Sulfur Army-Breaking Crossbow

AMan let out a roar, and the spiked club in his hand swung like a heavenly pillar directly at the skinny, tall man. The terrifying power threatened to burst the very air.

The Demonic Path's skinny, tall man was utterly terrified. He had already concentrated his soul arts into his eyes; such a powerful attack made him nearly invincible among peers of the same tier, yet AMan was completely unaffected by it.

"Buzz!"

Space trembled as the colossal spiked club came crashing down like Mount Tai pressing upon him. The terrifying pressure made the skinny, tall man realize this was no illusion, and he hastily retreated.

As a Core Disciple of the Demonic Path, the skinny, tall man possessed a powerful cultivation base and bizarre Movement Techniques. Hardly anyone could clearly see how he managed to evade this strike.

After dodging AMan's blow, the skinny, tall man snatched back his Soul-Calling Banner. Since AMan was immune to soul attacks, he had no choice but to use other means.

Just as he was about to produce a new weapon, a loud explosion tore through the earth. What the skinny, tall man had never anticipated was that when AMan's strike missed, he simply let the spiked club smash right into the ground.

Among cultivators, there was no such thing as this kind of move. No matter who it was, one would always hold back a portion of strength during an attack.

In case a strike missed, one would still have the spare power to shift stances. But AMan's actions completely defied the conventional ways of cultivators; unable to check his momentum, he smashed his club directly into the ground.

"Boom!"

This blow was far too vicious. With a deafening detonation, the earth caved in, and the terrifying force blasted the surrounding people straight into midair.

Even the monastery Disciples in the distance staggered and nearly fell to the ground, while the Demonic Path Disciples were sent flailing uncontrollably into the air.

The skinny, tall man was alarmed. The immense recoil force was something he could not resist at all, and by the time he reacted, his body was already floating upward.

"I'll teach you to glare at me!"

To the skinny, tall man's sheer horror, after smashing the ground, AMan swung his spiked club once again without the slightest pause, seemingly entirely unaffected by any recoil.

Seeing the spiked club sweeping toward him with howling gale winds while he was suspended in midair with nowhere to dodge, the skinny, tall man experienced his Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.

In a panic, he summoned a massive shield while black mist surged around his body, condensing into a protective barrier tightly shielding his front.

Dense, blood-colored runes manifested across the barrier formed by the black mist. The moment those runes appeared, a shrill, heart-trembling resentment emanated from them.

"Blood Rune Body Protection!"

Just as the skinny, tall man finished deploying his defense, AMan's spiked club had already descended.

"Crack!"

The massive shield was like a thin sheet of ice; before the spiked club's body even made contact, the astral wind surrounding it shattered the shield to pieces.

"Bang!"

The spiked club slammed heavily into the protective barrier, and to everyone's horror, the barrier exploded instantly.

Not only did the barrier explode, but even the skinny, tall man inside exploded along with it, violently blasted into a sky full of blood mist.

"Good!"

Seeing AMan obliterate a Core Disciple of the Demonic Path in a single blow, Gu Yang and the others shouted excitedly, their blood boiling with exhilaration.

Long Chen, on the other hand, felt a pang of heartache. The first thought that crossed his mind was: two hundred thousand points were just blown to bits.

"All-out assault! There are three more Core Disciples left. Whoever wants them, go claim them quickly! The rest of you, advance steadily!" Long Chen roared in reminder.

Now, as AMan charged right into the heart of the enemy formation like a tiger among a flock of sheep, slaughtering in all directions, he threw their ranks into complete disarray.

The Demonic Path Disciples' formation had already been chaotic, and now it was reduced to complete pandemonium. Had it not been for their bizarre soul attacks, Long Chen would have ordered a fierce offensive long ago.

Long Chen had sensed early on that there were four powerful Core Disciples here. Now that AMan had finished off one, only three remained.

At Long Chen's command, Tang Waner, Ye Zhiqiu, and Gu Yang each pounced upon one of the remaining Demonic Path Core Disciples.

"Lei Qianshang, keep an eye on Gu Yang," Long Chen barked softly.

Lei Qianshang cut down a Demonic Path Disciple with the lightning blade in his hand. Knowing that Gu Yang's soul defense was his fatal weakness, he immediately rushed toward Gu Yang's position upon hearing Long Chen's order.

Fierce combat unfolded between the two sides. The morale of the Xuantian Monastery side surged like a rainbow; in less than half an incense stick's time, more than half of the Demonic Path Disciples were slain, leaving fewer than three hundred remaining.

"Front ranks, halt your advance and hold the line! Rear ranks, push forward! Rear ranks become the vanguard, form groups of five, and charge!"

Seeing victory within reach, Long Chen ordered the Disciples in the rear to advance. In their original formation, the vanguard consisted of the most elite Disciples, while those in the rear were relatively weaker.

Thus, the earlier battles had been fought entirely by the elite Disciples. Now that they held an overwhelming advantage in numbers, the people in the back needed to step forward to fight and accumulate battle experience.

Otherwise, the elite would only grow more elite, while those lagging behind would be left further and further in the dust, which was detrimental to overall combat effectiveness.

As the commander, Long Chen's greatest responsibility was to elevate the overall combat strength of the group, which was vastly different from what he had originally envisioned.

He would have preferred to fight with free hands, slaughtering to his heart's content. But he could not do so now; he had to watch over every person in the team and take the entire battlefield into account.

Long Chen swung his long saber in a flurry, constantly cutting down the Demonic Path Disciples before him, yet his mind remained focused on the entirety of the battlefield.

On Tang Waner's side, wind blades tore through the air as she battled a Demonic Path Core Disciple wielding a blood-colored longsword.

