Prelude to the War

"How is this possible?"

Even Tu Fang's expression changed drastically, and the other Elders also wore expressions of shock. In front of them, the number of Evil Path Disciples was no less than twenty thousand.

One had to know that in every previous Righteous Path and Evil Path war, the number of Righteous Path Disciples was several times that of the Evil Path. This time, the number of Evil Path Disciples was four or five times greater than that of the Righteous Path Disciples.

"Hahahaha, Tu Fang, I really appreciate your expression right now. Do you finally understand the meaning of what I said before?" Ghost Eye Old Freak sneered coldly.

At this moment, Tu Fang could no longer pay attention to Ghost Eye Old Freak's mockery. No wonder this Righteous and Evil war had started so suddenly.

He didn't know what method the Evil Path had used to recruit so many Disciples at once. Cultivating so many Disciples at once was a huge burden for the Evil Path.

This was an attempt to use the power of the Righteous Path to help them eliminate a portion of their Disciples. This was a classic case of using Righteous Path Disciples as whetstones.

"Elder Tu Fang, what should we do? If this continues, our Disciples will truly be wiped out, right?" an Elder asked anxiously.

Every faction treated the Disciples they cultivated like their own children; no one could bear to see their children being killed.

"It's useless. Matters have reached this point, and it's irreversible. If we make a move, the Evil Path experts on the other side will also make a move. We can only watch."

Tu Fang forced himself to calm down because he saw a glimmer of hope on Long Chen's face.

Because from beginning to end, Long Chen's face remained calm. There was not a trace of panic, and he still stood there calmly.

It was as if Long Chen was a boulder; even when facing an enemy several times stronger, his Dao Heart remained unchanged.

The Evil Path Disciples slowly stopped about a dozen miles away from the Righteous Path Disciples, their cold eyes staring fixedly at them, like jackals eyeing their prey.

"Run!"

Someone shouted, and over a dozen people suddenly cried out and turned to run.

Tu Fang's expression turned dark instantly, and all the Elders were stunned. Those people were Disciples of the Blood Luo Sect.

With the Blood Luo Sect Disciples leading the way, hundreds more immediately followed suit. Facing so many Evil Path Disciples, they were terrified, and running away had almost become an instinct.

"A bunch of bastards!"

Tu Fang was furious. With a wave of his hand, he was about to order those fleeing Disciples to be killed.

"Let them go."

Suddenly, Long Chen said calmly.

His voice was projected using the power of Spiritual Qi. Although it wasn't loud, it could be heard clearly within a hundred miles.

Tu Fang was slightly stunned, then slowly lowered his hand. He also knew that killing people at this time was not a good strategy and would only make the enemy laugh at them.

However, letting them escape would shake the confidence of the entire team, which was a huge blow to morale. Even though Tu Fang had lived for such a long time, he still felt caught in a dilemma.

"If any of you feel afraid or terrified, you can leave. This is a war of the brave; the weak don't even have the qualifications to participate in this battle," Long Chen's voice rang out again.

His voice was full of calmness, without a trace of tension, haste, or even the slightest bit of anger; there was only calmness.

Those Disciples who were originally filled with fear seemed to feel much relieved. They suddenly discovered that the Disciples of the Xuan Tian Dao Sect had no expressions of fear on their faces; instead, there was only excitement and monstrous Battle Intent.

Some Disciples who had already run a distance away actually stopped in their tracks, turned their heads, and looked at Long Chen.

"Cultivation is a path of no retreat. If you want to advance, you need to face death. If you don't dare to face death, how can you break through the shackles of life and death and charge toward a higher Realm?"

"I can say this right here: if you evade today, your Realm will stagnate. Today's event will become your future Heart Demon, and you will never be able to advance again."

"However, the benefit is that you can live, and you can enjoy the rest of your lives to the fullest."

"But for those who stay here, you will very likely die. However, if you happen to survive, you will definitely become peerless experts in the future."

"So, those who want to become experts, stay. Those who want to save their lives, get out quickly. In a while, you won't be able to leave," Long Chen said indifferently.

After Long Chen said this, more than half of the people who had originally left suddenly gritted their teeth and turned back.

"Damn it, I want to be a hero, I don't want to be a coward!"

"What's the big deal? It's just death. Eighteen years later, I'll be a fine man again!"

"I'll fight those Evil Path bastards to the death! Even if I die, I'll drag a few of them down with me to make my old man proud! Fuck their ancestors!"

Although it was suspected that they were cursing to embolden themselves, it had to be said that they were all hot-blooded men who had been infected by the heroism of the Xuan Tian Branch Disciples.

Originally, there were over five thousand people, and half of them had run away. Among those who fled, a portion was pulled back.

There were still over three thousand Righteous Path Disciples at the scene, while those thousand-plus Disciples, since no one stopped them from running, simply disappeared in front of everyone.

A smile appeared on Long Chen's face. He held no resentment towards those who fled; no one had the right to decide the life or death of others.

The people who fled might be selfish or cowardly, but that was not how they were born.

Most of the Disciples here were so-called "Geniuses." Which one of them was not a Prodigy in their own Family? The cultivation methods of their Families and Sects had determined their outcome today.

The Disciples of the Branch, looking at those who had fled, felt no anger or contempt, only sympathy and pride.

If they hadn't met Long Chen, if Long Chen hadn't told them the true meaning of protection and allowed them to become true warriors, perhaps some of them would have been among those who fled.

