Chapter 144: Mystic Ice Dharma Seal (Bonus for Alliance Leader Old Fifth of Wuliang Mountain Dormitory 10/10)

This thing has quite a fiery temper!

However, how could Wei Cheng let it get its way? With a wave of his hand, he slapped another Immovable Golden Bell right down onto it.

Come on, little fellow, let's see whose foundation is truly stronger.

Just as expected, with a crisp "crack!", cold qi surged wildly, and the golden bell shattered.

It took less than a second.

Wei Cheng decisively followed up with another one.

It shattered, then exploded, and he replenished it immediately. The two forces seemed evenly matched.

By the time Yu Liang and Mei Renli escorted Xu Shan back after rescuing the immobilized Chen Ce, and the surrounding fiends and demons had clearly vanished, Wei Cheng was still locked in a stalemate with the Dark Ice Seal.

At the rate of one Immovable Golden Bell per second, he had already smashed out one hundred and twenty-four golden bells.

Yet the cold qi within the Dark Ice Seal remained abundantly strong, and the power controlling it was still immense, attempting to forcibly drag it away.

"Old Wei, since this thing is so wicked and bizarre, why don't we use the Blazing Flame Stone against it?"

Liu Suide offered a correct yet terrible idea.

Wei Cheng was speechless. Was he currently in a state where he couldn't beat this thing?

No, he had countless ways to deal with it; tossing out his little wine cup would guarantee a swift and decisive end.

Unfortunately, he wanted to capture it alive.

"Everyone fall back, maintain your vigilance, and keep yourselves in top condition. Old Tang, provide support for me from a hundred and fifty meters away."

Wei Cheng quickly made his choice. He could not afford to be overly willful in this matter and exhaust his Mountain-Moving internal energy excessively.

Therefore, he decided to try fifty more Immovable Golden Bells. If he still couldn't subdue it after that, he would pull out the small wine cup and obliterate the damned thing.

To his surprise, however, the moment he cast the one-hundred-and-thirtieth Immovable Golden Bell, the Dark Ice Seal finally fell silent. The evil, gloomy, and bizarre aura emanating from it could no longer be sensed.

Wei Cheng did not dare to lower his guard. He first motioned for the trio led by Xu Shan to step forward and restore his status, while he himself took out a jar of Great Desolation Blazing Sun Wine to replenish his Mountain-Moving internal energy. He grasped a Golden Dragon Cash coin as a contingency and finally instructed Tang Yuanshan to be ready for rescue operations.

Only then did he step forward, withdraw the Immovable Golden Bell, and pick up the Dark Ice Seal, which had now shrunk to the size of a fist.

The entire process was very quiet.

Even when handed over to Xu Shan to be probed with the Azure Wood Command technique, no lingering malicious entities could be dispelled.

Of course, the most likely scenario was that the mystical and taboo-laden seal marks on the Dark Ice Seal had simply been worn away and ground down to nothing.

When Wei Cheng and the others returned as if they had acquired a supreme treasure, to their great surprise, the Taoist in cyan who had been busy setting up formations suddenly turned around and said swiftly:

"This is a Dark Ice Dharma Seal. Once upon a time, it could probably be considered a top-tier magical artifact. It is unknown which fellow Daoist tragically perished and had it fall into the hands of fiends and demons. But nowadays, its spirituality and Dharma restrictions have been nearly worn away, leaving only a core piece of dark ice. It can no longer even be considered a magical artifact."

For some reason, as Wei Cheng listened, he always felt that the cyan-robed man had placed special emphasis on his tone when mentioning that it had been "worn away."

Ah, yes indeed. A supreme treasure encountering an unworthy master, only to end up in such a plight—how lamentable and mournful! I am heartbroken as well.

The cyan-robed man said no more. Wei Cheng wanted to ask questions, but felt it would be improper.

Firstly, their relationship had not yet reached that level, and to make sudden demands did not strike him as something he could pull off with a thick skin.

Secondly, if they truly had a bond or owed each other favors, making such a rash request would make that friendship seem far too cheap.

After all, they had worked themselves to the bone providing him with protection, only for a casual request from him to clear the slate between them.

Such behavior was beneath Wei Cheng.

