Taking Fire Dragon Pass, Military Realm Merit Assessment (6K)

As a base city, Round Moon City was not designed with the city's defenses in mind from the outset.

Its defense standards are even inferior to those of Wang Ji in Ninety-Second City.

At least Wang the Engineer knew to set up several Anti-Escape Formation below the city wall!

But not in Round Moon City.

Because of their confidence in Fire Dragon Pass, Round Moon City and the other cities within the pass did not set up Anti-Escape Formation.

There are some mechanisms, but these mechanisms are not for preventing escape, but for extracting the power of the Earth Vein.

Zhao Xing and Chen Shijie had already prepared the Firecracker Bamboo yesterday.

The only difficulty is that you have to be careful when you're trying to escape.

Because Fifth Level Firecracker are truly flammable and explosive, and Round Moon City is built on a fire vein, if even the slightest accident occurs during stealth, one's own people will be wiped out.

"Set off!"

Chen Shijie gave the order.

One hundred sorcerers and Agricultural Official who knew how to use magic all headed towards Round Moon City with a large number of Firecracker Bamboo.

"Divine Swift Guard!"

Zhao Xing pointed, Golden Light enveloped a large Firecracker Bamboo, which then sank into the ground.

Then they carried Firecracker Bamboo and moved underground.

The Round Moon City is the size of 25 football fields.

But in reality, not that many parts were to be blown up.

Destroying the city lord's mansion of Basida and the Four Directional Law Array of Round Moon City would be enough.

The most important of these is the Lord's Mansion of Basida.

Because this is the core of Round Moon City.

The array positions distributed at the four corners of Round Moon City, if these four nodes are destroyed, will only sever the defensive array of the southern section of Round Moon City and Fire Dragon Pass, which can still be repaired.

But if the city lord's mansion is destroyed, it will have to be completely rebuilt, which is what Pang Guangyao said, and it will take three or four months to rebuild it.

This part can only be done by Chen Shijie and Zhao Xing.

Why?

Because the others could not fully utilize the power of the Firecracker Bamboo, and the Magic Array under the city lord's mansion was relatively complex.

When the hundred people had made their way underground to the outside of the city, Chen Shijie used the Earth Vein to send orders to everyone.

"All four teams will retreat in half an hour, and detonate the explosives in 55 minutes!"

"Regardless of whether everything is in place in half an hour, you must retreat! Understand?"

"Clear!"

Chen Shijie said, "The operation begins now!"

Buzz~

After saying this, the hundred people dispersed in several directions at the bottom of the city.

Zhao Xing and Chen Shijie continued their stealthy advance toward the city lord's mansion in the center.

They carried the largest quantities.

The route is also more complicated.

As the core of the formation, the City Lord's Mansion is located on the fire vein, and those with weak strength really cannot sneak past it.

Fifteen minutes later, Chen Shijie and Zhao Xing stopped.

"We've arrived. The Blazing Fire Dragon Origin Array is just ahead."

In the Earth Vein ahead, a dragon-shaped flame flickers, its head enormous, its jaws wide open, pointing downwards.

Countless streams of earth fire power were drawn into the dragon's head, then transformed by Magic Array and transported to the small fortresses surrounding the Round Moon City.

The small fortresses surrounding Round Moon City are essentially relay stations for the array base.

Finally, they converged on Fire Dragon Pass.

The section of the pass was the weakest part of the Flame Mountain Range, but after being layered with many complex Magic Array, it became the strongest pass.

"Let's split up. I'll start from the Zhen Position, and you'll start from... uh, I'll start from the southeast, and you'll start from the southwest." Zhao Xing said halfway before remembering that Old Chen didn't know anything about the Engineer Family Formation, so he immediately changed his mind.

"Don't look down on me," Chen Shijie said. "Since I came back last time, I've been cramming on the basic Magic Array knowledge of the Engineer School."

"The Li position represents fire, and the Dui position represents marshland. You asked me to start arranging them from the southwest. Isn't the principle that the Li and Dui positions can maximize the power of the Firecracker Bamboo?"

