Pingfan
The whistling of arrows piercing the air, the muffled thuds of flesh being torn apart, the dying cries... were all drowned out by the terrifying roar of two hundred thousand iron hooves shaking the earth. The black tidal wave, carrying the will of steel, death, and destruction, crashed violently against the newly formed barrier of Dragon Head Plain, soaked in poisonous blood and despair.
Boom—!!!
The first impact!
The purifying wall trembled violently, as if struck by an invisible giant hammer! The entire section of the wall shook violently! The not-yet-fully-solidified, poisonous soil saturated with corpse fungus spores beneath the wall's foundation was instantly compressed and deformed by the immense kinetic energy! Visible shockwaves spread rapidly along the wall! The defenders on the wall, unable to dodge in time, were flung away like leaves in a storm, screaming as they plummeted into the trench below, already half-filled with corpses and poisonous water! The rammed earth parapet cracked, splintering massive fissures, and rubble rained down like a storm!
"Hold on—!!!" Xiao Yuxuan's roar sounded so weak amidst the deafening crashing sounds. He gripped a protruding boulder at the top of the wall, his knuckles almost digging into the cold cracks! The tremors beneath his feet sounded like the earth groaning! He saw a viscous, grayish-black metallic liquid seeping from the cracks in the foundation, squeezed open by the immense force—it was the squeezed-out sap of corpse gold mushroom spores! The deadly poison mixed with the stench of blood emitted a nauseatingly sweet and foul odor!
Below the wall, the black tide did not halt with the impact. The wolf riders, like an endless torrent, trampled over the remains of their comrades and mechanical beasts, wielding heavy scimitars and spears, frantically climbing upwards like bloodthirsty ants, following the cracks and collapsed slopes of the wall! Crude wooden spears and stones pounded against their thick leather armor and menacing wolf helmets, producing dull thuds, but failing to inflict fatal damage! The crisp sound of scimitars slicing through flesh and bone and the dying screams of the defenders instantly echoed throughout the wall!
"Oil! Logs! Smash them down!" Xiao Yuxuan's eyes were bloodshot. He drew his sword and cleaved the head of a wolf soldier who had just poked his head out from behind the wall! Hot blood splattered onto his cold armor! The guards struggled to ignite the remaining logs, which were mixed with potent oil and poison powder, and pushed them down the wall!
The burning log tumbled and crashed into the densely packed enemy ranks, instantly igniting several men! Screams mingled with the stench of burning flesh soared into the sky! However, this small flame was like a match thrown into the ocean before the boundless black tide, extinguished in an instant! More wolf soldiers, their eyes flashing with a crazed red light, continued their frenzied charge upwards, stepping over the burning corpses!
The defenses are visibly crumbling! Every inch of the wall is soaked in blood! People are falling every second!
Just then!
Whoosh—buzz—! ! !
A deep, resonant, and strange hum, seemingly emanating from the heart of the earth, suddenly resounded across the chaotic battlefield! The sound wasn't loud, but it possessed a peculiar penetrating power, instantly overwhelming the deafening fighting and roaring sounds! Amidst the hum, the entire ground of Dragon Head Plain, including the walls of the Purification Wall, began to tremble rapidly at an extremely subtle frequency, imperceptible to the naked eye!
The wolf soldiers climbing suddenly froze! The wall beneath their feet, the weapons in their hands, and even the leather armor on their bodies resonated with a teeth-grinding buzzing sound from the high-frequency vibrations! It felt as if countless invisible, fine steel needles were frantically churning their muscles and marrow! Intense pain and dizziness instantly overwhelmed them! Many screamed and lost their footing, falling to the ground!
Even more bizarre were the mechanical beasts bearing the Blood Wolf Banner! Inside their hard alloy joints, the intricate gears, conductive runes, and fragile voodoo cores emitted a piercing noise, like millions of pieces of glass being crushed simultaneously, under this sudden, destructive high-frequency resonance impact!
