Chapter 292: Chapter 265: Daoist Soldier Corps

"Let’s go."

Mia’s voice pulled Laine from his thoughts.

The two of them left the temporary Beast Arena and walked along the camp’s main road toward its center.

The inside of the camp was even livelier than it had appeared from the sky.

Soldiers moved back and forth between the tents.

The air was filled with a mixture of smells—roast meat, medicinal herbs, and leather. Occasionally, the clang of metal could be heard in the distance.

Across the main road, a group of Yellow Turban Warriors was marching in formation out of the camp.

Laine’s gaze lingered on these Daoist Soldiers for a moment.

After acquiring Demon Crystal technology through a trade with the Heart of the Mountains, the Clan had mastered the art of refining Magic Cores, allowing them to mass-produce Daoist Soldiers.

The Clan then allocated a vast amount of resources to establish the Yellow Turban Warriors Legion.

The legion’s numbers had now reached as high as 4,500, equivalent to three full banner teams.

That was 4,500 mid-tier Silver Rank combatants.

Across the entire Eldron Plain, even if all the other factions’ conventional armies—excluding the Silver Moon Clan’s—were combined, they might not be able to defeat this Yellow Turban Warriors Legion.

In addition, the Clan had also established an Oakguard Legion.

This was thanks to the Great Derivation Cyan Profound Array, which accelerated the process of plant animation, allowing the Clan to accumulate over a thousand Oakguards over the years.

However, the Oakguard Legion was usually stationed to guard the Taichu Spirit Realm and rarely left the forest.

In fact, the Clan was also in the process of establishing a Five Camp Divine Soldiers Legion, but progress was extremely slow.

After all, the Five Camp Divine Soldiers were not like the Yellow Turban Warriors.

The latter had a relatively low refinement threshold. As long as there were Magic Cores and enough metal materials, even disciples from Taichu City could refine them, though their production speed was a bit slow.

But for Daoist Soldiers like the Five Camp Divine Soldiers—which possessed combat power at the Silver Peak level and could form arrays to encircle and kill Golden Tier experts—the refinement difficulty was much higher.

Not many people in the Clan knew how to refine this type of Daoist Soldier.

Aside from his teacher and Lady Eleanor, only a few disciples in the Late Stage of Qi Refining who specialized in golem refinement were capable of it.

The former two, needless to say, were too busy and had almost no time to refine Five Camp Divine Soldiers.

The latter group had a relatively low success rate. On top of that, they had their own cultivation and missions to attend to, leaving even less time to devote to refining Five Camp Divine Soldiers.

As a result, the number of Five Camp Divine Soldiers had grown extremely slowly over the years.

Most of the Five Camp Divine Soldiers the Clan currently possessed were from the batch his teacher had created in his early years.

"I heard the Second Elder is commanding this war," Mia said, looking at the prominent watchtower in the distance.

That was the camp’s command post.

The towering structure stood in stark contrast to the surrounding tents.

"That’s right." Laine nodded. "The Great Elder and Lord Roman often have to accompany our teacher to the Holy Dragon Mountain Range, the Third Elder and Lord Cedric are in seclusion, and Lady Elena has to guard Nine Nether City. Among those in the Clan qualified to command a large-scale war, that only leaves the Second Elder."

"What about Lady Eleanor?" Mia asked.

"Furlo told me that Lady Eleanor has been using the Heart Demon Guide to temper her Dao Heart. She should be close to a breakthrough."

A hint of excitement crept into Laine’s voice.

’Once Lady Eleanor breaks through, the Clan will have another top-tier combatant.’

’A Golden Core Cultivator is far more formidable than an ordinary Legendary Tier expert.’

"Although Lady Eleanor didn’t come herself, she sent Furlo. She should be in the command post right now."

"Furlo must be close to completing her Qi Refining," Mia said with a touch of envy.

Laine grunted in agreement. "She’s just four breaths of Spiritual Qi away."

