War

In the last half hour,

Having been appointed to this critical mission, Xia Wenlin had already relayed his orders to the city wall defenders as quickly as possible.

He also anticipated that there might be an internal traitor within Wanxiang City at this moment, and emphasized this point when transmitting information.

But in reality, even if you calculate it, you can't solve it, because there's not enough time.

Mid-level officers only have time to pass on information to junior officers, not to the soldiers.

Time was only enough for them to disperse the convoys at a few city gates and close the gates.

and,

When peace lasts too long, many people will think it's a joke when war actually breaks out.

Therefore,

When the crowds gathered and formed ranks within the city, only a few of the city's guards reacted; most of them merely looked on with suspicion.

Once the battle formation was complete, cracks appeared in the city walls, and the key points of the unactivated formation were destroyed. Only then did the soldiers on duty atop the walls realize what had happened.

The war has truly begun.

"Quickly, go quickly... inform the commander that the city is under attack!!"

"Don't run! Don't run! There's no one to meet us outside the city. Block these bastards inside!"

"Formation! Quickly activate the City Protection Array!!"

Trembling roars echoed across the city walls after they were attacked.

This was so sudden.

The sect's combat forces, who were suddenly transported by the Wanxiang Sect, hadn't even had time to reach the battle site.

The army responsible for the regular defense of Wanxiang City mostly came from martial arts students from martial arts schools under the Wanxiang Sect, rather than elite disciples trained from childhood.

As chaos erupted, not only the ordinary people on the streets, but even the soldiers guarding the city were in an uproar.

At this time,

A sharp shout echoed across the city walls.

Those who desert and disrupt morale will be executed without mercy!

A middle-aged man stood in mid-air, casually unleashing several Sword Qi that killed more than a dozen city guards who were trying to escape in the chaos.

"It's the Seventh Elder!"

"Grandmaster of the Third Rank has arrived!"

The chaos on the city wall was only brought to a stop when the middle-aged man appeared. To ordinary soldiers, a third-rank Grandmaster was almost like a god.

Once the chaos subsided,

A middle-aged man flew swiftly low over the long city wall, his deep, powerful voice reaching the ears of every soldier guarding the city:

"The sect's elite troops are already on their way to provide support. The grand formation is about to be activated; we can simply use the City Defense Array to hold our ground!"

As if to confirm his words, some array patterns on the towering city walls gradually lit up, and a semi-transparent dome in the sky gradually solidified.

Although the City Protection Array of Wanxiang City arrived late, it has already begun to activate!

The appearance of the middle-aged man temporarily stabilized morale, but only in some areas.

At the crack in the city wall, the part of the army that came into contact with the Black Scale Army collapsed almost immediately.

Because they simply didn't have time to form a battle formation.

A young sergeant swiftly searched the city wall for his Qu Chang (five hundred men), for the unarmored rebels had begun to scale the wall and seize control of the East City.

The two men blocking their way had almost been killed.

The young sergeant ran breathlessly, his eyes scanning the tense faces of the soldiers on both sides, and finally found the middle-aged man puffing on a cigarette on a city wall.

Upon seeing the other party

Cheng Yu couldn't wait to run up to the other person and shout:

"General, what time is it? Why are you still smoking here?!"

Qu Chang glanced sideways at the newcomer, a smile playing on his lips, and said calmly:

"Cheng Yu, come, sit down."

While speaking,

He took out a small wooden box from his pocket, carefully pulled out a cigarette, and handed it to the young sergeant with a hint of heartache in his eyes.

"Hey, want one?"

The young sergeant stared blankly at the Qu Chang in front of him.

This cigarette is very precious; Qu Chang usually only takes one puff and then puts it out, but now they're actually going to give him a whole one.

Coming to his senses, the young sergeant didn't take it, and said quickly, somewhat angrily:

"General, quickly gather intelligence! Those treacherous rebels have already reached our defense zone!"

Qu Chang sighed, but didn't retract his hand from offering the cigarette. He took a deep drag of the tobacco.

The tobacco glowed brightly, and smoke was slowly exhaled.

Qu Chang said in a low voice:

"I know."

The young sergeant became even more furious:

"You know this, yet you'd better hurry up and go! When the elders come over, they'll surely kill you if they see you're not doing anything!"

Qu Chang smiled, flicked his finger, and the burning cigarette butt circled in the air before falling from the towering city wall. Then, he leisurely took out a tinderbox to light another one.

At this time,

The young sergeant finally couldn't hold back any longer and stepped forward to snatch the tinder and cigarette from the manhole cover.

"General!! What are you doing right now?!"

"Shut up!!"

Qu Chang suddenly let out a low groan.

The young sergeant was taken aback.

Qu Chang snatched the two items from the other person's hands, lit one for himself, took a puff, smiled, and slowly uttered a sentence:

"Cheng Yu, it's no use."

As he spoke, Qu Chang looked at the young man in front of him with gentle eyes:

"The enemy's army has formed a complete formation, and the elders dare not come this way. Cheng Yu, you are still young, so hurry up and run. Your cultivation is quite good; you should be able to find a decent way out even if you leave this army."

The young sergeant said eagerly:

"Why run? The great formation has already been activated!"

"It's useless."

