Chapter 368: A Sudden Change at Dawn
Translator: WQL Editor: EbonyFrost
Heavens Cold City suffered a sudden assault. As a result, all the common households had closed their doors tightly. Even stores had been closed. Some brave guys peaked outside through windows; however, at the sight of those war airships firing downwards, they all hid back while drawing in their breath.
At this moment, those who were still on the streets were all elites from Huaiyuan Palace or Zhen Clan of Heavens Cold City.
Fights could be seen everywhere in the city. However, the most ferocious place was in the inner city of Heavens Cold City where the nest of Zhen Clan was located in.
The inner city of Heavens Cold City covered 1 square km, which was like an imperial palace being surrounded by courtyard walls and prohibitions. It was guarded by the Zhen Clan’s elite troops. Besides a portion of their forces that were arranged in Bluestone Pass Fort, most of the strength of the Black Armor Army was gathered here.
At the beginning of the assault, Huaiyuan Palace’s war airships had destroyed the air-defense battery and the peripheral inner city walls.
Huaiyuan Palace assigned 4000 people to Heavens Cold City, including its elite troop and some elite students from Hidden Dragon Palace. They completed airborne landing in the shortest period. After that, they broke through two inner city walls in an overwhelming manner and drew close to the core of the inner city of the Zhen Clan.
The core of Zhen’s inner city was the shrine of Zhen Clan, the residence of the central and branch figures of Zhen Clan and the center of authority from where the Zhen Clan ruled Heavens Cold City. This architectural complex occupied about 135000 square meters. After the elite students from Hidden Dragon Palace completed the assault in Bluestone Pass Fort, the elite troop of Huaiyuan Palace also rushed towards the nest of Zhen Clan.
...
Lan Yunxi who ranked first on Hidden Dragon Fighting Strength List really displayed her terrifying power as the "No. 1 Senior Sister" in Hidden Dragon Palace. In amaranth war armor, Lan Yunxi held a exotic long whip. As a result, no enemy could draw within 15 m of her.
Before Lan Yunxi broke through the last defensive line, a row of soldiers in black armor on the high wall aimed their crossbows towards Lan Yunxi who rushed ahead at the order of a military officer.
Seeing this, Lan Yunxi sharply slashed her long whip in the air like a flame, cutting 5 soldiers in black armor in half.
Facing the rain of bolts, Lan Yunxi contracted her long whip. She then swayed it in front of her and formed a defensive circle. Even a drop of water couldn't break in, let alone those bolts, which were finally shattered and dropped to the ground.
Lan Yunxi flashed forward like a lightning bolt and reached the foot of the wall in a split second. She slashed her long whip over the row of bowmen on the high wall like cutting wheat straws by sickle, leaving terrifying wounds on them. Finally, they all fell off the wall and died.
Even though Zhang Tie was here at that moment, at sight of Lan Yunxi's ferocious move, he also took a deep breath.
Lan Yunxi then flew onto the wall. Shortly after, the soldiers in black armor uttered miserable shrieks and fell off the wall. In a few seconds, the top of the wall which had a length of dozens meters had been cleared by Lan Yunxi...
On the other side, the elite troop of Huaiyuan Palace also faced a rain of bolts when they drew close to the same wall of the core area of the Zhen Clen.
Seeing the bolts rain, Zhang Wumu, who was holding a huge ax was driven durious. After waving his huge age to chop off all the bolts, he put down his huge ax and undid his terrifying crossbow from his back.
"B*stards, you dare to play archery in front of this grandpa..." Zhang Wumu shouted loudly like roaring tiger.
Soon after his roar, he had triggered his bolts with a speed equivalent to a strike of lightning. 4 bolts each time, he triggered 6 times in 1 second, namely 24 bolts. Almost nobody could clearly see how he moved. In a split second, before the 3 rows of bowmen triggered their 2nd bolt from dozens of meters away, they had been shot by shell-like bolts. With shrill shrieks, they covered the terrifying bloody holes on their bodies and were sent flying backwards in the air.
