Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

When a mountain arose, they cut through it; when water appeared, they built a bridge over it.

From time to time, hidden Xuanwu Tiangong cultivators would suddenly emerge, causing heavy casualties, and groups of Qi Practitioners burst apart and perished.

Yet all this was nothing in the face of the continuously advancing army that stretched out for hundreds of kilometers; they were still unstoppable.

Days later, the nine peripheral Black Tortoise Tetrapolar Heaven Formation Bases appeared on the horizon amidst the mountains, built upon the nodes of the Spiritual Vein and nowhere else.

Even if the Xianmen Sect recaptured them, they would rebuild the Star Boundary Formation at this very spot; there was no hiding anything.

”It’s coming.”

Jiang Ding thought silently to himself.

The cultivators from Xuanwu Tiangong could not afford to sit back and watch the Array Bases crumble.

Otherwise, the high-level cultivators within the Heavenly Palace would show them what ’living is worse than dying’ truly meant, without any trace of mercy, since those high-level cultivators had also fought their way through similar experiences.

”Attack!”

At the edge of the army, parts of the mountain collapsed like quicksand, instantly engulfing a piece of the tank unit; tens of thousands were injured or killed, and more than a thousand Foundation-building cultivators rushed out from the deep tunnels in the earth, taking vastly dispersed positions and slaughtering all around them.

One after another, the Xianmen Qi Practitioners couldn’t even react before their heads burst apart, dying as their blood drenched the earth.

In just a short time, a horrifying casualty rate of over 200,000 people occurred, and almost half of the Group Army had been decimated.

Jiang Ding’s face twitched involuntarily.

Whiz, whiz whiz!

At the same time, armor-piercing bullets roared in from other directions, covering the sky, locking onto targets, and detonating magic shields en masse, causing piles of Supreme Magic Tools to dim and fall from the sky.

The broken bodies of Foundation-building cultivators lay everywhere, and the forest was plowed over and over again.

A barrage of armor-piercing bullets came in three waves, sweeping away the last resistance of the Foundation-building cultivators.

The battlefield once again fell silent.

”This won’t do.”

Jiang Ding frowned and said, ”Qi Practitioners are far too frail in the face of Foundation-building cultivators.”

Despite the casualties reaching 200,000, in reality, each of the thousand or so Foundation-building cultivators had only managed to kill an average of over two hundred Xianmen Qi Practitioners in their suicide attacks.

If this occurred a few more times, the four Group Armies would be rendered useless.

”Halt the march.”

”Yes!”

Jin Lingfeng and the other commanders of the Group Army replied gravely.

Jiang Ding concealed his form, skimming the ground as he flew, scanning the earth meticulously with his Divine Sense and Sword Intent, especially places marked with traces of human magic, scanning each several times.

Using his rapid Escape Technique, he surveyed the hundreds of kilometers of the army’s marching route.

The results were significant.

No matter how well these Xuanwu Tiangong Foundation-building cultivators hid themselves, even thousands of meters under the soil, as long as there was an entry and exit path and they hadn’t buried themselves alive, they were revealed under the Sword Intent.

In just a few hundred kilometers, another sporadic thousand Foundation-building cultivators were found.

If they suddenly emerged as the tank troops passed by, it would instantly result in casualties of several hundred thousand. The threat was immense.

”That’s them, continue the march.”

Jiang Ding returned and relayed the coordinates of the enemy he discovered to the army commanders.

”Received!”

Jin Lingfeng said excitedly, immediately breaking down the coordinates to the subordinate officers, each assigning a set of artillery targets.

The tanks rumbled on for nearly a hundred kilometers, and under the ominous gaze of the watching Xuanwu Tiangong Foundation-building cultivators, they made slight adjustments to their cannons; flames and smoke flared.

Whiz whiz whiz!

One by one, the armor-piercing bullets fell, their First Order earth cracking skill’s glimmer flickering, tearing through the earth with tremendous kinetic energy and following the pre-existing paths down into the ground, rumbling explosions echoing far and wide as the ground bulged and collapsed.

