Thunder
Outside Yinshan Pass, leaden clouds hang low in the sky.
Two hundred thousand Northern Rong cavalry, like black tectonic plates, silently and slowly rolled across the withered meadows of early spring. Their iron hooves struck the ground not with thunderous roars, but with a low, viscous thud, as if the earth itself were groaning. This thud coalesced into an invisible giant wave, carrying with it the chill of melting snow from the depths of the grassland and the pungent smell of livestock, crashing three hundred miles ahead of time onto the broken walls and ruins of Longshou Plain.
Standing atop the newly constructed "Cleansing Wall," Xiao Yuxuan could even feel the extremely subtle yet continuous tremors emanating from the rammed earth foundation beneath his feet. Those tremors penetrated his cold armor, reaching his very bones. He gazed into the distance; the grey horizon in the direction of Yinshan was completely obscured, replaced by a ceaselessly crawling, endless black line that seemed to devour the horizon. The cold gleam of his armor, in the occasional pale sunlight filtering through the leaden clouds, resembled millions of icy fish scales.
“Banners… like a forest.” Chen Zhong leaned on a thick wooden stick, his only remaining leg trembling slightly from the exertion. His cloudy old eyes were fixed on the moving sea of death. “Azure Wolf Banner… Golden Eagle Banner… and… Blood Wolf Banner! Damn it, that bastard Scarface has pulled out all his trump cards!” He pointed to several particularly dense areas in the black tide, faintly glowing with a dark red blood light, his voice hoarse.
Xiao Yuxuan remained silent. His gaze swept across the area below the wall: in the three-zhang-deep moat, the turbid Wei River flowed slowly, a thin, metallic film of oil still floating on its surface. The "Cleansing Wall," constructed of poisonous soil contaminated with *Mammillaria solani* spores, gleamed with an ominous gray-black hue under the dim light. The top of the wall was crammed with people. Young, strong refugees gripped sharpened wooden spears and chipped hoes, their hands, calloused and frostbitten, clenched tightly against the cold rammed earth wall, their knuckles white from the strain. Even the schoolchildren, barely out of school, were drafted into the auxiliary troops, laboriously carrying piles of stones and logs, their faces taut, their eyes filled with both fear and a desperate, resolute fierceness. The veterans silently inspected their bowstrings, carefully placing the remaining arrows, bound with oil-soaked strips of cloth, within easy reach of them. The air was as heavy as an iron plate, and every breath carried the rusty, poisonous sweetness of the air, making one's chest feel suffocated.
"Report—!" A scout scrambled up the wall, his face covered in mud and blood, his voice filled with dying terror, "Governor! The Blood Wolf Banner... the Blood Wolf Banner's 10,000-strong force... in three groups... bypassing the main wall of the Cleansing Wall... rushing... rushing towards the school! And... the core sluice gate of the irrigation canal! Another force... is heading straight for the upper reaches of the Wei River... intending to... cut off our water supply!"
"What?!" Ji Zhai's hair stood on end, and he rushed to the top of the battlement, instantly flashing out the Mo family ruler into his hand. "If the water diversion canal sluice gate is destroyed, the purification wall fire channel will become useless! With the upstream water source cut off, the poisonous water in the trench will not flow, and the poisonous gas will accumulate even faster! Scarface... what a vicious eye!"
"What about Yan Yang?" Xiao Yuxuan's voice was as cold as ice.
"In the direction of Jincheng... all official roads are blocked by the Black-Clad Guards! The seven groups of people we sent out to seek help and purchase grain... were all... all turned back! The leader, Wang Laoliu... was publicly displayed in the street in shackles!" The scout's voice was choked with sobs.
Internal traitors cut off supplies! External enemies destroyed the irrigation canals! A mad dog ripped out the heart!
A triple noose is coming to strangle him!
"Beat the drums!" Xiao Yuxuan whirled around, his armor clanging! He ripped off his mud-stained cloak, revealing his battered old armor underneath. His blood-stained spear slammed heavily against the brick wall, sparks flying! "Gather the generals! The fate of Anji rests on this battle!"
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The heavy sound of war drums, like the heartbeat of a dying beast, suddenly tore through the suffocating silence of Longshou Plain! The drumbeats were not hurried, but rather carried a deep and tragic rhythm, piercing through the howling cold wind and striking the hearts of every soldier and civilian in Anji Camp!
