“Hahaha! They’re crumbling! Pour it on! Kill them all! Avenge the Elder!”

A late-stage Qi Refining cultivator from the Gu Clan screamed like a madman, firing his spirit crossbow wildly at Wang Hao’s position. Between shots, he frantically stuffed Spirit Pills into his mouth, forcing his meridians to churn out more spiritual power.

“What do we do?” Wang Yanzhi’s voice was tight with panic.

His only Spirit Weapon had been destroyed in the initial explosion. Now, clutching a mere First-Order Magical Artifact, his attacks against the enemy’s turtle-shell formation resulted in nothing but a shower of sparks and a useless clang. It was like throwing pebbles at a city wall.

Wang Hao scanned the battlefield. The situation had devolved into a gruesome stalemate of attrition.

Ironic, Wang Hao thought bitterly. In the past, I turned hopeless situations into victories. Now, a battle that should have been a simple cleanup has trapped us in a mire.

Was it his fault? Should he have summoned his spirit beast puppets immediately? But what cultivator reveals their entire hand in the opening move? And who could have predicted a Foundation Establishment Elder would self-destruct the moment they met?

His mind raced, searching for a way to break the deadlock. But his body was broken; he couldn’t mobilize his True Essence, let alone activate a talisman or summon a beast.

“Wang Hao! Have your uncle use talismans to bombard their formation!”

Li Derong’s shout cut through the chaos like a blade. She tossed a stack of talismans toward Wang Hao.

It was a wake-up call.

Right! I’m so focused on solving this myself, I forgot Yanzhi is still combat-capable!

Wang Yanzhi had just reached Foundation Establishment. The clan had only issued him one Spirit Weapon, which was now scrap metal. He didn’t have any personal stock of Second-Order talismans.

Ignoring the searing pain in his ribs, Wang Hao caught the stack and hurled it toward his uncle with the last of his strength.

“Uncle Yanzhi! Catch! Use these to suppress them!”

Wang Yanzhi’s reaction was swift. He formed a hand seal to catch the talismans, then immediately shifted his stance. Two slips of yellow paper ignited in the air.

One was a Hundred Blades Talisman, exploding into a swarm of shimmering steel knives. The other was a Water Needle Talisman, condensing the moisture in the air into hundreds of deadly ice spikes.

Boom! Rumble!

The elemental barrage hammered the War Formation’s barrier, the explosions lighting up the forest. The golden shield rippled violently under the strain.

Inside the formation, the faces of the Gu cultivators turned a sickly shade of red as they poured their energy into maintaining the shield. Seeing this, Wang Yanzhi didn’t hesitate. He threw out a Fire Rain Talisman.

Pfft! Pfft!

The barrier held, but the backlash was immediate. Several Gu disciples acting as energy nodes couldn’t withstand the pressure. They vomited blood and collapsed, their meridians ruptured.

Other disciples rushed to take their places, shoring up the defense, but the interruption caused their offensive fire to wither.

“Now!”

Li Derong seized the opening. She erected a protective barrier to tank the few incoming spells, her hands flashing through a series of seals. A crimson Flying Sword shot out from her sleeve like a streak of blood-red lightning.

The sword transformed into a blazing rainbow, slamming into the weakened point of the formation barrier.

CLANG!

A deafening metallic ring echoed through the mountains. The shockwave was devastating. Several more Gu cultivators inside the formation were shaken to death instantly, bleeding from their eyes and ears.

Qi Refining cultivators were simply too fragile compared to Foundation Establishment experts. Even with a formation to distribute the damage, the blunt force trauma of the recoil was enough to liquefy their organs.

“Elder! We can’t hold on!”

The fierce counterattack shattered the Gu clan’s morale. Panic began to spread.

A Gu Elder at the ninth level of Qi Refining stepped forward. His eyes bulged with veins as he looked at the corpses of his kin. He raised his artifact high, his voice cracking with hysteria.

“The Gu Clan has stood for centuries! We have never produced cowards who surrender! Today, we die, but we will drag them down to hell with us! Follow the Third Elder’s example! Charge!”

He knew there was no way out. Against multiple Foundation Establishment experts, defense meant a slow death by attrition. Their only hope was to rush out and trade their lives for the enemy’s Qi Refining juniors.

