Chapter 516: Return and Opportunity, Resolution

Beishuo Zhencheng, all four city walls are 15 kilometers long. Its main gate opens on the east side, facing the Mo Ao mountain range, while the west side is the rear city gate.

Although the west side is only the rear city gate, its scale is not small. The two city gates are 12 meters high and 4 meters wide, capable of allowing more than ten people to enter the city side-by-side.

Under the snowy night, Beishuo Zhencheng was like a pitch-black steel beast, quietly lying on the earth. Above the tightly closed west city gate, soldiers in armor and holding weapons walked by from time to time. At the top of the city wall watchtowers, many people were constantly staring at the outskirts of the city, clearly on alert.

If one observed more carefully, one would find that not only at the city gates, but even on the snowy ground several kilometers outside the city gates, there were many spies in plain clothes constantly wandering and moving, and occasionally one could even hear the sounds of fighting.

"I returned on the night of the 27th..."

In the sky about two li north of Beishuocheng, Xia Hong was staring at Beishuocheng. Noticing Xia Chuan and Xu Ning approaching from behind, he directly waved his hand to signal that the two did not need to salute, then spoke slowly.

"Has eldest brother been observing us in secret all along?"

Xia Hong turned his head, looking at the excitement on the faces of Xia Chuan and Xu Ning. He couldn't help but reveal a smile on his own face. He put the matter of Yang Zun aside for the moment, then nodded at the two, his face showing praise: "These three years, the surprises you have brought me are not small..."

Last night, he had come out of the Nine-Curve Blood Corridor, descended from Danxue Peak, and arrived at Dongchuan City. After only making some slight inquiries in the city, he immediately understood that a great battle was currently underway.

Does Does Da Xia's four great armies were simultaneously at war with the five northern towns!

It had to be said that when he first learned this news, Xia Hong's heart was both shocked and astonished. Even though he had known about some of Does Does Da Xia's situation from Jiang Xinfan and had roughly guessed that the camp was no longer what it used to be, fighting on four fronts simultaneously was, in his view, still a bit too arrogant.

Even with strength, one couldn't fight like this!

However, after observing the specific situation of the four Xia armies and roughly understanding the Xia Army's operational intent, plus witnessing the rebellion of Long Gu Army Head Li Yangtian with his own eyes last night, and Does Does Da Xia taking the Long Gu Zhencheng without a fight... after this series of events, Xia Hong's thoughts changed.

First was the strength of the Xia Army, which not only far exceeded his imagination but was even more formidable than what Jiang Xinfan had said before. Thinking about it, that made sense; Does Does Da Xia's current development was changing with each passing day, almost different every day. Jiang Xinfan went to Chen Cang in March of this year, and a full nine months had passed since then; the changes were naturally great.

Secondly, it was the Xia Army's operational intent this time. On the surface, the four Xia armies moved out together starting December 26th, but as of now, the late night of the 29th, in just three days, the only great battles that had truly erupted, as far as Xia Hong knew, were two: one was Long Gu Zhencheng, mainly Li Yangtian's rebellion, where Does Does Da Xia only had Manifesting Yang level experts intervene; the other was Bai Mu City, which had just ended.

So it was very clear that the four armies moving out simultaneously was a bluff, most likely used to divert the attention of the four northern towns and cover the operation against Long Gu Zhencheng. And after taking Long Gu Zhencheng, Xia Chuan truly made Bai Mu City the first battlefield, starting a head-on battle with Beishuo.

As for the other three Xia armies, they had had no movement until now, which clearly showed they were used to contain the various towns.

Xia Chuan... no, the commander-in-chief of this great battle was Li Ying Xuan Ling. Li Ying Xuan Ling clearly also knew that fighting on multiple fronts simultaneously was extremely unwise, not to mention that the various towns were now all huddled inside, and Does Does Da Xia was the attacking side no matter who they fought, so it was even more impossible for the four armies to advance together.

The last point was Does Does Da Xia taking Long Gu without a fight, which made Xia Hong realize that in the three years he was away, Does Does Da Xia's infiltration of the five northern towns had reached a terrifying degree. Even Li Yangtian, the number two figure of Long Gu, could be turned, let alone the people below.

Li Ying Xuan Ling dared to directly announce the start of the war, and Xia Chuan, Yu Wen Tao, and the various Does Does Da Xia department ministers had not raised any objections, which was enough to prove that Does Does Da Xia had sufficient confidence in the current war.

