Form Ranks in the North, Xuanwu, Heed the Command! The Strongest Tank, Hu Yan Zhen's Shock!

Chang'an Empire's northern city was the closest to the Tian Dou Empire.

Before long, the army of forty thousand arrived at North City.

The sheer number of Dark Armor Soldiers was enough to strike fear into anyone who looked at them!

"I am Hu Yan Zhen, Sect Master of the Elephant Armor Sect! An eighty-ninth-rank Soul Douluo, here by imperial decree to suppress rebels!"

"Who is the City Lord? Open the gates and surrender at once! Otherwise, when my army breaks in, I will reduce you all to ashes!"

The burly old man at the forefront of the Heavenly Dou formation roared loudly!

Though Hu Yan Zhen's hair and beard were white and he was already in his seventies,

he was full of vigor, his voice booming like a great bell!

His body was simply enormous, even taller than the warhorses ridden by ordinary soldiers. By rough estimate, he was at least two and a half meters tall. His skin was dark, his large eyes like bronze bells, and a strange gleam seemed to ripple across his blackened skin.

He was like a mountain of flesh, exuding an imposing presence.

His mount was equally distinctive: a towering, mighty elephant!

The soldiers atop the walls lost all desire to keep fighting when they saw this fierce man appear!

"Hu Yan Zhen—it's him!"

"His martial soul is the beast martial soul Diamond Mammoth. His defense is terrifying. Even if all of us attacked together, we probably couldn't hurt him!"

"How are we supposed to fight this?"

As the sect master of the Lower Four Sects, Hu Yan Zhen was renowned throughout the continent for his overwhelming defense. Just looking at the towering old man filled the soldiers with a suffocating sense of frustration!

The frustration of utter helplessness.

"Since you know my name, why have you not opened the gates and surrendered?"

"Then attack the city!"

Hu Yan Zhen waved his large hand.

The Heavenly Dou soldiers, who had long since formed into battle formations, slowly advanced.

Prince Xue Xing and Xue Beng stood on a distant mountain with a small number of personal guards, overlooking the battlefield.

From there, they could clearly see the legion led by Hu Yan Zhen attacking the Chang'an Empire.

"Hu Yan Zhen's defense is astonishing. North City likely has no one capable of breaking through it. He'll take the city in no time. Once North City falls, the route straight to Chang'an Capital will be open. Only then can we advance."

Prince Xue Xing stroked his steel-needle beard as he watched Hu Yan Zhen attack the city.

The troops under Hu Yan Zhen's command were all infantry.

They did not even need siege equipment, war chariots, or supplies.

Because they were unnecessary. There were no generals in this city to defend it!

Hu Yan Zhen possessed formidable defense, so his tactic was to use his martial soul to smash through the gates head-on and lead his army in by brute force!

The North City soldiers nervously gripped their halberds and bows as they guarded the city walls.

Arrows poured down like rain!

Hu Yan Zhen did not even activate his martial soul. He simply rode his elephant swaggeringly, enduring the rain of arrows as he made his way to the city wall!

His target was the thirty-foot-tall city gate!

As long as he smashed through the gates, North City would be declared conquered!

The more the defending soldiers fired, the more despairing their helplessness became!

"Can't hurt him! We can't hurt him at all!"

"He isn't even activating his martial soul—he just walked through our arrows!"

"We're screwed!"

The soldiers wailed helplessly. They no longer even wanted to pretend to keep shooting.

They could only wait for the gates to break, then lay down their weapons and surrender!

A massive purple figure leaped down from atop the city wall!

It landed between the city gates and Hu Yan Zhen!

Boom!

The towering body seemed to weigh a thousand jun. The instant it landed, the earth trembled faintly!

Even the solid ground beneath its feet was crushed into a shallow footprint-sized pit!

"Form ranks in the north, Xuanwu, heed the command!"

"By order of the Emperor of Chang'an, no enemy may take a single step into this city!"

Su Lie slowly rose to his full height, carrying a long purple pillar over his shoulder as he stood firmly before the Heavenly Dou Army!

