The Earl's territory, southern border.
Several villages near the edge of the Star Dou Mountains had been reduced to ruins.
The lucky few civilians who escaped had all poured into the last stronghold on the road south to the heart of the Earl's territory: Eagle Beak Pass.
Eagle Beak Pass stood beside mountains and water. Its name came from the shape of the terrain, which resembled an eagle's beak.
Not long after Su Changge arrived at Eagle Beak Pass with over a hundred cavalrymen and six hundred able-bodied militiamen, more than a thousand ice-and-snow-type Soul Beasts surged in from the long border, completing their encirclement of the pass.
As soon as he entered Eagle Beak Pass, Su Changge ordered the gates sealed with stone blocks and told Commander Mo to take a headcount of everyone inside.
All adult men were to be conscripted, while the women were assigned to the logistical corps!
As for those who dared to resist and refused to obey orders—
The men were thrown into the death row. The women... Su Changge kept for himself, to reward the soldiers after the Soul Beasts outside the pass had retreated.
"Commander Mo, get the six Divine Fire Thunderbolt Cannons we brought here mounted at the highest point of Eagle Beak Pass! Once the battle begins, I want them to hit the Soul Beasts outside the pass immediately."
Su Changge stood atop the wall, staring at the more than a thousand ice-and-snow-type Soul Beasts outside the pass.
Ice-Snow Three-Headed Wolves, Tyrannical Snow Bear Kings, Extreme Cold Ice Crocodiles, Ice Water Pythons... and many others he had never seen before, some of which he had never even heard of.
Though all these ice-and-snow-type Soul Beasts were under a thousand years old, every one of them was enormous, far larger than an adult human male.
Against such a monstrous horde of rampaging ice-and-snow-type Soul Beasts, even the empire's most elite cavalry regiment would be torn to pieces in an instant if it encountered them in the open.
It was nearing noon.
At the far end of the endless white snow, six even larger figures appeared behind the thousand-strong horde of Soul Beasts!
Though they were two or three li away, Su Changge could clearly feel their bone-chilling, terrifying aura.
"Thousand-Year Soul Beasts!"
Su Changge slammed his palm against the bluestone before him, leaving a deep imprint.
Things had really... taken a turn for the worse.
Roar! Howl! Hiss!...
With the appearance of the six Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, the thousand or so Hundred-Year Soul Beasts seemed to receive some sort of signal. They raised their heads and roared. Some spread their wings and soared into the sky, while others unleashed their Soul Power and charged toward Eagle Beak Pass.
"Point the Divine Fire Thunderbolt Cannons at a range of two hundred paces outside the pass!"
"All Musket Cavalry, dismount and get up on the walls at once..."
"Archers and javelin throwers, aim at the area outside the pass and await my signal!"
"Kill!!!"
Seeing the Soul Beasts outside the pass reach the designated strike zone, Su Changge brought his right hand down with a heavy swing.
In an instant, bows and crossbows fired in unison, while over a hundred matchlock muskets spat flames.
The six Divine Fire Thunderbolt Cannons roared at the same time. Their specially made shells screamed through the air, pierced several fearsome ice-and-snow-type Soul Beasts, and exploded with a violent blast.
"Refined black powder... not bad."
Su Changge watched the carnage outside the pass, but felt not the slightest joy.
Those charging at the front were merely the weakest of this massive army of Soul Beasts.
Just how powerful could the Divine Fire Thunderbolt Cannons get?
Only the mightiest Soul Beasts could put them to the test.
After nearly a hundred casualties, many ice-and-snow-type Soul Beasts reached the foot of Eagle Beak Pass.
Their enormous bodies smashed against the bluestone walls, making them shudder violently.
Even Su Changge felt unsteady on his feet...
Looking down at the densely packed Soul Beasts, everyone on the walls felt their scalps go numb as terror spread through their hearts.
These Soul Beasts were now... separated from them by just one wall.
"Throw every barrel of black powder we brought down there! Hurry..."
Su Changge looked into the distance at the six Thousand-Year Soul Beasts advancing toward the pass, and hurriedly ordered a dozen or so soldiers to hurl the barrels of black powder they had brought.
