Awakening the Divine Spark

Seeing the chaos that was breaking out, Lee snorted, and sarcastically said, "Rules, huh?"

"The gas is not deadly ..." Chi Yanzhen said, probably trying to find a reasonable explanation, but nothing that came to mind made sense.

Setting defensive traps was normal, but so was the concept of elemental lords paving the way for regular disciples to attack.

Fortunately, not everyone in the rows of attackers was incompetent. Within few heartbeats the poisonous clouds were dispersed, and the affected people taken care of. Elemental lords with wind affinity easily blew the gas away.

The morale had taken a hit, though.

Some tried to give shouts of encouragements, but no stay strong! or let’s make them pay for everything! couldn’t make up for nausea and the wet feet. Not every disciple was good at fighting and many regretted coming here.

Refining and Elixir Halls back at home suddenly seemed like a dream places to slave their lives away, to not speak of Provision Hall or Sect Affairs Hall, where everyone who worked there were basically bureaucrats.

But it was only the beginning.

As the army of disciples moved on, not only people began to trigger more gas traps – there were stake pits covered with seemingly secured foliage where tens of disciples began to loose their lives. The matter long seized to be an adventurous endeavor, and there were many who refused to move on.

If this was a regular army, these disciples would’ve probably been executed on the spot. Unfortunately, the best thing that could happen now was for the Hall of Justice enforcers to disable the rebellious minded ones to be trialed later.

As more screams of agony echoed through the marsh, disciples got more innovative. Many faked loosing consciousness, some of those who actually got injured by the sharp stakes in disguised pits screamed their minds out to show they were too much in pain to continue. And there were even those who injured themselves in secret and fell to the ground bloodied all over.

The retaliation attack turned out to be an embarrassment.

But if almost quarter of the attackers were trying to play fools, the defenders weren’t.

Out of nowhere, a ten feet wide dark-purple screen appeared fifty yards from Lee’s group and the long forgotten Raixoo!!! shook the marsh. His mind blanked for a moment, trying to process the implications, but fortunately the long months of formation drills in the fortress kicked in.

"Lian! Remember I taught you how to fight against spear formations?!" Lee shouted and unsheathed his sword.

Technically their weapons, even his three and a half feet long sword, were at disadvantage against spear users. But there was a thing Lee learned in Ashland. The scourge forces were glass cannons.

Surprisingly, this time the vanguard squad that charged out of the rift didn’t seem to be that scary. Even them all lighting up in red flames didn’t look like anything special after witnessing what real elemental masters in the sect could do. And for some reason they seemed slow.

"What the fuck!" Chi Yanzhen cursed along with hundreds of disciples.

"Ashland forces!" Lee’s shout returned him to reality and the massacre began.

Regular disciples might’ve become disorganized, but elemental masters were a different beast. No one from the scourge squad even managed to lift their spears properly when the bloody storm in the form of Chi Yanzhen and Li Hanchen flew over.

In the span of two breaths there was no one left apart the two of them, and now they proudly stood among mutilated bodies of the scourge, trying to show off their handsomeness.

Cheers erupted in the lines of attackers. It was the boost in morale everyone needed, but unfortunately the joy was short lived.

One after another rifts began to open and batches of around fifty spear fighters, covered in flames, charged out. From the very start it was obvious they didn’t intend to win, or to even fight properly. They charged against the elemental warriors of the Nethermoon sect ... and died.

The problem was that with the senior disciples stepping forth, no one noticed a rift opening at the back of the army.

This time the Raixoo!!! was met with screams of agony as the experienced vanguard soldiers pierced the lines of the regular disciples.

Obviously their victory was short lived, but no one expected for the Nethermoon Sect to suffer notable casualties even before breaching the Blackwater fortress. The worst part was that the rifts kept opening and immediately closing all over the place.

Lee had no clue how Lunax pulled this off and why, but it was clear the guy had decided to destroy his own army. The most reasonable explanation was that they intended to weaken the attacking force, but it was hard to tell whether Ashland’s forces could ever recover from such blow.

The initial confrontation was chaotic, but the Nethermoon sect’s army slowly proceeded forward. The scourge appearing allowed them to avoid many traps, in fact, Ashland’s vanguard forces suffered notable losses because of them.

Lee’s group got to fight only on one occasion, when the remnants of one squad – three elemental warriors managed to charge past Chi Yanzhen’s and Li Hanchen’s duo.

Ignoring the objections of the three girls, Lee and Xiao Lian took the lead, dashing forward to meet the attackers, but they didn’t try to fight them. They did nothing but deflected the initial spear attacks and the four scourge died under the furious Qin Yujian’s sword.

The powerful spear formation was easily destroyed the moment the four spears pointed towards the sky, and no matter how much elemental energy the Ashland’s warriors summoned, their heads left their shoulders in the next instant.

Even Ling Xiaotao and Shu Ying managed to land a couple of timely swings and now, their swords covered in blood, looked for more enemies to slaughter.

Lee wasn’t sure how many Ashland’s forces died, but his guess was that it had to be all of it, making it several thousands. Meanwhile at the Nethermoon Sect’s side died at most hundred unlucky outer disciples. The math was overwhelmingly positive, although not for the friends of the fallen.

Majority of the disciples were all pumped up, and urged their seniors to lead the charge. The momentum was on their side and it was only proper to use it.

For some reason no one considered the tall stone walls to become a problem. The logic dictated that the junior elders, the elemental lords in the army, had to take care of it.

After Chi Yanzhen’s and Li Hanchen’s spectacular performance, to Lee’s great annoyance, their section of the army somehow turned into the main attacking force. Moreover, only now he realized that the previous choice to pick the only stable surface to walk on, the road, probably wasn’t the smartest one.

Somehow, naturally, their position transformed into the spearhead of the army, and once again he became a part of a vanguard.

’This will be bad!’ Lee thought, throwing glances around while quickly assessing situation.

While there were many outer disciples nearby, there were several elemental masters as well. Moreover, two elemental lords, with one being Shen Rouya, were also in the vicinity.

Then he said to his group in a commanding tone, "Lian! We’re keeping next to each other, with you half a step to the front! Yujian! You’re to his left. You two, watch our backs!"

"Why do we have to stay behind!" Ling Xiaotao immediately threw a tantrum.

"Alright, you go first." Lee said without batting an eye, "After you die we’ll continue in a three man formation."

Meanie!

Bastard!

Ling Xiaotao and Shu Ying murmured under their noses, but Lee couldn’t care less. Disciples from all sides were already charging forward and they had to keep up.

A quick glance over his shoulder told Lee that Shen Rouya was already accumulating elemental power to open a path for them.