"Congratulations to you all. If you are still alive after today, you will surely become true experts in the future."

"All Disciples, follow behind the Xuan Tian Branch Disciples and charge! Swing your weapons to your heart's content, and hack at the heads of those guys who look three parts human and seven parts ghost—hack them to death for me!"

"If, while you are hacking, you find that there is no one around you anymore, then you don't need to hack anymore, because—you are already dead," Long Chen said with a slight smile.

"Hahahaha…"

Gu Yang and the others couldn't help but burst into laughter, and immediately after, the whole crowd laughed. All the tense atmosphere was completely dispelled by this laughter.

Tu Fang and the others looked at the distant Long Chen and couldn't help but sigh in their hearts. Long Chen was truly a monster; any problem that fell into his hands could be solved in a relaxed manner.

With just a few words, he turned cowards who were about to run away into warriors in an instant. There was a unique charm about Long Chen that made people willing to follow him.

"Not bad, a very wonderful performance. Let us enjoy watching how you resist the weapons of our Evil Path sons. Thinking of the scene of flesh and blood flying, I am already impatient. Jie jie jie…" Ghost Eye Old Freak let out a hoarse and unpleasant sound.

Now, the two sides were facing each other across the mountains, and the space between the mountains was the battlefield. There were three areas, forming a triangle, with a distance of no more than a few hundred miles.

"Jie your sister, Jie! I've lived this long and have never seen such an ugly guy as you. I'm just wondering, which graveyard exploded and blasted you out?"

"We are all born of parents, and it's the same amount of effort. Your parents were just too careless when they did the work; how could they produce you in such a state?"

After Long Chen finished scolding, he suddenly looked enlightened: "Could it be that when your mother gave birth to you, she was careless, threw away the child, and raised the placenta instead?"

The people behind Long Chen were already laughing uncontrollably. Tang Waner's pretty face turned red. Based on a young girl's reserve, she should have pretended not to understand, but she still couldn't help laughing out loud.

The Xuan Tian Branch Disciples could even treat death with indifference, so they had no constraints at all and enthusiastically laughed wildly.

Tu Fang and the others in the distance couldn't help but be stunned. In Tu Fang's eyes, Long Chen was a leader of a side, so why did he suddenly start cursing?

The Evil Path Disciples were dumbfounded. One had to know that Ghost Eye Old Freak was called Ghost Eye Superior, and he was a prominent figure in the Evil Path.

If anyone dared to be even slightly disrespectful to him, even if it were an Evil Path Elder, they would be skinned and have their tendons pulled out by him. No one was unaware of his ruthlessness.

But such a figure who inspired so much awe was actually mocked like this by a Righteous Path junior, and they couldn't help but be stunned.

"Bastard brat, I will pull your tendons and perform Soul Refining on you! Kill! Leave this brat alive for me!" Ghost Eye Old Freak roared in a fit of rage.

Following Ghost Eye Old Freak's roar, the Evil Path Disciples shouted, drew their weapons, and charged straight toward them.

"Archers, prepare!"

Following Long Chen's low shout, the Branch Disciples had long bows in their hands, arrows nocked on the strings, pulling the bows like full moons.

"Forty-five degrees upward, shoot with your eyes closed!"

"Swish, swish, swish…"

Arrows flew forward like a rainstorm. Except for the Branch Disciples, the other Disciples couldn't help but be stunned.

"Archers? And volleying?"

Even Elder Tu Fang couldn't help but be stunned. Such arrows had no lethality against Evil Path Disciples, let alone volleying, which had even less force.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom…"

Just when everyone was puzzled by Long Chen's actions, explosions rang out continuously, and countless smoke and dust rose up.

"Ah… despicable guy, the smoke is poisonous!"

Accompanied by countless screams and angry shouts, many Disciples hurriedly took anti-poison pills, but were shocked to find that the effect of the anti-poison pills was not ideal.

Just at this moment, a sky full of arrows flew over. This time it was different from the last time; it wasn't a volley, but direct shooting.

"Pfft, pfft, pfft…"

Wails continued, and flesh and blood flew everywhere. The Righteous and Evil Path Elders watching from afar were dumbfounded; this didn't seem to be what they had imagined.

"Scatter! Hurry and scatter! Avoid the range of the poisonous mist!"

Ghost Eye Old Freak couldn't help but roar. However, he didn't know how painful it was for those covered by the poisonous mist; most people were poisoned to death before they could even escape the mist.

And a portion of the lucky ones died only after escaping the poisonous mist. Before they could truly clash, a large number of Evil Path Disciples had been killed.

Looking at the corpses all over the ground, there were no less than several thousand. There was no help for it; Long Chen had contributed all his poison pills this time.

This could also be considered the Evil Path Disciples' good luck. They had started in a line, wanting to scare the Righteous Path Disciples with just their Aura.

Therefore, when they charged, they were in a fan shape. The coverage of the arrows wasn't that large, and because the spread was too wide, the toxicity couldn't stack, so it wasn't that strong.

If the opponent had charged in a straight line, Long Chen was confident that this one strike alone could have wiped out half of the opponent's forces.

"Kill for me! Kill them to death!" Ghost Eye Old Freak roared with a ferocious expression.

Those Evil Path Disciples one after another bypassed the range covered by the poisonous mist and charged toward the crowd.

"Awoo!"

A heaven-shaking roar rang out, and a huge figure appeared in front of everyone.