Chapter 113: The Chase
Chapter 113: Chapter 113: The Chase
The Scholar Realm, one of the Three Realms of the Confucian Dao!
Zhu Ge had heard a saying: With a scholar’s spirit, full of fire, they could challenge the world!
And at that moment, the spectral image of the old man from Jianshui City, a master of the Scholar Realm, stretched across the sky and collided with the giant mantis.
The mantis brandished its two Arm Axes, as if trying to capture the spectral image.
BOOM!!
As the two collided, blast waves and shockwaves rolled across the heavens and earth.
The next second, the old man from within Jianshui City stepped out onto the air, holding a book made of bamboo slips, and soared into the sky.
The mantis followed close behind, tearing through the air and flying towards the highest heavens.
Without another word or any superfluous movements, the two immediately engaged in a fierce battle in mid-air.
Their battle, high in the sky, naturally did not affect the battlefield below.
"KILL!!!"
Squad after squad of Armored Warriors marched out from Jianshui City’s spout-shaped gate, a thick Blood Qi rising from their bodies.
These were Soldiers who specialized in the branch of the Martial Dao known as the Military Dao!
These Soldiers were only of the First Realm, but their lifeblood was interconnected. United by the power of a Soldier Array, each could unleash strength on par with the Second Realm.
The Soldiers were at the forefront, followed by a dense mass of earth, stone, wood, and metal constructs.
Puppets!
Jianshui City was famous for its Purple Pottery, which was naturally crafted by Artisans. These Artisans were also skilled Mechanism Masters of the Mo Family.
Thus, most of the puppets that appeared looked like they were made of purple pottery—they were, in fact, Purple Pottery Puppets.
The number of these Purple Pottery Puppets was immense, and like Russian nesting dolls, they split off one after another, producing more puppets from their bodies.
It was just that these Purple Pottery Puppets didn’t seem to emit any fluctuations of power—they were merely ordinary puppets. They were nothing like the puppets made by the Second Realm Mechanism Master from Mengla Slope Third Village, which were equivalent in strength to the First Realm.
’Truly magnificent...’
Zhu Ge glanced back, struck with awe, but his steps only quickened.
Because at this time, many Demons, Ghosts, Spirits, and Monsters were also emerging from the dense forest.
Demons were the most numerous, followed by Ghosts; there were few Spirit Monsters and no Monsters.
Normally, the appearance of Ghosts should be as rare as that of Monsters.
But judging by the current situation, perhaps so many living creatures had died that, by some twist of fate, a great number of ghosts had been born.
As for the Spirit Monsters, they were mostly Tree Spirits and Stone Monsters, all with heavy, clumsy bodies.
While they possessed some combat prowess, they weren’t especially powerful.
The main force was still these thousands upon thousands of Demons.
Spiritual Demon Beasts and Transformed Demon Beasts charged towards the Soldiers in droves.
"Eat, eat, eat! Eat human flesh!"
"If we smash these tin cans today, tomorrow all of Jianshui City will be our food!"
"I’m going to devour so many people! I’m going to become a Third Realm Demon!"
Countless members of the Demon Race shrieked and howled as they charged the Soldiers.
The Soldiers all had resolute expressions. They showed little reaction upon seeing these Demons, instead forming square formations under the command of several Second Realm commanders.
BOOM!!!
Blood Qi and Demon Qi crashed together as the Soldier Arrays met the Demon Race head-on.
The great battle began!
"Single-Line Formation!"
"Long-Snake Formation!"
"Fall back to defend! Fall back! Raise your halberds!"
"Fan out! Encircle and kill!"
Under the moonlight, the commanders’ voices rang out across the battlefield.
Many of the square formations had gaps, or were comprised of weaker Soldiers.
This must have been because the war had come too fast, too suddenly, and too fiercely, leaving almost no time to replenish their ranks with new recruits.
And when Zhu Ge saw the still-wet blood on the Soldiers’ armor, he knew the war here was far more intense than he had imagined.
He estimated that a battle broke out every ten to twenty minutes.
Moreover, it was the Human Race who initiated them.
