Chapter 153: Counterattack
"Rumble! Rumble!"
As the ground broke, thick and thorny vines extending their way up like demonic hands.
On the stems, there were many thin and sharp Sickle Grass.
"Chila!"
As the Sickle Grass glittered from its reflection, even the most skilled soldier would die after being surrounded by these menacing plants.
"Slurp! Slurp!"
Brightly-coloured and large Serrated Flowers opened their large mouths and without hesitation swallowed these soldiers in whole; they were immensely satisfied.
As the basis of the formation, the spiritual flowers and spiritual grass covered the entire Cangshan City, gobbling up almost half of the entire We Country’s army.
Even the most highly skilled could only destroy one or two stems of the Serrated Flower, which did not really hinder things.
The volume of plants and the fact that they could start growing the moment then landed on the floor and had the special ability to become enraged meant that these two evolved spiritual species became a life-sized human meat mincer.
"Ah... This is..."
Outside the city, Flying Dragon General was confused, and his eyes bloodshot. Seeing the number of casualties from his army, he was infuriated and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Even though the few of them were spiritual knights, they were still no match for the entire Secluded Mountain Prefecture.
This big loss not only destroyed the Wu Country’s objective but also weakened their strongest army. Even the country itself might not be stable anymore!
Even he the general was at loss facing such a humiliating defeat. The other leaders were angry too and tried to attack in rage.
"They are rather similar to Serrated Flowers and Sickle Grass..."
As Wu Wudao witnessed the scene, he frowned. "Those two are normal spiritual plants, why would they evolve to such an extent?"
Notwithstanding others, just based on their size, brutality and their fire-resistant ability, they could form up a formation by themselves and coordinate an attack; no one could associate them with the two most normal spiritual plants.
...
"Prefecture Master? What’s this?"
Niu Dingtian and Zhang Qingfeng were overjoyed.
If previously they were referred to hopeless and desolate, the strong defence now would mean they would be overjoyed without words.
Not just that, but if they took the opportunity, they might just turn it into a victory!
"This is the spiritual plant formation that I have set up! It is thanks to Yu Xinlou that I am able to set it up to such a scale..."
Fang Yuan nodded his head.
"This is all Sir’s plan, how would I dare to take credit?"
Yu Xinlou hurriedly kneeled down and replied.
He was rather surprised. As a businessman, he knew that there were large quantities of spiritual plants here, but they were only normal spiritual flowers and spiritual grass. He was still confused at how they could become so scary.
Fang Yuan smiled, giving them a mysterious feel.
The ability of a [Botany (Level 5)], together with large amounts of spiritual flowers and spiritual grass, as well as with the help of spiritual land and spiritual fertilizer, and the most crucial being the unique environment of a battlefield; all these created a deadly trap!
’Although the evolved Serrated Flower and Sickle Grass are ferocious, they grow extremely quickly and have little to no requirements for the type of land, especially since there were so much blood and flesh to feed them...’
The casualty rate in Cangshan was now more than ten thousand! It was the best greenhouse for these plants.
Originally being quick growers, and with the help of spiritual fertilizer and his [Botany (Level 5)], the entire underground of Cangshan City was already filled with budding spiritual grass and spiritual flowers, as they began to form their formation.
Based on Fang Yuan’s current Botany skills, the chance of normal spiritual plants evolving is already very high, especially with such large numbers of plants.
He was still not satisfied and returned to the Green Peak spiritual land to bring along the Serrated Flower King, using him as a central nervous system to control the other Serrated Flowers to listen to its command.
Otherwise, why would these spiritual flowers and spiritual grasses become so obedient and even knew how to ambush? Why would they stay quietly underground and not create havoc outside?
"The Sickle Grass and the Serrated Flower are companions. As the Serrated Flower has the ability to move around, it can bring along the Sickle Grass, and will become scarier than any killing machine might be..."
He had a tinge of coldness in his eyes. "With the help of my dream master’s ability, it would be simple to deny detection from the opposing spiritual knights and Wu Zongs, and therefore able to surprise them..."
The city of spiritual flowers and spiritual grasses in front of him had already become a living hell, and even bore fruits.
"Zhang Qingfeng!"
Fang Yuan exclaimed.
"Yes, Sir!"
Zhang Qingfeng replied, full of excitement.
"Regroup the army, and prepare for the counter attack!"
"Yes, Sir!"
The entire Cangshan City was hard to explain.
Because of his specific deployments of the soldiers, Fang Yuan’s army did not suffer that much of a loss. Even the guards all the way at the city gates could run all the way into the city and were not affected by the attack. He could regroup an army of around 5,000.
The Wu Country’s army, however, sent all their troops to the frontline. After half a day of battle, they had many casualties, and the change in the situation made them lose their momentum. The entire army was destroyed.
"Kill!"
As Zhang Qingfeng entered the battlefield, his intentions were obvious.