On the walls, in the ditches, behind the ruins of the school... everyone who could hear the drumbeats instinctively straightened their backs, gripped their simple weapons tightly, and turned their gazes to the mountain-like figure at the highest point of the purification wall!
Xiao Yuxuan raised his spear high, its tip pointing directly at the thick, leaden clouds rolling in from the direction of Yinshan, like a demon's chariot crushing everything in its path! His voice wasn't loud, but it was like muffled thunder rolling across frozen ground, clearly overpowering the sounds of the wind and drums, resounding in everyone's ears:
"Fathers and brothers of Anji Camp! Look at the ground beneath your feet! Look at the school behind you! Look at your loved ones beside you! We have no way out! If we retreat one step, we will face the shackles of Yan Yang! The cruel officials of Legalism! A harsh winter with corpses strewn across the fields! If we retreat two steps, we will face the fangs of the Blood Wolf Banner! The iron hooves of the Northern Rong! Scorched earth where no bones remain!"
He suddenly pointed his spear upstream on the Wei River: "They want to cut off our water! Cut off the Wei River that purifies our poisonous soil, irrigates our fields, and sustains our lives!" The spearhead then pointed towards the school and the sluice gate of the irrigation canal: "They want to destroy our canal! Destroy our school where we impart knowledge and spread the seeds of knowledge! Destroy our future fire channel that will burn away poison and purify the filth!"
Finally, the spearhead slammed into the ground with a deafening clang of metal striking metal!
"What they want is not land! They want to wipe out everyone in my Anji Camp! They want to extinguish any nascent hope for survival on this land! They want to extinguish any remaining thoughts of 'peace' in our hearts!"
He surveyed the faces etched with hardship and fear, yet now ignited with fury, beneath and atop the wall. His voice suddenly rose, like a dragon's roar tearing through the fabric:
"Tell me! Do you—agree or not?!"
A brief silence.
Immediately, a hoarse voice rang out from the bottom of the ditch. It was an old craftsman with a missing arm, slinged in by a strip of cloth: "No way! I'd rather die on my own field ridge!"
"No way!" a boy, clinging to a rolling log, shrieked, his face flushed red. "They burned down the school, and all the lessons my mother taught me will be for nothing!"
"No way!!" More and more people joined in the roar! Wooden spears and hoes slammed heavily to the ground! Hoarse, youthful, aged, and angry roars erupted like volcanoes suppressed for millions of years! They converged into a deafening sound wave, crashing fiercely against the black tide pressing in from the direction of Yinshan!
"Good!" Xiao Yuxuan's eyes burned with a blazing fire that could scorch the heavens. "Today! Right here on Dragon Head Plain! With our blood! Our flesh! Our bones! We will tell those jackals and tigers! We will tell those court lackeys who treat us like dirt!"
He raised his spear to the sky once more, his voice piercing the heavens:
"The Flame of Anji—Never Dies!"
"Gentlemen—fight to the death with me!!!"
"Fight to the death—!!!" A roar as powerful as a mountain collapsing into the sky resounded! Despair was ignited, turning into a raging inferno!
---
Upper Reaches of the Wei River - Yingchoujian
A biting wind howled through the narrow, steep Eagle's Sorrow Gorge, its sharp, ghostly cries echoing through the air. Below the hundred-foot cliff, the Wei River was compressed into a raging, furious dragon, roaring as it surged towards Dragon's Head Plain. At that moment, a nearly thousand-strong elite force of the Blood Wolf Banner clung to the slippery, icy cliff face like geckos. Agile and nimble, they carried heavy metal containers shimmering with eerie blue runes, their target the ancient stone sluice gate at the top of the gorge, a massive lock that seemed to choke the Wei River!
"Quick! Break through the sluice gate! Pour in the 'Frost Marrow'!" The lead wolf's face was smeared with ferocious paint, his voice distorted in the wind. Several bare-chested, muscular Rong warriors wielded specially made, rune-encrusted giant chisels, smashing them down hard on the junction of the sluice gate and the mountain rock! Debris flew everywhere! The ancient sluice gate groaned under the weight!
