Chapter 1178: Battle of Zhuolu (1)

Zhou Yu's pupils abruptly contracted upon seeing this. He wanted to move, but found himself unable to keep up, and all he could do was instinctively fold his arms in front of himself as a shield, while the karmic fire around him formed a protective cocoon.

However, he knew full well that this wouldn't be enough to save him.

The oncoming attack was causing his eardrums to tremble violently, and deep trenches had been plowed into the ground in its wake. This was definitely not an attack that an Infernal Judge could withstand!

Am I going to die here?

Right as this thought sprang into his mind, a burst of Yin energy that was equally as fearsome knocked him aside violently.

He was sent flying back like a cannonball, but he paid no heed to his own injuries as he immediately raised his head and cast his gaze forward with an intense look in his eyes.

As a result, he was able to see that the Yin energy that had just erased over 100 heavy cavalry units out of existence had come from a stone, one that was only around the size of a thumb!

We're being attacked by a Yama-King!

An overwhelming sense of peril instantly pierced directly into his mind, and he sprang to his feet without any hesitation. "Retreat!"

The sound of thundering hooves quickly rang out as one row of heavy cavalry units after another retreated in unison. As soon as they regained their footing, tens of thousands of spear-wielding soldiers positioned themselves in front of the heavy cavalry units, using their giant shields to form a defensive wall. Behind the heavy cavalry units, tens of thousands of flaming arrows flew up into the sky, resembling dazzling stars in the night.

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Zhou Yu habitually raised a hand to wipe away the non-existent cold sweat on his forehead. Just a moment ago, he had thought that his fate was sealed. Even now, he was still wondering how he had survived. As the opposing army quickly dispersed, he finally caught sight of their assailant.

Around a kilometer in front of him was a monkey-like Yin spirit that was standing at over three meters tall. It had three eyes and six ears, and it was giving off an unidentifiable aura as it stood atop a pile of skeletal warhorse corpses that was over 10 meters in height.

"I am Envy." Envy swept its gaze through the surrounding area, watching all of the Yin soldiers around. It then abruptly opened its mouth before letting loose a thunderous roar. "Who wishes to perish by my hands?!"

Reddish-black Yin energy erupted forth as formidable shockwaves fuelled by the power of its roar, and all of the surrounding Yin soldiers, including even the heavy cavalry units, were sent flying back several dozen meters like leaves in a windstorm. The netherfire in the eyes of all of the Yin soldiers around Envy were almost snuffed out, and just the mere sight of it was sending chills running down Zhou Yu's spine.

The existence of Envy was like a manifestation of horror, and when looking at it, one would see countless souls intertwined with one another, howling in grief and sobbing with agony. It was a scene even more terrifying than the path of the hungry ghost!

However, a vast expanse of Yin energy that was not inferior in power to Envy's was gathering right in front of it, forming a Yin energy vortex that was several dozen meters in size.

A pair of hands slowly tore open the vortex.

The hands belonged to a woman, and as she slowly emerged from the vortex, all of the surrounding Yin soldiers faltered momentarily, following which thunderous cheers instantly rang out.

"We pay our respects to the Reincarnation King!"

"Long live, Hell!"

"Long live, Hell!"

Reincarnation King Arakshasa had arrived!

A sea of countless Yin spirits had already taken shape behind her, and her dark purple hair was dancing wildly like a den of vicious vipers. Yin energy that was definitely not inferior to Envy's was surging out of her sleeves in enormous quantities, and she took a glance at Envy with her seductive eyes as a smile appeared on her face. "Aren't you supposed to be an advanced Yama-King? Have you been reduced to only a nascent Yama-King because you have no physical body? That's no fun! I won't get much of a sense of achievement out of beating you now."

Countless Yin spirits howled in agony as she spoke. As an official Emissary of Hell, the regal aura that she carried innately had completely overwhelmed Envy's aura.

