On the night of New Year's Eve, under the leadership of General Han, a mixed assault battalion of more than a thousand martial arts masters and Dazhen elite troops changed into the uniforms and armor of the Zuyue soldiers, and returned to the camp with carts loaded with supplies at nightfall.
At the same time, led by Taoist Qingsong and assisted by several practitioners in the Dazhen Army, they set up an altar on the hilltop near Qilin Pass, with the aim of disrupting the secrets of heaven to a certain extent.
That night, on a flat-topped mountain, a three-story platform built with earth magic was located. The platform was about three meters wide and was surrounded by flags with various constellations painted on them. The two large flags in the middle were modeled after the two star flags of Yunshan Temple.
Taoist Qingsong stood in the center of the altar. Several practitioners around him had already cast spells to continuously infuse magic power into all the flags on the altar. The flags were faintly lit up, making the stars on them as bright as the stars in the sky.
Taoist Qingsong suddenly stood up, holding a whisk and a Taoist sword, and stepped on the star steps in the center of the altar, constantly waving the whisk and the Taoist sword to cast spells. He walked over every flag, sweeping with the whisk or slashing with the sword. When he returned to the center, he swung the sword to the sky.
"The stars shine, the stars move, go!"
Brush~~~
The stars on all the flags lit up, and there was a faint sight of stars rising into the sky. Imperceptible rays of light shot directly into the sky. After a moment, the starlight and moonlight in the sky seemed to dim, and a thin cloud soon rose from the surrounding mountains.
The fog first spread over the entire altar, and then gradually affected the entire sky. Before long, the night over a large area was shrouded in light clouds. After the sky became cloudy, fog began to appear on the ground in the night.
Taoist Qingsong uses his superb divination skills to pluck the strings of heavenly time at the moment of transition between the old and new year. The closer the time is to the midnight of the new year, the greater the subtle change becomes, so that the laws of heavenly time in a wide area centered on the altar become slightly abnormal.
Unless one's cultivation and state of mind have reached a certain level, and one's divination skills are also very good, this abnormal influence would be difficult to detect. Even a cultivator would at most feel that the wind and snow had become stronger or slower, and the stars were dim and unclear.
"Master Qingsong, this formation should be complete, right?"
An old woman beside the altar witnessed the operation of the altar. She was slightly shocked and her attitude towards Taoist Qingsong became more polite.
The other cultivators nearby were also in awe of Taoist Qingsong. Being able to influence the power of nature and disrupt the predictions of fortune and misfortune for those who practiced cultivation was already an extremely clever method that could not be used by ordinary people.
Taoist Qingsong was also somewhat pleased with himself, but he did not get carried away by his pride and spoke modestly.
"I am ashamed. I have practiced for many years, but my spellcasting skills are still so crude. I am ashamed of my senior master. However, this formation is only for heaven, not for humans. Tonight is the night of transition from the old to the new, and no one on the other side will be able to see through the influence of this formation before dawn."
"That's great! Master, please keep an eye on the magic circle. We will leave first!"
After Du Changsheng finished speaking, he bowed to Taoist Qingsong. The other practitioners also bowed in the same way, and then they left the top of the mountain together as Taoist Qingsong returned the greeting.
About a quarter of an hour later, the elite troops of Dazhen near Qilin Pass divided into several groups of tens of thousands and marched out in the cold wind at night.
Now with the help of magicians and immortals, the Zu Yue army, which was not well organized to begin with, has become very dependent on military intelligence. Yin Zhong is confident that he can deal with ordinary scouts, but he is afraid of the so-called magicians and wizards. Now with the protection of his own masters, he has much more security when marching in the fog.
Now Zu Yue's army is powerful, and it is New Year's Eve. For a long time before this, both sides had a tacit understanding that they would not mobilize troops on this day. It cannot be said that Dazhen's surprise attack was unpredictable, but it can only be said that the various camps of Zu Yue's army were far from doing enough to prepare for this possibility.
“Kill…” “Kill!”
"Go ahead..."
