Bi Liang jumped up and was the fastest person to reach the attacking range out of the two armies. He floated in the air and his robes fluttered even though there was no wind.

He stared down expressionlessly, his two eyes cold and his whole figure exuding the presence of a war deity. He lifted one of his hands. A strange transparent fog began to churn and bright light began to condense in his palm from the smoke. It was a long pointy object that looked like a projectile for some kind of gigantic ballista.

Bi Liang clenched the bright arrow that had just materialized beside him and pulled back the bowstring of his gigantic bow into a full moon. The Core Elder breathed in once. The weapon suddenly lost all the tension as the string was released!

The arrow flew at great speed towards the crowd of cultivators in front of him like a predator hunting for its prey. It whistled through the air leaving behind a bright streak of light, as if what had been shot wasn't simply an arrow but a long, shining blade of light.

The arrow covered the distance of a few miles in between Bi Liang and the Shadow Dragon's underlings in the blink of an eye. A man with the cultivation of the low level Sung stage stepped forward and swung a large battle axe with all his might towards the oncoming arrow. The axe glowed bright red as it slashed towards the oncoming projectile...

The two clashed and the man was almost instantly blown away, flying backwards like a kite with his string cut: half of his chest was missing and every bone in his body was broken. The axe had been shattered into splinters while the arrow kept speeding forward, not fazed in the bit. 

Another man, this time a fat old man at the peak of the low level Sung stage, stepped forward and palmed towards the arrow of light. The attack was beautifully executed and it looked like a thousand oxes were charging towards the opponent. A powerful shockwave charged towards the arrow and Bi Liang's attack seemed to slightly slow down.

The old man's face brightened up for a bit but it lost all color thereafter. He palmed once again and then countless times, each strike stronger than the previous one had been as he forcefully unlocked his body's potential... But all was in vain!

Suddenly, a scream could be heard as the fat old man fell to the ground clutching his right arm that was missing a hand. Tears fell from his eyes and blood stained his clothes. If one could look beneath the skin and examine the flesh, he would find that all the muscles of the man's upper body had been torn apart!

At the scene, everybody quivered: that arrow held incredible might, it was able to easily injure not only one but two Sung stage expert to the point that they would be unable to recover for their whole life. It was simply the definition of deadly!

The streak of light kept piercing through countless other experts, leaving behind only blood and mangled flesh. Soon, Chu Sai could feel the wind from the projectile coming towards him.

His mask covered the bottom half of his face as well as the nose, so people couldn't see his appearance nor his expression, but by the way he acted he did not seem troubled in the least.

He closed his deep black eyes and when he opened them again, nine red triangles appeared around each of his two pupils. 

He looked at the arrow that was now not more than fifty meters away from him and still increasing its speed. He breathed in and gathered the Qi in his eyes as he blinked nine times. Each time, a pair of the red triangles around his pupils would lit up with dark-red light.

He let go of the two swords in his hand, now shining the same dark-red light, and they hovered in front of him whilst the other sixteen blades also flew out of the scabbards and began to circle around him like sixteen bloodthirsty demons. All the blades were emitting a dark-red hue and they all looked like they could cut steel as easily as a hot knife cuts through butter!. 

He coldly pointed forward and two words came out "Not enough..." One of the eighteen blades suddenly shot out to meet the white light and left behind a red streak.

The two attacks met each other in the air and a powerful explosion sent out shockwaves towards their surroundings, blowing away everyone not far enough from the point of impact. For those who were standing too close from the point of impact, they only felt the sky turn into the ground and the ground into the sky, earth flew up and they breathed in dirt as tongues of flames reached their bodies and charred them black.

Although this took long to describe, it all happened during the time it takes an arrow to... Well, reach his target!

Both the arrow and the katana had been destroyed in that fiery exchange of skill, but Bi Liang wasn't too concerned about that, the arrow was expendable, he could create a great number of them!

The Core Elder coldly looked at the explosion below and at the seventeen blades hovering around Chu Sai. He didn't waste any time and waved his hand again: two arrows appeared.

Just as he did so, Chu Sai blinked one of his eyes once and another blade materialized in one of his scabbards and flew out to hover around him, together with its seventeen brethren.

Bi Liang narrowed his eyes, pulled the bowstring back and, just like before, two streaks of light shot towards Chu Sai... This time, Chu Sai didn't even bother speaking and simply waved his hand. Two of the eighteen flying swords trembled and then shot towards the two incoming arrows.

Just like before, the arrows were stopped and explosions rang out, killing a dozen or so cultivators on Chu Sai's side which, looking at the size of the whole army, was nothing but an hair on the body of nine oxes. The two blades shattered into pieces and disappeared, magically reappearing intact by Chu Sai's side soon after.