The formation dissolved. The Gu cultivators stopped defending. Several of them swallowed crimson pills—likely forbidden blood-burning drugs—and their auras surged violently. With eyes glowing red, they roared like beasts and charged.

“Defend the juniors!”

Li Derong and Wang Yanzhi stepped forward, forced back into a defensive posture to shield their injured clansmen. But the enemy was a cornered beast fighting with suicidal desperation. Trying to break the defense of two Foundation Establishment cultivators was a pipe dream, but their ferocity was terrifying.

The mountain forest filled with the thick, coppery scent of blood.

Time blurred. The battle turned into a slaughter. As the numbers of the Gu clan dwindled to less than twenty, the charge lost its momentum. They became lambs waiting for the butcher’s knife. Li Derong and Wang Yanzhi moved their flying swords like scythes, harvesting them one by one.

“Wang… Li… even as a ghost I will…” The curses grew faint, then silent.

“Die! Just die!” Wang Yanzhi roared, charging into the fray himself to cut down the final stragglers.

Finally, the last Gu cultivator fell. Silence returned to the blood-soaked woods.

Wang Hao let out a shaky breath. This was the most brutal battle he had ever experienced. He had faced danger before, but he had never seen an enemy display this level of fanatical tenacity.

He looked at the corpses. Many Gu cultivators hadn’t even been killed by blades; they had been drained dry by the War Formation, turned into shriveled mummies. Yet, even in death, their withered hands were locked in seal gestures, their faces frozen in expressions of hideous resentment.

Wang Hao never wanted to fight an enemy like this again.

“Hahaha! Dead! All dead!”

Wang Yanzhi laughed maniacally, his voice cracking. Then, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed heavily to the ground.

“Tenth Uncle!”

Wang Hao dragged his broken body over to check him. After finding a steady pulse, he relaxed. Wang Yanzhi had exhausted his spiritual power and likely damaged his foundation by overexerting himself so soon after breaking through. But the fainting was mostly due to the emotional rollercoaster—extreme grief followed by the adrenaline of slaughter.

Let him sleep.

Li Derong flew over, landing softly. “Is your uncle alright?”

“He’ll live,” Wang Hao said, offering a weak smile. ” exhaustion and emotional shock. He’ll need a year or two of cultivation to recover his foundation, though.”

“And you?” Li Derong’s gaze lingered on his bloodied chest.

“I’m fine. A few broken bones, some meridian damage. It looks worse than it is. My Dantian is intact, so I’ll heal quickly.”

If he weren’t a dual cultivator with a tyrannical physique, that explosion would have turned him into mist.

Wang Hao sat cross-legged and began to meditate. Li Derong rallied the survivors to treat the wounded and sweep the battlefield.

A while later, Li Yaozu and Wang Longyou returned, carrying the corpse of the second Gu Foundation Establishment cultivator. Even these seasoned veterans looked shaken as they surveyed the carnage. The sight of their own fallen clansmen brought a fresh wave of grief to their faces.

They decided to rest for an hour.

Wang Hao used the time to forcefully reset his bones. With the aid of high-grade pills and his superior vitality, he managed to knit the fractures enough to move. His spiritual power began to flow again, though sluggishly.

Wang Yanzhi woke up. His face was pale as paper. He stared wide-eyed at the surroundings before his gaze locked onto Wang Hao. Seeing that his nephew was alive, the tension left his shoulders.

“Wenhao… thank the heavens. I… I was useless. I dragged you all down.”

Wang Hao smiled. He had worried the trauma might break his uncle’s mind, but Yanzhi seemed lucid, just guilt-ridden.

“Don’t say that, Tenth Uncle. These are just flesh wounds. You’re the one who needs to rest.”

Wang Yanzhi didn’t respond. He looked past Wang Hao to the rows of bodies laid out on the grass. Three Wang clansmen lay still forever. The remaining seven were all injured.

Tears streamed down his face.

His gaze fell on a familiar face among the dead. He let out a wail of pure anguish.

“No… How? How could Yanpeng die?”

Wang Yanpeng lay cold and stiff. He had taken a Foundation Establishment Pill and reached Qi Refining Perfection. He was the strongest of the younger generation, stronger than any ordinary Ninth Level cultivator. He was supposed to be the future.