Second Patriarch: Rise Of The Liu Clan

After the first group of beasts were wiped out, the battlefield returned to its previously calm state. Still, this marked a transition to an atmosphere of wary anticipation, and the tension could nearly be cut with a knife. Immediately after the first attack the civilians were forcefully moved away from the wooden palisade surrounding the village, and some of the cultivator's lodgings, Liu Zhu's included, were moved closer. Now that danger was closing in on Wolfden Village, it was important to distance the civilians from the action. It would have been best to evacuate the majority of them entirely, but that course of action had been decided against long ago. Many of the locals didn't want to abandon their ancestral grounds and their homes, and refused to leave ahead of time. Even for the ones who wanted to leave, there was the question of how much manpower it would take to escort them to a nearby town that could be otherwise spent protecting the village. Besides these reasons, there was another, more selfish reason for them staying. As long as the villagers were in the city, the warriors local to Wolfden Village would fight like men possessed. Cultivators might be able to escape if things went south, but their mortal families couldn't.

Liu Zhu spent the hours after the battle helping his squad clean up the battlefield before returning to the makeshift barracks he'd been moved to. The place was rather cramped, with only a cot and a footlocker belonging to each person, but it ensured that the cultivators would be able to react quickly if beasts were sighted again. It also made it easier to keep an eye on them in case anyone tried to take advantage of the chaos to cause trouble in the village. The building was clearly not originally meant to be a barracks, and was probably some sort of storehouse before being hastily modified.

Liu Zhu was going to spend the rest of the day reading since he had nothing better to do, but he ended up taking Feng Jun's advice to get some sleep while he could. He didn't know when there would be trouble, so it was best to conserve his energy. That advice ended up being helpful, as the next morning another wave of beasts attacked. Most of the cultivators were relatively well rested, and with the increased cohesion among the army that wave passed with very few casualties. Later in the day third and fourth waves appeared, each one slightly stronger than the last. As the cultivators responded to these crises they were continually pulled away from meals and sleep, forced to hold out on the frontlines. They had endurance beyond that of mortal men, but by the last wave of the day, the weariness on the weaker cultivators' faces was visible. They could only hope that the beast horde would end soon.

Much to the thanks of the cultivator, there was a gap of around half a day between the fourth wave and the next appearance of the beasts. Unfortunately for them, this appearance was marked by two rounds of horns instead of one. The main horde had arrived. After the horns sounded Liu Zhu's squad quickly grouped up and waited for orders, used to the procedure by this point. A few minutes after the horns sounded out, the front of the horde came into sight. Behind it was an endless stream of vicious beasts, slowly coming into view. The sound of hooves filled the air, and the ground rumbled slightly as the distance between the two forces began to close. Then the orders to charge were issued.

Liu Zhu's squad took the same position as before. Liu Zhu was calm as he spoke to them, but there was a lurking feeling of nervousness. They'd all gotten through the past 36 hours waves without injury, but that was true for the vast majority of the cultivators. Everyone was aware that this would be the true test of their competence.

Despite their worries, they had no time to dwell on them. The two sides clashed, the cultivators from the village leading the way. They held up large wooden shields, putting all of their weight behind them in order to force back the beasts. Afterwards they'd slice out with their swords to finish off the concussed animals, although the hired cultivators often did so first. While they couldn't hold the line as well as the more organized villagers, their mobility and killing ability were far higher. As this battle at the front raged on, the archers rained down upon the horde, thinning them out. At this point they didn't need to aim at all, and they just had to focus on the steady movements that had been ingrained into them over the past couple of days.

Liu Zhu's squad was small, but despite that he was able to keep the situation stable. This was mainly due to his stamina and defensive abilities. The former kept Liu Zhu's strength at its peak at all times, while the latter allowed him to attack recklessly while staying safe. This easily carried him and his squad through the first hour, but at that point things became more difficult. The weakest beasts were dead, and many of the cultivators at the frontlines were already starting to tire after an hour of constant combat, no matter how easy it was. First Yin Bai began to slow, as the only Strength Rendering cultivator in the group, but within the next half an hour the signs of exhaustion spread throughout the group. The only problem was that this time the beast horde wasn't ending soon.