Bi Liang calmly waved his hand again and four more arrows appeared and shot forward, just to be met by more of the glowing swords... Then eight... Then sixteen... 

Chu Sai's pupils suddenly shrunk when Bi Liang waved his hand for the sixth time... And thirty-two arrows appeared!

The Core Elder smirked and ridiculed "Are these still not enough?"

Chu Sai narrowed his eyes, gritted his teeth in anger and grabbed two of the blades hovering around him, sending the other sixteen flying in the air.

"Die." Bi Liang coldly spoke and then thirty-two streaks of light left the gigantic bow and headed straight towards Chu Sai's body. The black-clothed man looked back, his eyes glinting, and waved one of his arms.

Sixteen blades met sixteen arrows and got shattered. A new set of sixteen more blades soon reappeared by the man's side and shot right back towards the oncoming arrows. Like that, the thirty-two projectiles were blocked. Although this looked easy, Chu Sai was now finally taking things seriously.

The proof? He had grabbed two of his weapons, ready to fight against his opponent at any given moment. Still, he couldn't help but feel astonished: he could feel that the person who attacked him was a man who had still not broken through the Reverend stage and was still at the Peak Sung stage, facing a bottleneck.

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Yet, why were his attacks so heavy that they were on par with his? He coldly looked at Bi Liang and landed on the ground. Bi Liang also floated down and fell on the ground. The two men stood still and silently stared at each other as thousands of men passed by them, charging towards the opponent.

One minute. That was all the time the two stared in each other's pupils, but in such a short time the two enemies had already understood many things about the other, but most importantly, they now knew. They knew that only one of them would be able to live through the day!

Bi Liang tightened the grip on his Aura Bow making it glow slightly, whilst Chu Sai bent his knees, the eighteen blades flying around him rotated in the air and trembled slightly.

They jumped in the air once again and tens of of red and white streaks of light met each other in the air, lighting up the darkness bearing down from the black cloud with bright explosions.

...

Cheng Hao calmly walked towards the zone where the people were fighting and not a single hint of concern could be seen on his face. He soon reached the meat grinder, the frontline, and stood still.

Many noticed the small child standing in the middle of the battlefield and the boy's age as well as his apparent lack of cultivation made him a perfect target for their attacks.

Tens of people charged towards the boy at once: if they could break through him they could then attack the enemies at the frontline from behind! 

Cheng Hao grinned as he saw blades slashing at his figure and heard the satisfying sound of the metal shattering against his own bare body. 

'Sorry, but iron just won't be able to harm me! After all, I am a Black Iron Fleshly Body owner!' He lifted his head and smiled fiercely at the astonished group of people around him. He lifted one of his arms and his own blade slashed the air...

A single streak of light appeared and then tens of men fell on the ground, their waist split in two. Cheng Hao smiled fiercely "Be thankful we are in the middle of a war, otherwise your death wouldn't have been so peaceful!"

He turned and saw the members of the Golden Tiger faction were overall much stronger than the enemy, so their losses were also much lower compared to the opponent: it was only a matter of time, but in a while the Golden Tiger Faction would win.

Cheng Hao slashed once again and tens of people fell to the ground again, their bodies sliced in two.

And with him there, that 'while' would not be long.

"Still, something doesn't add up. These people aren't from the Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect, they are not members of the Shadow Dragon faction" Cheng Hao pondered "But then why? Why are they so weak? This can't possibly be the trump card of Long Yin Hei, could it? Maybe..." Cheng Hao slashed once again and took away some more lives.

Suddenly, his pupils shrunk and his teeth gritted. He kicked over a corpse and saw that, around his neck, was a metal necklace with a name and what looked like an ID embedded on it.

"Shit!"

He turned and his expression drastically changed "Everyone, quick! Regroup at once! These guys are only a distraction! Watch out behind us!"

He kicked off the ground and landed right beside Mu Gu "Fourth, no, Third Protector! Tell everyone to stop fighting, these guys are only cannon fodder, mercenaries!" He threw the metal slip over.

Mu Gu turned and caught the object. When he saw what it was, his expression drastically changed "EVERYONE! STOP FIGHTING AND REGROUP AT ONCE!" The man's shout was heard by everybody on the battlefield but some couldn't help but wonder: they were winning, why should they stop?

And the facts answered them really soon. Up in the sky, the crazed Yin Hei and the human form Aura Tiger were battling fiercely up until a moment ago, but suddenly Yin Hei distanced himself from his foe and yelled "My Shadow Legion! Attack!"