After becoming Eleanor’s assistant, Furlo rarely went out on missions like she used to.

However, she didn’t lack Cultivation Resources. Combined with her outstanding talent of a Three-Spirit Root, her cultivation progressed by leaps and bounds as always.

Even he, with his Haoyang True Body, was only two breaths of Spiritual Qi ahead of Furlo.

"How wonderful. In another year or two, you’ll both be able to reach Foundation Establishment."

"You’re almost there, too."

"I’m still more than twenty breaths of Spiritual Qi away. It’ll take me at least five or six more years. Lucius, on the other hand, should be a bit faster than me."

The two of them continued toward the watchtower as they talked.

Just then, the long, low blast of a horn suddenly sounded from the distance.

Laine stopped in his tracks, his gaze hardening as he looked in the direction of the sound.

’It’s the Black Stone Territory.’

"The Black Stone Territory is attacking first?"

Mia had also realized what was happening, a look of surprise on her face.

In their original assessment, the wisest choice for the Black Stone Territory, when faced with the Silver Moon Clan’s army, would have been to rely on the treacherous terrain of the Black Stone Mountains to defend their position, waiting for the allied forces’ morale to wane or for an opportunity to counterattack.

They hadn’t expected them to dare to take the initiative and attack.

"They probably want to catch us off guard before we’ve fully established our position," Laine said, quickening his pace. "Come on, to the command post."

Mia said no more, and the two hurried through the increasingly busy camp toward the watchtower.

The guards at the entrance to the watchtower seemed to have received their orders long ago. Seeing Laine and Mia arrive, they didn’t question them at all, instead stepping aside to clear a path.

The pair stepped into the watchtower.

The first-floor hall was already a cacophony of activity. Dozens of young Elves from the Document Hall hurried about, their footsteps rushed.

In the center, a massive stone table took up nearly a third of the space.

On its surface lay a detailed sand table of the battlefield.

Mountains, rivers, hills, and plains—every feature of the terrain was precisely scaled down and marked with different colored sands and stones.

The sand table was densely packed with small flags of various colors, representing the troop deployments of both sides.

Above the table, more than a dozen giant Water Curtains floated in mid-air, displaying real-time images of the battlefield from different angles.

Furlo was standing before the stone table, her eyes fixed on the sand table.

Hearing footsteps, she looked up. Her gaze fell on Laine and Mia, and a gentle smile appeared on her elegant face.

"I figured you’d be here around now. Perfect timing. You can watch the battle with me."

Laine’s heart stirred.

’From the way Furlo’s talking, it seems they were already prepared for the Black Stone Territory’s offensive.’

Laine immediately looked at the Water Curtains and saw that the Silver Moon Legion’s formation was indeed already spread out on the plain, like a fully drawn bow, poised to strike.

On the front line, more than thirty colossal beasts stood in a row like silent fortresses.

They were the Rock Armor Beasts.

Their bodies were even more robust than those of Riftspine Dragon Beasts, standing nearly four meters tall at the shoulder and over ten meters long. They were covered from head to toe in thick, dark gray Scale Armor. The scales were as coarse as granite, their surfaces covered in grooves of varying depths, as if they were mountain rocks eroded by wind and rain for millennia.

The once-sharp bone spurs on their backs had degenerated, replaced by a single, raised, rock-like shell. It was shaped like a turtle’s carapace, with thick edges and a slightly raised center, providing complete protection for their entire spine.

Their limbs were as thick as stone pillars. Their claws, though much shorter than a Riftspine Dragon Beast’s, were far sharper, glinting with a cold, metallic light.

Behind the Rock Armor Beasts, the Yellow Turban Warriors Legion was arranged in neat phalanxes, forming a dark-gold wall that stretched across the plain.

Further back, the soldiers of the Silver Moon Legion stood in strict formation, ready for battle.

On the flanks, the Scale Rock Lizard cavalry were also arranged in tight battle formations.

The cavalrymen sat in their saddles, one hand resting on their lances, which were planted in the ground. Their gazes were fixed solemnly ahead.

