Chapter 483

The army commanded by Wu Duoyao marched in excessively neat ranks, vast and mighty, heading toward Great Marsh City.

Outside Great Marsh City, the terrain underwent a complete change.

All fields and forests were destroyed, all vegetation completely withered, and Wu Tie simply gave up, laying out a formation for a fight to the death against Wu Duoyao.

A large number of earth spirits were mobilized, causing vast tracts of land outside Great Marsh City to collapse.

They opened dozens of wide channels leading directly to the external marsh, drawing in the vast Weak Water. Now Great Marsh City is entirely surrounded by a huge body of water spanning thousands of li and reaching depths of nearly a hundred li, with countless water spirits hidden in the Weak Water, having set up a great formation according to the diagram Wu Tie gave.

The Great Wu army was like an endless expanse of dark clouds, slowly advancing from the south.

As Wu Duoyao's army drew nearer, the windless waves on the water outside Great Marsh City began; initially the wave crests were just over a foot high, but as the Great Wu army kept approaching, the crests grew higher, eventually giving rise to towering waves a hundred zhang high.

The great waves roared past, with countless strange-shaped aquatic creatures howling and roaring on the crests.

These aquatic beings were originally subordinates of the White Dragon King; after the White Dragon King was slain, they lost their allegiance. However, with Wu Tie's support, the water spirits managed to subjugate all the aquatic beings in the entire marsh in just a little over a day.

Carp, loaches, turtles, giant whales and pythons, leeches and shells… countless bizarre, gigantic aquatic beings stood on the waves, brandishing weapons transformed from their own limbs as they roared and screamed at the Great Wu army.

One thousand large warships slowly accelerated out of the Great Wu formation, the thousand ships lining up in a single file, with countless Great Wu soldiers in bright armor standing on the decks, holding various strong bows and hard crossbows aimed at the aquatic beings on the waves.

But before the Great Wu soldiers could act, Wu Tie gave an order, and the eighteen floating war fortresses opened fire simultaneously.

Fifty-four light pillars, each about a li thick, swept from left to right across the void; the Great Wu warships lined up in a single file had no time to dodge, their bulk being too great, and their speed somewhat slower than that of Great Jin warships.

One after another, large warships exploded in midair, with countless Great Wu soldiers wailing as they fell, engulfed in flames, from the shattered vessels.

Countless aquatic beings surged forward, frantically attacking the soldiers who had fallen into the water.

Countless water spirits hidden in the Weak Water pushed the waves, each giant wave slamming into the high-cultivation Great Wu commanders, forcibly striking them into the water; thereafter, the Tai Cang Realm water spirit elders rushed forward, one after another, intangible yet terrifyingly powerful undertow vortices spinning wildly, dragging these Great Wu commanders straight down to a depth of a hundred li.

Watching warship after warship explode and countless soldiers fall into the water, Wu Duoyao flew into a rage.

He gave an order, and countless warships swiftly rose in altitude.

To the south of Great Marsh City, the Great Wu's vast fleet formed a square planar formation, with the armored bow plates of countless warships sliding aside as one main cannon after another protruded from the bows.

A fierce emerald-green light, like a violent rainstorm, swooped in and instantly covered the southern water surface of Great Marsh City.

Countless aquatic beings' massive bodies were pierced by extremely corrosive light pillars; their flesh rapidly rotted, large swaths of blood-stained water turned the surface red. Gigantic water columns shot up into the sky, within which fragments of limbs and arms of the aquatic beings fluttered chaotically.

Occasionally, streaks of light fell upon Great Marsh City's defensive grand formation; the heavy light curtain trembled violently, giving rise to great halos of rippling light.

Wu Tie stood on the city wall, calm and composed, gazing at the streams of light flying across the sky outside.

The defensive grand formation sent by Mr. Li was of extremely high quality; the strength of Great Marsh City's defensive grand formation was absolutely not inferior to that of the capital defenses of an ordinary fief of Great Jin.

Each strike of a large warship's main cannon equaled the full-force blow of an ordinary Tai Cang Realm cultivator.

Great Marsh City's defensive grand formation was impregnable; even if tens of thousands of Tai Cang Realm cultivators joined forces to besiege it, it could not be broken without at least half a month.

Thus Wu Tie was relaxed and composed.

Wu Duoyao misjudged the strength of Great Marsh Prefecture, thinking it was merely a newly opened barbaric prefecture, like a tiny quail egg that could be smashed with a casual blow.

In reality, it is an extraordinarily hard diamond. Without breaking three or five big teeth, Wu Duoyao should not even think of easily taking Great Marsh Prefecture.

"Foolish Wu Duoyao, their formation is too dense." Wu Tie sneered.

The eighteen floating war fortresses unleashed their full firepower; wherever the li-thick light pillars reached, large warships kept exploding one after another. The shipbuilding technology of the Great Wu Divine State was indeed poor; the defensive formations of those large warships were weaker by at least thirty percent compared to those of Great Jin warships.

A thirty-percent deficit in defense means the difference between severe injury and shattering, between life and death.