"You Firecracker Bamboo at the Firecracker Bamboo Zhen Position precisely to use their power to disrupt the channeling point of the Blazing Fire Dragon Origin Array, causing the earth fire to condense and eventually self-destruct, right?"

"Awesome!" Zhao Xing gave a thumbs up.

"What's so impressive about that? Everyone can learn. It's nothing," Chen Shijie said casually. "While you were farming in East Mulberry City, I wasn't idle either."

Although he said that, Chen Shijie was secretly pleased to see Zhao Xing's stunned expression.

After studying late into the night for more than half a month, I finally managed to quietly amaze this kid. It wasn't a waste of time!

Since Old Chen knows how, that makes things even more convenient.

Zhao Xing carefully rolled up the Firecracker Bamboo, controlling the Octagonal Underground Palace as it approached.

He and Chen Shijie each brought one hundred Fifth Level Supreme Firecracker, totaling one thousand four hundred sections.

The power of Fifth Level Firecracker is calculated per section.

A single Fifth Level Supreme Firecracker has enough explosive power to penetrate the defenses of a fifth-grade battle armor.

In other places, relying solely on these 1,400 Firecracker Bamboo would be slightly insufficient to blow up the city lord's mansion.

Because they are currently diving quite deep, at a depth of 200 meters.

Moreover, the foundation of the city lord's mansion is very solid, so it's simply not enough to blow it up.

But this is Round Moon City, which is built on a powder keg.

Fifth Level Firecracker only needs to have this gunpowder barrel lit.

A quarter of an hour later, Zhao Xing sent a message asking:

"Is it all done?"

"It's almost there." Chen Shijie wasn't so quick. "Could you check it for me and see if there are any mistakes or omissions?"

"Okay." After finishing his own work, Zhao Xing immediately came to check the Firecracker Bamboo that Chen Shijie had set up.

Another fifteen minutes passed, and it was almost time for the agreed-upon retreat. Zhao Xing and Chen Shijie checked each other twice.

Once they confirmed there were no problems, they immediately began their retreat.

After the two left, only Firecracker Bamboo remained buried underground, enveloped in Golden Light.

All operatives know how to do this.

Because this is not a spell at all; it's just using vital energy to attach to the Firecracker Bamboo and envelop it.

Once you reach the Eighth Grade, you can control your vital energy to this extent; after a quarter of an hour, it will dissipate automatically.

Without the protective energy, the Firecracker Bamboo will soon explode in the scorching underground.

Fifteen minutes later, Zhao Xing and Chen Shijie were the first to arrive at the underground area outside the city.

The remaining personnel gradually returned to their positions.

Another fifteen minutes passed, and all one hundred personnel were present without incident.

"Withdraw!"

Chen Shijie immediately gave the order.

It will detonate in just fifteen minutes, so they need to stay away or they'll be affected.

In the city lord's mansion, Basida awoke from a dream.

The two Fire Demon Tribe beauties beside him also woke up.

"What's wrong, sir?"

Basida covered his head and said, "I just had a nightmare. I dreamt that I died."

With the Heavenly Dipper Earthly Fiend Body Refinement, Basda, a Sixth Rank martial artist, already possessed extremely powerful Seven Po.

The Seven Po nourish the Fate Soul, allowing the Fate Soul to frequently interact with the Heavenly Soul and terrestrial souls, thus gaining some precognitive insights.

These experiences are generally related to "rebirth" and "cause and effect".

Therefore, the higher the level of a martial artist, the harder it is to be ambushed, because their vigilance is extremely high.

"How could that be? We're inside Fire Dragon Pass..."

"Shut up!" Basida irritably pushed the beauty away, quickly dressed, and opened the door. "Someone come here!"

"Lord of the city!" Two guards immediately ran in from outside the door.

"Go and fetch the Mechanism Master Hopp; I need to go underground to investigate." After thinking it over, Bastas decided to patrol the underground area.

"In addition, we sent people to check the walls to see if there were any enemy troops attacking the city."

"Yes."

Soon, a unique-looking Fire Demon Tribe came over. He was carrying a mechanical box on his back and had a limp.

"Your Excellency Lord Basida, you summoned me?"

