Chapter 1294

In just a single second, Lei Yi and his same-class spiritual pet, Lei Beast King, had crossed a hundred meters and arrived directly before the wooden gate.

"Bad! Stop him quickly!!!"

The soldiers on the wooden wall hastily drew their bows, aiming to attack Lei Yi below.

It was too late.

"Break it!"

The spear in his hand began gathering massive spiritual energy; a powerful thrust, aided by full momentum, unleashed a terrifying spiritual shockwave like a tornado, obliterating the wooden gate and everything stacked behind it.

Instantly, the wooden gate was utterly destroyed; sandbags burst open, dust flying wildly, and the violent explosion shocked everyone in the fortress.

"Lei Shadow Legion! Kill them all!!!"

Lei Yi, as legion commander, led the charge into the fortress; facing four soldiers attacking from both sides, he swept his spear left to right, a fierce airwave flinging them away with immense force, while other Lei Shadow Legion cavalry followed closely behind, streaming into the fortress.

"Yes!"

"Kill them!"

"Kill!"

Ding ding ding ding~

The alarm bell on the wooden wall was finally pulled by a tower-base soldier, but the wooden gate was already shattered, and cavalry kept pouring into the fortress.

"What's happening?" The fortress's highest commander hurriedly pulled on his clothes and ran out, his face gradually filling with terror.

Yet none of the soldiers around could answer his question.

"General, we must retreat quickly!" A trusted aide rushed over.

"The Tianwu Empire's army has broken in."

"O… okay."

The General of the Taji Kingdom, seeing his own soldiers being mercilessly slaughtered by imperial cavalry, did not order them to regroup—instead, he hurried to flee with his aide.

He had only secured command of this relatively simple natural fortress through connections with higher-ups; who could have imagined the empire's speed so swift? In the blink of an eye, his fortress had fallen.

"Think you can run? Crawl."

Lei Yi circled roughly through the fortress, mopping up stragglers; when he came to his senses, he had unknowingly reached the fortress's rear gate—and just happened to see several soldiers mounting horses to escape. He thrust his spear forward, impaling three at once!

The Taji General and his aide were finished.

The fortress had held only three thousand Taji Kingdom soldiers; the wooden walls were their only defense. Now that the gate was breached, the reinforcements arriving could not match the elite cavalry of the Lei Shadow Legion, let alone the additional troops of the Eternal Night Legion. Within a single hour, the entire fortress was engulfed in roaring flames, the ground littered with corpses of Taji Kingdom soldiers.

"I didn't expect… it would be this easy to capture the garrison at the Heavenly Defense Gorge," Lord Xuan Wuji murmured softly on horseback, watching the fortress burn in blazing fire.

He had assumed the garrison numbered at least five thousand; he never imagined only three thousand were present. Had they decided we wouldn't come? No—perhaps they simply underestimated the empire's importance to the Chilperic Kingdom.

Three thousand might hold the Heavenly Defense Gorge against a small ten-thousand-strong force, but they could never stop a forty-thousand-strong army advancing, nor two eighth-rank combatants—half the empire's combat power.

The enemy could never have imagined this.

"Why care so much? Next, we should be able to encircle the Taji and Lei Dun Kingdoms' allied army. Just received word—they've only reached Nancheng of Si'erwen…" Lei Yi had learned from a Taji Kingdom soldier—apparently a captain-level officer—that…

Nancheng of Si'erwen lay deep within Chilperic Kingdom's heartland, only two days from the capital—the last city before the capital itself.

"I hope our reinforcements arrive in time, and that Duke Simon still lives." Now Lord Xuan Wuji could only pray for Chilperic Kingdom to hold out until their arrival—otherwise, all would be meaningless.

"Yes, all we can do now is pray," Lei Yi agreed.

Only Imperial Prince Li Chun remained silent, his gaze flickering uncertainly; the war situation in Chilperic Kingdom seemed worse than he'd imagined—but it did not affect his plans.

"Order the army to rest for half a day, and prepare meals."

"Yes!"

The soldiers immediately carried out Lei Yi's order.

"Send someone."

"Here!" Lord Xuan Wuji's deputy general responded at once.

"Send a pigeon message to the Chilperic capital! Tell them to hold for five days—we'll arrive!" Lord Xuan Wuji gritted his teeth, naming an extreme number.

Normally, reaching the Chilperic capital from the Heavenly Defense Gorge required at least seven days—even then, only by pushing nonstop, day and night.

To arrive in five days would mean the army must march without rest for five full days and nights—but if the Taji and Lei Dun Kingdoms attacked en route, the exhausted troops would have no chance to resist.