Chapter 803: Isn

Inside the city gate, huge stone slabs were piled high, sealing the gate gap so tightly that not even a slit remained.

Xiao Ningchen furrowed his brows: "Are they building the city gate like a wall?"

"Good grief," Zhang Wu'an stared wide-eyed: "So many stone slabs! Did they haul all the stone from the city here?"

"How did they think of that!" Xiao Ran sucked in a breath of cold air: "They actually sealed the gate shut."

Zheng Wucheng gritted his teeth: "That Fujiwara Yoshinobu! Truly full of tricks."

Chen Hao shook his head: "With such a thick pile of stones, even a heavenly fire tube can't gnaw through it."

Xiao Ningxun said: "They're doing this because they figured we have no artillery."

Teng Yuan Liangxin gazed into the distance at the stalled army formation, let out a cold laugh: "I suffered from your firearms in Goryeo; do you think I'll fall for it again?"

Xiao Yuanhang reined in his warhorse; its forehooves lifted as it let out a loud neigh.

He gave an order: "Zhang Wu'an, Xiao Er—onto the shield carts!"

"Yes!"

Zhang Wu'an and Xiao Er led the soldiers into the shield carts: "Push!"

Ten shield carts were pushed out from behind the ranks, formed a line, and advanced toward the gate.

Teng Yuan Liangxin smiled faintly: "Again with this trick? This time you've miscalculated."

He waved his hand: "Pour water!"

The soldiers, in groups of a few, lifted dozens of wooden barrels taller than a person onto the battlements.

The barrels tilted, and the murky water poured out, splashing down the outer wall with a gurgling sound.

As soon as one barrel was emptied, another was brought up and poured continuously onto the same spot.

The water flowed down along the cracks in the wall, scouring the rammed earth at its base.

In just a moment, many spots at the wall's base soaked up water, turning into mud.

Teng Yuan Liangxin peered out from the battlement, glanced, and said coldly: "Continue!"

Barrel after barrel poured out, more water splashing down, striking the wall base; the mud grew deeper, churning and splashing up to over a person's height.

The water spread sideways, swallowing the originally dry ground inch by inch.

Soon, no dry earth could be seen at the wall base; only a deep mud pool that could submerge one's knees remained.

The mire kept spreading outward, widening ever more.

As soon as the shield carts were pushed into the mire, their wheels sank in.

The soldiers inside exerted force together; the cart body swayed heavily left and right, and only after a long while did it move forward a step.

Zhang Wu'an wiped a dab of mud from his face and cursed: "Damn it! These bastards have gotten clever—using our own city wall as a rice paddy to flood!"

Xiao Er, sweat pouring down his head, shouted: "Put your backs into it!"

Mud oozed out from the gaps between the spokes, emitting a dull gurgling sound.

The ten shield carts that had been moving swiftly instantly turned into ten snails, inching forward step by hesitant step.

Teng Yuan Liangxin furrowed his brows.

"No good," he thought, "although it greatly slowed their advance, it still can't completely stop them."

"Once they reach the wall's base, they could still blow it open."

"Wouldn't Kamakura Castle end up just like Goryeo's royal city?"

"We absolutely cannot let them get near the wall!"

He turned to Anbei Taiqin: "Master, can you turn the muddy ground beneath the city into a sheer mire, trapping these carts inside?"

Anbei Taiqin gazed at the dark mass of enemy troops outside the city, truly unwilling to get involved again: "This… Lord Teng, please forgive my inadequacy…"

"Master!" Teng Yuan Liangxin interrupted him, his face darkening instantly: "You've already lied twice about military intelligence; if you still don't devote yourself wholeheartedly to aiding me, losing Kamakura Castle would be no great loss."

"If it isn't lost, do you think the commander-in-chief will spare you, spare the Anbei clan?"

"Teng Yuan Liangxin!" Anbei Taiqin, both angry and anxious, felt bitter in his heart: "If it weren't for you insisting I join forces with Madame Cheng, I would at most just refuse to take the post of head of the Yin-Yang Bureau."

