Chapter 60: The Battlefield Navigator

Gu Chang’an’s expression remained serene as the Frostbright Sword in her hand hummed, unsheathing itself with a sharp clang.

“Ten Thousand Miles of Frost.”

She uttered only these four words softly.

In that instant, an extreme chill erupted violently, centered around her.

The moisture in the air instantly condensed into countless tiny ice crystals, forming a visible, frost-white domain that enveloped the entire battlefield.

All the demons who rushed into this domain found their movements sluggish, as if mired in a swamp. A layer of white frost rapidly crystallized on their bodies, making the circulation of their demonic energy heavy and difficult.

“Forgetfulness Slash!”

Gu Chang’an’s figure moved.

She transformed into a streak of light, weaving through the demon horde. Each swing of her sword carried a resolute sword intent, severing all worldly emotions and desires.

Wherever the sword light passed, a demon guard was decapitated, their wounds smooth as mirrors, their very blood frozen solid in an instant.

Shen Zhaoqing watched from behind, utterly awestruck.

However, the battle did not unfold as one-sidedly as she had imagined.

“Form the array!”

Yuanchao pulled out a black command banner and plunged it fiercely into the ground!

“Roar—!”

The remaining Black Feather Army seemed to receive a command, abandoning their individual fights. They swiftly arranged themselves in a peculiar formation, their demonic energies intertwining to condense into a monstrous, black phantom of a giant wolf in mid-air.

The giant wolf phantom let out a sky-shattering howl, and a terrifying aura, far surpassing that of a single Nascent Soul grand demon, bore down upon them.

Under the onslaught of this military array’s baleful energy, which gathered the might of hundreds of elite demons, Gu Chang’an’s “Ten Thousand Miles of Frost” domain was drastically compressed.

‘So, it’s a military array technique,’ Gu Chang’an’s brows finally furrowed.

No matter how powerful a cultivator was in individual combat, there was ultimately a limit. Facing such a military array, which converged all its power into a single point, one was bound to fall into a bitter struggle unless their cultivation could achieve absolute suppression.

*Bang!*

The giant wolf phantom slammed down a claw, colliding violently with Gu Chang’an’s Frostbright Sword.

Gu Chang’an grunted, her body recoiling several steps, her sword-gripping arm tingling slightly. The three Nascent Soul grand demons seized this opportunity, launching fatal sneak attacks on her simultaneously from three incredibly tricky angles.

For a moment, sword light and demonic energy crisscrossed. Gu Chang’an, fighting alone against many, found herself firmly pinned down, gradually falling into a disadvantage, despite her swordplay remaining fierce.

‘This won’t do,’ Shen Zhaoqing thought, observing the chaotic battle before her.

She knew better than anyone that she was the eye of this storm.

Gu Chang’an had come to ‘protect’ her.

Yuanchao had come to ‘capture’ her.

Her Divine Soul, nourished by alcohol and the Dao Source Body, perceived her surroundings with far greater acuity than cultivators of her same realm. Especially in this life-or-death situation, her five senses seemed infinitely magnified.

The flow of the wind, the rustling of grass, the strength of demonic energy, the trajectories of spiritual power—countless complex pieces of information surged into her mind like a tide.

To others, it was a chaotic battlefield.

But in her eyes, the entire battlefield transformed into a three-dimensional chessboard, intricate with lines and nodes, ready to be dissected.

That bear demon, before every powerful strike, would habitually dip its left shoulder; it seemed to carry an old injury there.

That snake demon’s poisonous mist appeared pervasive, but the true killing blow was a poisoned bone spike hidden within the mist, always striking from the upper right corner, where the opponent’s vision was obscured.

And the giant wolf condensed from the military array—its energy core was not in its head, but at the node connecting its right front paw to its body. That was where the demonic energy of dozens of Golden Core demon cultivators converged, and also its most vulnerable point.

These details flashed with lightning speed, so quickly that even Gu Chang’an, immersed in the thick of battle, might not have noticed them immediately.

But Shen Zhaoqing ‘saw’ them.

Simply hiding would only lead everyone to their demise.

She took a deep breath, suppressing the fear and laziness in her heart, along with the lingering alcohol she had just consumed.

Then, she strained her voice, using all her might, and shouted something utterly baffling towards the center of the battle circle.

“Gu Chang’an, that wolf demon, hit its right armpit!”

The sound was clear, even cracking slightly from the exertion.

