Chapter 909
Something's Wrong
Everything is proceeding in a busy but orderly manner.
"Sir, breakfast today is beef soup." Little Stone came running over happily, carrying a bowl.
Zheng Yi took the bowl, smelled the steaming aroma, and looked at the busy crowd below the city wall. For the first time, he showed a relaxed smile.
"Eat, eat your fill so you can fight a good battle."
The wind is still cold. But my heart is warm.
Hongyun City survived the most difficult first day.
Traces of battle were everywhere, but amidst the ruins, a new will was growing. Zheng Yi gazed at the distant horizon, where a new enemy was brewing.
“Come on.” He clenched his fist.
He will not lose this round.
The entire city mobilized; the elderly sharpened arrows, and children carried bricks. Everyone became a part of this city.
“Sir, I think this battle was exhilarating.” Iron One-Eye came up carrying a lion’s leg. “I used to be a bandit in the mountains, I’ve never seen anything like this. This is what men do.”
Zheng Yi looked at him and smiled: "Well done, buddy. Tomorrow you lead a team to the west to help Elder Liu, he's under a lot of pressure there."
"Alright! Old Liu may be stingy, but he gives plenty of spirit stones. I'll help him out!"
Two days later, at dawn, the fog hadn't dissipated; instead, it had thickened. The fog had an eerie, yellowish hue and carried an indescribable, foul stench—the smell of the monster corpses piled up outside the moat for two days. Even though the temperature was so low that spitting saliva could instantly freeze into ice crystals, the stench still forced its way into one's nostrils.
Zheng Yi stood in the easternmost corner tower of the city wall, his fingers tapping lightly on the black rock crenellations as he habitually did. His old fox fur coat was frosted with white, and even his eyebrows were covered with tiny ice crystals. Below the city wall, the water in the moat was a deathly dark red, with the limbs of unknown monsters and swollen furs mixed in with the floating ice.
"Sir, this fog is strange." Guo Tianyou sneezed loudly, rubbing his red nose from the cold as he walked over, carrying a rough porcelain bowl. "It's been quiet for two days now, and the guys down there are really scared. They're not afraid of the beasts coming to fight, they're afraid of them hiding in the fog without making a sound. Have some hot porridge, it's just been brought up from the stove down there, with ginger slices."
Zheng Yi took the bowl, but didn't drink it. He just held it in his hands to warm his palms: "What's been happening in the Black Pine Forest these past two days?"
"It's as quiet as a graveyard." Guo Tianyou lowered his voice and glanced back at the guards wiping the crossbows. "Yesterday, Boss Tie led his men out two miles to check things out. Guess what? The edge of the forest was spotless, not even a bird in sight. But the footprints on the ground were dense, all heading deeper into the woods. Boss Tie said those beasts seemed to have been called back by something."
"They called them back?" Zheng Yi frowned slightly, and his fingers stopped tapping.
Just then, the sound of footsteps came from the stairwell. Zhao Sanhuai limped up the stairs, but quickly, clutching a blackened wooden plaque tightly in his hand: "Sir! Urgent news just sent back by the scouts of the Blackwater River! The water temperature upstream has suddenly risen, and all the dead fish on the surface have been cooked! Moreover... and there's a red light flashing underwater, not the purple light from before, but a blinding blood red!"
Zheng Yi handed the bowl of porridge back to Guo Tianyou: "Can Master Ku Lian's Water Mirror Talisman still see the underwater situation clearly?"
"I can't see anything!" Zhao Sanhuai gasped for breath, his forehead covered in cold sweat. "The brothers guarding over there said that as soon as the Water Mirror Talisman was activated, the red light under the water suddenly shone brightly, and the jade plate exploded on the spot! The eyes of the two brothers were damaged by the backlash of spiritual energy, and they are still applying medicine down there!"
"The jade plate exploded?" Guo Tianyou's expression changed. "That's a magical artifact that can withstand a full-force attack from a fourth-tier demonic beast! What exactly is hidden underwater?"
Zheng Yi didn't answer immediately. He walked to the edge of the crenellation, placed his hands on the cold stone, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. Tiny golden flames flickered at his fingertips, spreading rapidly downwards like a spider web along the cracks in the city wall, reaching deep into the ground.
After a long while, he opened his eyes, his gaze as cold as a knife: "Activate the soundproofing array in the basement. Notify Han Wuhen and Elder Liu to immediately move all the reserve spirit stones to the array eye under the city wall. Tianyou, have the catapults equipped with the heaviest batch of black rock projectiles. No need to apply oil, just use the weight."
"Sir, what are we trying to prevent?" Guo Tianyou swallowed hard.
