Chapter 929
I've been waiting for you, you old bird!
Zhao Sanhuai swallowed hard, instinctively tightening his grip on the broadsword at his waist: "Sir, what do you mean...?"
"Assemble the troops," Zheng Yi said, emphasizing each word.
"Gather troops?" Han Wuhen was startled. "Sir, where are we going? To attack Qingyun Mountain? This...this is unacceptable! That's their stronghold; their protective formation can obliterate even a peak Golden Core cultivator!"
"We won't attack Qingyun Mountain." Zheng Yi's gaze returned to the map, his finger firmly pointing to a mountain peak three hundred miles away from Hongyun City.
"Start here. 'White Crane Fortress'."
Upon hearing this name, Elder Liu's expression changed instantly.
"White Crane Fortress?!" Elder Liu exclaimed. "Sir, you mustn't! Hundred Herbs Valley and the medicinal fields are just outer sect properties. White Crane Fortress is the largest hub and transit station of the Qingyun Sect in Dingzhou! Nearly a thousand outer sect disciples are stationed there year-round, and there are even two inner sect deacons at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage! It's not just a stronghold, but also a face of the Qingyun Sect in the secular world!"
"That's exactly what we're doing!" Guo Tianyou slapped his thigh, his eyes blazing with fervent fighting spirit. "Old Liu, what are you afraid of! So what if he's in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage? It's not like the Master hasn't killed late-Foundation Establishment cultivators before!"
"It's different!" Elder Liu stamped his feet anxiously. "White Crane Fortress is a war fortress in itself! Although the city walls are not as sturdy as our Black Rock Fortress, they are covered with the killing formations of the Azure Cloud Sect! Moreover, if we really take down White Crane Fortress, it will be a full-scale declaration of war against the Azure Cloud Sect! Even if they are wary of the Domain Lord's decree, they will definitely come out in full force and fight to the death!"
"A fight to the death? From the moment Mo Ku led his men to attack the city, it has been a fight to the death." Zheng Yi looked at Elder Liu, his tone calm but leaving no room for doubt.
“Old Liu, remember this. To deal with a rabid dog, if you chase it away with a stick, it will come back to bite you. Only when you beat one of its kind in front of it until its brains splatter, will it know what fear is.”
Zheng Yi turned his head and looked at Guo Tianyou and Tie Duyan.
"Tianyou, dismantle all the heavy crossbows and eight-ox crossbows in the armory and load them onto the carts. Assign the three thousand 'Black Cloud Horses' with demonic beast bloodlines to the heavy armor battalion. I want you to build a heavily armored cavalry that even flying swords can't catch up with on the wasteland!"
"Understood!" Guo Tianyou roared, his voice shaking the paper windows.
"Zhao Sanhuai," Zheng Yi said, looking at the taciturn man, "You take five hundred crossbowmen, each equipped with thirty armor-piercing arrows mixed with spirit flame stone powder. Don't be stingy; I want to set the entire sky above White Crane Fortress ablaze within half an hour of the battle starting!"
"Yes! If I can't shoot all the arrows, I'll bring my head to you!" Zhao Sanhuai pounded his chest.
Zheng Yi looked at Iron One-Eyed one last time.
"Boss Tie, you're the most meticulous. Take your men, no need for a frontal assault. Go around White Crane Fortress and cut off all the communication arrays and the routes for spirit cranes to call for reinforcements. I want to turn White Crane Fortress into a blind and deaf island. Until everyone inside dies, the old men of the Azure Cloud Sect won't receive a single message."
"Leave it to me! We're the masters of murder, robbery, and cutting off your escape route!" Iron One-Eyed grinned, looking like a living devil.
"Fatty Han".
"Here!" Han Wuhen quickly straightened up.
“Go to the warehouse and get all the spirit stones. Give every brother who goes to war a full allowance and reward.” Zheng Yi looked at him. “Tell the brothers that this battle is not about robbing money, but about establishing rules.”
"Establish a rule for Hongyun City within the territory of Dingzhou!"
……
Late that night.
The north gate of Hongyun City slowly opened amidst a teeth-grinding scraping sound.
There were no torches, no noise.
Only the extremely suppressed, muffled sound of horses' hooves could be heard.
Three thousand jet-black horses, each nearly ten feet tall, surged silently out of the city gate like a black torrent. All their hooves were wrapped in thick cotton cloth, and as they stepped on the cold, frozen earth, they made an extremely dull "thump-thump" sound, as if striking directly at a person's heart.
The mounted knights were all clad in heavy, dark red bone armor, carrying repeating crossbows that gleamed with a ghostly blue light. In the center of the procession, dozens of massive draft horses pulled enormous war chariots completely covered by black tarpaulins. Inside were the "Eight-Ox Crossbows," freshly forged in the blast furnace, and countless other deadly weapons.
Guo Tianyou rode on the strongest black cloud horse, holding a broad horizontal sword in his hand, like a god of death from hell.
