Chapter 70: The Ancient War (Part Two)

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“Oh, Master Ya, what do you mean by this? Would you kindly explain it to an old man like me?” The white-haired elder’s brows furrowed slightly. Ever since that mysterious voice had echoed moments ago, a vague sense of foreboding had arisen in his heart. At last, he found himself somewhat interested in the words of the handsome young man before him.

“Elder Gu, to tell you the truth, after extensive research, I have discovered that the ghastly pale, enormous monsters that previously attacked our people seem... seem not to be fully matured.” The young man paused to gather his thoughts, pursed his lips, and spoke.

“Not yet mature?!” The one who spoke was not the white-haired elder, but the glamorous woman beside him. Her voice trembled with a hint of shock. Though she was not especially clever—certainly not a woman renowned for her wit—even she could grasp the meaning of those words, especially the phrase “not yet mature.”

So, after all this brutal, relentless fighting, after countless cultivators had perished, the foes they faced were nothing more than creatures still in their infancy?

How utterly ironic!

“Master Ya, are you certain of this?” The white-haired elder’s expression turned uncharacteristically grave.

“It is absolutely true, Elder Gu.” The young man nodded quickly, neither confirming nor denying, but with conviction. “Those pallid monsters are a form of life entirely alien to us. Their physical structure is bizarre in the extreme, and most importantly, they can reach maturity by devouring the flesh and blood of our kind.”

His words were shocking, but he pressed on.

“They reach maturity by feeding on our flesh and blood—a truly evil brood. If we do not eradicate them, what future remains for our people?” The elder slammed his palm against the brick wall beside him, his voice seething with righteous indignation.

“What’s most infuriating is the so-called Holy Masters of the Eight Sacred Lands. In times of peace, they bask in the adoration of the masses, enjoying supreme status, boundless lands, riches, and power. But when the moment of crisis arrives, every last one of them recoils, not a single one willing to step forward! If the Eight Holy Masters would act, how could these monsters run rampant as they do?”

His tone was heavy with resentment.

The Eight Sacred Lands, the Eight Holy Masters—each one a paragon of their age, each a being of unfathomable might, representing the very pinnacle of power on the continent.

Especially one among them, the Bald Holy Master, truly invincible throughout the Nine Provinces. Even this elder had barely withstood three moves against him, and that was only because the Holy Master had not exerted himself fully—otherwise, it would not have taken merely three months to recover.

If such a person were willing to act, those damned ugly monsters would have been routed long ago, denied even a moment to recuperate.

“Master Ya, according to your research, can you deduce what changes befall those monsters once they evolve to maturity?” The white-haired elder collected himself, knowing this was no time for complaints, and quickly turned to the handsome youth beside him.

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“At present, I cannot say,” the young man replied with a decisive shake of his head. Of all the scouts they had dispatched, only a lucky few had managed to break into the deep forests, but even at the cost of their lives, none had uncovered any sign of the newly evolved monsters.

Their enemy hid exceedingly well, never revealing itself lightly. Should any scout have glimpsed it, they had likely already become its food. There would be no message sent back, and perhaps not even a single intact corpse recovered.

“No matter. If we cannot deduce it, then we shall force them to reveal themselves! I, for one, wish to see what forms our flesh and blood can bring to those loathsome abominations!” The elder clasped his hands behind his back, his gaze fixed on the distant, billowing smoke.

As the beautiful woman had previously noted, the smoke alone was enough to cause their adversaries considerable trouble. For the moment, escape was impossible.

And in this window, they could rest and prepare themselves.

“Indeed!”

But in the next instant—

The white-haired elder’s eyes narrowed sharply.

In the distance.

Beneath the thick, choking smoke that blotted out the sun, amidst the faint glimmers of firelight, one could see, with the naked eye, vast swathes of black shadows surging forth from the fog, one after another.

Those shadows, densely packed, their bodies ghastly white, stood out starkly against the ashen sky. Suddenly, they had broken through the smoke barrier and were charging directly toward their position.

“Not good—the pale monsters have broken free of the smoke!” The elder drew a deep breath, summoning all his strength to warn the others.

Of the three, he was the strongest, his senses the keenest. His eyes could pierce farther than those of the handsome youth or the beautiful woman. He had noticed the threat before they had.

“I will light the signal fire at once,” said the young man, his eyes wide as he too finally saw the advancing horde.

“My thanks, Master Ya,” the elder nodded.

“It’s nothing,” the young man replied politely, before darting off to the side.

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There stood a series of protruding structures, each resembling a giant trophy, large enough to hold more than a dozen people. Dozens of these had been built, each packed with ample stores of flammable material. Once ignited, the sudden blaze would be visible to every defender at the gates of Middle Li City.

The young man moved swiftly, igniting the fuel in each trophy-like structure at once.

In an instant, massive plumes of fire roared skyward atop the city walls, bathing the gateway in a light as brilliant as day.

The signal fires blazed forth like ancient beacon flames, spreading the alarm in the shortest possible time.

All the cultivators tensed, hiding behind the newly constructed walls, every one of them ready for battle.

A guttural roar echoed across the blackened earth as the pallid spores rushed forward with terrifying speed, like starving beasts pouncing on fresh prey, hurling themselves toward the capital of the Li Dynasty.

Even the towering city walls, looming like small mountains, could not mask the scent of fresh blood and flesh that drove them mad with hunger.

That scent alone was enough to send them into a frenzy.

“They’re coming!” The elder’s eyes narrowed to slits as the stench swept toward him. His fists clenched of their own accord.

For years, they had filled the ground before the gates with deep, densely packed pits.

Each pit was nearly as deep as five or six grown men, lined with sharp spears—enough, it was hoped, to kill many of the monsters outright.

Now was the moment of truth for their traps.

Of course, the elder harbored no illusions that the traps would annihilate the entire horde of ghastly abominations; if that were possible, they would not have had to endure these years of bitter defense.

He could only hope the traps would eliminate as many as possible, creating obstacles to hinder those grotesque and detestable creatures.