Zhang Wumu's bolts were so powwerful that all those who stood in a line had been penetrated through by 1 bolt like a sugarcoated haws on a stick. As long as the bolt touched their bodies, it would make a bloody hole like the rim of a bowl.
In the blink of an eye, Zhang Wumu had collapsed the crossbow matrix on the high wall. In contrast, Yu Xiaotian in white had flashed onto the high wall not far from him...
In a twinkling, a sword light appeared on the high wall which looked like a bright crescent. Along with fresh air, the bright crescent just flew across the high wall, causing enemies fall down one after the other while covering their throats. Anyone, common soldiers or military officers, attacking or defending would be killed instantly by Yu Xiaotian's sword...
Seeing Yu Xiaotian jumping onto the high wall first, Zhang Wumu swore inside. After putting his powerful crossbow on his back, Zhang Wumu then lifted his huge ax and rushed towards a gate under the high wall. Being still not there yet, he had raised high his huge ax and threw his terrifying huge ax towards that gate after swirling it in the air, breaking the wind and causing a weird roar.
Despite being covered with copper nails, the thick gate with delicate adornments was shattered in a split second, causing miserable wails from behind. Zhang Wumu rushed through the gate first...
A large number of soldiers from Huaiyuan Palace followed him in...
In a split second, the last barrier of the core area of Zhen's inner city was broken through.
"Those who are not Zhen's clansmen can survive when you kneel down on the ground!" Someone shouted loudly.
...
A senior, some military officers and a batch of powerful fighters were observing the proceeding of the warfare below through that huge crystal optical imaging equipment at the bottom of the airship above the inner city of Heavens Cold City.
"These clan students who ranked high on Hidden Dragon Fighting Strength List are really superb. After being further guided, they could definitely lead an army in the future!" A senior military officer in the same amaranth flowing-cloud armor nodded as he watched the proceedings below.
"How many fighters above LV 10 in the Zhen clan?" The senior asked a military officer on his side as he watched the proceeding below.
"According to our intelligence and the testimony of some Zhen clan moles in Huaiyuan Prefecture, the Zhen Clan have about 12-15 fighters above LV 10. Zhen Quan, the former master of Zhen Clan might have become a knight!" That military officer replied seriously.
"Zhen Quan? I know him. When he was young, he was also an excellent figure in Jinyun Country. It's really out of my imagination that he is a member of Three-Year Association. Hopefully, he is a knight so that I could fight him." The senior waved his hand and let out a sigh. After that, he recovered composure, "Zhang Yi, you can go down now. If those fighters above LV 10 in the Zhen Clan are still hiding there, they would have no chance to come out anymore. Don't let those babies suffer any losses. They are the pillars of our clan in the future. It's already enough for them!"
"Yes, sir!" A tough man cringed. He then waved his hand and jumped off the airship followed by 10 more powerful fighters.
They just jumped off from hundreds meters high like meteors. When they were close to the land, they started to release their battle qis which swayed like dragons dancing in the air. After that, they struck against the land while in the air to buffer their descending speed before landed safely.
...
When they landed, they saw Zhang Wumu was beat forcefully and sent flying back in the air by a person who suddenly appeared in front of him; at the same time, all the figures ranking earlier on Hidden Dragon Fighting Strength List including Lan Yunxi and Yu Xiaotian were held back by a powerhouse in black clothes and gloomy face respectively.
The moment these powerhouses appeared, those elite students from Hidden Dragon Palace were dwarfed.
Yu Xiaotian stabbed towards that person's chest with his longsword. However, that person didn't even care about it, instead, he directly rushed forward and slashed towards Yu Xiaotian.
Yu Xiaotian then abandoned his sword and flew backward. Whereas that person kept chasing after him although being stabbed by Yu Xiaotian's longsword. Amazingly, that person didn't bleed at all.
By comparison, that person who held back Lan Yunxi was more powerful. After 3 rounds of fight, that person had already forced Lan Yunxi 10 m away. After 2 more moves, he had already broken through the long whip's defense of Lan Yunxi; meanwhile, he stretched out his weird pitch-dark palm towards Lan Yunxi's breasts.