"Hopp, come with me to inspect the underground Magic Array," Basida said. "Check if there are any problems."

"This..." Hopp was taken aback. How did Basida come up with something like this?

Did he discover something?

"What's wrong?"

"Lord of the City, it's just... just a small matter." Hopp's face was stiff.

Basida noticed Hopp stammering and immediately snapped, "What's wrong? Tell me!"

Under Basida's persistent questioning, Hopp Attaining Dao the truth.

During a routine inspection last month, he removed several Guardian Art arrays, including an anti-escape Magic Array.

They cut corners again, replacing the base materials for the sixteen types of Magic Array with inferior ones.

In short, this guy embezzled.

Thinking he had been discovered by Basida, he immediately confessed.

"You, you bastard!" Basida's unease grew stronger. He grabbed Hopp by the neck and said viciously, "Take some men down there immediately to check and fix what needs fixing!"

"You bastards! The Earth Fire Lotus was stolen last month, and you still dare to be so careless!"

Hopp agreed verbally, but inwardly she didn't take it seriously.

The Earth Fire Lotus was stolen, so what does that have to do with me?

Aren't you also spending all your time having fun?

But he quickly summoned men, who took Basida and led them through a special passage to dive underground.

Not long after he descended, Basida's unease grew stronger.

But once we arrived at our destination, this sense of unease reached its peak!

"Huh? What's that?"

Upon reaching the underground, Basida immediately saw clusters of faint Golden Light floating beside the underground Magic Array.

The people around Hopp also looked over.

Upon seeing this, Hopp was immediately terrified.

"Th-that is..." Hopp was too frightened to speak, her hands and feet trembling.

Basida grabbed Hopp, "You bastard, explain yourself!"

The others screamed:

"My God, those are Fifth Level Firecracker!"

"So much of it, and it's about to explode!"

"Run!"

"What?!"

Basida turned to look.

The first golden light extinguished.

"Bang!"

The loud explosion shattered the surrounding rocks.

"Whoosh~" The dragon head that was absorbing the earth fire was instantly blasted open.

Then came the second, third, fourth... thousands of Golden Light extinguished.

"Boom boom boom!"

A blazing light appeared before Basida's eyes.

Then, his consciousness completely disappeared into darkness.

Pang Guangyao stood in the mountains and forests, gazing at the distant Round Moon City.

He knew very little about the Agricultural Official, and did not know what this specialty product or the Firecracker Bamboo of the Great Zhou were.

All he knew was that Xia Jing had taken a hundred men to Round Moon City, while the main army remained here.

"Isn't this a bit too much of a blunder?"

"You think you can take down Round Moon City with just a hundred men?"

"To prevent leaks, shouldn't we send all three thousand men at once to minimize the chances of word getting out?"

"Is he really Xia Jing?"

Pang Guangyao was filled with doubts.

But just then, Xia Jing returned with his men.

"Your Heir Apparent..." Pang Guangyao couldn't help but ask.

"All troops, retreat! Retreat!"

Chen Shijie roared!

But at that moment, the earth began to shake.

"Boom!"

"Boom boom boom~"

"Shh, shh, shh~" The trees in the mountains and forests also kept shaking.

The earth began to shake violently, and Pang Guangyao watched as the soil in the distance rose up to form a small hill.

"Crack crack crack~" Not far away, a crack several kilometers long suddenly appeared.

"What's going on?" Pang Guangyao's heart skipped a beat.

He immediately took flight.

Then, he witnessed a scene he would never forget.

"Boom!"

The distant Round Moon City seemed to take flight!

Yes, it took flight.

It suddenly rose over a hundred meters!

Like a city ablaze!

The entire city soared hundreds of meters into the air in an instant, and then Pang Guangyao watched helplessly as it crumbled and vanished completely in a flash.

It has completely disappeared, leaving not a trace!

Just then, a dazzling light burst forth from the original location of Round Moon City.

The intense light even made Pang Guangyao instinctively raise his hand to shield his eyes.

The shockwave swept outwards in all directions, visible to the naked eye.

