Chapter 686

For a moment, the entire pass wall fell silent.

Quietly awaiting the coming of the storm.

Hiding in the shadows, Sikong Yuchi Zhen watched these young figures, his heart surging with emotion.

What a group of admirable young people!

Today, and in the days to come, many people would sleep their eternal sleep here.

But he, Sikong Yuchi Zhen, swore that this city, he would certainly hold.

He would also fulfill the imperial court's decree, letting the Great Yuan "smoothly" take Youzhou.

As time passed, it reached the middle of the night.

Suddenly, from beyond the pass wall, came a series of whooshing sounds cutting through the air.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

This was a world where martial arts reigned supreme; qinggong was long since nothing to be surprised at.

These whooshing sounds were precisely the sign of an expert using qinggong to forcefully launch an attack.

The hidden sentries concealed in the shadows immediately shouted at the top of their lungs, then pulled the great bell in their hands.

As the melodious Zhong Sheng rang out, the Datang soldiers, who had still been somewhat drowsy, immediately jolted awake.

In groups of three or five, following the established city-defense strategy, they returned to their posts.

Bows strung, heavy crossbows loaded.

Torches were lit, illuminating the land for several li beyond Yanmen Pass.

So long as anyone dared to set foot here, they would surely be greeted by Wan Jianqi.

"Well, worthy of the Datang border army indeed, to detect this old man's movements from such a distance!"

As the firelight flared, Bi Xuan strode boldly at the head of his three hundred disciples, riding through the air to arrive.

Although Bi Xuan was merely a Heavenly Being Realm expert, by borrowing the primordial force of heaven and earth, brief flight through the air was still something he could accomplish.

The three hundred disciples under his command had uneven cultivation levels; only a few could keep up behind him.

The majority of disciples could only gallop after him on horseback.

"Who are you? This is Datangyan Sect. Three hundred paces before the pass is a forbidden zone. If you advance one more step, we will attack."

Captain Chen rose from behind the parapet wall and shouted a stern warning.

In truth, he had already discerned that the newcomers were people of the Great Yuan, the enemies of Datang this time.

Only, one could not engage in battle without first declaring it!

"Hmph! A mere little World-Shaking level, not even an Earthly Immortal Realm, and you dare to meddle in this venerable one's affairs?"

Bi Xuan's way of thinking was that of a jianghu person.

At a glance, he discerned Captain Chen's cultivation was at most World-Shaking level, and that too at the early stage.

Such cultivation, among his three hundred disciples, was not even top-tier.

How could it be taken seriously by him, a Great Yuan royal?

Immediately, ignoring the warning, he instead strode forward through the air more than ten steps.

Captain Chen decided on the spot, directly drew his bow and nocked an arrow, shot one arrow at him, and said,

"This is the final warning. If the newcomers do not retreat, our army will launch an offensive."

This arrow had no flourish whatsoever, only swift, accurate, and ruthless.

It gathered Captain Chen's lifetime cultivation.

But how could Bi Xuan care about this arrow? The protective Thunder Gang Qi around his body rose, and a blaze of flame directly burned the arrow to ash mid-flight.

"Loose arrows!"

Captain Chen had never expected this arrow to accomplish anything; it was merely the signal to begin the battle.

At his command, the Datang garrison, long prepared, immediately let loose Wan Jianqi.

The siege crossbows atop the city wall also joined the attack.

These siege crossbows were the sharp weapons of every great imperial dynasty.

Each siege crossbow fired bolts with no less than ten thousand jin of force.

Even experts of the Earthly Immortal Realm would not dare treat them lightly.

The siege crossbows of Yanmen Pass, moreover, with the assistance of the Directorate of Celestial Observation, incorporated some special craftsmanship.

They allowed the soldiers operating the great crossbows to channel their true qi and internal force into them.

The power of each shot reached more than ten times the original!

It was enough to pose a threat even to experts of the half-step Heavenly Being Realm!.

Wan Jianqi, among which were interspersed the great killing weapons of Yanmen Pass, the siege crossbows.

That scene would have long since frightened an ordinary Earthly Immortal into turning tail and fleeing.

Bi Xuan's three hundred disciples were all pale-faced at this moment.

That torrential rain of arrows—if not for Bi Xuan standing at the very front, they would have long since fled.

Watching this torrential rain of arrows, Bi Xuan gave a cold snort.

He directly pushed his Blazing Sun Marvelous Art to its maximum.

Countless streams of primordial force of heaven and earth were driven by him, transforming into boundless flames.

The torrential rain of arrows, upon striking these flames, was directly burned to ash.

Only the giant bolts fired by the siege crossbows—when the arrows struck these flames, they actually knocked away a portion of the flames.

Then, their remaining momentum unabated, they advanced several more steps toward Bi Xuan.

Bi Xuan had not expected that the siege crossbows operated by ordinary soldiers of Yanmen Pass would possess such terrifying power.

He immediately let out a fierce roar, gathered another mouthful of true essence, and once again drove the Blazing Sun Divine Art to attack the giant crossbow bolt.

After all, he was a Heavenly Being Realm expert, one of the Great Yuan's enshrined cultivators.

Now that he had cast aside his contempt and struck with full force.

This crossbow bolt naturally could not advance another inch, and was slowly burned to ash by Bi Xuan's blazing flames.

"Reload, fire again!"

Captain Chen did not change color in the slightest, and directly continued to issue orders.

Yanmen Pass had an extremely large stockpile of provisions and military supplies; as long as no supreme Mythical Realm expert came.

With sufficient manpower, these war materials could hold the city for an especially long time.

Following Captain Chen's military order, the soldiers immediately cranked the windlass of the siege crossbow, loading another giant bolt into place.

This time, a full ten siege crossbows were activated, hoping to crush Bi Xuan.

Bi Xuan watched and felt a bit of a headache.

All along, he had dealt more with the jianghu folk.

Where would he ever have experienced such peculiar methods within a regular army?

Ten siege crossbows wanting to shoot him down was naturally extremely difficult.

But the siege crossbows could fire continuously, while his true essence had a limit.

He immediately let out a fierce roar, "Fools! I'm blocking their arrow rain for you, so why are you all still standing there watching the show?"

He alone contended against the ten-thousand-arrows-unleashed barrage of Yanmen Pass's defenders.

Yet the three hundred disciples of his sect all only dared to hide below and behind, none daring to step forward.

How could this not anger him?

The three hundred disciples of Watching Bi Xuan Sect only now came to their senses.

If their sect master could block the arrow rain, then they could indeed charge up to kill.

Taking advantage of the arrow rain being blocked by Bi Xuan's Blazing Sun Divine Art, these disciples immediately displayed their lightness skills and charged toward the city wall to kill.

"Hmph! Overestimating yourselves! Second squad, get ready, intercept these people.

Siege crossbows, archers—keep shooting that bastard hard for me."

Captain Chen saw these Watching Bi Xuan Sect disciples charging toward the city wall under Bi Xuan's cover, and was not flustered in the slightest.

Instead, he had the archers and siege crossbows continue to aim and fire at Bi Xuan.

Blocked by the arrow rain of the archers and siege crossbows, even though Bi Xuan was a Heavenly Being Realm expert, he could not advance a single step at this moment.

But in his understanding, these defenders only had the arrow rain to show for themselves.