Rock Blood Valley

The cold, rocky crevice, like the stomach of a giant beast, tightly enveloped Xiao Yuxuan. Each shallow breath aggravated the arrow wound that had ruptured beneath his ribs; the excruciating pain, like a red-hot iron rod, repeatedly churned within his already hollowed-out internal organs. His dantian was deathly cold; the warmth he had forcibly stimulated the night before seemed to have burned out the last embers, leaving only an ashes-like emptiness and a bone-deep exhaustion. The congealed blood and mud on his face were sticky and heavy, like wearing a cold mask. The small cuts from the thorns burned fiercely under the moisture of sweat and dew. He curled up, his bronze short sword lying in the mud beside his legs, its blade reflecting the pale, frosty light filtering through the thorns and rocks.

The footsteps and shouts of the pursuers clung to him like maggots, circling and searching the slope above. Every crisp snap of a dead branch underfoot, every rustle of armor against the bushes, made Xiao Yuxuan's heart clench, almost stopping. He gritted his teeth, using his last remaining willpower to practice the "Guarding Qi" technique, even if he could only preserve a faint trace of life force, like a hibernating insect suppressing its vital signs to the lowest possible level.

Time crawled slowly amidst boundless fear and torment. He didn't know how much time had passed when the searching sounds overhead gradually faded, finally swallowed up by the howling mountain wind. His nerves, stretched to their limit, suddenly relaxed, followed by an overwhelming wave of weakness and dizziness. He struggled, using his short sword to support himself, like a broken puppet, slowly inching his way out of the crevice in the rocks.

Daylight was already high, yet it was still firmly suppressed by thick, leaden-gray clouds, which sparingly cast a pale, bleak glow. A biting wind, carrying shards of ice, whipped fiercely against his skin. He discerned his direction—northeast, the direction Sun Qian and his men had retreated from, and also the direction from which Gu Yan had sent the signal the previous night. There lay the deeper folds of the vast mountains, where the terrain became even more treacherous, and a narrow, steep valley, like a scar on the earth, snaked its way into the unknown darkness.

Warm fluid seeped from the wound beneath his ribs again as he moved, soaking through his thin linen robe. He tore off a corner of the garment, hastily tightening it, each step treading on the floating fallen leaves and slippery moss, teetering on the verge of collapse. His dantian felt empty; the suppressed energy of battle and the chaotic energy of fear within him had lost their restraint, surging wildly through his meridians like a beast breaking free of its cage, bringing waves of tearing pain and a deeper chill. He felt like a slowly decaying walking corpse, staggering forward only on the sheer will to not fall.

After crossing a low ridge, a relatively open valley suddenly appeared ahead. However, the scene before him made Xiao Yuxuan feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave, and even his breath caught in his throat!

At the entrance to the valley stood a crude yet exceptionally sturdy fortification hastily constructed from massive rocks and thick logs! On the fortification, figures moved about – Sun Qian, Wang Ben, Ji Zhai, and Gu Yan! Li Xin was also positioned in a relatively safe spot behind the fortification! They had clearly just arrived and were using the narrow natural valley entrance and the hastily erected defenses for their final preparations!

Outside the valley, a dark mass of Qin soldiers, like a tide surging over the mountain ridge, was rapidly deploying into formation! The elite force that had pursued them the previous night was among them, the leading centurion's eyes fixed on the valley entrance ramparts with a sinister glint. Further away, even more infantry were pouring in, a rough estimate suggesting no fewer than three or four hundred men! They didn't attack immediately, but stopped about two hundred paces outside the valley entrance, quickly regrouping. The heavy footsteps, the clanging of metal armor, and the low, menacing commands blended into a suffocatingly chilling atmosphere.

Sun Qian stood atop a protruding rock at the highest point of the fortifications, his dark brown short jacket fluttering in the mountain wind. His face was ashen, his sharp gaze sweeping across the Qin army rapidly assembling outside the valley, finally settling on several heavy battering rams covered in wet animal hides, which soldiers were struggling to push up into the Qin ranks. He whirled around, his voice like the clang of metal, piercing the biting wind and reaching clearly into the ears of everyone behind the fortifications:

"There is no way forward, and pursuers are behind! This valley is called 'Rock,' and it is our last bastion! If we retreat, we will be shattered to pieces! Only by holding on here to the death can we have a glimmer of hope!"