"Watch out, senior sister Xi. These guys are all powerful fighters and don't feel pain!" A student from Hidden Dragon Palace looking pretty awkward shouted loudly towards her from several meters away.
After slightly clashing against his punch, Lan Yunxi had flashed 10 m away along with his attacking force in a split second. Meanwhile, her long whip automatically returned and twisted around her waist like an intelligent animal. Lan Yunxi then undid her amaranth mimi crossbow from her back.
The crossbow was so small that it looked like a prop for kids. It was only as long as 22 cm. At sight of it, anyone else would doubt about its destructive power.
Lan Yunxi then pulled open her bow and aimed at that person as fast as a lightning bolt...
That man then rushed towards Lan Yunxi. In a wink, he had been 3 m away from her when she had just pulled out her bow.
The moment he found that he was aimed, his face had changed. He then started to retreat in a strange way by flashing left and right so as to evade from Lan Yunxi's attack. In a twinkling, he had been more than 40 meters away.
At this moment, Lan Yunxi triggered her mini crossbow...
Almost when Lan Yunxi triggered her mini bow, that person had already uttered a miserable shriek. All of a sudden, he had become a ball of flame and been burned into ashes in a second.
This shocked everybody else. However, Lan Yunxi didn't stop, instead, she pulled open her mini bow again and shot out for the second time...
That man in black clothes chasing after Yu Xiaotian also turned into a humanoid torch and became ashes in a second. Yu Xiaotian turned arond and glanced at Lan Yunxi. He found Lan Yunxi looked pale as she was shooting out her third bolt. As a result, that man in black clothes chasing after Zhang Wumu turned into the third torch and became a pile of ashes in a second.
"Nice shot!" Zhang Yi sighed with feeling as he and the other powerhouses from Huaiyuan Palace blocked all the powerhouses above LV 10 of the Zhen Clan and took the advantage at once.
After shooting out three bolts, Lan Yunxi's face had turned pretty pale as she swaggered all over. Not only Yu Xiaotian and Zhang Wumu who hurriedly rushed towards her, all those famous figures on the Hidden Dragon Fighting Strength List were trying to protect her.
The moment Yu Xiaotian supported her using his hand, Lan Yunxi glanced at him without any feeling. He then moved his hand back as he sighed inside.
"Senior sister Xi, are you okay?" One person asked.
Lan Yunxi took a deep breath as she tried to stand still and waved her head, "I'm okay..."
At this moment, all the students from Hidden Dragon Palace were looking at Lan Yunxi with admiring and aweful expressions. The real fighting strength that Lan Yunxi displayed just now made everybody else give up their ambition to rank top on Hidden Dragon Fighting Strength List.
Zhang Wumu just fixed his eyes on Lan Yunxi with mixed feelings inside. 'Is this the power of the "Breaking-Sun" bolt, the most powerful ancestrial bloodline in the Zhang Clan? Although my "Penetrating Through Cloud" bolt is also one of the most excellent ancestrial bloodlines in archery, it is much weaker than the "Breaking-Sun" bolt...Why, why such a top ancestrial blood line favors a woman, instead of me?'
In front of the others, Lan Yunxi took out of that vial of all-purpose medicament marked with "Manjusaka" and bottomed it up.
After drinking it, she only took a short rest, then, her face looked a bit better. Everybody realized that the three bolts had consumed her a lot of physical strength. Although she had recovered, her fighting strength had declined. Therefore, some elite students from Hidden Dragon Palace stayed beside her voluntarily as her guards.
Holding that vial of medicament, Lan Yunxi gradually recovered her vitality. When she thought of Zhang Tie, she felt especially warm inside.
...
As the last powerhouse above LV 10 in the Zhen Clan was killed, this battle in the core area of the inner city of Heavens Cold City had been settled. As a result, the inner city of Heavens Cold City was surrounded by the elites and powerhouses of Huaiyuan Palace, leaving the remnants of the Zhen Clan inside around the shrine of the Zhen Clan.
The inside the Zhen Shrine was filled with a terrifying atmosphere. Therefore, nobody dared to launch an attack. Instead, they all stopped 50 m away from the shrine.
...
