As the rumbling roar drew nearer, the faces of the alien race, previously gripped by panic and fear, suddenly broke into expressions of sheer ecstasy.
The Eagle King’s mind stirred, and with a beat of his iron wings, he soared into the air. Gazing out with his keen eyesight, even the brave Eagle King could not help but suck in a sharp breath.
In the distance, a black mass of figures seemed to stretch to the edge of heaven and earth. Countless two-headed monsters rode strange-looking horses, whipping their mounts mercilessly as if driven mad, charging toward this location at breakneck speed!
In the sky, ahead of these monsters, were hundreds of smaller black dots, flying forward. Their approach was swift as lightning, fast as thunder!
These specks in the forward sky were clearly the peak masters among the alien race! Judging by their aerial speed, the weakest among them must possess at least the cultivation level of a Kuáng Dāo Dì Rěn (Mad Blade Earth Ninja)!
This time, the trouble was enormous!
Realizing the direness of the situation, the Eagle King was greatly astonished! A feeling of extreme crisis immediately flooded his mind.
“The main force and elite masters of the alien race are rapidly closing in! Everyone, form up! Prepare for battle!” The Eagle King flared his iron wings and roared aloud. The three thousand Eagle Warriors positioned slightly behind immediately focused their expressions and, following their standard training, spontaneously formed battle formations in groups of ten.
With a sharp “Clang,” their long swords were drawn simultaneously.
The Bear Warriors slowly and orderly retreated ten paces, coordinating with the Eagle Warriors, also forming tactical groups of ten men. At the command of the Bear King, Xiong Kaishan, the formations of the Eagle and Bear tribes smoothly weaved through each other, instantly forming a completely new battle arrangement.
Twenty men per team: ten Eagle Warriors and ten Bear Warriors.
Standing interlaced, their long blades flashed with a stern brilliance, all pointing forward uniformly!
At that moment, everyone’s mind recalled Jun Mo Xie’s lecture: “As long as a comrade stands before you, you have the duty to guard his back with all your strength, with your very life!” “As long as there are enemies ahead, as long as you still draw breath, your sole responsibility is to slay the foe! You need not consider your own defense, nor your safety, because your back will be securely guarded by your comrades!” The atmosphere in the field grew so heavy it seemed capable of solidifying.
It was like a massive powder keg, ready to ignite into an earth-shattering explosion with the slightest touch, even just a stray spark.
The strength of the eight figures including the Deer Saint Venerable was naturally incomparable to the Eagle King. They had detected the group rushing toward them like falling stars slightly earlier. They exchanged glances, and the gravity in the eyes of all eight reached an absolute depth. Because the situation had deteriorated to its extreme, whether this battle could be held—after seeing the alien masters about to arrive—left these eight men without a shred of confidence!
“The enemy has thirteen more Zhì Zūn Tiān Rěn (Supreme Heaven Ninjas)! Three hundred Kuáng Dāo Dì Rěn are arriving! And nearly three thousand Yōu Míng Guǐ Rěn (Netherworld Ghost Ninjas)! The rest all possess the strength of Ninth-Level Ninjas, with the total number expected to exceed one hundred thousand! Such strength…”
The Deer Saint Venerable gazed faintly toward the distance. Though not an Eagle, his eyes shone with the sharpness of a falcon, piercing and ruthless: “Seven brothers, the great day we have awaited our entire lives has finally arrived…”
“Three hours… only three hours left…” The Bear Saint Venerable’s expression was grim. He glanced longingly at Xiong Kaishan standing at the forefront of the Bear Warrior ranks, and said calmly, “We must use our strength, our lives, to hold back these bastards for three hours—at least three hours! Even if it means utter annihilation, we cannot let them pass here! We must hold out until reinforcements arrive…”
“We must absolutely prevent those Heaven Ninjas from using their Yǐn Shā Shù (Hidden Killing Technique). If we commit ourselves, in the very first wave of attack, we must use a method of absolute self-destruction to take down at least eight of the enemy’s Zhì Zūn Tiān Rěn—and then, using the effects of the Huí Tiān Dān (Reverting Heaven Pill), surround and attack the few remaining ones. If, by some miracle, any of us survive… there is only one task: use all our power to eliminate as many of their Kuáng Dāo Dì Rěn masters as possible!” The Deer Saint Venerable’s voice was clear and steady. Facing the impending, brutal battle, his emotions showed no ripple whatsoever!
“Good! Let us burn our remaining life embers completely today!” In an instant, the eyes of the eight old brothers contracted, and they simultaneously prepared to unleash their full power.
“Heaven’s Punishment! It shall be glorious because of us! Even in death, we cannot tarnish the undying, eternal fame of the Heaven’s Punishment Holy Land…”
The Deer Saint Venerable said lightly, “As for our descendants, we need not and cannot concern ourselves. Everyone must remember, the moment you divert your focus to check on your offspring, you will delay by a fraction of an instant, and that minute delay might bring unimaginable, immense harm to your descendants and sons. By being distracted like that, far from caring for them, we actually harm them! Only by attacking with all our might, killing the maximum number of enemies possible, can we truly guarantee the future continuity of our Heaven’s Punishment bloodline!”
“The more we kill, the safer our descendants will be! Everyone understands this principle!” The Deer Saint Venerable’s voice grew increasingly intense! A faint blood-red tinge flickered in his eyes. All his profound energy had been fully mobilized.
They were now just waiting for the explosion of that thunderous strike!
