Immortal Reincarnation Tribulation

Chapter 79 The First Appearance of the Ghost Array

These two cavalry forces, each numbering 50,000, were not much in the face of a massive army of millions. However, the battle had already reached a stalemate, with both sides' soldiers under immense physical and psychological strain. The sudden appearance of these two fresh forces was enough to crush them like harvesting straw.

These two cavalry forces can not only severely damage enemy soldiers and disrupt their battle formation, but also demoralize the enemy and intimidate their own troops. With this shift in momentum, the outcome is already decided.

General Guo Xiong had been patiently waiting for this moment, hoping to sacrifice hundreds of thousands, even millions, of his own soldiers to secure victory in this unprecedented battle.

The battlefield is like a game of chess, and the generals are like pieces. A good general will not care how many pieces he loses in order to achieve the final victory. As long as he can win, it is all worth it.

Only such cruelty can be considered true benevolence, enabling a complete victory in one battle and sparing countless lives from the subsequent dozens or even hundreds of battles.

After the two cavalry forces joined, just as General Guo Xiong had predicted, they remained as steadfast as stubborn rocks in the surging waves of the ocean, unmoved by the towering waves and raging torrents.

Like two sharp knives slicing through tofu, they moved through the battle in an S-shaped pattern, disrupting the enemy's formation and crushing their soldiers. Wherever they went, blood rained down, and men and horses were torn apart...

Under the onslaught of these two cavalry forces, the army of the vassal state began to falter within an hour, retreating in disarray. Soldiers fled in panic, their morale plummeted, and they began to show signs of utter collapse.

Upon seeing this scene, the battle-hardened General Guo secretly breathed a sigh of relief; this battle... was about to be a great victory!

This time, he did not intend to call it a day. He wanted to press on and wipe out the enemy's millions of troops in one fell swoop, end this battlefield as soon as possible, and then move on to another battlefield. As long as he could win six or seven of the ten battlefields, the outcome of this war with the vassal state would be no longer in doubt.

Two more hours passed, and the army of the vassal state had become a disorganized mess. The formations of the troops, large and small, had collapsed, and a large number of soldiers had even deserted. Defeat was inevitable...

"The entire army is ready! Pursue the victory!" Guo Xiong's eyes flashed with a cold light as he spoke in a deep voice.

Upon hearing this, more than ten commanding soldiers showed excitement, simultaneously raising a small green flag and waving it wildly.

Naturally, there were soldiers in the army to relay the orders. Before long, the million-strong army of the Fire Feather Kingdom suddenly roared and shouted in waves, one after another, like a volcanic tsunami erupting, with a magnificent momentum that shocked the heavens and trembled the earth.

The Fire Feather Kingdom's army, with their bloodshot eyes and seemingly insane morale, launched the most ferocious attack since the start of the war...

After about half an incense stick's time, the army of the vassal state finally collapsed and retreated completely.

Led by the two iron cavalry of the Fire Feather Kingdom, the Fire Feather Kingdom army began a brutal pursuit, and in just the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the battlefield was littered with the corpses of more than 100,000 soldiers of the Feather Kingdom.

For the Fire Feather Kingdom, the outcome was no longer in doubt; the only question now was the size of the results.

The army on the battlefield went berserk, the generals on the high platform were excited, the commanders' hands trembled with excitement, and the two Foundation Establishment deacons were breathing rapidly with the muscles at the corners of their mouths twitching...

Only General Guo Xiong suddenly frowned, as if he had a bad feeling.

"No, how could the army of the vassal state be so easily defeated? Even if they were defeated, they certainly wouldn't have been defeated so drastically..." Guo Xiong's doubts grew stronger, and he began to consider withdrawing his troops.

Unbeknownst to everyone, wisps of black mist were rising from the ground within the battlefield, which stretched for hundreds of miles. The mist was so faint that it would be impossible to detect without careful observation.

These black wisps seeped out along specific pathways, dividing the ground within a radius of hundreds of miles into areas of varying sizes. Within these areas, strange runes of varying sizes condensed. It wasn't until the time it takes to drink a cup of tea that these black wisps gradually became clearer, spreading across the entire battlefield.

"This is bad, General Guo! Retreat immediately!"

One of the Foundation Establishment elders inadvertently glanced at a certain spot and was immediately alarmed. The current concentration of the black energy was indistinguishable to ordinary people, but those of them who had reached the Foundation Establishment level could discern some clues upon closer inspection.

The Foundation Establishment elder immediately urged his divine sense, and the moment he touched it, he felt a chill run down his spine. Looking into the distance, he discovered that for hundreds of miles around, all the way to the endless horizon, this strange black aura appeared. Without hesitation, he spoke up.

Another Foundation Establishment deacon, prompted by his fellow disciple, also released a powerful divine sense, sweeping across the area. Moments later, his expression turned extremely grim, his heart pounded wildly, and he exclaimed in horror:

"This is some kind of ghostly magic formation. It's incredibly mysterious and strange, and its range is extremely wide, stretching for hundreds of miles. It has already enveloped all the soldiers of the Fire Feather Kingdom. General Guo, give the order quickly!"

