Chapter 651 – Final Desperate Struggle!
Yellow sand filled the sky in front of the Blue Wind Imperial City, and the earth trembled as blood flowed in rivers and corpses covered the field.
The ferocious battle that had been going on for a full day and night had resulted in Blue Wind Imperial City having their entire defensive line broken. The last line of defense was already pressed up against the city gates by the huge Divine Phoenix Army.
The Divine Phoenix Army was clad completely in red. Their scarlet armor and weapons, which emitted a scorching aura, had all been refined with phoenix flames by the Divine Phoenix Sect. Not only were their armor and weapons light, their offensive and defensive capabilities were incomparably strong. It was not something the heavy silver armor and weapons of the Blue Wind Army could compare with. Moreover, the average strength of the soldiers in the Divine Phoenix Army was far greater than those of the Blue Wind Army. To sum it up, it would not be exaggerated to say that one troop of Divine Phoenix soldiers could fight against ten troops of Blue Wind soldiers!
The earth had long ago been dyed red with blood, and the color of the ground was even redder than the scarlet armor of the Divine Phoenix Army. Countless corpses lay strewn across every inch of the ground in front of the Imperial City, yet this slaughter still continued. Seven hundred thousand Divine Phoenix Army soldiers majestically advanced forward. They spread as far as the horizon and seemed to be a blood-red tidal wave that came from the depths of hell to eternally engulf Blue Wind Nation.
There were less than one hundred thousand troops left of the million-soldier defensive unit that Blue Wind Imperial City had scrounged together with all of its might. Yet they still persisted in their desperate struggle, yelling until their voices went hoarse. However, these voices soon began to become weighed down by grief and despair.
Countless arrows frantically poured down in squalls from the city walls, becoming an enduring tempest of missiles. This slightly slowed down the advance of the Divine Phoenix Army which was approaching the city gates. In the middle of the city walls, the commander-in-chief of the Blue Wind Army, Feng Yunlie, steadily roared out commands. His voice had long ago gone hoarse, but every roar of his still shook the mountains and rivers.
Cang Yue quietly stood not far from his right. Today, she did not wear the phoenix coronet, and her pitch-black hair danced in the winds of war. She silently observed the carnage, but her expression contained no grimness or sorrow. Instead, it was blanketed with a calm akin to still water… because this day would have come regardless, it was not something that could have been avoided.
By her side stood Dongfang Xiu and Qin Wushuang. As they looked at blood of their martyrs being splashed across the city gate and the gradually diminishing Blue Wind Army, they had long ago lost their composure, and their eyes kept darting to Cang Yue as they time and again stopped themselves from speaking.
The blistering squall of arrows which descended from the walls suddenly began to subside, and soon, it had dribbled into nothingness. With the greatest threat removed, the Divine Phoenix Army, which had already gained the advantage, fiercely pressed forward, and in the blink of an eye, they had pushed the Blue Wind Army’s last line of defense to the verge of collapse.
“General Feng, our arrows have been completely exhausted!!”
The hopeless news did not cause Feng Yunlie to move an inch. His eyes grew red and he let out a hoarse yell, “Open the city gates!!”
Amidst Feng Yunlie’s angry roar, the clanking sound of the great gates of Blue Wind Imperial City gradually opening could be heard. Feng Yunlie turned around and faced Empress Cang Yue, “Empress, allow Palace Chief Dongfang to escort you…”
“Speak no further.” Cang Yue’s voice contained an incomparable amount of calm and resolve, “We have vowed to live or perish together with Blue Wind Imperial City!”
“Bang.” A heavy sound rang out as Feng Yunlie fell to his knees and kowtowed deeply to Cang Yue. “To be able to be your majesty’s servant is the honor of this general Feng Yunlie’s life! And in the next life, this general will once again stake his life under your majesty’s command!”
“Clash!”
Feng Yunlie raised his long blade and bounded down the wall as his voice shook the earth, “Men of Blue Wind, follow me… Slaughter these wild dogs from the Divine Phoenix Empire!!”
The city gates swung open, and all of the archers had thrown away their steel bows and picked up sharp sword or spears. They yelled as they rushed out the city gates, welcoming the impending forces of the Divine Phoenix Army.
