Onihara Spring
On the banks of the Wei River, a three-zhang-deep trench had been completed. The turbid river water rushed through it, carrying away the floating metallic film, but unable to remove the chilling cold that seeped into the very marrow. The frozen soil, contaminated by *Corpse Metal* spores, instead emitted a thin, gauze-like, grayish-green miasma in the faint warmth of early spring, flowing silently along the newly turned ground. The men building the wall, their mouths and noses covered with hemp cloths soaked in medicinal sap, toiled profusely, forcefully ramming the heavy clods of earth, soaked with the evil, into the foundation of the "purifying wall." Each heavy pounding caused the ground beneath their feet to tremble slightly, as if awakening the evil lurking beneath the earth.
"Cough cough... This ghostly aura is choking my throat even through the cloth!" A burly man stopped hammering, clutching his waist and coughing violently, his eye sockets, visible through the burlap, had an unnatural bluish-black tinge.
"Bear with it! Master Xuanwei's medicine is effective!" A companion handed over a water pouch, which was filled with dark brown medicinal liquid. "Drinking this will keep you going for a while! Mr. Ji said that once the fire channel in the wall is lit, the poison will be boiled away!"
Hope flickered like a faint spark on the toxic miasma-filled construction site.
---
Longshouyuan Anji School Site
The earthen wall, whose corner had been knocked down by the blood-red wolf flag, had been repaired and reinforced. More hard stones and thick wooden stakes were embedded in the wall, giving it a rugged and tenacious appearance. Below the newly nailed "Border Residents' Self-Defense Battalion" wooden sign, the number of people had shrunk considerably—most of the able-bodied men were building walls or tending to the newly sprouted seedlings along the Wei River. Only a dozen or so half-grown children, under Chen Zhong's hoarse commands, stood in a crooked line, holding sharpened wooden sticks, repeatedly stabbing at the straw dummy.
"Stand up straight! Stand firm! Thrust like you're chiseling stone, use all your strength!" Chen Zhong's voice was weak from his injuries, but still stern. He leaned on a thick wooden stick that replaced his broken leg, his gaze sweeping over the children's faces, red from the cold but unusually earnest, finally settling on a particularly thin figure at the end of the line—the plague orphan who had handed Xiao Dingbian the strip of cloth that day, nicknamed "Stone."
Stone bit his lip, his hands gripping the wooden stick that was almost as thick as his arm. Each thrust made his face turn red and his steps falter.
"Stone! Stand firm!" Chen Zhong shouted.
Stone tried to steady himself, but tripped over a frozen clod of earth and fell to the ground with a thud, the stick flying far from his hand. The children burst into laughter.
"What are you laughing at!" Chen Zhong said sternly. "Help him up! If you fall on the battlefield, no one will laugh at you, only wolves will tear your heart out!"
Several older children quickly pulled Shi Tou, whose face was flushed, up. Shi Tou didn't say a word, stubbornly ran over to pick up the stick, and stood back in line, his little chest heaving violently.
Chen Zhong looked at the stubborn child, then gazed at the construction site shrouded in poisonous miasma in the distance, his heart heavy. He knew that these wooden stick figures were as fragile as paper in the face of real blood wolves and iron hooves.
Just then, a shrill sound, like metal scraping against bone, shattered the tranquility above Longshou Plain without warning!
Woo-woo-woo-woo!
The sound came from the northwest! It was as if hundreds of bloodthirsty wolves were howling at the sky simultaneously from a great distance, piercing through the wind and snow, carrying an eerie resonance that made people's scalps tingle, and slamming hard into everyone's eardrums!
"Wolves! Blood Wolf Flag!" A veteran who had experienced last night's bloody battle turned pale instantly and screamed incoherently!
"Line up! Quick! Get against the wall!" Chen Zhong roared, his remaining right leg bursting with astonishing power as he dragged the wooden stick towards the thickest earthen wall of the school! The children were stunned by this sudden turn of events, and were then pushed and shoved by Chen Zhong and the veterans to the base of the wall, pressed tightly against the cold rammed earth.
Woo-woo-woo-woo!
The second wolf howl was even closer! Like a muffled thunder rumbling along the ground! The sound waves were so powerful they distorted the air, and the school's dilapidated windows groaned under the strain!
