Chapter 246: Cold-Qiong Great Battle, Hindsight

Longyou Year 48, April 17th.

On the roof of the main building of the Cold-Qiong station, Xia Hong, who had been sitting cross-legged for half a day, looked up at the darkening sky, his brows slightly furrowed.

"The scouts sent out by Hou Tong won't return until night. Even in the best case, if Wu Shuang, Yanglu, and the Hive mobilize people to come over, it will be the latter half of the night at the earliest, or even dawn. So, there definitely won't be a fight tonight."

Hou Tong letting Earth-Digging Realm experts be scouts—Xia Hong could understand it, but in his heart, he extremely disapproved.

After all, there weren't many Cold-Resisting Realm experts; Zhaoyang probably had less than twenty. Once split up, Hou Tong had even fewer people on hand. Added to the fact that the Longshan army was eyeing them covetously nearby, sending Cold-Resisting Realm experts out as scouts indeed required some courage.

"That said, this is wartime. Controlling the surrounding situation is too important. Only by smelling the opportunity can one stand in an invincible position!"

Knowing oneself and the enemy, one can win a hundred battles. In Xia Hong's view, the transmission of intelligence and information during wartime could be said to be the most important factor affecting victory or defeat. If he were commanding this battle himself, he would definitely send Cold-Resisting Realm experts as scouts.

"Or else, I should go to the Hive to see the situation..."

Xia Hong turned his head to look south, his brows slightly furrowed.

During the meeting last night, he learned that Hou Hu had long since sent people to attack the Hive. What he was most curious about now was what exactly had happened to the Hive.

"According to Xia Chuan's personality, he will definitely bring people over. I just don't know how far he will go—whether he will only help the Hive defend against Zhaoyang, or be smarter and play the role of the oriole..."

He knew his younger brother very well. Does Does Da Xia's scale was constantly growing, and Xia Chuan's aggressive nature was also revealed, especially after knowing that resources were helpful to his cultivation, his desire to expand territory also grew stronger.

Among this, it seemed to contain some factors of urgently wanting to prove himself in front of his eldest brother.

Xia Hong stared south for a while, then his gaze swept obscurely over the left and right sides, and finally he shook his head, suppressing the impulse in his heart.

With his current strength, those two pairs of eyes that were always monitoring him in the dark were naturally unable to hide.

A new Cold-Resisting Realm expert arrived at the station during the day. Looking at the direction, it should be from Zhaoyang or Bai Yuan in the north. It was highly likely sent by Hou Hu. Since that person arrived, there had been two more pairs of eyes in the dark staring at him.

"Hou Hu seems to have started to distrust me..."

A trace of playfulness rose in Xia Hong's eyes. Being able to manage Zhaoyang to be so powerful, Hou Hu himself was certainly not simple. If the other party realized in hindsight that there was a problem with him, he wouldn't find it strange in his heart.

The problem was, what did it mean to send two people specifically to stare at him?

"Is it to keep an eye on me, restrict me to the Cold-Qiong station, or..."

Don't say, the Cold-Qiong station now had 2,500 Earth-Digging Realm experts, plus six Cold-Resisting Realm experts. If they really had this intention, they could fully do it.

"That's not right either. Hou Hu, at most, only suspects me; he wouldn't go to such great lengths and cost to specifically deal with me!"

Xia Hong's brows furrowed slightly, pondering what other purposes Hou Hu might have.

After pondering for a while, Xia Hong ultimately gained nothing and finally could only sigh slightly: "A lonely person is free, but this feeling of having no one to use is indeed too unpleasant."

Not being able to figure it out, in the final analysis, was because the information he currently controlled about the Longyou war situation was truly too little.

In the end, Longyou only had twelve encampments, and 13,000 square kilometers was not considered large. If it were in Does Does Da Xia, he could send people out to inquire about news, and once the news was summarized, many things would naturally be clear at a glance.

"Worrying is no use. First see what medicine Hou Hu is selling in his gourd. If he really wants to deal with me, it's not that simple!"

A cold light flashed in Xia Hong's eyes. His true combat power, including Hou Hu and Li Tiancheng, was currently unknown to anyone in the whole of Longyou. Just this point alone could allow him to always stand in an invincible position.

In the gap of pondering, the sky finally turned completely dark.

