The two Silver Wolves were fighting in the sky, very close to the ground. Shanyin Guan kept on trying to bring Long Cheng farther within the demon territory, away from the border. At the same time, he was doing everything he could to push him to gain some altitude. However, Long Cheng was more than uncooperative. The Silver Wolf General was making sure that he stayed close enough to the border that he could escape back beyond the protection of the array formations if need be. While fending off the Silver Wolf Marshal's attacks, Long Cheng flew higher and suddenly fell like lead toward the demons down below. His trajectory and his attacks were completely erratic. No one seemed to understand what he was doing. But there was a method to his chaos.
The Silver Wolf Marshal couldn't put his finger on it, but he could feel something deep in his guts. Several times, he wondered if he should push his own martial arts further. But, somehow, Long Cheng seemed to be holding his own power back. Indeed, he was killing several demons each time, but he could have turned the entire ground red with blood and he hadn't. With each of his attacks, he targeted no more than a few demons at a time, not even a hundred.
After a few attacks, Shanyin Guan realized something. His enemy wasn't targeting his men. Indeed, the Silver Wolf Marshal was leading the armies but they weren't all his.
At the moment, there were around a hundred thousand human soldiers behind the protection of the Hongchen Kingdom's array formations. On the other side of that barrier, there were around three times more demons. However, a third of this army was really under the control of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. A third was composed of mere slaves, most had come from the Desolate Sepulcher, but many had also been enslaved during the expansionist wars of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, or during various raids against rebels and heretics. Finally, the last third were soldiers who were under the banner of Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan. Not all of them came from the Yanbei Region, but they had enlisted under Shanyin Guan. They were loyal to him.
While Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan was the head of those armies, he had around twelve middle to late Accomplished Demons as generals. Of course, half of them were his Six Fangs Generals. They were leading his own men and some of the slaves. The other six generals had all been handpicked by the Empyrean Asura. Shanyin Guan didn't trust them at all, but they were following orders. Most likely, they would also report his actions. Despite all his efforts, Shanyin Guan had not been able to quickly integrate those three armies together. Thankfully, his Six Fangs Generals had been able to form very powerful battalions, well coordinated.
Shanyin Guan wasn't sure if that was the reason, but he decided not to use his best technique, Severance of Oaths. After all, it was dangerous even for him. And none of his men was being killed. Through a strange relief, Shanyin Guan was also afraid. Long Cheng seemed to know exactly who he was targeting. He was trying to weaken the Empyrean Asura, not Shanyin Guan. The political motives behind it were obvious. But Long Cheng was also able to avoid battle formations that would have slowed him down.
Unfortunately, Empyrean Asura had pushed his armies to get ready for invasion. Shanyin Guan would have preferred to stay farther away from the border where they had camps and array formations. In order to keep the advantage of the surprise, they had been ordered to mass near the border at the last moment possible. As such, they had almost no array formation, they could only rely on battle formations. Once again, it was obvious that Empyrean Asura was simply trying to crush humans through both surprise and sheer number. At the same time, he might also be trying to weaken a potential rival, Shanyin Guan. After all, if he died in battle, it wouldn't be bad news for the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. All those loyal to Shanyin Guan would want human blood and would forget their feud with Empyrean Asura.
That plan of Empyrean Asura had already failed and sunk. According to his plans, the barrier should have been down already for several hours. Of course, Empyrean Asura had not been able to account for Sun Liao. The young man had been able to keep resisting his Staircase to Hell much longer than anticipated. And with Cao Yun's help, he was literally pushing back against it. In Saint Citadel Sidi, Empyrean Asura wasn't sure whether he would even be able to actually break apart the array formations of the Hongchen Kingdom. The main defenses around the border would crack and crumble. But many smaller yet powerful array formations might remain. While Empyrean Asura was full of rage and indignation at the idea of mere vermin holding their heads high against him, Shanyin Guan was sensing cracks in his might. Maybe there was a path... No! Opposing Demon God Da Mo was simply impossible. They couldn't kill a god.
As he was lost in thought, Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan almost forgot the current battle. Blood splashed him, and he saw that Long Cheng had slaughtered a few hundred demons in the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
The generals and many of their commandants were starting to panic. But they kept on following Shanyin Guan's orders. None of them tried to move from their position. They were simply strengthening their defenses, both from Long Cheng and from the humans. While the demons were massed near the border, trying to spread as wide as possible, the humans were positioned with a better strategy. Only a few elite troops were close to the border, ready to launch lightning-fast raids and go back under the protection of the barrier. Behind them, there were several lines of defenses spread thinner. One could imagine that there were many array formations and traps everywhere to protect a wider area than the humans could cover.
Long Cheng was extremely pleased to see that his intel was absolutely accurate. He had gotten a lot of information from Cao Yun and from the Huang family. To be honest, the Huang family had also gotten a lot of intel from Cao Yun himself, intel he couldn't easily divulge without revealing more about it. Thanks to all this information, Long Cheng knew exactly who to target, he was able to recognize dangerous battle formations and even fly through a few cracks within some of them. Apart from Silver Wolf Marshal, he had nothing to fear. Everything was going according to plan. Strangely enough, though, he began to feel something strange in his stomach. It was simply too easy...
Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan heard a voice in his mind. Honestly, he had been hearing a lot of voices as the six generals who weren't the Six Fangs kept on asking him to give new orders and to allow them to attack Long Cheng. If all the generals, or even half of them, attacked together, Long Cheng would have been forced to retreat. But their formations would have been weakened. Shanyin Guan wasn't stupid. Behind the border, he had not seen a single archer. Something wasn't right...
