Chapter 211: The Immortals of Tongtian Temple Arrive

“Say it!”

“General, we have been surrounded for twenty days. Our army’s food and grass supplies have been completely cut off, especially the water. Each soldier is only allotted a small mouthful per day. In these last few days, countless have died of hunger and thirst… Perhaps, we should surrender,” the general said cautiously, licking his chapped lips.

Surrender was what everyone here was thinking, but out of respect for the commander’s authority, no one had dared to mention it. Now that someone had, one by one they all chimed in. “Yes, General! The enemy is surrounding us but not attacking. I think they want us to surrender voluntarily!”

The deputy general, who was seated first on the left and had a full, curly beard, said, “General, we have run out of arrows and grain. In a few more days, we will be completely out of food and water. At that time, when our soldiers have all died of hunger and thirst, what will we use to resist when the enemy attacks again? It is better to use what little bargaining power we have now and negotiate a surrender. If the talks fail, at worst, we can fight to the death and take them with us!”

Just as they were all talking at once, the sound of a guard’s shout came from outside the door. “Who’s there? Daring to trespass into a military camp! Seize him!”

Swish, swish… The sound of swords being drawn was heard, followed by the tragic cry of the guards. “Ah…”

The faces of the generals in the tent turned pale. They thought, Could it be that the enemy’s High Immortal has come to kill us?

As their minds were racing, they felt their vision blur, and a man with slightly protruding cheekbones, a fierce face, and shoulder-length black hair appeared in their midst, dressed in a white long robe. The man’s eyes were like daggers as they swept over the generals. “Who was it just now that spoke of surrender?” His voice was exceptionally cold. Even these generals, who had long been prepared to die on the battlefield, couldn’t help but tremble with fear.

“It was me…” the deputy general with the curly beard stood up. Although he tried his best to calm himself, in front of this not-so-ferocious-looking man, he couldn’t help but tremble slightly. It was as if the man before him was the very personification of death, emanating a cold, sinister aura. But he still braced himself and said, “You have no idea how powerful the other side is. They have a High Immortal in their camp, and he has already killed our two High Immortals…”

The man in white sneered. With a flip of his right hand, a dark shadow abruptly appeared in front of him. It instantly grew, becoming a two-meter-tall Vicious Ape. The ape beat its chest and roared, then grabbed the deputy general. With a light tug, it tore off his arm and then stuffed the severed limb into its mouth, chewing on it with a crunching sound, as if eating beans.

“Ah… ah…” the deputy general screamed, covered in blood. But the Vicious Ape did not stop. After eating his hand, it stuffed his entire body into its mouth and swallowed him whole. After the ape had finished, the man in white sneered and formed a hand seal. The ape rapidly shrank and flew back into his palm. It turned out to be a Vicious Ape Talisman Beast.

This display of power frightened the others into a deathly silence. After a long moment, General Chang finally braced himself and said, “May I ask who you are, High Immortal?”

“Where is my Junior Brother, Perfected Man Hulu?” the man in white asked, his gaze sweeping over him, clearly unwilling to speak much with a mortal.

General Chang was startled. This man was actually Perfected Man Hulu’s senior brother. He hesitated for a moment, but still told the truth. “High Immortal Hulu… he was killed by the enemy’s cultivator!”

“What?” The man in white was clearly shocked, then enraged. “How many cultivators are in their camp? What is their strength? Tell me at once!” As he spoke, he swaggeringly sat down in General Chang’s seat. The general hurriedly stepped down and replied cautiously, “Reporting to the High Immortal, there is only one cultivator in the enemy camp, about seventeen or eighteen years old. But his methods are extremely formidable. He killed both our High Immortal Hao Xiu and High Immortal Hulu… When he fought High Immortal Hao Xiu, he seemed to be commanding a black shadow, very ghostly! As for High Immortal Hulu, it was twenty days ago, at night; he broke into our camp and killed him in a sneak attack.”

General Chang, after all, was a mortal and had been at a great distance, so he naturally did not know that Qin Haoxuan was controlling a fierce ghost. As for his realm and abilities, he had no way of knowing. He organized his thoughts and added, “That night, he ambushed High Immortal Hulu and succeeded in an instant. His strength completely crushed him.”

Not having obtained any useful intelligence, the man in white was clearly displeased. He frowned and thought to himself, Junior Brother Hulu was killed in an instant, completely crushed? He was a Fifteenth-Leaf cultivator. What realm is this other cultivator at?

The man in white thought for a moment and said, “Since this seat has arrived, the matter of surrender is not to be mentioned again. You are to immediately organize your men and prepare for a counterattack. This seat will hold the line for you.”

Not knowing Qin Haoxuan’s true strength, the man in white had decided to let these mortal armies launch a counterattack to test the enemy’s reaction and gauge his level. If he wasn’t too strong, he would kill him himself. Since his junior brother’s message had said the opponent was a Taichu disciple and only at the Fourth-Leaf, and since he had been able to kill two cultivators, his strength should not be underestimated. He must have a treasure on him.

