Demon formations were mostly in disarray. The Six Fangs Generals were able to keep some cohesion among their troops, but the other generals were struggling to maintain order. A few of their commandants were even thinking about retreating. The only thing keeping them from abandoning the battlefield was the fear of the Empyrean Asura. All of them knew the fates of the traitors and the cowards. To be fair, the Six Fangs Generals had almost lost no one in their troops. Even the volley of arrows had spared them. The only victims on their side were collateral damage.
Although it kept their troops fresh and ready to fight, it also created resentment among the other soldiers. At this stage, everyone had noticed that the humans were sparing the Silver Wolf Marshal's forces, and even the slaves. Some generals began to wonder whether the Silver Wolf Marshal was planning on defecting. With the Empyrean Asura's ultimate assault on the Hongchen Kingdom not going as planned, many demons were questioning their allegiances. In fact, Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan was one of them. However, the fear ingrained in him by Empyrean Asura was simply too strong.
Despite the barrier, Silver Wolf Marshal ordered archers to fire. Most of their arrows exploded against a golden membrane that only appeared against their attacks. Even in their techniques, there were traces of their blood cultivation. As such, the array formations could also block them. In fact, the stronger their attacks were, the more difficult it was for them to penetrate the barrier.
Unfortunately, weak attacks would have almost no effect on the human forces. Indeed, they were covered in several layers of array formations. Besides, they were not as densely massed as the demons. Unlike the demons, the humans had been able to prepare the terrain for decades, if not more. Even before the war fully escalated, the humans had prepared for demon invasions. On the other hand, Empyrean Asura had forced Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan to send his forces without any time to prepare. Unless they could move forward, they would slowly be slaughtered.
Shanyin Guan kept on looking at the Blood Sun. It was visibly weakening. With it, his chances of victory and the morale of his troops were dwindling. On the other hand, the humans were getting more and more passionate. Their vigor was growing, as well as their aggressiveness.
While Silver Wolf General Long Cheng was recovering some stamina, a dozen elite troops flew toward the barrier under the cover of arrows. Each group was only ten men strong, but they were all Spirit Warriors. Although they were mostly early Spirit Warriors, those were the absolute elite troops. They had been seasoned on battlefields. Instead of targeting high-ranking officers, they went straight for the ground formations.
Finally, the demons had targets they could attack. Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan flew higher to get a better view of the battlefield and gave orders to all the generals under his command. Some focused on maintaining the defenses, while others had to fire a barrage of arrows. Some arrows might go through the barrier here and there. Besides, they were probably weakening it. But the main goal was to destroy the arrows fired by the humans before they could get to the ground. Near the barrier, it became absolute chaos and destruction.
Storms of fire exploded against hail, lightning collided as rocks flew faster than sound. With each explosion of violence, the barrier shimmered golden and silver. Everyone could feel that the barrier wouldn't last very long. However, they couldn't tell if they were talking about months, weeks, days, hours, or minutes. Even the array formation masters present weren't sure, as the chaos was simply too much. Moreover, it mainly depended on the fight between the suns above their heads.
Some arrows produced strange phenomena, odd noises attacking the mind or even the soul. Humans finally used Three Bow Ballistae and other siege weapons. Contrary to the demons, they were ready for a long war of attrition. With those weapons, arrows as large as horses or even small demonic beasts flew through the air. Most arrows were made of an amalgam of metals. Their core was mostly Silk Gold, making them extremely supple, allowing them to vibrate through the air to become incredibly fast. On the other hand, their arrowhead was mostly made of Lightning Silver. A few had other metals in them because they were fired by specific Mortal Warriors injecting their martial arts and Qi within.
Once again, those arrows caused powerful manifestations when they got to their target. Unfortunately, the vast majority of projectiles were now being intercepted by the demons. Under Silver Wolf Marshal's commands, they had been able to form powerful defenses. Besides, they now knew the targets. However, they couldn't easily mix the armies together as it would disrupt their chains of command, and above all else, it would throw off their battle formations.
The human elite troops attacked the ground forces as much as they could, but they were now ready. Their shields were powerful. Even ten Spirit Warriors couldn't easily pierce through the defensive battle formations of hundreds of early Golden Blood Children and late Blood Children. Still, they were causing mayhem. Thanks to them, several volleys of projectiles were able to pass through and strike.
Soon, though, commandants were sent against the elite troops. The sky turned into a fierce battlefield. Around a hundred Spirit Warriors were fighting two to three hundred early Accomplished Demons. Their martial arts erupted all over the place. No real duel took place as the elite troops were doing just as Silver Wolf General Long Cheng had done. Instead of focusing on one spot, they were always flying around, staying as close to the barrier as they could in order to retreat if need be.
Contrary to the earlier raid, however, getting too close to the barrier was now dangerous. As such, they were forced to stay deeper within enemy territory. In the span of a few incense sticks, several Spirit Warriors and many Accomplished Demons were killed. One Spirit Warrior focused all of her Qi within her Lower Dantian and dived down toward an entire battalion. Her throat had been sliced open, and she knew she was dead anyway. As such, she left her elite formation and turned into a human bomb.
When she exploded, dozens of demons were killed, and hundreds were injured. No matter how many demons she killed, this was still a terrible loss for everyone. Without even talking about their attachment to their comrade, a cultivator spent around a century before being able to become a Spirit Warrior, especially when talking about elite soldiers. Losing one of them was always a terrible cost. The Forsaken Dao Era had made cultivating harder and harder. They couldn't replace powerful cultivators as easily as in the past. Moreover, they couldn't replace any individual. Her comrades felt her loss and got even more brazen.