Chen Zhong suddenly looked up, his cloudy old eyes fixed on the northwest horizon—beneath the gray sky, a writhing black line, gleaming with a metallic cold light, was sweeping across the undulating wasteland at a terrifying speed, surging toward Dragon Head Plain!
Those aren't wolves!
It is a death torrent of steel and flesh! It is a hundredfold manifestation of last night's nightmare!
“Blood Wolf Banner… Vanguard…” Chen Zhong’s teeth chattered, his knuckles white as he gripped the wooden stick. “Ten thousand… at least ten thousand!”
---
Clean and clean wall construction site
The howling of wolves, like cold steel needles, instantly pierced the roar of the Wei River and the heavy chants of the men ramming the earth!
"Enemy attack—!!!"
A piercing siren tore through the sky! Ji Zhai, who was supervising the construction, suddenly looked up. The sharp gaze of the Mo family's grandmaster instantly locked onto the surging tide of metal coming from the northwest! His pupils contracted sharply. The terrifying power of the Blood Wolf King Puppet from last night gripped his heart once again, and the overwhelming scale before him was even more suffocating!
"Stop building the wall! Everyone! Retreat to the trench! Now!" Ji Zhai's roar was like thunder, carrying an unquestionable determination! He ripped off his mud-stained outer robe, revealing the tightly bound Mo family uniform underneath. The mechanical copper ruler and several strangely shaped metal spheres at his waist instantly sprang out and were held in his palm!
The men, who were working hard to ram the earth, were stunned by this sudden turn of events. Fear, like an icy tide, instantly engulfed the construction site! The horrific scene of last night's bloody battle was still vivid in their minds, and now that nightmare was recurring with overwhelming force!
Run!
"The Blood Wolves are coming!"
"Get into the ditch! Get into the ditch quickly!"
After a brief silence came utter chaos! The instinct for survival drove the crowd to abandon their tools, screaming and shoving, surging like a burst dam into the newly dug, three-zhang-deep trench! Some slipped and fell, instantly swallowed by the surging tide behind them. Cries, curses, and the screams of those trampled mingled with the increasingly close and intense howls of wolves, creating a scene of utter apocalypse!
"Hold on! Don't push!" Xiao Yuxuan appeared on the high edge of the ditch. He wasn't wearing armor, and only held a blood-stained spear, but his upright figure was like a pillar of strength! "The elderly, weak, women, and children go down first! The able-bodied men, form a line outside! Chen Zhong! Take the school children into the tunnel!" His voice pierced through the chaos, carrying a strange, calming power. Under his command, the chaotic crowd began to show a semblance of order.
Ji Zhai did not retreat with the crowd. In a few leaps, he reached the highest point of the still-unclosed Cleansing Wall. The biting wind whipped his graying temples, and the Mohist Grand Master squinted, his eyes like the most precise ruler, measuring the distance and speed of the raging tide. Closer! Closer still! He could even see the ferocious alloy wolf heads of the leading row of blood wolf riders! On their backs were Northern Rong wolf cavalrymen, clad in heavy wolf pelts, their faces painted with eerie oils, their eyes gleaming with pure bloodlust! The heavy scimitars and spears in their hands gleamed with a deathly cold light in the dim sky!
"The Earth Fire Channel... Is there enough time?" Ji Zhai's mind raced as his fingers rapidly tapped on a metal sphere engraved with intricate patterns at his waist, producing a rapid rhythm that only Mohist disciples could understand—it was the command to activate the highest level of defense for the Earth Fire Network!
Awooo—!!!
The third wolf howl almost exploded in their ears! The hundreds of blood wolf riders at the forefront charged forward, their four paws swirling, stirring up clouds of snow and mud, and were less than a hundred feet from the trench! From their gaping, massive alloy maws, a faint dark red light began to gather, radiating a chilling energy fluctuation!
"Raise your shields—!!" Xiao Yuxuan's roar was like a dragon's cry! On the edge of the ditch, the few dozen strong men holding simple wooden shields gritted their teeth and pressed their shields against their bodies, forming a fragile defensive line! Through the gaps in the shields, sharpened wooden spears and hastily sharpened farm tools peeked out, trembling slightly as they pointed at the destructive torrent!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The earth trembled violently! The blood wolf rider at the forefront suddenly lowered its head, and the dark red energy gathered in its massive alloy maw shot out like cannonballs! Dozens of thick, destructive dark red beams tore through the air and slammed into the thin shield array on the edge of the ditch!
