As Aksai led his allied martial artists into the heart of the danger zone, chaos erupted.
The danger zones of Serenity Peak echoed with the clash of weapons and the roars of tree devils.
Martial artists, clad in their qi-infused armor and wielding their weapons, charged fearlessly into battle. Their swords, spears, and staves glinted in the dim light as they unleashed a barrage of strikes against the encroaching tree devils.
With swift and precise movements, the martial artists targeted the vital points of the tree devils. Their weapons, coated in qi energy and various forms of acidic substances, sliced through the air with deadly accuracy.
Some martial artists also started using torches and other flammable weapons and items to attack the tree devils. They hurled stones coated in fuel and fire to attack the woodland zombies, setting them on fire on the spot.
The tricks Aksai had developed in battling against the tree devils were used on a wide scale by his army of martial artists to deal maximum damage. These tactics allowed the martial artists to gain some initial momentum over the tree devils.
Of course, the initial surprise didn’t last very long.
The branches of the demon tree that had spread far and wide rustled unnaturally, and the tree devils were forced to act with the utmost ferocity they had within them. Their angry cries and the ferocity in their eyes only conveyed one message to the martial artists: they were not to be underestimated.
With their mastery over wood, earth, and water element Spirit spells, the tree devils countered the attacks of the martial artists with formidable force.
Swoosh. Grab. Pull.
Roots erupted from the ground, entangling the legs of unsuspecting fighters and rendering them immobile. Earth element spells created barriers of solid rock, blocking the path of the advancing martial artists and forcing them to find alternate routes.
Meanwhile, water element spells formed lethal whips of pressurized rushing water, threatening to literally pierce anyone who dared to approach. The martial artists fought valiantly against these elemental assaults, their determination unyielding.
As the battle raged on, the martial arts masters remained at the forefront, their weapons dancing through the air with unmatched precision. With each swing, they struck down multiple tree devils, their movements fluid and effortless.
Amidst the chaos, the voices of the martial artist leaders rang out, rallying their allies and urging them to press onward.
Aksai, on the other hand, took things lightly. He wanted to conserve his energy as much as possible for the final battle with the corrupted druid.
He dealt with any easy-to-deal-with opponent using his Flying Lian Sword. As for the tree devils, who had the same level of power as someone in the late stages of the Bronze Body Realm, he let the martial arts masters handle them.
Aksai was really impressed with the way the one-eyed man and gray-haired woman from the Grand Martial Hall fought.
He had to admit that their martial arts were a cut above the rest, thanks to the Golden Sun Codex they had studied from the Grand Martial Hall. The martial arts belonging to other martial arts organizations paled in comparison.
The martial artists the Grand Martial Hall deployed were also a formidable force to be reckoned with. Generally speaking, they had better offensive and defensive equipment than their peers. As such, they could fight with the tree devils more effectively.
Aksai was glad that he had adopted the siege approach with the Grand Martial Hall instead of direct confrontation. He was sure that both sides would have suffered tremendous losses of human resources if the battle had taken place.
His all-out war against the corrupted druid would have become many times more difficult than it was at this point if he had decided to overtake the Grand Martial Hall the hard way.
***
Before long, Aksai and his forces reached only 300 meters away from the perimeter of the city square.
This was somewhat the same distance that Aksai had been the last time when he looked at the tree devil from a distance for the very first time.
At that time, Aksai had to run away because he feared that he would be overwhelmed by the number of tree devils prowling about in this part of the city. However, this time, the situation was different.
“There he is,” Aksai mumbled to himself as he looked at the blurred image of the corrupted druid seated calmly under a giant demon tree. At this point, he still had his eyes closed. It was as if the corrupted druid was either not aware of the ongoing all-out war between the martial arts and the tree devils or he didn’t care about the war at all.
‘This guy… is he still practicing his cultivation technique in this chaos?’
Aksai couldn’t help but be surprised as he and his forces started getting closer and closer to the demon tree and the corrupted druid himself by proxy.
Unlike the martial artists who didn’t know about Spirit cultivation, Aksai could tell instantly that the corrupted druid was indeed practicing a strange Spirit cultivation technique. It had turned him into an immovable tree trunk as the layers of wood skin surrounded his body and the vines climbed over his form.
‘This feeling… My initial guess was right. This corrupted druid is indeed cultivating negative emotions that are processed by the people inside the Devil’s Den.
This also means that he is going to react violently when his prey starts to escape from his grasp. I hope Zinnia does her job well.’
Aksai thought to himself as he narrowed his eyes on the corrupted druid.
Aksai’s heart started thumping in his chest as he got closer to the demon tree. His sixth sense was sending him all kinds of danger signals as he reduced the distance between him and the corrupted druid.
However, he knew that it was a normal survival response for any living being. As such, he kept on advancing with his allies following his lead.
“Charge… charge ahead. Let’s end this nightmare,” screamed Master Jin Jolan.
“Hahaha. So if we kill that monster under the tree then the Devil’s Den gets destroyed, right? Then what the hell are we waiting for? Let’s cut through these twigs and attack that damn tree man all at once,” yelled Master Wen Wei as he followed in Aksai’s footsteps.
The martial artists were high in spirits. Though they had some casualties among themselves, the tricks Aksai had taught them proved to be extremely valuable in dealing with the tree devils. They had slain many tree devils for good on their way to get where they were.
Overall, it looked like the martial artists’ side would be able to reach the corrupted druid before they got overwhelmed by the tree devils. They were assured by Aksai that they would be able to disperse the Devil’s Den if they could kill the corrupted druid.
However, at this point…
Just when it looked like Aksai and his allies had a strong hand, the corrupted druid opened his eyes.
And from that moment on, the nightmare for the martial artists truly began.