LWGP - Chapter 206
Chapter 206: Died in Battle
Wang Jiu's group of three emerged from the frozen land. Cai Wujun and Song Yin glanced back to see a dense swarm of Undead climbing out of the rift valley beneath the ice barrier. There were tens of thousands of them, and that wasn't the total number—it was just a single wave. Given a little time and a few more waves, a million Undead would be no mere fantasy.
Wang Shu plopped down on the back of the large butterfly, anxiously asking Lin Guiwan and the others.
"Sisters, let me get you out of here. We can let these smelly men hold the line for now."
Qiao Xuejing glanced at him and began preparing a formation. "Your master is still out there," she said faintly.
Wang Shu replied, "I never imagined in my entire life that I—or any of us—would ever get the chance to save my master."
Well, that made sense. Lao Wang had never given them such an opportunity. Even if she were in genuine peril, if there were people or situations she couldn't handle, what could they possibly do?
"If that's the outcome, it just means we didn't try hard enough along the way." Xie Lu's temperament was indeed resilient and optimistic, never one to back down.
At his words, everyone laughed, but it was only on the surface. Inwardly, they were all extremely cautious.
This battle would be incredibly difficult.
Everyone looked toward the dense, surging army of the Undead.
Their sheer scale was enough to strike fear into anyone's heart. The experts gathered on the city walls and the hundred thousand combatants waiting within felt their hearts pound with dread.
Could they possibly win this fight?
The experts from the neighboring Kowloon Tong had been motivated by Min Xiangwang's earlier declaration, but now, facing the reality of the situation, their mouths felt a little dry.
The scene was terrifying.
Min Xiangwang was about to give his subordinates a second pep talk when he heard someone from the Gobi group, a "Nicholas Zhao Si," raise his hand and shout, "Brothers! Lao Wang is no saint! If your combat record is too low, she'll look down on you, abandon you, and pick someone better! For honor, and to avoid being abandoned, fight!"
"To avoid being abandoned!"
"Tell the other dogs to get lost!"
"Fight!"
The people from Kowloon Tong were speechless. "..."
This Gobi Territory was something else!
The commotion was loud enough for Shen Wan to hear. In the middle of prophesying the details of the Undead attack, her fingers paused. Her gaze shifted outward, and she saw that Wang Jiu's group had already passed through the ice barrier.
In the group chat, Song Yin was asking about the true location of the spirit vein.
Normally, they had methods for detecting spirit veins, but Liu Wuren had managed to hide it from them from the start, which meant special measures had been taken to conceal its location. If he didn't tell them, they would have no idea where it was.
Just as Liu Wuren was about to explain, two pillars of light suddenly shot into the sky from a mountain southeast of the Bashu Territory. One came from Lin Yong's mental control—the spirit power and various arcane elements of the mountain were visibly being forced under his command. The other pillar was completely black, a manifestation of the witch power controlled by a great demon king.
Boom!
The two pillars of light collided, and the terrifying destructive force ravaged the mountain forests.
Liu Wuren didn't need to say another word. The answer was clear.
"Is that Phoenix Mountain?"
"It must be."
"Who cares if it's Phoenix Mountain! They're within five hundred meters! Attack!"
Atop the city walls, the combined forces of several major territories—over a hundred thousand reliable combatants—unleashed a wave of ranged attacks on the Undead swarming from all directions. In the sky, winged, skeletal phoenixes descended like dark clouds, only to be bombarded by more than twenty of Bashu Territory's advanced magic towers.
Bombardments, slaughter—but the Undead from the rift valley were endless.
Liu Wuren, who was overseeing the territory's entire defense, contacted Lin Yong to inform him that Wang Jiu's group was heading over, but he received a startling reply.
"Don't come. They're..."
The voice cut off abruptly.
Liu Wuren's heart leaped in alarm, but Wang Jiu's group had already flown into Phoenix Mountain.
