Chapter Forty-Seven: Defending to the Death

Mo Ling grew tense as she saw that the spiritual wood arrows no longer posed much of a threat to the great sea beasts. Unconsciously, she glanced toward Ye Mo atop the main arrow tower, only to find his expression as calm as ever, as if he had no concern at all that the camp might be overrun by the sea beasts.

“We absolutely cannot let them damage the spiritual wood palisade,” she thought anxiously. “If the smaller sea serpents and crabs get inside, they’ll become a deadly threat as well!”

If the sea beasts reached the palisade, Gao Jian and the defenders below would come under tremendous pressure and might not be able to hold them back.

“Switch to the powerful spiritual wood javelins!” With this in mind, Mo Ling hurled the javelins with even greater force, hoping they could inflict heavier damage on the giant sea beasts.

“Open the palisade! All fighters at the seventh body refinement level or higher, follow me to meet these beasts!” Gao Jian saw the sea monsters drawing ever closer to the palisade and shouted, drawing his Azure Edge Sword with a metallic ring.

As the deputy leader of the cavern camp, Gao Jian’s call was immediately met with loud responses from the warriors.

The camp had only a single narrow wooden gate, wide enough for one person to pass through, with a yard-wide safety corridor in front of it; all around, for over a dozen yards, were deep pits and traps.

The palisade gate swung open.

Seeing that fighting the sea beasts through the palisade was unwieldy, Gao Jian charged out directly, with Huang Yi following close behind, both heading straight for the massive sea serpent looming near the camp.

“Ice Soul Slash!”

“Snow Dance!”

Their swords struck out in unison, targeting the nearest serpent, which was over forty feet long. Twin flashes of sword light burst forth, cutting two wounds over a foot long and several inches deep through the thick scales, with cold energy swirling about.

This was the result of Gao Jian’s true qi infusing his sword strikes. Some martial artists possessed unique internal skills and techniques—like the “Ice Palm” or “Ice Soul Sword Art”—that produced such extraordinary effects.

The giant sea serpent writhed in pain, its crimson eyes flashing with ferocity. With a sudden, violent swing of its tail, it swept at Gao Jian and Huang Yi with a rush of wind.

“Retreat!”

The pair moved in perfect accord, withdrawing the instant their strikes landed. The serpent’s tail whipped past, stirring a fierce gust mere inches from them.

Already, a thin layer of ice had formed on the serpent’s wounds, the chill seeping in and making it writhe in discomfort. But these wounds were not fatal. The real danger came from the “Ghost’s Bane” poison on their blades, which seeped into the beast’s blood and quickly began to paralyze it. As time passed, their strength would fade rapidly.

The warriors looked on in astonishment.

Gao Jian’s swordsmanship and agility were remarkable, nearly on par with He An himself.

“Take turns!” someone shouted, and the warriors surged forward in waves, each unleashing their most powerful techniques against the sea beasts outside the camp.

Meanwhile, on the arrow towers, the defenders poured covering fire, targeting the smaller beasts pressing in from behind and easing the pressure on those fighting outside the palisade.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Lin Zhi ascended the main arrow tower by wooden ladder and found Ye Mo gazing out over the battlefield, his expression as placid as ever. Even someone as shrewd as Lin Zhi couldn’t help but feel a secret admiration.

Ye Mo stood atop the tower, ignoring him, calmly watching the moonlit battle below.

Lin Zhi held a position second only to Ye Mo and Gao Jian within the camp. His greatest skill lay in the art of poisons; his personal combat ability was average, which was why he had not joined the fray below.

“Brother Ye, do you think we can hold?” Lin Zhi asked, hands clasped behind his back as he surveyed the battlefield. “Should we prepare a retreat, just in case?”

“We should be fine. Li Ruofeng—is he your man?” Ye Mo replied, eyes fixed on the figure of a swordsman in blue outside the camp.

“Yes,” Lin Zhi nodded, clearly proud of his subordinate.

The young swordsman in blue was locked in combat with a sea crab several feet across.

Sword light rent the air!

Snap! The blade found a weak spot along the edge of the crab’s shell and pierced its innards.

With a single thrust, he slew a sea crab as powerful as a mid-ranked warrior. The swordsman did not pause but spun and sliced off the claw of another crab that lunged from behind.

Unlike Gao Jian’s dazzling, graceful style, this blue-robed swordsman’s strikes were ruthless, each targeting a vital point with deadly efficiency.

“This Li Ruofeng’s strength is second only to Gao Jian,” Ye Mo mused in silence.

After expending his reserve of true qi, the swordsman quickly withdrew to let another take his place. A burly, black-faced man rushed to the front, wielding a massive spiritual wood club.

His target was a blue giant python, more than fifty feet long and as thick as a bowl. Its scales rasped against the ground with a sinister hiss, and its forked tongue flickered in and out, making a repulsive sound in the air.

Suddenly, the python lunged at him, jaws agape to swallow the man whole.

But the burly man showed no fear. At the last instant, he burst forward, leaping over twenty feet to evade the maw, his muscles swelling as he brought the giant club crashing down on the python’s head with tremendous force.

Thud!

The python, struck with hundreds of pounds of force, was left reeling and dazed.

Using the rebound, the black-faced giant flipped back into the camp.

At that moment, a short, wiry fighter darted forward, dagger flashing with cold blue light.

He stabbed the python at its vulnerable spot, and the “Ghost’s Bane” poison quickly seeped in. The beast thrashed wildly before tumbling into a nearby pit, where it soon stilled, lifeless.

“Wu Niu, nicknamed Mad Bull, one of Lin Zhi’s men. Bai Fei, known as the Little Thief, a follower of Gao Jian. This camp is filled with formidable warriors; they are either Gao Jian’s men or Lin Zhi’s,” Ye Mo reflected, a wry smile on his lips.

At the narrow corridor near the camp gate, the warriors and sea beasts clashed in a frenzy.

With many deep pits and traps, the sea beasts found it difficult to break through. The fighting was fiercest along the safe passage.

The bloody struggle raged for nearly an hour, with many sea monsters as strong as advanced warriors assaulting the camp. Countless lesser beasts were slain, and many warriors suffered wounds in the melee. Fortunately, their weapons were smeared with Ghost’s Bane, so even a single cut could be deadly to the great sea beasts; without it, the battle would have been much harder.

At last, the first wave of the sea beast assault waned. The few remaining monsters, realizing they could not breach the camp, turned and fled.

The warriors quickly cleared away the sea beast corpses from around the palisade. Though exhausted, none dared relax. So far, all the creatures had been ordinary sea beasts; the truly fearsome sea demon beasts had yet to appear.

Ye Mo gazed coolly at the retreating beasts, his eyes fixed on the distant jungle, as if waiting for something yet to come.