Chapter 145: Buddy, Spare a Light

Outside, it was still a sea of fire, with tongues of flame leaping dozens of meters into the air. The original desolate village had been reduced to ashes, and even the earth was melting, save for the area protected by the Immovable Golden Bell.

However, this was merely the beginning.

Scarcely three seconds later, hundreds of giant flame birds in the sky did not dive down; instead, they continued to circle, waiting for an opportunity. They were like heavily armored cavalry biding their time outside the battlefield, and once they launched a true charge, it would be as overwhelming as a thunderbolt, leaving not a single armor scrap behind.

At this moment, those ten thousand antlered demons unleashed another simultaneous volley of massive fireballs, instantly illuminating this realm.

Then, an even more dazzling and blinding radiance surged upward from the very center of the earth, resembling a blazing sun.

In that very instant, the ultimate form of the Immovable Golden Bell was torn apart like a piece of paper.

Next came the squad leader's token activated by Chen Ce, until Bai Han made his move. Instantly, utilizing the ultimate form of the Immovable Golden Bell he released, he forcefully withstood this wave.

The consumption was slightly less than the previous wave, yet it still left this Immovable Golden Bell covered in cracks, ready to shatter at the slightest touch.

The giant flame birds circling high above seemed to sense an opportunity and plummeted downwards at high speed, attempting to break through in one go.

Yet, almost the exact instant before they crashed into the Immovable Golden Bell, the heavily cracked bell instantly repaired itself back to pristine condition.

"Boom!"

"Clang!"

The tremendous sound of impact, coupled with the resonant toll of a bell, echoed across the battlefield.

Those giant flame birds were smashed directly into pools of sludge, splashing across the skies, only to be instantly transformed into roasted meatballs amid the intense flames and heat, filling the air with a savory aroma...

Inside the Immovable Golden Bell, a cold smirk appeared on Bai Han's rugged face.

What kind of pathetic garbage dared to try and freeload off his protection? He was, after all, the top Mountain Shifter of this district under Weicheng; he still possessed at least this much capability.

At this moment, his surplus, extra Mountain Shifter internal energy had just been depleted, yet he could still release two more ultimate-form Immovable Golden Bells.

So far, they still had four squad leader's tokens left in their possession: one belonging to Weicheng, one to Tang Yuanshan, one to Yu Liang, and one to Mei Renli.

Weicheng could still afford to wait and step into the fray later.

In truth, they still possessed defensive magical artifacts, but those mid-grade defensive artifacts, while offering slightly better defensive utility, were all directional defenses, falling far short of the comprehensive all-around defense of the Immovable Golden Bell.

Moreover, they required an even greater consumption of Mountain Shifter internal energy.

It was not cost-effective, which was why they had been discarded right from the start.

Come to think of it, such directional defenses were better suited for flexible combat; who would ever fight this kind of desperate, no-holds-barred positional defense war?

Especially when they could not interfere with the man in cyan, which multiplied the difficulty severalfold.

"Old Tang!"

Bai Han shouted. Tang Yuanshan understood immediately. Ceasing his recharging, he first took a wild gulp of Great Desolate Fierce Sun Wine, then swiftly took over Yu Liang's squad leader's token.

With time neither too much nor too little, the moment three seconds were up, he immediately activated the squad leader's token, releasing an ultimate-form Immovable Golden Bell. Without even raising his head or checking the outcome, he continued charging Bai Han's squad leader's token, racing against time.

By contrast, Chen Ce, Liu Sui, and Xu Sanshan were left anxiously stranded with no way to help. They could not act as power banks because their charging protocols were incompatible~

The only person free at the moment was Qi Fengchu, but he had long since lost his previous trace of youthful arrogance. He sat huddled there with his head in his hands like an oversized quail, completely scared out of his wits.

High-end warfare was beyond the comprehension of someone at his four-cycle Zixia level.

Seeing Liu Sui's ultimate move earlier, he finally realized just how naive he had been in his past attempts to decipher the Zixia Heart Sutra on his own.

Another wave of bombardment passed. The scene outside was no longer fit to be looked upon, but this time, Bai Han only had enough internal energy left inside him for one more Immovable Golden Bell.

"Let me take over. You guys take a break."

Weicheng suddenly spoke up, stepping into Bai Han's position.

No extra words were needed. Bai Han swiftly retracted his spiderweb-patterned Immovable Golden Bell. The next second, Weicheng vaulted forward with a single step, instantly tossing out an ultimate-form Immovable Golden Bell with a reverse wave of his hand.

He had actually left himself stranded on the outside.

This was, of course, entirely intentional.

He possessed that level of confidence as well.

The defense of his ultimate-form Immovable Golden Bell was currently more than four times that of Bai Han's.

Blocking a wave of massive fireballs posed absolutely no pressure.

Yet, beyond that, he could also transform into a Flame Titan.

The reason Weicheng had chosen the Flame Titan path in the first place was because this choice theoretically granted him the highest possible fire resistance value under the current trial stage.

As long as the quality of the opposing flames did not undergo a drastic change, he could withstand any number of fireballs.

Naturally, if the enemy's flames were to transform into things like Samadhi True Fire, alchemical furnace fire, Nascent Soul fire, or immortal fire, it would undoubtedly become completely meaningless.

In addition to this, there was another concept: flame deflagration, where the explosive impact and blast damage of detonations could not be fully factored into fire resistance.

Consequently, Bai Han and the others' flame rings had all gone silent after enduring just a single wave.

However, once Weicheng transformed into the Flame Titan, one of his options was to condense flame armor and flame shields—feats that would normally require a massive consumption of flame stones.