Compared to the civilized, developed Phoenix Mountain of later times, the current one was just an ordinary mountain range. It might have been lush and serene, but it lacked any transcendent spiritual quality. It was hard to imagine that the largest spirit vein in Sichuan, the very one Chengdu relied on for its survival, lay beneath it.
Just as Wang Jiu's group entered the mountain and followed the sounds of the most intense fighting, they immediately spotted Lin Yong being overwhelmed by a great demon king.
Boom!
Lin Yong was slammed into the mountainside, cracking the rock face. He pushed himself out from the rubble, and upon seeing the three figures in the sky, his expression turned grim. "Didn't I tell you not to come?! Did Liu Wuren not pass on the message?"
Wang Jiu shot him a look. "I hear the Black Witch Organization are carnivores, but they occasionally eat their vegetables. Like people in a vegetative state."
Cursing without a single swear word. Since she was a child, this Wang Jiu had never allowed the scions of the Lin and Song families to get the better of her. It was just that back then, with the Old Lady around, her attacks had been subtle, cloaked in elegance and sensibility. To use Mei Qingshu's description, she had exuded the air of a peerless white lotus goddess, inspiring countless people to fight passionately to protect her.
Now, for her to refrain from direct humiliation was a sign of courtesy.
Lin Yong was in a sorry state. In response to Wang Jiu's insult, he simply shouted, "Watch out!"
As the three of them scattered and shot downward from their position high in the air, three black beams of light converged from different directions, blasting the space they had just occupied.
The air there seemed to have been contaminated by some terrifying power. It twisted and tore, radiating a dark aura unbearable to living creatures.
Swish. Wang Jiu landed on the rubble and looked at the other three demon kings.
"So these are the Four Demon Kings?" Cai Wujun asked Wang Jiu thoughtfully.
With such a powerful presence, it was no wonder their reputation was so fearsome. The government had even established several departments just to suppress their organization.
Now, it was clear that had been entirely necessary.
Wang Jiu said, "Don't ask me. I've never seen them either. The four of them look alike, and they're all ugly."
They were all wearing grotesque human-skin masks, each adorned with a strange and unsettling blood-stained totem.
It was impossible to tell if the totems were painted on or part of the masks from the start.
In any case, they looked very similar, but their totems had subtle differences. If one had to distinguish them, the center of their respective totems featured a diamond-shaped mirror, an eye, a skull, and a cross.
Compared to Wang Jiu and Cai Wujun, Song Yin was clearly more knowledgeable about the central government's intelligence on mysterious organizations. He spoke quickly, "Guang Jing, Qing Tong, Kulou, and Yan Hui—the Four Demon Kings. They specialize in illusions, curses, close combat, and assassination, respectively. Quick, dodge!"
The moment Song Yin finished speaking, the Four Demon Kings attacked in unison. His warning had been for Wang Jiu.
They all knew the Black Witch Organization's primary target was Wang Jiu, so both he and Cai Wujun had moved to her side at once. Unfortunately, their judgment was flawed. Only one of the Four Demon Kings, Guang Jing, came for them; the other three all attacked Lin Yong.
Lin Yong's pupils dilated. The moment the attack pierced his chest, he looked toward Wang Jiu.
"Lin Yong!"
The expressions on Cai Wujun and Song Yin's faces changed, and they moved to save him. But Lin Yong gritted his teeth and used his mental power to make the trees in the forest sprout spiritual vines that wrapped around the three demon kings. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, he roared, "Go, now! The spirit vein can't be saved! Defend Bashu! Wait for reinforcements from the central government! Wang Jiu, go!"
Boom! As dark power corroded Lin Yong's body, hollowing out most of his upper abdomen and extinguishing his life force, the three demon kings frantically broke free of the vines. They immediately turned and charged toward Wang Jiu's group, who were busy fending off Guang Jing.
Before Wang Jiu's group could retreat, Guang Jing unleashed an illusion, intending to trap them. It would only take a second or two. Once the other three demon kings arrived, it would be four against three—killing them would be child's play.
