NOVPUBChapter 764: Chapter 414 Temporary Retreat_1 Chapter 764: Chapter 414 Temporary Retreat_1 Realizing this, Chen Jingtian’s expression grew grave as he hastily slapped his storage bag, seizing several spiritually luminescent talismans in his hand.
Upon closer inspection, these talismans were all Third Order Defense Talismans, among them two bore the vast and forceful aura of Earth-attribute defense talismans.
Such Third Order talismans were exceedingly rare even within the Zhenyang Sect.
If Sect Leader Lu Xingfeng hadn’t acknowledged the pressure Chen had to face, he probably wouldn’t have been willing to take out these valuable wartime resources for such extravagant use.
Yet even with an understanding of the talismans’ rarity, Chen Jingtian had no regrets.
In his view, as a leader and decision-maker of the army of cultivators, one must not lose sight of the bigger picture for fear of smaller losses.
Aware of the significance, Chen Jingtian didn’t hesitate; before Zhao Hongsheng’s attack could descend, he activated all the defense talismans he held.
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In an instant, five screens of light rose before him, enveloping a large area.
At that moment, the long snake-like formation of the army of cultivators had its last hundred or so members also shrouded within the protective light of the array.
As the saying goes, no sooner said than done; Zhao Hongsheng and his compatriots’ attacks arrived as expected.
“Bang bang bang…” 𝒏𝒐𝙫𝙥𝙪𝙗.𝒄𝙤𝙢
A series of crackling explosions sounded, echoing between heaven and earth.
The attacks unleashed by Zhao Hongsheng and others precisely bombarded the light screens formed by the defense talismans.
In an instant, flames filled the sky as Chen Jingtian and the two others were engulfed by a sea of fire.
The assault from Zhao Hongsheng and the others was ferocious, creating a massive explosion upon collision with the barrier produced by the defense talismans.
Within this sea of fire, Chen Jingtian’s face was pale, and the powerful shock waves left him with a churning qi and blood, and his body was riddled with injuries.
However, his condition was still relatively better; even though he had suffered some internal injuries, he could at least bear it.
But the situation for Zhu Yun and Lan Yu was far more tragic, especially for Lan Yu, who was only at the Early Stage Golden Core level. Despite the protection of five defense talismans, the sheer force of the impact left him with severe injuries.
Fortunately, the three had braced themselves in advance and promptly whisked away a large number of Foundation Establishment Cultivators towards the direction of the Defensive Great Formation, completely avoiding the most intense scope of the explosion.
Otherwise, if they had squarely borne the brunt of Zhao Hongsheng and his allies’ combined strike, even Chen Jingtian’s strength wouldn’t have spared him from grave injury, if not death.
However, keenly aware of the abilities of Zhao Hongsheng and his party, Chen Jingtian and his companions did not dare to linger. They had already moved away the moment their attack hit the first defense talisman.
At the same time, they took advantage of the impact’s force to retreat explosively into the Defensive Great Formation and also, in the process, swept with them the Foundation Establishment Cultivators who were initially retreating at the rear.
But Chen Jingtian and his compatriots faced limits to their capabilities; although they had rescued most of the remaining cultivators, still, hundreds of Foundation Establishment Cultivators could not be saved and had to be reluctantly abandoned.
These abandoned Foundation Establishment Cultivators, mainly those at the early stages of their cultivation, were too slow to retreat and couldn’t evade or withstand the mighty shock wave.
In an instant, these cultivators were swallowed by the sea of flames, not even a scream could be uttered before they perished right there.
Once the dust settled and the flames had completely dissipated into the sky,
the ground bore a huge crater, charred black, with sporadic flames still flickering within, carried by the gentle breeze.
The crater stretched over a hundred zhang, with not a single cultivator’s corpse in sight; only further away lay a multitude of bodies, strewn across the ground as fresh blood thoroughly stained the earth red.
This tragic vista was enough to turn one’s stomach.
Meanwhile, Chen Jingtian and his party had already surged into the Defensive Great Formation, and all the Foundation Establishment Cultivators had managed to retreat successfully.
Witnessing the precarious retreat, Chen Jingtian promptly reactivated the formation, and swiftly the protective light enveloped the entire Qingshui Market.
Outside the market, Song Hanchun’s face darkened as he watched the retreating cultivators of Zhenyang Sect. Unable to restrain himself, he launched an attack that slammed into the formation light screen.
However, the Defensive Array was already activated, and its energy was steadily circulating. Even after expending a substantial amount of energy in prior exchanges, the remaining energy was still not something a Golden Core Cultivator could penetrate in a short amount of time.
Thus, that furious strike was doomed to return fruitless.
When everything finally calmed down, only then did Song Hanchun come to terms with reality, which was that their operation had ended in total failure.
At that moment, he gave Zhao Hongsheng, who stood not far off, a sidelong glance, his face betraying a mix of anxiety and uncertainty.
In his heart, he couldn’t be certain of Zhao Hongsheng’s attitude; if the blame was shifted onto him, even if he had objections, acknowledging the power of Blood Red Alliance and Zhao Hongsheng, he wouldn’t dare to voice them.
Fortunately, Zhao Hongsheng, though looking serious, hadn’t fallen into rage, and Song Hanchun’s worries proved somewhat superfluous.
“Brother Song, let the juniors clean up the battlefield and proceed with the plan!”
After uttering these words, Zhao Hongsheng didn’t wait to see Song Hanchun’s reaction, simply turned, and left the battlefield.
Hearing the command, Song Hanchun did not delay. He immediately instructed the disciples of the Golden Sword Sect to quickly scour the battlefield, collecting the storage bags of the fallen cultivators.
While Qi Refining Cultivators, and even Foundation Establishment Cultivators, might not possess much wealth, the Golden Sword Sect had lost over a thousand Qi Refining Cultivators and several hundred Foundation Establishment Cultivators in the battle.