Finally, all fell silent, turning up some blood-stained deep earth.

```

”Continue the attack!”

The Iron Tide continued to advance, and once within the thirty-kilometer range of the artillery, they commenced a precise bombardment. The Foundation-building cultivators of the Xuanwu Heavenly Palace had not even had the chance to display their Divine Power before they met their suffocating end in the underground holes, their bodies buried there.

After that, the advance proceeded in echelons.

A precise bombardment covering several hundred kilometers, followed by a pause, a wait for reconnaissance, and then another earth-shattering bombardment ensued, repeating the process.

”This tactic is no longer effective, let the junior brothers retreat.”

”The Great Sun Swordsman of the Eastern Devil School does not possess the majestic grandeur characteristic of the Great Sun Sword Cultivation.”

Hundreds of kilometers away, Xiang Jia surrounded by many Golden Pill battle formations sighed and began to retreat slowly with his men.

...

The nine Black Tortoise Four-Poles Boundary Array Bases came into everyone’s view, now within the seventy-kilometer effective range of the tank guns.

Relying on the Spiritual Vein, this Formation Method possessed at least the combat prowess of a Middle Jindan Stage, making it a tremendous defensive advantage.

”Fire!”

”Fire!”

”...”

Jin Lingfeng, Jin Chengkong, Xue Xi, and other army commanders were unconcerned, ordering the bombardment over and over again.

Millions of cannons fired in unison just once, shattering the shield of the nine Black Tortoise Boundary Array Bases. Amidst wails of despair, they collapsed, weakening the Heavenly Palace’s external Army Formation anchor points.

”Continue to advance, no need to dispatch troops elsewhere, just destroy the core Black Tortoise Four-Poles Boundary Array,” Jiang Ding ordered.

”Additionally, since the Xuanwu Heavenly Palace breached Xianmen Sect’s southern Boundary Formation last time, there has been a remnant army lurking here. Order General Wu Shujun to seize the opportunity to break through another subdivision of the Black Tortoise Boundary Array while the enemy’s main force is distracted by us,” he added.

”Yes!”

An Siyan quickly noted the orders, connected with staff officers at the headquarters, and turned the two simple orders into detailed battle plans distributed to various units. He arranged marching routes and coordinated the supply of logistics from the various levels of storage spaces.

The Iron Tide rumbled forward, flattening everything in its path without any subterfuge, aiming directly for the nine Array Bases at the heart of the Black Tortoise Four-Poles Boundary Array over five thousand kilometers away.

...

”If this continues, it’s not good!”

Xiang Jia’s face darkened: ”There are too many tanks. Once they reach within seventy kilometers of the Boundary Array’s core, the simultaneous firing of over three hundred eighty thousand tank cannons would collapse even a formidable Formation in short order.”

”If it affects the Array outside, and should any elders in the Heavenly Palace suffer casualties, the blame will come down hard...”

He said no more.

”This won’t do; we must change immediately!”

The surrounding True Disciples shivered.

In the eyes of the Heavenly Palace’s upper echelons, even thousands of Foundation-building cultivators are less valuable than a single elder. Should they cause an elder’s fall, their own lives would be worse than death, and their clans would also be implicated.

”As long as you understand that’s enough,” Xiang Jia snorted coldly. ”Then go, don’t worry about casualties. This is the nature of fighting for the Dao, the Destined Fate of cultivators of the Heavenly Palace. As long as you survive, I guarantee that a Golden Pill is within reach.”

”Yes, Taoist disciple!”

The surrounding True Disciples took a deep breath and led their subordinates away.

...

Jiang Ding stood in the sky, using his Viewing Skills to look into the distance.

Boom!

Under the bombardment of multiple Group Armies, the central nine Array Bases of the Black Tortoise Tetrapolar Heaven Formation, despite having the offensive and defensive capabilities of the Middle Jindan Stage, collapsed amidst the roaring, further weakening the Xuanwu external Army Formation.

At the same time, two to three hundred kilometers away.

A new rear-attacking formation of Foundation-building troops appeared behind the already cleared area of the army, accompanied by battle cries. Several Golden Pill Army Formations rose up ten-plus kilometers away from the Xianmen Sect’s forces, facing a sky of Armor Piercing Bullets and charging head-on.