Click! Snap! Thud! Crack!
Countless fine cracks instantly crawled across the joints of the mechanical beasts' limbs and the armor on their chest and abdomen! The internal structure twisted and disintegrated under the irresistible force of resonance! Some mechanical beasts that were gathering energy, preparing to unleash poisonous flames or beams of light, had their core voodoo crystals explode! A viscous, blackish-green venom mixed with broken parts gushed out from the cracks! Instantly paralyzing a large group of steel beasts rampaging beneath the wall!
"The earth's veins... it's Mingxin!" Xiao Yuxuan's heart trembled violently! He looked sharply in the direction of the school ruins! The core of that shockwave came from underground!
Deep within the tunnel, the oil lamp flickered dimly, its light so faint it was almost impossible to see. A heavy stench of blood and the bitter aroma of herbs permeated the cramped space, suffocating the senses. Xiao Mingxin lay curled up on the cold, muddy ground, a tattered cotton robe beneath her. Her face was deathly pale, devoid of any color; dark red bloodstains, not yet dried, clung to the corners of her mouth, nostrils, and even her eyes. Each weak breath was accompanied by a painful spasm deep within her chest, like a broken bellows. The forced activation of the "Earthly Resonance" technique, which had enveloped the entire battlefield, had nearly drained her last ounce of life force.
Stone and a few older children surrounded her, carefully wiping the bloodstains from her face with damp cloths. Her little face was covered with tears of fear and helplessness.
“Sister…Sister, wake up…” Shi Tou said, his voice trembling with tears, as he gently shook Xiao Mingxin’s arm.
Xiao Mingxin's long eyelashes trembled violently a few times before she finally managed to open her eyes a crack. Her vision was blurry, with only a swaying, dim light and shadow. It felt as if every bone in her body had been crushed, and each heartbeat brought a tearing pain. Her mind was as if countless red-hot irons were churning within her, still bearing the lingering pain and dizziness from the violent, evil impact of the blood-stained wolf head.
“Map…” Her lips moved, her voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, almost drowned out by the sounds of fighting and collapse coming from deep within the tunnel. She struggled to raise her hand, pointing to the fragment of the “Records of the Gongzheng Era” carefully wrapped in oilcloth in the corner.
Shi Tou was stunned for a moment, then realized what was happening. He scrambled to the corner, his hands trembling as he picked up the heavy oilcloth bundle and carefully placed it beside Xiao Mingxin.
Xiao Mingxin's icy fingers touched the rough surface of the oilcloth, as if drawing upon a faint strength. With all her might, her fingertips trembling, she slowly stroked the oilcloth wrapping, finally stopping at the core of the tattered scroll—where the blood-dripping wolf's head was located.
"Water..." she managed to utter the indistinct syllables again.
A child immediately brought the water pouch to her parched lips. Xiao Mingxin took only a small sip; the icy water slid down her burning throat, bringing a brief moment of clarity. She closed her eyes, forcing herself to ignore the excruciating pain in her body and the chaos in her mind, focusing all her attention on what her fingertips touched—beneath the oilcloth, within the tattered scroll…that cold, violent core, filled with bloodlust!
Buzz—!
The remaining resonance was re-established! Though faint as a candle flickering in the wind, it was incredibly precise! She "saw" it! She saw the massive battering rams on the battlefield, like maggots gnawing at the foundation of the purification wall! She saw the sinister runes inside the rams, inscribed by Rong shamans, driving the giant wooden battering rams! She saw the most vulnerable and crucial nodes in the energy flow when the runes were in operation!
That's it!
Xiao Mingxin suddenly opened his eyes! His eyes were bloodshot, yet they burned with a near-mad flame, a flame belonging to a wise man!
“Stone…” Her voice was hoarse, yet carried an undeniable command, “Take…take the children…to…to the irrigation canal…the ruins…to Mr. Ji…to…find…find Atu…tell him…” She breathed heavily, each word requiring immense effort, “‘Zhen position three quarters…Dui palace Li fire’…hurry…go!”
