"BOOM—!!!"
Power of the Rank 4 tier detonated thunderously in the center of the battlefield!
A violent shockwave, visible to the naked eye, tore up blood-soaked mud and shattered stone across the sky, sweeping madly in all directions like a small storm.
Those low-rank Gu Masters closest to the two men, friend and foe alike, cried out in alarm as they were overturned and blown away by that unreasoning blast of air, retreating outward in utter disarray.
Once the dust and smoke thinned somewhat, who held the upper hand could in fact be seen at a single glance.
Li Mang's gaunt frame had both feet nailed firmly into the ground, yet he still slid backward uncontrollably, forcibly plowing two deep furrows several zhang long across the hard, bloodied earth!
That layer of ghastly white bone armor condensed from Gu worms upon his body was now covered in dense cracks like a spider's web.
Those hands gripping the Bone Spine Scepter had split open at the base of the thumbs, blood dripping ceaselessly down the pale white shaft.
In contrast, Lin Cang.
This genuine Rank 4 powerhouse stood like an unshakable iron tower. He had merely retreated half a step. Aside from the rock beneath his feet cracking faintly and the qi and blood within his body churning somewhat, he was almost entirely unharmed!
This single clash thoroughly proved two things.
First, Li Mang, relying on the trump card in his hands, did indeed now possess the qualification to stand upon a Rank 4 battlefield.
Second, borrowed power was, in the end, only borrowed.
He was still no match for Lin Cang!
"Old dog!"
There was not the slightest pity in Lin Cang's gaze — only ever more blazing fury and killing intent.
Having confirmed that his opponent was merely propping himself up with an external object, Lin Cang naturally would not let slip this perfect chance to strike a man when he was down. He had long since wished to grind Li Mang's bones to dust and scatter the ashes!
"Shwah! Shwah!"
Rank 4 — Gold Sever Leaf Gu!
Two enormous leaf blades, seemingly solid and gleaming with the luster of gold and iron, came pressing down one after another from a distance with a shriek that tore the air!
Li Mang swung his bone scepter in utter disarray, barely managing to block the first strike.
But Lin Cang gave him no opportunity whatsoever to catch his breath or open the distance. The movement Gu at his feet activated instantly, and Lin Cang's robust frame abruptly drew out a blurred afterimage as he closed in directly!
Rank 4 — Iron Bone Gu!
"BAM—!"
A heavy, overwhelming iron fist smashed viciously into the bone shield Li Mang had hastily propped up.
The bone shield shattered.
Li Mang let out a muffled grunt and was once again blasted back several steps.
His fighting style was utterly different from Lin Cang's sweeping, simple, crude crushing force.
Faced with Lin Cang's violent offensive, wave after wave, Li Mang had all but abandoned any intent to counterattack head-on. With exceedingly seasoned and troublesome tactics, he relied on an endless stream of bone armor, bone spikes, and bone spears, along with the Bone Spine Scepter in his hand that ceaselessly poured out Rank 4 power, to block, entangle, divert force, and stall against Lin Cang.
After more than ten rounds of exchange, Lin Cang clearly held the absolute upper hand.
"Shhhk!"
A Gold Sever Leaf flew past Li Mang's shoulder, instantly carving open a bloody gash deep enough to expose bone. Immediately after, one of Lin Cang's heavy fists shattered the greater part of the bone armor across Li Mang's chest.
Li Mang staggered backward, blood spilling ceaselessly from the corners of his shriveled mouth, his appearance wretched in the extreme.
Seeing this scene, those White Bone Alliance Gu Masters around them, who had just moments ago felt a sliver of wild joy and hope because of that "Golden Primeval Essence," soon found their hearts clouded over once more.
"Alliance Master…"
"So he really can't hold after all?"
"A genuine Rank 4 is simply too terrifying."
However, unlike the unease of those around him, Li Mang, standing at the eye of the storm, displayed not even half a trace of panic or fear upon that aged face, from beginning to end.
Not only that.
As the battle continued, Lin Cang soon perceived that something was off.
Because he discovered — though Li Mang had been retreating all along, taking beating after beating, this old dog had never once truly withdrawn from his path of advance!
When Lin Cang went left, seeking to tear open the defensive line, Li Mang would take a solid blow head-on if that was what it cost, so long as he could seal off the left side. When Lin Cang tried to circle around him and go straight for the White Bone Alliance's Rank 3 clan elders directing the battle, countless bone spikes and bone spears would immediately coil in from the flank like maggots clinging to bone.
Even at the cost of eating another of Lin Cang's heavy fists, Li Mang would, without fail, stubbornly and maddeningly plant himself back in Lin Cang's path!
Lin Cang's fist halted in midair.
He stared fixedly at that tottering old man opposite him, and finally understood.
"You… never intended to beat me at all."
Lin Cang's voice was low, carrying a suppressed fury.
"Cough… cough cough…"
Li Mang's mouth was now full of blood, his chest heaving violently like a ruined bellows, yet he merely braced himself hard upon his bone scepter and slowly steadied his frame.
Then, upon that aged face shaped like withered bone, an ugly smile emerged, one brimming with endless mockery.
