Chapter 623

"Harvest!"

Chen Wen's order was like a spark thrown into boiling oil.

It instantly ignited the counteroffensive flames across the entire battlefield.

Woo——woo——woo——

In the direction of North Guard Pass, the horn blast signaling a full-scale attack, grand and desolate, drowned out all the clamor in the valley.

The heavy gate that had remained tightly shut on the pass wall rose slowly amid the dull rumble of the winch.

Behind the gate.

The Chen Dynasty Heavy Infantry Battalion, already formed up, stood silent as iron.

The armor plates rubbed together, producing a neat, uniform rustling sound.

Spears stood like a forest, slanted forward.

The front-line sword-and-shield bearers slammed the bases of their iron-clad heavy shields hard into the ground.

The orders they received were simple and clear.

Steady advance.

Clear the remaining enemies.

Compress the living space of the trapped Northern Yuan Army.

Drive them completely toward the valley's northern exit, toward Shi Dun's already red-hot "Iron Anvil".

At the same time.

On the pass wall.

Several dozen ballistae, improved by the Heavenly Craft Institute with greatly increased range and accuracy, completed their final calibration.

The operator fiercely swung down the wooden mallet.

Trigger the mechanism!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Amid the teeth‑aching roar of the bowstrings releasing.

Specially made explosive shells filled with incendiary oil and iron shards trailed thin smoke, tearing through the air blackened by smoke.

They smashed into the mid‑rear section of the valley, the core area of the Northern Yuan Central Army that had not yet fallen into complete chaos and was still trying to rally its troops and organize resistance.

Boom! Rumble!

Explosions far more violent than the Yin Fire Glue Thunder blasted one after another.

Flames and shrapnel swept across a large area.

It ruthlessly strangled any momentum attempting to gather.

And the true deadly blade.

Coming from the flanks.

Coming from the ambush troops who had long lain in wait on the mountain ridges on both sides, holding back their strength.

"The lord has commanded!"

"Counterattack!"

"Kill your way out!"

Li Lao Gun tore off the hindering disguise cloak in one grab, revealing the capable light armor underneath.

He picked up the heavy‑backed mountain‑cleaving saber leaning against the rock wall; its edge flashed a cold gleam in the dim light.

"Brothers!"

"The time to eat meat has come!"

"Follow me!"

"Cut down this bunch of neither‑human‑nor‑ghost scum!"

"Kill!"

Roars of anger erupted from various points along the mountain ridges.

The ambush troops, who had previously relied on terrain and preset weapons for long‑range strikes, surged out from behind rocks, snow pits, and withered woods like wolves scenting blood.

Brandishing spears and swords, they charged down the gentle slope like descending mountain tigers, pouncing on the already chaotic enemy masses in the valley floor.

The downhill charge carried tremendous kinetic energy.

In an instant, it tore open several huge gaps in the already fragile flank of the Northern Yuan army.

The same was true in the direction where Wang Balian was.

He was even more radical.

He personally led a unit of the finest swordsmen, like the tip of an awl, directly thrusting toward the banner of a commander in the Northern Yuan army that was still swaying, attempting to command.

The battle, from a one-sided ambush slaughter.

It rapidly turned into a brutal close-quarters mêlée and pursuit.

However.

The Northern Yuan main force, especially the 'Inlaid Crystal Cavalry' deeply infiltrated by Yin energy and the few Yin Shades mixed in, had not completely given up resistance.

A trapped beast still fights.

Its struggle, on the contrary, became even more frenzied, even more reckless of cost.

Several groups of about a hundred-strong Inlaid Crystal Cavalry, driven by some instinct or a brief behind-the-scenes forcible order, forcibly regrouped.

They ignored the rout of the ordinary cavalry around them, and even without hesitation swung their swords to cut down their own comrades blocking the way.

They formed several small, sharp wedge formations.

No longer attempting to break out northward to crash into the Shi Dun Iron Anvil formation.

