Chapter 155: Holding One's Own Ground

"Honey!"

Xu Shan screamed, terrified out of her wits, yet entirely powerless to intervene.

Instead, Bai Han reacted instantly, hurling twenty-five Immovable Golden Bells in rapid succession.

Tang Yuanshan followed closely, casting eighteen Immovable Golden Bells with matching speed.

Then came Tang Xiaojun with twelve Immovable Golden Bells.

Yu Liang unleashed eight Immovable Golden Bells.

Mei Renli contributed nine Immovable Golden Bells.

The five Mountain Movers acted simultaneously with flawless teamwork. Even though those eleven wind blades were terrifyingly powerful—capable of shattering even the ultimate form of the Immovable Golden Bell in a single strike—they were no match for the seamless, relay-style cooperation of the five Mountain Movers. Without the slightest delay or interruption, they intercepted and blocked all eleven lethal wind blades.

Bai Han and Tang Yuanshan even managed to cast two successive waves of Immovable Golden Bells within the span of two seconds.

Almost simultaneously, Chen Ce had already recovered his mobility. Moving like a phantom shadow, he dashed behind the stone statue, retrieved Liu Sui's short sword, and darted back just as fast to slide it into its scabbard.

He had actually chosen to forfeit his own opportunity to attack.

He knew very well that breaking the defense of this stone statue was beyond him. Regardless of his mastery over shadow clones or his possession of a mid-grade Dharma artifact, if he couldn't pierce its defense, he simply couldn't.

Who could break its defense? Only Zixia!

By the third second—just as all the wind blades were blocked and the Golden Dragon Cash coins in Liu Sui's hand dissipated—his Zixia internal energy was fully replenished.

"Draw the sword!"

With a roar akin to a dragon, a flash of sword light saw the short sword streak out like lightning once more, shattering yet another arm of the stone statue in a single strike.

At the same time, a bizarre expression of simultaneous weeping and laughing crossed Liu Sui's face, signaling that he had been hit by a compounding stack of five different emotions.

Fortunately, Xu Shan had recovered her wits by then. A volley of Azure Wood long needles shot forth, instantly dispelling Liu Sui's eerie affliction.

The next moment, ten terrifying wind blades hurtled toward Liu Sui once again. But this time, there was even less suspense. The five Mountain Movers executed their defense with unhurried poise, blocking all ten wind blades solidly in one breath.

As for Chen Ce, acting once more in his capacity as the loyal retriever, he dashed forward to fetch Liu Sui's short sword yet again.

In the blink of an eye, the stone statue was left with only nine arms.

Just when everyone thought the overall situation was settled and victory was within reach, the stone statue abruptly crossed its legs and sat down. Its nine arms folded together in an unimaginable configuration, while three of its seven heads shot up toward the sky like cannonballs, vanishing from sight in an instant.

Right at the center of the stone statue's chest, an eye as dark as ink materialized, radiating a malevolent power as it glared at them with venomous hatred.

The next second, a familiar rustling sound echoed once more.

Wind fiends!

Damn it, the heads of this stone statue could summon wind fiends!

Over on the other side, Wei Cheng was still trapped by four batches of wind fiends and unable to move, yet more wind fiends were appearing here. What should they do?

Should they continue bombarding the stone statue, or temporarily avoid its sharp edge?

"Use your defensive artifacts to hold them off! Use the Golden Dragon Cash to recover your internal energy! Liu Sui, take aim at that eye and forcefully destroy the stone statue!"

Bai Han roared with grim determination. At this juncture, retreat was no longer an option.

By this point in the battle, it was either the stone statue that perished or them!

"Newcomers, get to the center!"

Yu Liang shouted at the top of his lungs, pulling out his defensive artifact alongside three Golden Dragon Cash coins and a jar of Great Desolation Scorching Sun Wine. Smashing the mud seal, he gulped the liquor down in one continuous breath. In an instant, his entire body turned as red as a boiled prawn, looking as though he might burst at any second.