"Beat you?"
"This old man…"
"Why must this old man beat you?"
As he spoke, Li Mang's deep, dark gaze traveled past Lin Cang's robust shoulder, to the place behind him.
To that vast White Bone Alliance army, black as a tide — already beginning to stir once more!
Only at this moment did Li Mang's true scheme finally reveal its most hideous face.
Just earlier, when Lin Cang, a Rank 4 powerhouse, had personally charged the lines, the White Bone Alliance had clearly held the advantage in manpower, yet had been suppressed by that one man alone to the point that even Rank 3 clan elders dared not easily show their heads, their battle line falling back step by step.
Because no one was willing to face the edge of a Rank 4 head-on.
But now it was different.
Lin Cang, Black Blood Stockade's sole pillar of stability, had been pinned down here with Li Mang's very life!
Those White Bone Alliance Rank 3 clan elders who had been scattered by Lin Cang's ferocious might and driven to the rear had at last reorganized.
One.
Two.
Three…
More than ten Rank 3 clan elders rejoined the battlefield!
The White Bone Alliance's greatest original advantage — numbers — was, in this moment, once again brought to bear in full.
They had more men.
More than Black Blood Stockade!
Whereas on Black Blood Stockade's side, those Gu Masters who had already suffered grievous casualties and endured days on end of beast tides and battles against men were far from intact in every respect — their Primeval Essence depleted, their Gu worms damaged, and their bodies riddled with wounds.
When the White Bone Alliance's Rank 3s pressed forward again en masse, Black Blood Stockade's outer battle line almost immediately felt that suffocating pressure.
"Bam!"
One Black Blood Stockade Rank 3 clan elder had just used every ounce of his strength to block the enemy before him when another White Bone clan elder came slaughtering in from the flank with a savage grin!
A bone spear instantly pierced clean through his thigh!
"Hold!"
Another Black Blood Stockade clan elder tried to break away to reinforce him, only to be forcibly entangled in place by two Rank 3s from the alliance, unable to advance an inch.
Lacking Lin Cang, that high-tier combat strength holding the line, the defenses below — made up of utterly exhausted Rank 1 and Rank 2 Gu Masters — soon produced their first fatal breach!
"Boom!"
One stretch of the line was forcibly torn open!
White Bone Alliance Gu Masters poured through the breach like floodwater bursting a dam. Those Black Blood Stockade Gu Masters who had been full of fervor moments ago, pushing outward in Lin Cang's wake, could now only be forced to retreat once more!
The first breach.
Then, the second!
The third!
At first, they only fell back a dozen-odd steps, attempting to re-form and hold to the death.
But as more and more White Bone Alliance Rank 3s joined the battlefield, the breaches torn open grew wider and wider, and the distance of Black Blood Stockade's retreat began to expand rapidly.
Several dozen steps.
A hundred steps.
The ground Lin Cang had forcibly seized back with his fists was now being spat out again, bit by bit, in utter humiliation!
And all of this was seen clearly by Lin Cang, standing at the center of the battlefield.
"Aaah—!"
Not far off, a young Black Blood Stockade Rank 2 Gu Master, surrounded and attacked by several men, had his chest pierced clean through head-on by a bone spear. Blood sprayed wildly as he fell to the ground screaming.
On another side, the captain of an elite squad was cut in half at the waist by an enemy Rank 3 clan elder in a single blow. The Black Blood clansmen around him had eyes red as blood, yet were forced to fall back!
"Courting death!!!"
Lin Cang's eyes went utterly bloodshot!
"Get out of my way!!!"
Light Gold Primeval Essence erupted madly!
Lin Cang, like a tiger gone completely berserk, delivered one terrifying heavy fist without the slightest reservation, blasting Li Mang flying head-on!
"Crack!"
The bone armor across Li Mang's chest shattered outright.
His whole body spewed a great mouthful of blood as he was sent flying backward like a kite with a severed string!
But this time, Lin Cang did not pursue.
He whirled around, ready to rush to the aid of the clansmen being surrounded and slaughtered.
Yet the next moment—
"Boom, boom, boom—!"
The mud beneath his feet abruptly burst apart!
A great mass of ghastly white, razor-sharp bone spikes rose from the ground like a forest of death, forcibly severing his path.
At the same same, that Li Mang ahead of him — who was clearly still coughing blood, who could scarcely even stand — was already gripping the Bone Spine Scepter once more, blocking his way again like a nightmare that could not be shaken off.
Lin Cang's expression sank completely.
Gloomy to a terrifying degree.
Yet Li Mang laughed even as he coughed blood.
A laugh exceedingly grating to the ear.
"What?"
"Great Patriarch Lin."
"Anxious now?"
Lin Cang stared fixedly at him, both fists clenched until they cracked.
For the first time, this Rank 4 powerhouse truly felt the frustration of a situation with no outlet.
Of course he could win.
If the fight continued, this Li Mang before him, sustained only by borrowed power, would sooner or later be worn down and killed.
But— Black Blood Stockade could not afford to wait.
Every moment longer he was stalled here meant several more clansmen below might die.
