Chapter 328

Boom, boom, boom...

A huge rumbling sound came from the flank of the depression. Xia Hong glanced out of the corner of his eye, and his originally somewhat playful gaze suddenly became much more solemn.

On the snowfield on the western side of the depression, although not a single cold beast could be seen, the earth was rumbling incessantly. Countless shrill wolf howls came from beneath the ground, and the originally calm ground actually began to produce mysterious bulges.

Chi, chi, chi...

Those bulges formed a winding line, rushing toward the two-thousand-strong army at the depression at an extremely rapid speed.

"Cloud-Dragon Army, Horizontal-Blade Battalion, fire! The other four battalions, guard the perimeter!"

"Dragon-Martial Army, Spear Battalion, fire! The other four battalions, guard the perimeter!"

It wasn't their first time dealing with cold beasts. It was no secret that Frostwolves liked to burrow under the snow and then launch surprise attacks on humans. Without Xia Hong needing to remind them, Xia Chuan and Director Yu Wen-Dao had already commanded the army to respond.

The two spoke almost simultaneously, only ordering the Horizontal-Blade Sixth Battalion and the Spear Sixth Battalion, which had the largest numbers, to fire, signaling the remaining four battalions to stay alert.

"Smart!"

Hearing only their first command, Xia Hong immediately turned his head to focus on dealing with the high-level cold beasts in front of him, no longer looking at the army's position.

Due to the low vegetation coverage, the snow depth on the ground in Longyou was much higher than in Red-Wood Ridge, but even so, the snow depth in most areas was only between three and five meters.

Snow three to five meters deep could at most cover the figures of low-level Frostwolves; larger intermediate and high-level Frostwolves could not be hidden.

Therefore, the first wave of surprise attacks coming from beneath the ground at this moment was just the first wave of decoys from the Frostwolf tribe.

Xia Chuan and Director Yu Wen-Dao clearly saw this, which is why they only let six battalions fire, leaving four battalions to guard the surroundings.

Since the two's military command ability far exceeded his expectations, Xia Hong could naturally devote more thought to dealing with the high-level cold beasts on his side.

His target at this moment was one Teng-Jiao and two Thunder-Kui. Unlike the previous situation, these three high-level cold beasts besieging him were not only very strong but also cooperated with extreme tacit understanding.

The two Thunder-Kui, with over twenty "manes" of strength, appeared to be the main attackers, but in reality, they were just constantly charging, using their large bodies to restrict his position;

And that Teng-Jiao was the one truly responsible for the main attack. It actually did not transform into combat form but maintained its two-meter-plus posture, wandering under the snow around him, occasionally rushing out from the darkness, bringing out streaks of cyan light, several times nearly tearing the skin on his neck.

Bang...

A Thunder-Kui slammed into his back. Xia Hong did not raise his blade to block this time but kicked the ground with both feet, holding his ground with brute force.

The shockwave generated by the collision of violent power, although it did not cause any damage, made the blood in his body surge incessantly.

Xia Hong's whole body strength surged, and he suddenly exerted force, leaning back fiercely.

Pa...

He had been the one receiving the force just now, so his blood naturally surged. Now that the receiving side had changed to the Thunder-Kui behind him, the strength gap between the two was instantly reflected.

The sharp horn on the Thunder-Kui's forehead was bent by the impact, and its thirty-meter-long body not only retreated a full fifty or sixty meters, but in the end, it couldn't even stand steady, directly flipping onto its side on the ground.

"Roar..."

Xia Hong naturally wouldn't knock it over for no reason, because the second Thunder-Kui had already charged at him from the front, and the position aimed at by its electric-arc-flickering sharp horn was precisely his chest.

After a roar, the Thunder-Kui's horn was less than two meters away from him. At this distance, let alone dodging, he didn't even have time to raise his blade.

Shiu...

Xia Hong himself didn't intend to dodge. The Shattering Divine Light in his left eye suddenly erupted, hitting the Thunder-Kui's horn directly.

