Chapter 329: Blockade Taihang

Bian Liang, the Peace Stability Bureau office, inside the intelligence analysis room deep underground.

Candlelight cast Qian Gui's stern face in half-light, half-shadow.

Before him, a huge sand table depicted the Taihang Mountains' terrain in fine detail; a mountain valley deep in the mountains was marked with a conspicuous black triangular flag signifying a high-priority threat.

Several capable clerks responsible for intelligence analysis in different directions stood at attention beside him, quickly reporting the latest compiled information.

"Commander, based on cross‑checked latest reports from Teams Three and Seven, combined with clues from hunters and herbalists, and our analysis of the Iron Crow Army's activity patterns, we can basically confirm that this valley is currently the main stronghold of the Iron Crow Army remnants."

Another clerk added, holding a report just taken from a pigeon's leg tube:

"A hidden post within False Song territory reported that the False Song's Ministry of Territorial Affairs has recently made abnormal personnel movements, as if preparing to receive something."

"Combined with earlier friction at Longzhou's border and the unstable passages observed during False Song's northern campaigns, the Iron Crow Army remnants are very likely attempting to establish a passage here."

Qian Gui's gaze was eagle‑sharp as he scanned the terrain around the valley on the sand table, pressing his finger firmly on several key chokepoints.

"We can't wait any longer."

"We must sever the snake's vital point before its passage stabilizes completely!"

"Pass on my order—"

His voice ice‑cold and resolute, orders quickly turned into encrypted commands, sent via special channels by dedicated personnel to the Northern Front's various military prefectures and to Peace Stability Bureau field personnel lurking around the Taihang Mountains.

"Order General Who Pacifies the North Shi Dun to immediately dispatch five thousand elite troops from the Northern Front garrison, under capable commanders, split into three routes to seal all known and possible outer passages of this Taihang Mountains region!"

"Set up checkpoints, strictly inspect all comers, allow entry but not exit!"

"Pay special attention to those carrying unusual minerals or behaving abnormally!"

"Order all field personnel of the Peace Stability Bureau Taihang Guard to cancel rotations and fully commit to this operation!"

"Teams One and Four will guide the main force in the blockade and provide real‑time intelligence support."

"Teams Two and Five, personally led by the Vice Commander, will form a strike team to lie in wait, infiltrate, and ascertain the valley's exact situation, especially the details and weak points of the passage formation!"

"Teams Three and Six will patrol the outskirts, tasked with killing any who slip through and guarding against possible reinforcement from False Song!"

"This operation's codename—'Chain'!"

"We must utterly lock this pack of monsters in the Taihang Mountains, cutting off their path of collusion with False Song!"

With the orders issued, the vast machine of Great Chen's Northern Front and the Peace Stability Bureau sprang into efficient action.

Within days, the five thousand elite troops of the Northern Front, like three sharp arrows, slipped silently yet swiftly into the depths of the Taihang Mountains, seized key transport routes, and set up open and hidden checkpoints.

The mountain area, once host to traveling merchants and hunters, suddenly grew tense.

Moreover, the Peace Stability Bureau's Scouts, relying on rich mountain tracking and reconnaissance experience, threaded through the forests, drawing an invisible net that gradually tightened around the hidden valley.

Inside the valley, the atmosphere grew equally grave to the extreme.

"Chief! Outposts in multiple directions have lost contact!"

"Traces of a Chen army battalion's activity have been spotted to the east and north; they are building a blockade line!"

"Our retreat… is being cut off!" a member of the Iron Crow Army remnants responsible for outer perimeter guard rushed into the valley to report, panicking.

The masked chief's one eye flashed with a hint of brutality and anxiety.

"The Peace Stability Bureau's moves… are so fast!"

He suddenly looked at the passage formation still flickering unstably.

"How long until the passage can undergo a stable transfer?"

The subordinate in charge of the formation turned deathly pale.

"Chief, at least… at least we still need two days to accumulate energy and calibrate! Forced activation would tear both cargo and personnel apart in spatial turbulence!"

"Two days? We probably don't even have half a day!" the masked chief growled.

He paced back and forth like a caged beast.

"We can't wait any longer!"

"Pass the order—abandon all unnecessary baggage!"

"Concentrate all strength, guard the formation's core!"

"We must hold out these two days!"

"If we can get the Yin Shadow and the arrow cluster across, it will be worth it even if we all die here!"