Only at this moment did Lin Cang truly understand Li Mang's calculation.
What this old fox was truly gambling on had never been whether he himself could defeat Lin Cang.
But rather— whether, before Lin Cang killed him, the White Bone Alliance could first punch straight through Black Blood Stockade!
This was an open stratagem.
And so, the situation on the frontal battlefield began to tilt truly and irrepressibly toward the White Bone Alliance.
"Woooo— Woooo—!"
The horn of retreat sounded for the first time on the main battlefield.
Order after order was relayed swiftly to the rear, and those Black Blood squads still fighting desperately at the outermost edge could only grit their teeth and abandon the ground beneath their feet step by step, falling back toward the second line of defense.
And at almost the very same time.
On the other side.
The battlefield of the three kings had likewise held out to the very limit of collapse!
In midair, the Green Wing Gu beat rapidly behind Lin Mu's back.
He had just brought his fingers together like a sword and cleaved out a Metal Sever Leaf, barely managing to force that exceedingly agile Thousand Beast Deer King to alter its charging route once, saving a dozen-odd low-rank Gu Masters below.
"Haah…"
Lin Mu had not even had time to crush a Primeval Stone and restore his Primeval Essence.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
The Sound Transmission Gu at his waist shook violently once more!
It was the Crimson Armored Giant Lizard King's side!
"Lin Mu!"
"Get back here!!"
From within the Sound Transmission Gu came the hoarse, furious roar of a Rank 3 clan elder.
The sound was exceedingly chaotic, mixed with the earth-shaking shrieks of savage beasts and the violent detonations of colliding Gu worms.
"This brute has gone berserk!"
"It's pressing forward again!!"
Suspended in midair, Lin Mu's expression instantly turned exceedingly ugly.
He lowered his head and glanced below.
The Deer King was still there.
That figure like grey-green lightning was circling ceaselessly around Black Blood Stockade's already fragile defensive line at high speed, probing.
If he turned and left now, with the capability of that remaining clan elder, it was simply impossible to restrain this speed-specialized Thousand Beast King alone.
The line would very likely be torn open in an instant!
But the Giant Lizard King's side could not hold either.
Originally, only with Lin Mu and two Rank 3s working together could they barely maintain a stable hold on that thick-hided, thick-fleshed Crimson Armored Giant Lizard King.
After he had been forced to leave and reinforce the Deer King, those two had already held on alone for far too long.
They were likewise nearing their limit.
"Damn it…"
Lin Mu clenched his teeth, a rare flash of irritation passing through his eyes.
Several times he wanted to beat his wings and return to reinforce the giant lizard battlefield.
But that Deer King, seemingly by some beast-like keen instinct, could detect the movements of the greatest threat above the line.
The moment Lin Mu rose even slightly in altitude, showing any sign of moving away, that grey-green figure would immediately accelerate!
Its enormous antlers tore the air, pressing madly toward the breach in the line, forcing Lin Mu to abandon the reinforcement and turn back to intercept.
Once.
Twice.
Lin Mu was nailed firmly to the Deer King's battlefield.
The irritation and sense of powerlessness in his heart grew heavier and heavier.
And on the other end of the Sound Transmission Gu at his waist, the voices grew more and more chaotic, more and more shrill!
"Left!"
"Stop it!"
"Don't let this brute get through!!"
Crash!
Suddenly!
Along with an exceedingly violent crash, like a mountain collapsing and the earth splitting apart, a heart-rending scream abruptly came through the Sound Transmission Gu!
"Aaah—!!!"
And immediately after, came the Giant Lizard King's low, tyrannical, terrifying roar, brimming with endless bloodlust!
Lin Mu's body, hovering in midair, went rigid.
His pupils abruptly contracted.
"What happened?!"
Lin Mu shouted sternly into the Sound Transmission Gu.
No one answered.
Only chaotic sounds of impact, and beast roars that made the scalp crawl.
"Speak!!"
Lin Mu shouted sternly again, his voice now carrying a trace of urgency he could not conceal.
A full several breaths passed.
At last, from the other end of the Sound Transmission Gu came a heavy, labored panting, like the pulling of a broken-down bellows.
It was the other clan elder.
Only this time, his voice carried a trace of terror that not even a Rank 3 powerhouse could suppress.
"Dead… he's dead…"
Lin Mu was stunned.
His mind went blank for an exceedingly brief instant.
"What?"
"He's dead!!!"
That clan elder practically howled it out in despair.
"Lin Mu!"
"There's only this old man left here!"
"I can't hold—"
BOOM—!!!
A deafening, terrifying explosion!
That clan elder's despairing roar cut off abruptly.
Within the Sound Transmission Gu, there remained only a violent, grating hiss.
In this moment.
Lin Mu's expression changed completely.
On the main battlefield, Black Blood Stockade, having lost Lin Cang holding the line, was falling back step by step.
And on the battlefield of the three kings, that line which had merely lost its balance and could still barely be maintained had at last, with the death in battle of the first Rank 3 clan elder, begun to truly collapse.
Two battlefields.
Both giving way at once.
Black Blood Stockade— had reached desperate straits.