On the southern water surface of Great Marsh City, the aquatic beings daring to show their heads had already been slaughtered to near extinction; the Great Wu fleet locked onto Great Marsh City and began a desperate, indiscriminate bombardment.

Great Marsh City's defensive grand formation shook violently, at times flashing with terrifying light.

The eighteen floating war fortresses went berserk in counterattack; great-caliber light cannons flipped out from the southern city wall, pouring out their fury toward the outside.

Separated by several hundred li, the two sides exchanged bombardments back and forth; Great Marsh City resembled a reef in a storm—appearing on the verge of collapse, yet it had suffered no substantive damage.

On the contrary, facing Great Marsh City's sturdy defenses and violent firepower, the Great Wu fleet, after just a little over a moment of mutual cannon fire, actually had over a thousand large and small ships blown to pieces, losses that could be called catastrophic.

Wu Duoyao sat aboard the largest flagship, shaped like a divine dragon, his face grim, his whole body constantly emitting a "crack-crack" sound of joint friction.

He was furious to the extreme, both hands gripping the hilt of his sidearm, his eyes bloodshot, his whole body suffused with a dreadful killing intent.

"Attack, attack!" Wu Duoyao suddenly leapt up: "It's just Great Marsh City, just the provincial capital of a newly opened prefecture of Great Jin… you, you bunch of useless trash, how can you fail to take even this broken city?"

Wu Duoyao was truly on the verge of going mad.

The situation before him was unacceptable to Wu Duoyao.

The vast army tasked with destroying Jin, which Great Wu had secretly built over the years, was a regular corps specially prepared for a sneak attack on Jin; in terms of equipment, manpower, and training level, it was absolutely top-tier elite.

If ahead lay the capital of a powerful princely fief of Great Jin, Wu Duoyao could accept such losses.

But this is merely a newly opened barbaric prefecture!

Its defensive grand formation shouldn't be this strong, its offensive power shouldn't be this strong, and Wu Duoyao shouldn't be losing troops and generals here!

It wasn't his fault.

It must be the fault of those worthless underlings of his!

Yet another main warship over a thousand zhang long was blown to pieces by the floating war fortresses; the soldiers aboard panicked, leapt into the air, and scrambled in disorder toward nearby allied ships.

The warship that was blown up erupted violently, flames sweeping across several li; thousands of fleeing soldiers and sailors were caught in the fire and blown to bits on the spot.

Wu Duoyao suddenly shuddered, drew his long blade, and cut in half a nearby black-robed strategist from the prince's mansion at the waist.

"Idiots, why didn't you remind His Majesty to have all warships form formations? Idiots, the losses of His Majesty's army are all your doing. You each deserve to die!" He kicked the unfortunate strategist's corpse away, then Wu Duoyao snorted coldly: "Continue the attack, have all warships form formations. I simply don't believe a tiny provincial city could be that formidable."

As dusk fell, the Great Wu warships arrayed in battle formation suddenly lit up; energy-forged chains shot out from the massive hulls, howling as they pierced through one another, after which all the defensive prohibitions of the over twenty thousand warships participating in the bombardment of Great Marsh City became interconnected.

A square wall of light, a hundred li wide and twenty-some li high, hovered in the void several hundred li south of Great Marsh City; everyone inside the city could see this immense light wall formed by over twenty thousand warships.

Over twenty thousand warship main cannons locked onto the southern wall of Great Marsh City and ferociously assaulted it without cease.

Wu Duoyao issued a strict order: within one night, Great Marsh City must be breached, otherwise the supreme commanders of those twenty-plus thousand warships would be awaiting execution.

After issuing that murderous order, Wu Duoyao, on the advice of a strategist, diverted seventy percent of the main force of the army tasked with destroying Jin, sending them out in six divisions to bypass Great Marsh City and continue marching toward Feng Prefecture.

Meanwhile, Wu Duoyao himself took the central corps of the army tasked with destroying Jin and directly set up camp in the mountains several hundred li behind the siege fleet.

"Since I have declared that I will slaughter the city, I must keep my word." Wu Duoyao entertained his subordinate commanders with a feast aboard the flagship, laughing loudly: "I have always kept my promises; having said I will slaughter the city, I will certainly do so."

Holding a huge wine cup, Wu Duoyao looked at the thousands of commanders of all ranks seated before him and said earnestly: "Just as I have promised you, if you wholeheartedly follow me in the campaign against Jin, I will surely see each of you promoted and ennobled; my words, you must keep them in your hearts!"

He gave a grotesque grin, Wu Duyao raised his wine cup and gulped a big mouthful: "Just as I said, if the commander of the besieging army cannot take even a prefecture city in one night, I will chop off his head. When dawn comes, everyone will see how I keep my word."

Thousands of Great Wu commanders raised their cups in unison, shouted loudly, and downed the fine wine in one gulp.

The sky gradually grew dark.

Soon night fell, yet to the south of Great Marsh City, more than twenty thousand warships of various sizes continued their fierce assault without cease.

Cannons roared, streams of light crisscrossed the sky, and more than twenty thousand warships suddenly activated, beginning to inch closer to Great Marsh City.