Hundred-Year Soul Beasts had limited intelligence, and relied on primitive instinct for many of their actions!
But those Thousand-Year Soul Beasts far surpassed Hundred-Year Soul Beasts in both intelligence and experience.
Even if the six Thousand-Year Soul Beasts didn't join the siege themselves, merely directing the battle from the sidelines would be enough to change the tide!
Boom! Rumble...
The barrels of black powder hit the ground one after another. Their explosive force swallowed up the Hundred-Year Soul Beasts.
In just two or three minutes, another hundred or so Soul Beasts had perished.
What Su Changge feared had still come to pass.
Under the direction of the six ice-and-snow-type Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, the remaining eight or nine hundred Soul Beasts slowly withdrew, then unleashed their innate abilities in unison.
A raging blizzard engulfed Eagle Beak Pass completely!
Amid the terrified stares of countless people on the walls, a Frozen Ice Bridge sprang from the ground, rising even higher than the towers of Eagle Beak Pass.
Roar!!!
A deafening roar shook the four directions. Hundreds of Soul Beasts charged onto the Frozen Ice Bridge and stormed toward the pass.
"By my command, everyone fall back inside the pass... We'll make our last stand in the inner city!"
The space on the walls was too cramped. If those Soul Beasts made it up there, even the most numerous army would become a field of human targets beneath their tons of rampaging strength.
As Su Changge led the soldiers in retreat, the cannons at Eagle Beak Pass's highest point thundered without pause, bombarding the Frozen Ice Bridge.
But whenever the Divine Fire Thunderbolt Cannons blasted a fissure into it, an ice-and-snow-type Soul Beast would release an ice ability to seal it back up at once... making it impossible to stem the surging horde of Soul Beasts.
As one Hundred-Year Soul Beast after another leapt down from the walls, the inner city became a living Asura hell.
Large numbers of recruited militiamen and able-bodied men became food for the Soul Beasts in the brutal close-quarters fighting.
One soldier had just stabbed a Soul Beast to death, only to have his upper body bitten off by an even fiercer one the next moment.
Screams! Terror! Chaos! Death... It all played out again and again in the inner city.
"Soul Skill: Titan Ape Demon Transformation!"
Seeing the dozen or so Hundred-Year Soul Beasts hot on his heels, Su Changge's gaze sharpened. He took a deep breath and brought his Soul Power to its peak.
A purple Soul Ring unfurled beneath his feet, almost covering a third of the inner city.
"Kill!!!"
His killing intent surged to the heavens. Su Changge became a streaking blur, the Steel Ruyi Staff in his hands darting like a swimming dragon as it pierced one hideous Hundred-Year Soul Beast after another.
Corpses piled up like mountains, turning the place into a ghostly Asura realm.
Yet the bloodshed drew even more Soul Beasts—stronger ones, with even greater years of cultivation.
Among them were many with seven or eight hundred years of cultivation, and even some with nine hundred years, their age infinitely close to the Thousand-Year Soul Beast threshold. These Soul Beasts were fully on par with late-stage and peak Soul Grandmasters among humans.
"Lord Changge, we'll cover you! Hurry and retreat to safety!"
Not far away, Commander Mo stumbled over with a dozen or so musketeers. Though their legs trembled at the sight of those Soul Beasts radiating terrifying auras, they still forced themselves to stand in front of Su Changge.
But Su Changge remained unmoved.
Not because he was trying to show off, but because... there was nowhere left to retreat.
Even if he hid in the lowest chamber beneath Eagle Beak Pass, how long could he stay there?
Unless he beat these Soul Beasts into submission, struck fear into them, and made them feel pain—
Those beasts would never let him go.
After all, to Soul Beasts that were savage by nature and had already tasted human flesh, human Soul Masters... were rare delicacies.
"As the commander, how could I, Su Changge, abandon my soldiers and flee!?"
"Soldiers, follow me... Kill!!!"
Though Su Changge hadn't meant to show off, the habits buried in his subconscious still had a subtle influence.