His gaze swept across the weary, tense, yet resolute faces behind the ramparts: "Wang Ben, lead ten skilled archers to occupy the high ground on the left flank of the ramparts! Once their battering rams are within a hundred paces, await my command and focus fire on the soldiers pushing the rams! Gu Yan, the right flank is yours! Mr. Ji Zhai!" He looked at Ji Zhai, who was crouching in front of a gap in the ramparts, rapidly calculating something with his short ruler and charcoal pencil. "This rampart was hastily constructed according to the terrain. Please point out its weak points in foundation and load-bearing capacity immediately! We need to reinforce it and prepare rolling stones and logs!"

"Don't worry, Mr. Sun!" Ji Zhai didn't even look up, his voice carrying the focus and urgency unique to Mohists. "The third and fifth piled stones in the northeast corner are unstable and unevenly stressed. If they are hit head-on by a battering ram, they may collapse first! They need to be supported by huge logs! The middle of the wall directly in front is slightly higher, and the stress point is too concentrated. We need to pile up gravel and sandbags behind it to distribute the pressure! Rolling stones and logs should be placed here, here!" He quickly and precisely marked several positions on the stone wall with a charcoal pencil.

Sun Qian immediately assigned men to reinforce the fortifications. Wang Ben and Gu Yan also led their men to quickly climb the steep natural stone platforms on both sides of the fortifications, where the view was open and advantageous for suppressing the valley entrance.

"Yu Xuan!" Sun Qian's gaze finally fell on Xiao Yu Xuan, who had just struggled to climb the ramparts and whose face was ashen. "Can you still draw your bow?"

The excruciating pain in Xiao Yuxuan's ribs surged through his consciousness like a tidal wave, and the emptiness in his dantian made him almost unable to stand. But when he met Sun Qian's eyes, burning with the fire of a fight to the death, a power mixed with resentment and ferocity surged from the depths of his broken body. He nodded forcefully, his voice hoarse but resolute: "I can!"

"Alright!" Sun Qian took a well-maintained mulberry wood bow and a quiver of arrows from a soldier beside him and tossed them to Xiao Yuxuan. "You follow me, take the middle position! On my command, shoot their flag bearers, drummers, and signalmen! Disrupt their formation!"

Xiao Yuxuan took the heavy bow and the cold quiver, his fingers trembling slightly from weakness and cold. He took a deep breath of the frigid air, forcibly focusing his mind into the depths of his empty dantian, trying to squeeze out the last bit of strength. It felt like digging in a dry riverbed, only to unearth a few grains of cold sand.

Just then, Xuan Weizi's withered figure appeared silently beside Xiao Yuxuan. The old Taoist's gray eyes swept over his pale face and the blood-soaked strip of cloth under his ribs, and his thin fingers shot out with lightning speed, swiftly tapping several acupoints on his back! An extremely faint yet pure and warm aura, like a trickle of water, instantly flowed into Xiao Yuxuan's nearly exhausted meridians!

"Qi is not confined to the dantian alone, but circulates throughout the body, like the earth's veins flowing underground." Xuanweizi's voice was deep and urgent, like the resounding of an ancient bell, directly piercing into Xiao Yuxuan's chaotic sea of ​​consciousness. "The will follows my guidance! The spirit gathers in the fingertips, the thought is focused on the arrow! The power of mountains and rivers, the breath of grass and trees, can all become Qi! This barrier, this valley, is your 'city' at this moment! To guard this city is to guard the root of your Qi!"

This strange guidance was like lighting a faint lamp in the darkness! Xiao Yuxuan felt that the trace of energy injected by Xuanweizi had stirred the last bit of instinctive life force within him. Even more miraculously, the hard, cold rocks beneath his feet, the howling mountain winds all around, and even the oppressive chill of the approaching Qin army in the distance all seemed to transform into some kind of vague yet powerful "force"! He subconsciously followed Xuanweizi's instructions, shifting his focus from his empty dantian to his entire body, concentrating it in his hands holding the bow and his fingers nocking the arrow, as if trying to merge himself with the fortress beneath him and the entire Rock Valley!