This was a battle between Yama-Kings, and all of the surrounding Yin spirits formed a circle, giving the two Yama-Kings a wide berth as their battlefield.

All of the Yin soldiers were filled with anticipation and anxiety as they looked on intently with unblinking eyes, but Zhou Yu's attention seemed to be elsewhere.

We've made it into the inner circle!

Beneath his visor, a hint of excitement had surfaced in his eyes.

The military tactics employed by Chiyou's forces were extremely simplistic in the eyes of an expert tactician like him. There was an outer circle and an inner circle, with the former consisting entirely of cannon fodder, such as the 73 immortals, the Infernal Judges, the Anitya Hellguards, etc.

The outer circle's role was to chip away at Hell and blunt the attack of its army, while the inner circle was the true ace in the hole!

He was certain that this wasn't the original plan for Chiyou's forces, but the vast disparity in the strength of the two armies had forced them to resort to these tactics.

Beyond the inner circle was Zhuolu, which was where the inner demon was.

Once they bypassed the inner circle, they would be able to charge straight into Zhuolu!

"Go around them!" In this battle, the 12 envoys were only chiliarchies, and even that position had only been granted to them in light of their past accolades in battle. Regardless of what anyone else thought, Zhou Yu cherished this opportunity greatly. He no longer wanted to be shunned and assigned roles that were completely unbefitting of his abilities!

Thinking back to the heights that he had reached in the past, if he wanted to scale those peaks again, then he had to take some risks.

If he could approach the inner demon and see into the core of Zhuolu, that would undoubtedly be an enormous contribution, and in his mind, the risk was very much worth taking!

The Yin soldiers around him were a little hesitant. "But we haven't received any orders from our higher-ups..."

"We can't always wait for orders in a battle like this. It's important to be able to adapt with the ever-changing situation," Zhou Yu countered as he immediately jumped onto his steed without any hesitation. "I'm sure you're aware of the side-effects of the Judgment Pen."

After that, he didn't waste any more time with words and set off on horseback.

The surrounding Yin soldiers exchanged a few glances, then cast their eyes behind them in unison.

There, a golden pen was dancing in mid-air, writing down one line of text after another. These lines of text were slowly fading away, and with each line that vanished, the Yin energy being released by the Yin soldiers would become slightly powerful. Initially, the vast majority of the army possessed no cultivation rank at all, but at this point, most of them were already beginning to progress toward the Netherworld Operative level.

If this entire army of hundreds of thousands of troops could all become Netherworld Operatives, then the overall might of the army would be significantly enhanced!

However, Qin Ye had made it no secret to them that only the underworld emissaries who survived this battle would be able to permanently retain their cultivation rank. This was not something that he could control. Instead, it was a special property of the three divine artifacts.

King Yanluo's Seal could improve the quality of Cathayan Yin energy, thereby resulting in a faster rate at which high-grade underworld emissaries arise, and this was why the Cathayan Underworld had always been the most powerful underworld. As for the Judgment Pen and the Book of Life and Death, they were like catalysts that completely activated King Yanluo's Seal.

Once activated, the ability of King Yanluo's Seal to improve the quality of Yin energy would be infinitely enhanced, thereby allowing it to produce a large batch of underworld emissaries in a short time. However, the underworld emissaries accepting this Yin energy would have to digest it through constant battle. If they could do that, then their souls would be broken by the overload of Yin energy.

In other words, even if Hell were to secure a crushing victory here in Zhuolu, there definitely wouldn't be many Yin soldiers who survived this battle. However, the overall quality of the Yin soldiers would take a massive leap.

"Fuck it!" One of the Yin soldiers pulled down his visor in a violent motion. "We might all end up dead anyway, so what does it matter if we die a bit later or a little sooner? We've already died once anyway, let's do this!"

The higher the risk taken, the greater the challenge, and the more severe the tribulation that their souls would have to transcend. Thus, perhaps this would be what allowed them to survive in the end!

