Chapter 297

The forty-eighth year of Longyou, the twenty-first day of the sixth month.

About four hours after nightfall, the snowfield two kilometers west of Wu Shuang.

The mighty three thousand Longyou soldiers finally arrived.

"The army will rest on the spot, prepare bows and organize troops!"

Although the Wu Shuang giant stone station could be vaguely seen under the snowy night, the three thousand soldiers had traveled a long distance after all, so Li Ying Xuan Ling did not rush to attack the city, but instead ordered everyone to rest on the spot.

"The army will rest on the spot, prepare bows and organize troops!"

"The army will rest on the spot, prepare bows and organize troops!"

…………

As the military order was conveyed to all parts, the three thousand soldiers all stopped their steps, inserted their long spears into the snow beside them, then sat cross-legged on the spot, took down the longbows behind them, and began to quickly organize their armor and weapons.

Clang, clang, clang...

The three thousand soldiers didn't say a word, only the sound of armor and weapons rubbing against each other could be heard. Many soldiers looked up and gazed at the hazy giant stone station under the snowy night to the east, their eyes full of killing intent, and the atmosphere suddenly became extremely solemn.

Li Ying Xuan Ling led the group of Frost-Resistant-level fighters in the front, looking at the giant stone station from a distance.

"Tell me, how should we fight?"

Li Xuandu spoke first: "Wu Shuang only has one main gate on the east side, three meters wide and six meters high. It's too troublesome for three thousand people to attack from there. Let Second Uncle join us in taking action, and we'll break through the giant stones directly from the west and attack!"

Having been the hegemon of Longyou for decades, Longshan basically knew everything about the situation of the eleven giant camps under Longyou, and Wu Shuang was naturally no exception.

Attacking from the main gate would require the army to continue detouring to the east side, and the difficulty of breaking through the three-meter-wide, six-meter-high cast-iron main gate was not low. Even if successful, the advantage of the three thousand Longyou soldiers wouldn't be able to be displayed.

Compared to attacking the main gate, breaking through the giant stones on the west side and letting the army attack the Wu Shuang station directly was clearly more reasonable and convenient.

As for the odds of winning, it was completely outside the scope of everyone's consideration.

In tonight's battle, Longshan will definitely win!

So Li Xuandu's words immediately received unanimous agreement from everyone.

Including Li Ying Xuan Ling.

Her expression tightened slightly. Looking at the giant stones on the outskirts of Wu Shuang from a distance, she turned to look at Li Xuanping and said: "You just said that there is also a secret tunnel under the snow on the northeast side, which connects to the Hanqiong camp. More than an hour has passed, confirm that no reinforcements have come, right?"

When the army approached within three kilometers of Wu Shuang, Li Xuanping and the other seven Frost-Resistant-level fighters who were temporarily acting as scouts knew that the great battle was about to begin, so they all returned to the team.

Li Xuanping nodded and replied: "It can be confirmed. Yuankai and I have been watching on the north side. From beginning to end, only the 1000 garrison troops from Hanqiong have come."

Previously, when the 1000-strong Hanqiong army appeared on the northeast side of Wu Shuang, Li Xuanping was very puzzled. He had been watching three kilometers north of Wu Shuang, and theoretically, if an army of a thousand people approached, he would definitely have discovered it.

But those 1000 people from Hanqiong seemed to appear abruptly. If Does Da Xia hadn't suddenly shrunk the warning line, he might not have seen them.

It wasn't until he went back to report to Li Ying Xuan Ling and heard his sister Li Xuanqiu say that she had discovered a secret tunnel under the snow in the southeast that he reacted and realized that there was a high probability of a secret tunnel under the snow on the northeast side of Wu Shuang as well.

So when he returned to the north side of Wu Shuang for the second time, he immediately began to search on the snowfield. Upon searching, he really discovered it.

After discovering the secret tunnel, he didn't destroy it, but just kept watching it, guarding against Does Da Xia having more reinforcements coming from Hanqiong.

Over the past hour, no reinforcements had indeed come. He had already reported this to Li Ying Xuan Ling when he returned to the army just now.

Li Ying Xuan Ling nodded, and her gaze fell on Li Xuanqiu again.

"There have been no reinforcements from Beehive either, confirmed!"

Then it can basically be confirmed that Wu Shuang currently only has 1000 Yun Jiao soldiers, plus at most three thousand ordinary Earth-Digging Realm soldiers, totaling at most four thousand people.

The Woodcutting Realm is completely negligible!

"It's about time, notify the army..."

"Leader Li, trust you have been well!"

Just as Li Ying Xuan Ling was about to give orders to everyone, a voice suddenly came from the east side, interrupting her words.

