In front of the loess slope below the ruined beacon tower, the yellowish-green poisonous smoke rolled thicker and thicker with the wind.
The heavy crossbowmen of the Black Armor Army in the front row were in complete chaos.
The soldiers threw away their heavy crossbows, digging their fingers hard into their throats, instinctively trying to breathe fresh air.
Some knelt on the ground dry-heaving frantically, vomiting nothing but yellowish water streaked with blood.
Terrifying red patches instantly broke out on their skin, both itchy and painful, oozing pus directly when scratched.
Han Shao was, after all, a veteran general who had worked his way up in the capital garrison.
Holding his breath, he rolled off his horse, snatched the water canteen from his waist, and bit off the stopper.
The freezing cold water poured over his head, shocking him to his senses.
He tore off a corner of his inner garment, soaked it with water, and forcefully covered his mouth and nose.
"Those who retreat and cause chaos will be executed!"
Han Shao held his spear in one hand and drew the saber from his waist with a backhand motion.
With flashes of the blade, two soldiers who were fleeing backward clutching their necks were cut down on the spot.
Blood splattered onto the yellow earth and splashed onto the faces of bystanders.
This ruthless method forcibly stabilized the formation.
"Tear your inner garments! Moisten them and cover your mouths!"
"They only have fifty men!"
"Form up! Press forward! Strangle them!"
The quality of these capital garrison elites was indeed not bad; the surviving Black Armor soldiers immediately began to follow orders in a panic.
After recovering from the initial panic, someone immediately picked up a heavy crossbow.
The spearmen in the back row also began to push forward, and the shield bearers quickly filled the gaps.
The absolute advantage in numbers was evident here.
As long as they rushed through this wave of poisonous smoke, once the fifty light cavalrymen fell into the formation of heavy infantry, it would be a dead end.
Xu Zhan sneered coldly.
He backhanded his long saber back into the scabbard beside the saddle.
"Niu Dali! Protect that fat pig!"
Xu Zhan roared, reaching out with one hand toward the second mahogany backpack on the horse's back.
With a flick of his fingertip, the wax seal cracked open.
Inside that backpack, six crystal-clear glass bottles were neatly stacked.
The bottles were filled with thick black oil.
By the light of the fire, a yellowed strip of paper stuck to the sealing clay was faintly visible.
On it was Xu Qinghuan's elegant yet chilling handwriting.
"Burns instantly, eternal and unextinguishable."
Xu Zhan grinned.
Before setting off, when Qinghuan handed this backpack to him, she had specifically instructed him.
"Second Brother, absolutely do not use this thing unless it's a last resort."
"Once used, it becomes an Asura realm! Not even bone fragments will be left!"
Xu Zhan certainly hadn't believed it at the time.
What kind of fire could burn away even bone fragments?
Now he wanted to see if these iron turtle shells of the capital garrison could withstand his little sister's methods.
Xu Zhan grabbed a glass bottle with one hand.
It felt cold to the touch and extremely heavy.
He clamped the horse's belly, and the warhorse leaped forward.
Using the momentum, Xu Zhan swung his arm in a full circle, violently hurling the glass bottle into the center of the densest shield formation of the Black Armor Army.
Smash!
The glass bottle shattered instantly upon hitting the heavy iron shields.
The thick black oil splashed everywhere; seven or eight heavy infantrymen in the front row were splashed all over their heads and faces, with the oil even seeping into the crevices of their iron armor.
The Black Armor soldiers froze for a moment upon seeing this.
This stuff didn't hurt or itch; it just smelled pungent and strange.
Han Shao covered his mouth and nose, looking at those pools of black stains, and an extreme sense of crisis inexplicably rose from the bottom of his heart.
"Scatter!"
Han Shao shouted hoarsely.
But it was already too late.
Xu Zhan had long since drawn the short bow from the horse's back, with a long arrow wrapped with a gunpowder fuse nocked on the bowstring.
Seeing this, Old Wu quickly stepped forward and struck a fire starter.
The bowstring snapped.
The fire arrow pierced the night sky, perfectly embedding itself into the shields covered in black oil.
There was no earth-shattering explosion as imagined, only a scalp-numbing burst of combustion.
Pale white flames instantly soared up.
The Black Armor soldiers tainted with the black oil didn't even have time to scream before they were instantly swallowed by the pale white flames.
The black oil had extremely strong adhesion; once it stuck to the iron armor and flesh, it couldn't be shaken off at all.
The heavy mountain-patterned armor was originally a life-saving weapon, but at this moment, it became an iron cauldron roasting over a fire.