A mushroom cloud rose, and the earth seemed to boil, with the soil on the ground sweeping outwards like ocean waves.

"What?!" Pang Guangyao was startled and immediately retreated while raising his body.

"Boom!"

Until a shockwave swept across the mountains and forests.

Pang Guangyao then heard a loud bang.

"Sizzle~"

"Boom!"

"Crackling and popping~"

At this moment, Pang Guangyao saw that the mountains and forests below had been swept away by the shock wave.

The shockwave carried flames, and in an instant, the forest was ignited.

The sounds of burning, exploding, and commands mingled together.

Pang Guangyao followed Xia Jing in a daze as they retreated.

The Vanguard Battalion had three pre-assembled, simple airships, each capable of carrying a thousand people.

At this moment, all three flying boats were like candles in the wind, swaying violently.

It hadn't flown very far when it crashed hard onto the ground again.

Fortunately, the distance was far enough that the shockwave's power was greatly reduced.

The airship did not disintegrate.

Pang Guangyao flew to Xia Jing's side and shouted loudly, "Heir Apparent, what exactly happened?!"

"Round Moon City... how... how is it gone?"

Zhao Xing looked at the disappearing Round Moon City in the distance. He had been panicking just now, but he still said calmly, "As you can see, we naturally blew it up."

"It exploded?" Pang Guangyao couldn't understand Zhao Xing's words at all.

How could a city with a total area of 100,000 mu be blown up?

Chen Shijie looked ahead with lingering fear.

"Damn, we need to test the use of Firecracker Bamboo in different regions more often; this time the quantity is too large."

The effect of the Firecracker Bamboo this time was exceptionally good!

First, Zhao Xing trained Fifth Level Firecracker, which were of a higher overall quality than those used by Chen Shijie before. Most of them were top-grade or excellent fifth-grade Firecracker Bamboo, with a small number being mid-to-low-grade.

Secondly, the Round Moon City is situated on a fire vein and is itself absorbing the power of the earth's fire.

Thirdly, because of Hopp and others' shoddy workmanship, the Firecracker Bamboo's power was not blocked by their own defensive Magic Array and was fully unleashed.

They underestimated the enemy's strength when they formulated their plan; Chen Shijie and Zhao Xing both thought the Crescent Round Moon City was too powerful.

So they set off a lot of Firecracker Bamboo.

A combination of factors has led to the current situation.

The Round Moon City, along with dozens of surrounding fortresses, was completely destroyed in this wave of explosions.

Not to mention people, even stones melted.

If we hadn't run fast and noticed something was wrong, some of our own men would probably have perished in the explosion.

"Yeah, we should do less of that in the future," Zhao Xing echoed.

This directly cured their fear of insufficient firepower.

In the future, we will still need to allocate resources in fixed quantities.

"Your Heir Apparent, who... who exactly are you?" Pang Guangyao couldn't help but ask, looking at Zhao Xing as if he were looking at a devil.

With a flick of his hand, the entire Round Moon City vanished, filling Pang Guangyao with dread.

What kind of person am I following?

"Now that things have come to this, I have no need to hide it from you any longer." Zhao Xing clapped his hands and stood up. "Standing before you is Zhao Xing, the Nine Section Commandant of the Divine Might Army of the Great Zhou, belonging to the Nine Section Battalion under the command of Captain Liao Rulong of the Ninth Column of the Divine Might Army."

"The Divine Might Army?" Pang Guangyao was dumbfounded. He had indeed gotten on the wrong train!

"However, there is one thing I am not lying to you about: Xia Jing and I do have a connection. He is my sworn brother. We trained together in the Ten Yang Grotto-Heaven, and this time our two armies are fighting side by side."

"What I promised you is the same as what Xia Jing promised you. The minotaur who delivered the message to you, isn't his name Ye Chongxian?"

Pang Guangyao nodded.

He did indeed know Ye Chongxian's real name.

"That's it." Zhao Xing looked at the lightning in the Astral Wind layer on the horizon and smiled. He walked over and patted Pang Guangyao on the shoulder. "General Pang, the army will break through the pass soon. Whether you can live up to the title of General of the Great Zhou depends on you."