Li Ying Xuan Yan, Li Xuantian, Li Xuandu, and all the Frost-Resistant-level fighters of Longshan tightened their expressions upon hearing this voice and all turned to look toward the east side.

On the outskirts of the Wu Shuang giant stone formation on the east side, thirty-some figures were already standing there, and those thirty-some people were slowly walking toward them.

Under the snowy night, it was too far to see the faces of the thirty-some people clearly. One could only see that except for the person in the lead who was dressed in black, everyone else was wearing Does Da Xia's iconic pale gold armor.

"It's Xia Hong's voice."

"Thirty-three people in total, they should all be Does Da Xia's Frost-Resistant-level fighters!"

"So many? Does Da Xia's strength is indeed much stronger than Zhaoyang."

Xia Hong, who was originally besieged by Hou Tong and the seven, actually held the Long Que Dao horizontally, broke through the encirclement at once, and swept toward his direction.

………………

Swish!

As early as the moment the voice sounded, the three thousand Longyou soldiers who had been organized stood up from the ground at the first moment, drew their bows, and aimed at the other side.

And as the group of Longshan Frost-Resistant-level fighters whispered, the other side also slowly walked from the outskirts of the station to a position four or five hundred meters away from them.

Four hundred meters was already within the visual range of Frost-Resistant-level fighters.

After seeing the faces of the thirty-three people clearly, everyone in Longshan, including Li Ying Xuan Ling, had a trace of horror rise in their eyes, and their expressions were somewhat shaken.

It wasn't that they saw something terrifying. It was indeed Does Da Xia's Frost-Resistant-level fighters who had come, and the leader was none other than Xia Hong, whom they hated to the bone. They also recognized the other four old acquaintances from Longyou: Chen Yingyuan, Chen Yingba, Peng Bo, and Wu Tianxing. They also had impressions of Yu Wentao, Qiu Peng, and other Frost-Resistant-level fighters who had appeared when rescuing Xia Hong at the Hulu Valley in Hanqiong.

The reason everyone's expressions were shaken was because of the others besides these familiar faces.

"Why are all these Frost-Resistant-level fighters of Does Da Xia so young?"

"Looking at this, most of them are in their early twenties, right?"

"Except for Chen Yingyuan and the other three, it seems there are few over thirty years old!"

"Geniuses gathering together is nothing more than this, right?"

………………

From the number to the names, and then to the specific people.

Longshan actually didn't know much about Does Da Xia's Frost-Resistant-level fighters.

Except for Qiu Peng, who had previously served as an envoy to the Longyou army camp, Yu Wentao and Yuan Cheng, whom they had met at the Yanglu station, and the few they had fought at Hulu Valley, they were very unfamiliar with the others.

During the time Qiu Peng served as an envoy to the Longyou army camp earlier, Longshan had a misunderstanding because Qiu Peng's age of twenty-something was too eye-catching. Li Ying Xuan Ling and the others all thought he was the offspring of some important figure in Does Da Xia.

Looking at this group of people now, they discovered that Does Da Xia actually had so many Frost-Resistant-level fighters of similar age to Qiu Peng, and the others, even if they were older than him, didn't look over forty.

The number of Frost-Resistant-level fighters Longshan dispatched tonight reached more than fifty, and their average age was at least over forty;

But the thirty-three people on the Does Da Xia side, the oldest seemed to be Peng Bo and Chen Yingyuan, the two old acquaintances from Longyou.

Age means potential and talent; this is a truth everyone understands.

At this moment, including Li Ying Xuan Ling, the expressions of all the Frost-Resistant-level fighters in Longshan became incomparably solemn.

…………

"They are scared by the age!"

Seeing the solemn expressions of the Longshan group, Xia Hong reacted immediately.

It's normal. Tonight, almost all of Does Da Xia's Frost-Resistant-level fighters were present.

Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, Lin Kai, Lu Yang, Yue Feng, Xu Ning, Liu Yuan—not to mention these young ones; even the three brothers Luo Yuan and Zhao Long, and the two brothers Ying Xuan, although they were almost thirty, were still excessively young compared to this group of forty-something-year-olds in Longshan.

Xia Hong shook his head slightly, didn't take this matter to heart, led everyone to continue walking forward, and stopped at a position nearly three hundred meters away from the Longyou army.

Three hundred meters was about the limit of the range of a thirty-stone strong bow.

"Leader Xia, why don't you dare to continue walking forward?"

Li Ying Xuan Ling, who had been silent, saw Xia Hong and the others stop and couldn't help but tease with a sneer.