"Ah—"
Mournful screams seemed to tear through the night sky of the ruined beacon tower.
The ignited Black Armor soldiers dropped their weapons and rolled frantically on the ground, trying to smother the fire on their bodies with the yellow earth.
One Black Armor soldier rolled back and forth on the ground, the iron armor on his back already glowing red-hot. The high temperature penetrated the inner lining, directly cooking the flesh inside.
The nearby soldiers who hadn't caught fire panicked and hurriedly untied the water canteens from their waists, desperately splashing water onto the burning men on the ground.
But unexpectedly, the moment the water splashed down, the flames not only didn't go out but instead shot up over ten feet high along the water flow.
The water droplets exploded instantly from the high temperature.
The splashing sparks fell onto the soldiers pouring the water, setting them on fire as well.
Water couldn't extinguish it!
Earth couldn't smother it!
This was absolutely not mortal fire!
Han Shao watched helplessly as his most elite subordinates struggled agonizingly in the flames.
Human flesh had already been cooked!
The suffocation of the poisonous smoke, combined with this unextinguishable demonic fire.
The psychological defense line of the Black Armor Army completely collapsed.
"Demonic arts! This is demonic arts!"
"Help! Water! Give me water!"
"Don't pour water! The more you pour, the fiercer it burns!"
The formation instantly fell into chaos; soldiers cried and shouted as they retreated backward, trampling over each other.
Even though Han Shao cut down several men in succession, he couldn't suppress this landslide-like rout.
Xu Zhan didn't stop; one couldn't leave survivors in battle, this was a clear rule of North Suppressing City.
What's more, these people had come to silence them!
Mercy to the enemy is cruelty to oneself.
With every raise of his hand, a bottle fell.
All six glass bottles were smashed over, turning the entire heavy crossbow position completely into a sea of fire.
The poisonous smoke and flames intertwined.
The fifty light cavalrymen of the Raid Camp reined in their warhorses, stopping at the edge of the sea of fire.
Even a reckless brute like Niu Dali, who killed without blinking, felt his scalp tingle at this sight.
He swallowed hard, reining in his restless warhorse.
How did Brother Zhan move the Palace of the King of Hell to the mortal realm!
In the sea of fire, Han Shao's warhorse was splashed by sparks and neighed frantically, throwing him to the ground.
Han Shao crawled and tumbled to dodge a charred corpse.
The capital garrison heavy armor he was so proud of became the biggest joke in the face of this demonic fire.
It couldn't be taken off, and they couldn't run away.
They could only watch helplessly as they waited for death.
Behind the ruined beacon tower, Batu led the Helian pursuers and happened to charge up the loess slope.
Batu pulled the reins with all his might; his warhorse's front hooves reared high, letting out a terrified neigh.
The cavalrymen stopped in unison at the top of the slope, dead silent, everyone staring at the purgatory below.
The lips of the Helian men trembled.
In their line of sight, those Great Qian soldiers wearing heavy iron armor were screaming and rolling in the sea of fire.
Some rushed into the puddles of the dry riverbed, only to find that even the surface of the water erupted into a raging fire.
Batu remembered the explosion they had encountered earlier in Black Water Ditch, originally thinking that was the limit of the Great Qian people.
But compared to this hellfire before them, those two loud bangs at Black Water Ditch were nothing!
What kind of monsters had the Great Qian people created!
What kind of immortal was this master of creation that Lord Chen Changfeng was looking for!
"Commander..."
A Helian centurion beside him spoke with a trembling voice, unable to even hold his scimitar steady.
"What... what is that..."
Batu finally shuddered.
What is it? How would I know what it is?
I only know that the Great Qian people know demonic arts!
Use the flesh and blood of the grassland people to feed this demonic fire that could even burn on water?
"Retreat!" Batu let out a cracked scream. "Retreat, now!"
He wrenched his horse around, bringing his whip down viciously on its flank.
Stung by the blow, the warhorse bolted, its four hooves tearing across the earth as it galloped madly back the way they had come.
Hundreds of elite Helian warriors wheeled their mounts around at the top of the slope without firing a single arrow.
The thunderous rumble of hooves echoed through the night sky.
Their frantic escape was every bit as pathetic as their arrival had been arrogant.
Batu flattened himself against his horse's back, lacking the courage to cast even a single glance behind him. He was terrified that if he looked back, that demonic fire would somehow leap onto his own body.
Right now, only one thought consumed his mind.
Run!
Run back to the Royal Court! Tell the King everything he had witnessed today!
The people of Great Qian were not to be provoked!