The demonic plants avoided the Secluded Mountain Prefecture soldiers, and only chose to attack the Wu Country’s soldiers. Both the soldiers on the ground and the general looking from afar knew that the war was over.
"Retreat!"
"Quickly retreat!"
The soldiers who entered the city became the fertiliser for the plants, and the soldiers behind hurriedly retreated like ducks broken away from one another. They just ran without a lead; the only thing they knew was that the further they were from the city the better.
"Rumble!"
The Serrated Flower King would not give up on such an opportunity! As a rumble was heard, vines popped out of the ground and blocked the path of the retreating soldiers, as it enjoyed its food.
"Kill!"
Zhang Qingfeng opened up a path within the spiritual flowers and gave chase. He killed like nobody’s business, as though he was cutting grass.
"Retreat! Retreat!"
At this point in time, the Flying Dragon General finally came to his senses.
He had suffered a great loss! There was no hope for any comeback with such a defeat.
The only thing he could do was to retreat and reduce the casualty rate.
"Good beast!"
Wu Wudao and Elder Daoist Xuan Sheng, together with another spiritual knight, began to fight against the spiritual plants.
As he stuck his finger out, the thorny vines crumbled as though a poisonous snake bit it. Not only that, the entire Serrated Flower shuddered and fell to the ground, and in a short moment lost all its life.
"God Killing Finger!"
Elder Daoist looked at Wu Wudao, as though he could see using his eye sockets. He waved his sleeves and sliced two Sickle Grass into bits.
"This is troublesome..."
The vibration from the destruction of these plants made him tense up.
"This spiritual flower and spiritual grass are working together in an orderly manner. They are extremely ferocious and feed on blood... Every one of it resembles an inner force expert..."
Elder Taoist Xuan Sheng sighed. "If we wait here and become trapped within the plants, it would be even more troublesome. If someone of our skill level were to ambush us then, it is likely we would fall for it..."
"We can still deal with one or two of them, but look at the sheer number..."
Wu Wudao had perfect eyesight and could detect the biggest Serrated Flower amongst all the plants. It just swallowed three soldiers and spat out flower buds, amidst all the blood.
As the flower buds touched the ground, they took in blood and grew at an alarming rate the human eye could detect. In a short while, it became a scary entity all by itself, ready to devour more flesh.
Just a single Serrated Flower and Sickle Grass would not do much, even if it was evolved with special traits.
However, if it exceeded a certain amount, the threat level would increase exponentially.
"Who would’ve known that the Secluded Mountain Prefecture Master had this move... Control of spiritual plants?"
In Wu Wudao’s heart, his alertness against Fang Yuan shot up.
"Let’s make a move, it’s time for us to leave!"
As the result of the war was obvious, Fang Yuan called for Niu Dingtian. Together, they rode the Red-eyed White King Bird across the city walls. As they circled the sky, soon after, they were able to locate Wu Wudao and company.
Using their spiritual knight and Wu Zong abilities, these elemental force martial artists had to fight their way out, forming a safe route for the normal soldiers to escape.
One of the spiritual knights was using fire-type spiritual spells.
His spiritual fire was different from that of Liu Yan’s; it was black as ink, like black liquid oil burning, and had the ability to decompose anything it came into contact with.
Even if the Serrated Flower and Sickle Grass were fire-resistant, they were still reduced to ashes after coming into contact with the spiritual fire, which showed the strength of the spiritual fire.
However, even that spiritual knight was sweating profusely. It seemed like using his spiritual spells was exhausting too.
"It’s you!"
Fang Yuan’s eyes glittered.
Among the three elemental force martial artists, he had the lowest cultivation level. He had to find the weakest to bully.
"Chirp! Chirp!"
As the Red-eyed White King Bird chirped, it’s feathers were dyed red as it descended, quick as lightning.
"Die!"
Fang Yuan used his paralyzing scream, which was hard to fend against.
As the spiritual knight froze, an eagle’s claw struck towards him. As he awakened from the trance, it was too late.
"Ah..."
He had just enough cultivation to dodge the claw and retreat, but there was already 5 streaks of blood across his chest.
"Die!"
Fang Yuan was merciless as he flew across, striking his leg out this time.
Striking his claw and his leg was a well-planned move which would restrict all the possible escape routes for this spiritual knight. In the next moment, he would take his life.
"Don’t be rude!"
As his leg was diverted sideways, the spiritual knight fell back and spat out a mouthful of blood. Suddenly, there was a shadow between the both of them, blocking Fang Yuan from delivering his death kick.
"Flying Dragon General?"
As Fang Yuan examined the middle-aged man in front of him, he began to think of Flying Dragon General.
Only such an experienced Wu Zong would be able to save the spiritual knight’s life in the nick of time.
Compared to him, Wu Wudao and Elder Taoist Xuan Sheng were still inferior.
’What a pit I couldn’t finish him off, but that is fine too... That spiritual knight is useless now, and can no longer take part in this fight!’
As he glanced at the half-dead spiritual knight, his mood was uplifted, and he scanned the rest of them.