Lao Jianghu's previous calm demeanor changed and he gritted his teeth "Damn!" He turned to charge below, but Yin Hei wouldn't allow him to get past him so easily! No matter how much he tried, he could not get past the former First Protector.

Down below, in the middle of the battlefield, ten gigantic teleportation hexagrams appeared in succession and ten shadows covered in darkness stepped out. It took some time for the darkness to lift and when it did, the ten figures were revealed to those watching them: they wore black armour and robes and they mostly wore black helmets, decorated so that they resembled the head of a bloodthirsty beast. 

Beneath the helmets and hoods covering their appearances, ten pairs of red eyes glowed like two lamps and made people shiver.

Each had a weapon, either hanging from their sides, strapped to their backs or they were holding it in their hands. They looked nothing alike each other: there was one taller than five people put together and just as large, another one was as small as a newborn baby and held two daggers in his hands, another one had a long tail and a head growing two horns, and so on. 

"Dagger, are these the people we are supposed to kill?" the gigantic armoured man scratched his exposed fat belly and asked "Why would Leader have so much trouble with these small fries?"

The short dagger wielder tilted his head and lifted his mask slightly, showing thin red lips and two rows of abnormally large teeth "Why ask question when we can finally have a good show, Mace? After going through more than a few days without tasting fresh human's blood I have grown somewhat thirsty!" Dagger licked his lips and grinned fiercely.

The man standing in front of them all sighed "Remember that there are quite a few dangerous guys mixed in that crowd, don't grow so excited that you grow careless..." he looked like the least imposing guy and also the only completely human being in the group of ten.

Still, he also looked like he was the most important piece, the glue keeping them all together and preventing the ten man squad from collapsing. 

He had a greatsword strapped to his back and his helmet was kept simple, without any decorations. Although he looked in no way as powerful as the others, he had a strange atmosphere, as if of a being who should not be angered. He blinked his eyes once and let out frightening killing intent as he glared at the people behind him "You would not possibly let your desires get the better of you, endangering your comrades and the success of the mission, would you?"

Dagger and Mace gulped and trembled once under the man's killing intent before they could recover. "But of course! We would not dare!" the small one said. He turned to another incredibly thin person to his side "Right, Needle?"

The man did not have an helmet and only wore leather armour, hiding his appearance with a black cape. Below the hood, two red eyes rolled and he sighed. A raspy voice came out from under the cape "Don't drag me into your own trouble, Dagger. And don't just count me in as one of you bloodthirsty beasts... I am more human than beasts like you... Is what I would like to believe..."

Dagger rolled his eyes "You are no fun! Kyah, Kyah, Kyah!" the being chuckled and then gazed at the shocked thousands of people in front of him "Greatsword, can we go?"

The man with the greatsword strapped to his back nodded "Let's go, everyone!" he stepped forward, and brought his hand to the weapon's handle. He kicked off the ground and jumped into the sky where he somersaulted and wrapped his body into his black cape, hiding his body from view.

When the cape fell back down, the man's body had disappeared! The black cloth was about to touch the ground when, suddenly, it twisted in the air and a great sword appeared burning with black flames, slashing down upon the closest enemy, a low level Sung stage cultivator, and cleaving his body into two effortlessly. The two parts of the corpse then burned into ashes, dispersing into the wind.

The battlefield fell into silence. Shock. Despair. Terror. Such power looked like it was in no way inferior to what Chu Sai and Bi Liang had showed earlier. And there were ten such people now who had joined the battlefield!

Greatsword lifted his head up and two eyes glowing red could be seen shining behind the helmet, which instilled deep fear in the heart of those who gazed into the man's pupils.

Dagger chuckled and shook his head "Greatsword is so strong yet is always cautious to the most and does not dare to lower his guard unless he has at least annihilated or obliterated the enemy!" He clicked his tongue in disapproval "Well, I won't be as cautious, but I won't be any less flashy!" 

Two beams of light flashed and two cultivators coughed as two daggers pierced into the two men's necks. Dagger jumped over and twisted the two weapons, making more blood splurt out. He then jumped in the air once again and stabbed the two weapons exactly in between their eyebrows!

Their eyes turned white and their bodies fell back, slamming onto the ground as blood splattered everywhere, splurging out of the wounds on their neck like a fountain.

He removed the blades from the corpses' heads and somersaulted, landing on the ground briefly before dashing towards his next victims...

Greatsword lifted his weapon and shook it, sending pieces of mangled flesh and blood flying. It was large sword as tall as a grown man, as wide as a man's forearm and as thick as an adult's fist. He looked around, looking at each and every opponent around him calculating the most efficient and fastest way to slay them all at the lowest price!