"Fire! Stop them!" On the ridge opposite the cliff, Xuanweizi's hair and beard bristled, his Daoist robe fluttering in the gale! Behind him, the few dozen Daoist disciples and hastily assembled hunters were desperately firing arrows tied with oil-soaked cloths toward the opposite bank! The arrows wobbled in the gale, most falling futilely into the abyss, a few embedding themselves in the cliff face, their flames instantly extinguished by the cold wind!
"Master! The wind is too strong! The arrow can't get through!" A young Taoist priest cried out anxiously, his eyes bloodshot.
Xuanweizi gazed at the wolf soldiers frantically destroying the sluice gate on the opposite bank, at the metal canisters on their backs radiating a chilling, malevolent aura, and a resolute glint flashed in his eyes. Once the "Frost Marrow" was poured into the sluice gate, it would instantly freeze, reducing the entire giant gate to dust! The Wei River would be cut off, the toxic water in the Cleansing Wall and trenches would accumulate, and the Earth Fire Channel would be without water for cooling… the consequences would be unimaginable!
"Form the formation!" Xuanweizi slammed his whisk into the rock beneath his feet! The silver threads stood upright, humming incessantly! "Draw upon the earth's yin energy, seize the chilling energy of heaven and earth! Help me—seal the gorge!"
He sat cross-legged, his hands rapidly forming hand seals, chanting incantations, his Taoist robe fluttering even without wind! A visible pale blue chill seeped from the rock beneath him, spreading rapidly! Dozens of disciples behind him immediately surrounded him, also forming hand seals and chanting incantations! Everyone's faces instantly turned deathly pale, their eyebrows, hair, and eyelashes visibly frosting over! An overwhelming, unstoppable force of extreme cold, centered on Xuanweizi, frantically drew upon the earth's yin energy and the canyon's frigid chill, transforming into an invisible icy tide that crashed violently against the opposite bank of Eagle's Sorrow Gorge!
Click! Click! Click!
On the opposite cliff, the Rong warriors, who were frantically chiseling at the dam foundation, suddenly froze! Their bare upper bodies were instantly covered with a thick layer of white frost! The giant chisels in their hands became icy cold, almost impossible to hold! Even more terrifying, the crevices in the rocks they were clinging to were rapidly freezing into thick, smooth ice! Caught off guard, several warriors slipped and fell screaming into the abyss!
"You evil sorcerer!!" The leading wolf general was both shocked and furious. He drew his curved sword from his waist, and the eerie runes on the blade suddenly lit up! He attempted to use his own evil power to resist the terrifying cold wave!
However, Xuanweizi suddenly opened his eyes! His eyes were a pure, icy blue, devoid of any human emotion! He bit his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood containing his life essence onto the whisk in front of him!
"Heaven and earth are frozen! Imperial decree—!"
boom!
It was as if an invisible iceberg had crashed down upon Eagle's Sorrow Gorge! The howling wind was instantly frozen! The swirling snowflakes froze in mid-air! The temperature throughout Eagle's Sorrow Gorge plummeted to a terrifying extreme! On the opposite cliff, all the Blood Wolf Banner soldiers, along with the "Frost Marrow" jars on their backs, were instantly and completely encased in a layer of blue, iron-hard ice over a foot thick! They resembled ice sculptures embedded in the cliff face! Even the wolf general's raised scimitar and his expression of shock and anger were frozen within the ice!
Dead silence.
Only the Wei River below continues to roar violently in the frozen canyon.
puff--!
Xuanweizi suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, which instantly froze into ice beads upon hitting the ground! The icy blue in his eyes quickly faded, replaced by an extreme grayness and withering, and his once black hair turned completely white in an instant! His body swayed violently like a candle in the wind, and he was held firmly by the disciples beside him.
“Master! Your lifespan is over…” The disciple’s voice choked with emotion.
Xuanweizi looked at the lifeless ice sculptures on the opposite bank, and at the still-flowing Wei River below, a relieved smile forced onto his ashen face: "It's alright... the water... hasn't stopped..."
---
The core gate of the water diversion canal - Mosu
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The heavy impact sounded like a giant hammer striking a drum, shaking the earth! The core gate, several meters high, built of massive stones and filled with molten iron, emitted a teeth-grinding groan as it was relentlessly rammed by hundreds of Blood Wolf Banner mechanical beasts! The surface of the massive stones was covered with spiderweb-like cracks, and the gaps in the molten iron were torn apart and peeled away by the immense force!
