Sage of Humanity
Chapter 1040 - 1038: Proceeding According to Plan

With the burst of the first light pillar, the power of the arrays on eleven small islands were activated, and in an instant, a vast stream of light surged towards the enemy ranks, endlessly.

Blood Race suffered casualties instantly, with dismembered limbs and blood rain flying everywhere.

This wasn't the first time battling with the Righteous Blood Sacred Land, the Blood Race was already experienced in handling such situations. The best response to this kind of assault was to disperse and never gather together.

But even so, they still suffered significant casualties under the human side's concentrated onslaught.

However, the subsequent Blood Race showed no hesitation, continually charging forward.

At the array's cores were powerful Magic Artifacts specifically used for attacking and destroying fortresses. Amplified by the array's power, a single strike was not quite world-destroying but far surpassed ordinary Magic Artifacts, nearly reaching the burst level of spiritual treasures.

From the high skies, the overall elliptical outer island formation seemed like a radiant hedgehog, with the intermittently glimmering sharp spikes being the manifestations of the arrays' power on the islands.

Many Blood Race transformed into blood rain without even a scream, and the lucky survivors who fell into the Empyrean Sea eventually fell silent among their wails.

The Empyrean Sea was a natural barrier, to the ordinary Blood Race, the Blood Water in the Blood Sea was akin to boiling oil; falling into it was essentially a situation with a slim chance of survival.

This was also the fundamental reason why Feng Wujiang chose the Righteous Blood Sacred Land in this location. Without the natural barrier of the Empyrean Sea, even with dozens of elder predecessors guarding it, the Righteous Blood Sacred Land would have long been submerged under the human sea offensive of the Blood Race.

No Blood Race could approach within a thousand feet of the islands, they were all intercepted beyond that distance.

The casualties continued to grow, yet the Blood Race forces were inexhaustible.

Lu Ye slowly began to understand the situation.

The vanguard of the Blood Race consisted mostly of those with relatively low strength, primarily in the Cloud River Realm. Even with large numbers, Blood Race of this cultivation level were evidently incapable of accomplishing the task.

But it was clear the Blood Race did not expect these Cloud River Realm individuals to storm the islands; their sole purpose was to deplete the human race's strength.

In short, they were cannon fodder.

Only when the human side's strength had been sufficiently depleted would the real core forces of the Blood Race make their move.

In past battles, this was always the Blood Race's strategy, so don't be deceived by the millions in their army, more than half of them were intended as cannon fodder.

The Blood Race also understood that the biggest drawback of the human side was their numbers. Although the human defense was flawless at present, given enough time, their defensive strength would gradually wane.

To this end, the Blood Race had to pay a certain price, but it was unavoidable.

Fortunately, the Blood Race grows easily, so even though they suffer heavy losses each time, they return anew in a few years.

Through repeated wars, the Blood Race gradually gnawed away most of the outer islands of the Righteous Blood Sacred Land. Now, only the defensive line consisting of the last eleven small islands remained. This time, if they could breach this defensive line, they had hopes of conquering the Righteous Blood Sacred Land.

For the human race, therefore, the eleven defensive islands must not be lost.

The fierce battle continued, the attack and defense persisted for a full three days and nights.

Throughout this period, the Blood Race's assaults never ceased, nor did the counterattacks from the human-held islands. The thousand-foot outer boundary of the islands was the line between life and death, and all Blood Race who crossed it perished.

Yet even so, new forces kept surging forward.

Undoubtedly, the Blood Race was a highly belligerent race, this madness lay deep in their bones. The deaths of numerous clansmen could not deter their resolve to advance.

Perhaps also because they couldn't see any corpses.

All the fallen Blood Race either turned to dust or fell into the Empyrean Sea, from sight there was not a single visible corpse.

If the bodies had remained, piled like mountains, perhaps it might have imposed some degree of intimidation upon the Blood Race, but unfortunately, this did not occur.

On the northern battlefront, atop a massive command ship at the center, the Star Moon Saintly Venerable stood at the bow with his hands clasped behind him, watching quietly.

Despite the heavy casualties of his Blood Race underlings, he did not frown, nor would he feel any remorse. To him, those fallen Blood Race had fulfilled their duties; there was no need for lament.

A Divine Sea Realm observer returned from the forward positions to report, "Saintly Venerable, three days have passed. Please, give your instructions."

The Star Moon Saintly Venerable replied indifferently, "Proceed according to plan."

"Understood!" The Divine Sea Realm Blood Race immediately retreated.

At the same time, on the walls of the small islands, Mong Jie, who had been silently observing the battle, spoke, "Three days have passed."

"Then proceed according to plan," Lady Moon replied.

Mong Jie slowly raised a hand and gently clenched it.

Lu Ye looked at them, puzzled.

Lady Moon explained, "According to the rhythm of past wars, three days are when our human side starts to run out of fuel."

After all, long-term control of formations and spiritual artifacts at the array's core placed significant burden and drain on human cultivators. In previous battles, the first three days were a time node, after which the human defense would sharply decline.

And this change was precisely the opportunity the Blood Race had been patiently waiting for.

During these three days, Blood Race suffered enormous casualties, but the humans hadn't incurred any loss since all enemies were annihilated beyond a thousand feet; it was virtually impossible for the humans to have any casualties.

