by Tony Tran
“Maybe I’ll see how well he can stand the heat.” Ling said as she decided to momentarily stop attempting to melt through the base of the city walls but instead unleash some havoc on the top of the wall.
Soon enough, dozens of rays of condensed light drew paths of deaths on the city walls as they headed for the top of the walls where countless soldiers stop tightly packed.
Heart wrenching screams were heard moments later as dozens of men were either burned to ashes or cut to pieces by the intense heat of the rays of light.
Surprisingly enough, the warrior clad in crystal armor pushed away all those in front of him and bolted toward one of Ling’s rays of light. In his hand was a large circular shield that shone in a magnificent blue hue.
What happened next would leave Ling speechless as the man used his shield to deflect Ling’s ray of light downward at an area where thousands of Ling’s soldiers stood.
“Damn…” Ling cursed as a few of her soldiers sustained injuries before she could cancel out her technique.
“I have to be prepared for the next time he does that…”, She thought as she glared at the man clad in crystal armor who was showing a proud smile through the opening in his helmet.
Thus, Ling decided to forgo any more attempts at directly attacking the tops of the walls and stuck to trying to melt the walls while dodging the crystal armor clad man’s javelins.
“He’ll run out eventually…” She murmured as she gulped down a small bottle of essence water.
On the other side of the wall, the conscripted soldiers that had valiantly made their way to the city’s front gates with the siege ram began to pound against the wood and iron gate.
“HOLD THE DOOR!!!!” The soldiers within the city yelled.
“HOLD THE DOOR!!!”
“HOLD THE DOOR!!!!”
Soon it became a maddening chant as they tried to pile whatever they could find behind the city walls to prevent the siege ram from knocking it down. There was also one particularly large built man who had his back pressed against the gates, it could be said that it was thanks to this man that the iron doors had not fallen. Had he not held the doors then perhaps Yuying’s soldiers would have already knocked down the doors. From this alone we could only guess his level of cultivation.
“What's taking Ling so, long…” Yuying said as she clicked her tongue and with a sigh, a column of bones rose up underneath her throne made of skulls, lifting Yuying into the air. Had Ling successfully entered the city, a flare would have been shot into the air however after some time had passed and with nothing happening Yuying decided she had to act.
“Bring out the siege towers!” Yuying commanded figuring something was preventing Ling from entering the city.
Upon receiving their commands Yuying’s soldiers quickly dispatched two large towers that rose higher than the city walls. With teams of armored horses and men pushing and pulling them, the two towers filled with archers inched toward the city.
Preparing for possible enemy fire attacks, Yuying’s men began to pour hundreds of buckets of water onto the tower as they neared the city walls.
“Any obstacle that stands in my way of reuniting with him will be crushed.” Yuying said as she watched her soldiers move into action.
While Ling and Yuying were busy, Lingqi began to perform a song on her zither with hundreds of musicians playing in an orchestra with her. Since there weren’t too many useful herbs in the area to create enough poison, she decided to affect the battle in another manner.
Once Lingqi’s invigorating tone drifted into the ears of the conscripted soldiers and the shield unit, they felt their bodies become empowered and their strength renewed.
It was said the music affects the soul and soothes the body so, depending on what melody Lingqi decided to play, the soldiers on the battlefield will feel a different emotion.
If she played an upbeat energetic tone then the soldiers would feel invigorated, if she played a sad tone and directed it at the soldiers atop the walls then their morale would fall, basically Lingqi was subtly able to alter people’s moods at will. This was because Lingqi’s essence was weaved into the strings of her zither whenever she plucked a string and then sent across the battlefield or wherever she chooses.
Sadly, the music could not affect the battle more directly like poison.
Despite many hours passing since the start of the battle, neither side really took significant damage, however, things were about to change because despite being bombarded by javelins, Ling managed to cut a small hole in the city wall and Yuying’s siege towers managed to close in on the city walls without suffering significant damage.
“Heavy cavalry move forward!” Ling commanded as she caught a javelin in her frozen water bubble.
“Deploy oil!” Yuying commanded the soldiers in the siege tower to being tossing pots of oil onto the city walls.
“Th-this is oil!” The soldiers of the Rainbow Rock Army yelled to each other as the soldiers of Aurora tossed clay pots onto the city walls.
“Surrender or perish! Surrender or perish!” Yuying’s men chanted.
Chapter 56: Surrender or Perish
As oil seeped into the cracks between the tiles on Rainbow Rock city’s walls Yuying’s archers prepared to set their enemies ablaze. With fiery arrows nocked in their bows, the archers were simply awaiting orders before turning the top of the city walls into a blazing inferno.
It was obvious to some of the soldiers of the Rainbow Rock Army that they were in a terrible position after the clay pots hurled by Yuying’s soldiers had covered them in oil.
