Invincible Tactics

With a sharp shout, Long Chen dashed out like a whirlwind, cutting through the ranks of the Evil Path Disciples.

His massive blade shadow, like a rapidly spinning windmill, sent flesh and blood flying everywhere along his path, accompanied by constant screams.

To everyone's horror, as Long Chen carved his way through, those Evil Path Disciples were all hacked into pieces of flesh.

This was the first time Long Chen had fought seriously since coming out. He rarely made a move, but once he did, he wiped out so many Evil Path Disciples.

One had to know that there were over four hundred Evil Path Disciples, yet they were taken out in a single move. Moreover, Long Chen's expression remained calm, his face not flushed and his breathing steady.

"Whoosh." Long Chen flicked the blood off his long blade, shouldered it, and smiled at everyone. "Brothers and sisters, hurry up!"

Upon seeing Long Chen appear, the others immediately felt their blood boil, as if with him around, they wouldn't fear even if the sky fell.

"Kill!" The group shouted in unison, their attacks becoming even more ruthless. Now, there were only nine Evil Path Core Disciples left, and they were in a position of absolute disadvantage.

Furthermore, they didn't even have a chance to escape at this point. Four were killed in an instant, and the remaining few desperately tried to charge out, but they still had no chance.

Seeing that escape was hopeless, one of them let out a roar, his aura suddenly surging, and his entire body began to inflate like a balloon.

"Not good, he's going to self-destruct! Retreat quickly!"

"Puff." Boom! After a loud explosion, a mist of blood filled the sky. However, to everyone's shock, a figure appeared right where the person had self-destructed.

That person was Long Chen. He was covered in blood, but he was holding a severed head in his hand.

"Heh heh, even if you self-destruct, you still have to leave your head for me."

Long Chen tossed out the head, which was worth 200,000 points. Just kidding—wasting it was definitely not Long Chen's style.

Looking at the dumbfounded crowd, Long Chen grinned, his smile as warm as sunshine.

"We've won! Cheer to your heart's content! Hahaha!"

Long Chen laughed first, and only then did the others cheer wildly, releasing the excitement that had been suppressed in their hearts for so long.

"Long Chen, when did you get back?" Tang Waner and the others walked up to Long Chen. They hadn't expected him to return so quickly.

"I returned before the great battle even began. I intentionally didn't show myself just to see if you could withstand this pressure. I have to say, you were all amazing this time; you really impressed me. I deliberately had A'man hold back so that you would fall into an absolute crisis," said Long Chen.

Everyone finally realized what had happened. During the battle just now, they had been so focused on killing that they had completely forgotten about A'man.

"Brother Long didn't let me fight, don't blame me," A'man said somewhat sheepishly.

Right from the start, A'man had received a voice transmission from Long Chen telling him not to fight, or if he did, only to kill those small fries.

Gu Yang couldn't help but smile bitterly. "We really are stupid. Whenever we get into a fight, we forget everything. We even ignored someone as powerful as A'man."

Tang Waner's pretty face flushed red. As the commander, she had actually forgotten the biggest trump card in her hand; it was truly embarrassing.

"You can't blame everyone for that. A'man is too honest and doesn't like to talk. He usually just sits there with his eyes closed, so it's easy to overlook him, haha," Song Mingyuan said with a laugh.

This matter was indeed awkward for everyone. They were afraid Long Chen would scold them again; forgetting their own people was something that couldn't really be justified.

Long Chen chuckled and said, "Actually, this time you were blessed by misfortune. Because you forgot about A'man, your powerful trump card, you were still able to withstand the pressure and unleash your greatest strength."

Tang Waner said somewhat coyly, "Long Chen, are you just comforting me? If you are, I'd rather you scold me a bit."

Long Chen shook his head. "Actually, I don't have the right to scold you. Through the battle just now, I discovered many of my own mistakes."

Everyone was slightly surprised and listened as Long Chen continued, "In this world, no method is absolutely correct, including mine. At first, I wanted to rely on my own strength to guide everyone, to help you recognize the cruelty of the enemy, and to think about how to dig into your own potential. I wanted to be your leader and guide you forward, but actually, that was wrong."

"Why?" Tang Waner asked, confused.

Long Chen sighed. "I became your goal, and you became the vines, becoming my appendages. If I, the tree, were to disappear, you would have nothing to cling to. Fortunately, this time, by coincidence, I was away from you, allowing you to become independent before you became completely dependent on me."

"You fought this battle beautifully. During the fight, you all forgot about your own safety and only thought of the companions behind you. This is the power of protection. In the choice between life and death, you all abandoned your instinctive fear and chose to protect. Therefore, you have all received the reward you deserve. Congratulations!"

Long Chen looked at the group with excitement, an expression rarely seen on the usually calm-as-water Long Chen.

"Congratulations? Us?" They couldn't help but be stunned, looking at each other, feeling that what Long Chen said seemed to hold some deeper meaning.

