Chapter 517: Breaching the City — The First to Scale the Walls and Despair |
Year 12 of Great Xia, December 29th, the final moments before dawn.
The eastern, southern, and northern city gates of Beishuo City began to suffer the first wave of the Xia troops' frenzied, bombardment-style arrow rain assault.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh…………
"Hold the line! Front row, raise your shields! Just hold!"
"Everyone, lower your heads, huddle behind the city wall!"
"Don't move! As long as the enemy isn't closing in, don't move!"
"Rear ranks, loose arrows! Slow down their charge, hurry, hurry!"
………………
Compared to the smaller gates on the north and south sides, the attacks currently raining down on the main eastern gate were undoubtedly the most terrifying. On top of the city wall, dozens of armored officers patrolled behind the army formation, continuously shouting harsh commands.
Therefore, competing with the Xia troops in arrow formations was definitely not feasible.
The Beishuo defenders clearly understood this. So, seeing the Xia troops' arrow rain shooting over, the front-row soldiers immediately raised their tall shields. The rest either huddled below the battlements or hid behind shields. Only a very few people took turns occasionally shooting sneak attack arrows down through gaps in the wall, trying to slow the Xia troops' advance.
Clang… Clang… Clang…………
The continuous arrow rain shot by the Xia troops either embedded itself into the city wall or struck shields. Those that successfully hit defending soldiers were almost negligible.
"Rear ranks, keep shooting arrows! Front ranks, set up ladders and prepare hammers! Attack the city!"
However, the Xia troops themselves hadn't planned on breaching the city walls with arrow formations alone.
Liu Yuan, hovering in mid-air, saw the front-row soldiers were less than fifty meters from the city wall. After shouting the order, he was the first to leap down, landing directly on top of the city wall.
Boom…………
Liu Yuan had only broken through to the Sun Manifestation Level this year. With his Golden Bones aptitude and including the Sacred Mark bonus, his strength was still less than 6 Jun. Placed among Sun Manifestation Level experts, he probably wasn't much. But placed here on this city wall at this moment, he was an invincible presence.
He landed forcefully, creating a powerful shockwave that sent all the Beishuo soldiers within a ten-meter radius around him flying.
"Indeed, Lu Yang was right. There's something strange about Beishuo's city walls…"
However, after sending the surrounding crowd flying, Liu Yuan's face showed not a hint of joy. Instead, looking at the ground, his expression grew increasingly grave.
With over 5 Jun of force, a normal cast iron city wall, no matter how thick, should at least dent a little from his stomp. Yet, this Beishuo wall showed no deformation at all.
Boom…………
"This city wall is mostly cast with Hundred-Forged Grade iron slurry. After all, they've inherited this for over a hundred years. Beishuo's family wealth is truly astonishing!"
Following Liu Yuan, Yue Feng and Xiao Kangcheng also jumped down one after another. Yue Feng scraped his blade across the ground and saw no fewer than a hundred silver forging patterns revealed inside. His tone immediately carried a note of awe.
The entire Left Route Army, besides the commander-in-chief Xia Chuan, had ten Sun Manifestation Level experts in total: Xu Ning, Liu Yuan, Yue Feng, Zhouyuan, Meng Yi, Zhao Long, Hou Tong, Mu Longhe, Mu Qinghe, and Xiao Kangcheng.
Since they were attacking from three sides, the personnel naturally had to be evenly distributed. Before dawn, Xia Hong had already made the deployment:
Liu Yuan, Yue Feng, and Xiao Kangcheng would lead 22,000 elite main force troops of the Xia army to attack the main eastern gate, personally overseen and commanded by Xia Hong. Xia Chuan would take Xu Ning, Zhouyuan, and Meng Yi, leading the newly formed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions of the Left Route Army, totaling 15,000 men, to attack the north gate. Mu Longhe would lead Zhao Long, Hou Tong, and Mu Qinghe, commanding the newly formed 4th, 5th, and 6th Battalions of the Left Route Army, also totaling 15,000 men, to attack the south gate.