“Damn it, I don’t want to be turned into a living torch!” A few of them cried as they tried to push their way through their comrades and escape.
While panic ensued atop the walls, the conscripted soldiers had managed to create a large dent in the iron gates below and it was only a matter of time before the gates get knocked down.
On the other side of the wall, Ling’s heavy cavalry poured into the small hole in the wall, smashing through the enemy soldiers that had gathered around the entrance that Ling created. While her cavalry soldiers entered the city, Ling unleashed havoc with dozens of rays of light aimed toward the tops of the walls. She had ordered her forces to move back so, they would not be caught in her attacks if the man clad in crystal armor decided to deflect the rays of light again.
Since there was only one main gate into Rainbow Rock City, Ling’s cavalry was tasked with charging through the city and opening the gates from the inside, of course, they were also commanded to unleash chaos upon the enemy soldiers when given the opportunity.
If one can imagine how devastating a cavalry charge was in an open plain, the extent of damage a cavalry charge can deal if they were atop a city’s walls that were packed with soldiers was on an entirely different level.
Since there were so, many civilians inside the city, Ling had not ordered her heavy cavalry to initiate a fire attack. Although Yuying and perhaps Lingqi would be able to do such a thing without batting an eye, Ling was much like Zhang who can kill enemy’s soldiers mercilessly but could not bring themselves to harm civilians.
Soon enough Ling’s cavalry soldiers made their way to the other side of the city, however, they were unable to open the city gates because when they arrived at the city gates the soldiers of the Rainbow Rock Army lit the inside of the gate on fire to prevent them from opening the gates from the inside.
“Report to her highnesses that the operation is a failure.” One of the cavalrymen said as another pulled out a red colored flare from underneath his armor and shot it into the sky.
“Swap to the other plan.” Another one of the cavalrymen said as he set his gaze toward the provincial lord’s mansion. In total, about ten thousand cavalrymen had stormed into the city, considering the enemy amounted to a few hundred thousand soldiers in total, ten thousand wasn’t much but now that they were inside the city and were free to roam around. The amount of damage they could deal was unimaginable.
As the ten thousand heavy cavalries charged toward the Provincial lord’s mansion, Yuying’s archers set the top of the city walls ablaze, causing thousands of Rainbow Rock Army soldiers to turn into human torches.
While a section of the walls was changed into what resembled as the fiery pits of hell, the siege towers moved to another section of the wall, where its sides opened up and acted as bridges, allowing Yuying’s soldiers to storm the top of the walls.
Considering that most of the soldiers of the Rainbow Rock Army were comprised of conscripted civilians it was obvious that they would get slaughtered by the professional soldiers of Aurora and the original soldiers of the Rainbow Rock Army that were conscripted by Lingqi.
“WE SURRENDER!!!! WE SURRENDER!!!” A few of the soldiers of the Rainbow Rock Army cried as they tossed their swords onto the ground. For they who did not wish to be here in the first place, their lives were more valuable than the city. Surely if they were allowed to surrender then their families would not be harmed. Also, there was the horrid stench of burnt flesh and the agonizing cries of those who were turned into human torches to reinforce their decision to surrender.
“General wha-what should we do, the conscripted soldiers are surrendering!” A soldier said in a trembling voice to General Hong Yang, as small sections of the wall soon fell into the hands of the soldiers of Aurora.
“Regroup the soldiers who are still willing to fight and gather them at the provincial lord’s mansion!” General Hong Yang said with mixed emotion in his tone. A part of him wished to surrender because victory was now a fleeting dream while another part of him could not bear the thought of abandoning his lord.
“All forces move in!” Yuying commanded, as her soldiers who had reached the top of the walls began tossing down rope so, their comrades below can climb up.
“Extinguish the fire behind the gates so, our comrades can enter!” A few of Yuying’s soldiers said.
“Time to move out also.” Lingqi said, for the most part, neither soldiers under Lingqi’s command nor the elite guards had participated in the battle. The elite guards simply waited for orders while Lingqi’s soldiers contributed only via playing instruments and had not directly participated, but now as the battle was reaching a turning point it was now time to move out.
Tens of minutes later, the fire burning the city gates were extinguishing and the forces of Aurora stormed inside, but of course, the battle was far from over. Rainbow Rock City like all of the provincial provinces was massive in size, so, despite occupying a large section of the walls and entering the city, the majority of the city was still under enemy control.
For instance, the section of the wall in the east and west still bolstered by large amounts of soldiers while the southern wall which had been bombarded by Ling still had a considerable number of soldiers also. If they all retreated to the provincial lord’s mansion and holed up inside with the soldiers already stationed there, then, unless the city was razed to the ground, the battle would be drawn out much longer.