"Ah?" When they looked at the faces of those around them, they couldn't help but let out a gasp, their eyes filled with disbelief.

"There is an Ancestral Mark on your forehead." "Yours too." "You have one as well." "…"

The Core Disciples finally noticed the abnormality in everyone. At some point, faint markings had appeared on all of their foreheads.

Those were the signs of Ancestral Blood awakening. What made everyone ecstatic was that they had all awakened their Ancestral Marks.

In their excitement, a few Core Disciples couldn't help but kneel on the ground and weep, because they had yearned for the awakening of their Ancestral Blood so much.

None of the others, including Tang Waner, laughed at them. Instead, their eyes were red, as only they knew how important the awakening of the Ancestral Blood was.

Long Chen couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Perhaps they were lucky; in this kind of atmosphere, it was easy to feel moved.

Emotion is a very strange thing. When others are willing to risk their lives to protect you, even a selfish person will be moved, and even someone afraid of death will forget the threat of dying.

Emotions are just that subtle. This great battle forced everyone into a desperate situation. In an atmosphere of never abandoning one another, it was easier to forget oneself and easier to ignite one's most primal strength.

Whether it was luck or not, at the very least, they definitely possessed that heart of protection. At the very least, during that critical moment just now, no one retreated. This was a test, and having passed the test, they received their reward.

All the Core Disciples had activated their Ancestral Marks at once, and even Long Chen himself couldn't help but feel uncontrollably excited.

Because if one or several people failed to activate their Ancestral Marks, it would pose a fatal threat to the team. Without a heart of protection, it is very difficult to activate the Ancestral Mark; the success rate is almost zero. However, even with a heart of protection, success is not guaranteed, and there is still a high failure rate.

If a few people failed to activate their Ancestral Marks, they would become depressed, and others might think them selfish and distance themselves from them. Those Disciples who didn't activate their Ancestral Marks would become insecure, or even develop other negative emotions, potentially making it impossible for them to ever activate their Ancestral Marks.

That was why Long Chen was so excited. Nine people activating their Ancestral Marks together—this was simply a miracle.

"Thud." Suddenly, those ten Core Disciples knelt on the ground in unison and said respectfully to Long Chen, "Senior Brother Long Chen, our lives are yours."

To them, Long Chen helping them activate their runes was a favor even more important than saving their lives.

"Get up quickly!" Long Chen was startled and hurriedly helped them up. "The reason you were able to activate your Ancestral Marks is entirely thanks to yourselves. As the saying goes, 'give and take'—you have to give to receive. Because you were willing to sacrifice your lives for others, the heavens allowed you to gain what others cannot. So if you want to thank someone, thank yourselves, or thank the brothers and sisters by your side."

Long Chen's words moved everyone. It turned out that the power of protection was not as simple as it sounded; what it contained could not be expressed in words.

"Also, I really don't like your tone just now: 'our lives are yours.' If you replaced 'lives' with 'money,' I would like it much more. Haha, ouch!"

Long Chen suddenly felt a pain in his waist and discovered it was Tang Waner beside him, who had pinched him hard.

"Stop acting the fool. Here, you are the commander, don't be all giggly," Tang Waner said, handing the communication talisman to Long Chen.

"Aren't you doing a pretty good job as the commander?" Long Chen didn't really want to take it; he preferred to go and kill to his heart's content.

"Cut the crap. You were appointed by the Sect Leader. Leaving without permission this time already counts as a breach of discipline. If we followed military law, you would have already been beheaded," Tang Waner said.

"What's the point of beheading me? Can I exchange it for points?" Long Chen took the communication talisman and looked at the contents inside.

Now there were a few more messages on the communication talisman, stating that the true strength of the Evil Path would arrive here in three days. However, before that, many Evil Path forces would continue to appear one after another.

What Long Chen didn't expect was that victory didn't just belong to their side; many Disciples from various Righteous Path forces had already been wiped out.

This Righteous-Evil battle covered a vast area, with hundreds of large and small forces gathered together. Such a scale of battle was extremely rare in history. Moreover, the Righteous Path's strength was clearly weaker than the opponent's; it seemed not all Righteous Path Disciples were that strong.

"The message says that in three days, the Evil Path army will arrive at the Nine Nether Valley, over eight hundred miles ahead of us. That is the place for the final battle. However, we cannot go there yet; we must hold our position here. What should I do?" Tang Waner asked.

The Evil Path army would arrive in three days, which would be the time of the final decisive battle. Tang Waner felt immense pressure regarding such a great battle. Although the communication talisman didn't say how many Evil Path Disciples would appear at that time, based on the scale of the previous ones, the number of Evil Path Disciples would likely be overwhelming.

"No need to be nervous. No matter how many come, they are just points. Besides, it's not just our Xuantian Branch that is here; experts from other Sects will also come to support us. As for these next two days…" Long Chen smiled slightly and said, "I want to teach everyone a truly invincible tactic!"