With that in mind, a group of around a dozen cavaliers spurred on their steeds to follow along behind Zhou Yu. More Yin soldiers quickly followed, and by the end, there were only less than 200 Yin soldiers left in this chiliarch.

No one could've anticipated that a wraith-like unit would be sneaking through the battlefield, piercing directly toward the heart of the enemy!

……………………………………

Zhou Yu inspected his surroundings in a cautious manner. Even though he had devised this plan, he wasn't an idiot, and he knew that the utmost caution had to be exercised.

"The four Yama-Kings have all engaged their respective opponents in battle..." He scanned the battlefield around him with a cautious gaze. The battlefield had been split up into four major sections, but none of the Yama-Kings from either side were attacking. This still wasn't the time for all-out war yet, so the Yama-Kings on each side were only present to ensure that the Yama-Kings of the enemy camp couldn't act as they pleased.

Meanwhile, the Yin soldiers were locked in a fierce battle against Chiyou's remnant forces, and hundreds of specks of netherfire were rising up into the sky with each passing second. The battlefield had already transformed into an abattoir, and it was either kill or be killed!

At this point, the 73 immortals had virtually all already fallen, and all of the demonic ghostly immortals had joined the battle. Thus, there really was a chance that he would be able to make it all the way to the heart of the enemy camp. His goal was only to scout out the situation there, and he certainly wasn't deluded enough to think that he could take on the inner demon himself.

Right at this moment, Zhou Yu's attention was suddenly drawn to something.

There were several groups of Yin soldiers around them who had also detached themselves from the main battlefield. They were traversing through the enemy forces like sharp scalpels, and they were also advancing toward the heart of Zhuolu!

Who are they?

Zhou Yu was almost certain that these Yin soldiers weren't acting on their own. There had to be people leading them, and the only ones who Zhou Yu could think of that would have the same idea as him were his former comrades.

There were a total of 11 groups, and they had clearly all noticed him as well, but they didn't say anything, either. Despite the lack of verbal communication, there was a tacit understanding between all of them, and they were aimed solely at the heart of Zhuolu!

From his vantage point high up in the sky, Qin Ye had immediately caught sight of these 11 groups.

It seemed that aside from Liu Yu, all of the other members of the 12 envoys had thought of the same strategy. Had they discovered something that no one else had? Were they trying to skirt around the battlefield to cut off the inner demon from behind?

With that in mind, Qin Ye's eyes immediately lit up, and he couldn't help but internally commend the 12 envoys for their courage and decisiveness.

He looked on in silence at the 11 advancing groups, refraining from issuing any orders to them. Instead, all he did was wave a hand in their direction, and three threads that were invisible to the naked eye immediately shot forth toward them.

……………………………………………………

Unbeknownst to everyone, there were only three figures left at the center of Zhuolu.

They were a pair of Abyssal Prefects, and the inner demon, who was frantically injecting its Yin energy into the bone shard.

The bone shard had turned an inky-black color, and all around the inner demon, a series of bright red gashes had appeared over the ground, branching out in all directions.

The 12 envoys were advancing with courage, but the inner demon was also extremely confident.

Anyone who entered a 100-meter area of this place would be killed on the spot!

It cast its gaze toward the bone shard in its grasp, then heaved a faint sigh.

Activating the Myriad Soul Pagoda now definitely wasn't a wise option, but it was the only choice.

It was quite unfortunate as it was planning to use the Myriad Soul Pagoda at a later date, and the chances of success would be far higher if there were an extraterrestrial god present.

Right at this moment, it abruptly raised his head and cast its gaze toward the distance.

The ground was beginning to tremble.

The two Abyssal Prefects had also sensed this, and they stood up in unison before turning toward the distance with incredulous expressions.

A dark cloud of mist had permeated throughout a large area around them. The main battlefield of Zhoulu was still several kilometers away from the sea of mist, so there was no way that they should've been able to hear such loud, pounding horse hooves.

The fact that they were hearing this meant that someone was approaching this place!