On September 16th, the Divine Might Army, the Black Armor Army, and the Sea Pacifying Army approached Fire Dragon Pass.

Just when everyone thought the Great Zhou army was coming to their deaths, a deafening explosion suddenly rang out from the southern section of Fire Dragon Pass.

The Magic Array suddenly became completely ineffective for four hours!

Liao Rulong's troops, sailing the Dragon Head Tower Ship, broke through the pass directly, and five thousand men ascended the thousand-meter-high Fire Dragon Pass.

The defending general, Yue Haisheng, hurriedly went up to the city to supervise the battle, leading 10,000 barbarian soldiers to try to annihilate the enemy army, and ordered his men to repair the Magic Array.

The two sides fought fiercely for less than 15 minutes.

The Magic Array in the Guan Shan North and the Guankou section subsequently became ineffective.

The effectiveness of the entire defensive formation has been reduced to its lowest level in nearly two hundred years.

The Sea Pacifying Army's hundreds of warships sailed unimpeded to the area above Fire Dragon Pass.

Netherflame Warship, Three-Leaf Warship, Dragon Head Tower Ship...

God-Slaying Crossbow, Spirit-Breaking Crossbow Cart, Returning Spirit Shield Cart, Heavy Water Trebuchet, Heavenly Net Catapult Formation... The pinnacle of craftsmanship of the Great Zhou, a dense bombardment and defensive array.

The Realm Transformation dimmed and lost its light, completely rendering the defensive array of Fire Dragon Pass ineffective in a short moment.

Wen Shaoyang's Great Halberdier Camp and Black Armor Army's Dragon Rider Camp followed closely behind Liao Rulong's troops, successively ascending the pass.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Moon Sea led his remaining troops to escape from Fire Dragon Pass. The banner of the Great Zhou was raised at Fire Dragon Pass, which stretches for nearly forty miles.

Due to the disparity in numbers and military strength, this majestic pass, which had stood for over a thousand years, was Destruction in just one afternoon.

September 16th and 17th were the days when the three armies of the Great Zhou reaped the rewards of their battles.

After the formidable pass fell, the Fire Demon Tribe's garrison became walking examples of their military achievements.

In terms of both numbers and strength, they were no match for the army of the Great Zhou.

"Pfft~"

A purple finger pierced the head of a Seventh Grade barbarian general, and lightning burned his entire body to a crisp.

"Thump!" The Seventh Grade barbarian general, along with the spear he was holding, fell to the ground.

"Drink! Hah!"

On the ground, a Fang Zhen of soldiers wielding three-meter-long halberds moved rapidly below.

When the corpse fell from a height of two hundred meters, it was suddenly torn apart by a thousand-meter-long Blood-colored Halberd in the air when it reached a height of one hundred meters, turning into dust.

"It's Lin Ze, a captain under Wen Shaoyang."

"The Great Halberdier Camp, composed entirely of Eighth Grade martial artists, Qi and Blood Battle Formation, with halberds standing like a forest," Zhao Xing had just finished chasing down a barbarian soldier when he saw the Great Halberdier Camp below.

A hundred meters above the Great Halberdier' Fang Zhen, besides a Blood-colored Halberd, there was also the phantom of a military flag two hundred meters above.

"The Divine Might Army's War Soul Banner." Zhao Xing looked at the banner. "This War Soul Banner is similar to my Solar Terms Decree."

"However, my Solar Terms Decree replaces the solar terms of heaven and earth, while this War Soul Banner has formed War Soul Domain."

"Under the banner of this army, the willpower and Fate Soul of all warriors have been greatly enhanced."

"As willpower and Fate Soul improve, combat power will also increase, keeping one at peak condition at all times."

"However, the real boost comes from the battle formation below."

Zhao Xing took a close look at the Great Halberdier Fang Zhen led by Lin Ze.

This Blood-colored Halberd was entirely formed from the condensation of blood and qi.

It was as if invisible pillars of light were connecting the thousand Eighth Grade Great Halberdier below.

The largest pillar of crimson light enveloped Lin Ze.