Gu Chang’an, who was grappling with the giant wolf phantom, paused for a moment at the words, nearly getting slapped in the face by a claw.

She instinctively glanced back at Shen Zhaoqing.

“Trust me this once!” Shen Zhaoqing pleaded, stomping her feet in agitation.

Gu Chang’an’s brows furrowed even deeper.

‘Fine,’ she decided.

Gritting her silver teeth, her figure abruptly shifted. Instead of clashing head-on with the giant wolf’s sharp claws, she executed an elusive footwork, narrowly circling to the wolf’s side.

On the Frostbright Sword, the sword light surged.

“Frostfall!”

A sword light, condensed to its absolute peak, struck precisely at the ‘armpit’ location Shen Zhaoqing had indicated.

“Awoo—!”

A roar filled with agony erupted from the giant wolf phantom’s mouth.

Where the sword light struck, a fierce flicker of light ensued. Dozens of Golden Core demon cultivators forming the array simultaneously spat out fresh blood, their auras instantly wilting.

The entire giant wolf phantom dimmed visibly, and its movements became sluggish.

*It actually worked?!*

“Excellent work!” Shen Zhaoqing exclaimed, greatly encouraged, and immediately activated her ‘battlefield voice navigation’ mode.

“That bear brute, its left shoulder! It’s about to throw a heavy punch, hit its left shoulder!”

No sooner had she spoken than the bear demon roared, its right fist, charged with immense power, smashed towards Gu Chang’an. Its left shoulder, due to the exertion, revealed an extremely fleeting flaw.

Gu Chang’an, without a second thought, parried with a backhand sword strike, her sword tip precisely landing on the bear demon’s left shoulder.

A crisp *crack!* echoed, and the bear demon’s entire left arm twisted at an unnatural angle, eliciting a pig-like shriek of pain.

“And that snake demon, it’s about to spit venomous spikes. Upper right corner, sweep it with sword qi.”

Gu Chang’an flicked her wrist, and a crescent-shaped sword qi shot out, striking an empty spot in the upper right. A *ding* sound rang out, and a dark green bone spike was knocked away. The snake demon let out a muffled groan, clearly suffering a backlash.

“Princess, Princess, why are you still lying there?! Behind that crooked tree to your left, there’s a mouse demon trying to steal your feathers! Keep lying there if you don’t want your tail anymore.”

Yuange, who had been feigning death on the ground, instinctively swung her hand despite her injuries. A golden feather blade flew out. A scream followed, and a sneaky shadow rolled out from behind the tree, a feather embedded in its chest, dead beyond dead.

Yuange: “…”

She stared at Shen Zhaoqing, who was directing the battlefield, with the eyes of someone seeing a monster.

‘Is she really just in the Qi Induction Realm?’

For a time, Shen Zhaoqing’s vigorous shouts echoed across the entire battlefield.

“Gu Chang’an, behind you.”

“Yuange, light his butt on fire.”

“Hey, you, yes, you! You’re surrounded. Laying down your weapons is your only way out!”

The battle, in an incredibly bizarre atmosphere, began to turn.

With Shen Zhaoqing’s ‘navigation,’ Gu Chang’an became like a tiger with wings. Every sword strike targeted an enemy’s vital point, every move aimed directly at their weaknesses.

Her pressure significantly eased, and her swordplay once again became graceful yet lethal.

Though heavily wounded, Yuange, thanks to Shen Zhaoqing’s warnings, always managed to avoid fatal sneak attacks and occasionally sent out feather blades to harass the enemy, miraculously stabilizing her position.

In contrast, Yuanchao’s Black Feather Army was thrown into disarray, their military array teetering on the brink of collapse.

“Useless! A bunch of useless fools!”

Yuanchao trembled with rage, glaring at the ‘commander’ outside the battle circle, his eyes filled with shock, fury, and disbelief.

‘How is this possible?!’

‘A mere human in the Qi Induction Realm—how could she see through all this?!’

‘Rumor had it that the Dao Source Body was merely a ‘living spiritual medicine’ that could aid cultivation.’

‘Regardless, this human must not be allowed to live. She brings too many variables.’

Yuanchao’s gaze instantly turned vicious. He no longer paid attention to Gu Chang’an, instead locking all his killing intent onto the constantly shouting culprit.

He abruptly pulled a blood-red horn from his bosom. “All Black Feather Army, heed my command!”

“Spare no expense—”

“Kill that woman!”