Xia Hong looked up at her, raised his eyebrows slightly, and smiled: "The edge of the Longshan army is too sharp, so Xia naturally has to be cautious. I hope Leader Li will not blame me!"

Originally, she wanted to provoke Xia Hong, but who would have thought that Xia Hong would give such a response? Li Ying Xuan Ling felt as if her fist had hit cotton, and her expression froze.

"Leader Li, Does Da Xia is not Longshan's number one enemy, at least not at the current stage. You should know this in your heart, right?"

Xia Hong had no intention of arguing with Li Ying Xuan Ling. After asking this question, his gaze slowly shifted to Li Xuantian behind her.

Like the three Zhou Yuan, no abnormality could be seen on Li Xuantian. When Xia Hong looked at him, there was no emotional fluctuation in the other's eyes. Like the other Longshan Frost-Resistant-level fighters, there was only hatred and anger.

"Robbing my supplies for no reason, slaughtering my new army, ambushing the Blood Guard Army, seriously injuring Leader Hou, imprisoning hundreds of my Longyou soldiers and more than ten Frost-Resistant-level fighters—Does Da Xia is not my Longshan's number one enemy? Leader Xia, you really know how to joke..."

As Li Ying Xuan Ling spoke, her voice rose, clearly wanting the three thousand Longyou soldiers in the rear to hear. After a pause, she sternly rebuked:

"Xia Hong, the war in Longyou was all started because of your Does Da Xia. Longshan did not want to start a war. If you obediently hand over all the prisoners of Longshan and Zhaoyang, and then lead Does Da Xia to withdraw from Longyou and swear never to invade again, you can avoid the war tonight. How about it?"

Although Li Ying Xuan Ling covered it up well, Xia Hong saw it clearly. When he looked at Li Xuantian just now, her eyes clearly flickered.

So, as he expected, Li Ying Xuan Ling knew very well from beginning to end that Li Xuantian was associated with Bai Lu Gui.

But in order to deal with Does Da Xia and maintain Longshan's status as a hegemon, she still chose to let it go and let Bai Lu Gui do whatever he wanted.

Xia Hong looked at Li Ying Xuan Ling, his anger rising, and sneered:

"Does Da Xia has no precedent of handing over prisoners. To avoid the war tonight, are you so sure that three thousand Longyou soldiers can take me down?"

Li Ying Xuan Ling didn't speak, just signaled to her three brothers with her eyes.

The three understood. Li Ying Xuan Yan waved his broadsword, Li Xuantian slashed his long spear, and Li Xuandu drew his long sword. The three pointed their weapons at Xia Hong and roared sternly: "Kill!"

The three thousand Longyou soldiers, who were holding strong bows, all followed and roared in unison:

"Kill, kill, kill!"

With the physical fitness of humans in the Frozen Abyss, even if it was just three thousand Woodcutting Realm soldiers shouting in unison, the movement was extremely astonishing, not to mention three thousand Longyou soldiers.

Three thousand Earth-Digging Realm limit soldiers, all with a basic strength of over thirty thousand jin, and some even beginning to reshape their skin-membranes, roared in unison. The momentum created was far beyond what ordinary people could imagine.

Boom...

Just the airflow caused by their roar made the snowflakes within a radius of one kilometer change direction directly. The thick killing intent almost condensed into substance, covering and pressing toward the Wu Shuang giant stone station in the east. The momentum was terrifying to the extreme.

Whoosh!

The violent airflow rushed toward them. It must be said that not to mention Xia Chuan and other Does Da Xia Frost-Resistant-level fighters, even Xia Hong's expression became much more solemn instantly.

This is the momentum of an elite army; the more people there are, the more terrifying it is.

The Yun Jiao Army's momentum was also good, but compared to these three thousand Longyou soldiers, it was still not even close.

"Cannot be resisted by force. Even for me, once surrounded by these three thousand people, if I don't die in the end, I'm afraid I'll have to lose a layer of skin. Having been a hegemon for more than forty years, Longshan's foundation is truly enviable..."

Just as Xia Hong's expression was solemn, Li Ying Xuan Ling spoke again.

This time, there was a clear threat in her voice.

"Xia Hong, Wu Shuang has no barriers. Breaking through the outer giant stones is easy for us. You only have four thousand people in total in the station. It is impossible to hold off my three thousand Longyou soldiers. I will give you one last chance. If you agree to the conditions I just proposed, they are still valid now."

Li Ying Xuan Ling, is she planning to rely on her tongue to make Does Da Xia withdraw from Longyou?

The repeated persuasion made a strange look rise in Xia Hong's eyes.

But soon, he understood Li Ying Xuan Ling's thoughts, and his expression tightened slightly.

