Chapter 511: Crushing Defeat—Whose Reinforcements? Went Together |
Clang…………
Yang Jian raised his spear to parry, forcefully sweeping aside the blade puppet's right arm. He turned his head to look at the miserable state of his own army, his already unpleasant expression darkening with several more shades of gloom.
"Over two hundred breaths, and it's already come to this. The Xia troops have actually grown this powerful!"
He was aware there was a gap between the Beishuo Army and the Xia troops, but the disparity being this large was far beyond his expectations.
After the initial clash ended in a setback, with ten thousand Beishuo troops scattered by the Xia troops, he had long since ordered the fifteen thousand Town Garrison Army soldiers in the rear ranks to stop shooting arrows and join the battle. In other words, all twenty-five thousand troops currently at Baimu City were now fully engaged.
Looking at Great Xia, at the same time he gave his order, Xia Chuan had also acted simultaneously. However, Xia Chuan only ordered the ten thousand soldiers from the Third and Fourth Battalions to abandon their bows and engage in close combat. The remaining five thousand soldiers of the Fifth Battalion were still standing in place, shooting arrows, and had not entered the melee.
Therefore, the number of soldiers actually engaged in combat from both sides wasn't that different. The Xia troops only had an extra thousand Dragon Garrison Captains. Logically speaking, for a large-scale battlefield like this where both sides had forces exceeding ten thousand, a thousand Dragon Garrison Captains couldn't possibly make too significant a difference.
But the reality was far from that.
The current battlefield was completely one-sided.
The battlefield had been split.
Those ten thousand... no, now probably only seven or eight thousand Beishuo troops were actually trapped in the innermost circle by the military formation the Xia troops had deployed.
The fifteen thousand troops in the rear were trying to break through the blockade formed by the ten thousand soldiers of the Xia troops' Third and Fourth Battalions. In theory, with superior numbers and similar cultivation levels, fifteen thousand breaking through ten thousand shouldn't be difficult.
The problem was, Great Xia still had a Fifth Battalion, continuously raining arrows from the rear, assisting that ten thousand soldiers of the Third and Fourth Battalions in holding the formation. His own troops simply had no chance to break through the blockade.
Not only could they not break through, but soldiers in the rear were constantly being injured or even killed by the arrow rain. This sight undoubtedly made Yang Jian even more frantic with anxiety.
"Great Xia's Sacred Marks aren't only for talented geniuses with high aptitude; everyone has them. At the very least, all those with Warmth Realm cultivation have them..."
Yang Jian's eyes blazed with fury as he saw the bloody cloud patterns appear on the foreheads of the Xia soldiers on the ground. His chest heaved violently, the rage within him clearly having climbed to its peak.
As Great Xia's integration with the southern foothills towns deepened, the Sacred Marks on the foreheads of the Xia people were no longer a secret. However, in recent years, only a portion of the stronger individuals had publicly displayed their Sacred Marks. The vast majority of Xia people had never shown them in front of others.
The five northern towns had also done some statistics. The number of Xia people who had publicly displayed Sacred Marks was probably less than two hundred. Aside from a very few Sun Manifestation Level experts, the rest were basically at the Warmth Realm cultivation level, and their base strength was all above 50 zong.
When Xia people activated their Sacred Marks, their base strength would receive a thirty percent amplification. Such important information naturally drew the attention of the five northern towns early on. Their clandestine operatives planted in Xia City had long ago begun spending effort to investigate the situation regarding these Sacred Marks.
Upon inquiry, they learned that these Sacred Marks were no secret at all within Xia City; almost everyone knew about them. They originated from a blessing technique of Lord Leader Xia Hong. Some individuals with exceptionally high talent, after entering the Xia Palace to meet Xia Hong, would receive the Sacred Mark...
Yang Jian's train of thought came to an abrupt halt. His entire face instantly flushed to a purplish-red. How could he not realize it now? The intelligence those clandestine operatives had gathered were all false messages deliberately released by Great Xia. The five northern towns, including Beishuo, had all been tricked.
"All soldiers have a thirty percent amplification to their base strength. For those with lower strength, below 10 zong, it's not much. But for anyone with strength above 10 zong, the situation is completely different. The stronger they are, the greater the amplification..."
Combining this with his understanding of the Xia people's Sacred Marks, Yang Jian looked down and saw his own soldiers falling one after another. His eyes widened in fury, and his hands gripping the spear couldn't help but begin to tremble slightly.
