Ding! Ding! Ding!
All the shields were custom-made. Among all races, the Dwarves were the most skilled at crafting shields, and these particular ones were forged by dwarven blacksmiths who had poured their heart and soul into the work. The shields were made from Blood-patterned Steel, a material with astonishing defensive power.
Blood-patterned Steel was not a naturally occurring treasure. Rather, it was refined in the Heavenfire Furnace, where Red Copper, Black Iron, Cold Iron, and other materials were fused together, undergoing a powerful chemical reaction that produced this new alloy. Once smelted, the resulting metal contained natural crimson veins that dramatically enhanced its spiritual energy conductivity, significantly boosting the effectiveness of infused true essence or mana.
It wasn't just useful for crafting shields—Blood-patterned Steel was also a prized material for forging divine weapons and magical treasures.
Though made from ordinary base materials, the end result—Blood-patterned Steel—reached the level of a top-tier Mystic-grade material. Remarkably, the alloy could be mass-produced as long as the input materials were plentiful. In fact, some like Master Lu considered its quality comparable to Earth-grade materials, despite its official classification.
The forging formula for Blood-patterned Steel was a priceless secret. Upon its discovery, it was immediately catalogued in the Scripture Repository, off-limits to the general public. It had since become a specialty of the Great Yi Dynasty.
The shields currently wielded by the soldiers were all made from Blood-patterned Steel. Embedded within each was a complex defensive rune array, specifically a Golden Armored Mystic Weapon Seal—a powerful defensive prohibition technique classified under the Seventy-two Earthly Fiend Seals of the Heavenly Cloud Sealing Method.
Generally, artifacts refined using the Heavenly Cloud Sealing Method that included nine Earthly Fiend Seals were considered magical implements. Once they incorporated ten, they ascended to the level of magical treasures. A fully refined magical treasure contained seventy-two Earthly Fiend Seals, and when all merged into a single, transcendent seal—Earthly transforming into Heavenly Fiend—it would evolve into a Heavenly Fiend Seal, also known as a Spiritual Seal. At this point, the item became a spiritual treasure.
Although most were acquired spiritual treasures, crafted post-birth, their might was not much inferior to innate ones—only lacking innate Dao resonance.
There were thirty-six levels of Heavenly Fiend Seals. Each additional seal brought exponential increases in power and comprehension of universal laws. A treasure with all thirty-six was at the peak of the spiritual treasure tier. Anything beyond that entered the realm of Supreme Treasures, with unfathomable power.
Naturally, the shields here had not reached such a level. They belonged to the class of magical implements, each containing nine Earthly Fiend Seals, making them top-tier magical implements. They were named Golden Radiance Shields, renowned for their incredible defense.
As they activated, streaks of golden light radiated from the shield surfaces, forming an impregnable defensive barrier. When aligned, the shields formed a glimmering wall of light.
The shield-bearers linked their energy flows, pouring their true essence into the shields without pause.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Ice spears struck the wall of shields. The collision unleashed terrifying force. Golden light flared violently from the shields as the impacts drove entire squads of soldiers back, their bodies shaking from the recoil. Despite that, the ice spears failed to break through.
Thanks to the amplification from the Ten Thousand Beast Blood Drum, the soldiers' strength had surged. Even ice spears launched by Ice Crystal Warriors in Frostform could be blocked, albeit with effort. One could even see ice crystals spreading across the Golden Radiance Shields, the biting cold seeping into the hands of those who held them.
One could easily imagine the freezing intensity.
"Snow! Snow! Snow!!"
On the battlefield, tens of thousands of Ice Crystal Warriors roared in unison.
Whooosh!
Simultaneously, layers of snow-white clouds formed from thin air in the sky. The clouds spun, creating a massive eye of the storm, hovering low and exerting immense pressure over the battlefield.
Heavy snow began to fall at shocking speed. Each flake was the size of a fist.
Howling winds swept up the snow, creating a blizzard so dense it obscured all vision. Within moments, the world was drowned in white. The snow fell like a torrential storm, plummeting temperatures to the point that even a single breath would freeze into ice.
Great Divine Ability – Snowbound Apocalypse: Blizzard of Eternal Frost (冰天冻地大雪灾)
This devastating divine technique, unleashed by countless Ice Crystal Warriors, produced snowflakes that penetrated even the smallest gaps. The blizzard swept toward the Iron-Blood Great Wall—a destructive force that threatened complete annihilation.
"Beware the snowflakes! Don't let them get close!"Zhuge Liang's expression changed slightly. He had sensed immense peril from the approaching flakes.
"Eastern Wind Break!!" (东风破)
With a flick of his white feather fan, Zhuge Liang summoned an Eastern Wind. The gale descended from the skies, sweeping through the blizzard with fierce momentum, carrying sharp battlefield intent. As it clashed with the blizzard winds, a howling cacophony erupted, chilling to the bone.
But the Eastern Wind, though fierce, was ultimately too weak—like an insect trying to block a cart—against the divine blizzard conjured by countless Ice Crystal Warriors. It failed to halt the storm.
The snowflakes began landing on the soldiers atop the Iron-Blood Great Wall.
Many instinctively activated their defensive divine arts, forming protective auras around their bodies.
But then, a terrifying sight unfolded.
The snowflakes gently touched the protective barriers, only to instantly freeze them. The flakes vanished, but the energy barriers were turned to solid ice, encasing entire soldiers in crystalline prisons. And as more snow fell, the ice layers grew thicker, spreading inward to consume the body.
Within seconds, the soldiers became living ice statues—ten thousand, then hundreds of thousands, freezing one after another.
The snow was relentless.
Its ice energy was so terrifyingly pure and powerful that nothing could resist it. Even fireballs fizzled out upon contact. The blizzard froze all, without exception.
"Quick! Get the frozen soldiers down and dispel the cold. They can still be saved!"
Despite the brutality of the cold, the Great Yi soldiers were cultivators—not so easily killed. If the icy Qi could be driven out quickly, they could fully recover.
But the cold was overpowering. The moment it touched a soldier, they were instantly sealed in ice orbs.
"This blizzard is far beyond ordinary. Our troops can't fight in such conditions. Even with the Ten Thousand Beast Blood Drum, the losses will be unbearable. I say it's time to dispatch the Divine Crow Corps!"
Zhou Yu made the proposal.
Zhuge Liang hesitated. In his view, it still wasn't the right moment. Once deployed, their element of surprise would be lost.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Suddenly, from the lookout tower, Zhang Fei and the others beat the war drums faster than ever.
Their voices rose in unison with the drumming, echoing across the battlefield like thunder.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!!"
Their cries were infused with overwhelming battle intent, resonating through the air like exploding lightning.
Upon hearing it, the soldiers on the walls felt a surge of bloodlust and courage from deep within. From their pores erupted blood-colored mist—lifeforce flames, burning with unyielding yang energy.
Empowered by the Ten Thousand Beast Blood Drum, this invisible battle spirit ignited instantly.
"Thunder for drums, earth for graves—ten thousand li of blood-clouds mark the campaign trail!"
"Wildlands rage, enemy tribes rampage—but the human race shall never be shamed!"
"Heads may fall, blood may spill—but our iron-boned souls shall fight across the Nine Provinces!"
"With ninety-nine steel blades in hand—we vow never to rest until all foes are slain!"
Zhang Fei roared, Cheng Yaojin howled, and Wushuang Ghost bellowed, their cries merging with the drumbeat into one overwhelming tide of unyielding battle will, sweeping across the battlefield.
Tens of thousands of soldiers joined in, their voices rising like thunder as they sang the war anthem, igniting their lifeforce flames and fueling their battle Qi with blood and fury.