The sharp horn on the Thunder-Kui's forehead suddenly erupted with intense heat, and then, with the point hit by the Shattering Divine Light as the core, it slowly cracked, just like a spider web gradually spreading across its forehead.

"Roar..."

The intense pain made the Thunder-Kui roar incessantly. Although its forward-rushing body did not stop, by the time it hit Xia Hong's chest, its power was almost gone.

Pa...

Xia Hong just stretched out his left hand and slapped it fiercely, directly breaking the Thunder-Kui's horn, then raised his Cold-Blood Blade high with his right hand and thrust it toward the Thunder-Kui's left eye.

However, at the critical moment, Xia Hong twisted his wrist, the Cold-Blood Blade turning into a reverse grip, the blade tip pointing downward, actually stabbing into the snow beneath his feet.

Puchi!

"Hiss..."

A sharp hissing sound came from the snow beneath his feet. Xia Hong exerted force with his right hand, actually picking out a small cyan-jade snake from inside.

"If you don't make a move when you're already at my feet, then I'll make the first move!"

How could this high-level Teng-Jiao, sneaking up from the snow, escape his Eye of Truth? Xia Hong deliberately didn't dodge the Thunder-Kui's charge; he was pretending not to see it, deliberately letting it come over.

The Teng-Jiao was stabbed by the Cold-Blood Blade, struggling for less than three or four breaths before its eyes completely lost their spirit, and its life was directly cut off.

Xia Hong casually threw the Teng-Jiao carcass away, gripped the Cold-Blood Blade, and his body shot toward the Thunder-Kui whose horn had been hit by the Shattering Divine Light.

Puchi...

The Thunder-Kui behind had just stood steady from the snow, and when it looked up, it saw Xia Hong's Cold-Blood Blade stabbing into its companion's skull. After a flash of horror in its eyes, its gaze gradually became unfocused.

Clearly, it had begun to have thoughts of retreating!

The attraction of the Cold-Ruins Tripod was indeed powerful, but the death threat Xia Hong brought to it was clearly much stronger.

"Roar..."

The Thunder-Kui first roared at the sky, putting on a violent posture as if to rush toward Xia Hong, and then the next second, it actually turned and fled toward the south.

Xia Hong was stunned for a moment by this ridiculous scene, but immediately noticed that a dozen cold beasts in other directions had also begun to retreat.

"This is calling other companions to retreat together. These high-level cold beasts, their intelligence is indeed not low; they even know how to advance and retreat together!"

However, those who were scared off were, after all, only a small part.

From the beginning of the beast tide until now, Xia Hong had personally killed over twenty high-level cold beasts. This number would be a lot in a normal hunt, but it clearly didn't count for much right now.

There were nearly two hundred high-level cold beasts that had rushed out from the southern fog zone just now; the ones he killed were at most one-tenth of them.

Of course, the others also had some small gains.

Xia Hong scanned the battlefield and found that near the squads led by Li Ying Xuan Ling, Li Li Tiancheng, and Hou Jing, there were also three to five high-level cold beasts lying down.

"As long as they know fear, as long as the army can hold, we can kill them all sooner or later!"

The army wasn't just holding; there was even a trend of counter-killing the beast tide.

Although Xia Hong had been dealing with the high-level cold beasts on this side, he would also pay attention to the rear of the depression from time to time, so he knew the army's situation like the back of his hand.

The first wave of decoys from the Frostwolf tribe on the left hadn't even been able to break through the snow to reach the ground before they were all shot to death by the arrow formation.

The second wave of the offensive, composed of intermediate and high-level Frostwolves, came from the right. The four battalions reserved by Xia Chuan and Director Yu Wen-Dao not only perfectly held them off with the arrow formation but even held on until the first six battalions finished off the first wave of decoys and turned back to assist them.

Xia Hong noticed that Peng Bo's squad had some trouble, so he immediately drew his blade and rushed over, not forgetting to continue paying attention to the army's situation along the way.

At this moment, the army was facing more than just the Frostwolf tribe.

Hundreds of Snow-Manes were also rushing over from the snowfield at the rear of the depression.