---
Ruins of the irrigation canal: The torch has been extinguished but the flame remains.
The once majestic and imposing core sluice gate of the irrigation canal, guarding the canyon, is now nothing but a desolate graveyard. Massive boulders, weighing millions of pounds, pile up like the wreckage of a giant beast, grotesquely blocking the original river channel. The Wei River, forcibly diverted, crashes through the rubble, creating several raging torrents that roar in anger. Thick smoke, mixed with the stench of blood and stone dust, permeates the air; even a breath feels gritty.
On the edge of the collapsed boulder, on a relatively flat platform of broken stones, Ji Zhai leaned against a cold, broken stele. Half of his body was covered in congealed blood and black grime, like an overturned palette. The copper ruler that held the Juzi token was broken in two, clutched tightly in his remaining right hand, his knuckles white from the force. His left arm was twisted unnaturally, clearly broken while protecting A Tu during the fall. His gray hair and beard were matted together with blood, his face covered in abrasions and scorch marks, his breath weak, each breath accompanied by the whine of a broken bellows.
Atu knelt beside him, half of his face torn open by pebbles, the skin and flesh rolled back, hastily bandaged with only a tattered cloth, the seeping blood staining half of his clothes red. With trembling hands, he poured out the last bit of water from a worn-out cowhide water bag and carefully fed it to Ji Zhai's chapped lips.
"Master... Master... please have some water..." Atu's voice was choked with sobs.
Ji Zhai's cloudy eyes flickered slightly. He swallowed a little water with difficulty, a hoarse sound coming from his throat. "...The sluice gate... is destroyed..." His voice was so hoarse it was almost unrecognizable, each word laced with blood and foam, "The water... has been diverted... the fire channel... has become... a dead end..."
Despair, like a cold, venomous snake, coiled around the master and his apprentice.
Just then!
"Mr. Ji! Brother Atu!" Shi Tou, along with several teenagers, scrambled out from behind the pile of rocks like startled rabbits, their faces covered in soot and fear. They cried out breathlessly, "Sister Mingxin... Sister told me to tell you... 'Zhen position three quarters... Dui palace Li fire'! Quick! She said quick!"
Ji Zhai's originally dim and cloudy pupils suddenly burst forth with astonishing light the moment he heard the eight words "Zhen position three quarters... Dui Palace Li Fire"! An indescribable force supported him as he sat up abruptly. The excruciating pain from his severed arm caused his forehead to be instantly covered in cold sweat, but he could not suppress the surging flames of wisdom belonging to the Mo family's grandmaster in his eyes!
“The third quarter of the Zhen position… the Li fire in the Dui palace…” Ji Zhai murmured repeatedly, his blood-stained face twitching violently, not from pain, but from extreme excitement and enlightenment! He suddenly looked down at the Wei River, its course violently altered and blocked by boulders in the canyon below! Then he suddenly looked up at the thick smoke rising from the Cleansing Wall, obscuring half the sky, from countless arrows and burning materials!
“Water…fire…earth veins…resonance…attracting…heavenly thunder!” Ji Zhai’s voice was sharp with excitement. “Good! Good Xiao Mingxin! He actually…he actually managed to…cut off the fuel supply from the root of the problem!!” He struggled to stand up, but fell back heavily due to his broken arm and exhaustion.
"A-Tu!" Ji Zhai roared with all his might, his only remaining right hand pointing to a pile of unstable rocks in the canyon below, eroded by huge falling rocks and diverted water. "See... that hanging rock?! The 'Zhen' point! It's right there! Three quarters of an hour... in three quarters of an hour... use fire! Use the biggest fire! Burn it! Burn it through!"