"Hold on—!!" Xiao Yuxuan's eyes were bloodshot!
Puff! Puff! Puff!
The moment the crimson beam struck the wooden shield, it didn't create a deafening explosion. Instead, it acted like strong acid corroding rotten wood! The thick wooden shield was easily pierced and melted like paper! The beam continued its momentum, piercing the man behind the shield! The struck man didn't even have time to scream before his body rapidly carbonized and disintegrated in the crimson light, turning into black ash that filled the air! The stench of blood was instantly replaced by the stench of burnt flesh!
In an instant, several huge gaping holes, billowing black smoke and splinters of flesh, were torn open in the defensive line! The bloodthirsty roars of the wolf riders were almost upon them! Sharp scimitars were already raised!
It’s over!
Despair, like a cold iron hoop, gripped the throats of everyone in the ditch!
At this critical moment!
Waaah—!
A deep, resonant horn-like sound, seemingly emanating from the depths of the earth, suddenly roared up from beneath Dragon Head Plains! The sound was deep and heavy, carrying an indescribable ancient rhythm, instantly drowning out the howls of the Blood Wolf Beast!
Immediately afterwards!
Rumble, rumble, rumble—!!!
Behind the wall construction site, near the ruins of the former school, a seemingly flat patch of frozen ground suddenly bulged and collapsed without warning! A huge black hole, several meters in diameter, suddenly opened up! Like an ancient behemoth sleeping deep underground opening its ferocious jaws!
It wasn't dark inside the cave!
It was a churning, boiling, blood-red torrent of magma!
No! Not lava! It was molten, red-hot iron! Tens of thousands of pounds of molten iron, like the suppressed fire of the earth for millions of years, driven by some powerful force, gushed forth from this bottomless abyss! Forming a lava waterfall several meters high and over ten meters wide, radiating terrifying heat and blinding red light! The torrent of molten iron roared, carrying the momentum of destruction, pouring down on the surging Blood Wolf Beast Vanguard!
Sizzle—!!!
A hellish scene unfolded in an instant!
The dozens of blood wolf riders charging at the forefront, along with their ferocious wolf riders, were instantly engulfed by the crimson waterfall of molten iron that descended from the sky! The hard alloy armor melted and twisted like wax under the thousands of degrees of heat! Their flesh and blood vaporized before even a wisp of smoke could escape! A pungent, acrid smell, mixed with the metallic stench of molten metal, soared into the sky!
Driven by inertia, the following mounts had no time to stop and crashed in terror into the steel graveyard ahead, which had instantly cooled and solidified, yet still radiated terrifying heat and a dark red glow! The scorching metal debris instantly tore apart their alloy claws, flipping them and their riders over and scalding them to death! The mournful howls of wolves and the bloodcurdling screams of men mingled together!
The earth blazed with fire! Lava formed walls!
The ultimate defense of the Mo Clan's Earthfire Network—"The Throat of the Lava Abyss"—was activated in a life-or-death situation!
Ji Zhai stood atop the Cleansing Wall, his white beard and hair dancing wildly in the scorching heat. He gazed down at the death zone formed in an instant by solidified molten iron and charred remains, at the torrent of blood wolf riders whose charge had been halted by this terrifying blow and plunged into chaos. His oil-stained face remained expressionless, except for the knuckles of his fingers, which were slightly white from gripping the mechanism copper ruler so tightly.
"Young men in the ditch! Throw stones! Fire arrows!" Xiao Yuxuan's roar was like thunder, instantly awakening the crowd who were stunned by this hellish scene!
"Kill—!!" The instinct for survival transformed into a raging inferno! The men inside the ravine grabbed anything they could throw—heavy clods of earth, frozen stones, sharpened stakes, even buckets of freshly boiled, scalding hot medicine! They rained down on the wolf riders who were now in disarray outside the ravine! Scattered rockets, bound with oil-soaked rags, also strayed and wobbled towards those ferocious steel behemoths!
The first charge of the Blood Wolf Banner vanguard was abruptly stopped outside the trench by the sudden, all-consuming lava fire!
