Chapter 2202 - 2200: Fengtai Stronghold

In the Crane Wings Array, Lu Ye stood at the center, maintaining the posture of leading the Divine Crane forward while carefully savoring the feeling.

Because this time, when the Crane Wings Array took shape, he suddenly felt it was very different from the last time!

The biggest difference was that the pressure was greatly reduced.

With this way of forming the array, all the pressure was practically concentrated on him alone, so even he couldn't maintain it for too long.

Last time his limit was two hours; when that limit was reached, if the array wasn't dispersed, Lu Ye would suffer severe backlash, and the array would collapse on its own without being attacked.

But comparing it, this time the pressure wasn't even forty percent of last time's; this undoubtedly meant the array could be maintained for a much longer period.

Lu Ye understood in his heart that this should be because his own strength had greatly increased.

Last time he formed the array, he wielded the power of the 34th Dao, but now, he had the power of the 93rd Dao. His own strength had risen tremendously, so naturally the pressure became much lighter.

And it wasn't just the pressure…

There were some other changes as well!

His heart stirred, and Lu Ye looked toward Wang Xun's position, sending an audio transmission: "Wang Xun."

At this very moment, Wang Xun also seemed to have run into some great fortune; his face was full of excitement, even tinged with astonishment. Not only him—every cultivator in the Crane Wings Camp, each and every one of them, wore almost the same expression.

"Ah, I'm here. Lord Commander, what is it?" Wang Xun came back to his senses.

"How is your strength increased?" Lu Ye asked.

"I feel… unbelievably strong!" Wang Xun replied, so excited he almost couldn't restrain himself: "Hahahaha, forgive me, Lord Commander, but right now I seem able to exert the strength of the 15th Dao. I feel like I could beat a hundred men!"

As expected…

Lu Ye had already guessed as much.

Wang Xun possessed a Dao artifact. His base strength was at the 9th Dao; with the amplification from his Dao artifact, he could exert the power of the 12th Dao. Yet under the current Crane Wings Array, he could actually exert the strength of the 15th Dao!

Those extra three Daos were undoubtedly the boost brought by the array.

This wasn't the same as last time. Previously, although the Crane Wings Array had granted everyone an increase, on average it was only about one or two Daos. He had never heard of anyone suddenly leaping by three Daos of power—especially going from the 12th Dao to the 15th Dao!

For such a change to appear, it shouldn't be merely due to adjustments in the personnel of the Crane Wings Camp itself. Replacing all the 8th Dao cultivators with 9th Dao cultivators would certainly raise the array's strength to some degree, but not to such a obvious extent.

That left only one explanation.

It was still the dramatic increase in his own strength that had triggered this change!

Lu Ye then questioned several others. Very soon he discovered that those who possessed Dao artifacts generally had their strength elevated by three Daos, while the rest, who had no Dao artifacts, actually gained four Daos!

In other words, the moment this array was deployed, every member of the Crane Wings Camp had at least the strength of the 13th Dao.

This wasn't just one or two people, but every single person. With the array interlinking them, placing such a unit on the battlefield—so long as no one in the Dao Fusion Realm appeared—they were practically an invincible force. The overall strength they could exert was absolutely not as simple as just a dozen or so Daos.

Lu Ye even suspected that in its current state, the Crane Wings Camp might already be qualified to trade blows with ordinary Dao Fusion cultivators.

The only shortcoming that made Lu Ye feel a bit troubled was that the consumption of Dao force was still just as enormous…

This was an inherent flaw he couldn't fix. To maintain the presence of the As-Close-As-Siblings Dao Runes, he had to constantly circulate Dao force.

"Disperse!" Lu Ye gave a low command, withdrawing the Dao Runes.

The Divine Crane dissolved and vanished, and everyone returned to their original positions.

Now it wasn't only the veterans who looked at Lu Ye's back full of reverence; even the newcomers were the same, their expressions worshipful, as if gazing upon a deity.

What was called the Fengtai Stronghold was actually just a small dead star.

Lu Ye and the others spent nearly a day hurrying to reach this place. From afar, with the stronghold as the center, battlefields spread out in all directions.

One battlefield in particular was the fiercest. Over there, two figures had turned into streaks of Liu Guang, clashing violently. Just from the intense fluctuations of Power of the Path, one could infer that these were two Dao Fusion cultivators locked in a struggle.

Lu Ye understood that one of those Dao Fusion cultivators should be their own side's expert stationed at this stronghold, the one called Du Feng.

On the way here, Wang Xun had already told him that Du Feng should possess the strength of the 2nd Order Dao Fusion.

At the Beginner level, the 9th Dao is the limit. The Dao Fusion Realm is also divided into 9 Orders. A Dao Fusion cultivator like Du Feng, whose strength is neither high nor low, has neither the qualification nor the capability to hold an entire war zone on his own. Any Dao Fusion cultivator qualified to sit in command over a war zone must at least be 6th Order and above. Du Feng is still far from that.

But with his level of strength holding one stronghold within a major war zone, there's not much problem.

2nd Order Dao Fusion is basically equivalent to that Blood Race cultivator Pei Dan whom Lu Ye had slain before. In theory, he can at least control the Power of the Path of thirty Daos.

But because of the twofold amplification from Dao Runes, even if he only wields the Power of the Path of thirty Daos, he can still unleash the killing power of thirty‑six Daos. That Pei Dan Lu Ye killed back then was pretty much at this level.