Qu Chang repeated, pointing to the gap in the city wall, smoking and sighing:

"That's the key point of the formation for this section of the city wall; the formation for this section of the city wall is now useless."

He paused for a moment,

Qu Chang's helpless gaze passed over the young sergeant, and he looked at the sky behind him, smiling as he said:

"And,

"You can look behind you."

"."

The young sergeant was slightly taken aback, turned around to look, and then his eyes widened instantly.

It was late afternoon, the sun was shining brightly, and a huge cloud on the horizon was beautiful.

But as he looked further, he saw one after another ferocious, enormous flying Demon Beast breaking through the clouds.

At first, there were just some small black dots.

But gradually,

Countless flying Demon Beast of various colors have begun to occupy a large part of the sky, Sun Veil, and pressing towards the Wanxiang City like locusts.

"."

The arrival of silence made the approaching battle cries from the city walls all the more jarring.

Qu Chang continued to puff on his cigarette in silence.

The young sergeant instinctively took a step back, his voice trembling slightly as he looked at the approaching figures in plain clothes on the city wall and the horde of Demon Beast that Sun Veil the sky.

"Qu Chang, what is that?"

The distant horde of flying Demon Beast roared incessantly, disturbing the minds of every soldier guarding the city.

Qu Chang and handed another cigarette from the wooden cigarette case to the young sergeant.

"I don't know, this is the first time I've ever seen anything like this."

This time, the young sergeant did not refuse. He tried to light his cigarette, but failed several times. Finally, Qu Chang held his hand and lit it.

The young sergeant took a deep breath, regaining some composure. Looking at the approaching "dark clouds" on the horizon, he seemed to suddenly understand something, his voice trembling slightly:

"Qu Chang, aren't those commoners traitors and rebels?"

Qu Chang had finished his cigarette and opened the pack to light another one, only to find it was empty. He casually tossed the pack off the city wall, stood up, sighed, and forced a smile.

"Judging from this situation, perhaps we are the traitors and rebels. It's likely that the sect's higher-ups have done something."

As he spoke, Qu Chang bent down to pick up the Spirit Blade knife lying to the side, wiping it with an oilcloth while reminding him:

"Hurry and run, it'll be too late if we wait any longer!"

"Can"

A flicker of hesitation crossed the young sergeant's eyes.

He's still young; he doesn't want to die.

"But, General, what about you?"

Qu Chang glanced at him sideways and grinned:

"Even if they are traitors and rebels, I, Zhang Liang, have been paid by Wanxiang City for decades. How can I possibly run away?"

"General." The young sergeant clenched his fist.

"Stop dawdling, go and take those who want to escape."

"But."

"Roll!"

"."

When the Sun Veil flying Demon Beast arrived above Wanxiang City, the grand formation had already been activated, but unfortunately, the flying Demon Beast bearing the insignia of the Imperial Exotic Beast Bureau were considered "friendly forces".

The urgency of time forced the Wanxiang City's City Defense Bureau to hastily activate the great formation. There was no time to transform the formation patterns into indiscriminate attacks. They could only rely on manual manipulation of the formation or attacks using the defensive formation pattern's ballistae.

Many of the elders who were sent to oversee the battle were also killed.

One after another, dozens of enormous flying Demon Beast crashed into the city with painful howls, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.

Unfortunately, these are just a drop in the ocean.

The first wave of flying Demon Beast dropped a special slime targeting the array patterns from low altitude, directly slowing down and blocking the entire City Protection Array of the East City.

The array patterns were slowed down, and the translucent light membrane in the sky quickly dissipated like bubbles.

After losing the protection of the City Protection Array,

As the second wave of flying Demon Beast approached low altitude, thousands of truly elite soldiers with seventh-grade cultivation jumped down from the wooden buildings behind them to reinforce the besieged inner force within the city.

After completely securing the bridgehead established by the inside agent on the city wall, the army took advantage of the situation and attacked both sides along the city wall.

And amidst this fighting—no, it should be called a massacre—a vast expanse of smoke and dust appeared on the distant horizon.

The remaining 30,000 Black Scale Army, having formed a large formation, marched towards the city wall in an orderly fashion.

The garrison in the east of the East City was routed.

They were quickly defeated before the true elites of the Wanxiang Sect could arrive.

Within 25 minutes of the start of the war, the Black Scale Army had completely occupied the East City of Wanxiang City.

Everything returned to calm.

The 10,000 elite Black Scale troops, acting as the bridgehead, took over the city's defenses in an orderly manner and began cleaning up the battlefield and opening the city gates to welcome reinforcements.

Yuan Hao stood atop the city wall with cold eyes, watching the retreating Wanxiang defenders.

He did not leave the city; rather than sitting in the central command, he preferred to issue orders and then charge alongside the army.

And all of this went even more smoothly than he had imagined.

The Black Scale Guard' near-overwhelming intelligence on the Wanxiang Sect Guards allowed all his plans to be executed exceptionally smoothly.

Thinking of this,

Yuan Hao turned his gaze to the group of guards bound like dumplings below the city wall, his eyes showing some hesitation. But after rubbing his hands together, he suddenly grinned, his voice once again echoing throughout the city:

"Stubborn to the end, execute him!"

I didn't check the time, it's a bit late.