At the same time, Liu Wuren, who was leading the battle in Bashu Territory, received news of Lin Yong's death. His expression darkened as he looked toward Phoenix Mountain, where he could see vast sections of the forest surging and roaring.
A dark look flickered in Liu Wuren's eyes. He finally contacted his superiors.
At that moment, in the core territory controlled by the central government—a place far beyond what even Bashu Territory could compare to—the nation's heartland was abuzz.
It was divided into many departments, all remotely monitoring and coordinating the war against the Undead across the country.
The battle in Sichuan was a major front and was being closely monitored.
"Lin Yong has fallen?"
"So the Four Demon Kings appeared after all."
"Their targets must be the spirit vein and Wang Jiu."
"We absolutely cannot let them succeed. Hold on. I'm dispatching people over."
In truth, the central government was in a difficult position. Fighting was breaking out everywhere, and every region was in peril. If they diverted forces to the crisis in Sichuan, then other areas in need of aid would be left wanting.
Now, everything depended on how the situation in Sichuan unfolded. But for the moment, it was the most perilous front.
Even Lin Yong had been killed so quickly. One could only imagine the ferocity of the Four Demon Kings.
"Wang Jiu should have taken that potion by now, right?"
"If she has, she should be..."
In Bashu Territory, Wang Shu and the others, fighting a bloody battle on the city walls, all saw the commotion on Phoenix Mountain. But they couldn't afford to be distracted, nor did they dare to ask about the situation in private messages. In any case, at least for now, Lao Wang wasn't dead yet.
On Phoenix Mountain, Wang Jiu's group had failed to escape. They were surrounded by the Four Demon Kings.
Wang Jiu said, "I'm starting to suspect Liu Wuren is a traitor who sent the three of us here to die on purpose."
Song Yin replied, "Perhaps he suspects you're a jinx for actually luring out all Four Demon Kings. The higher-ups discussed this. They originally thought the Black Witch Organization was creating a diversion and wouldn't deploy all four just for you. Their real target was supposed to be the three provinces."
Cai Wujun added, "By killing the two of us and abducting Wang Jiu, they can still make a move on the other two provinces. Sichuan, Qinghai, and Tibet... they have a huge appetite."
"It is huge," Song Yin said. "Just like when your Cai family established the Cai Market, it was only meant for selling vegetables. Who could have imagined it would grow to such a scale? It just goes to show that human desire is limitless."
He just had to get a dig in, which showed how deeply the great families detested the Cai Market. As an extra-legal organization that had risen from the grassroots, it had carved out a large portion of the resources allocated by the central government, which to the great families was like having a pound of flesh cut from their throats.
The Four Demon Kings attacked in unison, forming what seemed to be a complete tactical system. Illusions, curses, close combat, assassination—nothing was missing. Wang Jiu's group was already individually weaker, and with the strongest among them, Lin Yong, already slain, the situation had become completely one-sided.
Cai Wujun manipulated metal to form a defensive wall, while Song Yin used his spirit control to erect a spiritual barrier, creating a dual-layered defense.
Both of them were primarily offensive fighters, yet they were now forced into a full defense, a testament to the terror of the Four Demon Kings.
They were now just stalling for time.
In their small three-person group chat:
Cai Wujun: "In a moment, the two of us will switch to offense. You create a barrier and break out. Get out of here first."
Song Yin: "That's right, you go first. They haven't used lethal force on you yet, which means they want to capture you alive."
If this were a TV drama, two men fighting to the death so a woman could escape would be considered a top-tier Mary Sue plot.
The female lead would surely cry, "No, no, no! I can't leave you! If we're going to die, we'll die together!"
But with Wang Jiu, her reply was simply, "Then you two hold on a little longer. Don't be finished in three seconds. I'm leaving now."
The two men: "..."
Yes, that was very Lao Wang.
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