Following his master's gaze, A-Tu saw on one side of the canyon several boulders, teetering like small mountains, their foundations being relentlessly eroded by the raging, diverted waters! The current, carrying silt and gravel, relentlessly carved through the underlying rock layers, producing a chilling grinding sound! The entire pile of rocks was in an extremely dangerous, precarious state! All it needed was a sufficiently powerful external force…
"Fire...burning stones?" Atu was stunned.
"No...burning stones!" Ji Zhai gasped, his eyes gleaming. "It's burning...burning out the remnants of the earth's fire! Drawing in...the earth's energy! Quick! The Dui Palace...the Dui Palace, the Li Fire position! Use our...last bit...of fierce oil! Burn! Burn it with our lives!"
Atu instantly understood! He looked sharply at the smoke billowing from the direction of the Purification Wall, at the chaotic battlefield stirred up by two hundred thousand troops, filled with the aura of slaughter and destruction! Sister Mingxin intended to use the power of the earth's ley lines to guide the overwhelming bloodlust and chaotic energy from the battlefield here through the ley lines! Then, using the turbulent water and fire, and the raging flames burning the foundation of the suspended rocks, she would completely detonate this ley line node, which had already been weakened by the diverted water flow! This would trigger an... artificial, devastating landslide!
This is to use the power of heaven and earth to bury the enemy below!
"I'll go!" A-Tu's face was devoid of any childishness, replaced by a resolute determination. He grabbed the last remaining earthenware jar containing a viscous, black liquid—the Mo family's last treasured, terrifyingly potent fire oil! "Children! Follow me! Let's find something to start a fire!"
---
Eagle's Sorrow Stream - Icy Soul and Setting Sun
Within Eagle's Sorrow Gorge, all was deathly silent.
The once howling winds were now completely frozen. The cliffs were covered with a thick layer of dark blue ice, over a foot thick and as hard as iron. Within the ice, the furious and horrified faces of the Blood Wolf Banner soldiers who had attempted to breach the stone gate were clearly frozen, along with the chilling "Frost Marrow" jars on their backs. The entire canyon resembled a massive, cold, crystal coffin leading to the underworld.
On a narrow stone platform on one side of the canyon, Xuanweizi sat cross-legged, like an ice sculpture. His once jet-black hair and beard had turned completely white, like an old pine tree covered in snow. His face was covered with spiderweb-like wrinkles, deep as if carved by a knife, exuding a sense of utter desolation. Dark red ice beads, formed from his life essence, clung to his Daoist robe. His whisk was stuck diagonally in the ice in front of him, its silver strands standing straight, yet dull and lifeless.
Dozens of Taoist disciples sat cross-legged around him, their hair and beards also covered in frost, their faces pale, and their breaths weak. They used themselves as the array's core, maintaining the massive array in this frozen canyon, like burning out their own candles to protect the Wei River below, which was still flowing wildly in the frozen riverbed and had not been cut off.
A young Taoist priest struggled to crawl to Xuanweizi's side, bringing the last bit of warm medicine to his lips, his voice trembling with tears: "Master...please...please drink some...the water...the water is still flowing...it hasn't stopped..."
Xuanweizi's tightly closed eyes trembled slightly, and his chapped lips were damp with moisture, yet he was unable to open them. His consciousness seemed to have sunk into an endless icy sea, with only a faint divine thought, like a candle flickering in the wind, maintaining a connection with the frozen formation and sensing the pulse of the Wei River flowing below.
That was the pulse of life.
It is the last lifeline for the countless lives of the people of Longshouyuan.
Just then!
Buzz—!!!
That familiar, terrifying resonance wave from the depths of the earth swept across the entire battlefield once more! It also swept across the desolate Eagle's Sorrow Gorge!
Click! Click! Click!
On the frozen cliff, countless tiny yet dense cracks instantly spread out! They crawled all over the hard ice like a spider web! The Blood Wolf Banner soldiers and the "Frost Marrow" jars, which were frozen inside, deformed and twisted slightly as the ice cracked! The entire frozen formation groaned under the strain of this sudden and devastating earthquake strike!
puff--!
puff--!
puff--!