As soon as that voice echoed in his sea of consciousness, Shanyin Guan disappeared.
'One Root to Hold the World'!
The next instant, he was directly above Long Cheng. His double-ended spear fell right toward his enemy's neck. Long Cheng had barely enough time to react. Contrary to his expectations, Shanyin Guan had found where he was striking.
'Baring its Fangs to the Moon'!
Long Cheng rapidly rotated and stabbed toward the sky, right at the tip of Shanyin Guan's spear. Everyone heard the howling of a giant wolf, but it also sounded like the thunderous voice of a dragon. Both weapons collided, but Long Cheng had been taken by surprise and was pushed back. He rapidly collided with the ground. At the very last moment, he inclined his sword. This broke the alignment between the two weapons. Shanyin Guan's spear was falling toward Long Chen's head, but the swordsman swept with his weapon. In the end, the spear fell a bit farther away than Long Cheng's head. However, Shanyin Guan was now cutting off his retreat since they were too close to the ground.
'The Moon in the Eye'!
Long Cheng's eyes turned into moons. High in the sky, the twelve moons shone with a very powerful light, almost hypnotic. Many demons unconsciously looked up at the sky despite the current events. Since the attack wasn't directed at them, they quickly came back to their senses, but they realized how powerful this mental attack was. Contrary to them, Shanyin Guan was looking straight into the eyes of the one who had unleashed it. He was frozen for a mere instant as giant moons appeared in his own sea of consciousness. The very next instant, hymns and chants of holy scriptures and heavenly laws echoed throughout the battlefield.
Even though it didn't keep Shanyin Guan paralyzed for more than an instant, it had been enough for Long Cheng to evade him. However, he was truly exhausted. Physically, Long Cheng was good, but he had used a lot of his mental fortitude in a very short time.
Unbeknownst to Long Cheng, Shanyin Guan had been helped twice by one of his Six Fangs Generals. Lu Xiaoya was a bit behind compared to her other comrades. Since the very beginning, she had been observing everything, absolutely everything. Before Shanyin Guan could even figure out what Long Cheng's targets had been, she had. Then, it didn't take her very long to see a pattern in his movements. As chaotic as he was trying to be, Long Cheng was too rational for his own good. Now that she had come to understand the principles behind his targets, she could deduce his own pattern.
On the side of the humans, General Yun Po was in charge while General Long Cheng was away. He had his orders, but also total latitude to adapt them. Now was the time to adapt. It was almost certain that Long Cheng wanted to buy as much time as possible, but Yun Po wouldn't risk his life. He was too precious. Now that he controlled all the armies of the province and even of the neighboring province, even if it was only temporarily, Yun Po exerted his authority.
Suddenly, a dozen hidden units appeared. Some were on the ground, others were in the air. They all had one common feature, they were all archers. The very moment they appeared was already too late to react. Indeed, they had used array formations to conceal themselves until it was time to strike. As such, they had struck before appearing. In fact, it was their strike that had disrupted the array formations.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of arrows flew through the air. Some rose higher and higher while others were almost touching the ground. Without any delay, many Commandants screamed orders. Tens of thousands of demons raised their shields to protect their formation. However, there were weaknesses because of Long Cheng's assaults and massacres. Both Long Cheng and Shanyin Guan were surprised, but Long Cheng had been expecting the attack at any moment. Besides, he knew where the arrows would fall. Thus, he flew toward the barrier as fast as he could. The Silver Wolf Marshal tried to grab him.
The first volley of arrows fell. As they hit their targets, they turned into fiery balls. All over the battlefield, there were tiny suns that appeared and burst forth violently. Clearly, Sun Liao had used his own mastery of archery to improve the array formations and battle formations being used right now by the archers. While the fires were still burning, arrows fell from the sky. All of them disappeared before touching anything. The very next instant, lightning struck randomly all over the landscape. Some demons were unfortunate to be struck directly, only ashes remained of them.
Those who had shields up were barely able to put up their battle formations before lightning struck. Electricity coursed through their shields. Some shields exploded into tiny pieces that stabbed through the demons below. Other shields conducted the electricity into the flesh and blood of demons. The pain was intense, but they could survive it.
When the third volley arrived, the targeted battle formations were clumsy. While some battalions had reacted in time, those who were targeted were all battalions directly under the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Besides, they had been hit by Long Cheng and were not as well-disciplined as Shanyin Guan's army. Those arrows were spinning so fast that they literally turned into tornadoes. Some arrows pierced through several layers of shields. At last, their commandants and even generals were forced to act, namely late Golden Blood Children and Accomplished Demons. They showcased their powers and destroyed many arrows high in the sky. Unfortunately for them, a lot had already gone through.
The barrier was blocking the demons, not the humans. And the humans were ready for a war of attrition. On the other hand, the demons were waiting for the failing promise of Empyrean Asura. The longer the barrier stayed up, the more demons would die. Even those loyal to Empyrean Asura were starting to doubt. They looked up at the sky. The Blood Sun was starting to diminish while the sky was recovering. Nine tiny suns were now visible around the Blood Sun. Could their god fail them?!
While that question was filled with despair, the same question brought hope to Shanyin Guan's heart. There might be a path...
As soon as he got back behind the barrier, Silver Wolf General Long Cheng gave new orders. Several elite troops were ready to act. After seeing the opening of the war, the morale was strong among humans and weak for the demons. This was a good start!