The commander of the siege fleet dared not delay, for Wu Duyao had said that if he could not take Great Marsh City by dawn, his head would be cut off. He dared not gamble, for Wu Duyao was notorious among the many princes of Great Wu for his brutal, ruthless nature.

Having said he would behead someone, he would surely do so.

Thus, even if his entire fleet were destroyed, he must still capture Great Marsh City.

More than twenty thousand warships formed a complete grand formation; the cannon fire of Great Marsh City struck the light wall, and all attack force was spread across the myriad warships. The light wall shuddered violently, heavenly fire illuminated the wilderness, lighting the surging waters below.

The Great Wu fleet kept drawing nearer to Great Marsh City, ever closer.

Gradually the fleet approached to within thirty-odd li of the city walls; beams of strong light linked fleet and city, their light-cannon fire seeming never to cease, as light pillars of varying thickness crisscrossed the air like a dense forest, the waters below evaporated rapidly, vast clouds of steam burst forth, and the void continually rang with thunderous booms.

Within the Great Wu fleet, many soldiers leapt into the air, fearlessly charging toward Great Marsh City.

They formed a battle array, killing intent filling the air and transforming into various phenomena; they channeled their own magical power through the formation into each stalwart commander, who let out long, piercing cries as their immortal weapons swelled to tens, hundreds, even thousands of zhang in size, then came crashing down heavily upon Great Marsh City.

The defensive light shield above Great Marsh City shuddered violently, layer after layer being breached, yet new shields continually arose within the city, swiftly replenishing its defenses.

Huang Lang counted on his fingers, then said in a low voice: "Sir, given Great Wu's assault, we can probably hold out for about ten days."

Before his words faded, another massive battle formation surged from the fleet; three Great Wu commanders unleashed three heavenly-path divine weapons, and three towering constructs tens of thousands of zhang high, wrapped in lightning, came crashing down, shaking the city's defenses violently on the spot.

Huang Lang's face turned ashen, and he bellowed: "Sir, only three days! We can at most hold for three days!"

As Huang Lang's words left his mouth, the siege fleet's commander surged forth with a mighty battle formation, countless soldiers pouring their magical power into him; this rugged-faced commander unleashed the Heavenly Earth Manifestation, his body swelling to about three thousand zhang tall, and he swung a strange soft whip, lashing down heavily.

The long whip transformed into a giant dragon, howling and roaring as it lashed the skies above Great Marsh City.

With a tremendous boom, the waters outside Great Marsh City for a thousand li surged upward tens of li high; inside the city, countless women and children spouted blood from all seven orifices, and many frail elderly were shaken to the point of their limbs shattering and dying.

"Three hours!" Huang Lang shrieked hysterically: "Three hours, sir, we can at most hold for three hours!"

Huang Lang drenched in cold sweat, he bellowed hysterically.

He knew full well how strong the defenses of Great Marsh Prefecture were; this was a mighty city whose fortifications were not inferior to those of an ordinary feudal state's capital, yet against the fierce onslaught of the Great Wu army, it could endure only three hours!

Huang Lang's legs went weak, yet his mind was exceedingly clear; he had entered a state of overload, seeming to grasp with perfect clarity everything before him, so that even the flight and fall of a single arrow on the battlefield lay within his control, utterly lucid.

The clearer it became, the more Huang Lang realized how terrifying the enemy outside the city was.

The Divine Kingdom of Great Wu had truly mobilized the nation's full strength for this assault, and Great Marsh Prefecture was after all merely a city!

"I will deal with Wu Duyao." Wu Tie patted Huang Lang on the shoulder: "Wu Duyao said he would slaughter the city… so, hold on until I return. Remember, your clansmen, your kin, your descendants are all here."

Wu Tie seized Pei Feng's hand, and with a flick of his body vanished without a trace.

At the same time disappearing were Lao Tie and a great host of five-element spirits' Embryo Treasury Realm Elders.

Huang Lang's body trembled violently, and he suddenly shrieked hysterically: "Lads, fight with all your might!"

On the city walls and within the city, countless wood spirits simultaneously drew their bows and loosed arrows.

Vast showers of arrows fell like violent storms, like dark clouds sweeping the earth, like howling hurricanes, blanketing the battle formations of the Great Wu warriors outside the city.

Such formations used for siege warfare lack defensive strength.

Countless arrows screamed as they swept over, great swaths of Great Wu soldiers howled as their bodies were torn open with huge gaps, continually falling from the formation.

Countless Great Wu warriors flew out from the rear's more than twenty thousand warships, swiftly replenishing the assault formation.

Corpses fell like rain, and the waters for hundreds of li around outside the city were quickly dyed crimson.

On this battlefield, the sole masters were the commanders of the Embryo Treasury Realm.

Whether Life Pond Realm or Chonglou Realm, all officers and soldiers were merely expendable fodder, liable to fall at any moment.

Light cannons roared, formations pressed the attack, Great Marsh City shuddered violently under the furious bombardment, countless buildings collapsed within, and everywhere rose the wails and screams of men, women, young and old—a scene like the apocalypse, as if the world were about to be destroyed.