Excluding the 2,500 Earth-Digging Realm experts, the remaining population of the Cold-Qiong encampment was probably more than 35,000. Although it was wartime and activities like hunting were stopped, life inside the station didn't change much.

Inside the station, sparse groups of two or three people had already walked out of the wooden houses, either preparing food, forging iron, or mining... all had started their busy night life.

It is worth mentioning that the Cold-Qiong station was also a valley, abnormally similar to Does Does Da Xia, and was also located under the stone wall of the Twin Dragon Mountain on the east side of Longyou. But unlike the natural valley in Does Does Da Xia, this gourd-shaped valley of Cold-Qiong was forcibly excavated by hand.

The entire station consisted of two circular spaces, the outer layer with a diameter of more than 700 meters, the inner layer with a diameter of more than one kilometer, and the middle gourd waist was very narrow, with a width of only 20-plus meters.

In such a small area, wanting to accommodate more than 30,000 people, the architecture naturally had to take more thought. All the buildings in the entire Cold-Qiong were five stories and above, all of wood-iron structure, which could be considered the most reasonable and sturdy house type Xia Hong had seen so far.

Especially the main building that Xia Hong was currently occupying, built against the stone wall at the innermost part of the valley, had a height of at least 70-plus meters, a full 15 stories. When he came yesterday, Xia Hong almost dropped his jaw when he first saw it.

"Human wisdom is indeed not to be underestimated. Regardless of how strong these encampments are, their ability to adapt to local conditions according to their respective environments is indeed very strong, which can be seen from the different building types. If all these talents could be gathered together, the level of Does Does Da Xia's house construction should be able to rise by a large margin."

Xia Hong sized up the houses in the Cold-Qiong station, sighing at the wisdom of the humans in these encampments in the Frozen Abyss.

"Swoosh..."

Suddenly, a subtle, abnormal airflow sound entered his ears.

Xia Hong's expression changed slightly, and he turned his head sharply to look toward the valley entrance.

"This is... the sound of an arrow?"

The wooden building was more than 1,700 meters away from the valley entrance. Normally, at such a distance, Xia Hong shouldn't be able to hear the sound of an ordinary iron arrow, but this iron arrow clearly had extraordinary force, and the airflow it brought was very large, which was why it was heard by Xia Hong.

"Swoosh... swoosh... swoosh..."

Another series of rhythmic iron arrow breaking-air sounds came. Xia Hong determined there was a problem, immediately jumped off the main building, and rushed quickly toward the valley entrance.

"Lord Hong, you have..."

"There is an enemy attack! Quickly call people to prepare!"

The two people in the dark, seeing Xia Hong move, immediately rushed out and followed behind him, asking while chasing. Only, the two hadn't finished speaking before they were interrupted by Xia Hong.

Hearing Xia Hong's words, the two's expressions changed slightly. After looking at each other, one of them turned directly into the main building, while the other continued to follow behind Xia Hong, running toward the valley entrance position.

It was wartime, and Cold-Qiong had moved everyone to the inner space of the valley, while 2,500 Earth-Digging Realm experts were stationed in the outer layer.

Swoosh... swoosh... swoosh...

As the distance to the valley entrance became closer, the sound of iron arrows breaking the air became clearer and clearer. With a hundred meters to go, Xia Hong looked up at the valley entrance, his expression changed, and he immediately shouted loudly.

"There is an enemy attack! Quickly be on alert!"

Although it was night, Xia Hong's eyesight far exceeded others. He saw clearly that the garrison personnel scattered above the iron gate at the valley entrance and on both sides were falling one by one, accompanied by the sound of iron arrows breaking the air.

This was clearly a Cold-Resisting Realm expert with superb archery skills, using a strong bow in the dark not far from the valley entrance to perform point-clearing of the people guarding the valley entrance iron gate.

Those iron arrows were shot in extremely tricky positions, either the throat or the brow and head, almost all fatal with one arrow. Those who were hit and fell couldn't even let out a cry of surprise, only some subtle sounds of falling to the ground.

The 2,500 Earth-Digging Realm experts stationed on the periphery were some distance from the valley entrance position, so they couldn't hear it at all.

"Enemy attack? What enemy attack?"

"Who is shouting? What enemy attack!"

"Don't see anyone. Where did the enemy attack come from?"

