Chapter 2758

He Lingchuan looked eastward—just there, it had boomed earlier.

Originally, there stood a whole mountain there, steep and towering like a screen, a rare monolithic landform on the Panlong Wasteland.

But now, it had collapsed.

It collapsed completely, leaving only a tiny remnant corner.

Officers of all ranks also came to report—Chen Enya and the surrounding rock layers likewise had multiple cracks and collapses.

This is no good news, is it? Unstable geology means their disadvantage as defenders only grows. You know, Beijia has always been famed for fierce artillery; earlier, the beast-men scouts discovered how abundantly armed Gao Huaiyuan's main camp was, making Panlong soldiers drool.

"There's still some earth in the warehouse—take it to patch Chen Enya. Then find earth-system cultivators to go over and repair and reinforce it with techniques as soon as possible." Besides that, there's really nothing else to do.

Earth-soil is a type of earth and rock that can grow on its own, capable of filling and solidifying stubborn rock or fissures. This was originally a gift from the allied nations, but in the past three months of intense warfare, Panlong has used it down to just a thread at the bottom of the storehouse.

After issuing this order, He Lingchuan suddenly recalled something:

Just now, during this earth-shaking tremor—never mind Chen Enya, even Beijia's two rear camps on flat ground had sunk into suddenly appearing fissures. But—

What he saw through the water-mirror technique was steady.

In the water's reflection, Sun Fuling and the firecracker-flower wall behind her remained utterly still, not a thread disturbed, nothing like the frontline's chaos of flying dogs and jumping chickens.

Even the brush holder before her and the butterfly peonies on her desk showed not a single tremor.

It was as if the earthquake had never affected the Shuomin Academy at all.

Could this be? It seems this might be the most violent earthquake Panlong World has ever experienced so far.

The shouts from outside the Singing Sand Forest snapped He Lingchuan back to attention.

The battle had begun.

Panlong's longest night in history thus opened its curtain.

Beijia soldiers surged forward like a tide beyond the forest.

Nearly a million strong—yet a murky, endless mass with no visible end.

Torches smoked the sky, burning all the way to the horizon.

Ordinary troops seeing such a spectacle, then beholding the Yuan-force radiance on Beijia soldiers, would mostly lose all fighting spirit from fright.

But their opponent this time is the Panlong Army!

The two armies clashed like two rivers converging—surging wave heads colliding, instantly kicking up crimson spray!

Suddenly, a mocking voice of the Tiger-Wing General rang out in the battlefield sky, even overpowering the heavenly shouts of slaughter:

"Gao Huaiyuan, the Beijia Demon Emperor has already ordered a retreat—why do you defy orders?"

"Zhang Kangyi and Du Shian have already received the command, withdrawn their troops, and returned home—why do you still let your men go to the front to die?"

These two lines were spoken with full divine power, ensuring every word reached every soldier's ear, friend or foe alike.

Upon hearing this, the Beijia soldiers at the very front slowed their hand movements, while those behind exchanged glances, all weighing truth and falsehood.

Has the Spirit-Void City truly ordered a withdrawal?

Everyone's first reaction was disbelief—what good words could the enemy possibly say? But then, upon reflection, maybe… perhaps there's a sliver of possibility?

Rumors have long circulated in the army, persistent despite bans.

News of internal chaos in Beijia had reached the wasteland front long ago, already mutated into several versions, growing more horrifying with each retelling—some say Spirit-Void City slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Heavenly Palace divine servants; some say the commander-in-chief Gao Huaiyuan's entire family has been imprisoned, and he himself will suffer dire misfortune the moment he returns to Spirit-Void City.

The speakers painted vivid pictures; listeners were half-believing, half-doubting, and some felt uneasy.

Now, holding this up against the enemy's loudspeaker, Beijia soldiers applied simple logic—could it not be possible?

Besides, who enjoys war? The opponent is still the Panlong Army, harder than diamond.

Gao Huaiyuan coldly replied: "Trying to sow discord in my army? Officers and men, do not listen to his demonic deceit. Tonight we take Panlong; tomorrow the army returns victorious!"

He knew in his heart, "demonic words" cannot be stopped, but the entire army understands—no matter what, this is also the final battle.

He Lingchuan laughed: "Baoshu State has launched a full-scale mobilization against Boli State and E'ling State—yet they're being beaten breathless by Yinsha State and Baoxiang State. Do your troops know? Do the Boli and E'ling soldiers in your army know they're now fighting side by side with the invading enemy on their homeland?"

Rumors of Beijia's civil war have long buzzed in the dust; many soldiers also know Baoshu State and Boli State, E'ling State and Yinsha State indeed have old grudges unresolved. But have these nations truly come to blows?

The soldiers He Lingchuan mentioned—present in the frontline main force, and indeed the core military units—when they think of their homeland struggling in battle while they attack Panlong ten thousand li away, their hearts feel as if clenched by a fist.

The Tiger-Wing General continued: "Heavenly Demons repeatedly failed to assassinate the Demon Emperor; Spirit-Void City has already utterly broken with the Heavenly Palace. Gao Huaiyuan serves demons as a dog, deceiving the Beijia great army and rebelling with you against the state!"

He kept escalating, each word he spoke like thunder exploding in the Beijia soldiers' chests.

"Heavenly gods assassinating the Demon Emperor? Gao Huaiyuan has betrayed the state, and still wants to drag everyone here down with him?"

No no no, that shouldn't be. There's no such absurd thing in the world.

Yet many Beijia soldiers unconsciously eased their strength, charging less resolutely.

Feeling the contraction and decline of Beijia's Yuan-force, Gao Huaiyuan nearly exploded with rage.

The Tiger-Wing General's earlier words were still truthful, but here he began spouting nonsense! When have Heavenly Demons ever assassinated the Demon Emperor?

"Pure nonsense! Hall Tiger-Wing General, more vulgar than a street-scolding shrew! For today's indulgence, Panlong up and down truly has no face left."

He Lingchuan mocked him: "Even if we spare your life today, you'll still be a dead man walking when you return home!"

On the battlefield, if you can win, you'll use any means—He Lingchuan feels no psychological burden. As long as he can suppress Beijia's Yuan-force, reducing even a bit of pressure on our soldiers in combat, what words wouldn't he dare say?

And given He Lingchuan's understanding of Heavenly Demons, especially the Spirit-Void crowd, the so-called "assassination" attempts—They've most likely already tried them; otherwise, why would this second-term Beijia Demon Emperor suddenly become resolute in opposing Heavenly Demons?

So this too is a reasonable inference—the Demon Emperor hasn't come out to deny it, right?

The two chief commanders traded insults before the ranks, while their subordinates weren't idle.

On the Singing Sand Forest stockade wall, each ordnance unit, upon command, activated stone-throwers and attack units in succession, hurling massive rolling stones and fire bolts into the enemy ranks.

This stone-thrower was originally mounted on Panlong City's gate; when He Lingchuan first entered the Panlong Secret Realm in his life, he personally used it to bombard Nian Songyu and Sun Fuping.

And in Panlong World, the stone-thrower has undergone many improved versions, now upgraded to a specialty weapon: it retains the single-load, twenty-four-round rapid-fire setup, and each stone projectile fired can split into five, becoming a wide-area shrapnel shot.

As for the fire bolt—no need to say—it has tremendous single-target power, generally used to aim at large, thick-skinned beasts in the army, such as various hide-covered, flesh-thick demon beasts.