The Sacred Leaves Family's Wishes for Peace-Chapter 84 : Canyon Crisis

"Hold!"

Qi Yuanwu raised his hand sharply, his voice commanding.

"What’s wrong, Brother Qi?" Li Feizhang asked, noticing the grave expression on Qi Yuanwu’s face.

"Do you hear that?" Qi Yuanwu replied, his brows furrowed.

"Hear what?" Li Feizhang looked confused, as did many of the soldiers from Yun zhang and Lanlin Counties.

It wasn’t until Li Feizhang silenced himself and focused that he caught the faint, rustling sound emanating from the depths of the canyon.

There was something—or someone—approaching, fast.

As the sound grew louder, more soldiers began to notice it too. It wasn’t just rustling; faint, guttural growls accompanied it. The noises carried a cold, eerie quality that set them apart from the sounds of ordinary mountain predators.

"L-Leader Li… look over there! What’s that?"

A soldier from Yunzhang County, gripping his shield tightly, pointed toward the darkness ahead.

Everyone turned to look, their eyes straining to pierce the shadows. In the faint sunlight streaming through the canyon, they saw them—figures moving at an inhuman speed toward their position.

As the shapes drew nearer, the grotesque details became clear.

They were corpses. Decayed, horrifying corpses with greenish faces, rotting flesh, and maggots writhing through the open wounds on their decomposed features. Sharp fangs jutted from their mouths, and their dead eyes gleamed with a chilling light.

"Corpse puppets! They’re corpse puppets!" Li Feizhang shouted, his voice cracking.

"Send up the signal!" Qi Yuanwu ordered immediately.

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A soldier from Lanlin County quickly released the signal flare. A trail of smoke shot skyward before erupting into a brilliant explosion above the canyon, a warning beacon visible from miles away.

"They’re so fast!" Qi Yuanwu gasped, his pupils shrinking in shock.

In the brief moment it took to release the signal, the corpse puppets—once over a hundred meters away—had already closed the distance.

Their speed and strength were horrifying.

The shield wall formed by the Yunzhang and Lanlin soldiers at the front was shattered almost instantly as the thirty corpse puppets crashed into them like a tidal wave.

Screams filled the air. Soldiers were thrown to the ground, their shields and armor torn apart like paper.

One soldier’s neck was snapped by a corpse puppet’s fangs, blood spurting in all directions. Another was impaled through the chest by razor-sharp claws, his organs shredded as if by a blender.

The sight was horrifying. Panic swept through the rear ranks as more soldiers began to falter.

Some screamed and turned to flee, desperate to escape the ravenous claws and fangs of the undead.

"Hold your ground! Do not panic!" Li Feizhang and Qi Yuanwu roared, trying to steady the troops.

Even as fear gripped their own hearts, they knew that losing control of the situation would only accelerate their demise.

"Archers! Where are the archers?!" Li Feizhang bellowed.

At his command, Yunzhang’s archers unleashed a hail of arrows.

Dozens of shafts rained down on the corpse puppets, striking their decayed bodies with wet, sickening thuds.

Thwack. Thwack.

Though many arrows found their mark, they only managed to slow the creatures’ advance slightly. None could deal a killing blow.

"These things are already dead! Arrows won’t work on them!" Qi Yuanwu shouted, his face grim as he observed the situation.

Even with arrows embedded in their bodies, the corpse puppets continued their relentless assault, their movements barely hindered.

"What do we do, then?!" Li Feizhang shouted back, his voice laced with desperation.

"We retreat!" Qi Yuanwu commanded. "Everyone, fall back! These corpse puppets are beyond our ability to handle.

"Archers, cover our retreat! Slow them down while we fight and withdraw!"

"Everyone, stay alert! If you don’t want to die, grip your weapons tightly and don’t let those corpse puppets get close!"

Under the leadership of Li Feizhang and Qi Yuanwu, the disorganized soldiers quickly regained their composure, forming a unified front.