That is if anyone can reach the provincial lord’s mansion. General Hong Yang and his men were the first to retreat to the provincial lord’s mansion, however, before they could reach the inner-city walls, they were attacked by ten thousand horsemen. As shields were splintered by spears and lances, rivers of blood began to form, the once orderly retreat turned into a mass of hysteria.
“Charge!!!” The ten thousand horsemen roared as their horses sped forward.
“We surrender!” General Hong Yang said as he saw that the longer he continued on the more his men would suffer.
With General Hong Yang’s surrender, roughly a sixth of the forces within the city had submitted. While one-sixth were concentrated in the provincial lord’s mansion and four sixths, who were under the command of the man clad in crystal armor, were still atop the city walls.
“Section off the walls and surround the provincial lord’s mansion!” Yuying commanded to the soldiers inside the city, as her throne made of skulls broke apart and turned into a column.
Thus, the battle raged on into the night, and despite having entered the city, the beauties had not been able to achieve total victory yet.
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As the flames of war burned under the night sky in the Rainbow Rock Province, the items that Zhang had requested had been brought to him as he was about to begin operating on Tang Wei’s father.
“Brother Lee if you need anything, please just tell me.” Tang Wei said as he stood beside his mother.
“The medicine is taking effect and his lordship is about to entire a deep sleep, so, I think it would be best to begin the operation. I would advise those with a faint heart to step outside of the room.” Zhang said as he picked up a scalpel and placed its blade into an open flame within a bronze bowl, burning the blade to sanitize it. Once the blade was glowing bright red, Zhang arrived in front of Tang Wei’s father and began to operate. As the scalpel began to cut through skin and flesh, blood spurted out of the newly cut wound onto Zhang’s face.
“Towel.” Zhang said calmly before Ai handed him a white towel to wipe away the blood that oozed out of the wound and the blood that splashed onto his face.
As Sheng Yi saw blood splatter onto Zhang, she felt a tad light headed but nonetheless steeled herself to watch her husband’s operation until it was complete.
“Now to get through the muscle layer and find out where that critter is…” Zhang mumbled as his scalpel continued to cut deeper into the Red Thorn Province’s provincial lord. From the knowledge, he had acquired from his past life and the knowledge he had acquired from his current life, Zhang could be considered an expert at traditional medical practices.
“Tang Wei! What the fuck are you doing in there!” Tang Shiang’s voice could be heard outside as someone banged on the door.
“Open the door this instant! I want to know what you’re doing to father!” Tang Shiang roared as his fists pounded on the screen door causing parts of it to splinter off.
“Hold the door, we can’t allow him to interrupt.” Tang Wei said to two of his guards who were inside the room. With a nod, the two bulky men headed toward the door and began to build a barricade.
“Miu Liu, smash the door!” Tang Shiang yelled
Soon enough Zhang could feel the aura of a level seven cultivator emit through the air as a loud boom sound turned the screen door into hundreds of pieces.
“Yo-you you… What are you doing?” Tang Shiang asked with an ashen face as he saw Zhang sitting beside his father with blood stained hands once he entered the room.
“Saving your father’s life.” Zhang said with a smile as he turned back with a squirming blue colored silkworm in his blood-stained hands.
“You successfully took it out?” Tang Wei said with relief on his face.
“That was in father?!” Tang Shiang asked with a disgusted look on his face.
“Playing the fool now? Aren’t you the one who put it in him?” Tang Wei said as he turned around and grabbed Tang Shiang’s collar.
“I don’t know what the fuck you're talking about. If anyone did it, it should be you! You probably did it so, you can take over father’s position without having to worry about him changing his mind and appointing me rightful heir!” Tang Shiang said angrily as he brushed off Tang Wei’s hands.
“You think I would harm father over something like that?” Tang Wei said.
“And you think I would harm my father over something like that?” Tang Shiang refuted.
“Ai hand me the thread and needle.” Zhang said to Ai as the two brothers continued to argue. After placing the silkworm in a large bronze bowl to have a look at later, Zhang began to stitch his patient’s wound back together and mend it with the Underworld Heart.
In a few quick moments, Zhang was able to skillfully mend the previously gaping wound without leaving even a scar. After he was done, Sheng Yi quickly arrived beside her husband’s bedside and held
onto his hand.
“The two of you can quit arguing now. Since the operation was a success and I can use this silkworm to find the culprit.” Zhang said calmly as the brothers were about to begin swinging their fists at each other.
“Since this is a matter concerning the future of the province I would recommend both of you to take a step back and reconsider the current situation. If neither of you admits to infecting your father, then who else would have the motive?” Zhang said after the two brothers stopped arguing and silence filled the room.
“If father dies and I don’t become the provincial lord then he does.” Tang Wei said.
“If both this bastard and father are gone and I don’t become the provincial lord then….” Tang Shiang mumbled
“Uncle Tang Pan….” Both brothers said in unison.