"How did we come to this point?"

"Have you forgotten that you abandoned the great army in Goryeo, letting Madame Cheng poison Matsunaga Hisahide, and I covered it all up for you?"

Teng Yuan Liangxin eased his tone: "What's the use of bringing up past matters now?"

"The commander-in-chief keeping you here is merely giving you another chance to redeem yourself through merit."

"You and I are already in the same boat—what harms one harms both."

He glanced toward the outside; the shield carts were still inching extremely slowly toward the wall.

"Master, don't waste words—get to work quickly!"

Anbei Taiqin let out a long sigh: "Very well, I'll help you this one last time."

He walked slowly to the battlement, glanced at the mire below the city.

He drew a black jade tablet from his bosom, placed it on the wall, focused his spirit and energy, raised his right hand, and spat a mouthful of essence blood onto its surface.

Using his finger as a brush and the blood as ink, he swiftly traced twisted runes across the black jade tablet.

Where his finger passed, the runes emitted a faint hissing sound, releasing wisps of black vapor.

Having finished the final stroke, he slammed his palm onto the center of the runes: "Impure Earth Curse, begone!"

Having said that, he closed his eyes and began to chant the complex incantation in a low voice.

The next moment, bubbles rose one after another on the mire's surface, as if something were churning beneath the water.

The bubbles grew more numerous and frantic, and the mud began to churn violently.

Xiao Er stared at the ground: "Watch your footing!"

Zhang Wu'an lifted one foot, standing on the other, almost wanting to jump onto the crossbeam: "How is this mud like it's about to boil?"

The soldiers also looked down at the mud under their feet, which looked as if it were boiling, their faces full of panic.

Suddenly, a hand thrust out violently from the mud pit.

The hand lacked ordinary skin; it was formed of rotting mud, and when the five fingers spread, murky yellow broth still dripped down between the gaps.

Immediately followed by a second, a third…

Countless mud hands kept emerging from the mire, as if something was crawling up from underground.

They seized the wheels, coiled around the axles, and the filthy fingers dug hard into the gaps of the wooden spokes.

A multitude of mud hands exerted force simultaneously, and the shield cart plunged down, its wheel being pulled half a foot inward.

Xiao Er drew his side sword: "Cut!" and, after speaking, swung it down.

The soldiers drew their swords in succession and hacked at those mud hands.

The blade sliced through the mud hands, mud splashing everywhere, shattering into a puddle.

But immediately after, more mud hands emerged, not only clutching the shield cart but also gripping the soldiers' ankles and calves tightly.

Zhang Wu'an swung his sword in rapid strikes; each time he shattered a mud hand, countless new ones instantly rose from the adjacent mud pit, endless.

Suddenly, a mud hand reached upward and latched onto his knee.

He staggered, and his great sword slipped into the mud by the momentum, only then managing to steady himself.

In an instant, ten shield carts became covered with mud hands; the carriages were held fast, and no matter how the soldiers inside strained, they could not move an inch.

The sludge surged, flooding the gaps between wheels and axles, and the carriage slowly sank, inch by inch being swallowed by the mud.

Teng Yuan Liangxin nodded with satisfaction: "The master's technique is indeed brilliant."

Xiao Yuanhang, seeing the situation, hurriedly ordered: "Quick! Report to the National Preceptor!"

"Yes!"

At the same moment, Red Cloud stood at Chu Yuan's main tent entrance, pawing the earth with its hooves.

Lu Qi cradled Tuan Tuan, sitting upright on its back.

He anxiously looked at the shield carts through the Thousand‑mile mirror: "Miss, Xiao Er is trapped!"

"Take a look quickly; that one on the wall should be the onmyoji from the Eastern Sea."

"Is he casting some kind of dark sorcery? Miss, stay seated; I'll go summon the National Preceptor."

Having said that, he tried to roll over and dismount.

Tuan Tuan lifted its own small Thousand‑mile mirror, squinting toward the city wall: "Huh, isn't that the person I played with that day?"

Lu Qi halted.