It was just that they clearly hadn't grasped the timing well.

Over a hundred intermediate and high-level Frostwolves hadn't even been able to rush into the army's interior, always being suppressed by the arrow formation hundreds of meters away. At this time, the Snow-Mane tribe rushing over from the rear was nothing more than making the army divert a portion of their people to deal with them, easing the pressure on the intermediate and high-level Frostwolves on the right.

"Cloud-Dragon Army, listen to the order: Scout Battalion and Mo-Dao Battalion, turn around and suppress the rear."

"Dragon-Martial Army, listen to the order: Scout Battalion and Horizontal-Blade Battalion, turn around and suppress the Snow-Manes!"

Sure enough, just as Xia Hong rushed to Peng Bo's side, he heard the voices of Xia Chuan and Director Yu Wen-Dao commanding the army.

"It's useless for the Snow-Mane tribe to come. This is the effect of the training earlier. A beast tide of a mere three digits, let alone defeating them, even wanting to break the formation of the Cloud-Dragon Army and Dragon-Martial Army is absolutely impossible!"

Bang...

Peng Bo was being tightly entangled in mid-air by a hundred-meter-long giant Teng-Jiao. Other members of the squad were busy dealing with other cold beasts, and no one could spare a hand to help. He twisted his body frantically, just breaking free from the Teng-Jiao's abdomen, and before he could land, he was hit by the Teng-Jiao's giant tail again.

This Teng-Jiao's strength was clearly far greater than his. As the giant tail struck, he hurriedly raised his ghost-head broadsword to block, but he was still sent flying dozens of meters away, blade and all.

Puh...

Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Peng Bo hadn't landed yet when he sensed several streaks of golden light shooting toward him. His face froze, and looking down at the figure of a Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep below, a flash of panic appeared in his eyes.

Shiu... shiu...

As the golden light struck, realizing there was no way to dodge, Peng Bo subconsciously protected his head, chest, and other vital parts, intending to take the hit head-on.

Clang... clang... clang...

But a large hand suddenly caught him from behind.

Then, a blade light flashed before his eyes, and those golden lights, which were dazzlingly fast, were all accurately blocked by a blood-colored narrow blade.

"Many thanks, my lord!"

Peng Bo naturally recognized the Cold-Blood Blade, and he immediately let out a long sigh of relief.

"Don't be careless; these high-level cold beasts will also cooperate with each other!"

Hearing Xia Hong's reminder, Peng Bo first looked at the Teng-Jiao that had just entangled him, then looked at the demonic sheep that had shot golden light at him, and immediately nodded, saying in a deep voice: "Indeed, but they seem to cooperate in the form of small groups. It seems these cold beasts, like us humans, also have their own small circles."

Hearing this, a flash of agreement immediately rose on Xia Hong's face.

Clearly, not just him, but Peng Bo and the others had also been observing.

The cold beasts all around seemed chaotic, but if one observed carefully, one would find that basically every squad was dealing with twenty-plus beasts.

This proved that these high-level cold beasts that had just rushed out from the fog zone, while appearing chaotic, were actually fighting against the Great Xia Frigid-Resistant Level fighters in the form of small groups.

These high-level cold beasts could actually transcend tribal concepts and build small groups regardless of species, just like human social interaction. This super-high level of organization undoubtedly indicated that their intelligence far exceeded human imagination.

"If these high-level cold beasts go one step further, they could almost form a Cold Beast Kingdom. No, no, Red-Wood Ridge and Longshan are just the tip of the iceberg of this world, and the high-level cold beasts inside aren't too many. Whether they exist in other places, it's really hard to say?"

Cold Beast Kingdom!

These four words appeared in Xia Hong's mind, and his face became incomparably solemn in an instant.

Whoosh...

A gust of howling wind suddenly interrupted Xia Hong's train of thought.

The fierce wind came from the rear of the depression. Before Xia Hong could turn his head, he heard exclamations coming from the army at the rear of the depression.

"No, something's wrong!"

"Why did such a strong wind suddenly blow?"