"Who is talking nonsense!"

"You don't want your life? Don't talk nonsense. It seems to be that Lord Hong."

At this time, there were already many Earth-Digging Realm experts outdoors. Hearing Xia Hong's voice, almost everyone held a skeptical attitude.

Even the people near the valley entrance iron gate were the same.

But soon, someone noticed something wrong.

"There is an enemy attack! Quickly hide."

"There really is! Someone is shooting arrows outside. There are corpses on the ground."

"Enemy attack, enemy attack! There is an enemy attack! Quickly come and close the gate, quick!"

"There really is an enemy attack! There is a large army outside. Longshan! Longshan has attacked!"

Woo...

A loud horn sound completely broke the silence.

Rumble... rumble...

Immediately following was the sound of the earth shaking. Those people in the outer layer of the valley who had just held a skeptical attitude had their expressions change immediately.

The Cold-Resisting Realm expert who had just followed Xia Hong finally had his expression change as well.

He rushed onto the valley entrance iron gate sharply, saw the Longshan army rushing toward the valley in droves not far away, his expression froze instantly, and then he shouted toward the valley in a panicked manner: "Quickly close the gate! Quick, quick, quick!"

Four hundred Earth-Digging Realm experts heard the sound and immediately rushed out, dividing into two teams and walking to the left and right sides of the iron gate, pulling up the iron chains on the ground.

Accompanied by their fierce pulling toward the valley, the two giant iron gates, more than 10 meters high and more than 3 meters thick, inside the stone walls on both sides of the valley entrance, began to close.

"Too late!"

Xia Hong, who had already stood on the iron gate, first looked at the distance of the large army outside the valley, then lowered his head to look at the closing speed of the iron gates on both sides, and immediately shook his head.

Facts proved that Xia Hong's guess was correct.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh...

At a distance of more than 200 meters, they had already entered the bow and arrow range of the large army.

Waves of straight arrow rain galloped over, all accurately and without error passing through the iron gate that had not yet closed, shooting straight toward the 400 Earth-Digging Realm experts on both sides of the iron gate who were pulling the iron chains.

Puchi... puchi... puchi...

!

The sound of iron arrows killing enemies resounded through the outer valley. The 400 Earth-Digging Realm experts immediately fell into chaos. With this, the closing speed of the two iron gates became even slower.

"Kill all the Cold-Qiong rebels!"

"Longyou Army, follow me to kill the enemy!"

"Brothers, charge!"

"Kill all the Cold-Qiong rebel army, raise the prestige of my Longshan!"

"Charge!"

The first wave of more than a thousand people rushing up were all wearing ten-refined iron armor, clearly not the configuration of the Longyou Army, but they carried Longshan's great reputation, and combined with that high fighting spirit, the momentum was still astonishing.

At a distance of more than 200 meters, it took less than six breaths to arrive.

And at this time, the iron gate had not even closed halfway.

Keng...

Above the iron gate, Xia Hong drew his Long Que Dao, slashed open a small wave of arrow rain above his head, raised his eyes to look at the more than 1,000 Longyou Army soldiers shooting arrows from behind, his expression slightly solemn.

"All are powerful bows of more than 30 *shi*. No wonder they couldn't hold out inside. The outer valley is 100 percent unable to be defended!"

Xia Hong didn't even need to look at the 2,500 people in the valley; he could tell just from the comparison of momentum on both sides. If they could close the two iron gates, they could still fight the Longshan army by relying on the pass.

Now that the iron gate had been breached, the pass was gone, so there was definitely no hope.

The Longshan army of more than 2,000 should have touched over as soon as night fell. It was highly likely that Cold-Resisting Realm experts led the way, point-clearing all the hidden sentries Cold-Qiong had arranged along the way, and then squatted on the periphery.

Although he wasn't clear about the situation of the valley entrance iron gate guards just now, the fact that the other party could do it so cleanly and neatly without alarming anyone clearly showed they were prepared.

"Charge!"

Three Cold-Resisting Realm experts holding broadswords quickly swept past the crowd, rushed directly into the iron gate, slashed open a wave of arrow rain shot by the Earth-Digging Realm experts in the valley, roared toward the sky, and rushed straight toward the hundreds of Earth-Digging Realm experts who were still working together to close the gate.