At this moment, everyone could practically see that the moment of Blue Wind Imperial City’s final capitulation was at hand. Dongfang Xiu and Qin Wushuang glanced at each other before bitterly exchanging a faint nod. Dongfang Xiu silently advanced a step forward, but before he could even lift his hand, he heard Cang Yue say in a chilly voice, “Palace Chief Dongfang, if you dare to knock us unconscious and carry us away, we will immediately bite our tongue and commit suicide the moment we have awoken!”
Dongfang Xiu froze in place, and he helplessly let his hand drop to his side as he let out a long sigh.
The Divine Phoenix Army constantly surged forward, and there seemed to be no end to them. Meanwhile, Blue Wind Imperial City had entered its final struggle, and those archers who yelled as they charged out the city gates were the last dredges of the Blue Wind Army.
“Close the city gates… follow me to kill!!!”
Feng Yunlie’s roar rang in the air, and the city gates at their back began to slowly close with a low and deep rumbling sound. They had sealed the final defense of the Blue Wind Imperial City, but at the same time, they had also sealed off their only path of retreat.
Cang Yue stood on top of the wall and heard the roars of the soldiers as she observed the blood-soaked battlefield. Her eyes could no longer maintain their calm, and they were now covered in a thick haze of tears. She raised both her hands and used all of her profound energy to shout, “Warriors of Blue Wind Nation, you have battled to this point, proving that you are already the greatest heroes of our Blue Wind Nation! Even though our homeland has been pillaged by these bandits, this land will forever remember your blood and your heroic souls! We, along with all the sons and daughters of Blue Wind, will forever remember your unyielding spirits!”
“We are right behind you right now! We will share the final glory of Blue Wind Nation along with you… and will live or die together with it!!”
Cang Yue’s voice resounded in the ears of every Blue Wind soldier. Their blood burned, and their faces twisted into expressions that were as sinister a demon’s. Their eyes also turned as scarlet as that of bloodthirsty wolves as the aura around their bodies began to surge crazily…
An earth-shaking roar rang out across the sky that had been dyed blood red. There was no path of retreat left, and death was right at their doorstep, yet they did not feel any terror. Instead, they brought forth all their power, battle intent, fury, and resentment as they barrelled towards the Divine Phoenix Army which had originally been a symbol of terror.
The air which carried the thick smell of blood suddenly became frenzied as the shouts across the battlefield grew louder by several times. The soldiers of Blue Wind who were already at death’s door did not know pain, terror, or death. Facing the assault of the Divine Phoenix Army, they abandoned all defense and retreat. They willingly thrust themselves upon the weapons of the enemy and then fiercely roared as they thrust their swords and spears at their enemy’s vitals.
There were some of them who had their bones broken by the impact of the armor of the Divine Phoenix Army, but these people used their jagged arm bones and thrust them towards the throats of their opponents. There were others who had their weapons shattered by the enemy, who rushed forward despite their chests being impaled and the skin between their fingers split apart in order to thrust their weapons into a chink of the enemies’ armor. There were some who were sent flying by the charging heavy cavalry, but they refused to allow themselves to faint and thrust themselves back into the fray like hungry tigers, dragging down the riders from their mounts so as to allow their companions to pierce the opposing side’s throats with their sharp weapons.
The smell of blood in the air became even thicker and the battle. What was originally a one-sided battle which neared its end, suddenly underwent a terrible change. The strength and equipment of every soldier in the Divine Phoenix numbers was ten times better than a soldier of the Blue Wind Army. But during this final resistance of the Blue Wind Army, every soldier from the Blue Wind Army managed to drag at least one soldier of the Divine Phoenix Army down to the grace with them.
Amidst the howling blood wind, another fifty thousand soldiers from the Blue Wind Army died miserably while the Divine Phoenix Army… had actually lost more than fifty thousand troops as well. But there was no despair that showed on the faces of the remaining fifty thousand troops of the Divine Phoenix Army. Instead, their expressions twisted into the likeness of sinister demons… and their eyes, voices and auras seemed to become like that of a vengeful demon from the depths of the abyss.
They were not doing this for victory, but to use their own lives to fight against fate!
Yet the clearly superior Divine Phoenix Army began to tremble. Because on the brink of their final victory, they were not facing opponents who had abandoned all hope and lost all morale… instead, they were facing battle spirits that were not afraid of death!
“Sss….” In the air above the Divine Phoenix Army, the face of Duan Qinghang, the second-in-command of the Divine Phoenix Army, turned green and he could not help but exhale a cold breath. From these Blue Wind soldiers, not only could he see a fighting spirit that had been ignited to its limit, he even saw the fires of their very lives burning…. Every single one of them had a power that was clearly miniscule, but at this time, it even caused him, a level six Throne, to feel a bone-piercing chill, “That Blue Wind Empress… just a few short words from her caused these Blue Wind soldiers to go completely berserk!”