Yet this overflowing, violent surge of energy was precisely what was needed right now.

As the rustling sound drew close, he aggressively activated the defensive artifact, transforming it into a three-hundred-meter-long shield wall.

Simultaneously, Mei Renli also activated his shield wall artifact.

As for Bai Han, he handed his defensive artifact over to Tang Xiaojun. Along with Tang Yuanshan, he remained dedicated to shielding and escorting Liu Sui, determined to crush the stone statue at all costs.

Everyone was fighting with their lives on the line.

With disheveled hair and a crazed expression, Xu Shan cast all regard for her appearance to the wind. Her Azure Wood needles formed a dense storm, blanketing everyone. From start to finish, despite all her complaining, she had not missed a single newcomer.

As for Chen Ce, a top-tier Swift Swallow and a master of shadow clones, he willingly lowered himself to play the role of the faithful retriever, fetching the short sword back for Liu Sui time and time again. This was because Liu Sui's Flowing Dragon Sword Technique was still only at the introductory stage, and his Zixia internal energy was simply insufficient to sustain the sword's flight back and forth on its own.

Bai Han and Tang Yuanshan used their combined strength to frantically hurl Immovable Golden Bells. On one hand, they had to ensure Liu Sui wasn't slain by even larger wind blades; on the other, they had to prevent the wind blades from ricocheting randomly and wreaking havoc across the entire battlefield.

Yu Liang, Mei Renli, and Tang Xiaojun drove their defensive artifacts to the limit, doing everything in their power to block the three tidal waves of wind blades.

Fortunately, the wind blade tidal wave possessed a characteristic requiring it to flow along the ground like water; otherwise, their defensive artifacts might not have been effective at all.

Even so, despite having an adequate supply of internal energy, they likely wouldn't have been able to hold out for more than ten seconds, especially since the wind blade torrent could also outflank them from both sides.

As for the newcomers—well, even if they wanted to help, they were incapable of doing so.

The demonic shadow curse constantly pervading this area, coupled with the emotional pollution radiating from the stone statue's heads, was already enough to drive them to the brink of a mental breakdown. Without Xu Shan's constant support with her Azure Wood needles, they wouldn't have lasted even a single minute before succumbing to corruption and depravity.

Fortunately, Liu Sui's Flowing Dragon Sword Technique was fiercely formidable.

Fortunately, the effects of the Golden Dragon Cash were truly potent.

And fortunately, they had Chen Ce, the elite retriever, darting back and forth.

Operating at an attack frequency of once every three seconds—

Liu Sui and that stone statue looked almost as if they were participating in a firing squad execution.

Trading injury for injury, life for life!

After nine seconds, just as Yu Liang, Mei Renli, and Tang Xiaojun were on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion, Liu Sui's third strike finally shattered the stone statue's chest. With a loud crash, the seemingly indestructible stone statue burst into countless fragments.

At the very same moment, the wind fiends fled, the wind blade torrent dissipated, and everything vanished into ashes.

A massive stele of enlightenment, emitting a serene cyan glow, slowly descended.

They had actually won!

And they had won this grueling battle without Wei Cheng's guidance.

Yet Bai Han and the others were well aware that the stone statue possessed seven heads, meaning it could summon seven batches of wind fiends.

Wei Cheng had already intercepted and held off four batches of wind fiends for them beforehand.

Thus, during this battle, the stone statue could only summon three batches of wind fiends, which was the only reason they had been granted a chance at victory.

The greatest share of the credit undoubtedly belonged to Wei Cheng.

Looking at one another with silly grins, no one immediately stepped forward to touch the stele of enlightenment.

In less than a minute, Wei Cheng indeed hurried over. With the stone statue destroyed, the wind fiends trapping him had also dispersed.

"Why aren't you touching the stele? What are you waiting for?"

"Old Wei, you go first."

Liu Sui grinned broadly, looking immensely happy.

"Right, Brother Wei, you go first. We're not in a rush."

