Chapter 346: Strong Soldiers, Brave Generals, One Against Three: The Cause of the Beast Tide [Ten Thousand]

"Kill!"

As Xia Chuan finished speaking, the six thousand soldiers who had already discarded their bows on the spot roared in unison and surged forward like a tidal wave toward the approaching beast tide.

The roars on the battlefield served to boost morale, but among individual soldiers, the reasons varied: some sought to dispel their inner fear and steel their courage; others were driven by soaring killing intent, acting on raw emotion.

The condition of these six thousand soldiers of Great Xia clearly fell into the latter category.

Facing the overwhelming beast tide before them, not a single face showed fear; their cheeks flushed red, ecstatic to the extreme, eyes brimming with intense bloodlust, as if the beast tide were a delicious delicacy.

Crack…

In the Ice Abyss World, strength reigns supreme; no matter how fast the soldiers charged, none could outpace the strongest commander, so the first to make contact with the beast tide would inevitably be the Commander of the Six Armies.

Two mid-tier Lei Kui were beheaded by Xia Chuan in a single glance.

Clang…

He raised his black blade, ready to press forward, when a golden horn suddenly slammed into him from behind the Lei Kui corpses, halting his advance; the immense force shattered his palms and rendered his black blade utterly immobile, freezing his body in place.

Xia Chuan's gaze flickered, taking in the golden-eyed Demon Sheep behind the horn—its body barely two meters tall, covered in over a thousand eyes—and his pupils narrowed slightly.

"A Thousand-Eyed Demon Sheep—its strength must exceed twenty manes!"

Li Li Li Baihe's cry from the southern exit of Mirror Valley caused Luo Ming and the others to instantly hold their breath, eyes wide with shock.

The Luo Yang squad was a high-level hunting team; they understood perfectly what a Thousand-Eyed Demon Sheep meant. Even if Xia Chuan was strong, one man with one blade against this beast… should still be…

"Aah…"

Boom!

The next instant, their expressions of worry froze solid.

Xia Chuan roared, gathering his strength, muscles bulging as he slammed his black blade forward with all his might—forcing the demon sheep's horn down to the ground with a thunderous crash.

The demon sheep had already activated its battle form the moment it sensed Xia Chuan's power, its body expanding to over thirty meters—but even so, it could not halt its head's descent; as its skull struck the earth, its entire body lost balance and collapsed with a deafening crash.

"Roar… roar… roar…"

The fallen demon sheep panicked, thrashing wildly on the ground, its countless back eyes snapping open, pupils shifting as they locked onto Xia Chuan's forehead—then unleashing a thousand golden beams in unison.

Shiiiiii…

Xia Chuan wore no armor, only his crimson viscount's everyday robe—and oddly, it bore an embroidered golden demon sheep, fangs bared and claws outstretched.

Clang… clang…

As the thousand golden beams struck, Xia Chuan did not foolishly try to block them all; instead, he drew back his blade and sidestepped to evade.

But had anyone observed closely, they would have noticed he subtly shifted from two-handed grip to one, freeing his left hand—which, as he retreated, snapped out with sudden force.

With the black blade no longer pressing it down, the demon sheep immediately felt the release; its limbs shot upright, its body rearing again—just as it tried to lift its head and charge forward—

Hiss!

Two silver greatswords, three meters long, erupted from the ground, rising left and right like guillotines, crossing precisely over the demon sheep's neck.

The sharpness and power of the two silver greatswords surpassed all imagination; the demon sheep's massive head was cleanly severed.

The blades moved too fast—the blood inside the beast hadn't even reacted yet; the jade-green bone and black flesh at the severed neck were clearly visible to the naked eye.

Puff…

But it lasted only an instant.

Blood gushed violently from the severed neck, spraying two to three hundred meters northward; the twenty-odd men at Mirror Valley's southern exit instantly caught the thick stench of blood.

Yet they had no time to care about the stench now.

All eyes were fixed on the two silver greatswords.

More precisely, on the crimson-silver giant slowly rising from the ground beneath them.

The giant stood roughly ten meters tall; the two silver greatswords just thrust from the earth were its arms, its lower limbs twin conical blades with four sharpened edges, and from neck to chest, back, waist, and limbs, every major part bristled with bright silver spikes—under the snow's glow, they radiated chilling menace, like a vast thicket of blades.

"That's the Chancellor's newly forged blade puppet, I heard it consumed eighty thousand catties of silver alone—according to current Camp Supply Department exchange rates, that's eight million contribution points!"

