Chapter 682: Interception

Eternal Night Snow Mountain, Mysterious Ice City.

The scene on the city wall was shocking.

Dark red bloodstains congealed into a thick, hard shell on the ice rock. With each step, several ice shards would be crushed, making a crisp "crackling" sound.

Corpses were piled up haphazardly inside and outside the city walls, including soldiers from various Nightmare races and the remains of Blood Demon Sect disciples, indistinguishable from one another.

A frost-armored dragon lay dead at the corner of the city wall, its thirty-meter wingspan body riddled with seven large holes by the Blood Demon Sect's crimson arrows.

Ice-blue scales shattered on the ground, the enormous head tilted to one side, and half a broken spear was still in its mouth.

Not far away, a six-meter-tall frost giant corpse knelt on the ground, a huge gash split open in its chest, revealing its frozen organs.

At the crenellations of the city wall, two soldiers covered in blood sat slumped on the ground, back to back, panting heavily.

"Old Zhang, are you still alive?" a soldier asked weakly.

"Alive," another voice replied hoarsely. "How are you? How much blood do you have left?"

"Less than one hundred."

"Then you're better than me. My health bar dropped below fifty, and I lost an arm."

"...Then you're worse off than me."

The two were silent for a few seconds, then laughed at the same time, their laughter tinged with the exhaustion of surviving a disaster.

Such scenes were everywhere on the city walls.

Some people slumped to the ground, some leaned against the ice wall to rest, and some squatted beside the pile of corpses, searching for any usable equipment.

Most of the survivors wore a bewildered expression of relief after surviving a catastrophe, but occasionally some managed to find joy amidst their suffering.

A veteran of the Arctic Bear Man tribe pulled a frozen, hard piece of dry rations from his pocket, snapped it into several pieces with a "crunch," and distributed them to his comrades next to him, muttering, "Have some, we don't know when the next wave will come."

I hid it for half a month, intending to save it for the grand finale at the post-war victory celebration banquet.

A frost werewolf next to him took the rations, opened his mouth and took a bite, and with a "crunch," his tooth almost broke.

He covered his cheek, tears welling up in his eyes: "Brother, this ration... it's harder than a city wall."

The veteran polar bear-man, self-righteous and assertive, snatched back the rations and began crunching them loudly: "That's because your teeth aren't strong enough. Look at me, I chew them like they're cookies."

The frost wolf's eyes widened.

On the city wall, Victor leaned against a broken stone pillar, looking at the eternal night storm that had resumed outside the city, and let out a long sigh.

"Damn it...we finally drove them back."

He glanced down at his health bar, his lips twitched—less than 20%.

"I'm starting to feel the strain." He slammed his short-handled warhammer on the ground, the hammerhead striking the ice.

"I really regret it. Why did I bring all my belongings with me? If I die now, I won't even have a pair of underwear left after I'm resurrected."

He turned to look at Gu Qingchen, who was also nearly dead, and his tone was filled with almost genuine envy.

"Old Gu, you're still the smartest one. You only wore four pieces of gold equipment, and they were all bound."

Gu Qingchen leaned against an ice pillar, his dark gray robe torn in several places, his face stained with dried blood, but his expression remained calm.

Before he could speak, Bai Wei, who was also badly injured, walked over.

Her golden leather armor was torn in three places, revealing a dark red lining underneath, and there was a bloodstain on her face.

She rolled her eyes and said irritably, "If Viscount Eternal Night hadn't required at least four pieces of gold equipment, do you believe he could have made you a full set of purple gear?"

Gu Qingchen chuckled beside him, which aggravated the wound under his ribs, causing him to wince in pain.

He took a breath before speaking: "Isn't it because you want the complete Heart of the Plane and are thinking of killing some poorly equipped demon sect experts to try your luck?"

Whose fault is this? I gave up on advancing to a higher-ranking apostle a long ago; naturally, I wanted to minimize the losses from casualties.

Viktor opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything.

That's exactly what he was thinking. What if he killed a master of the Demonic Sect and got the goods?

The probability was low, but what if it happened? In the end, he didn't get any and even got himself involved.

Bai Wei didn't say anything more; she thought the same thing.

After a few moments of silence, Victor changed the subject: "I heard from Calgas that the four high-ranking apostles have already requested reinforcements from Evernight City. I wonder if they will receive any."

Bai Wei wiped the blood from her face and said, "They should be able to. It's been so long, and this is only the first time we've asked for help. It would be unreasonable if they didn't send reinforcements."

Gu Qingchen shook his head: "Don't have too high hopes. Even if there is support, it will most likely be apostles who have died in battle."

Viscount Eternal Night doesn't have any equipment requirements for returning fallen soldiers to the battlefield.

See? If the person we sent hadn't been so dim-witted, we'd be lucky to even have a single piece of gold equipment.

Viktor cursed, "Damn it, I'm truly desperate."

...

Meanwhile, in the wasteland outside Xuanbing City.

The Blood Demon Sect's army is marching.

Tens of millions of disciples, all born after birth, densely covered the entire snowfield, like a moving sea of ​​blood.

Hundreds of thousands of innate disciples walked at the front of the procession, their bodies radiating a faint blood-red aura.

Ten thousand grandmasters were scattered above the army formation.

At the very front of the sky were thirty-five figures.

They hovered above the Blood Demon Sect army, releasing their auras without any attempt to conceal them.

Each person exuded an aura as deep and oppressive as the ocean, so much so that the disciples marching below dared not raise their heads.

Among these thirty-five people, four had particularly unique auras.

The four people were suspended at the highest point, and the air around them was distorted.

Their aura transcended the realm of "powerful" and was more like a manifestation of a rule.

Shattering the void, second level.

Their original mission was to support the Xuanbing City battlefield and then proceed to the Northern Region battlefield as planned.

But during the march, Shen Wuyai's expression suddenly changed.

As if sensing something, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a token. As soon as he held the token, a message rushed into his mind.

"Xuanbing City will receive support from the Apostle Realm within three days, with the route running from the Southern Region to the Eastern Region."

Your plan has been changed: first intercept and eliminate reinforcements, then launch a surprise attack on the Southern Region, destroying as many strongholds as possible except for the core of the Pure Land.