At the important camps of Zuyue State, shouts of killing rang out almost simultaneously. Many camps even had internal and external forces colluding. Some pretended to be soldiers, while others were civilians recruited by Zuyue Army. Fires were set off everywhere, and shouts of killing and screams were heard everywhere...
…
Qizhou Yongding Pass is a majestic pass at the end of the Tingqiu Mountain range in the west. Of course, on the surface, Tingqiu Mountain has since been at the eastern end, but in fact the underground mountain range has not been cut off and still extends hundreds of miles to the east.
This pass was originally controlled by Dazhen. After passing through the pass, it would take an ordinary person three days to walk to the border of Zuyue Kingdom. However, now these places are actually behind the front line of the Zuyue Kingdom army.
On the top of a mountain near Yongding Pass, a fairy-like woman was sitting cross-legged. She had originally closed her eyes, but suddenly she looked up at the sky, frowned at the faint starry sky in the dark clouds, and looked back in the direction of Qizhou for a long time before turning her gaze back.
About half a quarter of an hour later, two beams of light flew in from afar. It seemed that they were going to cross Yongding Pass directly. Bai Ruo's heart moved.
'I'm waiting for you!'
As soon as the thought came to her mind, Bai Ruo had already stood up. She opened her red lips and a burst of white light suddenly came out of her mouth. After circling in the air for three times, it was like a whirlwind of white light, rushing directly towards the escaping light in the distance.
As soon as the two sides came into contact, there was a loud "boom..." sound, like thunder in the sky, and a light like lightning illuminated the night sky.
The white light was like a huge wind and cloud snake in the night sky, constantly moving in the air. After the lightning-like light just faded away, the escaping light in the sky moved left and right and collided with the white light snake several times. The night sky was filled with continuous thunder and explosions.
"So there is an expert who has set up an ambush here. I underestimated Dazhen. The chaos in the weather tonight is also caused by you, right?"
Waves of loud voices came over and fell into Bai Ruo's ears. The two beams of light over there were also approaching the top of the mountain where Bai Ruo was standing under the collision of the same magic.
Bai Ruo retracted the white light in the sky, and in her hand was an exquisite soft sword. She held the sword behind her back, standing on the top of the mountain facing the wind. She had the demeanor of an elegant female swordsman, and did not look like a monster at all. She answered through her mouth.
"The chaos of the time has nothing to do with me. Anyway, you two should forget about going there today."
Both sides understand that if they encounter a situation like today, it is unlikely that everyone will be happy.
"You are considered a true immortal, yet you are involved in the dispute over the fate of mankind. I wonder what your master is and what your name is? Otherwise, when you die at the hands of the two elders in Linggu, don't blame us for not giving you face!"
Bai Ruo made a sword flower, pointed the soft sword straight ahead, and said with a smile.
"My last name is Bai, but I am not from a famous immortal family. Don't worry. The one who taught me this wonderful method is a master. How can I be his disciple? I am just a casual cultivator. Let's stop talking nonsense and see what happens with our hands!"
Today, Bai Ruo's voice was not as gentle as Ji Yuan had remembered. Instead, it sounded cold. After saying this, he stepped on the ground.
With a loud "boom", the top of the mountain was crushed, and huge rocks floated up as if weightless, flying into the air along with Bai Ruo's figure. He turned into a white light, carrying with him pieces of rocks to form a dragon-like and snake-like sword in the night sky.
“Yowoo——”
With an indistinguishable loud deer cry, Bai Ruo attacked with all his strength, with the force of wind, clouds and thunder. In the eyes of the so-called two elders of Lin Gu, it was like a piece of white light coming with the power of a mountain.
"How brave!"
The two men retreated quickly, one shot out a series of command arrows forward, and the other kept making hand gestures to cast spells. The command arrows exploded immediately when they came into contact with the white light.
“Boom~” “Boom~” “Boom~” “Boom~” “Boom~”…
In the relatively quiet and empty Yongding Pass, the New Year's Eve sky seems to be immersed in an exceptionally brilliant fireworks show.