---
Secret Chamber of the School: Bloodstained Image
Inside the sealed room, the air was as thick and viscous as congealed blood. Three specially made bronze oil lamps, their wicks forcibly twisted together, burned with a ghastly green flame, illuminating Xiao Mingxin's paper-white face like a ghost. Her slender fingers pressed lightly in front of her, the tips trembling with barely perceptible, extremely subtle ripples. On the table before her, the open scroll of the *Gongzheng Yilu* emitted an eerie, blood-red light!
At the core of the scroll, the blood-dripping wolf head pattern writhed and swelled like a living creature! Countless twisted Rong script incantations, like venomous snakes, surged forth from the wolf head pattern, writhing wildly above the scroll to form a constantly rotating, dark red vortex radiating endless bloodlust and madness! The walls of the secret chamber echoed with the shrill screams of countless wronged souls! Deep within the vortex, a huge, cold wolf eye, entirely formed of blood-red light, slowly opened, locking onto Xiao Mingxin, the one who cast the spell!
"Ugh—!" Xiao Mingxin suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood! Crimson blood droplets splattered onto the tattered scroll, instantly swallowed by the vortex of blood light, making it shine even brighter! She forcibly activated the "Earth Vein Resonance" technique, attempting to interfere with and tear apart the core resonance of the Blood Wolf Banner Vanguard Army's mechanical beasts, but it was like sticking her bare hand into a boiling pot of oil! The evil thoughts contained within the wolf's head and the overwhelming killing intent on the battlefield were frantically backfiring along the resonance waves she released! Her sea of consciousness felt as if it were being pierced and stirred by thousands of red-hot steel needles!
The door to the secret chamber was flung open! Xuanweizi rushed in, and upon seeing the scene, his expression changed drastically! "Mingxin! Stop! Your evil thoughts are too strong; you can't control them!"
"No... we can't stop!" Xiao Mingxin gritted her teeth, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, but the trembling of her fingertips intensified as she forcibly maintained her resistance against the vortex of blood light. "Mr. Ji... is using the earth fire... to block the enemy... resonance... we must... disrupt its... core... otherwise... the earth fire... will be exhausted..." Her words were broken and intermittent, each word accompanied by a violent tremor in her body.
Xuanweizi watched the ever-growing vortex of blood-red light, and saw Xiao Mingxin's swaying figure, a resolute glint flashing in his eyes. He suddenly bit his tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood essence onto the whisk in his hand! The silver strands of the whisk instantly stood upright, emitting a clear, melodious hum!
"Heaven and Earth, the Mysterious Origin of All Qi! Through countless eons of cultivation, I will prove my divine powers!" Xuanweizi strode forward with powerful steps, his whisk gleaming like a sword, its sharp light piercing fiercely towards the wolf's eye at the center of the swirling vortex of blood-red light! "Dispel Evil and Reveal Justice! Imperial Decree!"
laugh--!
The clear light and the crimson light collided violently! It was like a silent thunderclap that exploded in the secret chamber! The huge crimson wolf eye let out an angry roar and suddenly shot out a blood arrow that was as solid as a tangible object, straight at Xuanweizi's brow!
"Master!" Xiao Mingxin exclaimed in shock!
Xuanweizi's hair and beard bristled. He neither dodged nor evaded, but instead drew a perfect Tai Chi symbol in front of him with his whisk! The blood arrow slammed into the Tai Chi symbol, producing a sickeningly corrosive sound! The Tai Chi symbol's light dimmed rapidly, and Xuanweizi groaned, staggering back three steps, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, clearly indicating internal injuries!
However, this is the obstacle!
Xiao Mingxin's eyes flashed with a sharp light! Seizing the moment when this evil thought was briefly restrained by Xuanweizi's Daoist magic, she pressed her ten fingers down sharply! The frequency of the trembling waves at her fingertips suddenly increased to a terrifying critical point!
Buzz—!!!
An invisible and intangible ultra-high frequency shockwave, carrying the power to shatter metal, pierced through the thick earthen walls of the secret chamber, ignoring spatial distance, and swept across the entire Dragon Head Plain battlefield in an instant!
On the battlefield, the Blood Wolf Riders, who had just recovered from the terror of the lava and were preparing to regroup, suddenly froze! Inside their alloy joints, the precisely meshing gears, the runic conduits that conducted energy, and the voodoo crystals that powered their cores emitted a chilling, ear-piercing noise, like a million pieces of glass shattering simultaneously, under the sudden, destructive high-frequency shock!