"Forefather, if you don't counterattack, the Zhen Clan will be eliminated today!" A Middle-aged man was forcefully kowtowing and shouting exhaustively outside the gate of the Zhen Shrine while the other remnants were crying surround the round stages outside the shrine.
"Even if I counterattack, the Zhen Clan will still be eliminated today!"
Along with this powerful, aging voice, the shrine's gate was opened from inside. An old man with silver hair walked out of there. After glancing over his descendants kneeling down outside, he raised his head and watched the airship above the inner city. "I wonder which senior of Huaiyuan Palace comes, can we have a talk?"
"After departing from each other in Xiajing City 4 decades ago, I've not imagined that I could meet you again, brother Zhen. Alas, what a pity!"
A voice sounded around the Zhen Shrine from the airship above. It was so normal that everybody could hear it clearly like he was beside each other them.
Along with this voice, a person walked out of the airship in the air and walked downstairs one step by another like there were truly stairs.
All the members of Huaiyuan Palace had their spirits raised as they watched the clan senior walking downstairs from the airship. By contrast, all the remnants of the Zhen Clan turned pale, some of which even quiver all over.
Although they dared to face Huaiyuan Palace, when they faced the powerful oppression of the senior of Huaiyuan Palace, all the people in Zhen Clan were scared.
"It's brother Muen!" At sight of that senior of Huaiyuan Palace, Zhen Quan also sighed, "The 100-year undertaking of the Zhen Clan in Heavens Cold City will be destroyed today. What a pity!"
"If you've long known about this? Why did you do that?" Zhang Muen watched Zhenquan and said calmly.
"Losers are always in the wrong! As the third Holy War between humans and demons is coming, everything became chaotic. Of course, we want to have a try. Pitifully, the Zhen Clan is unlucky and lost the battle! Huaiyuan Palace has four knights, why can't the Zhen Clan have 9 knights in the future!" Zhen Quan revealed a smile even at this moment.
"As you are just lackeys of demons. It's meaningless for the Zhen Clan to have 9 knights!"
"I don't agree with you, brother Muen. Before the Catastrophe, humans were ruled by demons. In that age, many people knew the existence of demons, even many Chinese were cooperating with demons and became the agents of demons and ruled the Chinese for countless treasures and great honors. It's nothing bad even if we live like that before the Catastrophe! To be honest, no matter how this world changes, there would always be poor and rich, masters and slaves, rulers and servants. All the rules remain unchanged."
"The Chinese still exist now and are very honorable. Some noble Chinese clans have lasted for over 1000 years and become the leaders of human race. What about those Chinese traitors who cooperate with demons? Where are their clan now?" Zhang Muen asked.
After being silent for a while, Zhen Quan said, "After death, I will not care about others!"
"That's why the Zhen Clan has to die today!"
"There are still tens of thousands soldiers in Heavens Cold City. I can gift them to Huaiyuan Palace together with Heavens Cold City for the lives of these remnants. I guarantee, after we Zhen Clan leave Heavens Cold City, we will definitely change our names in a remote area and live in seclusion forever!"
Zhang Muen shook his head. "If you commit a suicide now, I promise that I will keep your bodies complete and bury you all. As the Zhen Clan colluded with demons and went against Huaiyuan Palace, you should have long been eliminated! If I wanted to forgive you, Huaiyuan Palace wouldn't. If Huaiyuan Palace wanted to forgive you, the gold wouldn't..."
"The Zhen Clan has tens of thousands soldiers in Heavens Cold City, we could still fight you. Do you think you can easily destroy the troop of tens of thousands soldiers with these people, even if they are all powerhouses?"
Zhang Muen revealed a smile, "We've already occupied Overcloud Pass and Bluestone Pass. Two city gates of Heavens Cold City are also in my hand. I'm afraid that the 40,000 elite cavalries of Taishi Clan in Langye Prefecture might have passed Overcloud Pass and entered Heavens Cold City at this moment. Zhen Clan's troop in Heavens City could be solved sooner or later. I was told that brother Zhen Quan had been promoted to be a knight. I wonder if you have enlightened the 3-in-1 power. If brother Zhen Quan wants a fight, I want to face him!"
