation of Cultivators; if countless mortals perished, the various powers in the mountains, both big and small, would be unable to grow and expand for tens or even hundreds of years to come.
Without enough mortals, the annual birth of children with qualifications would greatly diminish, and it is not something that can be recovered from quickly.
By then, tackling the problem of rampant devil beasts would be many times more difficult!
Therefore, whether it was for their own safety or for the future of their own families, faced with the frenzied onslaught of the devil beasts, all Cultivators were pushing themselves to their limits, all for the hope of launching one more Divine Power.
However, facing the tens of thousands of massive devil beasts with only seventy to eighty thousand Cultivators was still exceedingly challenging.
Roars incessantly echoed in the ears, energy fluctuations even altering the nearby sky, with thunder flashing, fierce winds howling, and the oppressive dark clouds overhead making one feel an immense pressure, as if the sky might collapse at any moment.
"Damn it!"
Li Zhirui clenched his teeth and cursed. If it weren’t for those wastes revealing their bottom line, the Devil Race would not dare to charge forward so recklessly, disregarding everything.
"Everyone, prepare to cast the Secret Skills of United Strike!"
Seeing the Great Array on the verge of danger, the few Integration Cultivators couldn’t hold back any longer and immediately notified all the clan members.
Despite the chaos and disorder among many Cultivators of the Zhang Family, the Combined Assault Technique was ingrained in their very bones. Upon hearing the command, they immediately grouped with their kin, simultaneously forming hand seals and casting spells.
"Launch!"
At the command, over a dozen beams of light shot out, a few of which were comparable to the attacks of Integration Cultivators. The devil beasts’ Divine Powers stood no chance, shattering as soon as they approached.
Wherever the beams passed, the devil beasts suffered countless deaths and injuries, with hardly any survivors, leaving a land littered with blood and bones.
"Kill!"
The charging forces of the Devil Race stalled for a moment, but spurred on by a few rank six devil beasts, they launched another charge.
"Continue!"
The crisis had not yet been lifted, and with Integration Cultivators unable to act and other Cultivators helpless, a second wave of the Combined Assault Technique had to be unleashed.
Boom—Boom—Boom—
The power of this second attack was diminished, but for most of the devil beasts, it was still a fatal blow, and countless more devil beast corpses now dotted the ground.
Suffering heavy losses and with morale plummeting, the Devil Race dared not continue their advance but instead fled in terror backward.
Even the shrill, exhausted screams of the rank six devil beasts could not stop the rout.
The bombardment of two rounds of the secret technique had finally resolved the crisis of the near-collapse of the Great Array, significantly weakened the Devil Race’s strength, repelled the beast tide, and bought the Cultivators a brief respite for recovery.
The only pity was that the Mana of the vast majority of Cultivators was depleted, unable to capitalize on the great opportunity presented by the disarrayed retreat of the devil beasts.