An indescribable, faint yet exceptionally tenacious sense of power actually sprouted from the depths of his limbs and bones! Although the excruciating pain in his ribs and the emptiness in his dantian remained, this newly generated power supported his swaying body and steadied his trembling fingers! He slowly drew back the bowstring, the cold arrowhead pointing at the dark army formation outside the valley, his eyes becoming more focused and cold than ever before.

Waaah—!

A deep and mournful bugle call, like a death knell, echoed outside the valley! The Qin army's attack had begun!

First came the rain of arrows!

The piercing sound of hundreds of crossbows firing simultaneously tore through the air, instantly shattering the valley's deathly silence! A dense barrage of arrows, like locusts swarming across the land, rained down on the makeshift fortifications with a deathly shriek! Thud thud thud thud! The sound of arrows embedding themselves in wood and stone was like a torrential downpour striking banana leaves! Stone fragments flew, wood chips scattered everywhere! Several muffled groans came from behind the fortifications; clearly, someone had been hit by an arrow!

"Duck! Dodge the arrows!" Sun Qian's roar exploded amidst the rain of arrows!

Xiao Yuxuan lay prone behind the ramparts, a powerful crossbow bolt whizzing past his scalp, the force of the wind stinging his cheek. The chilling aura of death was close at hand. He forced himself to remain calm, following Xuanweizi's guidance, feeling the solidity of the rocks beneath his feet and the biting mountain wind, focusing that strange "momentum" and the remaining power within his body onto the arrowhead.

The rain of arrows subsided slightly.

"Battering rams! Charge!" The roar of the Qin generals rang out!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The heavy footsteps echoed like muffled thunder! Several cumbersome battering rams covered in wet animal hides, propelled by dozens of burly Qin soldiers, began to slowly accelerate, charging towards the valley entrance ramparts like mobile fortresses! The heavy bronze rams covering the front of the rams gleamed with a ferocious cold light in the dim daylight! The earth seemed to tremble slightly under their crushing weight!

"Wang Ben! Gu Yan! Shoot!" Sun Qian's voice was like a sword drawn from its sheath!

On the high points on both sides of the rampart, bowstrings twanged! Wang Ben and Gu Yan, leading their archers, channeled their anger and fear into arrows, aiming precisely at the Qin soldiers pushing the chariots! Thud! Thud! Thud! The muffled thuds of arrows piercing flesh and screams of agony rang out in succession! Several chariot soldiers fell to the ground, and the chariots' speed was instantly halted!

But even more Qin soldiers bravely stepped forward, some even using their bodies as human shields to protect their comrades as they pushed the ram! After paying the price of more than a dozen lives, the ram accelerated again, now less than seventy paces from the ramparts! The oppressive force was like a mountain collapsing!

"Rolling stones and logs! Let them go!" Sun Qian roared, his eyes bloodshot.

The soldiers, who had been positioned high up behind the ramparts, used all their strength to push down the piled-up boulders and the thick logs tied with sharp stakes!

Rumble—!

Boulders tumbled and logs roared! With a terrifying force capable of crushing everything, they crashed down the steep slope towards the charging battering ram!

"Scatter! Hold the line!" The Qin generals shouted hoarsely.

The Qin soldiers pushing the cart let out desperate roars, trying to dodge or resist!

But human power is so insignificant in the face of the mighty forces of nature!

Bang! Crack!

A massive boulder the size of a millstone slammed into the front of a battering ram! The wet animal hide covering it tore instantly, and the thick shaft snapped with a sickening crack! Several Qin soldiers pushing the ram were mangled beyond recognition by the boulder and splinters of wood! Another log, laden with spikes, struck the side of another battering ram, sending it slid several feet to the side, completely disoriented, and crushing several Qin soldiers who couldn't get out of the way!

The ramming attack was instantly halted! The area in front of the valley entrance was a scene of utter devastation, a mixture of blood, flesh, and broken logs!

"Good!" A cheer of relief erupted from behind the barrier!

However, the cheers had not yet subsided!

"Crossbowmen! Suppress! Infantry! Climb! Charge!" The roar of the Qin general was filled with rage! He had clearly also seen Sun Qian, who was calmly directing the attack from the ramparts!