The Daoist disciples surrounding Xuanweizi felt as if they had been struck in the chest by an invisible giant hammer, spitting out mouthfuls of blood! The blood fell onto the ice surface, instantly freezing into dazzling red lotuses! Their faces turned ashen and deathly pale, their auras rapidly weakening! The light of the formation dimmed sharply!
Xuanweizi's eyeballs trembled violently beneath his tightly closed eyelids! The wisp of divine will maintaining the great formation felt like it had been pierced by a red-hot steel needle! He suddenly opened his mouth, but no sound came out; only a large amount of dark red, icy blood foam gushed from the corner of his mouth! His body, frozen like an ice sculpture, began to tremble uncontrollably! The whisk stuck in the ice emitted a dying hum!
The ice... is about to break!
Once the ice seal breaks, the frozen "cold marrow" jars will rupture, releasing terrifying cold poison instantly, enough to completely freeze the entire Wei River! The toxic water in the Cleansing Wall trenches will accumulate, and the Earth Fire Path will be without water for cooling... The last water source of Longshou Plain will be completely cut off!
The young Taoist priest watched his master's dying struggle, looked at the exhausted bodies of his fellow disciples, and saw the ice cracks spreading rapidly on the cliff face. His eyes were filled with a bloodshot despair!
"No—!!!" The young Taoist priest let out a shrill scream! He suddenly drew the sword from his waist and plunged it into his heart without hesitation! Hot blood gushed out like a fountain, spraying all over the buzzing whisk in front of Xuanweizi!
"With my blood! I offer sacrifice to the Xuanbing! To protect the waterway—!" he screamed with his last breath!
The scalding hot Daoist blood, brimming with the essence of life, landed on the cold silver threads of the whisk and was instantly absorbed! The dull whisk suddenly burst forth with a dazzling, clear light!
Puff! Puff! Puff!
Like a chain reaction! The Taoist disciples who were slumped on the ground all suddenly had a resolute glint in their eyes! Without any hesitation, they drew their short swords and daggers, and even used their fingernails to cut their wrists and throats! Hot blood, like dozens of crimson streams, surged unhesitatingly towards the whisk that carried their last hope!
*Screech!*
The scorching Dao blood and the icy whisk fused violently! They produced a loud sound like a branding iron being quenched! The dazzling clear light instantly surged, transforming into a huge, rotating ice-blue Tai Chi pattern that soared into the sky and slammed into the cracked, mysterious ice cliff!
Buzz—!
The violent earth vein resonance waves were forcibly blocked and channeled by the Tai Chi Ice Seal, driven by the life essence and last will of dozens of Daoist disciples! The rapidly spreading ice cracks on the cliff suddenly stopped! They even began to slowly heal! The ice-sealing array, which was on the verge of collapse, was forcibly stabilized again by this extremely tragic sacrifice!
Xuanweizi's violently trembling body slowly stopped shaking. He remained seated cross-legged, his frosty white head slightly lowered, his breath so faint it seemed to vanish. Only the whisk, which had absorbed dozens of lives and emitted a clear light and bloody aura, still stood stubbornly in the ice, silently guarding the ever-flowing Wei River below.
Eagle's Sorrow Gorge has returned to deathly silence. Only the newly added, glaring bloodstains on the ice wall, like splashes of ink, silently tell the story of sacrifice under the blood-red glow of the setting sun.
---
Clean Wall·Burn the City
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The giant battering rams, like tireless siege beasts, rammed into the already crumbling Purification Wall again and again! Each impact was accompanied by large chunks of the wall collapsing and the desperate screams of the defenders! The gray-black slurry squeezed out by the poisonous soil flowed everywhere, mixing with blood and corpses, turning the foundation of the wall into a filthy swamp!