"When the Great Halberdier's Qi and Blood Battle Formation is complete, Lin Ze, Official Seventh Rank, Upper captain, will possess the combat strength of a Sixth Rank officer."

"Furthermore, Lin Ze does not need to transmit orders through other means; its battle intent will be instantly transmitted to the minds of a thousand Great Halberdier."

"One thousand and one hundred people, as one!"

"Any soldier who is wounded can recover from his injuries using the Blood-colored Halberd, because the damage is shared equally."

"The same applies to the recovery of vital energy. The Blood-colored Halberd will continuously seize the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and even the vital energy of life." Zhao Xing felt his blood and qi surging, and a pulling force came from below, so he couldn't help but raise his body a little.

"Lin Ze's Great Halberdier Camp have already reached the level of a level five battle formation, and their Blood-colored Halberd can break through all spells."

"If I were to encounter such a battle formation, apart from the Soaring Serpent Transformation, a high-level technique that has reached the Sixth-Turn, which could affect him, no other high-level technique could seriously injure him. In addition, I would be overwhelmed by the martial will of his thousand men."

"This battle formation, when trained to level five, is extremely effective against mage teams," Zhao Xing thought to himself.

At this moment, the Great Halberdier Camp Fang Zhen chasing a group of the Fire Demon Tribe sorcerers.

Occasionally, a group of warlocks will attempt to retaliate with spells.

However, any spell that enters the range of the War Soul Banner will be weakened by 30%.

Then, it will be weakened by 70% by the 'Blood-colored Halberd' in the sky.

Falling into the Great Halberdier Fang Zhen, it was practically painless.

This is because it is the most elite Great Halberdier Camp of Wen Shaoyang's troops, a level 5 blood qi battle formation. It requires long-term training to develop, and the soldiers and officers must be as one, and the cultivation techniques and martial arts they practice must be exactly the same in order to achieve this effect.

Zhao Xing hadn't seen such an elite Great Halberdier Camp in a long time.

"Zhao Xing, what are you daydreaming about!" A familiar voice came from behind. Zhao Xing turned his head and saw Xia Jing riding a Flying Dragon.

His Black Armor Dragon Cavalry Battalion was also chasing and killing deserters.

"What are we waiting for if we don't seize this opportunity to gain merit?" Xia Jing said. "Hurry up and chop off heads. The entire army has now activated Judicial Nether God patrols, and there are also records from the Mirage Pearl."

"At this point, not a single head will be missed when it is chopped off."

"Got it!" Zhao Xing smiled and immediately took off in one direction.

On September 19th, after the Destruction of Fire Dragon Pass, the pursuit of the barbarian soldiers came to an end.

There were only tens of thousands of people to begin with, not even enough to kill everyone on the Great Zhou side.

Zhao Xing also participated in this kind of battle merit hunting, but there was an unwritten rule in the army that at this time, senior generals would not compete with junior soldiers for merit.

In this kind of free-for-all combat, it's purely about gaining merit. Zhao Xing is Seventh Grade, so he has to kill Seventh Grade enemies, unless he's surrounded by a group of Eighth Grade and has no other choice.

Otherwise, all the military achievements would go to the high-ranking officers, while the lower-ranking officers would get no credit, which would be too unfair.

On the evening of September 20th.

The Battle of Fire Dragon Pass came to an end, and the news caused a sensation throughout the entire Barbarian Pacification War Zone.

No one expected that the eastern front, which had always been considered the least likely to make a breakthrough, would achieve such great results.

The Fire Dragon Pass, which had stood for a thousand years, was actually destroyed by the Divine Might Army.

The news spread like wildfire throughout the entire war zone.

Its effects began to take hold in different places, not only in the Great Zhou but also in the Golden Feather Royal Court...

Meanwhile, Zhao Xing, Xia Jing, Wen Shaoyang, Liao Rulong, Chen Shijie, Long Xiao, and others were gathered at a castle in Fire Dragon Pass.

Because of the Military Realm's merit-based assessment, it has been reached.

This is a 6.6K file, and I plan to maintain updates of over 10,000 words for the remainder of this month.

Let's check how many words we've made up for at the end of the month!