On the narrow platform above the sluice gate, Ji Zhai was covered in blood! The strange, mechanical copper ruler in his hand was twisted and deformed, its edges cracked with countless gaps. Dozens of elite Mohist disciples formed a constantly rotating "ruler formation," using their flesh and blood and exquisite combined attacks to desperately hold back the wolf soldiers surging up the narrow stone steps like a tide! Swords flashed, blood and flesh flew! Mohist disciples were constantly being cleaved down by heavy curved blades, or their faces were corroded beyond recognition by the venom spewed by the mechanical beasts, screaming as they fell off the high gate! But the gaps were instantly filled by the roars of those behind them!
"Hold on! Don't retreat!" Ji Zhai's voice was hoarse like a broken gong. He swung his twisted copper ruler and smashed the alloy head of a wolf-like beast that had pounced on the platform! Thick black oil and shattered parts splattered all over him! He wiped the blood and oil stains from his face and glanced down at the sluice gate—there, A Tu was leading a group of craftsmen, desperately reinforcing the crumbling gate foundation with iron bars and wooden stakes! Every time the giant beast slammed into the gate, they were shaken to the side, blood gushing from their mouths and noses!
"Master! The third supporting iron beam... is bent!" Atu cried out, his face half-scratched by flying stones, blood streaming down his cheeks.
Ji Zhai's eyes were bloodshot! He knew the sluice gate wouldn't hold for much longer! Once the sluice gate collapsed, the entire water diversion system would be paralyzed, and the fire channel of the Purification Wall would become a dead end! Even more terrifying was that the enormous water pressure accumulated upstream would be released instantly, enough to destroy large tracts of newly cultivated farmland below!
"Are there any more underground fire passages?!" Ji Zhai shouted down.
“The main passage… just passed through the ‘Throat of the Lava Abyss’… the subterranean fire has been dormant… for at least… at least half an hour!” Atu’s voice was filled with despair.
Half an hour! The sluice gate might not even last half a quarter of an hour!
Ji Zhai suddenly looked up, gazing towards the direction of the Dragon Head Plains Academy. There, flames soared into the sky, and the sounds of battle were deafening! Another main force of the Blood Wolf Banner, like a frenzied swarm of ants, rushed towards the broken walls and ruins of the academy that stubbornly stood in the cold wind!
"The Commander's Token!" A glint of madness flashed in Ji Zhai's eyes! He suddenly pulled out the dark-colored Commander's Token of the Rift Array Sect from his robes and slammed it hard onto the twisted bronze ruler! An invisible, heavy, and majestic aura instantly spread out! The subtle blood-red patterns on the token suddenly lit up!
"Disciples of the Rift Formation, heed my command!" Ji Zhai's voice, like the clanging of metal against metal, pierced through the sounds of battle. "Use yourselves as wedges! Forge iron as your foundation! Guard this gate—as you would guard the heart of ink!"
"No—!!!" The remaining Mohist disciples roared deafeningly! Without the slightest hesitation! They abruptly abandoned their defenses, like moths drawn to a flame, launching a desperate counter-charge towards the massive mechanical beasts crashing against the gate, and towards the wolf soldiers surging up the stone steps! They clung tightly to the mechanical beasts' claws and ramming horns with their bodies! They tore at the exposed flesh of the wolf soldiers with their teeth! With their last ounce of strength, they hurled all the gunpowder and potent grease they carried at the enemy's vitals!
Boom! Boom! Boom!!
A series of earth-shattering explosions erupted violently on the narrow gate platform and the gate foundation below! Flames shot into the sky! Shattered limbs, molten metal, and burning debris scattered like rain! The massive shockwave instantly tore apart dozens of mechanical beasts and wolf soldiers at the forefront! It also slammed heavily into the already overburdened megalithic gate structure!
Creak—! Rumble!!!
Amidst the despairing gazes of everyone, the upper part of the core sluice gate of the irrigation canal, weathered by a century of storms, collapsed like a giant axe under the impact of the explosion and its own immense weight, crashing down towards the canyon side with a deafening roar! Billions of pounds of boulders, carrying clouds of dust and bloody remains, poured down like a landslide! In an instant, they completely buried the wolf soldiers below who had no time to escape, some of the craftsmen who were reinforcing the sluice gate's foundation, and that section of the canyon passage itself!