At that moment, Hu Yan Zhen felt as though a small purple mountain had risen from the ground!

Only upon looking closely did he realize it was a man clad in purple armor!

The armor and giant pillar were both engraved with images of the Sacred Beast Xuanwu.

The man's build and age were comparable to Hu Yan Zhen's!

Tall and powerfully built, with white hair and beard.

Even his grand, majestic aura was in no way inferior to Hu Yan Zhen's!

His pale violet eyes were even more soul-shaking!

No weapon in the world suited him anymore, so his weapon was a massive Load-bearing Pillar!

"You are the City Lord of North City?" Hu Yan Zhen frowned. He sensed that this man's strength was likely far from ordinary!

"Su Lie, eighty-ninth-rank Soul Douluo! Martial soul: Xuanwu!"

Su Lie carried the pillar and stood before Hu Yan Zhen's army, as immovable as Mount Tai!

Hu Yan Zhen's pupils suddenly shrank. "An eighty-ninth-rank Soul Douluo? Wasn't there supposed to be no general in the city? Xue Ye lied to me!"

At first, he had not taken this battle seriously.

Only the final siege of Chang'an Capital and his battle against Li Xin were worth getting serious about.

Yet he had not expected a Soul Douluo to emerge in the very first battle!

"Xuanwu? That must be a top-tier defensive martial soul as well! Then let's see whose defense is stronger! Kill!"

Hu Yan Zhen did not panic as he waved his hand to attack.

A Soul Douluo was indeed troublesome, but he still had an army of forty thousand. He held an absolute advantage in troop numbers!

The Heavenly Dou Army held spears as they marched toward Su Lie in orderly steps, an overwhelming tide of soldiers!

Su Lie wrapped both arms around the massive pillar and swung it.

Whoosh!

A tremendous roar of wind rose!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The first row of incoming halberds all shattered!

The terrifying force traveled back through the broken halberds, sending an entire row of Heavenly Dou soldiers flying!

When those Heavenly Dou soldiers climbed back to their feet, their hands were shaking uncontrollably, and they could no longer grip their weapons.

But then the second row of halberds thrust forward!

Though they struck him, they failed to leave even the slightest mark on Su Lie's hard armor!

Whoosh!

The giant pillar swept out once more.

The halberds all broke, and another row of soldiers was sent flying!

"There are forty thousand troops behind me. How long can you hold us back?"

Hu Yan Zhen sneered and continued ordering the soldiers forward!

Row after row of Dark Armor Soldiers surged forth, only to be sent flying row after row!

The two sides fell into a stalemate!

When the Chang'an soldiers atop the walls saw how valiant their general was,

they too were stirred with courage!

"Heavens! General Su Lie is holding back the Heavenly Dou Army all by himself!"

"We can't let the general fight alone! We have to help!"

"Fire! Fire!"

Arrows once more rained down!

Hu Yan Zhen might not have feared the arrow rain, but the Heavenly Dou soldiers were deeply afraid of it!

Wave after wave of arrows claimed the lives of many Heavenly Dou soldiers!

Their advance had been blocked, and if they could not break through for a long time, they would continue being shot at!

No one wanted to fight a battle like this!

"Return fire!" Seeing that the offensive had made no progress whatsoever, Hu Yan Zhen could wait no longer.

They had agreed that the Five Route Army would converge at Chang'an Capital.

Yet he had been stopped here. Wouldn't the great merit of destroying Chang'an Capital be lost to him?

"Your strength truly is extraordinary. This old man will face you personally!"

Hu Yan Zhen leaped down from the elephant's back.

The muscles all over his body rapidly swelled, becoming exaggerated and terrifying. A layer of dark yellow keratin emerged over his skin, gleaming with a metallic luster and making him look hardly human.

His nose stretched and lengthened at the same time, his upper lip curled up, and two tusks extended several feet!

Roar!

A resounding bellow echoed across the battlefield!

Two yellow, two purple, and four black—eight soul rings lit up around him!