"Wu Xiong, Zhou Yuan, Meng Ying, stop!"

A sharp shout came, and the commander of this batch of Cold-Qiong army, Hou Tong, finally arrived.

It wasn't just him who arrived; the five Cold-Resisting Realm experts currently remaining in Cold-Qiong had all arrived.

The six people, in groups of two, directly surrounded Wu Xiong and the three.

Without a word of nonsense, the six people acted quickly to drive the three away, not letting them interfere with the Earth-Digging Realm experts who were closing the iron gate.

Bang...

Hou Tong's silver eight-sided giant hammer smashed fiercely toward Zhou Yuan. Although avoided by Zhou Yuan, the vibration caused by the giant hammer hitting the ground still made Zhou Yuan's body stagger, almost falling to the ground without standing firm.

"Wu Xiong, you dare to betray us!"

Hou Tong, who hadn't succeeded in one strike, was full of anger on his face, but he wasn't targeting Zhou Yuan, but Wu Xiong on the other side.

It was a pity that Wu Xiong only glanced at him when he turned his head, focused his gaze on the silver giant hammer in his hand, and then ignored him, instead focusing on dealing with the other two people who were besieging him.

Six against three, the decline of the Cold-Resisting Realm experts on the Longshan side was very obvious.

But this decline was soon made up for by the Earth-Digging Realm experts.

The closing speed of the iron gate slowed down, and the speed of the Longshan army entering became faster. More than 1,000 soldiers in the front army soon filled the area near the iron gate, and then pushed horizontally toward the valley.

Soon, they made space for the Longyou Army in the rear.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh...

The first batch of Longyou Army finally stepped into the iron gate.

They didn't rush to go up, but first used bows to aim at the six Cold-Resisting Realm experts who were besieging Zhou Yuan and the three, and then began to fire continuously.

Zhou Yuan and the three, who had just shown signs of defeat, had their pressure lightened a lot with the help of iron arrows.

Moreover, as more and more Longyou Army entered the iron gate and joined the ranks of shooting arrows, the three could even press Hou Tong and the six to fight back.

"Lord Hong, it's time for you to make a move!"

Seeing his own side retreating steadily, Hou Tong finally couldn't help but shout for help to Xia Hong, who was still above the iron gate.

Du...

It was a pity that the response to him above the iron gate was a loud noise.

A specially made iron arrow shot from above his head, which was picked away by Xia Hong with his ceremonial blade.

That iron arrow had most of its force removed and deflected once, yet it could still be firmly inserted into the 3-meter-thick iron gate.

Xia Hong, who had fallen to the ground, looked up at the large stone blocks densely packed above the stone wall, his expression rising slightly with a trace of solemnity.

That Cold-Resisting Realm expert with superb archery skills was hiding behind the giant stone on the stone wall. The one who had point-cleared the valley entrance guards just now must have been this person.

"The strength is at least 14 *zong*. It can hurt me, and shooting at vital points could even take my life. This Longshan can actually make this kind of bow!"

A bit troublesome.

Xia Hong subconsciously looked outside the iron gate, his mind already starting to calculate whether he should run away.

Longshan's strength was a bit strong!

More than half of the Longyou Army had already entered the valley entrance. The hundreds of Earth-Digging Realm experts in the chain area had long since begun to collapse, their positions occupied by Longshan people. The other 2,000 Earth-Digging Realm experts stationed on the periphery also had parts in contact with the Longshan army.

The result was not beyond Xia Hong's expectation. As soon as the two sides collided, the allied forces of Zhaoyang and Cold-Qiong were like paper, retreating directly backward.

He wasn't here to fight for his life. If Cold-Qiong couldn't even hold this, he had to plan his retreat first.

However, Xia Hong's reaction seemed to be late.

Shiu...

Hu...

Chi...

A sword, a blade, a spear.

Three Cold-Resisting Realm experts holding different weapons suddenly jumped down from above the stone wall, the target clearly being Xia Hong.

What was even more fatal was that the Longyou Army, which had just been shooting arrows to support Wu Xiong and the three, also turned their direction at this moment, shooting a wave of incomparably dense arrow rain toward Xia Hong.

"The target... is me?"

Xia Hong, who realized it in hindsight, had his expression suddenly turn as gloomy as blood!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 247 =====