Chapter 513: Return and Opportunity, the Decision

Beishuozhen’s city walls, each side measuring fifteen kilometers, have their main gate on the east, facing the Mao’ao Mountains, while the western gate serves as the rear entrance.

Though merely the rear gate, this western entrance is no small affair: the two massive gates stand twelve meters high and four meters wide, capable of accommodating over a dozen men side by side.

Under the snow-laden night, Beishuozhen resembled a black iron behemoth crouched silently upon the earth; soldiers clad in armor and armed with weapons occasionally marched across the western gate, while numerous figures atop the city walls’ arrow towers kept constant watch over the perimeter—clearly on alert.

A closer observation would reveal that not only the gates, but also the snow-covered ground for kilometers beyond them, teemed with undercover scouts moving restlessly, and even occasional sounds of combat could be heard.

“I returned on the 27th night…”

Above the northern edge of Beishuocheng, roughly two li away, Xia Hong gazed at the city; sensing Xia Chuan and Xu Ning approaching from behind, he waved them off with a gesture, signaling they need not bow, then spoke slowly.

“Has Brother been observing us all along?”

Xia Hong turned his head, seeing the excitement on Xia Chuan and Xu Ning’s faces, and could not help but smile. He set aside Yang Zun’s matter for now, nodded to the two, and praised them: “These past three years, you’ve given me no small surprises…”

Last night, he had exited the Nine Curves Blood Corridor, descended from Danxue Peak, arrived in Dongchuan City, and after merely inquiring briefly within its walls, immediately learned of the ongoing war.

The Four Great Armies of Great Xia have launched a simultaneous offensive against the Five Northern Towns!

To be fair, when he first heard this news, Xia Hong was both stunned and bewildered; even though he had learned some details from Jiang Xinfan and roughly guessed the camps had changed beyond recognition, launching four fronts at once still struck him as recklessly overreaching.

No matter how strong you are, you can’t fight like this!

Yet after observing the specifics of the four Xia armies, grasping their strategic intent, and witnessing firsthand last night Li Yangtian’s defection and Great Xia’s bloodless capture of Longgu Town… all these events shifted his perspective.

First, the Xia Army’s strength far exceeded his expectations—even surpassing what Jiang Xinfan had described. It made sense: Great Xia’s development had changed daily, almost hourly; Jiang Xinfan had left for Chencang in March, nearly nine months ago, so the changes were inevitable.

Second, the Xia Army’s operational intent: officially, the four armies moved out on December 26, but as of now—the late hours of the 29th—only two major battles had erupted in three days: one at Longgu Town, primarily due to Li Yangtian’s defection, with Great Xia deploying only Xianyang-level forces; the other, just concluded, was Baishu City.

Clearly, the simultaneous deployment of four armies was a decoy, designed to divert the attention of the four northern towns and conceal the operation against Longgu Town; only after securing Longgu Town did Xia Chuan truly make Baishu City the primary battlefield and begin direct confrontation with Beishuozhen.

As for the other three Xia armies, they have made no move whatsoever—clearly meant to pin down each town.

Xia Chuan… no, the overall commander of this war is Li Xuanling; Li Xuanling clearly understood that launching multiple fronts simultaneously was extremely unwise, especially since the towns had all retreated behind their walls—Great Xia would be the attacker in every engagement, making it impossible to advance on all four fronts at once.

Lastly, Great Xia’s bloodless capture of Longgu made Xia Hong realize that during his three-year absence, infiltration into the five northern towns had reached terrifying levels—even Yang Zun, Longgu’s second-in-command, had been turned, let alone lower-ranking officers.

Li Xuanling dared to declare war outright, and neither Xia Chuan, Yuwen Tao, nor any of Great Xia’s department heads raised objections—proof enough that Great Xia possessed full confidence in this campaign.

And this confidence was built precisely while their lord was absent.

Xia Hong’s spirit stirred slightly; he looked at Xia Chuan and smiled lightly: “You stationed watchers outside the Nine Curves Blood Corridor to block Chencang’s reinforcements—you’ve accounted for both major fanzhen, yet still dared to strike Beishuozhen? Just now, if I hadn’t been there—”

“Even if Brother hadn’t been there, Yang Zun couldn’t have killed me!”

Xia Hong smiled at this, recalling the black blade hidden within the head of the Chi Yin Knife Puppet, and the twenty Divine Crossbows already set up behind the battlefield; he gave a slight nod.

Xia Chuan’s black blade came from the Wood Puppet Spirit’s legacy; as far as he knew, this blade wasn’t merely capable of changing size at will—it could unleash far greater power when combined with transparent threads.

In the Baishu City battle, five thousand Xia soldiers never moved; Xia Hong had been on the battlefield and saw clearly: after archery ceased, only the outer thousand kept watch, while the inner four thousand had already assembled the twenty Divine Crossbows, waiting only for Xia Chuan’s order.

If he hadn’t misjudged, the design of those twenty Divine Crossbows had changed drastically since the Hongmen War four years ago; each required two hundred Yuhans to operate—without doubt, their power had increased substantially.

With these two preparations, Yang Zun had indeed found it nearly impossible to kill Xia Chuan—that was why Xia Hong didn’t turn back immediately, but instead fired a single shard of Shenhua Light from his left eye to aid Xia Chuan.

Yang Zun had hidden for so long to secure just one chance at assassination; having failed, Xia Chuan would never give him another. Judging from the battlefield conditions at Baishu City, Yang Zun’s strength was nowhere near sufficient to alter the tide.

“Oh, you only thought of Yang Zun? What if Chencang had sent a Jieshen-level expert last night—what then?”

Brother is testing me!

Xia Chuan smiled knowingly, speaking with quiet confidence: “Brother’s asking a question he already knows the answer to. According to Jiang Xinfan’s intelligence from Chencang, Jieshen-level experts are extremely cautious about appearing in crowded places, let alone openly fighting in public. Not to mention whether Chencang would even send one—but even if they did, their opportunities to act would be extremely limited. I refuse to believe a mere Baishu City is worth such a rare chance.”

Indeed, Jiang Xinfan had infiltrated Chencang for over half a year; Great Xia’s understanding of the fanzhen’s strength and Jieshen-level experts was no longer blank as before.

Planning meticulously before acting, accounting for nearly every possible scenario—clearly, these past three years, my younger brother hasn’t just grown stronger in cultivation; his conduct has matured and steadied considerably.

Though Xia Hong was deeply satisfied, his face showed no emotion; he turned his gaze toward Beishuozhen and smiled coldly: “For now, Chencang can’t send anyone—their messengers sent back to report were intercepted by me in the Nine Curves Blood Corridor!”

Upon hearing this, Xia Chuan and Xu Ning froze, then their pupils widened with shock and exhilaration.

“No wonder—no wonder Cai Qiu sent so many Xianyang-levels, yet Chencang sent none—it’s because the messengers were slain by the Lord…”

“Yang Zun was too closely tied to Chencang; Cai Qiu had no chance of winning him over, so he couldn’t send reinforcements to defend him. Now, our assault on Beishuozhen faces zero pressure!”

Xia Chuan took up Xu Ning’s words, his expression brimming with excitement, looking up at Xia Hong: “Brother, the casualties from last night’s assault on Baishu City have been tallied—total losses under half a percent. It’s nearly midnight now; they’ve likely already reorganized and begun marching. They’ll reach here within three hours at most…”

The Baishu City battle began during daylight on the 29th and lasted roughly two hours; it had just ended as night fell.

Per Brother’s earlier orders, the army was to rest half the night at Baishu City, then march south at midnight to encircle Beishuozhen.