Instead, they turned the horse's head.

Toward the ambush troops that seemed relatively disordered in formation, rushing down from the mountain ridges on both sides, or the heavy infantry vanguard that steadily pushed out from the gate, with tight formation but slightly slower movement.

They launched a desperate counter-charge!

Their eyes were blood-red.

The bluish-black veins under their skin throbbed violently, as if about to burst out.

The horses' speed was abnormally fast.

In the swing of the sabers, there was a faint whistling of wind.

Strength, speed, and even that madness of disregarding life and death (or having part of fear stripped away) far surpassed ordinary elites.

One of them was charging toward the flank of Li Lao Gun's unit.

"Form up! Quick! Spearmen forward! Swordsmen fill the gaps!"

Li Lao Gun's pupils contracted, and he bellowed angrily.

The ambush troops excel at harassment and downhill strikes; head-on collision with this obviously odd heavy cavalry charge is not their forte.

But now there's no time to completely avoid it.

Seeing the turbid cavalry flood about to crash into the hastily assembled, not-yet-solid infantry line.

Once breached, the ambush troops' morale will suffer a heavy blow, possibly triggering a partial rout.

Just then.

An intangible yet truly existing 'force'.

Like a warm and strong tide.

Instantly spreading over all allied troops within dozens of zhang around Li Lao Gun as the core.

Not a strengthening of the body's surface.

But rather a comprehensive enhancement and coordination of muscle control, nerve reaction, five senses acuity, and even willpower at a deeper level.

As if an action that originally required ten units of strength to do well now needs only seven or eight, and is faster and more accurate.

Originally hard to control under intense exertion and nervous emotion, breathing and heartbeat became steady and strong.

Even the enemies' movements in their sight seemed slightly clearer and slower.

Sixteen-fold efficacy bestowed.

Under Chen Wen's precise control.

At this moment, it descended upon the heads of the ambush troops about to clash with the strong enemy.

"Huh?!"

Li Lao Gun only felt his whole body lighten, a long-lost feeling of power surging through his limbs.

No time to ponder where this familiar 'feeling' came from.

The enemy's blade was already within reach.

"Good timing!"

He roared loudly, not dodging or avoiding.

Originally a somewhat hasty horizontal saber block, with a certain exquisite fine-tuning, became a slightly angled diagonal deflection.

Clang!

A piercing metallic clash!

That fierce downward slash of the crazy charging crystal-inlaid cavalry, unexpectedly, was blocked by Li Lao Gun's seemingly not particularly burly build, and cleverly deflected.

The blade scraped across Li Lao Gun's shoulder armor, sending up a spray of sparks.

And Li Lao Gun's counterattack was launched almost the moment the block finished.

At the instant the heavy-backed mountain-splitting saber was deflected by the opponent's force, exposing a slight opening.

Like a venomous snake emerging from its hole.

From bottom to top.

Piercing thrust!

Pfft!

The spear tip precisely slipped into the gap between the cavalryman's leather armor and chest plate.

No hilt.

That cavalryman let out a wild roar, his movements froze, and the red light in his eyes quickly faded.

Li Lao Gun didn't linger, kicked the enemy corpse over, and drew his sword.

He glanced around.

He saw only the troops who had been 'endowed,' as if collectively enlightened.

The spearmen's timing and angle of thrust became tricky.

The swordsmen's dodging and coordinated positioning became much smoother.

The line that might have collapsed at a single charge miraculously held against the desperate charge of this hundred-strong crystal-inlaid cavalry.

It even faintly formed a reverse encirclement.

"Haha! Satisfying!"

Li Lao Gun's spirits were greatly lifted.

"Brothers! Give it your all! Chop up these little devil brats!"

The same scene.

At several other key contact points on the battlefield, it unfolded in different forms.

The Chen dynasty troops that received targeted 'endowment,' whether the frontline heavy infantry, the flank ambush troops, or the light cavalry already beginning to encircle from both wings.