"Silver isn't yet available to everyone; Cold-Resistant rank can exchange only a thousand catties annually, strictly for weapon forging; fourth- to sixth-rank officials get eight thousand; third-rank, ten thousand; second-rank, twenty thousand; first-rank, only thirty thousand per year—so the Chancellor used nearly three years' worth of silver allocation to forge this puppet?"

"Eight million? Does the Chancellor even have that many contribution points?"

"The Chancellor has governed for years—this camp's current state is thanks to him. How could the Lord ever shortchange him? I heard he earns over five million contribution points in a single annual evaluation—his wealth is beyond our comprehension."

"Gulp… five million!"

"Silver is just one major material—the puppet also requires premium Zhu wood, a thousand-forged core, and thousands of forged spikes covering its body. Even excluding all those precious materials, the manpower consumed by the Craftsmen's Department was staggering. Last year in Xia Cheng, I heard the puppet's total cost was conservatively over thirty million contribution points—only four people in the entire camp could afford that."

"Besides the Chancellor, who else could?"

"Brother Brother Director Yu Wen Tao should be able to—he was the most important Hunting Department Director before the Military Department was formed. As soon as the Military Department was established, he switched to become its Director. He's led both of Great Xia's most critical departments—his wealth is naturally immense."

"Who are the other two?"

"The Director of the Jurisdiction Department, Liu Liu Yuan Cheng, and the Director of the Supply Department, Qiu Peng!"

"Thirty million contribution points? That's insane—it could fund our entire lifetime of comfort in Xia Cheng!"

"Three lifetimes!"

"All just to forge this puppet? The Chancellor is too extravagant."

"Extravagant? Look at the puppet's combat power before you say that!"

Without Li Li Li Baihe's reminder, everyone's eyes were already locked on the puppet—so they saw its performance clearly.

While they'd been staring at Xia Chuan, the Sixth Army's soldiers had already engaged the beast tide head-on.

With such a massive clash between army and tide, initial contact couldn't be fully entangled—it was primarily the front lines that clashed.

Though the beast tide was enormous, lacking unified command, its overall combat effectiveness was far weaker than an equal number of a single species of cold beast.

For instance, right now, the beast tide only charged blindly forward; many cold beasts trampled over their own kind to reach the army. Though cold beasts were resilient and rarely died from trampling, this chaotic, headless rush was terribly inefficient.

In contrast, the human side responded with clear tactics.

The first wave to charge were the Sixth Army's elite scouts—six hundred elite Cold-Resistant soldiers wielding various weapons, instantly carving over a hundred gaps in the front of the beast tide.

The remaining five thousand soldiers, organized by company, swiftly seized these gaps, slaughtering cold beasts while thrusting deep into the tide—within less than a hundred breaths, they'd split the beast tide into dozens of isolated battle zones.

Xia Chuan, black blade in right hand, silk threads in left, weaved through the beast tide, opening breakthroughs for the stalled army while guiding the puppet deeper into the core.

Crack…

Though the ten-meter-tall puppet was smaller than high-tier cold beasts in their battle forms, its sheer weight combined with Xia Chuan's silk-guided force generated crushing power that overwhelmed every cold beast.

Moreover, since the puppet's entire body bristled with spikes, even if a cold beast managed to collide with it—even knocking it down—it inflicted no real damage, only leaving its own body riddled with bloody holes.

Unafraid of pain, overpowering nearly all cold beasts, and enhanced by the silver blades' sharpness—the puppet was unstoppable on the battlefield, slaughtering countless mid- and low-tier cold beasts while repelling and even severely wounding some high-tier ones. As time passed, wherever the puppet advanced, the cold beasts scattered in terror, avoiding its blade at all costs.

"Press forward! The beast tide is breaking—frighten them! Let these vile beasts never dare cross the Arrow Bamboo Forest again!"

Xia Chuan had already plunged deep into the beast tide; his roar echoed across the entire battlefield.

Hearing the order, the Commander of the Sixth Army issued commands:

"Dragon Warrior Scout Company, assemble on the left flank—follow me!"

"Dragon-Slaying Scout Company, charge right! Great Axe Company, clear the way for the rest of the Halberd Companies—keep advancing!"

"Tiger-Panther Scout Company, strike from the flank—don't let the beast tide regroup!"

"Propaganda Warrior Scout Company, advance with the main force—the remaining nine companies follow me as rearguard—don't let a single cold beast turn back!"

"Divine Warrior Scout Company, charge in! Companies One through Five guard the west flank, Companies Six through Nine hold the east flank—split them completely!"

With the orders given, every soldier launched a fiercer charge.

Boom… boom… boom…

The army had actually driven the beast tide back into the southern Arrow Bamboo Forest.

No—not just driven back; the ground was littered with over two thousand cold beast corpses, at least thirty percent of them mid-tier, and dozens of high-tier beasts among them.