Yet ever since he mastered that particular type of flame rune, all of this had become relaxed and delightful.

Of course, merely having flame runes was not enough; it was like having a clever housewife with no rice to cook with.

Therefore, he did not rush to make a move. Instead, he needed to borrow some fire to get the atmosphere heated up, make the scene lively, and melt the earth itself within their passion.

Only in this way could he swiftly, powerfully, and abundantly borrow a sufficient quantity of flames.

Previously, Bai Han and his companions had utilized three waves of Immovable Golden Bells to defend against three waves of massive fireballs from the opposite side. This warm-up had successfully elevated the battlefield atmosphere to its peak, with seas of fire raging everywhere and the earth on the verge of melting.

If he did not borrow now, when would he?

The moment Weicheng leaped out and transformed into the Flame Titan, it felt as though he had returned to the warm blankets of his own home. The blazing, endless flames felt like his own bride; the feeling was indescribably cozy.

"Roar!"

He could not help letting out a long howl, stretching out his large hands as he unleashed a full four flame runes.

In an instant, a tremendous attractive force was generated within the flame runes, causing massive vortices to appear all around him. They sucked in the boundless flames in roaring billows, turning a hundred-meter radius into a vacuum instantly.

And beyond that vacuum, the towering mountains of the Ninth Group faintly materialized.

Indeed, the speed and quality of his flame absorption depended not only on the flame runes, but also on the Flame Titan itself, and even more importantly, on his Mountain Shifter internal energy, his Mountain Shifting Meditation Scroll, and the overall quality of his Earth Spiritual Roots.

This was much like the blower in a steel-making furnace.

The stronger his Earth Spiritual Roots were, the greater the might the Flame Titan could unleash. Naturally, this was the internal condition; the external condition was having sufficient flame energy.

Without that, it would still be useless.

Right now, however, the timing, the geographic advantage, and the harmony of men were all perfectly met.

Everything was ready, and the eastern wind had arrived!

Ancient times had Cao Cao borrowing arrows with straw boats; today, Weicheng was borrowing fire...

In a mere two seconds, Weicheng had already condensed a full nine layers of heavy flame armor around his entire body.

This caused him to instantly transform into a gigantic, flaming fatty, with a waistline measuring a full two hundred meters...

It was appalling, outrageous, utterly insane, and downright wicked!

By the third second, when the opposing side launched another ten thousand fireballs into the air, within a radius of hundreds of meters, not a single spark of fire remained. Weicheng had sucked them all up in one breath, transforming them into his flame armor and heavy flame shields.

"Go!"

With a mighty shout, Weicheng suddenly condensed over a hundred flame javelins in his right hand. He didn't even need to aim or lock on; he merely had to scatter them across the sky.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

The flame javelins flew out at an even greater speed, colliding blindly like a stray cat catching a dead mouse with dozens of massive fireballs at an altitude of over a hundred meters above the ground.

There was no help for it; increasing the quantity made it impossible to control the precision, and this Flame Titan was no omnipotent all-rounder.

Still, it was already enough.

The collisions instantly detonated the massive fireballs, and the shockwaves from those explosions rapidly triggered a larger-scale chain reaction of secondary detonations, which in turn sparked an even more massive aerial explosion.

After one wave, only about ten percent of the massive fireballs actually smashed into the Immovable Golden Bell, feeling no different than a gentle scratch to an itch.

As for the lethality of the aerial explosions, while absolutely fatal to ordinary mortals, at this moment, they were not even worth a fart.

On the contrary, an even greater volume of flames was sucked away by Weicheng in one gulp, unhesitatingly layered onto his flame armor to form a tenth layer!

Many thanks to the old iron for the fireworks!

The giant flame birds in the sky began to grow restless. They wanted to charge, yet they dared not.

They were not afraid of dying; they only feared dying meaninglessly.

Hundreds of giant flame birds sounded impressive, but facing at least several ultimate-form Immovable Golden Bells, they simply lacked the mass to crash through.

Go and crash into that giant flaming fatty instead?

Better forget it; they really didn't want to turn into meatballs.

Further away, those ten thousand antlered demons also fell silent. How was this war supposed to be fought?

Volleying dense fireballs resulted in them being instantly detonated in mid-air by that sickening flaming fatty.

By the way, it was equivalent to delivering a care package and comfort rations straight to the opponent.

Choosing not to attack left them seemingly devoid of any alternative tactics either.

Consequently, the battlefield suddenly plunged into silence. The opposing side decided to wait, waiting for the next hour when they would need reinforcements.

And Weicheng, naturally, could only wait as well.

Damn it, this tenth-layer flame armor was as thick as it could possibly get, to the point where he couldn't even walk anymore, leaving him able only to toss flame javelins to put up a scare.

He could only hope to buy time and allow his teammates to rapidly recover their conditions.

As for whether they could truly hold out until the end, he had no idea.

Thus, everyone simply lined up, staring at each other in a bizarre display of mutual sympathy.

Meanwhile, inside the Immovable Golden Bell, Bai Han, Tang Yuanshan, and the others were frantically replenishing their internal energy, charging the squad leader's tokens, and then recharging themselves, busy as bees.

The man in cyan was even busier. A cluster of white vapor had risen above his head, and his entire body looked like a steamed crayfish. It was evident that he, too, was growing desperate, willing to risk damaging his very foundation.

Ten minutes,

twenty minutes,

forty minutes...

Right before their eyes, the one-hour mark was about to arrive.

Yet at this very moment, inside the Immovable Golden Bell, the man in cyan suddenly let out a hearty laugh.

"It's done! Everyone, fall back."

(End of this chapter)