He and Perfected Man Hulu were fellow disciples, both rogue cultivators. For them, obtaining resources and treasures was much more difficult than for disciples of a major sect. These disciples, who had grown up under the protection of their sect, had rarely experienced true life-or-death battles. Although their realms were high, their combat strength was not necessarily strong. In their eyes, they were fat sheep.

Hearing that this High Immortal wanted to organize a counterattack, General Chang’s eyes lit up. Although he was terrified of the enemy’s immortal, he was now at his wits’ end. He could only listen to this new immortal. Besides, as long as he had a High Immortal holding the line, their morale would quickly return.

“Yes! This humble general will prepare at once. But if we encounter the enemy’s High Immortal…”

The man in white sneered. “This seat is only afraid that he won’t come out.”

After this was settled, General Chang and his generals immediately went out to organize the counterattack. They told the soldiers that they had a new High Immortal, and then immediately gave the order to cook and eat, letting the soldiers have their fill. After their morale and fighting spirit had been boosted, with the permission of the man in white, General Chang immediately gave the order for a full-scale counterattack. The well-fed soldiers, with their strong desire to live, were like red-eyed wolves. Led by their generals, they formed into square formations and charged towards Su Wu’s camp, which was only two li away.

Su Wu was still worrying about how to persuade Qin Haoxuan to eliminate the enemy and leave when a guard came to report that the enemy was organizing a breakout. He didn’t pay it much mind. But what happened next left him dumbfounded. Not long after, another guard came to report that the vanguard had been completely wiped out, the front line had collapsed, and the enemy was charging towards the main camp. This news startled him. The enemy had been trapped for twenty days and should have been at the end of their rope. How did they still have the strength to counterattack, and with such high morale?

The shouts of the enemy’s charge, as well as the discussions of the soldiers outside his camp, also reached Qin Haoxuan’s ears. At this moment, he had just successfully refined the Mortal Talisman. The most difficult step had been the carving. As for the refining and infusion, the difficulty was similar to the Thousand-Mile Talisman. He had just put the talisman away when Su Wu came running to request an audience.

“What? The enemy is breaking out?” Qin Haoxuan asked with a frown.

Su Wu’s face was anxious. “Reporting to the High Immortal, the enemy is launching a full-scale counterattack. They have already broken through our first line of defense and are charging towards the central army. According to the soldiers at the front, the enemy seems to have the support of a High Immortal, which is why our army was routed on contact.”

“Go, let’s go and see!” Qin Haoxuan and Xing walked out of the tent.

The enemy’s vanguard had already reached the vicinity of the central army. Qin Haoxuan could clearly see that in the distance, a two-meter-tall black Vicious Ape was fighting alongside the enemy soldiers. With a single swipe of its paw, any soldier it hit was turned into a pile of mush. The scene was extremely bloody and cruel. And this black ape was also invulnerable to blades and spears, and immune to water and fire. The soldiers’ attacks could not harm it at all.

Xing recognized it at a glance. “It’s a cultivator’s Talisman Beast!” he said.

Qin Haoxuan frowned. The enemy had been surrounded by him for twenty days, and with his help, their messages for reinforcements could not have gotten out. What was going on? How did they get another cultivator to help them?

His gaze fell on the Talisman Beast in the distance. The Vicious Ape was over two meters tall, its body glowing with a black light. Standing among the ordinary soldiers, it was like a crane among chickens. Its every move was filled with a baleful aura, and its two eyes shone with a vicious light. It was clear that in life, it had been an extremely powerful ape, and its strength after death was also considerable.

In his mind, Qin Haoxuan couldn’t help but compare this Vicious Ape to Hao Xiu’s Feilian. Although the Feilian had not been refined with a true soul, its strength was on par with this Vicious Ape. In terms of power, this ape was far stronger than Hao Xiu’s first Talisman Beast.

Sensing the threat from this beast, a general immediately ordered heavy crossbows and even catapults to be aimed at it. But whether it was the heavy crossbows or the catapults, when they struck its body, they only left a white mark, not even injuring its fur.

Such a formidable defense, Qin Haoxuan sighed to himself. No wonder this new cultivator, after learning that he had killed two others, still had the confidence to attack him. Just from this Vicious Ape alone, one could see how powerful he was.

Although Qin Haoxuan had broken through to the Fifth-Leaf and his body was extremely tough from cultivating the Dao Heart Seed Demon Art, he did not underestimate these rogue cultivators. Before he had left the mountain, his master, Xuanji, had specially instructed him, “Do not look down on any cultivator. Anyone who can survive out in the world has their own life-saving skills. The cultivation world is vast; many have had fortuitous encounters and obtained the inheritance of high-level seniors. Haoxuan, you must remember, a genius who cultivates to become an immortal is a true genius. A dead genius is not.”

Thinking about it, it made sense. He himself had obtained the little snake and his powerful spiritual sense and the Dao Heart Seed Demon Art. Other cultivators could also have their own fortuitous encounters and extraordinary methods. Especially after being chased by Master Chi Lian, he deeply felt that with his Fifth-Leaf strength, if he was not careful, he could die without even making a ripple.