Zhu Ge wondered what the City Lord was thinking, why he would be so aggressive, but he had no time to dwell on it.
With endless Demon Beasts pouring out, it was only natural that some would spot him.
"There’s a human over there!"
"Hahaha, I’ll kill him! Let me at him!"
"Let me handle him! I’ll go after him! You all keep fighting the Jianshui City forces!"
"You go fight them! I’m not! I’m going after that fleeing human!"
Many Demon Beasts grew excited the moment they saw Zhu Ge.
Who wanted to go head-to-head with those tin cans from Jianshui City?
A lone First Realm Human Martial Artist was a much juicier target by comparison.
"You sons of bitches!"
Seeing this, the giant mantis in the sky was so furious it couldn’t help but curse.
The old man from Jianshui City, on the other hand, looked on from a distance with considerable surprise. He watched Zhu Ge lead away a large portion of the demons, a look of confusion in his eyes.
Zhu Ge had attracted a very small portion of the demons on the battlefield—thousands upon thousands of them.
With countless Demons, Ghosts, Spirits, and Monsters on the battlefield, why would they miss such a small fraction of their forces?
However, the Human Race was severely outnumbered.
Therefore, losing even that small portion was enough to tip the scales of the entire battlefield in Jianshui City’s favor.
However, Zhu Ge himself paid no mind to the situation back at Jianshui City.
The members of the Demon Race behind him were numerous, but Zhu Ge had a way to escape.
"Rain Swift Fist!"
"Incense Lighting Body Technique!"
Zhu Ge moved with incredible speed.
Liu Jianjian transformed into a hedgehog, shrank in size, and was cradled in Zhu Ge’s arms.
As for Sword Hero, Liu Jianjian simply retracted him directly into her spines.
WHOOSH!!!
With three streams of Blood Qi cycling through him, Zhu Ge’s speed skyrocketed, and in an instant, he had put a large distance between himself and the mob of First and Second Realm pursuers.
But he still had a general sense of the situation behind him, particularly back at Jianshui City.
’I might as well give Jianshui City a hand...’ Zhu Ge glanced back at the horde of Demon Beasts, and an idea struck him.
And so, he deliberately kept his speed at a certain level.
He stayed fast enough that the demons behind couldn’t catch him, but slow enough that they wouldn’t lose his trail entirely.
"He’s just up ahead! Kill, kill, kill!"
"Don’t try to steal the glory of the kill from me!"
"He’s mine! Fresh, delicious human flesh!"
The members of the Demon Race didn’t find anything amiss and eagerly chased after Zhu Ge.
In their hearts, most were simply glad to have escaped the battle against Jianshui City.
Jianshui City launched an attack every so often. Who could withstand that?
Quite a few members of the Demon Race had already decided to slow down and let that human brat run a while longer.
An hour later, however, some in the Demon Race began to sense that something was wrong.
"How long... have we been chasing?" a wild wolf asked the wild dog next to it.
Before the wild dog could answer, an eagle in the sky replied:
"You idiot dog, we’ve been chasing for... holy crap, has it really been an hour?!"
Their conversation was overheard by many other demons.
"This is bad! This Martial Artist is just stringing us along!"
"No, we can go back a little late, but we can’t be this stupid! We’ll be eaten by the giant mantis when we get back!"
"Speed up! Speed up!"
Some of the Second Realm Transformed Demon Beasts immediately increased their speed.
But when they sped up, Zhu Ge sped up too.
And so, a grand chase began across the boundless plains.
Yunjiang was a land of many mountains and ravines, with very little flat ground. The air was heavy with humidity, and the temperature was high.
As a result, it teemed with snakes, insects, rats, and ants—and no shortage of various demons.
Some time ago, the Plague God Sparrow and the Red River Dragon Python had gathered nearly all the Demons, Ghosts, Spirits, and Monsters within Red River Prefecture.
But after the battle with Yuan Yang City, most of the Demons, Ghosts, Spirits, and Monsters had returned to the mountains and forests.
As a result, the mountains and forests were now swarming with an extreme number of Demons, Ghosts, Spirits, and Monsters!