This battle situation continued for another hour, the troops at the front dragging out all of their strength to avoid dying. Despite this after several hours of fighting the casualties spiked. They still weren't enough to seriously endanger the village, but they were signs of what were to come. At this point the villages poured in a small amount of cultivators they'd held back to refresh the frontlines, but it wasn't a substitute for rest. Liu Zhu looked at Feng Jun, uneasy, and after nearly three hours passed managed to find a chance to ask him when they'd be able to rest.

Feng Jun fought as he spoke, not daring to slow down given the situation. "I'm not sure. Based at what the people higher up are saying the beasts will be too strong for people below your level in an hour. Maybe two. You'll need to make sure your squad lasts until then." Liu Zhu couldn't help but think that the orders were unreasonable and that they should fall back to the pallisade, but he had no say in the matter. Neither did Feng Jun, nor the person above him. The only ones with speaking rights were probably the village elders or cultivators who were at Qi Emission or Dantian Creation. All he could do was ride the situation out. Liu Zhu just muttered "I understand." as he rushed back to his squad.

Liu Zhu had been observing his squad out of the corner of his eyes as he spoke, and with him gone for less than 20 seconds the situation was already deteriorating. It was clear that at this point he was stabilizing pillar of the situation. He'd managed to pull them through three grueling hours, so he just needed to pull them through one or two more. Liu Zhu plunged back into combat, slashing beasts into ribbons left and right with his spear, straining all his concentration to try to filter incoming threats. By doing this he was able to pull through the next hour, but there was no sign of a retreat being called for the ordinary members and the strength of the vicious beasts was still rising. This was the first point where he was legitimately worried.

The squad members fell back to playing a support role as the beasts began to equal Flesh Tempering cultivators in strength, or occasionally even Early and Mid Bone and Marrow Tempering. The sweepers like Feng Jun at the front of the squads had to focus on stronger beasts at this point, so they had to start handling these in their half-exhausted states. Luckily Liu Zhu was still in peak condition, but he still had to use flashy moves like 2 D.e.s.i.r.es and 3 D.e.s.i.r.es to end some fights quickly so that his squad wouldn't fall apart while he was fighting.

Despite Liu Zhu's best efforts, the defensive line around them began falling back. At this point, casualties spiked massively. Even the cultivators of Wolfden Village, who had seemed like they were made out of iron up until this point, started collapsing. Unfortunately, while the horde ahead of them was clearing out and turning into a narrow sea of highly-powerful beasts, it still wasn't enough. There were mutterings of a retreat, but it wouldn't be for another 10 or 20 minutes. Throughout this chaos Liu Zhu simply focused on the people near him, protecting them as best he could.

During the last stages of this battle of endurance, Liu Zhu served as a wall. He stood in front of his small group of men, taking attacks from claws and beasts' jaws casually. Most of them did no damage to him, but he still looked like a blood covered mess. As this was happening, he suddenly saw something and leaped back. As he did two beasts in front of him were killed, smashed in between two massive red pincers. Liu Zhu unconsciously gulped as the beasts around him fell back, giving him some breathing room. Filling the empty space was a massive beast at least seven feet tall. It had two reddish-grey pincers covered in blood, and was similar to a giant crab.

Liu Zhu grimly chuckled as the crab-like monster approached him. "I... I thought this wasn't near the ocean? Why are there crabs here?" Behind him he heard the faint voice of one of his squad members. "I think that's supposed to be some sort of mutated Banchian. It's a type of crustacean local to the lakes in the area, but it's normally only a foot or two tall." "Oh... fun."

Before Liu Zhu engaged with the Banchian, a sound louder than the yells of the cultivators and growls of the beasts filled the battlefield. "Everyone with a battle strength below Early Bone and Marrow Tempering retreat and defend from the walls! Those with a battle strength above that, form up and draw closer to the walls! Any stragglers who approach will be slaughtered through sheer numbers, but you're the foot soldiers now!"

Liu Zhu smiled and made a thumbs-up. "You all made it! Retreat, and I'll deal with... this. Stay safe on the way back." The Banchian, having recovered from the shock of the extremely loud retreat order, stopped hesitating and attacked Liu Zhu again, forcing him into a head-on-head battle.