Ji Xin also spotted the rapidly moving cavalry. His mouth slightly agape, he felt a tremor in his heart. Was this the force that Ye Shang belonged to?
The Qu Zhao soldiers who had climbed the city walls also noticed the Jinyang army charging from a distance. In their shock, they heard the urgent drumbeats calling for a faster assault on the city.
Clearly, Qu Shilang wanted to take Lin County before the Jinyang army arrived.
Once that happened, the Jinyang army would become isolated, facing an attack from both the front and rear by Qu Zhao's forces.
The Qu Zhao soldiers were already bloodthirsty. Upon hearing the frenzied drumming, they attacked with even greater madness, some rushing to lower the drawbridge and others heading for the horse ramps to open the city gates and let more Qu Zhao soldiers into the city.
Clang.
In a moment of daze, a Qu Zhao soldier slashed his blade toward Ji Xin’s shoulder.
Ji Xin failed to dodge in time. A sharp pain shot through his shoulder, but his eyes flickered with a fierce green light. He kicked out wildly, shouting, “Someone has come to save us! Hold on!”
Perhaps because he hadn’t spoken in so long, or perhaps because he was too excited, his voice came out hoarse and trembling.
How long had it been? Their besieged city had finally received reinforcements!
Lin County was no longer a floating weed without roots!
They were no longer fighting alone!
“Ah——”
Ji Xin roared, summoning a strength he had never felt before. Raising his blade, he hacked at the endless tide of Qu Zhao soldiers charging toward him...
Bang.
Horseshoes pounded the snow, kicking up muddy ice slush.
Before the slush could settle, it was trampled again by following hooves, the ice and mud mingling into mire…
Jiang Jin rode on horseback, wielding the Great Demon King. She leaned forward slightly, body bent like an arrow released from a bowstring, racing forward at breakneck speed. The black-and-red cotton armor she wore gleamed coldly in the bleak winter sunlight.
Behind her followed three thousand iron cavalry clad in the same cotton armor, surging forward like a torrential flood.
The sound of hooves filled the heavens and earth, like a mountain collapsing and the earth splitting, carrying a vast momentum as if about to shatter the ground.
Qu Shilang watched as the Jinyang army charged toward him like lightning, a vast expanse of black and red that seemed to blot out the sky and cover the sun.
“Stop them! Kill them!”
He had to halt the Jinyang army, to stop them before Lin County was fully taken!
The troops left around Qu Shilang were almost all elite. Under his command, they quickly formed a defensive line and charged to engage the Jinyang army.
The distance between the two sides grew shorter and shorter.
Jiang Jin’s face was cold and fierce. She pointed the Great Demon King forward: “Kill!”
At her command, the Dragon Shadow Guards and the crossbowmen moved in unison, raising their Dragon Feather Repeating Crossbows. Countless arrows flew out instantly.
The repeating crossbows made almost no sound, but to Qu Shilang, its roar was deafening. Cries of pain and screams erupted around him.
This first direct confrontation with the Jinyang army made him deeply understand why Qu Bai had lost so thoroughly.
The two sides were still a mile apart, and even the fiercest warriors of the Qu Zhao army could not shoot at such a distance—yet the Jinyang army’s repeating crossbows could mow them down, and fire repeatedly!
Facing such unilateral superiority in weaponry, they had no choice but to throw human lives at the problem!
And most of his troops were busy attacking the city, leaving fewer than two thousand men here to hold the rear.
He swung his blade to block an arrow, his gaze fixed on the woman charging at the front. He knew: that was the master of the Jinyang army.
Even though he had never seen her before, and even though she wore the same cotton armor as her soldiers, she could not hide her aura and sharpness.
Five hundred meters was nothing for galloping warhorses—just a matter of a few breaths. The crossbows could only fire two volleys before the two sides clashed in close combat.
Jiang Jin thrust her blade out, blood spraying, misting faintly into eerie white vapor in the bitter cold.
Xia Chanyi and Yun Chengxuan guarded Jiang Jin’s left and right, with the Dragon Shadow Guards behind them.
On the city wall, Ye Shang roared, “Lower the drawbridge! Open the gates!”
The Qu Zhao soldiers who had been rushing to lower the drawbridge and open the city gates were stunned. The situation had taken a sudden turn—should they continue?
In the end, would the city gates be opened for Qu Zhao, or for the enemy?
While they hesitated, Ye Shang, leading Wen Ping, charged over. The two sides soon became locked in combat.
Watching the Qu Zhao soldiers below the city fall in countless numbers, Luo Lan wanted to laugh—and he did laugh.
So this was the force Ye Shang belonged to?
With such a formidable weapon, no wonder they dared to take on Lin County, this city besieged by Qu Zhao.
With only a few thousand elite troops, they seemed like an unstoppable army of thousands.
Especially the woman charging at the forefront—she was like the sharpest dagger. The Qu Zhao army’s defensive line before her was a joke, torn to shreds.
So this was Ye Shang’s master?
Suddenly, a familiar figure came into his view.
His pupils contracted slightly. Eldest Miss Xia!
So that was it!
So the one who had saved him back then was none other than Ye Shang’s master?
Clang.
A massive force hit him. Luo Lan’s body tilted, his sword flying from his hand with a clatter.
He spat out a mouthful of blood, planting one hand on the ground to keep from collapsing.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a Qu Zhao junior officer wielding an iron hammer, already swinging it for a second blow.
Luo Lan’s lips curled. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, but his eyes gleamed with ferocity and madness.
“Kill!” he roared, lunging straight at the officer.
The junior officer hadn’t expected Luo Lan, so badly injured, to still have strength left. Caught off guard, he was knocked off balance, staggering backward.
Using the momentum, Luo Lan wrapped his arms around the officer’s torso and charged toward the city wall’s edge.
The officer instantly understood his intent. He brought the iron hammer crashing down onto Luo Lan’s back.
Bang, bang...
Luo Lan felt no pain. Instead, his body and mind were filled with unprecedented relief and strength. Ignoring the officer’s attacks completely, he held on and charged toward a Qu Zhao soldier climbing up the wall.
The junior officer raged but couldn’t break free. The iron hammer kept slamming down.
He even heard the sound of bones breaking. Through the thick armor, he could see that Luo Lan’s torso had been completely deformed.
Yet this madman’s hands were locked tightly around him.
He was going to die together with him!
Bang!
With his last ounce of strength, Luo Lan rammed the junior officer into the terrified Qu Zhao soldier. The three of them flew off the city wall.
Luo Lan raised his head to look at the black-and-red tide that was about to break through the Qu Zhao army. The corner of his mouth twitched.
Boom...
Slush stained with blood splattered. The loud sound was drowned out by the clamor of battle.
Through the haze, Luo Lan vaguely heard someone calling him.
Who was it?
Who was calling him?
He wanted to lift his head, wanted to see, but he had no strength left.
It didn’t matter.
He was finally going to die.
How wonderful!
His vision blurred. The snow before him was stained red.
Just like that snowy night years ago, when he sat in the courtyard with his parents and wife, watching their son and daughter run and play in the snow. The red lanterns in the courtyard glowed warm.
He couldn’t remember what his family had said, only the faint smiles reflected in the lantern’s warm, yellow light.
He thought he could hear the laughter of children again...
