Divine Tang Era

Chapter 121 Testing

"They're here, be careful."

Upon hearing Xue An's reminder, Xu Dan quickly turned around.

Outside the city, the dark tide surged like a raging sea, whipping up towering waves that crashed against the city walls.

In the gloomy atmosphere, ghosts floated and sank. Those at the forefront were all low-level ghosts, including hungry ghosts, gambling ghosts, water ghosts, mountain ghosts, ghosts that eat nothing, evil ghosts, blood-eating ghosts, blazing ghosts, fire-burning ghosts, underground ghosts, wilderness ghosts, and murderous ghosts, among others.

These ghostly creatures, each with a hideous face, howled as they came with the waves.

The eerie sounds entered my ears, shaking my soul and stirring my mind.

The inexperienced Xu Dan, Xue Diao, and Xue Bao'er were stunned and somewhat frightened by what they saw. After all, the scene before them was truly horrifying.

"Open the chest and distribute the talisman arrows."

At a command from the rear, the soldiers standing beside the armory immediately opened the boxes, took out bundles of finely crafted arrows engraved with runes, and distributed them to the archers on the wall.

Xu Dan also received a bundle of arrows, but he was too short, barely reaching the parapet, making it difficult to shoot. The soldiers nearby seemed to notice his predicament and brought him an empty box. Xu Dan stood on it, and it was just the right size for him. He quickly thanked them.

Xue An took out a bow and gave it to Xu Dan, but Xu Dan refused it. He already had one, so he took out the Crescent Moon Bow.

"good."

Xue An nodded and put away his longbow.

Xu Dan's quiver wasn't suitable for fighting on the city walls, so he took a leather quiver given to him by the soldiers, carried it on his back, and inserted the talismanic arrows into it—a full quiver containing exactly thirty. Standing on the quiver, his height exceeded that of the city's parapet, making it easy to shoot arrows.

But he felt a bit exposed and unsafe with no cover in front of him, so he took out the Crimson Flame Shield and placed it in front of him.

"Junior brother, where did you get such a good thing?"

Upon seeing this, Xue Diao and Xue Bao'er immediately ran over.

The soldiers on the side stared wide-eyed, crowding around. One by one, they reached out to touch it. The gilded beast patterns were so exquisite, the rust spots so beautiful. Their eyes shone with a mesmerizing gaze, and their mouths were watering.

Xu Dan felt a chill run down his spine, and goosebumps rose all over his body. It was just a giant shield, was it really necessary to go that far?

"What are you doing? Get back to your positions right now!"

The foreman, seeing them gathered together, shouted.

The crowd immediately dispersed and returned to their positions. The foreman, eyes wide, came over to inspect, walked to the Crimson Flame Giant Shield, reached out and touched it a few times, a look of infatuation in his eyes. Seriously? Even a brothel madam wouldn't touch a virgin like that! Xu Dan was speechless.

Fortunately, he left quickly, otherwise Xu Dan would have been furious.

"Junior brother, where did you get this shield?" Xue Diao asked again.

"This isn't something you can buy on the market," Xue Bao'er muttered.

"Seriously, everyone, don't talk," Xue An said from the side.

Xue Diao and Xue Bao'er quickly stopped talking, but their eyes couldn't help glancing at the giant shield. Not only them, but the people nearby also frequently cast curious glances. It wasn't that they were unfamiliar with such things, but rather that such a large shield was truly rare.

One after another, ghostly creatures howled and flew towards Jingning City, about to crash into the city's protective formation.

"Don't let them get close, shoot arrows!" A shout rang out, echoing across the city walls.

Xu Dan quickly drew out a talisman arrow from behind and nocked it with the Crescent Moon Bow.

Xue An shared his experience with them, "Don't use any secret techniques, just use normal archery methods. And don't shoot too far, just aim at the mist."

Xu Dan listened to him and shot talisman arrows into the dark mist, as did Xue Diao and Xue Bao'er.