In contrast, raging fires also broke out in the camps of many Zu Yue armies in Qizhou, and the gates of Qilin Pass were wide open. The main cavalry of Dazhen rushed out of the gate and advanced towards the Zu Yue armies.
When fighting for common interests, the Zu Yue army was like ferocious jackals. In this situation where they were attacked everywhere, the camps, which were not very united, fell into a considerable degree of chaos.
…
As the armies clashed in the distance, a bloody aura gradually filled the sky. In the eyes of those who were able to observe the aura, it was like a fiery cloud in the night. Taoist Qingsong's formation had lost most of its effectiveness, and there was no need to hide anything.
There was a magic battle going on in the air at Yongding Pass, and the ground was illuminated by the magic light. The two elders Lin Gu were unable to do anything to Bai Ruo together, and were forced to retreat step by step. They had to raise an arrow to ask for help.
Afterwards, demonic light and black wind came from the direction of Zu Yue, but they were unable to break through Bai Ruo's dragon-snake sword power. Although she was a deer demon, the immortal skills were modified by Ji Yuan based on the contents of the old dragon's jade slip, and some of the sword moves were like a dragon's wild dance.
Bai Ruo had once heard of the power of Ji Yuan's Tianqing sword in the divine way. That was the moment when Ji Yuan created the Tianqing sword in Tingqiu Mountain. She admired its power and although she had never seen it, she had imagined it a lot. She also incorporated her imagined sword skills into the immortal sword moves of the Dragon and Snake Transformation. When she really faced the enemy for the first time, she was so powerful that even she was shocked.
In the night sky, a silver dragon snake danced wildly along with the Bai Ruo sword. Faintly, thunder could be heard from the sky, echoing throughout the wilderness. The huge rocks and rolling thunder added fuel to the fire.
“Hua La La La…”
As Bai Ruo continued to dance with the dragon and snake sword, it began to rain from the sky. The rain merged into the sword energy, making the dragon and snake energy even stronger, just like a dragon swimming in the sea, appearing more agile.
“Anghou~~~~~~”
Being at the center of the sword force, holding a soft sword forward, gathering rocks and water, the dragon and snake with sword intent actually opened their mouths and howled, making a dragon roar.
"Boom..."
Thunder danced wildly in the sky, and one after another struck down on the dragon and snake swords, like a real dragon descending to the world.
If this accountant Yuan was here, and if he didn't know Bai Ruo, he would never believe that this was a deer monster.
Unlike Bai Ruo herself, who was surprised and happy, and faced the enemy calmly and calmly, together with the two elders Lin Gu in front of her, the cultivators who fought with her, whether they were humans or demons, were all shocked and even felt a sense of fear when they heard the dragon roar of the sword.
"This person must be a famous disciple of the Immortal Palace. We can't fight her head-on. We are here to stop her. The rest of you, go around Tingqiu Mountain and quickly rescue Qizhou. The destiny is in turmoil tonight, and Qizhou will definitely undergo a huge change!"
"Okay, you said it yourself. You can't blame us if you get killed by that Bai bitch. Let's go!"
A brief exchange of words sounded between the demonic light and the black wind, and then several demonic lights immediately fled backwards, seemingly retreating into the depths of Zu Yue. Bai Ruo knew that the other party would definitely not give up, but he was fighting an enemy right in front of him, and he couldn't bypass them to chase.
After circling for hundreds of miles and walking a long distance, after they could no longer see the magic light of the battle in the distance, they counted the demon light and went south again, directly crossing Tingqiu Mountain. However, when they had only halfway through, in the night, Tingqiu Mountain below exploded with a loud bang.
“Boom——”
Countless densely packed huge rocks were like cannonballs, hitting the sky, forming a terrifying rain of boulders, and in the mountains below there was a constant rumbling sound of "rumble rumble rumble..."
“Hahahahahahahahaha, I am the mountain god of Tingqiu Mountain. I have cultivated myself to pass this place!”