Guo Xiong already had doubts in his heart, and upon hearing this, his expression changed, and he gave the order to sound the retreat without hesitation.

Without saying a word, the soldiers waved their red flags wildly.

The Fire Feather Kingdom's army truly lived up to its reputation as an elite force with impeccable discipline. The million-strong army, which had been fighting with bloodlust, quickly stopped and orderly formed neat ranks after receiving the order to retreat.

The sight of millions of people running at breakneck speed suddenly coming to a screeching halt is incredibly striking.

Guo Xiong quickly issued several more orders, and the army on the battlefield did not retreat in a straight line, but split to the left and right, circling around to the sides, because these two directions were the closest routes to the edge of the black aura.

The soldiers in charge of heavy weaponry abandoned all the heavy loads and returned lightly. The 200,000 cavalry also rushed back without hesitation, showing no intention of waiting for the rest of the army.

However, it was obviously too late to retreat at this point. At this time, black mist was already spreading rapidly across the ground for hundreds of miles. Even ordinary soldiers could clearly see this strange phenomenon, which immediately caused a lot of panic. However, no one hesitated and retreated in unison according to military orders.

"My two masters, how powerful is this formation?" Guo Xiong asked in a deep voice after taking a deep breath, his face ashen.

Guo Xiongwei's tall and imposing figure looked somewhat desolate at this moment. He had given all the orders he was supposed to give and done all the things he could do. Now, all he could do was to do his best and leave the rest to fate.

"I'm not entirely sure of the specifics, but at the very least, for ordinary people caught in it, the odds are nine out of ten to one death..."

One of the Foundation Establishment deacons had an extremely gloomy face, but he also felt powerless in the face of this formation.

This strange and unfamiliar formation covers a vast area, spanning over a hundred miles. Even if he were to act immediately, he wouldn't be able to do anything.

His heart was bleeding. Not only were the million mortals trapped in this formation, but also more than a thousand disciples from his sect. His thoughts were in turmoil, and he was extremely uneasy. He didn't know if those disciples could hold on.

Upon hearing this, Guo Xiong's face turned deathly pale, and his heart sank to the bottom.

In the midst of the battlefield, countless wisps of black energy continuously rose from the ground, growing faster and faster. The black energy had transformed into black mist, which swirled and intertwined above the entire battlefield, becoming extremely dense.

Every few feet, a cloud of black mist would churn and condense, taking shape into the form of evil ghosts and skeletons. Before long, these ghosts would become clearly visible, almost tangible.

They had ferocious appearances, with red eyes, blood-red mouths, and bared fangs. They looked up at the sky and let out a series of ghostly howls that were truly terrifying.

The entire army of the Fire Feather Kingdom was filled with dread. They were not afraid to go into battle and kill the enemy. Even if they died on the battlefield, it would be for the sake of serving their country. Even if their heads were lost, they would still be heroes twenty years later.

However, as far as the eye could see, there were countless hideous demons. They couldn't bear this unknown and eerie scene, especially the howls emanating from those demons, which shook their very souls. An inexplicable fear rose unconsciously from the bottom of their hearts and expanded infinitely, as if it had seeped into their blood and bones...

The cultivators who infiltrated the Fire Feather Kingdom's army were no better off, even worse than ordinary people. They possessed spiritual roots and could sense the inexplicable changes in the world. As soon as the ghostly wails were heard, their souls were instantly pierced by pain. An indescribable feeling of mental tearing made them want to collapse, and their faces became distorted.

A cultivator at the first level of Qi Refining could withstand some resistance, but a cultivator at the quasi-Qi Refining stage appeared extremely vulnerable, even kneeling on the ground with his hands covering his head, looking as if he was in extreme pain.

Before long, wisps of black mist seeped into their bodies through their mouths and noses. Just a few breaths later, these people let out a piercing wail and then exploded and died.

The mortals on the high platform turned deathly pale in an instant, their eyes filled with fear, and their bodies began to tremble involuntarily.

The two Foundation Establishment deacons clenched their fists, their pupils were bloodshot and about to drip blood, and their breathing became unusually heavy.

Guo Xiong's face had turned from ashen to deathly pale. He estimated that it would take at least an hour for the army on the battlefield to escape the area shrouded in the eerie black mist.

Even though Guo Xiong knew nothing about magic formations, judging from the situation on the battlefield, an hour was probably already too late...

On the side of the vassal state's army, the faces of the ordinary soldiers were equally grim, as if they already knew something. Even though there were no pursuers behind them now, they still fled frantically without looking back.

Black mist swirled beneath the feet of the hundreds of thousands of deserters from the vassal state, though it had thinned considerably.

Just then, nearly a thousand people in the army of the vassal state suddenly stopped and ceased their frantic retreat with the others. With a sudden turn and a flick of their wrists, a skull-shaped object appeared in each of their hands, and they began to make hand seals and point their fingers incessantly.

These people were none other than the nine hundred and ninety-nine cultivators from the vassal kingdoms. The colossal formation shrouded in black mist on the battlefield, which stretched for hundreds of miles, was none other than the Heavenly Ghost Annihilation Formation, one of the three great ancient formations mentioned by the Ghost Demon!