Its combat effectiveness underwent a qualitative leap at the critical moment.

They did not suddenly become supermen.

But rather, at the moment of greatest need, they brought their original training, courage, and coordination to a near‑extreme level.

One wanes as the other waxes.

The Northern Yuan army's final frenzied counterattack was like a wave crashing against a reef.

Although it stirred up a bloody spray, in the end it was shattered to pieces, powerless to turn the tide.

Collapse.

It began to spread from the local area to the entire army.

Those ordinary Northern Yuan cavalry had long been deprived of their morale by the continuous blows.

At this moment, seeing the 'Inlaid Crystal Warriors' they relied on being cut down one after another, the last vestige of resistance also dissipated.

They no longer paid heed to the officers' rebukes, even their slaughter.

They threw down their weapons.

They turned their horses' heads.

Or simply jumped off their horses.

They used every means to flee desperately toward the sole route of survival—the North Pass direction.

Although there, the Iron Anvil Battalion and countless traps lay in wait.

But the instinct to survive overwhelmed everything.

The defeated army collapsed like a toppled mountain.

……

On Eagle‑Viewing Cliff.

Chen Wen's complexion turned slightly pale.

Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, instantly chilled by the cold wind.

At the same time, he precisely granted Ability Granting of different gradients to several units stationed at different positions and bearing different tasks.

And maintain it for a sufficient duration.

This mental burden on him far exceeded that of ordinary combat.

He could feel that the boiling system growth bar within his body, under intense battlefield feedback and his own high‑load operation, had advanced forward a solid notch.

The distance to that threshold seemed only a layer of extremely thin, fragile window paper away.

But now was not the optimal moment for a breakthrough.

He slowly adjusted his breathing.

His gaze remained calmly tracking the battlefield situation.

He saw the Northern Yuan army utterly collapse, turning into countless streams of fleeing turbidity that surged toward the canyon's north mouth.

He saw Shi Dun's Iron Anvil Battalion, like a true anvil, smash and flatten the fleeing soldiers.

He saw our own units begin to pursue, divide, and capture the enemy in an orderly manner.

The overall situation was settled.

This meticulously planned 'lure the enemy deep, then ambush and annihilate' battle.

Had already achieved an overwhelming victory.

The Northern Yuan vanguard and main force lured into Fox Hill suffered a devastating blow.

Of those who escaped, not one in ten remained.

Chen Wen's gaze once again swept over the chaotic battlefield.

Turned toward the north.

The direction of the Northern Yuan's main camp.

The 'momentum' there, because this main force had been destroyed, was obviously turbulent and greatly weakened.

But that core, 'eye‑catching' energy point.

Yet seemed to have contracted.

Becoming more solid.

And also…

More dangerous.

Like a wounded beast retreating to its den, licking its wounds, yet its gaze grew more venomous.

"Issue the order."

Chen Wen's voice, slightly hoarse from brief fatigue, remained clear.

"Pursue until ten li outside the North Pass."

"Do not send isolated forces deep in."

"Each unit, according to the predetermined area, shall mop up remaining enemies, treat the wounded, and tally the battle results."

"Strengthen the North Pass defense line."

"Guard against enemy counterattacks or shadowy harassment."

"Yes!"

The personal guards received the order and swiftly departed.

Chen Wen stood alone atop the high cliff.

The cold wind was biting.

Underfoot lay the battlefield, gradually subsiding but still reeking of blood.

In the distance lay the enemy camp and the vast grassland.

He reached out his hand.

Feeling the power flowing from his fingertips, slightly depleted from intense exertion yet throbbing vigorously deep within.

And on that System Interface, the growth bar was nearly overflowing.

"The first step is done."

He muttered softly.

"Next..."

"It all depends on Old Nian over there."

"And..."

He gazed toward the deeper north, the dark night of the grassland.

"The real 'hard bone' is still ahead."