The decision to take the initiative and attack was his. That meant the outcome of this current major battle rested on his shoulders.
"They won't last three hundred breaths... absolutely won't last. No, if this continues, we'll be completely annihilated. Notify Gu Tianxiong, tell him to speed up the march, quickly!"
Yang Jian's voice now no longer held the confidence of victory from before the battle; it was clearly tinged with panic. He didn't turn his head to look for Yang Fa's position, nor did he care in the slightest about Xia Chuan hearing about the reinforcements. He simply raised his head and shouted loudly.
Forget about reinforcements or not. Having witnessed the true strength of the Xia troops, he now had not a shred of thought about victory. He only wanted to rely on Gu Tianxiong's ten thousand reinforcements to rescue the surviving Beishuo troops.
The Beishuo Army only had twenty thousand in total. If ten thousand were lost here today, how could Beishuo Town engage the Xia troops in the future?
"They're already here!"
Fortunately, Second Brother Yang Fa's response rang out immediately.
At this moment, Yang Fa's reply sounded to Yang Jian no less than heavenly music.
Xia Chuan refused to engage him in a direct confrontation, so he could only keep an eye on him from the side, preventing that blade puppet from causing too much impact on the soldiers. But this also meant he couldn't free his hands to assist his troops in breaking out.
Clang...
Yang Jian swept his spear, parrying the blade puppet's right arm, then suddenly rose, attempting to bypass the puppet's body and charge towards Xia Chuan in the rear. But the moment he charged forward, the blade puppet abruptly turned sideways, blocking his path in front of Xia Chuan again. Its left arm suddenly raised and slashed down at him once more.
Whoosh…………
The giant blade edge came sweeping in. The noise roared in Yang Jian's ears, forcing him to retreat backward. Several more traces of impatience appeared on his face.
"This blade puppet has strength of at least 25 jun or more. Apart from me, no one else on the entire field can withstand it. So as long as I'm not keeping an eye on it, once Xia Chuan controls the blade puppet to enter the fray against the soldiers, it'll be even more impossible to fight. Damn it..."
Thump, thump, thump…………
Beneath Baimu City, the earth-shaking sounds of slaughter briefly paused for a moment due to a burst of hurried, rushing footsteps. Everyone turned their heads to look towards the left rear, their expressions momentarily stunned.
After the stunned moment, intense joy instantly erupted on the faces of all the Beishuo soldiers. Not just the soldiers, but also the officers in the army, even the five Sun Manifestation Level experts, and even the two brothers Yang Jian and Yang Fa.
"They're our people!"
"Coming from the west, are they reinforcements from Jingxi?"
"Definitely, reinforcements have arrived."
"Hahaha, looks like at least ten thousand in number. We're saved, we're saved!"
"Brothers, keep charging forward! The Xia troops' arrows are spent. Break through them, rescue our brothers from the Beishuo Army!"
………………
This wave of suddenly arriving reinforcements didn't display any flags, but the Beishuo people could tell they were their own by the style of battle armor they wore.
Ten thousand reinforcements suddenly charging out from the rear was undoubtedly an extremely strong boost of morale for the Beishuo soldiers struggling to hold on, especially at this critical juncture when the arrows of the Xia troops' Fifth Battalion had just run out.
After such a long time of battle between the two armies, it was already impressive that the arrows of the Xia troops' Fifth Battalion soldiers had lasted until now. Although they hadn't caused any fatal blows to the Beishuo rear army, their greatest merit was preventing them from breaking through the encirclement of the Third and Fourth Battalions and rescuing the Beishuo troops trapped inside.
Strangely, after the Fifth Battalion soldiers ran out of arrows, Xia Chuan didn't order them to join the battle either. Instead, he let them remain standing in place, motionless, without any other instructions.
"Five thousand standing still, even with Tianxiong's ten thousand reinforcements here, it's useless. It's already impossible to fight. Once we rescue the Beishuo Army, withdraw immediately..."
Looking at those five thousand troops standing motionless, Yang Jian's mood had already sunk to the lowest point. The outcome of this initial clash was actually very clear by now. At present, it was merely a matter of minimizing Beishuo's losses.
As for relying on Gu Tianxiong's ten thousand men to turn the tables, that was a dream!
"Tianxiong, lead the reinforcements to break through the Xia troops' encirclement from the right flank, rescue our men..."
Right now, the two armies were locked in fierce combat. Expressing any intention to withdraw would inevitably affect the soldiers' morale. But saying to rescue people was different. Yang Jian roared out an order directly to Gu Tianxiong in the rear.