Arrows of talisman shot out from the city wall, disappearing into the surrounding gloomy mist, exploding with a deafening roar, and bursting forth with intensely bright light. The surrounding gloomy mist dissolved, revealing a large open space.

Xue An did not join them. Instead, he waited for the arrows to fall before shooting the talisman arrows into the dense fog together with those of higher cultivation.

"boom"

"roar"

The talisman arrow seemed to have struck something, producing a series of loud bangs. The ghosts in front of the yin tide looked tense, as if they were about to collapse. At this moment, a loud roar suddenly came from within the yin mist, and the ghosts calmed down again.

"Shoot again!" the command rose again.

One after another, the talismanic arrows plunged into the dark mist like rain, scattering a large area of ​​the fog.

The eerie tide surged violently, like ocean waves, one after another. Talismanic arrows rained down, killing the ghosts in droves. After a while, the eerie tide not only failed to approach the city walls, but instead, a large number of ghosts perished.

However, the price they paid was a large number of talisman arrows. Soon, the bundles of talisman arrows they had placed beside them were used up, and Xu Dan and the others had no more use for them.

The military order was given, and the archers retreated while Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and scholar-officials stepped forward.

Xu Dan quickly jumped down, kicked the box aside, and put away the Crimson Flame Shield.

"Young master, don't rush to take it back. Could you lend it to us for a moment? We can just leave it where it was." The scholar who came up behind said politely with a smile.

Xu Dan was right behind him, so he wasn't worried about Xu Dan stealing his stuff and agreed.

The scholar quickly thanked him, and the others nearby also cast grateful glances his way.

After all, having such a huge shield provides an extra layer of protection. While it's unlikely anything bad will happen, what if something does?

Archery requires stamina, so the archers rested in the back, where soldiers brought them beast meat pills to replenish their energy. These beast meat pills were made from the meat of demonic beasts and medicinal herbs, and were considered a fairly common way to replenish energy.

Of course, the ones used by ordinary people and the military are quite different.

Xu Dan tasted it and found it to be quite good. As for the replenishment of qi and blood, it was better than nothing. In any case, he hadn't exerted much effort, so it was no big deal for him to have the strength of 100,000.

When Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and scholar-officials stepped forward, government officials and soldiers presented them with talismans, magical implements, and calligraphy written by renowned scholars.

"Exterminate evil."

The order was given.

Buddhist and Taoist practitioners immediately threw out talismans; when the talismans were exhausted, they activated their magical artifacts. Confucian scholars also infused their righteous energy and literary spirit into the writings of great scholars and threw them out; when the writing was exhausted, they began to use their calligraphy.

One after another, spiritual talismans and characters flew out and landed on the Yin Tide.

The righteous and upright spirit, true energy, and literary energy all erupted at once, like an atomic bomb explosion, scattering a large area of ​​dark mist. Countless ghosts didn't even have time to utter a sound before turning into ashes and scattering forever into the world.

After the torrent of talismans, there were standardized magical artifacts.

The ritual implements and calligraphy held by Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and scholar-officials were all drum-shaped. When the drumsticks were struck, the drum sounds from the east and west gates converged, forming powerful sound waves that blasted outwards, instantly dispelling the surrounding gloom.

The low-level ghosts sensed something was wrong and scurried backward.

Even the roars coming from the fog couldn't stop this phenomenon.

Perhaps because of this, the tide stopped surging forward and came to a standstill.

"Master Xue, are you alright now?" Xu Dan asked, while Xue Diao and Xue Bao'er also cast curious glances at him.

"It won't be that fast." Xue An shook his head and said, "Today is just a test. It will only start tonight and reach its peak tomorrow, especially when the moon is high in the sky. The situation will be even more dire then. If you are coming tomorrow, remember to be prepared to stay on the city wall for the entire day."

Xu Dan, Xue Diao, and Xue Bao'er nodded.

The tide stopped advancing, and an order came from behind to let everyone go down and let the city guards take over the defense.

Xu Dan then put away the Crimson Flame Giant Shield and went down with Xue An and the others.