Both General Yun Po and Silver Wolf General Long Cheng were sensing the danger. The barrier was now in utter chaos. They had to call back their forces before they were really trapped on the other side. Those elite troops would be essential to launch raids against waves of demons trying to outflank them. While demons relied on sheer number, the humans had to rely on mobility and superior power, focused in small teams. Losing those elite troops too early would be devastating. On the other hand, they needed to cull the demons before the barrier fell down.
Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan was resting while observing the battlefield. His eyes were mostly focused on the barrier. As soon as it wavered, he would launch the first assault. He and the Silver Wolf General were two beasts held in cages, staring at each other, waiting for the fence between them to open.
Right now, Lu Xiaoya was in charge of giving the orders. Although she passed through him and relied on his authority, she had a much better grasp of the battlefield. During the chaos, she had disappeared. Using her talents, she was now mostly invisible, observing everything, coordinating the generals. Her insights were great. But she was painfully aware that the humans had much better intel. They seemed to know too much about the demons.
Of course, the Huang family had focused on garnering intel. But they had been greatly helped by Cao Yun. The young man had extracted a lot of information from the demons he had slaughtered. Thanks to him, the humans had a good understanding of their enemy. Lu Xiaoya couldn't do much against it. Indeed, she couldn't introduce new battle formations among the soldiers. Even changing their strategy on the fly wasn't possible. Thus, she was doing the best she could, using her perception to the fullest. Thanks to her, fewer and fewer projectiles were able to pass through the barriers.
Among the Silver Wolf Marshal's Six Fangs Generals, Jin Bao and Xun Lieren were sent against the human elite troops. Jin Bao was incredibly fast and agile. Her twin sabers tasted the blood of several Spirit Warriors. On the other hand, Xun Lieren was an exceptional tracker and hunter. His ability to guess the trajectory of those elite troops before they even seemed to be aware of their destination was wicked. However, even powerful Accomplished Demons like them couldn't easily kill ten Spirit Warriors working in unison. Besides, those elite troops were all veterans of the battlefield. Slowing them down was one thing, even injuring them was possible, but killing them all was another matter entirely.
While the war was raging in the sky, Zhai Tiesheng was using his 'Iron-Crushing Vajra Body Scripture' in order to strengthen the defenses of the demons. His metallic body received several arrows two or three times bigger than him without moving a cun. On the other hand, He Wushuang and Mo Qingsong were both getting ready for the assault. Right now, they had nothing to do but observe and wait. Both of them were going crazy. They wanted to fight for their marshal, but they couldn't. All their talent was wasted as long as this barrier was up. Deep down, they were cursing Empyrean Asura much more than the humans. He was a blight on everyone living on the Piaolu planet, not just the humans. They hated him like many others under Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan, but they loved and admired their marshal.
On the other side of the barrier, General Yun Po was in charge while Silver Wolf General Long Cheng was recovering and staring at his rival.
Humans were getting ready for an assault as they knew it would come. Archers were doing their best to give cover to the elite troops on the other side of the battlefield, but almost nothing was able to go past the barrier now. As such, General Yun Po ordered his forces to fire a bit more randomly. Although their main objective was to kill those not loyal to the Silver Wolf Marshal, they weren't naive enough to think they could win the war without killing any of them.
Soon, the attacks spread. The volleys of arrows became thinner. Although they were doing a lot less damage, more projectiles were able to pass through the barrage of the demons. The chaos was spreading, and it made Lu Xiaoya's work that much harder...
High in the sky, the Blood Sun was visibly growing weaker and weaker. By now, it was surrounded by nine other smaller suns. Although they were small in comparison, they were shining with intense light. Soon, they almost seemed as large as the Blood Sun, just from their brightness. As they shone, the dark sky was slowly going back to normal. Despite the red obscurity, it was only a couple of hours past noon. This bright light was fighting the red glow of the Blood Sun.
In the heavens, the Blood Sun was emitting killing intent and Death Energy. Its red light was cold and terrifying. However, the nine other suns were warmer. Deep within, one could still sense Death Energy, but it was diffuse. Their light was bright and warm. Their yellow glow clashed with the red blood. This warm light was strengthening the resolve of mankind everywhere in the Hongchen Kingdom. Even those who didn't quite understand it could feel something familiar.
General Yun Po and Silver Wolf General Long Cheng could tell what those suns were. They were clearly Qi Manifestations of Sun Liao's 'Houyi's Nine Suns'. But they were much stronger than anything Sun Liao could actually manifest. Moreover, they were able to sense familiar auras within. Emperor Weide himself was helping Sun Liao, and he wasn't alone. The generals could guess that the Imperial City had been attacked, but they were responding in kind. Hopefully, they would win. That being said, the damage done to the array formations all around the Hongchen Kingdom was too much. They would ultimately fall, whether the Imperial City broke Empyrean Asura's assault or not.
General Yun Po had a few soldiers in a communication array formation. Until now, they had failed to get any response from the Imperial City. Most of the high-ranking officers throughout the Hongchen Kingdom knew about the situation at the border, but not about the Imperial City. Obviously, the Huang family had been warned as well. Even they didn't know what was currently going on in the Imperial City. Their latest intel was that the Imperial City had been entirely closed off by array formations. Unfortunately, anyone close to it had been killed when the Staircase to Hell had struck. Now, they couldn't get word in or out. But they had to make decisions fast.
In the sky, the nine suns suddenly expanded!