Smoke and dust filled the air, obscuring the sky and the sun.
The collapse stopped. The once intact sluice gate was now reduced to a broken, jagged base, like the gnawed remains of a giant beast, wedged firmly in the canyon. The surging Wei River had been forcibly diverted by the collapsed rocks, forming several rapid, turbulent streams that roared towards the unknown. The irrigation canal… was broken.
A deathly silence fell over the platform. The embers of the explosion and the heavy stench of blood filled the air. Ji Zhai, leaning on the twisted bronze ruler embedded with the Juzi token, stood like a blood-cast statue on the edge of the collapsed sluice gate. Beside him, not a single Mohist disciple remained standing. A-Tu, half-hidden in blood and gore, struggled to crawl out from a pile of rubble and corpses, staring at the completely collapsed sluice gate and the diverted Wei River, letting out a heart-wrenching wail.
Ji Zhai did not cry. His blood-stained face was expressionless, except for his hands gripping the copper ruler and the mace, his knuckles cracking so hard they seemed to sink into the cold metal. He slowly raised his head, looking towards the towering flames and shouts of battle in the direction of the school. In his cloudy old eyes, a single, scalding drop of liquid, mixed with blood and grease, finally fell onto the cold, broken stones at his feet.
---
Anji Academy: Passing on the Torch
The school has become a sea of blood.
The earthen walls, barely repaired and reinforced last night, were already riddled with holes and collapsed in many places under the onslaught of hundreds of Blood Wolf Banner mechanical beasts and the surging wolf soldiers! Burning arrows rained down like fire onto the thatched roof, igniting patches of flame. Thick smoke billowed, a mixture of blood, acrid smells, and the stench of venom leaked from the mechanical beasts, making it impossible to open one's eyes.
"Hold the breach! Stone! Lead the children into the tunnel!" Chen Zhong's roar had changed. His only remaining leg was pinned down by a broken, burning roof beam, his flesh charred! He brandished a broken spear and plunged it fiercely into the eye socket of a wolf trying to squeeze through the breach! Foul-smelling black blood sprayed all over his head and face!
The plague orphan named Stone, his face covered in soot and blood, bit his lip tightly, not crying out, as he struggled to drag a terrified, even smaller girl towards a hidden tunnel entrance in the corner. The tunnel entrance was narrow, with burning wood and rubble constantly falling down.
"Form ranks! Thrust!" Xiao Dingbian's voice, sharp and youthful yet hoarse and resolute beyond his years, rang out. He dragged his still-aching left leg, clad in the "Tiger-Scale" half-armor forged for him by Ji Zhai, the tiger-head hilt on his left shoulder gleaming coldly in the firelight. He gripped the unsharpened ceremonial sword tightly, the mechanism at the hilt flashing with a chilling light. Before him, a dozen or so children, the oldest no more than twelve or thirteen, the youngest only eight or nine, stood back-to-back in the most rudimentary formation Chen Zhong had taught them during the day, their hands gripping sharpened wooden spears, thrusting with all their might at the wolf soldiers pouring in from the collapsed breach!
Pfft!
A wolf soldier grinned maliciously and swung his sword, knocking away a child's wooden spear. He then brought his sword down in a swift motion! The child watched in horror as the blade fell!
"Lower your head!" Xiao Dingbian roared! He suddenly turned the intricate mechanism at the end of the hilt of the ceremonial sword!
Click! Sizzle—!
The sword hilt detached from the blade in an instant! Three three-inch-long, armor-piercing steel crossbow bolts, accompanied by a piercing whistle, shot out from the tiger-head-shaped jaws on his left shoulder! At such close range! So sudden!
Puff! Puff! Puff!
Three crossbow bolts pierced the wolf soldier's unprotected throat, heart, and face with deadly accuracy! The wolf soldier's ferocious grin froze instantly, and his massive body crashed to the ground!
"Stab!" Xiao Ding shouted again, his voice hoarse, without even glancing at the fallen corpse! The broken half of his sword slashed fiercely at the calf of another wolf soldier who was trying to charge forward!
