Chapter 3314

Yu Xiaofeng and the other commanders chose a landing planet with only three thousand demon troops garrisoning it, none of them particularly high in cultivation. Yu Xiaofeng immediately deployed the Death Legion, and within half an hour, the three thousand defenders had been wiped out.

A demon expert at the ninth level of Guiyi was also killed by one of Tie Jun’s personal guard escorts.

Upon receiving word of this, the demon army immediately dispatched a hundred thousand troops to retake the planet.

After returning to his spatial world, Ye Liuyun was just about to cultivate when Ye Tiandao came with Yueying to request permission to fight, hoping to take the female soldiers out to battle the demons and sharpen their skills.

Ye Liuyun had originally intended to let Yu Xiaofeng fight the demons first to gauge their strength before sending the women out, but seeing that they had all come in person, he didn’t refuse. He simply told Ye Tiandao to observe the enemy’s capabilities before making a move.

He knew Ye Tiandao was obedient and would take his instructions to heart, so he wasn’t too worried. Still, he sent the Demon Lion and Megalithic Ape along to protect Ye Tiandao.

The Megalithic Ape’s cultivation and physical body, combined with the Demon Lion’s Spatial Force, crimson pupils, and Wind-Thunder Fan, were more than enough to ensure Ye Tiandao’s safety. With the power of bloodline of ten thousand female soldiers added to that, they could handle most ordinary dangers.

So Ye Tiandao led the female soldiers out of Ye Liuyun’s spatial world to prepare for battle. After their last fight against the undead army, the women were brimming with confidence. Though this time they faced the demon race, their strength had improved considerably of late.

Ye Tiandao had not allowed any of the female soldiers to advance their cultivation realm. Instead, she had kept them training in various techniques—condensing their true essence, tempering their divine souls and physical bodies, and shoring up their weaknesses.

While their overall strength wasn’t exceptional yet, self-preservation was no longer a problem. Moreover, they were fully equipped with Void-tier armor, weapons, and treasures that guarded against divine soul attacks, making their combat power no inferior to that of an ordinary ninth-level martial cultivator.

When Yu Xiaofeng saw them emerge, he understood that Ye Liuyun wanted to give them real combat experience. He immediately decided that once he had assessed the demon army’s fighting strength, he would arrange an opportunity for them to test themselves.

The demon army arrived with considerable speed. Their equipment had originally been rather ordinary, but after receiving heavy support from the Fire Seal Dynasty, their armor, weapons, and warships had all been upgraded. On top of that, they had plundered the royal treasury, so the warships they now sailed were Void-tier vessels forged by the Fire Seal Dynasty.

Yu Xiaofeng paid attention not only to their equipment but also to their cultivation levels. Of the hundred thousand troops, nearly half were at the mid-stage Guiyi realm and the other half at the late-stage Guiyi realm, with roughly twenty to thirty thousand demon soldiers at the ninth level.

However, this was only their surface combat power. Without a critical moment of battle, it was impossible to tell what hidden strength they might possess.

If this was truly the extent of their cultivation and composition, they weren’t much stronger than the Fire Seal Dynasty’s armies. Even accounting for the demons’ formidable fighting ability, it hardly seemed enough reason for the Fire Seal Dynasty to have invited them in—let alone for them to have nearly annihilated the dynasty.

So when the demon army arrived, Yu Xiaofeng did not order his soldiers to charge. Instead, he relied on formations and city walls to hold a defensive position, deploying fire chariots to obstruct the enemy’s advance.

The demon army, upon arrival, formed ranks and launched an assault, sending mid-stage Guiyi soldiers in as a probe—but they were quickly driven back by the fire chariots.

Next, the demons sent in their late-stage Guiyi soldiers, shields raised to block the fire chariots’ bombardment. The result was the same: the shields could not withstand the barrage, though they did reduce casualties somewhat.

After two failed attempts, the demon commander immediately rallied his troops for an all-out charge, intent on breaking through the defenses in one overwhelming push.

It was then that Yu Xiaofeng and the other commanders noticed something: every demon soldier had produced a crossbow. Shields in one hand and crossbows in the other, they surged toward the defensive formations.

The moment the fire chariots opened fire, the demon crossbow bolts came flying back.

"Those bolts are incredibly powerful!"

Yu Xiaofeng and the others were stunned by the force behind the demon crossbows.

These heavy crossbows packed tremendous power—not only did they shoot far, they could even pierce through the formations and strike the soldiers within.

The bolts were slender, relying on speed and force to instantly punch through the wide-area defensive formations. However, after passing through the formations, the bolts lost much of their momentum and failed to penetrate the soldiers’ armor, leaving them largely unharmed.

Yu Xiaofeng immediately ordered Xiao Heng and Li Zhaoyuan to lead their armies in flanking the demon force from both sides—fire chariots leading the way, soldiers behind with shields raised—to encircle and annihilate the demon army.

Ye Tiandao’s female soldiers readied their shields and stood by to pursue and cut down the demons once the enemy was routed.

As soon as Xiao Heng and Li Zhaoyuan’s armies closed in, the demons shifted their main fighting force to meet them. With formations and energy cannons blocking the front, they couldn’t break through and were taking heavy losses, so they had no choice but to focus on the flanks.

Though the energy cannon fire on the flanks was still a serious threat, the absence of formations made them somewhat easier to push through. Xiao Heng and Li Zhaoyuan initially maintained a defensive posture as well—fire chariots bombarding the enemy while soldiers used shields to hold back the demon crossbow fire.

When the demon army failed to break through their lines and began to pull back, Yu Xiaofeng ordered the frontal defensive force to advance, with fire chariots leading the push. Xiao Heng and Li Zhaoyuan’s armies also pressed forward, aiming to cut the demon force in two.

After fighting for so long, the demon army had already been decimated by nearly half by the fire chariots. Now under siege from three sides, they could only retreat.

But now the fire chariots on all three sides were relentlessly pursuing and bombarding them. Soon they were no longer retreating—they were fleeing.

Only then did Yu Xiaofeng dispatch Ye Tiandao’s team, ordering them to pursue the demons from behind rather than intercept them.

Ye Tiandao’s forces passed through the fire chariots that had been charging head-on at the demon army, and gave chase. The frontal fire chariots also withdrew.

Those demons still tried to turn back with their heavy crossbows, but Mo Shi swept his Wind-Thunder Fan once and sent all their bolts flying back, even killing quite a few demon soldiers in the process.

Shi Yuan, with his three heads and six arms, charged at the very front and plunged directly into the demon ranks, slowing their escape.

The female soldiers held shields in one hand and spears in the other, pursuing the demon army using formations and spear techniques taught by Xiao Yunfang and Meng Qingyin. When they released their power of bloodline together, it completely suppressed the demon soldiers—making them unable to run even if they wanted to. Once caught by these women, escape was impossible; death was certain.

Xiao Heng’s and Li Zhaoyuan’s two armies also remained guarding the flanks throughout, using fire chariots to bombard the demon horde—preventing them from scattering in all directions and herding them together for Ye Tiandao’s forces to annihilate.

The heavy crossbows that demons relied upon didn’t accomplish much in this battle. Instead they suffered a crushing defeat and were driven into constant flight.

Every time they tried to regroup for a counterattack, Xiao Heng’s and Li Zhaoyuan’s fire chariots would blast them apart again. And no matter how powerful their crossbows were, they couldn’t pierce through those thick armored hulls of the fire chariots.