Chapter 601: Bloodthorn Forest
The following morning, on the road leading to Blood Nest No. 7.
More than 90,000 elite Qin soldiers, 340,000 garrison troops, and 50,000 supply trainmen formed a mighty army.
Black armor formed an endless dragon in the morning light, banners fluttering and wheels rolling.
In the air, 2,500 ice-winged griffins were divided into dozens of wedge-shaped formations, circling at low altitudes, their wings obscuring the sky.
Above the center of the army, Lin Feng, Jiang Zhaoyue, Jiang Yelan, and others flew side by side.
Lin Feng was enveloped in a light blue halo, which spread outwards and covered the entire army.
With the blessing of 【Swift March】, hundreds of thousands of people moved as swiftly as the wind, and the entire army moved forward steadily at a speed of 10 meters per second.
Lin Feng looked down at the armor he was wearing.
Elderland's Lament is already of Dark Gold quality. On the inside of its breastplate, a tiny rune is slowly glowing—the anchor point of its otherworldly storage space.
It contains enough water and food for the army to last for ten days.
He secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He had rushed back to Fenghuo City last night just to change into this armor.
The armor on the clone doesn't have an extradimensional space. If someone were to go to the battlefield wearing that armor, the food and drink for hundreds of thousands of people would have to be transported by caravans, and then they would truly fall into the Demon Sect's trap.
As for why the Wildfire Spear wasn't replaced, it wasn't because they didn't want to, but because they didn't dare to.
If the clone dies and the weapon is lost, there will be no one to blame but yourself.
He instinctively gripped the spear in his hand.
"Lord."
Jiang Zhaoyue's voice came from the side, carrying a hint of solemnity.
"Look."
Lin Feng followed her gaze.
The fields on both sides of the road have been completely destroyed. The wheat has been uprooted and piled on the field ridges, burned to black ash. The irrigation ditches have been dug up, and the soil has been turned upside down, exposing the cracked riverbed.
In the distance, only a few charred, broken walls remain of the village, not even a single roof tile is left.
"The scorched earth policy is even more extreme than expected," Jiang Yelan said from the other side, his tone indifferent.
Lin Feng remained silent, his gaze slowly sweeping over the ashes.
"It's not just the fields." Jiang Zhaoyue's expression darkened slightly. "Scouts reported this morning that all the water sources along the route have been laced with putrid blood powder. People who drank it suffered from severe diarrhea, and some even died on the spot."
"They burned everything edible, even uprooted wild fruit trees. They're turning the entire area into a wasteland, leaving themselves no way out."
Lin Feng said expressionlessly, "They're gambling, gambling that we'll turn back halfway."
"The road is also blocked." Jiang Zhaoyue raised her hand and pointed forward.
Lin Feng looked up.
Ahead, a dark red thicket of thorns stretched across the road like a giant wall, its thick branches, as thick as a child's arm, intertwined densely, completely blocking the way.
Bloodthorn Forest.
The Blood Abyss Demon Sect's signature defensive tactic is the alien vegetation grown from blood energy, which is as tough as iron and cannot even leave a mark when cut by ordinary swords.
"They want to turn this road into a dead end," Jiang Yelan said coldly.
Lin Feng looked at the bloodthorn forest in front of him, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"Let's see if they can hold them off."
He raised his hand and waved it forward.
"Mammoths and war elephants, clear the way!"
As the order was given, twenty mammoth war elephants at the front of the army simultaneously let out a low neigh.
The lead war elephant moved first, its four hooves pounding the ground, like a mountain leaning forward, charging straight towards the patch of dark red thorns.
The remaining nineteen followed closely behind, and the twenty war elephants lined up in a row, like a moving black wall, crashing into the Bloodthorn Forest.
"Snap!"
"boom!"
Thorns broke and burst in pieces under the ivory and iron hooves.
Those seemingly tough thorns were as brittle as dry firewood in front of the war elephants. With a sweep of the elephant's trunk, swathes of bloody thorns were uprooted and flung dozens of meters away.
Deep within the Bloodthorn Forest, the thorns rolled back as if alive, their barbs scraping against the elephant's legs, leaving only shallow white marks.
"This damn forest, it's never going to end." An awakened being on the back of an elephant frowned and patted its back. "Don't let them get to you, just flatten them!"
As soon as the words were spoken, the twenty mammoth war elephants simultaneously stood on their backs, raised their forelegs high, and then stomped down heavily.
【Elephant trampling】!
Twenty fan-shaped shockwaves exploded simultaneously along the ground, causing a violent tremor. Bloodthorns within a radius of tens of meters were snapped at the root, and splinters of wood and soil were thrown several meters high, revealing the dark soil layer below.
With just this one strike, a gap nearly a hundred meters wide was torn open in the Bloodthorn Forest.
The war elephants did not stop; they continued forward, trampling the remaining thorns into the mud with their iron hooves. The army followed closely behind, surging in through the gap like black water overflowing a dam.
The bloodthorn forest that made it difficult for ordinary armies to advance was no obstacle at all under the hooves of mammoth war elephants.
The army marched for a full thirteen hours, and it was already dark.
Fifty kilometers away from Blood Nest No. 7, Meng Yi flew back from the east.
He landed in front of Lin Feng, clasped his hands in greeting, and reported, "Lord, Blood Nest Number Seven is now an empty city."
"An empty city?" Lin Feng raised an eyebrow.
"The Blood Abyss Demon Sect evacuated everyone from the city, burning all the food and supplies." Meng Yi swallowed hard. "They even carved words on the city walls."
"What's engraved?"
Meng Yi paused for a moment, as if considering his words.
"They said... they hoped the war between the two planes would end here. If we didn't advance further, they were willing to offer three million mortals, five hundred thousand menial disciples, and two hundred top-grade blood crystals that could be converted into purple energy crystals."
"They can fight whenever they want, and not fight whenever they don't want to. It's not that easy." Jiang Yelan's voice was as cold as ice.
Lin Feng hummed in agreement and said, "We must take over the Blood Abyss Plane, but the supply line will have to be stretched even further."
Jiang Zhaoyue took over the conversation, her brows furrowed.
"Moreover, Blood Nest No. 1 is a full 840 kilometers away from Blood Nest No. 7. Our advance to Blood Nest No. 1 is already considered deep in the heart of the Blood Abyss Plane."
"If the battle goes poorly, coupled with insufficient supplies, it is very likely that, apart from our senior combat forces escaping, the rest of the ground troops will be completely annihilated."
"By then," Jiang Zhaoyue's voice lowered, "the Blood Abyss Plane will most likely attack Blue Star again."