Immediately, the squads rushed out. Some took to the sky, rushing forward in the wind, while others sprinted across the ground, movements so swift they appeared as blurs.
Within seconds, the Crimson Wolf Clan’s enormous army—hundreds of thousands strong—had no time to reorganize or regroup. The Silver Fox elites were upon them.
…
Screams shattered the stagnant air as the Silver Fox disciples attacked. Groups of Crimson Wolf cultivators barely had time to register the ambush before illusions swirled around them—foxfire flickers and phantom silhouettes causing disarray.
Lethal blades and Qi-infused strikes followed in the illusions’ wake. In the span of a heartbeat, entire squads of enemies were cut down.
Feng Lian herself darted through the crowd, dual daggers in hand, each blade wreathed in a ghostly silver aura. She danced between the Crimson Wolf lines, severing weapons, slicing throats, and vanishing into the next wave of foes before they could retaliate.
Everywhere she passed, blood sprayed—and the remaining enemies were left rattled, unable to even guess where she would appear next.
A short distance away, the Grand Elder moved with more direct force. Wielding a slender spear crackling with black-and-silver lightning, she tore through lines of cultivators.
Her cultivation base showed Mortal Tribulation might despite her being in the Dao Core Formation Realm, and each thrust from her spear unleashed a thunderous pulse that ruptured enemies’ meridians or blew them apart. Even protective talismans were destroyed under the concentrated barrage.
All around, other Silver Fox squads employed stealth or specialized illusions. Some conjured illusions of monstrous foxes, causing entire enemy platoons to panic and scatter.
Others attacked from vantage points up in the air—raining Qi-laced arrows that struck with deadly precision. In the midst of it all, the Crimson Wolf cultivators found themselves in chaos, turning weapons every which way in desperate attempts to fight back.
…
Seeing the devastation from above, Shen Yuan crossed his arms. His dark eyes flashed with satisfaction. Though the Crimson Wolf Clan boasted numbers in the hundreds of thousands, many were lesser allies or hired mercenaries. None of them were near the level of the fully trained, Peak Dao Core Forming Realm Silver Fox elites.
What once seemed a terrifying horde now looked like an unorganized rabble under the foxes’ coordinated assault.
Bing Rong hovered beside Shen Yuan, overlooking the entire battlefield calmly. “They’re already losing their fighting spirit,” she observed. “Look—some are trying to retreat.”
Down below, pockets of Crimson Wolf cultivators were attempting to break free from the battlefield. They turned to flee, scattering into small groups.
But the Silver Fox squads had formed an outer ring of attackers, ensuring no one could escape. The moment a group tried to run out, sleek figures blurred into their paths—cutting them down mercilessly.
‘They’re unstoppable with this cultivation base,’ Bing Rong mused inwardly, casting a sidelong glance at Shen Yuan. ‘He made an entire legion of top-tier assassins. Not a single one of them is inferior to our core disciples and they have the fighting strength of the Mortal Tribulation Realm.’
Ling Yue’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “We assassins are really weak in a large-scale war. We do not have large-area attack skills; otherwise, killing all of them within minutes would have been a lot easier.”
Shen Yuan nodded. “Yes, but that’s the specialty of assassins. To kill a target silently, assassins are not meant to fight like this. But they are fighting like this nonetheless due to their overwhelming power.”
Bing Rong nodded. “True, the strongest person is that old man from the Crimson Wolf Clan, and even he is merely on the 7th Level of Dao Core Forming Realm. He’s a normal cultivator who can’t fight above levels.”
From their point of view, Shen Yuan spotted distinct clusters of cultivators wearing more ornate crimson robes, rallying around a few towering figures.
At least two of them radiated a heavier spiritual pressure—likely the high elders or leaders of the Crimson Wolf Clan. They barked frantic orders in attempts to regroup.
“Ling Yue,” Shen Yuan said quietly, “go and take out the high-level elders and leaders of the Crimson Wolf Clan as well as any other force that joined them. Once they are out of the picture, killing the rest will become all the easier.”
Ling Yue bowed her head, her golden eyes turning sharp with killing intent. “Understood, Young Master.” Without another word, she kicked off the air, vanishing in a blur of silver-white robes.
From high above, Shen Yuan and Bing Rong watched as Ling Yue descended into the chaos below. She sliced through the battlefield like a silent specter, weaving past throngs of Crimson Wolf cultivators locked in desperate attempts to survive the Silver Fox elites.
Her black hair and fox ears glimmered in the dimming light, a brief streak of silver whenever she utilized her technique to kill someone.
A handful of ornate-robed figures stood out among the horde, rallying any stragglers who still had the will to fight. These were the high elders and the clan leader of the Crimson Wolf Clan—all of them in the Dao Core Forming Realm.
Ling Yue darted behind a row of panicking foot soldiers. Her figure shimmered, illusions trailing in her wake. In less than a heartbeat, she appeared before a towering man in crimson armor—one of the Wolf Clan’s elders.
“Y-you—!” the elder managed, his eyes widening as he recognized the woman before him. He swung a broad, Qi-infused blade at her, the arc pulsing with fire elemental energy.
But in the instant it took to swing, Ling Yue was no longer there. A faint afterimage dissipated, leaving the elder off-balance. She reappeared at his side, a short blade humming with condensed dark Qi in her hand.
Shhk.
A stifled cry echoed as the elder’s eyes went blank. Ling Yue slipped away, letting the body drop lifelessly to the blood-soaked ground.
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…
Across the battlefield, the second robed leader—a thin old man with patches of gray in his hair—glanced around frantically. He felt the sudden loss of his comrade’s Qi signature and realized a powerful foe was systematically hunting them down.
“Form up!” he barked to the cluster of subordinates around him, each wearing partial insignia of allied clans. “Protect me and find that woman!”
A ring of cultivators snapped into a defensive formation, brandishing weapons and talismans. They braced themselves for an attack from any direction. Yet, no matter how they braced or scanned the field, their eyes found only the swirl of illusions conjured by the other Silver Fox squad members.
Suddenly, one of the allied cultivators let out a startled yelp and collapsed, a single dagger protruding from his throat. The rest tried to retaliate, but they hit only empty air. The dagger’s thrower was nowhere to be seen.
The old man’s heart pounded. ‘An assassin of this caliber…? Not even the Ancestor of Silver Fox Sect should be this strong.’ Anxiety gnawed at him. “Show yourself, coward!” he roared.
As if answering him, a swirl of dark fire flickered at his side. The illusions parted—and Ling Yue stepped through, her eyes cold and unblinking. “I believe we have something to settle,” she said, her voice calm yet filled with dense killing intent.