"This woman is not stupid either!"

Li Ying Xuan Ling should know about the hidden danger of Bai Lu Gui and doesn't want to consume too much of her vital strength on Does Da Xia, which is why she persuaded them repeatedly, trying to make Does Da Xia withdraw from Longyou without bloodshed.

What a pity!

In this world, there is no such cheap thing.

"Li Ying Xuan Ling, I want to see how your three thousand Longyou soldiers are going to break through the Wu Shuang station. I..."

Whoosh...

Before Xia Hong finished speaking, his brows twitched violently, and his body retreated suddenly.

A terrifying silver blade light, pulling out a snow wave dozens of meters long, slashed at him violently from mid-air on the north side.

Bang!

The blade light slashed at the position where Xia Hong was standing. The ground was slashed into a half-meter-wide, three-to-four-meter-long gully, and the snow mist rose more than ten meters high.

Xia Hong had long retreated more than ten meters away. Including the group of Frost-Resistant-level fighters like Xia Chuan beside him, they all retreated with him.

"Don't talk nonsense. The Wu Shuang station has long been empty. Does Da Xia's people are retreating from the secret tunnel to Beehive. He is deliberately delaying time here!"

In the snow mist, a hurried, aged voice came.

Li Tiancheng, dressed in white with silver hair, broke through the snow mist and got up again to chase toward Xia Hong.

The expressions of the Longshan Frost-Resistant-level fighters were all frozen, and they hadn't reacted from Li's news yet.

"Army, advance, kill!"

Li Ying Xuan Ling spoke sternly, her tone clearly carrying a trace of shame and annoyance.

They had all been played!

Xia Hong never intended to fight Longshan at Wu Shuang and had withdrawn everyone.

"The three thousand Longyou soldiers have come from afar, so you can't go back empty-handed. Let's consider this Wu Shuang as Does Da Xia handing it over to you all to manage for a few days. Xia will take his leave!"

Like Li Ying Xuan Ling and Hou Hu, Li Tiancheng's strength was also much stronger than before, but wanting to keep Xia Hong was clearly still impossible.

While Xia Hong entangled him, creating an opportunity for Xia Chuan and the other thirty-two to escape, he turned his head and laughed loudly at Li Ying Xuan Ling and the others who hadn't caught up yet. After speaking, he galloped away toward the east.

"There will be no good end to conspiring with a tiger. Li Ying Xuan Ling, I'll give you six words: those who play with fire will get burned."

Li Ying Xuan Ling had already chased to the top of the giant stones on the west side of the Wu Shuang station. Looking at Xia Hong's figure who had already fled, her willow-leaf eyebrows trembled slightly with anger, and her face was full of rage.

Bang!

Li Ying Xuan Yan led people to break through the giant stone wall on the west side, and the mighty Longyou army rushed in along the opening. Looking at the empty Wu Shuang station, their full anger had nowhere to vent.

"Thief, Xia Hong the thief, we were all deceived, all deceived."

Li Ying Xuan Ling was furious and immediately cast her gaze on Li Xuanping, Li Xuanqiu, Cheng Guang, and Meng Ying, the four people responsible for scouting the enemy situation.

When these four returned to the team just now, they had all sworn that no one had entered or left Wu Shuang. Especially Li Xuanping and Li Xuanqiu, it was they who said earlier that there were two batches of reinforcements from Beehive and Hanqiong arriving at Wu Shuang.

If it weren't for this news, she wouldn't have been so sure that Does Da Xia would hold Wu Shuang to the death.

The four also realized that they had made a mistake. Their expressions were very flustered, and they didn't dare to look Li Ying Xuan Ling in the eye.

"Leader, shall we chase directly? They have four thousand people retreating to Beehive, and their marching speed must be slower than ours. We should be able to catch up."

Hearing Song Kang's words, the anger on Li Ying Xuan Ling's face became even more intense. She scolded: "Do you know how many people they have in total? How far have they run? And whether they retreated to Beehive?

We have already walked for four hours. If we continue to chase, what if they set an ambush halfway? You can't even act as scouts properly, and you've been teased to this extent, yet you still want to continue chasing? Everyone stay here and rest!"

Li Ying Xuan Ling looked down at the three thousand Longyou soldiers below. More than half of them were stunned on the spot, completely losing the momentum they had when they first arrived at Wu Shuang, and her expression suddenly became even more depressed.

"Deliberately pretending to hold Wu Shuang to the death to weaken our morale. Xia Hong, what a thief. Does Da Xia only has three strongholds in Longyou in total. I want to see where else you can retreat to next time!"

(End of chapter)