Chapter 356: Shield Mountain, Formation Breaker, Thunder Dragon (Two-in-One)

Chapter 356: Shield Mountain, Piercing Formation, Thunder Dragon (Combined into One)

The Vermilion Bird spewed flames that scorched the snow points, while the Back Weir's gunfire tore through flesh and blood.

Bang!

Fan Wujiu raised his gun and shattered a face of wild, youthful madness. He waved his hand to fan away the shell casings that erupted with smoke, twisted the gun barrel, and slammed several rounds of buckshot into the chamber.

Beneath the Imperial Guard's round helm, a pair of eyes overflowed with murderous intent, tiger-like in their gaze.

The azure torrent had already neared the city below, its searing crimson light shaking the buildings where the yamens stood, their collapse imminent in an instant.

With fewer than fifty men attempting to withstand an onslaught of over a thousand, the task was far too arduous.

Even if most of the Quan Shan Imperial Guards were sequenced initiates, their physical prowess still held an absolute advantage over the students of the Confucian Temple.

Yet these students were no helpless lambs to be slaughtered; they were thugs wielding energy weapons reserved only for the private armies of the Confucian gatekeepers.

Such concentrated firepower, even for someone like Fan Wujiu, now a sixth-ranked warrior, was not to be charged into recklessly, let alone for the others.

"Boss, the brothers can't hold on much longer!"

Yecha, who had moved from the rooftop to guard the yamen gate, roared through their point-to-point communication device.

"What's the casualty count?" Fan Wujiu's voice carried a chilling, grim edge.

"Seventeen lightly wounded, eight severely injured, five fallen in duty."

Yecha answered without hesitation, "Those who can still wield guns have dwindled by a quarter!"

"Damn it."

Fan Wujiu clenched his teeth, his gaze fixed on the figure standing atop the Confucian Temple's rooftops, against the swirling mix of azure and crimson.

Songshan still stood at the apex of that building, her expression indifferent as she surveyed the ravaged battlefield.

Fan Wujiu knew full well that to "unseal and seal" so many brazen, fearless puppets at once was beyond human capability.

Among the mighty figures he had encountered, none had matched this level of strength.

Thus, within the Confucian Temple, there must be a hidden Yellow Liang mainframe controlling the students' newly implanted neural interfaces.

To restore their sanity and avert the doom of the western yamen, they had to destroy that concealed mainframe!

As Fan Wujiu inhaled the acrid smoke, his usually controllable mechanical heart stirred with unease.

"Xiao Bai, Lao Chen, why the hell haven't you moved yet?! If you don't hurry, this bait is going to be devoured!"

Before his thoughts could settle, a sudden upheaval erupted.

Boom! Boom!

Two thunderous explosions rang out in succession, their flames illuminating Fan Wujiu's dark eyes!

The advancing azure wave froze for a moment, and hollow eyes embedded in the fanatical faces turned in unison toward the explosion's source, following Songshan's imprint as it shifted.

"What a bother."

The aura of strategic calculation that once surrounded Songshan vanished, replaced by a fierce, malevolent aura seeping from her features.

Whir.

At that instant, the long-restrained mechanical heart finally surged into wild motion. A piercing red light shot from Fan Wujiu's mechanical eyes.

He clenched his left fist and flicked it forward. Amid the clear clang of metal, a shield large enough to cover half his body sprang forth from the fist's edge.

The slender shield's four corners were carved with clean, sharp mountain motifs, and at its center was inscribed a bold, vigorous character for "Yue."

It was the Wu Mu series single-soldier defensive gear, a sister product to the Back Weir, yet elevated by several ranks!

"Kui Niu, it's time!"

Fan Wujiu muttered coldly, advancing with bold strides, leaping from the yamen's eaves with ferocious momentum.

Where he landed, heads swarmed, and the Vermilion Bird's muzzles glowed with a crimson light that chilled the soul.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Mid-air, Fan Wujiu emptied the buckshot from his gun barrel in one breath, clearing a bloody, flesh-strewn expanse below.

Upon landing, he discarded his gun for a saber, spun on his heel, and unleashed a round of icy gleam.

Clang!

Like a tiger among sheep, the cold light fell, blood erupted, and severed heads left behind headless corpses.

Fan Wujiu raised his shield to block the crimson beams from the Back Weir, glancing back at the battered yamen building.

Yecha and the other Imperial Guards stood frozen, staring at this blood-soaked war god before them.

"What the hell are you staring at? Follow me and charge!"

The dazed men seemed awakened in that instant, without hesitation or doubt, their eyes blazing with terrifying intensity, their Wu Mu shields rising grimly.

Fewer than thirty Imperial Guards formed a triangular shield wall, their blades drawn, guns at the ready, as they charged into the endless azure wave!

At the same time, a storm of gunfire erupted on both sides, so intense it seemed the shooters had finally unleashed their pent-up fury.

