"Did I ever say it was built by hand?" Sun Fuping snorted. "Solid and seamless, built during wartime, and able to withstand the trampling of thousands of men and siege engines. Only divine powers could manage that."
This bridge had been formed by divine powers? Everyone looked down at the road, deeply shaken.
"There are many earth-type divine arts. This may be a variant of the Mountain-Moving Art, cast by at least fifty sorcerers working together." Sun Fuping kicked the bridge deck. It rang like metal striking stone. "Mm, it must have come at a considerable cost."
It was also extremely durable. A century had passed, and it remained intact.
Situ Han asked in a low voice, "Wasn't it said that divine powers were ineffective during wartime?"
Before anyone else could speak, He Lingchuan shushed him. "You only know half the story! Divine powers are less effective against armies, but no one said they couldn't be used in war. What's wrong with laying roads and building bridges?"
He stroked his chin. "In that case, this bridge in front of Coiling Dragon City's south gate must have been destroyed and rebuilt, over and over, countless times. The reason this one is still standing is probably that the allied forces won in the end?"
"Most likely." Sun Fuping agreed with him. "Coiling Dragon City needs this bridge to stay connected to the south in peacetime, but when a great battle is imminent, they would certainly cut it off first to block the enemy."
Nian Songyu kicked a watermelon-sized rock over the edge of the ravine. It took a long while before they heard the echo of it hitting the bottom.
"It's deep. If we fell in, we probably wouldn't survive." He peered down from the edge of the bridge. "Was this originally a moat? I can see signs of excavation at the bottom. I imagine they made it deeper."
Coiling Dragon City already stood behind a natural barrier. They had also painstakingly deepened the moat in front of the city, making its current faster and more turbulent, further increasing the difficulty of climbing up onto the Chipa Plateau.
At the very least, an army couldn't make it up.
Coiling Dragon City had spared no effort in strengthening its defenses during those thirty-two years.
A commotion broke out behind them.
Ever since they had stepped onto the bridge, the possessed puppets had struggled even more violently, constantly trying to run back. Some even opened their mouths to bite people, and one guard's left hand was streaming with blood.
The result was that they were suppressed even more forcefully. In the end, they were practically carried across the bridge.
The group arrived beneath the south gate of Ancient Coiling Dragon City.
Actually, the outer wall of this legendary city was not nearly as imposing as He Lingchuan had imagined. It stood only five zhang tall and was shaped like a cylinder. The surface was far from smooth, and patches of bricks in different colors covered it everywhere. Clearly, it had been repaired countless times.
The wilderness was too dry for moss to grow at the foot of the wall, but it was covered in stains, just like the bridge. More than a century of wind and sand had failed to scour them away.
They were the scars of war.
Rows of small holes dotted the wall, each a little bigger than a pomelo but too small for a person to squeeze through. He Lingchuan could tell at a glance that there were hidden chambers and passages inside the wall for troops to lie in wait. These holes allowed air in and let defenders observe the enemy. They could also be used to shoot arrows and spears, or to stab at enemies climbing the wall.
But these were all standard features of city walls, and Coiling Dragon City's outer wall was plain gray, nothing special.
It was only when they looked higher that everyone saw its menacing side—
The parapet was bristling with black wooden spikes of different lengths, crisscrossed like fangs and pointing in every direction.
Zeng Feixiong let out a low cry. "Iron Fir! Crocodile Tooth Spikes!"
He had also taken part in Blackwater City's defenses. As the Yuan Kingdom's foremost stronghold on its western frontier, the city naturally had all sorts of fortifications. But the practice of using Crocodile Tooth Spikes at a city gate had vanished nearly a century ago. Even he was seeing them for the first time.
Siege warfare often relied on ladders to get ground troops up to the enemy's wall. But with Crocodile Tooth Spikes in the way, the top of a siege ladder could only rest on the spikes, forcing soldiers to climb over them before they could leap onto the wall.
Needless to say, these "crocodile teeth" were rounded all over and would be greased before battle to make them slick as eels. No one could keep their footing on them. If that still wasn't enough, the defenders could toss up a few torches and roast the soldiers alive.
Iron Fir, used to make the long spikes, was fire-resistant. Humans were not.
"Armed to the teeth" seemed a fitting way to describe this city wall.
Situ Han stared, dumbstruck, and murmured, "S-so it really is true!"
"Let's go in." Sun Fuping was the first to tear his gaze away. He led everyone through the outer wall.
One of the outermost Iron Fir gates stood half open; the other lay flat on the ground, clearly having taken a brutal beating in its day. Marks from blades, axes, and fire still stood out on the wood.
Iron Fir was harder than steel, yet it had been left so battered. He Lingchuan felt his eyes had been well and truly opened.
But as soon as he passed through the gate, he still let out a stunned "Oh."
There were only two hundred zhang of open ground beyond the outer wall, and then—
A second towering wall!
Even He Chunhua couldn't help remarking, "I've never seen a barbican this tall."
The second wall stood five zhang taller than the outer wall! And every defensive feature found on the outer wall was repeated here.
He Lingchuan also spotted several catapults atop the gate.
Sun Fuping shook his head. "Who said this was a barbican?"
They passed through the second gate and looked closely. They were struck speechless.
They were staring at a third wall!
This wall stood another five zhang taller than the second, making it fifteen zhang—more than forty meters—high!
Three gates and three walls. Coiling Dragon City was armed to the teeth.
"This is the barbican!" Situ Han drew in a sharp breath. "The enemy who made it this far must have been furious." After crossing the natural barrier with the greatest difficulty and breaching two walls, the invaders had torn through their prey's tough outer hide, expecting a mouthful of tender meat—only to bite down on another layer of armor. There was still a thick layer of scales underneath.
To face yet another high wall here would drain seven or eight tenths of the momentum built up in that first furious push. No one could have taken it well.
He Lingchuan thought the people who built this city must have been pretty vicious.
But by an air hole in the third wall, he also spotted marks left by fire, showing that the allied forces had indeed reached this point.
The ferocity of that battle spoke for itself.
After crossing three gates, the group finally entered Coiling Dragon City.
Before them stretched a vast square, or perhaps just an open area, large enough to hold at least two thousand people. Even with two hundred people standing in it, there was still plenty of room.
Turning around, they saw a huge relief of a long, coiling creature carved into the inner face of the barbican wall.
The creature looked like a snake or a python, its scales sharply defined. But it had horns on its head, whiskers beneath its jaw, bulging eyes, and a jutting snout.
He Lingchuan recognized it as the source of the city's name: the coiling dragon.
But it wasn't really a dragon. It was a flood dragon.
Below the Black Flood Dragon Totem stood a long stone offering table for residents to present their gifts. The offering tower and incense burner beside it stood nearly one zhang tall and looked grand, though naturally, no incense burned there now.
At the far end of the square was a large pool, dry as a bone now, of course. More than a century had passed, yet it remained mostly intact, with only a few chips missing. Situ Han knocked on its rim. "What was this pool used for?"
Sun Fuping replied, "The ancient cities on the Coiling Dragon Wilderness all had a tradition of drinking water and swearing an oath before setting out to battle."
Before you continue