At Mirror Valley's southern exit, Luo Ming and the others stared at the sea of corpses, eyes filled with shock and awe—only when the army vanished into the Arrow Bamboo Forest, their view obscured, did someone finally speak.

"The Sixth Army's combat power has grown this strong?"

"A beast tide of nearly ten thousand—actually driven back?"

"Nearly ten thousand? It's definitely over ten thousand! Don't you remember? Before the tide even emerged, the soldiers had already emptied their quivers into the Arrow Bamboo Forest—those initial kills must've been substantial too."

"The Sixth Army's Cold-Resistant soldiers total nearly two thousand—almost half the entire camp's total. Such power isn't surprising!"

"Even a single company from the Sixth Army today could have swept all camps in Longyou five years ago!"

"Obviously—do you need to say it?"

"Every time our Luo Yang squad hunts a high-tier cold beast, we spend two or three days preparing—Spirit-Arm Bow, Beast-Binding Ropes, Giant Beast Clamps, Antidote Pills, Blood-Wound Pills, Blood-Boost Pills… before we even start, we spend over a thousand contribution points. Compared to the Sixth Army's efficiency, it's…"

"No comparison—it's a proper army. Forget the Cloud Dragon and Dragon-Warrior Armies—even any hundred-man company from the other four armies could sweep any full-strength high-level hunting team in the entire camp."

"The Chancellor's puppet is too powerful—I feel its swing generates at least forty manes of force. Has the Chancellor broken through to Cold-Resistant Peak?"

"Impossible—I heard he reached Late Cold-Resistant only in June. It's only early September—three months to Peak? No way!"

"Then how does the puppet generate such terrifying power?"

"The puppet's own weight is immense—it's the inertia from its swings that amplifies the Chancellor's strength."

"I see!"

………………

Luo Ming no longer heard the murmurs from his squad members; his mind was filled with the Sixth Army soldiers' ferocious demeanor and the Sixth Army Commander's calm, commanding presence amid the beast tide.

Was Xia Chuan the only powerful one?

He'd seen clearly—Brother Brother Director Yu Wen Tao's broadsword had also smashed aside several high-tier cold beasts, its force surely exceeding twenty manes;

Liu Liu Yuan Cheng's twin-bladed great axe had kept even high-tier beasts at bay—his strength, though perhaps not quite twenty manes, was close;

The remaining Luo Liu Liu Yuan, Hong Guang, and Hong Tian, though weaker, each had a base strength of at least twelve manes.

The six elite scout companies—all Cold-Resistant—need not be mentioned; every company captain and captain of the Sixth Army's nine companies were also Cold-Resistant; even ordinary soldiers had at least fifty thousand catties of strength—ignoring combat physique potential, nearly all stood on the brink of breakthrough.

To call the entire Sixth Army "strong soldiers, brave generals" was no exaggeration.

"I've heard Luo Liu Liu Yuan hasn't reached Cold-Resistant Peak yet—only Late Cold-Resistant—so he's an Upper-Class Combat Physique!"

After realizing this, Luo Ming's eyes filled with envy.

The "Xia Ritual: Regulations on Combat Bodies" clearly states that the higher the rank of a combat body, the greater its upper limit for strength growth during the Cold-Resisting Stage—though correspondingly, its cultivation speed becomes slower.

Thus, among the Cold-Resisting cultivators of Great Xia, the competition is no longer about who breaks through first, but who breaks through last; under equal resources, slower breakthroughs mean higher potential growth limits.

Luo Ming broke through to the Cold-Resisting Stage in November of last year; unfortunately, his base strength was only 1.7 manes, qualifying him as a mid-tier combat body.

In truth, a mid-tier combat body is already respectable among Great Xia's Cold-Resisting cultivators, but compared to the top figures of Great Xia, he still falls short.

"I've no chance left, but Cheng still has hope! His talent has even drawn high praise from the Lord. His starting point is higher than mine, and his future combat body potential will surely surpass mine. When he breaks through to the Cold-Resisting Stage, he will surely catch the Lord's eye!"

Thinking of his son, Luo Ming turned his head northward, his face filled with hope.

………………

"Roar!"

Deep in the western reaches of the Arrow Bamboo Grove, Xia Chuan raised his blade and severed the head of a high-grade Frost Wolf, then turned to survey the battlefield, his eyes brimming with lethal intent.

Six thousand soldiers had already dispersed by company throughout the grove, and the extermination of the beast tide was nearly complete.

Beside him, besides his own controlled blade puppets, were only the hundred elite scouts of the Cloud Dragon Army under Liu Liu Liu Yuan's command—on the ground, even high-grade cold beasts now lay in abundance.