Great Xia had a clear understanding of the situation inside Beishuo City.
There were 35,000 Warmth Realm defenders in total: 10,000 elite Beishuo Army troops, and the remaining 25,000 consisted of only 18,000 Town Garrison Army soldiers. The remaining 7,000 were temporarily pulled from hunting teams and couldn't be considered a regular army.
Of course, there were also nearly 200,000 Digging Realm individuals inside the city. But now it was daytime. Making nearly 200,000 Digging Realm individuals fight outdoors during the day was something even Great Xia couldn't achieve at its current stage, let alone Beishuo?
Therefore, these 200,000 Digging Realm individuals were bound to be largely ineffective.
As for the Sun Manifestation Level, including the severely injured Yang Zun, Beishuo's side now had only 12 in total: 6 from Chencang and 5 from Beishuo. And it wasn't just Yang Zun who was severely injured; Chu Xuanling, the leader from Chencang, had also lost the use of both arms. Calculated this way, the Sun Manifestation experts in the city could only be counted as 10 people.
Since Great Xia held an absolute advantage in both troop numbers and high-end combat power, dividing forces to attack the city simultaneously from three directions was naturally the optimal choice.
Beishuo was completely on the defensive. All three routes of the Xia army were substantial: 15,000 men on the north and south sides, and 20,000 at the main eastern gate. If any one route was breached, it would be a catastrophic disaster. To hold the city, they could only split their forces in response to the Xia army, and they also had to ensure all three city gates were held.
As soon as Yue Feng landed on the wall, he immediately saw that Beishuo had placed 15,000 men at the main eastern gate, with over half being elite Beishuo Army troops.
"Shows some thought, concentrating heavy forces on the main gate. But thinking you can stop us with just this many people is too naive…"
"Yu Dongxin, follow me to intercept them! The rest, keep shooting arrows! Pour water on the wall! Don't let the Xia troops scale it!"
Yue Feng sneered. Seeing Mo Haiwen and Yu Dongxin, these two Sun Manifestation Level experts, charging towards him, he directly drew his blade to meet them.
Of course, it wasn't just him; Xiao Kangcheng was right behind him.
"Liu Yuan, the two of us will handle him! You secure the edge of the wall! Let the brothers below charge up first! The gate definitely won't be breached anytime soon…"
Yue Feng's long saber drew a sharp, cold arc, clashing fiercely with Mo Haiwen's long sword. His strength was slightly inferior, and his body immediately retreated three or four steps.
"Daring to be so overconfident! Brothers, kill him!"
Mo Haiwen forced Yue Feng back with one strike. Seeing that Yue Feng didn't take to the air to flee but instead continued standing on the wall, blocking in front of Liu Yuan alongside Xiao Kangcheng, he understood the three intended to use their strength to clear a path for the following Xia troops. He immediately roared furiously, leading countless soldiers to surround and attack the trio.
His strength was 8 Jun. Yu Dongxin was a bit weaker, over 6 Jun. In a one-on-one fight, none of Liu Yuan, Yue Feng, or Xiao Kangcheng were their match, let alone the fact that both men now had so many Warmth Realm soldiers with them.
The encirclement and attack by Mo Haiwen and Yu Dongxin on the wall quickly produced results. Liu Yuan and the other two retreated step by step. In just over ten breaths, they were forced to the very edge of the wall.
No, saying 'edge' was no longer appropriate, because the three were already surrounded by hundreds, even thousands, of Beishuo defenders. That so-called edge area was already filled with Beishuo defenders.
Mo and Yu didn't stand in the front row of soldiers. Instead, they rose slightly into the air, about five or six meters off the ground, hovering above Liu Yuan and the other two, continuously attacking them.
Clearly, the two were deliberately trying to block Liu Yuan's trio's aerial escape route, aiming to kill the three before the Xia troops could scale the wall.