"We can't hold it; the iron arrows are being blown off course."

"This wind is specifically targeting the army."

"No, there's cold air in this wind; ice crystals have formed on my bow."

"Ice crystals have also formed on my iron armor."

On the right side of the army, that is, behind the group of intermediate and high-level Frostwolves, a violent white gale had suddenly blown in.

Normal air currents have no color; the white color everyone saw clearly represented that this gale contained extremely strong cold air.

"Everyone, follow me and retreat to the army's position! Do not panic!"

Xia Hong's loud shout made all the Frigid-Resistant Level fighters present freeze. They didn't ask why, directly abandoning the cold beasts they were entangled with, and at the same time turned and ran wildly toward the army at the rear of the depression.

"What about these high-level cold beasts?"

"Their target is the Cold-Ruins Tripod, not the army!"

"How did that cold wind blow up?"

"There's something strange; retreat with the Lord first!"

Unlike the others, Xia Hong's left eye was flickering with a faint light at this moment, his gaze fixed on the mid-air directly behind the group of Frostwolves on the right side of the army, his expression incomparably solemn.

"That is a... Beast King?"

Others couldn't see clearly, but he had the Eye of Truth. Behind the hundred-plus intermediate and high-level Frostwolves, in mid-air about fifty meters above the ground, a miniature Frostwolf no more than a meter long was clearly hovering.

That Frostwolf was covered in a layer of silver-white, supple fur, the barbs around its neck glowing with a bright silver light. Unlike ordinary high-level cold beasts whose pupils were cyan-jade, its pupils were black and white, just like a human's.

It was opening its blood-red mouth wide, spitting out white frost.

That white frost was precisely the source of this cold wind.

Whoosh... whoosh...

The gale raged for over ten breaths. As soon as the group of Frigid-Resistant Level fighters retreated to the army's position, the soldiers in the front row had already begun to fall, flying backward.

With the Cold-Ruins Tripod providing heat, the cold air in this gale was not enough to fear; at most, it would just form a few ice crystals on the soldiers' armor and weapons. The problem was that this wind current was too powerful, with an intensity of at least half a "mane" to one "mane." The soldiers of the two armies, with their cultivation at the limit of the Earth-Digging Realm, simply couldn't withstand it.

"Discard bows, prepare for close-quarters combat!"

"Discard bows, prepare for close-quarters combat!"

Xia Chuan and Director Yu Wen-Dao shouted simultaneously. At this moment, the soldiers simply couldn't hold their bows steady. Even if someone in the back row barely managed to shoot an arrow, the violent air current caused the iron arrows to completely lose their accuracy, and some iron arrows were even blown back by the air current, injuring their own people.

Therefore, discarding bows and engaging the cold beasts in close-quarters combat was the only choice!

Hearing the commands of their respective commanders, the soldiers of the two armies all threw away their strong bows in unison, drew their respective weapons, and as before, the soldiers of the six battalions stared at the Snow-Mane tribe at the rear, while the Scout Battalion and the other three battalions continued to watch the hundred-plus intermediate and high-level Frostwolves on the right.

"Ying Xuan Ling, you lead all the Frigid-Resistant Level fighters to sit in the vicinity of the iron-wheeled carts. Do not go out. If any cold beasts rush into the army formation, wipe them out quickly."

"Understood!"

After several months of getting along, Li Ying Xuan Ling was no longer so resistant to Xia Hong. Realizing the situation was urgent, she responded quickly and led the two hundred-plus Frigid-Resistant Level fighters to rush to the vicinity of the iron-wheeled carts.

"The things loaded on the iron-wheeled carts must be the backup plan he left behind!"

Fighting until now, Li Ying Xuan Ling had long since seen some clues. The iron-wheeled carts were still covered by black beast-hide tarps, making it impossible to see what was loaded on them, but she could conclude that this was the backup plan Xia Hong had left for today.

Otherwise, at this critical juncture, why would Xia Hong need her to lead two hundred-plus Frigid-Resistant Level fighters to guard here?