A piercing long howl suddenly tore through the air!
Immediately followed by hundreds of simultaneous piercing howls, a tyrannical aura swept across the entire land in an instant with these sharp cries! Countless broken heavenly pillars and stones, carried in by the howling north wind, were instantly forced to reverse their course by the powerful airflow, and dust instantly filled the sky until it could no longer be seen!
Then, a tyrannical voice traveled from afar: “Who are you, which tribe of the Divine Sun Race, standing before us? Why are you not attacking? Dawdling here! Ba Ge! Charge forward immediately!”
This sudden shout seemed to carry a magical power that shook the heart and spirit; following this sharp command, Shang Chuan Po Ku, Xia Chuan Po Gua, and others who had been confronting the Bear and Eagle tribes, as well as De Ku Bu Shang and others observing from afar, suddenly erupted in a unified, booming roar!
Everyone’s eyes were bloodshot, as if they had completely lost all reason.
But upon closer inspection, one could see deep within their pupils, a thick layer of terror was still hidden! It seemed that this distant shout could instantly make their lives worse than death!
It seemed they would rather die fighting on the front line than endure the reprimand of the person who had just spoken!
Following this, a vague roar, whose exact meaning was unclear, erupted simultaneously from the throats of the tens of thousands of aliens before them—and in the next moment, the aliens who had been held back by fear and panic suddenly surged forward like a bursting dike, an overwhelming flood!
Fearless of death!
In just an instant, the battle, which had temporarily subsided, escalated directly to a boiling point! The madness of the aliens at this moment was in no way inferior to that of the Heaven’s Punishment Bear Warriors just moments before!
Fortunately, their opponents were the Eagle and Bear allied forces, whose fighting spirit and morale were in no way inferior to that of the aliens!
At this moment, the Eagle King and the Bear King simultaneously turned back to look into the distance, their gazes sharp! Even more filled with deep emotion!
What they were looking at was… the direction of the Heaven’s Punishment Forest!
Just one glance!
Just one glance!
In such a battle situation, I probably have no hope of setting foot on my homeland again!
Distant homeland… let me look at you one last time!
Immediately afterward, they quickly turned their heads back, their eyes spitting fire, facing the increasingly close alien horde!
At this critical moment!
“Kill! For the Heaven’s Punishment Holy Land! For the glory of Heaven’s Punishment! Slaughter all these bastards!” The Bear King roared, his massive, thick waist suddenly thrust forward—“Boom!”—his entire body erupted with exceptionally dense white mist. As the thick mist dissipated, the Bear King, famous throughout Heaven’s Punishment, suddenly reverted to his original beast form, transforming into a colossal bear nearly three zhang (about 10 meters) high!
The giant black bear’s arms were nearly as thick as two average men’s thighs. Reaching behind him, he snatched a massive blade: the spine was a foot thick, the body nearly half a zhang wide, and the blade edge a full one and a half zhang long. At a glance, the weapon looked exactly like a gigantic door panel. The Bear King then inserted the Bear King Sword into a round iron pillar, and with a “Ka,” locked it in place.
This iron pillar was a full two and a half zhang long, and as thick as a person’s embrace. With a Kacha sound, the door-panel-like blade rotated and attached itself to the iron pillar. Instantly, an unprecedentedly fierce weapon, unimaginable to ordinary people, was formally assembled in the Bear King’s hands!
A weapon like this could only be wielded by two people in all of Heaven’s Punishment! The Bear King Xiong Kaishan and the Old Bear King Xiong Saint Venerable! No one else could use it—not even Jun Mo Xie himself!
Because this thing was simply too big! Unimaginably large! And far too heavy!
After connecting the blade to the pillar, the entire weapon measured over four zhang long and weighed a staggering 1,600 jin (about 800 kg)! If it weren't for a powerhouse born with immense strength like the Bear King, an average master would struggle just to lift it!
For this blade, Xiong Kaishan had begged Jun Mo Xie for three full days! Only then did Jun Mo Xie reluctantly forge this uniquely sharp weapon for him! This blade was, in fact, tailor-made for the Bear King when he reverted to his original form!
Such a monstrous weapon, used for battle, was absolutely an unparalleled, devastating killing tool in the world today!
Where the blade passed, it was like crushing dry wood, reaping wheat—a large swath fell with every sweep!
The Bear King leaned on his monstrous weapon, coldly watching the approaching aliens, his eyes filled with cruelty and bloodlust!
At this moment, Xiong Kaishan seemed like a War God standing tall, supporting heaven and earth!
Looking down upon all living beings!
Closer!
Even closer!
Xiong Kaishan lifted his right hand, abruptly drawing the long blade from the ground, swinging it forward, and shouting, “Advance! Everyone move! Kill these bastards for me, fiercely!” The six thousand warriors behind him simultaneously roared!
Xiong Kaishan laughed loudly and strode forward, like a tyrannical whirlwind, his heavy footsteps causing the earth to tremble fiercely!
In just three steps—only three steps—Xiong Kaishan’s massive body plunged headfirst into the sea of aliens. With a great roar, the four-zhang-long blade swept out horizontally like a shocking lightning bolt across the heavens!
With the might that parts ten thousand armies, the infinite ferocity that first cuts through heaven and earth!
“Ahhh! Hey! Nn—” Xiong Kaishan roared out in excitement, the muscles on his arms bulging, the blade light actually forming a shining circle!
Puff! Puff!