Clang… Clang…………
Yue Feng and Xiao Kangcheng bore the greatest pressure. They had to guard against the two above them while watching the Beishuo defenders continuously closing in from all sides. Under this dual threat, although the two had dozens of kills, their space to maneuver grew smaller and smaller. Large blades even began to occasionally slash against their bodies.
However, the Beishuo soldiers who managed to hit them showed not a hint of joy on their faces, only thick despair.
Because their blades simply couldn't pierce the two men's armor. Over several dozen breaths, at least a hundred blows had struck their armor, but apart from creating some white marks, it had no effect whatsoever.
Moreover, because their armor was silver-colored to begin with, and the forging patterns were too dense, those white marks weren't even very visible. This feeling of powerlessness, of striking with a blade to no effect, naturally made them feel increasingly desperate inside.
"Ten-Thousand-Forged Grade silver armor! Great Xia can even make that now!"
Mo Haiwen's long sword had also slashed them several times. His discernment was far superior to those ordinary soldiers. He had long seen that Liu Yuan and the other two wore Ten-Thousand-Forged Grade silver armor. Now, his pupils held only envy.
Armor crafting was different from weapon-making. Having the materials didn't mean you could make it.
Armor had numerous components and complex styles. Crucially, its purpose was to be worn into battle, so it had to be form-fitting and as comfortable as possible, not hindering movement. This made the precision requirements for each component astonishingly high. Therefore, major camps kept their armor-crafting methods extremely secret and never shared them.
To this day, Beishuo Town could only forge up to Hundred-Forged Grade silver armor at most. For higher-grade armor, they could only buy from the feudal towns.
How many years has Great Xia been expanding eastward?
They can already forge Ten-Thousand-Forged Grade silver armor!
Crack…………
"Would I be so overconfident, directly ascending the gate, without preparation? Mo Haiwen, do you think just the two of you can block our path?"
Liu Yuan slashed two soldiers behind him clean in half. Seeing that scaling ladders had been placed against the gap at the wall's edge, he looked up and angrily retorted to Mo Haiwen above him. Then, word by word, he shouted loudly, "Today, the eastern gate will be breached…"
Squelch…
As if to confirm his words, an extremely clear sound suddenly came from behind. Everyone present heard it clearly—the sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh.
"Commander-in-Chief, I'm here to help!"
The first person to ascend the wall besides the three was none other than Wang Yuan, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Cloud Python Army.
Wang Yuan wore only Thousand-Forged Grade silver armor, but it was enough to withstand the first wave of attacks from the Beishuo defenders on the wall.
"Zhu Xing, give me a boost!"
He was burly to begin with, and the Thousand-Forged Grade silver armor accentuated it, making him look like a demon god. After clamping his legs on the scaling ladder to block the first wave of attacks, he roared towards the rear. Then, he was seen suddenly leaping from the ladder, jumping over three meters high and directly vaulting onto the wall.
Squelch…………
Wang Yuan jumping onto the wall was like a hungry wolf pouncing into a flock of sheep. Wielding a giant long saber, he slashed horizontally and chopped vertically, forcibly pushing the defenders at the wall's edge to both sides. In an instant, he was only two or three meters away from Liu Yuan ahead.
"Stop him! Watch the scaling ladders behind! Don't let more Xia troops come up!"
Seeing Wang Yuan ascend, Mo Haiwen's brow twitched violently. Glancing out of the corner of his eye and seeing a second person climbing the ladder, his pupils constricted sharply. In his panic, he actually forgot about Liu Yuan and the other two below and directly roared orders at the soldiers at the wall's edge.
"The scaling ladders are too heavy and long; we can't push them away!"
"It's useless! They're coming up over there too!"
"Block them! Can't let them come up!"
"Brothers! Hold them!"
………………
The fighting spirit of the Beishuo defenders was also being ignited. Countless soldiers surged towards the edge, trying to block those climbing the ladders.
However, this was the Ice Abyss, not a previous life's ordinary era of cold weapons. The Ice Abyss's characteristic was that the strong were revered. The strong were bound to take the lead in such assault battles.