Jingxi originally only had five thousand garrison troops under Gu Tianxiong's command. Combined with the five thousand men Lu Yang brought later, the total was ten thousand. Yang Fa had arranged this in advance when he was on the mission to East Ridge: the combined ten thousand troops from both units would all be under Gu Tianxiong's command.
Therefore, giving the order to Gu Tianxiong now was perfectly reasonable.
"Brothers, assemble at the city gate!"
Gu Tianxiong's voice indeed rang out, but his command made all the Beishuo people, including Yang Jian and Yang Fa, freeze in stunned confusion.
"What are they going to the city gate for?"
"Something's a bit off!"
"Didn't the Army Commander tell them to attack from the right flank?"
………………
The battlefield was currently filled with the sounds of slaughter. The confusion in the soldiers' hearts naturally didn't form any significant wave. But emotions can spread. There were no shortage of clever people in the army. The strange actions of Gu Tianxiong's ten thousand troops were quickly noticed by some.
Yang Jian's proactive attack had drawn out all twenty-five thousand troops from within Baimu City. Although the city gates were open, there were no troops guarding them, only the tens of thousands of Digging Realm Extremes temporarily conscripted from the city keeping watch.
Jingxi's ten thousand reinforcements inserting themselves at the city gate position meant they had effectively blocked their own retreat path back into the city in one fell swoop.
What exactly was Gu Tianxiong planning to do?
"Not good…………"
Yang Jian had already sensed something amiss. His gaze fixed on the very front of Jingxi's ten thousand troops. Seeing the four people at the lead, his pupils contracted sharply, his expression changed drastically, and his face instantly turned deathly pale.
He knew all four of those people: Gu Tianxiong, Lu Yang, and Gu Tianxiong's two younger brothers, Gu Tianwu and Gu Tianyun.
The reason for his shocked expression was that among the four, Lu Yang was currently in the lead position, while the three Gu brothers were following behind Lu Yang.
Not only that, he saw clearly that although Lu Yang and the other three were only about five or six meters off the ground, they were genuinely hovering in the air.
Gu Tianxiong's breakthrough to Sun Manifestation Level happened at the beginning of the year. But when did his two younger brothers break through?
"Lord Leader, by chance, I discovered a Beast King's lair deep within Mo'ao Mountain and unexpectedly obtained three Heavenly Sun Fruits, which allowed me to successfully break through..."
Recalling Gu Tianxiong's explanation at the beginning of the year for his breakthrough to Sun Manifestation Level, Yang Jian's pupils trembled violently. His already pale face instantly gained several more shades of horror. He whirled his head to look at the Beishuo troops around him, about to shout, but was interrupted by a cold sneer from not far away.
"Third Brother Yang, look clearly. Whose reinforcements are these..."
Xia Chuan, clad in white robes, hovered in the air. As his words fell, his hands, connected to countless transparent threads, suddenly pulled downward.
Whoosh…………
The five-zhang-tall Scarlet-Silver Blade Puppet abruptly crouched, then its four-bladed legs propelled it into a jump, leaping over a hundred meters high from the ground. The four large blades on its legs and arms carved out four violent blade edges, suddenly slashing down towards the area where Yang Jian was.
"Withdraw... withdraw, everyone pull back into the city, quick, quick, quick..."
"All troops retreat, all troops retreat..."
Clang!!!
Yang Jian raised his spear high, blocking the blade puppet's arms with it. He turned his head and shouted fiercely towards the battlefield direction, his voice full of panic and terror.
Not just him, Yang Jian and the other five Sun Manifestation Level experts from Beishuo also quickly followed suit, issuing orders, urgently urging the Beishuo soldiers on the battlefield to retreat back into the city.
Unfortunately, everything was too late.
"Weren't you the ones who took the initiative to attack? Now you want to retreat? Too late!"
As soon as Xia Chuan's cold sneer ended, Lu Yang, who had already flown to the area below Baimu City's gate, spoke up right after him.
"Black Arrow, Green Flood, Dongyang armies, follow this general to kill the enemy! The remaining four thousand, guard the city gate. Don't let a single person in!"
The ten thousand troops Lu Yang brought had already inserted themselves below the city gate. Following his order, sixty percent of the troops immediately split off, turned around, and charged towards the north—directly towards the Beishuo soldiers who were preparing to retreat.