The burly Kui Niu, wielding blade and shield, led the Jinze Imperial Guards who had secretly infiltrated Quan Shan City into the puppet ranks, snarling, "Charge! Into the Confucian Temple! Kill Songshan!"

"Surrender and die! Persist in folly, and fall into eternal imperial dungeons!"

A scream capable of piercing gold and splitting stone surged forward like a tidal wave. The surviving Imperial Guards wore snarling faces, their knuckles white with strain, their eyes brimming with deadly intent.

"Surrender and die! Persist in folly, and fall into eternal imperial dungeons!"

Fan Wujiu led the charge, like an unmatched arrowhead at the forefront.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

These fanatical giant puppets paid no heed to their comrades blocking their path, hesitating not as they fired at the Imperial Guards who had plunged into their ranks.

Red beams burned through slender bodies, their residual force striking the Wu Mu shields again and again.

Heat surged, and iron flowers bloomed across the shields, their scattered energy absorbed by the mountain motifs, vanishing without a trace.

The equipment purchased by Li Jun with vast industrial quotas had given the Quan Shan Imperial Guards a chance to counterattack.

Fan Wujiu's "Evil Come" mechanical heart had reached its peak output, entering an overclocked state. His mechanical body grew even thicker and more robust.

Beneath the synthetic skin charred to ash at his shoulders, faint muscle tendrils crept up the cold metal bones.

This fusion of biology and machinery made Fan Wujiu unstoppable, carving a bloody path through the sea of enemies.

What is military sequence, if not human weapons?

Not everyone could match his ferocity. Under Yecha's lead, the "Shield Mountain" had scattered nearly half the azure wave in one breath, leaving them too drained to advance further.

Now, deep within the enemy ranks, surrounded on all sides, they could only switch to a more defensive ring formation, fending off beams from every direction.

Moreover, as the distance closed, the Vermilion Bird's power grew ever stronger. Under relentless bombardment, even the Wu Mu shields could not hold forever.

The scorched shields showed signs of melting, and the ensuing red beams pierced both man and shield, reducing an Imperial Guard to a charred corpse!

"Yecha!"

Seeing this, Fan Wujiu, still charging forward, nearly tore his eyes out.

"Boss, go on ahead. We'll hold them off here!"

Yaksha's left hand, which gripped the shield, had already been covered by molten iron, yet he grinned at Fan Wujiu, his right hand holding a blade raised its thumb, slashing fiercely across his throat!

"Cut down that scoundrel!"

Only by killing Songshan and destroying that yellow-liang host could they break the current deadlock, could there be a chance to turn defeat into victory!

This, Fan Wujiu understood, Yaksha understood, and all the Imperial Guards who had joined the battle understood!

Life and death hung by a thread; there was no room for hesitation.

Fan Wujiu resolutely turned his head, his crimson eyes lifting from behind the shield to gaze upon Songshan, who was now less than ten zhang away.

Their eyes met in the air, both seeing the killing intent that flowed like tears in the other's gaze!

"Kui Niu!"

Fan Wujiu let out a furious shout, and a figure charged in from the side, reckless and overwhelming.

The Kui Niu, its body covered in chunks of flesh, now had a face flushed red, its mighty frame wrapped in suffocating waves of heat.

Without needing Fan Wujiu to speak, he already understood, stepping forward with a bow and bending his knees, raising his left arm to hold the shield over his head.

Fan Wujiu leaped into the air, his feet stomping heavily on the shield as both men exerted their force!

The evil dragon emerged from the abyss, the fierce tiger pounced into the ravine.

Fan Wujiu, like a cannonball, pierced through the scorching heat, his embroidered spring blade cleaving toward the dark green fist hurtling toward him!

"You bastard, I'll kill you!"

"Did you die?"

The izakaya, once filled with the scent of wine and food, was now a pile of ruins burned by a great fire.

"Should you be dead?"

After confirming that the mangled corpse would no longer move, Shan Xiao finally tossed aside the broken blade in his hand, his exhausted body unable to hold on any longer, collapsing onto the flowing bloodwater.

His disheveled hair covered his face, but he had no mind to care, his head bowed as he stared at the ground, his eyes filled with the gratitude of surviving a catastrophe and the lingering tremors of fear.

"So close... just a little more."

Shan Xiao carefully probed his chest with his remaining right hand, where a large piece of the mechanical bone was missing, the edge sharp as if torn apart by force.

The exposed mechanical heart, now unprotected, beat with cautious movements, even revealing a clear fingerprint on its surface.

Just moments ago, the headless Songshan had nearly pierced his chest with a single finger.

As for the head—

Shan Xiao pushed aside the hair blocking his view, turning to look at the figure sitting atop the head with its eyes wide open in rage.

"A trap with good intentions, yet still so many died. Even this formation, which consumed half of this year's workshop quota, has been blown to pieces. In the end, brute force is the only truth."

Xie Bi'an surveyed the surrounding chaos, his pale lips curling into a bitter smile.