Archers at the rear launched volleys of arrows to slow the advancing corpse puppets, while halberdiers on the flanks guarded against attacks from the sides.

At the front, the shield wall—now bolstered by reinforcements—held the line, filling gaps left by the fallen.

Through coordinated efforts, the group resisted the relentless onslaught of the thirty corpse puppets, inching their way back toward the canyon’s exit.

The signal flare had already been sent.

The soldiers knew reinforcements from both Yunzhang and Lanlin Counties would be on their way, including the five spiritual-root cultivators from the Yun and Sun families.

Li Feizhang and Qi Yuanwu focused on holding the line and delaying the puppets long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

Outside the Canyon.

"What’s that…?"

Soldiers searching elsewhere noticed the signal flare exploding in the sky above the canyon.

"Move! Head to the canyon immediately!"

"Full speed! We need to provide support!"

From all directions, Yunzhang and Lanlin soldiers converged on the canyon, their movements swift and urgent.

"So, they’ve finally found them?"

Sun Fengli spotted the flare as well. A smirk crossed his lips, and his eyes gleamed with excitement.

In a flash, he disappeared from where he stood, heading directly for the canyon.

"Fengli!"

Sun Fenglin, meditating nearby, opened his eyes in alarm and shouted after his reckless cousin.

But it was too late—the fool was already gone.

"Brother, should we…?" Sun Fengxuan hesitated, looking to his older brother for guidance.

"Follow him. Watch over Fengli—I’m worried he’ll get himself killed."

"Understood!"

Sun Fengxuan nodded and quickly took off in pursuit.

Sun Fenglin sighed and stood, making his way to Yun Yantian and Yun Yanshuang. He bowed respectfully.

"Brother Yantian, the soldiers have located the Gu God Cultists. My brothers are already on their way. I ask that you and Sister Shuang’er join us to capture the cultists."

This joint mission was a collaboration between the Lanlin Sun family and the Yunzhang Yun family. Sun Fenglin didn’t want his family members charging ahead recklessly while the Yun siblings hung back, waiting to take credit.

"Understood."

Yun Yantian rose calmly, his sister following close behind as they headed for the canyon.

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Sun Fenglin quickly followed.

Inside the Canyon.

"Captain Li, we can’t hold out much longer!"

"Where are the reinforcements?"

"We’re running out of arrows!"

"We’ve already lost nearly a hundred men!"

Despite their efforts, Li Feizhang and Qi Yuanwu couldn’t prevent mounting casualties.

The thirty corpse puppets were too fast, too strong, and too relentless. Each clash with them left the soldiers more battered and broken, pushing them closer to despair.

"If the reinforcements and those spiritual-root cultivators don’t arrive soon, we’ll all die here!" Qi Yuanwu thought grimly.

"Hold the line! You must hold the line!" Li Feizhang roared, his bloodshot eyes sweeping over the battlefield. "If we break now, none of us will make it out alive!"

Wielding his blade with practiced precision, Li Feizhang lunged at a corpse puppet that had nearly claimed a Yunzhang soldier.

Through years of battlefield experience, he managed to drive the creature back, saving the soldier from certain death.

"C-Captain Li… th-thank you…"

The soldier stammered, his face pale with terror.

But before he could finish his sentence, another corpse puppet appeared like a ghost, swiping its claws across his neck and decapitating him in an instant.

Blood sprayed from the soldier’s neck, drenching Li Feizhang in a crimson mist.

"I can’t do this anymore! I’m done! I want out of here!"

One soldier, his will broken, dropped his halberd and screamed.

"I want to go home! My mother only has me—if I die, what will happen to her? I can’t die here!"

Panic consumed him as he turned to flee, sprinting toward the canyon’s entrance in a desperate bid to escape.

But he hadn’t taken more than a single step before a corpse puppet lunged at him, its claw piercing through his chest with terrifying force.

The soldier collapsed, lifeless, his blood pooling beneath him.