Next, he placed this core dark ice into his miner's back basket. Turning his back to the cyan-robed man, he and the others brushed past each other in an instant, communicating entirely through hand gestures. To the outside observer, they had done nothing at all, but details were what truly decided everything.

For instance, during the battle just now, Wei Cheng had quietly slipped a Thunder Bolt Talisman to Liu Suide, which would likely serve a crucial role in providing misdirection.

Of course, it was also possible that the fiends and demons on the opposite side had no idea they possessed Thunder Bolt Talismans at all.

In short, preparing thoroughly could never be a mistake.

Time slowly ticked away. Seeing that another hour was about to pass, violent waves of demonic fire suddenly erupted from a distant horizon, accompanied by another round of earth-shattering tremors. Even the cyan-robed man glanced over because of it. Although it was impossible to tell how anxious he was, there was no doubt he was desperately accelerating his pace.

"Xu Shan!"

Wei Cheng shouted, and Xu Shan instantly activated the Squad Leader's waist token hanging at her waist. The next second, an ultimate-form Immovable Golden Bell descended, boasting a defense equivalent to two Bai Hans combined, covering a radius of a full forty meters.

Upon activation, the faint glow on the Squad Leader's waist token immediately dimmed. Xu Shan handed the token over to Yu Liang without delay, who frantically pumped his Mountain-Moving internal energy into it to restore the token's charge.

In less than three minutes, Yu Liang wore an exhausted expression; his Mountain-Moving internal energy was completely drained. That's right, this "power bank" of theirs was somewhat unqualified, only capable of charging halfway.

Therefore, Mei Renli, the veteran power bank, had to step in and finish the job.

Even Qin Yang, the weakling Mountain-Moving practitioner with a mere sixty years of internal energy, had to come over and contribute his remaining value.

Another three minutes later, through the combined efforts of two and a half people, the waist token was finally restored to normal and ready to be deployed once more.

Meanwhile, Yu Liang, Mei Renli, and Qin Yang seized every second to bitterly and frantically gulp down osmanthus wine, simply because osmanthus wine was cheap.

As for why the three of them had to serve as power banks?

It was because Wei Cheng and the others had discovered a bug in the trial mechanism.

Although Yu Liang and Mei Renli both possessed ninety years of internal energy and could both release the ultimate form of the Immovable Golden Bell, no matter what, even if you tied the two of them together, they could never unleash an Immovable Golden Bell with a defense comparable to two Bai Hans combined.

However, the internal energy they injected, combined with Qin Yang's tiny bit, happened to be just enough to recharge the Squad Leader's waist token...

And the reason they used Xu Shan's scout waist token was because she could activate it using a minimal amount of Azure Wood internal energy. If it were Yu Liang or Mei Renli, a single activation would drain half a lifetime's worth of internal energy.

It could be said that Wei Cheng's team practiced strict thrift to an almost laughably stingy degree.

At this moment, the situation outside was far from optimistic. Perhaps due to the complete annihilation of the first two waves of fiends and demons, or perhaps because each wave of monsters grew stronger than the last, this time was fundamentally different.

The enemy forces no longer relied on surprise attacks to secure victory; instead, they were pressing down with a massive army.

In the sky, hundreds of blazing firebirds circled continuously without landing.

On the ground, an endless sea of horned fiend troops stretched as far as the eye could see.

That's right, they were all horned fiends holding fire talismans, capable of condensing a massive fireball in just three seconds—old friends from the sixth stage.

Estimated numbers: at least ten thousand.

There were no cannon fodder minions.

This sight made even Wei Cheng's heart skip a beat, and the complexions of the others turned as pale as paper. They could not help but recall the sheer terror of being carpet-bombed by fireballs back in Floating Cloud City.

Too brutal.

It was practically an insoluble death trap!

Wei Cheng wanted to say something, but found he couldn't utter a word. What was there to say?

He was willing to fight to the death here, but this time he truly could not guarantee the safety of his companions.

This time, the situation was dictated by his own will.

"Old Wei, perhaps I can charge through and unleash a major area-of-effect ultimate move; that might relieve some pressure for you guys."

Liu Suide muttered in a somewhat hoarse voice. He was afraid of death too, but under these circumstances, he felt he had to do something. Even if not for the team, he was willing to carve out a path for everyone's sake, if only for his wife.