"It turns out that Huaiyuan Palace has already occupied Heavens Cold City and cooperated with the Taishi Clan. What a good plan! What a good strategy!" Zhen Quan let out a deep sigh as he looked in the sky.
"Thanks, whether you want to commit a suicide or have the last fight, brother Zhen Quan?"
"I've already known your real fighting strength, brother Muen. Even if I want to fight to death, I still have no chance to win. I have the last question. How does Huaiyuan Palace find our arrangement in Huaiyuan Prefecture? If I don't find out, I will be regretful even after death!"
Hearing this question, the senior of Huaiyuan Palace became a bit hesitant. 'If not for that that "Dark Law Executer", I'm afraid that Huaiyuan Palace would still be in the dark. However, who on earth is the "Dark Law Executer"? Is he one person or a group of people? Huaiyuan Palace is still confused about this even now. What Huaiyuan Palace only confirms about the Dark Law Executer is that this man or one of these people have formed Iron-Blood Battle Qi.'
Huaiyuan Palace was still looking for the "Dark Law Executer".
Of course, as a senior of Huaiyuan Palace, he would not tell Zhen Quan about this fact. Therefore, Zhang Muen became silent.
Seeing this, Zhen Quan thought of another reason.
"I know, but Heavens Cold City belongs to the Zhen Clan. It's built by the Zhen Clan after generations. Nobody can take it away. Even though Zthe hen Clan is going to die today, Heavens Cold City should be buried together with us. How come it be taken away by others!" Saying this, Zhen Quan revealed a wisp of a grim and crazy smile.
Hearing this, Zhang Muen became vigilant as his face slightly turned, "What do you mean?"
Looking gradually made, Zhen Quan took out of a twisting pitch-dark silkworm from his sleeve. Being as wide as a kid's arm, it was dozens times bigger than common silkworms
The moment he took it out of his sleeve, that silkworm had started to twist, uttering a very harsh sound. It was as sharp as drawing a piece of glass on the wall, causing people to be irritated instantly.
The moment the senior caught sight of that twisting and screaming worm, Zhang Muen's face had completely changed. Being driven furious at once, he roared, "All the members from Huaiyuan Palace withdraw from Heavens Cold City right now!"
"Let the Heavens Cold City of the Zhen Clan be the gift to welcome the demons' army into Waii Sub-Continent! Hahaha..." With crazy laughters, he broke the worm by hand.
The moment the worm was broken, all the remnants of Zhen Clan popped out their eyes as they started to roll on the ground, uttering miserable shrieks. At the same time, numerous miserable shrieks could be heard everywhere across Heavens Cold City, making it a hell-like execution platform.
With a growl, Zhang Muen rushed towards Zhen Quan. With just a punch which radiating red light, Zhen Shrine and those remnants of the Zhen Clan who were rolling over the ground miserably had been broken in pieces.
Zhen Quan jumped up and evaded Zhang Muen's terrifying smack. At the same time, he pulled out his longsword and started a fight with Zhang Muen...
...
After Zhang Muen delivered the order, none of the elite powerhouses of Huaiyuan Palace in the inner city of Heavens Cold City asked why. Instead, they directly left the inner city of Heavens Cold City as soon as possible. Nobody dared to delay.
Followed by the other elite students from Hidden Dragon Palace, Lan Yunxi also left there rapidly. Few people knew what that worm was, but everybody knew that the senior of Zhang Clan would never deliver such an order if not facing an extreme situation.
Soon after the powerhouses of Huaiyuan Palace left that core area, the powerful qi had spread from the location of the Zhen Shrine to all directions, causing an earthquake. As a result, the houses and all buildings behind them started to collapse consecutively. All those with a slower response had been injured.
The fight between two knights was really destructive. When they rushed out of the inner city of Heavens Cold City, the complete core area of inner city had been totally ruined, closely followed by constantly booming sounds.
...
Zhang Tie, who was in Bluestone Pass Fort had also noticed the abnormal situation in Heavens Cold City. Even though it was dozens of miles away, Zhang Tie could still see the two battle qis rising into the sky like two columns of light reaching towards the sky...