Zheng Yi stood on the city wall, the wind blowing up the hem of his gray cotton robe.
He looked at the army, which disappeared into the endless night like ghosts, his eyes cold as ice.
"Go ahead. Make a hole in the sky."
……
Three hundred miles away, Baihebao.
The massive fortress, built between two cliffs, is now brightly lit.
Unlike the bustling atmosphere of secular cities, the buildings of Baihebao are all made of pure white jade and blue bricks, with glazed tiles on the roofs. Under the illumination of the huge luminous pearls hanging high in the four corners, it exudes a lofty and otherworldly aura.
Inside the fortress, the sounds of string and wind instruments filled the air, along with the aroma of high-grade spiritual tea and precious incense.
Inside the main building, "Baiyunlou," on the top floor lobby.
Two middle-aged cultivators dressed in cyan robes with silver flying sword patterns embroidered on their chests sat in the main seats, with two beautiful female cultivators dressed in light gauze pouring wine and peeling spiritual fruits for each of them.
These two men were Wu Feng and Zhao Hai, the guardians of White Crane Fortress and inner sect deacons of the Azure Cloud Sect. Both were at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.
"Senior Brother Wu, come on, let's have a drink." Zhao Hai raised his jade wine cup and toasted him with a flushed face. "You've had a tough time these past few days, Senior Brother. The Hundred Herbs Valley and the medicinal fields were burned down by a bunch of bandits from who-knows-where, and those old guys in the sect were furious."
Wu Feng downed the wine in his cup in one gulp, snorted coldly, and pushed away the female cultivator beside him.
"A bunch of mortal ants, using some underhanded tricks to launch a sneak attack. When dawn breaks, I'll lead a team of elite disciples to Hundred Herbs Valley to investigate. If I find out who did it, I'll tear out their souls and burn them like sky lanterns for forty-nine days!"
Zhao Hai laughed heartily: "Senior brother, why get angry? They're just some worldly nobodys. I heard that Elder Mo suffered a setback in that mortal city called Hongyun City a while ago?"
Mentioning this, Wu Feng's expression turned somewhat strange, and he lowered his voice.
"Senior Brother Mo was careless. Zheng Yi from Hongyun City somehow managed to get in touch with that mad dog Tuoba Hong from Dingzhou. Tuoba Hong personally stepped in to protect him, and Senior Brother Mo couldn't do anything about it."
Wu Feng picked up a spirit fruit and threw it into his mouth, a hint of disdain flashing in his eyes: "But so what if Tuoba Hong is protecting us? In the mortal world, it is ultimately up to our Qingyun Sect to call the shots. Senior Brother Mo has already secretly ordered the blockade of the trade routes to Hongyun City. Before long, that Zheng Yi will obediently crawl to the foot of our Qingyun Mountain and kowtow to admit his mistake."
“That’s right! Without spirit stones and resources, how will he support the city?” Zhao Hai laughed smugly. “Come on, keep drinking! This White Crane Fortress is impregnable. Let’s brothers watch the show here and see how Zheng Yi starves himself to death!”
The atmosphere in the hall became lively again, with outer disciples clinking glasses and chatting as if this were not a border outpost, but a paradise on earth.
However, they did not notice.
The spiritual energy hubs on the array towers outside White Crane Fortress, which were responsible for guarding and communication, and which were emitting a faint light, had been completely extinguished at some point.
Several Qingyun Sect disciples on guard duty didn't even have time to utter a scream before their throats were slit by poisoned daggers that suddenly appeared from the darkness, and their bodies were silently dragged into the shadows.
Iron One-Eye led dozens of men in black, like a group of black spiders, rapidly climbing the outer wall of White Crane Fortress, cutting off all external communication.
Above the cliff less than two miles from Baihebao.
Guo Tianyou sat astride his black cloud horse, staring intently at the brightly lit White Crane Fortress through his telescope.
"Commander, the Iron Boss has sent a signal. All the communication arrays have been destroyed. White Crane Fort is now deaf." Zhao Sanhuai whispered in Guo Tianyou's ear. Guo Tianyou put down his binoculars, took a deep breath of the icy night wind, and his facial muscles trembled slightly with extreme excitement.
He slowly raised the horizontal sword in his hand, the blade pointing at the invincible white fortress.
"Heavy armor battalion, load the crossbows."
"Snap... Snap..."
The sound of three thousand repeating crossbows simultaneously cocking their bows echoed in the silent night sky like the grinding of Death's teeth.
"Eight-ox crossbows, advance them!"
The black waterproof tarpaulin covering the chariot was suddenly ripped off, revealing a dozen enormous ballistae that looked like monsters. Giant armor-piercing arrows, as thick as a child's arm and with their heads shimmering with a ghostly blue light from spirit flame stone powder, were simultaneously driven into their firing slots by a dozen burly men turning their winches.