Click! Snap! Thud! Crack!
Countless fine cracks instantly spread across the joints and chest/abdominal armor of the riding beasts! The intricate internal mechanisms were as if crushed by an invisible giant hand! Some of the more fragile voodoo crystal cores even exploded, spraying out viscous, blackish-green venom! The hundreds of riding beasts at the forefront collapsed as if their bones had been instantly ripped out, turning into piles of smoking, venomous scrap metal! The wolf riders on them screamed as they were thrown off!
The Blood Wolf Banner Vanguard's offensive was completely disrupted by this invisible yet deadly attack from underground!
Thump!
Inside the secret chamber, Xiao Mingxin collapsed, exhausted, her face ashen, her breath barely a whisper. The swirling blood-red light on the tattered scroll twisted and contorted a few times in defiance before slowly dissipating, leaving only the dimmed wolf head pattern. Xuan Weizi staggered forward, supporting his beloved disciple and placing a cool-smelling pill into her mouth, his eyes filled with regret and lingering fear.
"Silly child...you're...risking your life..."
---
Jincheng·Tax Supervisor's Pavilion
Yan Yang stood leaning against the railing, his pale, thin fingers holding a single-tube Western-style telescope. The telescope was steadily pointed towards Longshouyuan in the northwest. Through the lens, the scorched, deathly area, recently bathed in molten iron, was clearly reflected; the Blood Wolf Banner Vanguard Army, caught in chaos amidst the stones and rockets thrown by refugees in the ravine, saw mechanical beasts collapsing and smoking.
His narrow eyes held no shock or anger, only a bottomless coldness and... a barely perceptible hint of appreciation.
“What a master of the Mohist school…what a throat of the lava abyss…” He put down his telescope, his voice like ice rubbing together, “What a…little girl of the Xiao family…” The last sentence was so soft it was almost inaudible, yet it carried a sinister chill like that of a venomous snake.
He turned to look at the black-clad guard commander standing solemnly in the shadows, and his lips slowly twitched upwards, forming a cold, rigid smile.
"Pass on the order."
"Cut off all of Anji Camp's supply lines."
"Not a single grain of rice... not a single grain of salt... is allowed in."
"I'd like to see..." His gaze once again fell upon the burning battlefield of Dragon Head Plain, as if he were looking at a huge, closing trap.
"A trapped beast without supplies... how long can it hold out?"
---
Longshouyuan Cleansing Wall
The waterfall of molten lava had vanished, leaving only a steel barrier over ten zhang wide, still radiating terrifying heat and a dark red glow, and a mountain of charred remains piled up before it. The remaining Blood Wolf Banner vanguard began a slow retreat in the chaos, leaving behind a trail of devastation and a pungent stench of burning flesh. The surviving men on the edge of the ditch collapsed to the ground, their exhaustion from the ordeal intertwined with the immense grief of witnessing their comrades' gruesome deaths, and they let out suppressed sobs.
Xiao Yuxuan, leaning on his spear, stood at the highest point, his armor splattered with metal shavings and black ash from cooled molten iron. He gazed at the temporarily retreating enemy, at the exhausted and wounded people in the ditch, and at the warning smoke rising from the direction of the school in the distance, but his face showed no joy of victory.
Chen Zhong, dragging his wooden leg, limped over, his face more solemn than ever before: "Commander! Urgent report from the scouts! The Northern Rong... the main force of the Northern Rong, 200,000! They have reached Yinshan Pass! They are less than 300 li from here!"
Xiao Yuxuan whirled around! His gaze, sharp as lightning, pierced towards Jin Cheng. Yan Yang's pale, rigid face seemed to be right before his eyes.
External enemies are like wolves, mad dogs are lurking all around, and internal traitors... have already cut off our supply lines!
He took a deep breath, the air thick with the stench of blood, burnt flesh, and poisonous miasma. He abruptly raised the blood-stained spear in his hand, its tip pointing directly at the heavy, leaden clouds rolling in from the direction of Yinshan, like a thousand galloping horses!
"Beat the drums—!"
"Gather the generals—!"
"The fate of Anji rests on this battle!"
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