The children were stunned by the bloody scene, then jolted awake by Xiao Dingbian's frantic roar! The instinct for survival overcame their fear! Their eyes were red, and they let out incoherent screams, thrusting their wooden spears forward again! They actually managed to temporarily force back the enemy at the breach!
But it was a drop in the ocean! More wolf soldiers and ferocious mechanical beasts poured in from other gaps! The remaining resistance forces inside the school were quickly divided and compressed! Screams filled the air!
"Brother Dingbian! Fire...fire is coming!" Shi Tou dragged the little girl, pointing to a beam burning fiercely above the tunnel entrance, which could fall at any moment, his face pale.
Xiao Dingbian turned around abruptly! Looking at the stone illuminated by the firelight and the girl's terrified face, looking at his comrades fighting and falling one after another, looking at the curtain in the center of the school made of blood-stained battle flags, now licked by flames... a flame mixed with despair, anger and resentment exploded in his chest!
"Ah—!!!" The boy let out a beast-like roar! He hurled the broken half of his ceremonial sword at a wolf-like beast that pounced on him! At the same time, he slammed his left hand on the tiger-head slit of his tiger-scale armor! This time, he didn't slam on the repeating crossbow mechanism, but on the emergency release valve of the medicine pouch inside the armor!
puff--!
A thick cloud of white dust, mixed with Xuanweizi's specially made detoxifying powder, suddenly gushed out from the joints and lining holes of the Tiger Scale Armor! It instantly filled the space several feet around him! The pungent smell of the medicine mixed with the dust made the wolf soldiers and mechanical beasts that rushed up pause in their movements!
"Charge with me!" Taking advantage of this brief opening, Xiao Dingbian, like a wounded tiger cub, dragged his injured leg, picked up the terrified little girl next to Shi Tou, gripped Shi Tou's wrist tightly with his other hand, and charged with all his might toward the tunnel entrance blocked by flames! A scorching wave of air rushed toward them!
"Jump!" he roared, recklessly crashing into the narrow gap beneath the burning beam! The scorching flames instantly singed his hair and eyebrows! A searing pain shot through his skin!
Just as he was about to crash into the tunnel entrance while holding the girl and dragging the stone!
Boom! ...
The main wall of the school, draped with a blood-stained battle banner, finally groaned under the combined assault of several blood wolf mechanical beasts and the raging flames. Like a giant stripped of its spine, it collapsed with a deafening roar towards the direction where Xiao Dingbian and his companions were! Burning logs, scorching earth, and shattered rubble... pressed down like a catastrophic flood!
"No—!!!" Shi Tou, whose wrist was being held tightly by Xiao Dingbian, let out a scream that was extremely shrill!
A close call!
Buzz—!!!
An invisible and intangible shockwave, yet carrying a powerful repulsive force, suddenly erupted from the ground! Like a giant, transparent bubble, it instantly enveloped the area within several feet of Xiao Dingbian and his companions!
Rumble!!!
The collapsing, burning logs and scorching clods of earth, less than three feet above Xiao Dingbian's head, seemed to have struck an invisible, incredibly resilient wall! Their descent abruptly halted! Countless burning fragments of wood and rubble were violently repelled and shattered by this force! Only a few fine specks of dust fell in a soft rustling sound!
The shockwave is fleeting.
Boom!!!
The rubble, momentarily delayed, finally crashed to the ground, kicking up clouds of dust and sparks. But its point of impact was just a few feet off the tunnel entrance, creating a small, partially buried triangular space.
Amidst the billowing smoke and dust, Xiao Ding, carrying the girl and dragging the still-shaken stone, tumbled and crawled into the dark tunnel entrance. In his last glance back, he saw only a corner of the blood-stained battle banner, still burning fiercely at the edge of the collapsed ruins, like an inextinguishable spark, amidst the smoke and firelight.
From deep within the tunnel came Xiao Mingxin's suppressed, heart-wrenching coughs and spitting blood. The life-saving shockwave from just now was clearly caused by her forcibly activating the "Earth Vein Resonance" technique she had comprehended from the incomplete scroll of "Gongzheng Yilu," at a terrible cost.