The rain of arrows had thinned. The logs and stones had long since been exhausted. The acrid smell of burnt oil lingered. Fewer and fewer people could stand on the walls. Corpses piled up like mountains, blocking the passage.
Xiao Yuxuan's armor was already shattered, revealing a blood-soaked linen garment underneath. His longsword was chipped and chipped, each swing incredibly heavy. Only three of his personal guards remained, back to back, making a final stand at the collapsed ramparts. Beneath their feet, a black tide of water surged relentlessly into the wall through the massive breach!
Is it over?
As Xiao Yuxuan looked at the ferocious faces surging up the wall like a tide, at the blood wolf banner dancing wildly in the wind in the distance, and at the still silent mountains in the direction of Jincheng... a cold sense of exhaustion swept over his entire body.
In this final, desperate moment!
Rumble, rumble, rumble—!!!
A deafening roar, far more terrifying and profound than the impact of a battering ram or even the thunder of two hundred thousand iron hooves, seemingly emanating from the depths of the Netherworld, suddenly erupted from the southwest of Longshou Plain—at the ruins of the irrigation canal!
That sound was the mountains groaning! It was the earth roaring!
Immediately afterwards!
The entire Dragon Head Plain seemed to be gripped tightly by an invisible, towering hand, and then began to shake violently! The world spun around!
Amidst the terrifying earthquake, the walls of the Purification Wall, like a giant beast stripped of its bones, let out a final, desperate wail before collapsing inward with a deafening roar! Countless wolf soldiers who had climbed upon it screamed as they were buried!
The giant battering ram, which was frantically crashing into the wall, along with the Rong tribe warriors pushing it below, was instantly swallowed up by the cracked and churning earth beneath their feet!
What's even more terrifying is what's behind the battlefield!
In the direction of the aqueduct ruins! That unstable mountain, which had been relentlessly eroded by the diverted Wei River and then had its foundations burned by A Tu's final burst of fire oil! Under the dual impact of the battlefield's blood and gore, guided by Xiao Mingxin, and the turbulent clash of water and fire, it finally reached the point of collapse!
Like a powder keg that has been ignited!
Billions of pounds of rocks, frozen soil, and ice... erupted like raging fire suppressed for millions of years! Forming a devastating mudslide and landslide that swept everything away! With the force of a thunderbolt, it crashed down like divine punishment on the tens of thousands of Northern Rong reserve troops who were gathering in the canyon below, preparing for their final assault!
Rumble rumble rumble—!!!
Smoke and dust billowed into the sky, obscuring the blood-red setting sun! The earth trembled for several dozen breaths! Screams, howls, the mournful neighing of warhorses, the piercing noise of twisting steel... all sounds were completely drowned out by this earth-shattering power of nature!
As the smoke and dust cleared up, everyone was stunned by what they saw!
A huge, fresh scar, flowing with mud and blood, lies menacingly across the southwest of Longshou Plain! The ruins of the irrigation canal, along with the vast canyon below, the tens of thousands of elite Northern Rong troops, and countless siege weapons, have all vanished! All that remains is a massive, still steaming, hellish pit and jagged, crisscrossing fractures extending to both sides!
The might of heaven and earth! An army annihilated in an instant!
The entire battlefield fell into a deathly silence. Both the remaining Anji defenders and the Northern Rong vanguard, terrified by the terrifying divine might, stood frozen in place like statues.
Leaning on his broken sword, Xiao Yuxuan stood on the last section of the Purification Wall, still partially collapsed, his body covered in blood, like a war god returned from hell. He gazed at the enormous "scar" in the distance, the one that had devoured tens of thousands of enemy soldiers; at the Wei River flowing ceaselessly through the canyon, unfrozen; and at the tunnel beneath the ruins of the academy, where embers might still linger…
He suddenly raised the nicked, broken sword in his hand, and with his last ounce of strength, let out a roar that shook the heavens and the earth:
"Anji—immortal!!!"
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