Free Web NovelChapter 665: Chapter 85: Dark Clouds Over the City
Bashish Red Peak fled all the way down from Celestial Mountain, and only when he saw that Chen Tang wasn’t chasing did he feel slightly relieved.
Back at the foot of Celestial Mountain, it was quite easy to find the weapon he had thrown away.
After all, this place was remote and sparsely populated.
Moreover, that pair of Golden Hammers weighed several hundred jin; even if someone saw them, they couldn’t carry them off.
Only, Ten Thousand Miles Cloud was nowhere to be seen; he didn’t know where it had run off to.
Bashish Red Peak, however, wasn’t worried.
This Divine Steed was extremely intelligent; if it couldn’t find him, it would naturally return to the Barbarian Camp to look for its master.
Bashish Red Peak hefted his twin hammers, disregarded treating his wounds, and sprinted at full speed, racing toward Liangzhou.
He had to get the news that their provisions had been cut off back as soon as possible, so Mad Lion Tuer could make an early decision.
Once provisions were severed, the impact on the war was immense.
Bashish Red Peak chased stars and moon, hardly resting at all, covered in dust, and finally reached the Barbarian Camp ten li outside Liangzhou City.
When he walked in, quite a few tribesmen kept glancing over, their gazes on him a bit strange.
"What are you looking at!"
Bashish Red Peak’s eyes swept sideways; humiliated and angry, he snapped in a harsh shout.
The Barbarian Race soldiers hurriedly averted their heads, not daring to look again.
Only, everyone’s hearts were full of muttering.
Who did this Bashish run into to get beaten this badly?
A large patch of his scalp was bald and bloody; his face and body were crisscrossed with bloodstains, extremely wretched, as if he’d barely escaped with his life.
Bashish Red Peak headed straight for the Mad Lion commander’s main tent; no one dared to stop him.
The Barbarian Army’s tents were all extremely tall; the commander’s tent was taller still, even more imposing, with a banner raised beside it, embroidered with a majestic lion!
Before long, he arrived outside the tent and called loudly, "Clan Chief Tuer, I’m back!"
"Come in."
Mad Lion Tuer’s voice came from within the tent.
Bashish Red Peak lifted the tent flap and walked in.
Mad Lion Tuer, clan chief of the Mad Lion Tribe, was also the commander of this Mad Lion Army.
Tuer wore Heavy Armor, his head full of golden hair; over it he had a battle robe embroidered with a golden lion, his height close to nine chi. His arms were bare, muscles knotted, his skin a bronze hue.
Tuer’s bearing was steady; standing before the table, he was like a mountain, impossible to shake!
"Hm?"
Mad Lion Tuer looked up and, seeing Bashish Red Peak in such a sorry state, couldn’t help but frown, asking, "What happened? Who injured you like this?"
At the mention of this, Bashish Red Peak’s anger surged.
He recounted how, after he rushed to Celestial Pass, he encountered Chen Tang, the two clashed fiercely, and then went up Celestial Mountain.
However, he concealed the two exchanges on Celestial Mountain.
After all, to have been defeated by a Third Grade Martial Artist and beaten into this state—if word got out, he would become a laughingstock among the Barbarian Army.
Bashish Red Peak said that after entering Celestial Mountain, he had been overwhelmed only because Chen Tang joined hands with a Tianshan Golden Eagle.
Worried about the frontline battle, unwilling to tangle with Chen Tang, he took the initiative to descend the mountain and hurry back.
These words were half true, half false.
Mad Lion Tuer still felt something was off, but he didn’t press further.
"Xiling Demon Sect."
Mad Lion Tuer murmured softly, his brows knitting.
They had long plotted to scheme against Wusun and annex Liangzhou.
The earlier expedition had only used some random pretext.
But how had this matter dragged the Xiling Demon Sect into it?
Fortunately, the Demon Sect had only sent one Demon Monarch.
If the Four Demons of Xiling came together, this would truly be troublesome.
"Clan Chief, has Ten Thousand Miles Cloud come back?"
Bashish Red Peak asked tentatively.