"Prevent a collision." Zheng Yi turned around and strode towards the horse track. "They're not retreating, they're gathering. Today's beast tide won't be like the one the day before yesterday, just rushing to their deaths. Go ring the bell!"
"Clang—clang—clang—clang!"
A more urgent and muffled alarm bell rang out in the thick fog than the day before, instantly shattering the deathly silence of Hongyun City in the early morning. Torches on the city walls were hastily lit, their light illuminating only a few feet in the yellow mist. The sounds of rubbing armor, the tautness of bowstrings, and the hoarse shouts of officers blended together.
"You all better be alert!" Iron One-Eye charged up from below, wielding his black iron rod, followed by two hundred fully armed men, each with shields covered in thick iron plates. "Shield formation, take your positions! Without my order, anyone who dares to retreat even half a step, I'll smash their skull in!"
"Boss Tie, the fog is too thick, I can't see anything!" a new recruit shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice trembling noticeably.
"If you can't see, listen!" Iron Eye slammed his stick against the wall, sending sparks flying. "Listen to the sound! Wait until they tap on the bamboo rafts in the pit before firing!"
The fog outside the city began to churn violently as if it were alive. The ground began to tremble, at first only slightly numb, then turning into a deep rumble, as if thousands of cowhide drums were being struck simultaneously deep within the fog.
"Boom... Boom... Boom..."
"Sir, something's wrong!" Zhao Sanhuai lay prone by the battlements, his ear pressed tightly against the stone. "It's not a wolf, and it's not an earthworm. The footsteps are too heavy, and unusually synchronized! How could beasts possibly march in formation?"
Zheng Yi's gaze was fixed on the thick fog directly in front of him: "Everyone, hold your breath!"
"Splash—"
The sound of the first line of defense's chevaux-de-frise being smashed could be heard clearly. There were no roars or howls, only the crisp cracking of breaking wood and the heavy thud of trampling.
Immediately afterwards, the fog was violently pushed apart.
"Hiss—" Guo Tianyou gasped, nearly dropping the torch. What appeared before them was a group of colossal beasts covered in thick, bony plates. They were the size of oxen, each with a single horn atop its head, but the horn wasn't natural bone; instead, it possessed a strange metallic sheen. Most chilling of all were their eyes—they had no pupils, only a murky, blood-red hue.
"It's armored rhinoceroses!" Iron Eye roared. "Why are these things coming out in groups? Aren't they solitary creatures?"
“They’re silent.” Zheng Yi’s voice remained clear amidst the noise. “Whatever they are, they’re now controlled inanimate objects. Fire! Aim for their eyes and joints!”
"put!"
A hail of arrows whistled down, slamming into the armored rhinoceroses' backs with sharp whistles. However, a scene of utter despair unfolded. The iron arrowheads struck the bone plates, only scattering sparks; the vast majority were deflected. A few lucky arrows struck the rhinoceroses' joints, but they seemed completely oblivious to the pain, not even faltering, continuing their head-down charge towards the moat.
"Thump! Thump!"
The dozen or so armored rhinoceroses in front leaped into the moat without hesitation. The barbed wire at the bottom of the river instantly pierced their feet, and their poisonous blood stained the water black. Any ordinary beast would have screamed and rolled in agony by now, but these armored rhinoceroses forcibly pulled out their pierced hooves, trampling over their companions' bodies, and carved a bloody path through the moat!
"They're insane! They're all fucking insane!" Iron One-Eyed's eyes were bloodshot. "Sir, they're risking their lives to fill the river! The ones behind will soon be stepping over the corpses in front!"
"Catapult! Fire!" Zheng Yi didn't hesitate at all.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Dozens of black rock projectiles, each weighing hundreds of kilograms, traced parabolic arcs through the air before crashing heavily into the armored rhinoceros formation. The immense kinetic energy instantly shattered the bone plates of more than a dozen giant beasts, sending flesh and blood flying. But even with half their bodies smashed, the armored rhinoceroses, now only having their forelegs remaining, continued to crawl frantically forward on the ground, emitting that chilling "hoarse" sound from their throats.
"Sir, this isn't a beast tide, it's a horde of zombies!" Zhao Sanhuai's crossbow was practically burning hot from being pulled. "Poison is useless against them! That poison is lethal on contact with blood, how come they haven't collapsed after bleeding so much!"
"Because their blood is inherently dead." Zheng Yi raised his hand, his palm radiating golden light. "True Man Ku Lian! Activate the Fire Formation!"
Below the city wall, the withered lotus immortal, who had been waiting for orders, suddenly bit his tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood onto a stack of yellow talismans in his hand: "Borrowing the power of the Li Fire, Burning Heaven Array, activate!"