A second, even denser rain of arrows, like a torrential hailstorm, once again blanketed the entire fortress! This time, the arrows were more precise, their targets aimed directly at the defenders on the fortress! Simultaneously, hundreds of Qin elite soldiers, clad in light armor and carrying short blades in their mouths, moved like agile monkeys, using the steep but not insurmountable rock walls on either side of the valley entrance, employing crevices and protrusions in the rocks, desperately beginning their ascent! They were determined to tear this last bulwark apart from the flank!

The real bloodbath has only just begun!

"Hold the fortress! Archers, suppress the climbers! The rest of you, hold the line with me!" Sun Qian drew his sword, its bronze blade gleaming with a resolute cold light in the dim daylight! He stood like a rock at the forefront of the fortress, facing the Qin infantry surging in like a tide!

Arrows clashed in the air, and screams, roars, and the clash of weapons instantly echoed throughout the entire Rock Valley! The stench of blood spread rapidly like a thick fog!

Xiao Yuxuan lay prone behind the battlements, his ears filled with the deafening sounds of battle. A stray arrow grazed his arm, drawing a trail of blood. He seemed oblivious to the pain, his eyes fixed only on the figure outside the valley, amidst the Qin army ranks, constantly waving command flags and issuing orders—it was that sinister centurion!

"Gather your spirit in your fingers, focus your mind on the arrow... Guard this city, and you will guard the root of your Qi..." Xuanweizi's whisper echoed in his mind. Xiao Yuxuan's eyes were bloodshot as he poured all his will, all his killing intent, along with the weight of the rocky valley beneath his feet, the biting mountain wind, and all the remaining power within him, into the mulberry wood bow in his hand and the cold bronze arrowhead!

The bow is drawn to its fullest extent!

Like an arrow shooting a meteor!

Whoosh—!

A chilling, piercing sound swept through the air, drowning out all the noise of the battlefield! The arrow, imbued with all of Xiao Yuxuan's energy and spirit at that moment, like the grim smile of death, ignored the barriers of space and shot with unparalleled precision toward the throat of the Qin general!

The general seemed to sense a deadly crisis. He suddenly looked up, and a rapidly enlarging, cold star appeared in his pupils! He instinctively tried to dodge to the side, but the arrow was too fast!

Pfft!

The dull thud of a sharp blade piercing flesh and bone!

The general's roar abruptly ceased! He looked down in disbelief at the arrow still trembling in his throat, swayed, and collapsed heavily to the ground! The command flag in his hand fell limply into the dust!

The commander died suddenly!

The Qin army's offensive stalled! The elite soldiers climbing the rock face were clearly flustered, and the infantry charging from the front also showed a moment of confusion!

"Kill—!" On the ramparts, Sun Qian seized the fleeting opportunity and roared thunderously! The morale of the defenders surged instantly!

Xiao Yuxuan released the bowstring, his arm trembling uncontrollably from exhaustion. The wound under his ribs reopened the moment he drew the bow, and excruciating pain swept over him like a tsunami, almost engulfing him. The power in his dantian, stimulated and forcibly extracted by Xuanweizi, completely dissipated, leaving only boundless coldness and darkness. His vision blurred, and his body swayed, only managing to stay upright by gripping the cold rock.

He fired that arrow.

The enemy chieftain was shot and killed.

They temporarily preserved the foundation of "Qi"—the Rock Valley.

But the price is that the body is completely drained, like a candle flickering in the wind, which may be extinguished at any moment.

After a brief period of chaos, the Qin army outside the valley, roused by the shouts of their junior officers, launched an even more ferocious counterattack, like wounded beasts! The rain of arrows intensified, and the elite soldiers climbing became even more desperate! The fierce battle of attack and defense entered its bloodiest and most intense phase!

Xiao Yuxuan leaned against the cold rampart, panting heavily, each breath carrying the heavy stench of blood. He gazed at the endless, dark mass of enemy troops outside the valley, then at his comrades fighting bloodily behind the rampart. His eyes held no fear, only a numb weariness. Trembling, he drew another cold arrow from his quiver and nocked it to his bow.

Guarding one's Qi is like guarding a city.

The city remains unconquered, and the vital energy must not be extinguished.

Even if only one breath remains.