"Kill…………"
Following Lu Yang's order, he himself was the first to dive down. The long sword in his hand instantly unleashed a thousand streaks of feather-like light, violently flipping over the first wave of dozens of retreating soldiers, which even included a Sun Manifestation Level warrior.
The three Gu brothers followed closely behind, their blade edges whirling. With the four of them working together, hundreds of Beishuo soldiers couldn't advance an inch. Aside from filling the gap with lives, there was no other way.
Whoosh…………
The flag officers of the Black Arrow, Green Flood, and Dongyang armies followed right behind him, planting the three command flags directly into the heart of the Beishuo military formation. Fifteen flag officers, plus Lu Yang and the other three Sun Manifestation Level experts, stood like wedges nailed into the ground about a hundred meters directly opposite the city gate.
The purpose of the Xia troops' command flags was to indicate the direction of attack for the soldiers. In large-scale battles, soldiers sometimes became too engrossed in killing, to the point where it was hard to distinguish friend from foe, let alone figure out directions. The conspicuous command flags precisely filled this gap.
"Kill!"
"Charge!"
………………
Six thousand designation elites, like three sharp blades, surged madly towards the north like tigers released from their cages, crashing headlong into the Beishuo soldiers trying to retreat southward.
"It's over, it's over………"
Yang Jian was a bit dazed at this point. The huge gap in strength between the Beishuo Army and the Xia troops had already become somewhat unbearable for him. The betrayal of the three Gu brothers was undoubtedly another stab in the heart.
He looked around at the Beishuo soldier corpses littering the ground, thinking that all of this stemmed from his own decision to take the initiative and attack. He sank into deep self-doubt, his expression even becoming somewhat disoriented.
"Third Brother, don't panic! Lead the men and retreat into the city first! Lu Yang only has ten thousand men; he can't stop us!"
Second Brother Yang Fa's words brought him slightly back to his senses.
Gritting his teeth, he glared at Lu Yang, then quickly shifted his gaze to the three Gu brothers. An overwhelming killing intent instantly rose in his pupils.
"Traitors, traitors, you three traitors, die for me…………"
The rage in his heart could no longer be suppressed. He no longer paid attention to Xia Chuan or that Scarlet-Silver Blade Puppet. Gripping his spear, he turned and charged fiercely towards the direction of the southern city gate.
His target was unmistakably the three Gu brothers.
Traitors were always the most hated. Yang Jian certainly realized that his decision to take the initiative was a huge mistake, but that didn't mean the three Gu brothers, who had betrayed their own side, were without fault.
Describing the anger in Yang Jian's heart at this moment as "fuming from all seven orifices" was far from sufficient. Right now, he only wanted to grind the three Gu brothers to dust and scatter their ashes.
He completely ignored Lu Yang and the surrounding Xia troops. His body suddenly erupted with a burst of bloody light and vanished. The next instant, he appeared directly in front of Gu Tianxiong.
Swoosh…………
"Traitors who bite the hand that feeds you, come and die!"
The bloody light merged with the spear tip, shooting straight towards Gu Tianxiong's face.
Yang Jian's furious strike had already unleashed his strongest power.
Clearly, in his mind, Gu Tianxiong absolutely had to die today!
Gu Tianxiong hadn't anticipated that Yang Jian would charge at him so recklessly, disregarding everything else. He was obviously extremely afraid of this lord leader. The moment he saw the bloody light, intense despair rose in his pupils. He instinctively turned his head to look at Lu Yang.
Lu Yang certainly wouldn't sit by and watch him be killed. But the problem was, how could his speed compare to Yang Jian's Blood Evasion Art?
He was already rushing over, but he was too far away. It was simply too late.
Gu Tianxiong's eyes were filled with gloom, as if he had already seen his own death.
However, at this critical moment of life and death.
A soldier clad in iron armor suddenly moved close to his side.
The area around the city gate had long since turned into a battlefield. Soldiers were probably the most inconspicuous presence there. That soldier stood among the crowd, not special at all. The only special thing was probably that he was very close to Gu Tianxiong.
Yang Jian naturally wouldn't pay any attention to an ordinary soldier. The spear tip tore through the air, frantically thrusting towards Gu Tianxiong's head.
Clang…………
"Third Brother, be careful!"
Yang Fa on the flank seemed to sense something and suddenly issued a warning.
On the vast battlefield, no one noticed that at the same time Yang Jian was recklessly trying to kill Gu Tianxiong, Xia Chuan, who had been in the center of the battlefield, was almost simultaneously locked onto by a bloody spear tip as well.