"It came back on its own."
Mad Lion Tuer replied casually.
Then, as if thinking of something, he suddenly asked, "Did you encounter anything else over by Celestial Pass?"
Bashish Red Peak froze, feeling a bit guilty, thinking Mad Lion Tuer had spotted some flaw. He could only feign ignorance, ponder a moment, then shake his head and ask, "Nothing I recall. Why?"
Mad Lion Tuer said, "It’s nothing much. It’s just that after Ten Thousand Miles Cloud came back, it’s been listless, no spirit at all."
"Was it injured?"
Bashish Red Peak asked.
"Not injured, nor ill."
Mad Lion Tuer shook his head. "Don’t know what’s going on; we’ll observe it for two days first."
After staring at the map in the tent for a while, Mad Lion Tuer seemed to reach a decision and said in a deep voice, "Originally, I wanted to slowly grind it out with Liangzhou City. Since our provisions have been cut, we can’t drag this on. We’ll take Liangzhou City today!"
"Are there any experts in Liangzhou City?"
Bashish Red Peak asked.
When he left, the Barbarian Army had not yet advanced to the foot of Liangzhou City.
He’d heard the Barbarian Army had already launched two assaults, the fighting extremely fierce, yet both times the defenders of Liangzhou City had held.
Mad Lion Tuer shook his head. "No experts as such. The highest Cultivation in the city is just a Second Grade Innate."
"An Innate Expert can hold off our Mad Lion Army?"
Bashish Red Peak was taken aback.
Mad Lion Tuer said, "In these two assaults, I personally cut down two Innates, but there is still one Innate Expert in the city who once served as a Vermilion Bird Lord of Qian Country."
"This woman brought quite a few former Vermilion Bird Guards, adept with Firearms, and is rather troublesome."
"Most of our Barbarian casualties were caused by those women’s damned firearms blowing us up."
In truth, with his skills, he could take the brunt of the firearms’ damage head-on.
Getting blasted by that thing a few times wouldn’t kill him, but he’d still be injured.
And besides, it hurt like hell.
More importantly, even if he could withstand it, the Barbarian soldiers under his command could not.
They’d taken heavy losses in the two assaults on the city.
Bashish Red Peak snorted coldly. "The strongest part of our Mad Lion Tribe is our cavalry. It’s just a pity we can’t bring them into full play in a siege. This time when we attack, I’ll go test out those little bitches’ firearms myself!"
Mad Lion Tuer smiled faintly and said, "Those firearms are no longer much of a threat. When the Barbarian Lord received word that the Vermilion Bird Lord and the others were coming to reinforce Liangzhou City, he sent a Barbarian Master ahead of time. He arrived only yesterday."
"Oh? Which Barbarian Master is it?"
Bashish Red Peak quickly asked.
Barbarian Masters were cultivators of the Barbarian Race’s Celestial God Tribe, extremely few in number, somewhat similar to Warlocks in the Divine Land.
It was just that their ways of cultivation were somewhat different.
Barbarian Masters in the Barbarian Land, through strange dances and special syllables accompanied by unique music, would invite all kinds of deities to descend and possess them.
Each Barbarian Master could invite different gods.
For example, some Barbarian Masters, leaping and pouncing in their dances, might be able to invite the Tiger God.
Some, in the darkness, lighting incense and dancing wildly, might invite the Golden Cyan God.
Mad Lion Tuer said, "The one who came is the Rain God Master."
In the Celestial God Tribe, as long as one was a Barbarian Master, one was qualified to add the character "God" to their title without needing to cultivate to Grandmaster level.
Moreover, the realms of Barbarian Masters were not divided as neatly as those of Martial Arts and the Profound Sect.
"Hahaha!"
Bashish Red Peak laughed loudly and waved his hand. "With the Rain God Master’s help, once he calls down a heavy rain, those firearms will be half useless. Liangzhou City will definitely fall today!"
Just then, a clutter of footsteps sounded from outside.
"Report—"
A few Attendants came to the tent and shouted their report.
"What is it?"