"After more than five years of formation, the Cloud Dragon Army's combat power is finally worthy of mention!"

Of course, it wasn't just his own Cloud Dragon Army.

Xia Chuan turned to look at the Dragon Warrior Army's scout company, half a li to the east, a flicker of surprise rising in his eyes.

The Cloud Dragon Army's scouts had blade puppets to lead the way; the Dragon Warrior Army's scouts had none—yet under Brother Brother Director Yu Wen Tao's command, they had pushed as deep as the Cloud Dragon Army's scouts. It seemed the rumors in Xia Cheng were true: the Dragon Warrior Army's strength might not be weaker than the Cloud Dragon Army's.

"Commander, these damned beasts don't seem to fear death—they keep rushing deeper into the eastern reaches of the Arrow Bamboo Grove, with almost none returning to Redwood Ridge!"

"Is the treasure inside the Arrow Bamboo Grove really that alluring to them?"

"If they won't even fear death, it must be some immense treasure."

"But what treasure? In the past five years, every high-level hunting team had thoroughly surveyed the entire Arrow Bamboo Grove—and found nothing."

"Exactly. There are hardly any unexplored areas left in the Arrow Bamboo Grove. No one's ever reported finding anything. Then what are these cold beasts rushing toward?"

………………

Hearing Liu Liu Liu Yuan and the others' murmurs, Xia Chuan turned to watch the waves of cold beasts—some breaking through, others circling around the army's lines—still surging deeper into the eastern reaches of the Arrow Bamboo Grove. His brow furrowed slightly.

The Arrow Bamboo Grove stretches east-west. The position they now occupied lies at its western edge—the area closest to Redwood Ridge—with a north-south span of only a few dozen kilometers, separating Xia Cheng from Jing Valley—or, more broadly, Xia Cheng from the entire Longyou region.

The beast tide in the Arrow Bamboo Grove has persisted for so many years that anyone from Xia Cheng who has ever ventured out knows it well.

The beast tide follows the ripening cycle of the crystal fruits: every four months, three times a year, each wave numbering over ten thousand beasts. Their origin lies deep within Redwood Ridge; the cold beasts emerge from within, surge through narrow paths into the Arrow Bamboo Grove, and race eastward into its depths.

After each tide ends, roughly one-third of the cold beasts gradually return.

The cause of the tide is easy to guess: something within the Arrow Bamboo Grove must be drawing them in—and that something likely ripens every four months, otherwise the tide would not be so precisely timed.

Moreover, Xia Hong had long speculated that deep within the Arrow Bamboo Grove, or beyond its eastern edge, there must be some vast space; otherwise, over the past seven years and twenty-one tides, thirteen thousand cold beasts had already poured through—let alone the countless ones before Great Xia's founding, whose total number is incalculable.

It's impossible that so many cold beasts all perished. Thus, somewhere deep within the Arrow Bamboo Grove or along its eastern periphery, there must be a colossal space.

A treasure capable of triggering such massive beast tides, coupled with a vast space—no order from the Hunting Department was needed. In the past five years, every notable high-level team had already explored the Arrow Bamboo Grove.

Even Xia Chuan had ordered Liu Liu Liu Yuan and his Cloud Dragon squad to go; Brother Brother Director Yu Wen Tao's Dragon Warrior squad, Liu Liu Yuan Cheng's Dragon-Slaying squad, and Luo Liu Liu Yuan's Tiger-Panther squad had all gone—and like all others, they returned empty-handed.

If Xia Chuan remembered correctly, by the end of August, the survey of the Arrow Bamboo Grove would be nearly complete; he'd heard only the final dozen kilometers remained to be explored before reaching the eastern periphery.

"It's nearly certain there's no treasure inside the Arrow Bamboo Grove. The only hope now lies in the eastern periphery. Once the Six Armies finish this tide, the next four months will see a sharp drop in cold beast numbers within the grove—allowing us to fully survey those final dozen kilometers. Then the truth will be revealed."

Xia Chuan fell silent for a moment, then spoke to Liu Liu Liu Yuan and the others: "Let the stragglers go. We can't kill every last beast—just focus on the stronger ones."

Liu Liu Liu Yuan and the others immediately nodded and obeyed, directing their scouts to target wounded or high-value cold beasts on the battlefield.

Even the Six Armies' elite couldn't possibly slaughter ten thousand cold beasts; in truth, they had merely broken the tide's cohesion. The total number of dead cold beasts was at most thirty percent.

The Six Armies' elite scouts had charged ahead too quickly; it took over ten minutes before the other nine companies gradually entered the grove—and their arrival meant the outer periphery of the beast tide had been fully scattered.