Lu Ye instantly understood, "Feigning weakness to lure the enemy."

If he had not brought the As-Close-As-Siblings Array Disc to the human race of the Righteous Blood Sacred Land, this timing would indeed have been the opportunity the Blood Race had long awaited. However, with the As-Close-As-Siblings Array Disc, the situation was different.

During these past three days, the human race cultivators responsible for controlling the defensive fortifications had indeed expended a great amount of energy, yet they were continuously borrowing power through the As-Close-As-Siblings Great Array. So although the depletion was considerable, they had not yet reached the point of exhaustion.

Over these three days, Lu Ye also consumed a large quantity of Blood Crystals, channeling all the refined power into the big array. It wasn't just him; those hundreds of Blood Race Dao soldiers were also ingesting Blood Crystals, allowing the human race cultivators to borrow strength.

You must know they are at the Divine Sea Realm and can provide significant assistance.

With a signal from Mong Jie, the counterattack strength on the island began to gradually diminish.

It couldn't be too obvious, otherwise the Blood Race would notice the flaw. Such a trick could only be used once by the human race, so naturally, the effect had to be maximized.

Not only was the island where Lu Ye was located like this, but all other ten islands were the same.

Time passed, and the intensity of the counterattack weakened further.

Looking down from high above, one could see that the spines on this porcupine of the Righteous Blood Sacred Land had become fewer and much shorter.

After observing for most of the day, the Blood Race confirmed that the human race cultivators had now become fatigued, prompting their first counterattack.

Among the large number of cannon fodder Blood Race, the presence of many True Lake Realm Blood Race became evident. By activating their own power and using the cannon fodder as cover, they quickly charged toward the archipelago.

The human race's counterattack persisted but could hardly hold back the Blood Race assault.

The thousand-zhang life-and-death boundary line continually shrank.

Nine hundred zhang, eight hundred zhang, seven hundred zhang...

In less than four hours, the Blood Race's front line had pushed within five hundred zhang of the archipelago.

The Blood Race could finally retaliate, no longer just sitting ducks.

Beams of blood light shot out from the Blood Race's encampment, flooding the sky and covering the archipelago.

The big array buzzed, the protective array activated, enveloping the archipelago.

The blood light hit the protective light screen, leaving crimson marks as if it were splashing blood-red dye upon it.

A harsh sizzling sound emerged continuously, and the light of the protective array quickly dimmed.

The Blood Race's Blood Techniques were extremely restraining against the protective array.

Bear in mind that the arrays currently on the archipelago were personally arranged by an array cultivator elder leading his apprentices, with protective strength not inferior to the mountain protection array of the top sects of the Nine Provinces.

Even so, the first layer of the protective array was broken in less than one hour.

During this time, while the Blood Race suffered continuous casualties, the emergence of many True Lake Realm Blood Race allowed the Blood Race's front line to advance an additional hundred zhang.

The second layer of the protective array activated.

In less than one hour, it was broken again.

The Blood Race's front line pushed to within three hundred zhang of the archipelago.

The third layer of the protective array cloaked the archipelago.

This was also the last protective array on the archipelago; if it were broken, the Blood Race's Blood Techniques could wantonly fall upon the archipelago.

At that moment, all defensive fortifications would be destroyed in a very short amount of time. If this scenario unfolded, given the Blood Race's current military strength, the Righteous Blood Sacred Land would be on the brink of defeat.

Within the Blood Race's army, the aura of Divine Sea Realm has appeared. Although their numbers were few, the Blood Techniques they executed were incomparably corrosive to the protective array, much more so than those from the True Lake and Cloud River Realms.

Two hundred zhang!

This was an extremely dangerous distance, and the Blood Race's army seemed to glimpse the hope of victory, driving forward even more ferociously.

Compared to the Blood Race's overwhelming momentum, the human race on the various islands appeared visibly withered, and the counterattack was sparse, no longer as majestic as at the start.

At the moment the last layer of the protective array was broken, all the Blood Race who witnessed it had their eyes gleaming, their speed surged, and in the rush, numerous exquisite secret techniques were swiftly brewed.

Nearly all the Blood Race saw a scene of obliterating the Righteous Blood Sacred Land, eradicating this thorn, and joy bloomed in the eyes of many of the Blood Race.

However, in the next instant, joy turned into terror.

As the array buzzed, countless streams of light erupted from the island's walls, mercilessly bombarding the Blood Race's army.

In an instant, the porcupine of the Righteous Blood Sacred Land shot out the spikes it had retracted within itself before.

Many of the Blood Race still had joyful expressions on their faces, yet their bodies fell incomplete, plunging downward into the Empyrean Sea, creating splashes.

The sudden change swept over the Blood Race encampment like a violent wind. In a heartbeat, countless Blood Race were slain on the spot, and even those Divine Sea Realm Blood Race saw many fall.

The Blood Race within five hundred zhang of the archipelago were cleared out in an extremely short amount of time, and this distance continued to expand.

Most Blood Race didn't know what had happened and dispersed like smoke during their rush. A few Blood Race, seeing the situation was turning bad, hurried to dodge and evade, but even if they evaded once, they couldn't avoid the second or third attacks.

The bodies of the Blood Race fell like raindrops to the ground below.