Mad Lion Tuer asked.
One Attendant said, "Reporting to the chieftain, that Celestial Horse has come again. It’s been wandering around our camp. Several generals set up an ambush together, but none of them could seize it, and it managed to escape."
"Celestial Horse?"
Bashish Red Peak was stunned for a moment. "That Little Demon Monarch’s mount is a Celestial Horse. How did it end up running here?"
Mad Lion Tuer asked, "Red Peak, you’ve seen that Celestial Horse. Does it have any peculiarities? How does it compare with my Ten Thousand Miles Cloud?"
Bashish Red Peak laughed. "It’s definitely not as good as the chieftain’s Ten Thousand Miles Cloud. When I was chasing that Little Demon Monarch, his Celestial Horse was already a step slower in speed."
"Ten Thousand Miles Cloud has spirit and is attached to its master; it knew to run back on its own. But this Celestial Horse actually threw that Little Demon Monarch off and ran here by itself."
Mad Lion Tuer nodded. "True enough. The most important thing in a warhorse is loyalty and obedience. If it doesn’t care about its master and its wild nature can’t be tamed, then no matter how good it is, it’s useless."
"Forget it, just a wild horse. With a great battle about to begin, we don’t have time to bother with it."
Mad Lion Tuer said in a deep voice, "Pass down my order: the three armies will break camp and surround the city. Today we swear to trample Liangzhou City flat! After the city falls, we’ll slaughter the city for three days to honor the clansmen of the Mad Lion Tribe who died in these past two days and let our people truly enjoy themselves!"
"Heh heh."
Bashish Red Peak suddenly chuckled. "When the time comes, I’ll have to capture a few of those Vermilion Bird Guard little bitches to play with and vent some fire."
-----------------
Inside Liangzhou City.
Li Yan, Li Boxiong, Li Junqing, the Vermilion Bird Lord, and the other officers and soldiers had gone several days and nights with almost no rest.
These past few days, the defense of the city had been fought with extreme savagery.
Beneath Liangzhou City, corpses lay strewn everywhere.
For the Defender Army in the city, this battle was not only physical fatigue and injury; the mental pressure was even more overwhelming.
At first, receiving support from the Vermilion Bird Guard and some heroes from the Jianghu who had come to help...
And on top of that, with Li Zhongmou and Li Shuhu, the two brothers, going to Wusun Country to seek reinforcements...
There had still been some hope for a reversal in this battle.
But after several days had passed, there was still no word from Li Zhongmou and Li Shuhu.
A bad premonition had already taken root in Li Yan’s heart.
Feng Xu was a Grandmaster.
And a Grandmaster expert was the key to this battle!
If Feng Xu could not come to support them, the fall of Liangzhou City was only a matter of time.
Sure enough.
Not long after, news came from the Barbarian Army’s side, saying that Feng Xu had already been crippled, and that Li Zhongmou and Li Shuhu had been imprisoned by Wusun Country, locked in a dungeon and in mortal danger.
The arrival of this news was like adding frost to snow.
Li Yan suppressed this news, doing his utmost to stabilize morale.
But with no sign of a Grandmaster coming to their aid, the Defender Army in the city could certainly guess the truth.
If they saw no hope at all, it would be an unimaginable torment for both the Defender Army and the civilians in the city!
Whenever he thought of how, once the city fell, Liangzhou City would become a slaughterhouse, flooded with blood, Li Yan grew restless and anxious, unable to calm his mind at all.
He had only just found a moment to doze off when the sound of war horns blared from outside the city!
Li Yan jolted.
It was the attack horn of the Barbarian Army!
The officers and soldiers all walked out one after another. They lifted their heads to look and their faces changed drastically!
They saw the heavens above churn and change, as a vast expanse of ink-black clouds blotted out the sky and sun, constantly surging and shifting, taking on the form of a mighty lion. Its bloody maw was gaping wide as it slowly pressed in from outside the city, as if it meant to swallow the entire Liangzhou City whole!
The black clouds pressed low upon the city, threatening to crush it; a great battle was on the verge of erupting!
