Chapter 2015: Crushed

The Nine Nether Great Emperor's low voice rang in everyone's hearts: "Chongwu, you are a good general, but this is not a battle you can take part in. You and all the Flash Gold powerhouses are nothing but cannon fodder for Qingyang."

He pointed his halberd at Chongwu and Jindu Ghostling:

"Didn't you want to duel me earlier? Come, I'll fulfill your dying wish!"

Chongwu gritted his teeth, drew the double axes at his waist, and charged forward first.

Without turning his head, he knew the Chixia people had been plucked by the Nine Nether Great Emperor, their fighting spirit lost.

This battle to turn the tide against fate ended in defeat.

The Nine Nether Great Emperor's body was shrouded in faint black fire, and his order to all the Black Armored Army was just one word:

"Kill!"

Up and down Miancheng, upon seeing or hearing the Black Armored Army's reinforcements, everyone's spirits soared, their energy suddenly replenished with fresh fuel, and the soldiers on the walls began firing rockets and fire stones at the enemy below. There was also a special kind of "fire cake": after being soaked in fire oil and lit, it would explode when thrown at the enemy.

The fire oil was fierce—pouring water on it only made it burn hotter, and its lethality was considerable.

On this side, Tushan Fang was fighting the insect demons with extreme difficulty, new wounds piling onto old ones, several times narrowly escaping disaster, barely holding on with his shield and medicated wine.

In the blink of an eye, the wine ran out, the shield was shattered.

Fortunately, three Black Armored Army comrades also rushed onto the wall, each firing an arrow at the insect demon's flank.

The insect demon was large in size, dodging two arrows but taking one.

The arrow tails were tied with ropes; the three men jerked hard, trying to pull the insect demon back—but they pulled nothing at all, and both arrow and rope came flying back.

After the arrow was torn off, the wound on the insect demon's body healed at a visible speed.

Damn it, this thing isn't afraid of injury—how do we deal with it?

Where exactly is its weak point?

A Black Armored Army soldier suddenly pointed and shouted: "Brother Shan, watch out!"

At that moment, a tiny figure appeared out of nowhere, hovering above the heads of both combatants.

Another strange creature—at first glance like a bat, but with an especially sharp beak and a tail behind it. Its dark red small eyes gave off a hostile look at once.

How could a bat hover in midair?

Tushan Fang muttered bitterly to himself: one insect demon already had him overwhelmed, and now another one could truly cost him his life. The Black Armored Army soldiers were about to raise their crossbows and shoot it, when the little monster suddenly flapped its wings and turned into a blur.

Whoosh—it moved at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow.

It did attack, but its target was not Tushan Fang, but the giant insect demon.

It lunged forward in the posture of a swallow diving into an embrace, plunged straight into the creature's arms, and then pierced straight through its heart!

The insect demon turned to catch it, but the little monster flew back up to hover in midair. Only then did everyone notice it was holding a gold-green wasp in its mouth, slightly larger than its kind.

Tushan Fang had not seen it during the earlier fight. It turned out this thing had been hiding inside the giant insect demon's body all along.

Before the insect demon could get close, the little monster, in full view of everyone, opened its mouth and tore off the green wasp's head.

The insect demon's movement ceased instantly, it could no longer maintain its form, and collapsed into a pile of insect corpses.

The bat wasn't idle either—it swooped down on the thieves on the wall and killed three or four people in lightning speed.

Seeing this, everyone finally realized: this monster was an ally.

At this moment, the area outside the city was unusually noisy—the Black Armored Army pressed closer to the city gate step by step, squeezing the bandits' space. The latter found themselves in an awkward situation, unable to charge into Miancheng for a while, while the Black Armored Army's vanguard needed to get even closer first.

Tushan Fang shouted: "Charge out and link up with the reinforcements!"

Afterward, he took three steps as two and leapt down from the city wall, leading the city troops toward the Wengcheng gate, attacking from inside out.

The bandit troops inside Wengcheng also had no will to fight; hearing that the Black Armored Army was coming, they only wanted to retreat—but if they retreated too late, they'd be trapped inside, letting the enemy catch them like turtles in a jar.

Within just a few dozen breaths, the originally contested Wengcheng saw no more fighting—the bandit troops retreated like flowing water out of Miancheng's main gate, fleeing toward the mountains.

Calling it a retreat isn't quite accurate—only Guo Bai Lu's two units stationed here as the core could withdraw in an orderly fashion; the rest were practically a total rout, and the more embarrassing the posture, the more embarrassing it was.

The Miancheng garrison charged out of the gate, successfully joined forces with the Heishen Army, and the bandits were gone.

Along this pursuit, the attacking bandits were beaten so badly they lost helmets and armor, either dead or fleeing; Guo Bai Lu's main force, having retreated early, was still sprinting ahead at full speed.

Wanqi Liang had originally predicted his side would pursue at most a few dozen li, until Guo Bai Lu slipped into Huancheng. But on the battlefield, every extra twist meant he had only pursued halfway when the bird-demon scouts suddenly sent a report:

A third army appeared ahead—Guo Bai Lu had encountered a sniper!

Wanhou Liang was greatly surprised, then immediately overjoyed.

Who else could be lying in wait ahead to ambush Guo Bai Lu? Only Nanrong He.

He really could endure it—after Guo Bai Lu seized Luofeng Tan from him, he acted as if nothing had happened. Guo Bai Lu went out to attack cities everywhere, and he never reacted. Over time, Guo Bai Lu just overlooked his threat.

After our side helped Nanrong He retake Luofeng Tan, this man immediately came to return the favor—greatly exceeding Wanqi Liang's expectations.

Logically, letting Guo Bai Lu flee back to Huancheng would best serve his own interests. After all, if Guo Bai Lu were defeated or dead, this region would only have the Nanrong family and the Dragon God Army left as powers, and they'd eventually have to fight it out.

No matter how Nanrong He calculated, the current situation was most favorable to the Black Armored Army.

They rushed forward madly—and indeed caught up to Guo Bai Lu's army, which was then locked in a fierce, indecisive battle with the third force at a fork in the road.

One wanted to charge past like a madman, the other fought desperately to block the passage.

The Heishen Army arrived on the battlefield, flanking the third force from front and rear, and slaughtered them until blood flowed like rivers.

Though Guo Bai Lu's army was strong and healthy, it could not withstand being attacked from both front and back, and with no hope of escape, in the end some died, some fled, some surrendered.

Some died, some fled, some surrendered.

Guo Bai Lu himself led hundreds of men in a bloody breakout—originally on the verge of success—when he collided head-on with a ghost ape. —

Before he died in hatred, he hated not the Black Armored Army most, but Nanrong He. If it weren't for this bastard charging out diagonally to block the road, he would have already made it back to Huancheng safely, and then holding the city for another one or two months would have been no problem.

After the battle ended, Wanqi Liang finally met the leader of the third force in salute.

This man was tall and imposing, dignified in appearance—exactly the current head of the Nanrong family, Nanrong He.

"Nanrong Clan Chief, your righteousness is great—would you be willing to dismount and discuss matters in detail with Wanqi?"

Nanrong He gave a cold chuckle: "Where is the Dragon God?"

"The Dragon God is everywhere."

His flattery-laced, shaman-like answer made Nan Ronghe burst out laughing: "Well said! If you can deliver the message, tell the Dragon God I want to have a good talk with him—face to face!"

After speaking, he lightly kicked his horse's belly and led the troops forward first.

Wan Houliang spat sand from his mouth onto the ground. This guy thinks he's above everyone—does he look down on me?

The troops counted the prisoners, then came to report:

"General, no trace of the divine descent was found."