Xiao Dingbian bit his lip until it bled, the taste of blood filling his mouth. He held the trembling girl tightly in his arms, dragging the stone, and plunged into the dark depths of the tunnel without looking back. The tiger-scale armor pressed coldly against his burning, trembling young body in the darkness.
---
Cleansing Wall, Lonely City
The black tide beyond Yinshan Pass finally pushed to the limit of what was visible. Blue Wolf Banners, Golden Eagle Banners, Blood Wolf Banners… countless ferocious banners danced wildly in the cold wind. Two hundred thousand iron cavalry stood silently, like a frozen black ocean. Only the occasional breaths of their warhorses turned into large plumes of white mist that rose upwards.
An immense, soul-chilling sense of oppression, like a solid block of lead, weighed heavily on the hearts of every defender of the Purifying Wall. The sliver of fighting spirit that had just been ignited by repelling the Blood Wolf Banner vanguard was swiftly frozen and crushed in the face of this overwhelming numbers and power. Suppressed sobs could even be heard from within the ravine.
Xiao Yuxuan stood atop the highest watchtower, the cold wind whipping his blood-stained cloak. He saw the chilling air rising from the direction of Eagle's Sorrow Stream upstream, the dust and smoke from the collapsed sluice gate of the irrigation canal, and the all-consuming flames engulfing the school. These three devastating tragedies, like three icy daggers, pierced his heart.
Dragging his broken leg, Chen Zhong struggled to climb up, his voice hoarse as if sandpaper were being rubbed together: "Governor... the Wei River... has changed course... the school... has collapsed... Mr. Ji... the Mohist disciples... are almost... wiped out... Daoist Xuanwei... has exhausted his lifespan... the frozen Eagle Sorrow Gorge... his fate... is unknown..."
Every word is stained with blood.
Xiao Yuxuan didn't move. His gaze was fixed on the figure riding an exceptionally tall giant wolf covered in dark red metal armor under the tallest and most ferocious blood wolf banner at the front of the Northern Rong army's formation—Scarface! The leader of the Suspended Blade Beast Head Sect! The horizontal scar on his face seemed to be writhing in the distance, like a living centipede.
Scarface seemed to sense Xiao Yuxuan's gaze. He slowly raised his hand and made an extremely simple gesture—forward, then swung down.
Ugh!
The deep, desolate sound of the bull horn, carrying endless killing intent, suddenly resounded throughout the heavens and earth like a summons from the deepest hell!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
At the very front of the Northern Rong army formation, hundreds of enormous leather drums resounded simultaneously! The drumbeats were heavy and slow, yet they carried the will to crush everything!
Rumble rumble rumble...
The black ocean began to surge.
At first, it was like a slow tide, then its speed increased rapidly! Finally, it transformed into a colossal wave that destroyed everything! Countless iron hooves trampled the earth, producing a roar like mountains collapsing and the earth splitting! Snow, dust, and mud surged into the sky! Arrows that blotted out the sun rose into the air like locusts, drawing deadly arcs against the leaden sky, pouring down like a torrential rain towards the Cleansing Wall and the trench below!
"Raise—the shield—!!!"
Xiao Yuxuan's roar, like the last howl of a lone wolf, was instantly drowned out by the deafening sound of iron hooves and arrows piercing the air!
Arrows rained down!
Puff puff puff puff!
The makeshift wooden shields were like paper! The men struggling to raise their shields on the edge of the ditch were instantly riddled with arrows! They screamed and fell into the trench! Those inside, unable to escape, fell in droves like felled wheat! Blood instantly stained the murky, poisonous water!
A black, deathly wave is almost upon us! The狰狞 (zhengning, meaning ferocious or hideous) faces of the wolf riders are clearly visible! Their bloodthirsty scimitars are raised high!
Xiao Yuxuan suddenly drew his sword from his waist! The blade pointed directly at the surging black tide! His personal guards behind him beat the final war drums! The drumbeats were broken and filled with despair!
The Cleansing Wall, this new wall based on poisonous soil and not yet truly completed, this lonely city that holds the hope of survival, is about to face its first, and possibly last, impact since its birth.
The blood-red setting sun finally struggled to tear through the thick leaden clouds, painting the last blood-red rays of its afterglow onto the scorched earth of Longshouyuan, which was soaked with blood and fire, despair and struggle.
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