Chapter 914: Shamask! (2/2)
Li Siye paled. He had not even noticed this enemy's presence just moments ago, so it was obvious that they had been hiding their energy for this moment. Most frighteningly, this person's cultivation level was far above the Imperial Martial realm.
This was a Saint Martial expert, one at the Brigadier General level!
In a flash, Li Siye immediately thought of the Celestial Wolf Cavalry commander. But it was clear that he did not have time to respond. To kill him, this opponent had pretended to be an ordinary Celestial Wolf cavalryman, waiting for the right moment to abruptly attack so that Li Siye would not have a chance to counter.
”Huang Botian!
”Kong Zi-an!
”Hong Youqi!”
Li Siye suddenly shouted, at the same releasing all the Stellar Energy in his body. At this moment, he had time for only one thing:
”Skanda's Strength1!!!”
Li Siye opened his arms, his entire body seeming to swell. Under the guidance of some invisible energy, all the strength of the Wushang Cavalry in a fifty-zhang radius began to gather in Li Siye. As the Celestial Wolf Cavalry looked on in shock, the light condensed behind Li Siye, transforming into a swarthy god, enormous and savage, that then fused with Li Siye.
Bang!
Behind Li Siye, Shamask gathered up all his strength, his black halo vibrating, and gave Li Siye's back a savage slash. Booom!Li Siye was sent flying along with his horse, his mouth already vomiting blood as he flew through the air.
Bang! Li Siye landed in a cloud of dust. Even though Shamask had attacked with almost all his strength, Li Siye was still alive.
”How could this sort of thing happen!”
Shamask's eyes narrowed and his face paled. At his cultivation level, dealing with a peak Imperial Martial warrior should have been as easy as flipping over his palm, but to Shamask's surprise, the commander of the Wushang Cavalry had suddenly begun to swell in strength, ascending from the Imperial Martial realm to the Saint Martial realm.
Not only that, though Shamask's sword could usually cleave through steel, Li Siye was wearing some sort of mysterious armor that his slash had not been able to leave a single mark on. Even someone of Shamask's temperament couldn't help but be stupefied at this sight.
”Cutting Formation!”
On the other side, Li Siye did not tarry. Shamask's ambush had given him a severe wound. If this armor given to him by Wang Chong had not been made of pure Meteoric Metal and further strengthened with many toughening inscriptions, and if he hadn't also been bolstered by the Halo of Dusk Stallion, Li Siye would already be dead.
Bang!
The moment Li Siye gave the order, the five thousand Wushang Cavalry immediately split up into fifty hundred-man groups that scattered across the battlefield.
”Where are you going?”
Shamask grimaced and urged his horse to pursue.
”All soldiers, stop them!”
Although he didn't know what the Wushang Cavalry were up to or why they had suddenly scattered, his battle-hardened intuition told him that something was wrong. While leaving the Wushang Cavalry to his men, he continued his dogged pursuit of Li Siye.
But the Li Siye now was completely different.
Bang!
With a sweep of his enormous Wootz Steel sword, Li Siye sent three Celestial Wolf Cavalry, horses and all, flying away like ragdolls. Before they had even landed, a tyrannical Stellar Energy had already rampaged through their bodies, rendering their insides into mush.
The Skanda Halo!
Li Siye had finally used the supreme technique Wang Chong had taught him. In the era of the calamity, War Saint Wang Chong had led ten Great Generals in battle, and the Skanda Halo was the unique technique used by the number one Great General.
The Skanda Halo was similar to Death's Scythe, the joint attack formation Wang Chong had employed in the southwest, but it was much stronger. Only one who learned the Skanda Halo and had Skanda's Strength could execute the Skanda Formation, which allowed one to borrow the strength of others to bolster their own.
This was somewhat similar to the Mighty Miracle God Formation used by Wang Yan, though not as powerful.
While Wang Chong had spent the last two months after the onset of the Battle of Talas in Wushang's City of Steel preparing for war, Li Siye had spent them cultivating the Skanda Halo.
Li Siye's level of strength had been his constant handicap and weakness, so, with the Battle of Talas in mind, Wang Chong had taught him the Skanda Halo. But even though the Skanda Halo could allow one to borrow the strength of others, it had a terrible weakness: it could only be maintained for an hour. Furthermore, the user would suffer a severe backlash afterward. Thus, the Skanda Formation could only be used at the most critical junctures of battle.
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1. 'Skanda' can be a reference to two things. It can refer to the Bodhisattva Wei Tuo, who is the guardian of Buddhist monasteries. Skanda is also another name for the Hindu God of war, Kartikeya.