"Stop covering it up. My sequence isn't exactly strong, but it's not this fragile. It's just a torn stomach—nothing fatal."

He looked down at the woman kneeling in the mud beside him, her white kimono stained black with gunpowder.

The woman shook her head stubbornly, still pressing tightly against the massive wound, but in the next moment, she could no longer hold back the tears in her eyes, sobbing loudly.

"Stop crying. After tonight, I'll help you reopen the izakaya."

Xie Bi'an gently patted her head, then gazed northward, "Junk, the rest is up to you."

In the central district of Kuang Shan City.

The alleyways, already reduced to ruins, no longer needed the word 'dark'—they lay starkly exposed in the howling wind and snow.

Chen Qisheng extinguished the burning fire on his Daoist robe, concentrating on listening to the gunfire in the night sky, which had become sparse, no longer the dense, violent barrage of before.

"It seems Xia He's side is ending."

Chen Qisheng, whose sleeves had been severed at the elbows, answered himself, "Then we should hurry."

Ma Wangye, his chest armor already in tatters, said nothing and charged forward, his hands spewing black blades wrapped in crimson flames.

Six-grade ink armor, black blades bound with flames!

"Tonight, you Imperial Guards of Kuang Shan City, cannot escape this calamity!"

Songshan let out a ferocious roar, his fists glowing with a dark green iron hue as he struck toward Ma Wangye.

Clang!

The clash of fists and blades produced a series of metallic ringing sounds.

Ma Wangye crossed his blades in a scissor-like slash, cleaving Songshan's iron-like fists, then suddenly thrust two dark gun barrels from his shoulders, spraying a hail of bullets.

Songshan crossed his arms to block, but a sound of tearing fabric echoed behind him, and two more arms extended, plunging into the bullet rain to snap the two glaring gun flames.

"Niu Bazi, hurry!"

The red glow in the helmet's vertical eye was stern, the blade tip directly facing the fist, while blue flames erupted from his ankle, as his iron body clashed with flesh and blood.

Chen Qisheng clasped his hands in the sign of the Azure Dragon, his fingers hidden in armor, his tattered Daoist robe fluttering in the wind.

"The Taoist Ancestor dwells in the universe, the heavenly soldiers circle the tracks."

A jade talisman hung behind Chen Qisheng's head, its surface glowing with alternating cyan light, like an anchor fixed in the gloomy wind and snow.

"The Five Thunder Furious Generals, the Han minister's divine might. The Thunder God's radiance, the Electric Mother's brilliance."

Ma Wangye's twin blades were seized, the scorching flames burning Songshan's hands, making them crackle, yet he remained oblivious, the other two arms clenching their fists and striking down at the helmet's red eye.

At the critical moment, Ma Wangye decisively abandoned his blades, raising both arms to shield his head.

Clang!

Ma Wangye's arm guards were struck so hard they nearly collapsed, the sound of twisted steel making one's scalp tingle.

"Get out of here!"

Songshan, his entire body aflame with fury, fixed his gaze on the young Daoist, his genes emitting an ear-piercing scream that made him tremble involuntarily, his four arms relentlessly striking the troublesome ink armor.

"Chen Qisheng!!!"

Ma Wangye's voice was piercing.

"Bai Yu Jing, the official immortal Chen Qisheng, respectfully invites the Jade Pure Taoist Ancestor with the authority of the Yellow Liang, commanding the gods!"

Chen Qisheng's black hair danced in the wind, his right hand forming a sword and overlapping his left, pointing his finger to the heavens.

In that instant, the ferocious Songshan's four arms gaped wide, attempting to grab the ink armor and use it as a shield over his head.

Unfortunately, Ma Wangye had already anticipated this, and suddenly spewed three-inch flames from his chest, pushing him backward, barely grazing Songshan's fingertips as he dodged.

"Thunder!"

Boom!

A ferocious thunder dragon emerged from the black clouds, plunging down from the sky.

The lightning surged, bleaching the snow-covered city white.

The brief light vanished in a flash, leaving behind a mist-shrouded giant pit.

"It's over. We've lost even our underpants now. Just became an official immortal, and now we have to go back and replace him again."

Chen Qisheng's face was etched with sorrow and anguish, sprawled on the ground in a sprawling, desperate pose, stripped of the imperial thunder's celestial majesty.

"Next time you summon lightning, can the ritual not drag on so endlessly? Do you realize I nearly perished at the hands of mortals?"

Ma Wang Ye sat cross-legged upon the earth, his heart aching as he beheld his newly forged body, now ravaged and scarred beyond recognition.

"Ma Ye, I haven't even had the chance to seek out a lover yet."

"No more. There shall be none henceforth."

Chen Qisheng's throat tightened with unshed tears; he drew a ragged breath and bellowed skyward, "Old Li, this time you shall repay me with a terrestrial immortal's rank—or I swear we are bound for eternity in enmity!"