Bai Han echoed sincerely. The greatest gain from this battle wasn't this stele of enlightenment; it was the proof of their own capabilities and the fact that they had finally stepped out from beneath Wei Cheng's shadow.

That alone was a cause for celebration.

"There's no need for that. The road ahead is still long; you guys should go first."

Wei Cheng smiled. Given his current comprehensive strength, he wasn't particularly pressed for the divine light's radiance anymore; rather, he needed consolidation and scarcer resources.

However, all of that required his teammates and followers to become significantly stronger.

"In that case, Old Wei, let me say something. These newcomers are too much of a drag. I think we need to pick a few who look decent, give them a battlefield promotion, focus on cultivating them, and let them touch it without convention."

Xu Shan suddenly spoke up.

"That's right, promote a few more Mountain Movers. I feel like our number of Mountain Movers is still far too small. We need more charging treasures!"

Yu Liang chimed in with teasing humor, utterly exhausted of playing the role of a living battery.

"I agree. Thanks to having five veteran Mountain Movers in the previous battle, we barely managed to cope."

Bai Han nodded as well, still feeling a lingering sense of shock when recalling the recent scene.

"In that case—fine!"

After a brief moment of contemplation, Wei Cheng glanced at the dazed and dizzy newcomer trials participants. They truly were in a miserable state. Even with Xu Shan constantly dispelling the demonic shadow curses throughout, their lack of strength and weak mental fortitude meant they were still severely impacted.

"Old Tang, you touch it first, because you're the most likely to comprehend the Iron Fortress Code."

"Qin Yang, step forward, you're second."

"Duan Jianghai, you're third."

"Lü Dongxin, you're fourth."

"Xu Shan, you're fifth. You need to recover your Azure Wood internal energy and elevate the tier of your Azure Wood Token."

"Qi Family member, sixth."

"Xu Xiaoguang, seventh."

"Zhang Yunfei, eighth."

"Xiao Wei and Lu Feng, ninth and tenth."

Wei Cheng named twenty people in one breath. Aside from Tang Yuanshan and Xu Shan, who were veteran participants, everyone else was a newcomer—most notably the Mountain Movers, whose numbers reached a total of twelve.

On this matter, his thoughts happened to coincide seamlessly with Yu Liang's: they needed more living batteries.

Before long, Tang Yuanshan was the first to touch the stele of enlightenment. As expected, the divine light's radiance bathed him for a full fifty seconds. Not only did his mental fortitude break directly through to Level 7, but he also acquired the first tier of the Iron Fortress Code technique.

From this moment on, Tang Yuanshan could officially be considered a high-end Mountain Move.

Next was Qin Yang, who bathed in the divine light for a full forty-eight seconds—a luxury akin to a heavenly gift for a newcomer.

His mental fortitude, which originally hovered around Level 3.5, surged directly to Level 6 in a single bound, rendering Auntie Xu's needle treatments unnecessary for him from then on.

Following him was Duan Jianghai, a quite formidable newcomer squad leader under Qin Douzi's command. Had he not been so stubbornly rebellious, Qin Douzi would never have sent him out here.

Yet this time, he hit the jackpot, receiving forty-five seconds of divine light exposure. His mental strength, previously around Level 4, similarly skyrocketed straight to Level 6.

The fourth person, Lü Dongxin, was considered a minor fan of Wei Cheng, and he likewise earned forty-two seconds of divine light illumination, propelling his mental strength past the threshold of Level 5.5 in one go.

As for Xu Shan, needless to say, even though she only received forty seconds of divine light exposure, her mental strength effortlessly surpassed Level 7.

The remaining newcomers possessed average foundations, but overwhelmed by the sheer potency of the divine light, they were all able to elevate their mental strength above Level 5 with ease.

Logically speaking, receiving one more session of divine light exposure would allow all of them to reach Level 6 mental strength.

With that, they would gain the confidence to dispense with medical treatments and act as legitimate batteries or minor combatants on the battlefield.