From afar, the shadow of Bitter Woodcutter Ridge was already visible. Beneath the moonlight, it lay like a silent, crouching beast, as though waiting for something—or preparing to devour something.
Beyond Bitter Woodcutter Ridge, Cilai Route was not far away.
The war in Huiming Prefecture could, more or less, be brought to its final stroke.
Everything was normal.
Except for... a muffled boom that suddenly came from the distant earth!
"Entire army, on alert!"
Jiang Wang had only just issued the warning when—Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble!
A chain of thunderous shocks blanketed all hearing in an instant.
The earth was shaking!
With Jiang Wang's attainments in the path of sound, his warning still pierced through the roaring din and spread clearly—but there was indeed no longer much need for it.
Across the vast land, towering mountains suddenly rose from the ground one after another.
Their force was like sword tips piercing the heavens.
The mountains appeared abruptly, standing in a ring around the Qi Army.
As they held up the sky and propped up the earth, they seemed to shake men's hearts as well.
The broadest stretch of the Min West Corridor was enclosed by nine lofty peaks, transformed into a basin in the blink of an eye!
The Tai Clan of Great Xia had deployed its hidden trump card Array Disk at this moment.
It was—the Nine Sons Encircling Mountains Formation!
In an instant, the terrain changed. Flat ground became a basin in the space of a breath, steep mountains completely cutting off all paths. It was like a prison of heaven and earth, imprisoning these thirty-odd thousand Qi soldiers!
Within the "prison," mountain essence hung stagnant in the air, pressing down in all directions, making every Qi soldier within the great formation feel as though they bore a