And this kind of confidence was built in the absence of him, the lord.

Xia Hong's heart stirred slightly. Looking at Xia Chuan, he asked with a light laugh: "You sent people to watch outside the Nine-Curve Blood Corridor to guard against reinforcements from Chen Cang. You considered both major fiefdoms, yet you still dared to rashly use troops against Beishuo? At that critical moment just now, if I hadn't been there..."

"Even if eldest brother wasn't there, Yang Zun couldn't have killed me!"

Xia Hong smiled upon hearing this, thinking of the black blade hidden in the head of the Red Silver Blade Puppet earlier, as well as the twenty Divine Machine Crossbows already set up behind the battlefield, and nodded slightly.

Xia Chuan's black blade came from the Wood Puppet Ghost legacy. As far as he knew, that black blade not only had the feature of changing size at will, but when combined with the transparent silk threads, it could also unleash even greater power.

In the Battle of Bai Mu City, five thousand Xia soldiers had never moved. Xia Hong was on the battlefield at the time, and he saw it very clearly. After those five thousand people stopped shooting arrows, only the one thousand on the periphery were responsible for duty, while the four thousand in the middle had already set up the twenty Divine Machine Crossbows, just waiting for Xia Chuan's order.

If he hadn't seen wrong, the style of those twenty Divine Machine Crossbows had changed a lot compared to the Battle of Hong Sect four years ago. Two hundred Cold-Resistant level experts were needed to operate one. Without an accident, the power of the Divine Machine Crossbows was definitely much stronger than before.

With these two preparations, Yang Zun was indeed very difficult to kill Xia Chuan at that time. This was also the reason why he didn't turn back at the first moment, but only used his left eye to shoot a ray of Shattering Divine Light to help Xia Chuan out of the siege.

Yang Zun had hidden for so long to get one chance to ambush. Since that strike didn't succeed, Xia Chuan naturally wouldn't give him another chance. Judging from the battlefield situation in Bai Mu City just now, Yang Zun's strength was still far from reaching the level of turning the tide of the war.

"Oh, you only thought about Yang Zun? If a Body-Tribulation level expert had come from Chen Cang last night, what would you have done?"

Eldest brother is testing me!

Xia Chuan smiled knowingly and said confidently: "Eldest brother is asking what he already knows. According to the news Jiang Xinfan gathered in Chen Cang, although Body-Tribulation level strength is strong, they are very wary of appearing in crowded places, let alone acting casually in front of people. Not to mention whether Chen Cang is willing to send a Body-Tribulation level expert, even if they really sent one, the number of times they could act would likely be extremely limited. I don't believe that a mere Bai Mu City is worth him wasting such an opportunity."

Sure enough, Jiang Xinfan had already infiltrated Chen Cang for more than half a year. Does Does Da Xia's understanding of the strength of the fiefdoms and Body-Tribulation level experts was naturally no longer as blank as before.

Planning and then acting, having calculated almost all possible situations—it seemed that in these three years, his younger brother had not only increased his cultivation but his style of doing things had also become increasingly mature and steady.

Although Xia Hong was satisfied in his heart, he didn't show it on his face. He just turned his head to look at Beishuo Zhencheng, wearing a sneer, and said: "In the short term, Chen Cang can't send anyone. The people they sent back to deliver the message happened to be bumped into by me in the Nine-Curve Blood Corridor!"

Suddenly hearing this news, Xia Chuan and Xu Ning were stunned, and then their pupils were filled with surprise and excitement.

"No wonder, no wonder Cai Qiu sent so many Manifesting Yang level experts, but Chen Cang didn't send a single one. So it was the messenger who was intercepted by the lord..."

"Yang Zun's relationship with Chen Cang is too close. Cai Qiu has no possibility of winning him over, so it's impossible to send people to help him defend the city. In this way, we have no pressure at all in attacking Beishuo!"

Xia Chuan took over Xu Ning's words, his expression extremely spirited. He looked up at Xia Hong and continued: "Eldest brother, the casualties of attacking Bai Mu City last night have already been counted. The overall reduction in personnel is less than half a percent. It's almost midnight now, they should have already packed up and started preparing to march. In three hours at most, they will arrive here..."

The Battle of Bai Mu City started during the day on the 29th and lasted for about two hours. It was already dark just after the fight ended.

According to eldest brother's previous instructions, the army was to rest in Bai Mu City for half the night, and wait until midnight to march south and surround Beishuo Zhencheng. ===== CHAPTER 517 =====