Above the battlefield, hundreds of Radiant Feathered Falcons circled at low altitude.

The riders on their backs held shortbows, arrows already nocked, ready to dive at a moment’s notice and rain down a deadly volley upon the enemy.

The entire army was like a finely tuned war machine. Every component fit together perfectly, waiting only for the commander’s order to crush any enemy who dared to stand in their way with the force of a thunderbolt.

In comparison, the army of the Black Stone Territory seemed far inferior.

It consisted entirely of soldiers from the Human Race, interspersed with a small number of halflings and Golems.

Although their formation was also orderly and their equipment uniform, they visibly lacked the imposing presence of the Silver Moon Legion.

Laine looked at two Water Curtains on the right, which were displaying the two flanks of the Black Stone army.

Two to three thousand cavalry were scattered on the army’s flanks, mounted on creatures the size of ponies, with short, thick limbs and massive hooves covered in a hard, keratinous shell.

Laine recognized them as Giant Hoof Beasts.

These creatures had extremely high stamina, excellent weight-bearing capacity, and were easy to tame, making them the first choice of mounts for many factions establishing cavalry units.

However, their combat power was extremely limited, only at the White Rank level, far inferior to the Scale Rock Lizards.

’This is normal. Very few factions are capable of taming Black Iron Tier mounts.’

’For most factions, being able to tame White Rank creatures as mounts is already quite impressive.’

’Moreover, the cost of maintaining a cavalry is staggering.’

’Building a fully-fledged cavalry army has never been an easy task.’

’Across the entire Dawn Continent, apart from the five major powers and a few first-rate factions, only the Silver Moon Clan, with its immense wealth and complete taming system, could afford to support several thousand Black Iron Tier Scale Rock Lizards.’

’The fact that the Black Stone Territory could field a cavalry two to three thousand strong was already quite remarkable in the Green Highlands.’

’Unfortunately for them, they were facing the Silver Moon Clan.’

"It’s starting."

Furlo’s voice drew Laine’s attention back to the battlefield.

In the Water Curtain, accompanied by the sounding of the horns of attack, both armies began to advance slowly toward each other.

The two battle lines surged forward like a tide, their steps uniform, the clang of their armor merging into a low roar.

The vanguard of the Black Stone Territory was a wall of bronze and iron formed by heavy infantry.

They held tower shields as tall as a man, the faces turned outward and the edges interlocked, forming a steel bulwark.

From the gaps in the shield wall, a forest of sharp longspears protruded, their cold tips glinting in the sun like a coiled steel hedgehog with its spines bristling.

This was the "Iron Wall Array," the Black Stone Territory’s greatest source of pride.

Over the past several decades, this formation had crushed countless enemy charges, forging the Black Stone Territory’s formidable reputation in the Green Highlands with blood and steel.

Today, however, they were not facing cavalry of flesh and blood, but true monsters of steel.

The thirty-odd Rock Armor Beasts charged toward the enemy line with heavy steps, like moving mountains.

The charge of these behemoths was not fast, but it carried a suffocating sense of pressure.

Their four hooves thundered across the grass, and the earth trembled slightly beneath their feet, sending small pebbles bouncing up from the ground.

The distance closed, bit by bit.

When the Rock Armor Beasts entered the range of the Black Stone Territory’s ranged units, the Black Stone commander swung his arm down without hesitation.

"Fire!"

Countless arrows and Magic spells rained down like a torrential storm, shooting toward the Rock Armor Beasts with a piercing shriek.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The explosions were deafening.

The massive bodies of the Rock Armor Beasts were engulfed by the concentrated ranged fire. Flames and dust shot into the sky, scorching the surrounding air until it warped and distorted.

Yet when the dust settled, the behemoths were still advancing.

They bore numerous new wounds, with crimson blood seeping from their shattered Scale Armor, but their heavy steps never faltered for a moment. Instead, spurred on by the pain, their speed increased.

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