His order carried a desperation‑tinged madness.

The Iron Crow Army remnants in the valley seized their weapons, using the terrain to erect crude defenses, tightly guarding the formation's core at the center.

They knew this was a battle with their backs to the wall.

However, Qian Gui gave them no two days.

After completing the outer blockade and roughly gauging the valley's troop deployment, a thunder‑like sweep‑and‑clear operation erupted suddenly!

The darkest moment before dawn.

Countless black shadows, like ghosts, silently reached the Iron Crow Army's outer outposts.

Pfft! Pfft!

The faint sound of a blade cutting a throat was barely audible in the silent forest.

The Peace Stability Bureau's elite strike team, with superb stealth and killing skills, swiftly cleared the outer sentries.

Immediately, an assault unit formed from Northern Frontier Army elites and Peace Stability Bureau experts, like a tiger bursting from its gate, launched a fierce attack from multiple directions into the valley's interior.

"Enemy attack—!"

The shrill alarm finally sounded in the valley, but it was too late.

Arrows rained down like locusts into the valley, accompanied by deafening shouts of slaughter.

"For Great Chen! Kill!"

Well‑trained Chen army soldiers, in teams of three, covered each other and surged like a tide against the hastily built Iron Crow Army defenses.

The battle plunged into white‑heat from the outset.

Although the remnants of the Iron Crow Army were fierce, each a desperate outlaw, they were nonetheless absolutely outnumbered, poorly equipped, and morale was low.

Under the Chen army's organized fierce assault, the defensive line was continually compressed.

Shrieks, clashing weapons, and the death‑rattles of the dying instantly filled the entire valley.

The masked leader brandished a long sword flashing with azure light, personally guarding the formation's core, appearing mad‑crazed, and consecutively cleaved two Chen army officers who tried to approach.

His single eye was blood‑red, and he hoarsely roared:

「Hold fast! For the Supreme One! Hold the formation! 」

Yet the tide had turned.

Before the absolute disparity in strength, personal bravery and madness appeared feeble and impotent.

More and more Chen army soldiers broke through the line and surged into the valley.

The Iron Crow Army members maintaining the formation were either shot down by arrows or hacked to death by the charging soldiers.

The formation's light, due to the cutoff of energy supply and the death of its controller, began to flicker wildly, becoming unsteady.

「No—! 」 the masked leader shouted, watching the formation on the verge of collapse, letting out a desperate, unwilling roar.

A precisely aimed crossbow bolt, taking advantage of his disturbed state of mind, suddenly pierced his thigh!

He grunted and dropped to one knee.

Before he could struggle to rise, several cold blades were already pressed against his neck.

The battle gradually subsided.

Inside the valley, bodies of the Iron Crow Army remnants lay scattered in disarray, along with a few Chen army soldiers' corpses.

The three pieces of Nether Energy Crystal Ore that served as the formation's core, having lost control of their energy, had turned completely dull, their surfaces riddled with cracks.

The passage formation, for which the Iron Crow Army remnants had expended countless efforts, had now completely failed.

「Report, Commander! The residual enemies in the valley have been largely cleared, and we have captured one leader! 」

「We have seized three crates of unused Nether Energy Arrow Bundles, some low‑quality Nether Energy Crystal Ore, and part of the documents that had not yet been destroyed! 」

「Our casualties… seventy‑three, enemy killed one hundred twenty‑nine! 」

A blood‑soaked officer reported the results to Qian Gui, who was receiving the battle report via relay horse.

Qian Gui looked at the just‑delivered military report, his stern face showing no expression, and he simply said calmly:

「Well done. Clear the battlefield, and immediately send all seized items—especially those documents and the prisoner—secretly back to the capital. 」

「Maintain the blockade, thoroughly sweep the surrounding area, and make sure no fish slips through the net. 」

「As you command! 」

As the morning sun rose and golden light spilled over the valley that had just endured a bloody battle, everything had settled to dust.

The air was thick with the heavy stench of blood and gunpowder, masking the original cold, foul odor.

The Iron Crow Army remnants' plan to establish a stable passage had not yet been fully launched when it suffered a devastating blow.

This potential 'viper' had its link to the False Song temporarily severed.

Yet, standing amid the carnage, the captured masked leader, though disheveled, still had his lone eye flickering with an unsettling, vengeful and mad light.

It seemed to silently proclaim that the war spanning the light curtain was far from over.