Long Chen shook his head, his face darkening as he roared furiously, "Waner, what are you doing? This is a battle of life and death, not a spar!"

Tang Waner's fighting style still mirrored the tactics she used during the monastery's flag-snatching competition. Despite her immense strength, she was repeatedly placed in precarious situations under the Demonic Path Core Disciple's attacks, infuriating Long Chen so much his liver ached; all his prior advice to her had seemingly fallen on deaf ears.

Hearing Long Chen's words, Tang Waner's heart trembled. Long Chen rarely lost his temper, and he had never directed his anger at her before; this time, Long Chen was truly furious.

Recalling what Long Chen had instructed earlier, her pretty face flushed burning hot. No longer daring to hold back, her entire aura abruptly erupted as wind blades attacked relentlessly in her all-out attempt to kill her foe.

Ye Zhiqiu's side was faring much better than Tang Waner's. With ice blades dancing and biting cold chilling the air, she forced that Demonic Path Core Disciple into a steady retreat, and it would not be long before she struck him down.

As for Gu Yang, runes surged across his body as he let out continuous roars. His fists blurred as he pummeled his Demonic Path Core Disciple to the point of constantly vomiting blood; one had to admit that Gu Yang was exceptionally powerful.

Lei Qianshang remained nearby, relentlessly slaying ordinary Demonic Path Disciples while keeping a watchful eye on Gu Yang.

"Huff, huff…"

A dozen or so Demonic Path Disciples could finally hold out no longer. Under the feral slaughter of the monastery Disciples, their courage broke completely, and they broke into a sprint toward the distance, actually choosing to flee.

This was no longer a battle; this was an absolute massacre. When they had slaughtered others, they had never imagined a day would come when they would be treated this way.

"Trying to run? Is that even possible?" A cold sneer curled up at the corner of Long Chen's lips!

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh…"

Dozens of densely packed arrows shot forth. Almost as soon as the sound registered, the distant Demonic Path Disciples screamed miserably one after another, pierced through by the arrows.

Everyone was shocked to see a young man shouldering a massive cylindrical contraption that was a zhang long and a foot in diameter, covered in densely packed perforations. Evidently, those arrows had been fired from these very holes.

"Hehe, Boss, I, Guo Ran, have finally made a name for myself!" Guo Ran cried out with great excitement.

Back when Long Chen was sent to the Exile Land, he had warned Guo Ran that his Talent was ordinary and that he needed to find an alternative path to grow stronger.

Guo Ran had racked his brains upon his return, only to discover that he was truly devoid of remarkable qualities: ordinary Talent, poor soul power, and no renowned figures among his ancestors to grant him ancestral blood blessings.

One day, however, his eyes lit up when he saw an introductory manual on mechanics at the Xuantian Pavilion.

What he loved most were these odd and ingenious contraptions. Back then, he had immediately drawn some points from Tang Waner to purchase that secret technique manual.

As the saying went, every creature had its own Dao. The moment Guo Ran saw the clever Mechanisms described within, he became utterly obsessed, spending every day researching them in his cave.

After Long Chen returned, Guo Ran had secretly shown him the fruits of his labor—namely, the Repeating Army-Breaker Crossbow currently resting upon his shoulder.

An ordinary Army-Breaker Crossbow possessed nowhere near this level of power, but Guo Ran had modified its internal springs, instantly boosting its power by more than ten times compared to a normal one.

What surprised even Long Chen was that this kid possessed an extraordinary, unconventional knack, having even modified the arrows themselves.

At the tips of the arrows, he had embedded Yin and Yang Sulfur Stones—two tiny pieces of sulfur, one Yin and one Yang, each only the size of a fingertip.

Upon meeting resistance, the two Yin and Yang Sulfur Stones would collide with each other, triggering an explosion.

When such tiny sulfur stones exploded, their blast radius rarely exceeded three feet and their power was modest, unable to kill even an ordinary Qi Gathering realm cultivator.

Yet these were arrows; the moment they encountered resistance was the moment they struck their targets. When sulfur stones detonated inside a person's body, even a Tendon Altering Realm Expert would be killed instantly.

Thus, those dozen or so Demonic Path Disciples had been bewilderedly wiped out in an instant, leaving everyone stunned.

Long Chen smiled faintly. This kid was indeed talented and deserved encouragement. "Make a name for yourself? Too bad your face isn't big enough; it's completely blocked by your arrow cylinder."

Guo Ran laughed heartily, unbothered by the tease. Suddenly noticing more people fleeing, he quickly aimed his arrow cylinder.

"Thud, thud, thud…"

Another series of explosions rang out as seven or eight more Demonic Path Disciples were slain, blown into mangled messes of flesh and blood.

The arrows that missed their marks also detonated upon striking the ground, kicking up clouds of dust and smoke.

"A bit wasteful," Long Chen remarked, shaking his head.

Each volley fired forty to fifty arrows; aside from those that hit their marks, the rest were completely ruined.

"Hehe, it's fine! I've stocked up on materials myself and can craft more at any time. Right now, this is just a preliminary trial.

I'll make further improvements in the future. I'm going to become a Grandmaster of Mechanisms with no predecessor and no successor!" Guo Ran declared proudly.

Today was merely him testing the waters, yet it had given him a sweet taste of immense success. So what if his cultivation base was insufficient?

Apart from those Core Disciples, how many could accomplish what he had just done, wiping out more than a dozen Demonic Path Disciples in a single strike?

Besides, he still had numerous concepts he had yet to test. This success filled him with immense confidence, revealing an unprecedented broad highway before him.

"Ten Thousand Paths of Soaring Wind!"

Suddenly, a cold shout rang out. Across the sky, countless wind blades swept forth, cleaving through the very space.

"Pfft!"

With a muffled sound, blood blossomed into the air.