“Phew!” Qi Zhencang, the commander of the Divine Phoenix Army, also let out a long breath and said, “She has only been on the throne for less than three years and she is only a little girl of twenty years of age. But she has already become the spiritual support of the Blue Wind Army! If not for her, we would not be in this situation where we are still struggling to completely conquer this Blue Wind Nation.”
“All these years, she wielded the frail military strength of Blue Wind Nation masterfully, using every kind of terrain and formation to restrict and batter our army countless of times. We repeatedly entreated her to surrender and we promised that as long as she did so, not only would her life be spared, she would even be designated as the lord of the Blue Wind territories. Yet she completely rejected us! And now that our troops are breathing down her neck, she had countless opportunities to flee. Instead, she personally stood at the rear of her troops, vowing to live or die together with her troops and her country… With this kind of ruler, someone who is only a girl of twenty summers, as men, what reason would they have to not fight desperately to the end?!”
“Honestly speaking, I, Qi Zhencang, have never truly admired a woman in my life… she is the first one!”
Duan Qinghang’s brows furrowed as he replied, “The aura of our army is weakening and there are even some who are cowering away from battle… Tch!”
“So why aren’t the both of you taking any action?! What are you doing just standing there and staring!!”
A low voice rang out from behind them. The two people swiftly turned around and bowed their heads in respect, “Nineteenth Elder, Forty-third Elder.”
Two middle-aged men dressed in scarlet robes had suddenly appeared behind them; they had eyes that carried firelight and beards like fire. The dull golden phoenixes embroidered on their red robes signified their exalted status—Elders of the Divine Phoenix Sect!
Among the three great commanders of the Divine Phoenix Army, only Feng Huwei was from the Divine Phoenix Sect. But within every army, there would be an ‘supervisor’ from the Divine Phoenix Sect. And within this core army, there would be two elder-class individuals to supervise the army. They would normally not make any moves. As elders of the Divine Phoenix Sect and as powerful Overlords who looked down on everything under heaven, they were not suited to take action in this kind of battle. Furthermore, they disdained to take such actions as well. Their duties were to observe the movements and developments of the army and to personally report back to Divine Phoenix Sect Master, Feng Hengkong.
And right now, in this battle to conquer Blue Wind Imperial City, they had already grown impatient.
“An entire three years have gone by, yet we are unable to completely conquer this tiny Blue Wind Nation! Sect Master has already been moved to anger many times! Blue Wind Imperial City is right now before our very eyes, yet a day and a night of fierce battle has not been able to break it yet! Furthermore, in just a short two hours, we actually lost tens of thousands of elite troops! This is simply preposterous!” The Nineteenth Elder Feng Feiheng roared furiously, “How am I supposed to account for this to the Sect Master?!”
Qi Zhencang smiled bitterly and replied, “I pray that the two elders be appeased. The last dregs of the Blue Wind Army have consigned themselves to death and are trading their lives for one last fight. On the battlefield, these kind of troops who have their backs against the wall and are willing to fight to the end are the scariest. We cannot afford to be negligent in the face of such fighting spirit…. At present, we might have to lose tens of thousands of troops in order to completely destroy the remnants of the Blue Wind Army.”
“Hmph!” Feng Feiheng’s expression was flushed with anger, “Why should tens of thousands of our Divine Phoenix soldiers accompany these pitiful and inferior remnants to their deaths?! We had originally expected that there would be no more than a few tens of thousands of casualties in the taking of this small Blue Wind Imperial City, so we never had the intention to intervene. But it looks like that was a great mistake indeed! If things continue the way they have been going, even if we are able to conquer this Blue Wind Imperial City… we wouldn’t have any face to go back and see the Sect Master!”
“Feiying!” Feng Feiheng said as he looked to the side.
“Heh heh.” The Forty-third Elder, Feng Feiying, immediately responded. With a dull laugh, he rose into the air and flew towards the city gates of Blue Wind Imperial City. The indomitable aura belonging to an Overlord enveloped the area, instantly suppressing most of the screams emanating from the battlefield. He looked down from below, observing the ants that were clustered together. His arm ignited with flames and with a casual flick, he sent a ball of phoenix flames streaking towards the city gates.