Lu Ye had no way to know the exact strength of the enemy Du Feng was facing, but since Du Feng could trade blows back and forth with the other side, that enemy was likely on this same level. As for whether he was stronger or weaker than Du Feng, that couldn't be seen for now.

The only thing Lu Ye knew was that the opponent belonged to the Insect Race, because if it were the Blood Race, they would have already spread out a Blood Sea to create terrain advantage.

"Lord Commander!" Wang Xun stared at the fierce, deadlocked battle in the field and couldn't help calling out.

Judging from the current situation, their side's position didn't look too good. That was indeed the case; if the pressure weren't high, Huang Quan's side wouldn't have pulled them over for support.

He could see quite a few cultivators already wounded, returning to the stronghold to heal. At the same time, cultivators who had finished their rest were flying out from the stronghold, joining the battlefield.

The two sides had been clashing around this single stronghold in a stalemated struggle for who knows how long. All over the Void, broken corpses floated. But in the Beginner‑level clashes, their side was clearly at a disadvantage. If not for the protective array covering the stronghold, it would likely have been breached long ago.

"Ten to a squad, skirmish from the flanks, do not go deep into the enemy ranks!" Lu Ye issued his order.

Right now, the entire Fengtai Stronghold was surrounded by the enemy's Blood Seas. There were still gaps, but those were clearly left on purpose, to break the morale of their cultivators and lure them into attempting a breakout.

Lu Ye was certain that any cultivator who tried to break through from those gaps would inevitably run into the enemy's interception and ambush.

In this kind of situation, for Crane Wings Camp to charge straight in would be extremely unwise. No one knew just how many enemies were hidden inside those patches of Blood Sea.

The best method was to skim along the edge and hunt. First, this could ease the pressure on the stronghold's big array. Second, they could keep devouring the enemies drawn over.

Lu Ye did not intend to reveal the Crane Wings Array as soon as he arrived; that would only make the enemy more vigilant.

As the order went out, squads rapidly took shape.

Coming to support Fengtai Stronghold this time, aside from Crane Wings Camp, there were also other cultivators who had rushed over from Huang Quan's battle planet or elsewhere. Originally, facing such a situation, these cultivators had no idea how to act and could only watch from afar. But after seeing Crane Wings Camp's moves, they immediately copied the pattern, organizing squads of varying numbers and charging forward along with Crane Wings Camp.

Lu Ye led the charge, taking the nine members of his own squad straight toward a patch of Blood Sea. The Blood Race within that Blood Sea clearly sensed something and immediately pushed the Blood Sea to surge in reverse to meet them. The writhing Blood Sea was like a living thing, trying to swallow everyone.

Lu Ye naturally wouldn't rush into the Blood Sea so easily. Though he personally didn't fear it, right now the entire Crane Wings Camp was moving with him as the Central Hub. If he rushed in, the others would follow him in as well.

So before the Blood Sea could draw near, Lu Ye launched several attacks from afar, blasting toward the Blood Sea, then swiftly swept off to the side.

The other squads imitated him, all unleashing their attacks and arcing away.

By the time the Blood Sea wrapped over, everyone had already slipped out. Only within the Blood Sea, several strands of life force were snuffed out; no one knew which few unlucky souls had fallen victim.

Crane Wings Camp's figures leapt and darted, like a nimble butterfly dancing along the edges of one Blood Sea after another, pushing provocation to the limit.

Finally, some enemy could no longer hold back and burst out of the Blood Sea, blocking the way ahead.

Yet this kind of interception was shredded completely with a single charge led by Lu Ye. In that frontal clash, every swing of Lu Ye's short hammer Dao artifact burst with blood‑light.

He did not stop moving. Even if there were fish slipping the net nearby, he ignored them; the cultivators of Crane Wings Camp following behind would naturally take action to clean them up.

After this round of charges and kills, Crane Wings Camp's cultivators did not slow down in the slightest. Instead, it was the enemies jumping out to intercept who suffered heavy casualties.

This scene immediately made the enemy realize the strength of this reinforcement force. More of them, unable to hold back, leapt out from the Blood Seas. Not only that, the patches of Blood Sea that had been surrounding Fengtai Stronghold also began to writhe.

Inside Fengtai Stronghold, the many cultivators who had been bitterly holding on were already at the end of their rope. Even the big array they had painstakingly set up was shaking under the enemy's assault, on the verge of collapse. However, as Crane Wings Camp moved into action, the pressure suddenly lessened greatly, and they all felt as if they had found life in a desperate situation.

As time passed, the Blood Seas wrapped in from all sides. The space for Crane Wings Camp and the many supporting cultivators to maneuver grew smaller and smaller. They were about to be surrounded!

Unlike the calm composure of Crane Wings Camp's cultivators, the faces of the other cultivators began to show panic, because anyone could see that once the enemy completed the encirclement, they would all be in grave danger.

Lu Ye sensed the fear and unrest among these people. After a brief moment of thought, he immediately sent out audio transmission in all directions: "Fellow Daoists, do not panic. Just stay close behind us. There will naturally be a moment for counterattack later."

He understood clearly that if he did not soothe these cultivators who had followed, the situation would definitely become chaotic later. And once someone could no longer withstand this slowly tightening encirclement and tried to flee, they would only be walking into the trap themselves.

Perhaps influenced by his steady voice, most cultivators calmed their minds. The rest, though still fearful, followed behind Crane Wings Camp as he instructed.

Only a small number truly couldn't bear the oppressive feeling of being slowly surrounded and chose to break out with reckless abandon.