Guo Tianyou's eyes were fixed on the tall jade gate of Baihebao.
"For Hongyun City."
Guo Tianyou gritted his teeth and slashed down hard with the horizontal sword in his hand.
"put!!!"
"Boom—Rumble!"
This isn't the sound of a crossbow being fired; it's the sound of mountains collapsing and the earth splitting open!
More than a dozen giant crossbow bolts, imbued with terrifying kinetic energy and the raging fire attribute power of the Spirit Flame Stone, instantly tore through the air, creating more than a dozen visible white shockwaves, and slammed into the shield of White Crane Fortress with overwhelming force.
"Buzz—Click!"
The defensive array shield surrounding White Crane Fortress, strong enough to withstand a full-force attack from a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, lasted less than a second under the utterly unreasonable violent impact of the Eight-Bull Crossbow, a mixture of pure physical attacks and spirit stone powder.
The surface of the light shield instantly became covered with countless cracks, like glass, before it shattered with a deafening roar, turning into a sky full of luminous powder.
"boom!"
Without the shield to block them, the two giant arrows struck the jade gate of White Crane Fortress, which was covered with runes.
The jade gate, towering three zhang high and half a chi thick, was pierced and shattered instantly by the giant arrow, as if it were made of paper. The violent kinetic energy carried countless sharp jade fragments, sweeping towards the back of the gate like shotgun shells.
The dozen or so Qingyun Sect disciples who were dozing off behind the door were instantly riddled with bullets, their severed limbs and warm blood smearing the white walls.
The top floor of Baiyun Tower.
Wu Feng and Zhao Hai's wine glasses fell to the ground at the same time and shattered.
"What's going on?! Has the earth dragon turned over?!" Zhao Hai stood up in alarm.
"Enemy attack! The formation has been broken!" Wu Feng reacted extremely quickly. He pushed away the female cultivator in his arms, his true essence surged, and he smashed through the window and rushed out, hovering in mid-air.
When he looked down, the sight before him sent chills down his spine.
On the dark cliff, a black tide, like a raging torrent, was surging madly toward White Crane Fortress.
Three thousand heavy cavalrymen of the Black Cloud Army marched without shouting or roaring, their hooves thundering like muffled thunder.
"What kind of monsters are those?!" Wu Feng stared blankly at the knights encased in dark red bone armor.
"Fire arrows!"
Zhao Sanhuai roared angrily from beneath the city wall.
"Swish swish swish——"
Three thousand repeating heavy crossbows unleashed their power simultaneously.
A dense rain of arrows obscured the moonlight. The spirit flame stone powder clinging to the arrowheads rubbed violently against each other in the air, instantly igniting and transforming into three thousand blue fire meteors that rained down upon White Crane Fortress.
"what--!"
"My leg! Help!"
The rain of arrows fell into the fortress, instantly unleashing a storm of blood and flesh. Those outer disciples who hadn't even realized what was happening, and who had just rushed out of their rooms, were riddled with arrows carrying armor-piercing and fire poison, turning them into pincushions.
The houses built of jade collapsed in the explosion, and the precious spiritual plants turned to ashes in the blue flames.
This most prestigious and powerful hub of the Qingyun Sect in the mortal world turned into a hellish battlefield in the very first round of the engagement.
"You insolent ants! You're asking for death!!!"
Wu Feng's eyes were bloodshot with rage as he watched the sect disciples being slaughtered below, and he went completely mad. He summoned a flying sword that emitted a dazzling blue light, which transformed into a long rainbow and rushed straight towards Guo Tianyou, who was charging at the forefront.
"Die!" The pressure from the mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator was released without reservation, and the air seemed to become viscous.
Guo Tianyou looked at the flying sword hurtling towards him from mid-air, but his face showed no fear. Instead, he revealed a cruel grin.
"I've been waiting for you, you old bird!"
He pulled hard on the reins, and the black cloud horse leaped high into the air.
At the same time, several eight-ox crossbows hidden behind the heavy cavalry suddenly changed direction, and the loud clicking of their mechanisms rang out again.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Three enormous arrows, each carrying an aura of death, formed a triangular shape, sealing off all of Wu Feng's escape routes, and roared as they shot towards Wu Feng in mid-air.
Wu Feng felt the terrifying power emanating from the giant arrow, and his face instantly turned deathly pale.
"This is impossible! How could a mortal's weapon be so powerful!"
At the critical moment, he forcibly twisted his body and desperately activated his protective qi.
"Pfft!"
A giant arrow grazed past his thigh. Although it didn't hit him directly, the violent airflow and fire poison attached to the arrow instantly tore through his protective aura, scraping away a large piece of flesh from his thigh, exposing the bone.
"what--!"
Wu Feng let out a piercing scream and plummeted from mid-air, crashing heavily into the rubble and debris of the White Crane Fortress ruins. (End of Chapter)