By the time the two Artifact Sect disciples arrived, the disciple who had called for help was already at the end of his rope.
Three Apostles and six Vanguards were indeed difficult to deal with. The two newcomers' hearts sank as they reached for their artifact cases in unison. They weren't as wealthy as Fu Feng, but several weapons still flew out of their cases.
Transverse blades, flying swords, spears, and tower shields intertwined to provide cover for the Artifact Sect disciples who were struggling under the Apostles' attacks.
The disciples, whose spiritual energy was nearly exhausted, felt the pressure suddenly lift and let out a collective sigh of relief. Help had finally arrived.
“Fall back, leave them to us!” The two newly arrived disciples were brimming with spiritual energy. Although facing Apostles was still taxing, they were clearly in much better shape than the three exhausted disciples who had been fighting for a long time.
The disciple at the half-step Nascent Soul stage controlled mostly defensive artifacts. He took the lead, restraining the Apostle that was charging most aggressively.
Meanwhile, the mid Nascent Soul disciple controlled several sharp weapons, constantly looking for an opening.
The half-step Nascent Soul disciple's tower shield continued to slide backward under the repeated strikes of an Apostle wielding an ice blade. Cracks had even begun to appear on its surface.
“Damn it, my shield!” The disciple’s eyes bulged with rage. Since the shield was going to be ruined anyway, he decided to let it go out with a bang. He stopped maintaining a conservative defense and instead charged forward, pressing the shield against the enemy.
He poured spiritual energy into the artifact as if his life depended on it. The crumbling tower shield instantly lit up with dazzling spiritual lines, and the dense network of cracks began to glow white-hot.
The Ice Blade Apostle delivered another freezing slash. The pale blade light tore through the air, descending with a bone-chilling frost.
“Blow up!”
The heavy tower shield exploded on the spot. A violent shockwave of spiritual energy erupted from the center of the blast, sweeping through the surroundings. Rocks and artifact fragments, carrying turbulent spiritual pressure, slammed into the Apostle.
Caught off guard, the Ice Blade Apostle’s massive body jerked to a halt. The freezing aura field surrounding it was instantly shattered, and several cracks of varying depths were blasted into its hardened shell. It staggered back several steps.
The backlash from the explosion sent the half-step Nascent Soul disciple’s blood churning. He felt a sweetness in his throat but forced himself to swallow the blood down. His entire arm was numb from the shock. “Now! Senior Brother, get him!”
The mid Nascent Soul disciple, who had been waiting for an opening, narrowed his eyes and seized the fleeting opportunity.
Several sharp weapons hovering in the air suddenly accelerated. Sword light flashed like a rainbow and spear shadows moved like lightning, all locking onto the Apostle’s rigid body and plunging into the exposed cracks.
Creeeeeak, screeee—
A dense, ear-piercing sound of grinding metal and ice armor vibrated through the air, many times more grating than nails on a chalkboard.
The heavily injured and off-balance Apostle hastily raised its blade to block, but there were too many flying swords and spears. Even if it blocked one, several more were waiting.
Numerous weapons pierced its body in quick succession. The icy form exploded, scattering into a pile of ice shards and leaving behind a blue calamity seed shimmering with an eerie orchid light on the snowy ground.
The two disciples wanted to catch their breath, but the remaining two Apostles and six Vanguards gave them no such chance.
The remaining two Apostles pressed forward together, their deep blue bodies shrouded in a cold, malevolent aura. Their attacks were violent and fierce as they instantly filled the gap in the line, once again pinning down the two Artifact Sect disciples.
The brief advantage gained from killing one Apostle was instantly neutralized.
The two disciples who had just arrived had already exerted themselves significantly and had just detonated several refined artifacts. Suffering from internal injuries due to the backlash, their condition began to deteriorate rapidly.
Facing two Ice Spirit Apostles in perfect condition, the two men were like a spent force, their spiritual energy nearly hitting rock bottom.
Even though they popped a few Spirit-Restoring Pills, they clearly couldn't withstand the repeated attacks of the two Apostles. Before long, they had both sustained injuries.
At this critical moment, three waves of spiritual pressure slowly rose from behind. Several weapons shot forward from the rear, just as the two had done when they first arrived to help.
It wasn't new reinforcements. Instead, the three Artifact Sect disciples who had previously run out of spiritual energy had used the brief respite to take pills, bandage their wounds, and rejoin the fray.
The three opened their eyes, suppressing the exhaustion within, and charged back into the battlefield without hesitation. What had been two people overextending themselves to survive gradually turned into five people fighting side by side. The scales of victory began to tip toward the humans.
The three disciples who had regained their combat strength immediately flanked the sides. Deploying their artifacts, they precisely pinned down the six Vanguards that were prowling for an opening to sneak attack, cutting off their support routes.
They then proceeded to cut them down. In the hands of Nascent Soul cultivators, as long as there wasn't an Apostle leading the charge, Vanguards—who were equivalent to the Golden Core stage—were just trash that could be killed in a few moves.
Once they dealt with the Vanguards, facing two Apostles with five Nascent Soul cultivators became much easier.
They followed the same strategy as before.
The half-step Nascent Soul disciple gritted his teeth and took the front, using his few remaining defensive artifacts to hold one Apostle at bay. The mid Nascent Soul disciple controlled a flurry of blades, striking ruthlessly whenever an opening appeared. The other three tangled with the remaining Apostle.
The five of them coordinated perfectly, their roles in offense and defense clearly defined as they gradually tightened the noose.
Deprived of the Vanguards' support and surrounded on all sides, the two Apostles eventually fell into a disadvantage despite their fierce attacks.
Cracks were repeatedly carved into their frigid ice armor, and frost-blue ice shards flew everywhere. The advantage of their powerful icy bodies was slowly whittled away under the Artifact Sect’s continuous bombardment of artifacts.
After just a few breaths, another crisp boom echoed. The second Apostle’s icy body shattered, its calamity seed hitting the ground. A moment later, the last Apostle also collapsed.
Only a mess remained on the snowy ground. The cold mist slowly dissipated, leaving the area covered in shattered Ice Spirit remains and scattered glimmers of spiritual light.
The five men let out a collective sigh of relief, drenched in sweat. Most of their artifacts were damaged, and their breathing was heavy and ragged. They had finally finished clearing this wave of Ice Spirit monsters.
But this peace lasted only for a fleeting moment.
Whiz—!
In the distant mountains, a piercing ice-blue spiritual light suddenly lit up, followed by a thunderous boom that shook the surroundings like a cold-colored firework exploding in the night sky. Everyone instinctively looked up, and their hearts sank.
The eastern ridges, the western valleys, the southern slopes, the northern forests...
In every direction, brilliant and cold explosions of spiritual light went off one after another.
On some peaks, a single cold light exploded where an Apostle hunted alone; in some ravines, two dark shadows moved in tandem, synchronously ravaging the mountain forests.
It was no longer isolated attacks or scattered Ice Spirits fleeing in small numbers. The entire mountain range was ablaze with the fires of war, and the cries of calamity echoed everywhere. Massive numbers of Ice Spirits had passed through the Great Wall of Formations, gathering together into a spirit tide.
The exhaustion on the faces of the Artifact Sect disciples who had just survived the bloody battle vanished instantly, replaced by a bone-chilling solemnity.
One of them watched the explosions of spiritual light rising across the sky, his voice tight with fear.
“This is wrong... these aren't just scattered Ice Spirits wandering around. This is a small calamity tide! Quick, go! Go get the Sect Master!”
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