In a rare display of silence, Xu Shan didn't speak, but instead gripped the hem of Liu Suide's clothes so tightly that she wanted to exert force yet didn't dare to.

She didn't even have the spare capacity to harbor thoughts of blaming Wei Cheng.

"It's useless. Those blazing firebirds will snipe you down the very second you move. This wave—we can only take it head-on. Everyone, prepare to activate your Blazing Flame Rings, and remember your respective relay sequences. There must be no confusion, no overlaps, and above all, no mistakes."

Wei Cheng said in a deep voice. He forced himself to remain calm and cast all unnecessary thoughts to the back of his mind.

Next came the agonizing wait.

Those blazing firebirds actually managed to hold back from attacking immediately, which shattered Chen Cut's plan to shoot down a few of them.

This wasn't a joke. As long as those blazing firebirds exhausted all their blazing feathers first and then dived down below a thousand meters, with Chen Ce's current strength coupled with that mid-tier magical artifact, bringing down twenty of them would be a piece of cake.

Of course, whether he could survive and return from doing so alone was an entirely different matter.

The horned fiends moved quite slowly, and they actually insisted on forming formations, selecting positions from all directions as if preparing for a single, devastating volley that would settle everything once and for all.

It was hateful that Wei Cheng's side lacked long-range attackers. Against enemies queuing up for an execution-style firing line five hundred meters away, they were completely helpless.

As for Wei Cheng's Iron Prison Law, though it could reach them, exposing such an ultimate trump card prematurely was simply not cost-effective.

Furthermore, the Iron Prison Law was fundamentally a long-range capture skill restricted to single targets. Releasing it once cost sixty years of Mountain-Moving internal energy, making it super inefficient.

"Prepare!"

At Wei Cheng's command, Bai Han painfully activated his Blazing Flame Ring. That Blazing Flame Ring, boasting +25 fire resistance and ranking first in the district, was now destined to perish in this battle.

The fiery barrier unfolded, bright yet sorrowful.

Following closely behind, Tang Yuanshan, Liu Suide, Xu Shan, and even Yu Liang and Mei Renli each activated their own Blazing Flame Rings. Raging flames transformed into a sea of fire, enveloping the exterior of the Immovable Golden Bell like a gigantic torch.

Yet, compared to the massive fireballs gathered by the tens of thousands of horned fiends surrounding them, it was truly nothing more than the light of a firefly!

Three seconds later, without any warning, ten thousand massive fireballs soared into the air, perfectly synchronized with the hundreds of blazing firebirds in the sky releasing their blazing feathers all at once. They genuinely intended to wipe out everything in a single wave.

At this very moment, however, Wei Cheng and the others unexpectedly grew completely calm. Feeling that world-destroying sea of fireballs come crashing down, the sounds and colors of the world vanished in an instant—which, translated into reality, meant they could neither hear nor see anything.

All senses lost their agility, and the only thing they could rely on was mental strength.

No one could capture the instantaneous collision data, not even Wei Cheng.

He only knew that within this single second, the flame barrier was shattered, the enhancement values of everyone's Blazing Flame Rings plummeted drastically, and the Immovable Golden Bell was blasted apart.

Then, in a flash, Bai Han activated his Squad Leader's waist token, immediately followed by Xu Shan activating her own Squad Leader's waist token, and then Liu Suide's Squad Leader's waist token.

It took a full four Squad Leader waist tokens' worth of Immovable Golden Bells, combined with every single Blazing Flame Ring, just to survive this wave smoothly.

What the outside world looked like could no longer be seen.

Nor did anyone have the mental bandwidth to care.

Liu Suide's scout waist token was casually tossed to Yu Liang for recharging, Xu Shan's token was tossed to Mei Renli for recharging, while Tang Yuanshan had to recharge Bai Han's token simply because his strength was insufficient, placing him third in line.

As for Bai Han, he was currently drinking osmanthus wine like a maniac, frantically storing extra Mountain-Moving internal energy. This was a capability exclusive to high-tier Mountain-Moving practitioners; by utilizing the Mountain-Moving meditation visualization chart, one could temporarily store an extra five decades or so of Mountain-Moving internal energy, though it generally could only be sustained for a few minutes.

Next up, Bai Han would act as the primary tank, while Wei Cheng had to be saved for the very end.

That would be the repository of all their hopes.