Therefore, the first wave of people climbing the scaling ladders were almost all officers and commanders of the Xia army. One must remember that those attacking the main eastern gate were the designated elite forces of the Xia army. The base strength of these officers from the designated elite forces was almost none lower than 50 Zong.
Even just counting the Sacred Mark, their strength was around 70 Zong. If martial arts were included, it was even more terrifying.
The key point was, it wasn't just martial arts!
"Clang…………"
After enduring hundreds, even thousands, of blade strikes, Wang Yuan's armor was already beginning to look tattered. An elite officer from the Beishuo Army finally seized an opportunity to slash his large blade onto Wang Yuan's shoulder.
That officer's mouth had just begun to twist into a ferocious grin when he was shocked into a daze the next second by the sound of metal clashing.
At most, the peak of the Warmth Realm meant flesh and blood had been restructured three times. How could it possibly block the Ten-Thousand-Forged Grade silver large blade in his hand?
"Heh heh, with your level of strength, you want to hurt me…"
Wang Yuan glanced at the white mark on his shoulder, looking at the faint golden light revealed beneath the mark. Excitement flashed in his pupils. He abruptly reversed his blade and thrust it straight towards that officer's face.
Crack…………
The officer's face was directly pierced through, but he didn't let out a single cry. He just frantically retreated backward. Other soldiers swarmed over to rescue him.
"Pure Cold Pills can make you fearless of pain. Can they give you a second life? Die now…………"
Wang Yuan's ferocity erupted. Leveraging the super-strong defensive capability of the Golden Body Pill, he took a swift step and directly knocked aside over a dozen soldiers, chasing right up behind that officer. He stomped him to the ground, flipped open his helmet, raised his long saber vertically, and thrust it down fiercely towards his forehead.
Squelch…………
Zhu Xing, Battalion Commander of the Cloud Python Army's scout battalion, also ascended. Then came the battalion commanders of the other nine battalions, followed by the elite soldiers of the scout battalion. Dozens of scaling ladders continuously had Xia army experts climbing up. In just a few dozen breaths, the entire eastern edge of the wall had seen two to three hundred people ascend.
"Don't retreat! No one retreats! Everyone from below, come up! Hold the wall! Don't let the Xia army…"
Boom…………
Mo Haiwen's furious roar was interrupted by a massive commotion from below.
As the entire city wall began to tremble, his expression instantly went blank.
"What's that noise?"
Yu Dongxin was a bit farther from him. Realizing they couldn't stop Liu Yuan and the other two below, he flew up a few meters to a similar height. Glancing down at the base of the wall out of the corner of his eye, his expression instantly turned extremely grim.
"Again! One… two… three…"
Boom!
Below the wall, two thousand armored soldiers were jointly pushing a giant cylindrical iron pillar. The pillar had a diameter of five meters and an astonishing length of one hundred meters. Below it were ten pairs of silver iron wheels.
As the two thousand soldiers pushed forward simultaneously, the iron pillar slammed into the city wall.
Beishuo was the Southern Foothills' number one town before Great Xia. The scale of its town city walls went without saying. The main eastern gate was twenty meters high and twelve meters wide. Both gate leaves were cast from Million-Forged Grade iron slurry and opened outward. In theory, ramming from outside inward should make it very difficult to break the gates open.
However, under the impact of Great Xia's cylindrical iron pillar, the massive gates began to sway precariously. Moreover, the iron components connecting the gates to the wall on both sides showed signs of coming loose.
"Again! One… two… three…"
Boom…………
The Xia troops below continued organizing ramming impacts over and over.
Simultaneously, more and more soldiers were coming up the scaling ladders.
"It's over… it's over…"
For a moment, Mo Haiwen's pupils were filled with utter despair. Finally, he couldn't help but turn his head to look towards the city center.
"Where's Yang Zun? No one has seen him at any of the three gates? And it seems all the Yang Clan disciples are missing too. He didn't take people and run, did he?"
Coincidentally, at that moment, a slightly teasing voice came down from above him.
Mo Haiwen looked up. The despair on his face instantly deepened.