Rise of the Wang Clan: Starting with a Portable Farm

Chapter 160: Breaking the Deadlock

“Ha! They can hardly hold on. Keep at it! Kill them and avenge the elder!”

A late-stage Qi Refining Gu cultivator shouted wildly, firing a spirit crossbow at Wang Hao’s group while swallowing pills to restore his spiritual power.

“What do we do?” Wang Yanzhi asked.

His only spiritual weapon had been destroyed. All he had left was a first-grade artifact, which made a clatter against the battle formation’s barrier but had no effect.

Wang Hao surveyed the field. The fight had become a stalemate of attrition.

He had escaped dangerous situations easily before, yet a battle that should have been easy had turned against him.

Was it his fault for not using his spirit beasts, puppets, and other hidden means from the start? But who would reveal every weapon immediately? No one could have expected a Foundation Establishment cultivator to self-destruct as soon as they met.

He thought furiously about how to break the deadlock. Yet he could not act at all—not even to release a talisman or spirit beast.

“Wang Hao, have your uncle attack their battle formation with talismans!”

Li Derong threw him several talismans. Her words made him realize what he had overlooked.

He had been thinking only about what he could do, when Wang Yanzhi still had some strength left.

Wang Yanzhi had only recently advanced. The one spiritual weapon his family had given him was now destroyed, and he had no second-grade talismans of his own.

Wang Hao picked up the talismans and threw them to his uncle.

“Uncle Yanzhi, catch! Use these against them!”

Wang Yanzhi caught the talismans with a hand seal, then activated two of them.

A Hundred Blades Talisman produced hundreds of flying knives, while a Water Needle Talisman gathered ice needles overhead.

The talismans’ attacks wore down the formation’s barrier.

Soon the Gu cultivators sustaining it began to struggle. Wang Yanzhi sent out another talisman, this one a Fire Rain Talisman.

The barrier did not break, but several of the Gu cultivators supplying it with spiritual power could no longer endure the strain. They vomited blood and fell.

Others rushed to take their places and focused on defense. Their attacks grew sparse.

“Now!”

Li Derong raised a barrier against those few attacks and formed hand seals. A red flying sword shot out like an arrow.

It became a long streak of light and struck the formation’s barrier.

A metallic clang rang out, and the impact killed several more Gu cultivators.

Qi Refining cultivators were far weaker than Foundation Establishment cultivators. Even with the formation shielding them, the force transmitted back through it could kill them.

“Elder! We can’t hold on!”

The fierce attack shook the Gu cultivators’ resolve again.

A Gu elder at the ninth Qi Refining layer stepped forward. At the sight of his dead clansmen, his eyes blazed with anger. He raised his artifact and shouted.

“Our family has never surrendered. Even if we die today, we’ll make these enemies pay. The Third Elder showed us how. Gu family cultivators, charge with me!”

He knew they could not survive against so many Foundation Establishment cultivators. Rather than be worn down inside the formation, they could rush out and try to take some enemy Qi Refining cultivators with them.

They stopped defending and attacked with everything they had. Some appeared to have taken pills like Blood-Burning Pills, their strength suddenly rising as their reddened eyes fixed on the enemy.

Li Derong and Wang Yanzhi had to defend their clansmen again. But the Gu cultivators were fighting a losing battle. They could not break the defenses of two Foundation Establishment cultivators.

A breeze moved through the forest, carrying the thick smell of blood.

The battle drew toward its end. When fewer than twenty Gu cultivators remained, Li Derong and Wang Yanzhi cut them down one by one with flying swords.

“Wang family, Li family, I’ll remember you even as a ghost…” The curses grew fewer and fainter.

“Die!” Wang Yanzhi charged into their ranks.

At last the final Gu cultivator fell, and the battle formation went silent.

It was the bloodiest battle Wang Hao had ever fought. He had faced danger before, but whether fighting or fleeing, he had never met opponents as tenacious as these Gu cultivators.

Some Gu cultivators had drained themselves of spiritual power to sustain the formation and died without a sound. Their bodies were shriveled, but their hands still held the seals they had formed, their faces twisted with resentment.

Wang Hao never wanted to face opponents like them again.

“Ha! Dead, all dead!”

Wang Yanzhi laughed wildly several times, then collapsed unconscious. He had been hurt badly and fought on for a long time after only recently reaching Foundation Establishment. Wang Hao feared that he might have damaged the foundation of his cultivation. He regretted bringing his tenth uncle, though without Wang Yanzhi, Wang Hao himself might have died.

“Tenth Uncle!”

Wang Hao hurried over, supported him, and called to him several times. Feeling his pulse, he was relieved. Wang Yanzhi was injured, but his collapse might also owe something to the swings of grief and elation. Perhaps sleeping would help.

Li Derong flew over. “Is your uncle all right?”

“Fortunately, yes,” Wang Hao said with a relieved smile. “He’s exhausted his spiritual power and is overwhelmed. He’ll still need a year or two of rest.”

“What about you?” Li Derong asked.

“A few broken bones and slight damage to my meridians. It looks serious, and I can’t fight for now, but my dantian is unharmed. I should recover quickly.”

Without his training in both physical and magical cultivation, the explosion might have killed Wang Hao outright.

Wang Hao sat down to heal. Li Derong led the clansmen who had regained consciousness in treating the wounded and clearing the battlefield.

After a while, Li Yaozu and Wang Longyou returned with the corpse of the other Gu family Foundation Establishment cultivator. Though prepared for casualties, they were shocked by the scene and grieved when they saw several of their own clansmen dead.

The group decided to rest until most of their people could move again, then head to Clear Dew Peak.

More than an hour later, Wang Hao had set his broken bones back in place. Cultivators healed faster than ordinary people, and with medicine he had regained some movement and could circulate spiritual power again, though he was far from fully recovered.

Wang Yanzhi had also awakened. Pale as paper, he looked around until he saw Wang Hao. Only when he realized Wang Hao was not in mortal danger did he relax.

“Wenhao, I’m glad you’re all right. I only held you back and got everyone hurt.”

Wang Hao smiled. He had feared the shock might disturb his uncle’s mind, but Wang Yanzhi’s manner reassured him.

“You needn’t blame yourself, Tenth Uncle. Mine are only superficial injuries. You’re the one who needs a proper rest.”

Wang Yanzhi looked at the others. Three clansmen were dead, and all seven survivors were injured.

He began to cry.

When he saw Wang Yanpeng’s body, he cried even harder.

“How could this happen? How could Yanpeng have died?”

Wang Yanpeng had taken a Foundation Establishment Pill. Though he had failed to advance, he had reached the perfection of Qi Refining and was stronger than an ordinary ninth-layer cultivator.