The talisman ignited spontaneously without wind, turning into sparks that drifted down. In an instant, the array patterns pre-buried outside the city walls shone brightly, and a wall of fire several meters high suddenly shot up from the moat bank. The scorching temperature instantly evaporated the snow on the ground, and even the air was distorted by the heat.
The armored rhinoceroses at the forefront crashed headlong into the wall of fire, their flesh instantly charred and emitting a pungent stench. But this did not stop their advance. One after another, like soulless puppets, they continued to charge towards the city wall, their bodies ablaze.
"boom!"
The first armored rhinoceros, still ablaze, slammed into the foundation stone of the city wall. The entire wall trembled. Guo Tianyou lost his footing and landed hard on his backside.
"The foundation stone isn't cracked! The mortar held up!" Guo Tianyou scrambled to the top of the stack and looked down. "But they're stacked on top of each other! The ones at the bottom are dead, and the ones on top are climbing up over the corpses!"
"Roll logs! Boulders! Smash it down!" Iron Eye threw down his iron bar, picked up a rock the size of a water vat, and roared as he hurled it down. The rock struck the head of an armored rhinoceros that was climbing upwards, smashing it down along with the rest of its body.
The battle instantly intensified to its most brutal and fierce point. There was no probing, no retreat. The sole objective of these monsters was to smash the wall down.
"Sir! An urgent report has come from the west!" A messenger stumbled over, his face covered in soot. "Elder Liu says that a large number of 'burrowing pythons' have appeared over there, directly bypassing the firewalls and digging at their base! The Liu family's guards can't hold them off and are requesting reinforcements!"
Zheng Yi turned to Zhao Sanhuai: "Sanhuai, take fifty brothers and bring all the Thunder Talismans we have in the basement. When we get to Xicheng, don't worry about anything else. Bury one every three zhang along the base of the wall and detonate them all at the same time! Kill those beasts!"
"But sir, the Thunder Talisman is too powerful. I'm afraid it will blow up our own walls!" Zhao Sanhuai said anxiously.
“I’ve added a black iron mesh inside the foundation; it won’t collapse. Go!” Zheng Yi’s tone left no room for argument.
"Yes!" Zhao Sanhuai gritted his teeth, turned around and ran towards the horse track.
Zheng Yi looked back at the main battlefield in the north of the city. The spiritual power of the fire wall was weakening, and the corpses of the armored rhinoceroses had piled up into a small mountain, almost level with the city wall. In the thick fog behind, the muffled footsteps not only did not decrease, but became more and more frequent.
Suddenly, a deafening roar erupted from the depths of the fog. The sound was so loud that it extinguished more than a dozen torches on the city wall.
"Buzz—" The purple-gold scabbard at Zheng Yi's waist suddenly emitted a clear sound.
The fog was violently torn apart by an invisible force. A huge black shadow slowly emerged from the fog.
It was a monster resembling an ape, but its size was despairingly large, standing a full three zhang tall! Its body was covered with long, dark silver hair, each hair standing upright like an iron spike. Most striking was its back, from the back of its neck to its tailbone, a row of black metal spikes several feet long protruding menacingly.
Its eyes were also blood red, but in the center of its forehead was a fist-sized crystal that was rhythmically flashing with a dark red light.
"A sixth-tier...a sixth-tier Iron-Spine Demon Ape?!" Guo Tianyou's voice cracked the moment he saw the monster clearly. "This thing usually hides deep within the Azure Cloud Mountains, and even the elders of the major sects dare not provoke it easily. How could it have come to the beast tide to be the vanguard!"
“Its condition is not right.” Zheng Yi narrowed his eyes, staring at the shimmering crystal on the demonic ape’s forehead. “It has no demonic aura, only frenzy.”
The Iron-Spine Demon Ape walked to the moat, completely ignoring the flames beneath its feet and the carcasses of the Armored Rhinoceros. It suddenly bent down, its two enormous claws digging deep into the frozen earth, and with a roar, it actually managed to pry up a large clump of frozen soil, several feet in diameter, along with the carcasses of several Armored Rhinoceroses!
"What is it going to do!" Iron One-Eyed exclaimed in alarm.
"Scatter! Everyone, get off the ramparts!" Zheng Yi shouted.
Before he finished speaking, the demonic ape swung its arms violently, and the huge clod of earth crashed into the city wall like a meteor with a whistling sound.
"Boom!"
A section of the parapet, three zhang long (approximately 10 meters), was smashed to pieces, sending shards of stone flying everywhere. Several new recruits who couldn't get out of the way were thrown into the air, landing screaming on the ramparts. (End of Chapter)