A Hundred Men as Bait! The Beast Tide Recedes

Night fell.

The army of soul beasts that had ravaged Eagle Beak Pass for hours slowly retreated.

Everywhere the eye could see was scoured by ice, littered with ruined walls and the mangled remains left behind after the soul beasts had finished their feast.

"They've retreated... the soul beast army has retreated."

A surviving militiaman wept with joy, but before he could say another word, a thick hand reached out from the darkness and locked around his throat. "Shut your mouth, you damn wretch. Do you want to lure those soul beasts back here?"

The passageway leading to the deepest secret chamber of the bunker was carpeted with the corpses of numerous ice-type soul beasts.

Inside the cramped chamber, Su Changge's arms hung limp; his face was as pale as paper from the total exhaustion of his soul power.

Gathered around him were Commander Mo and several members of the Musket Cavalry.

Commander Mo stared at the massive, sunken claw marks on the iron door of the chamber, his eyes filled with terror. Only when the commotion outside had completely faded did he muster the courage to walk toward the door.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Commander Mo gritted his teeth and looked at the Musket Cavalrymen. "You lot, take good care of Lord Su Changge. I'm going out to check the situation... If you don't hear my voice, do not open this door under any circumstances."

Commander Mo left quickly and returned just as fast.

However, unlike the heavy expression he wore moments ago, his face now held a trace of relief.

"Lord Su Changge, the soul beast army has retreated! They've retreated!!!"

"Retreated?"

The Musket Cavalrymen grew restless, the taut strings of their nerves finally snapping in relief at that very moment.

They had survived; they had actually survived!!!

"Cough..."

Su Changge spat out a few mouthfuls of stagnant blood and, supported by a few of the Musket Cavalrymen, slowly stood up.

"Commander Mo, the loyalty you and your men showed in protecting me today—I, Su Changge, will remember it."

"However, now is not the time to lower our guard... There are a few things that need to be done immediately."

"We await your command, Lord Su Changge!"

Swish, swish. Commander Mo and the others knelt in unison.

If the shock of Su Changge instantly killing two Great Soul Masters back at Wheat Fragrance Village had earned their awe, then after today's soul beast siege, the young man before them was not just worthy of awe, but worthy of worship—he was their faith.

If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, who would believe that a Soul Master of only a dozen levels could stand against a hundred, slaughtering over a hundred-year-level soul beasts that rivaled human Great Soul Masters?

The previous count, Murong Boda, could not have done it at that level!

None of the past Murong counts could have done it either.

Even if one looked across the entire kingdom or empire, it was likely no one could achieve such a feat.

This was a super-thigh to hug, a hundred, a thousand times thicker than an elephant's!

As long as they could cling to it, their future was destined to soar.

"First, immediately take stock of the survivors within Eagle Beak Pass. Make it clear to me—specifically, make it clear how many of the Musket Cavalry we brought from the castle remain."

"Second! Dispatch a team to collect the weapons, muskets, and gunpowder scattered throughout the pass under the cover of night. Especially, confirm the status of the six Divine Fire Thunderbolt Cannons."

"Third..."

Before Su Changge could finish his sentence, a wave of dizziness swept over him, and he fainted on the spot, throwing the secret chamber into a panic.

The next day.

Dawn broke.

Su Changge awoke from his slumber. Upon learning that he had regained consciousness, Commander Mo rushed over to report on the affairs of Eagle Beak Pass.

Hearing Commander Mo's hoarse voice, Su Changge's expression gradually darkened.

Of the hundreds of militiamen and able-bodied men they had brought, only a hundred remained!

More than half of the hundred-plus Musket Cavalry had been lost!

The refugees at Eagle Beak Pass had been slaughtered to the last!

Three of the six Divine Fire Thunderbolt Cannons were destroyed...

The cards in their hands were nearly all played out.

"Commander Mo."

"If I recall correctly, the area beneath the western side of Eagle Beak Pass is a concave cliff face, right?"

Su Changge's brain raced, searching for a way to break the current deadlock.

The sky had already brightened.

It wouldn't be long before the ice-type soul beast army outside the city launched another attack.

Yesterday, they had held on.

But what about today?

How was he to hold out?

He knew that his internal soul power had only recovered by ten percent.

In this state, dealing with even a single century-level soul beast would be difficult, let alone facing multiple enemies at once.

"Lord Su Changge remembers correctly; the cliff face below the western part of Eagle Beak Pass is indeed concave."

"Good! Then it is settled. Go... aside from the Musket Cavalry, send everyone else to the western part of Eagle Beak Pass!"

"Also, gather all the black powder and bury it for me at the nodes within the concave cliff face..."

Commander Mo understood what Su Changge meant.

A look of shock flickered in his weary eyes.

The man before him intended to use everyone within Eagle Beak Pass who did not belong to the direct lineage of the Murong Earldom as bait.

Taking a deep breath, Commander Mo said nothing more and left to carry out the order.

He was no saint, nor did he possess boundless empathy.

If it could help Lord Su Changge win this war, then those militiamen and able-bodied men... could be considered to have died for a worthy cause.

The Earldom would keep their contributions etched in its heart.

Just like that, the unsuspecting militiamen and able-bodied men were all withdrawn to the western part of Eagle Beak Pass.

At almost the same time as yesterday, the army of soul beasts entrenched outside the city launched another attack.

This time, without Su Changge leading the defense, hundreds of soul beasts easily breached Eagle Beak Pass.

Upon sensing the dense scent of humans in the western part of the pass, they all charged in that direction.

Su Changge and Commander Mo were hidden at a high point in Eagle Beak Pass, their gazes sweeping over the militiamen and able-bodied men being slaughtered by the hundreds of soul beasts, before settling on the nodes where the black powder had been buried.

"Wait... wait until the soul beasts in the rear move in a little deeper."

Amidst the nervous, anxious wait, hundreds of soul beasts stepped into the western zone all at once.

Seeing that the moment had arrived, a signal arrow shot straight into the sky.

At the same time, the fuses were lit, and a pungent odor spread through the air.

BOOM! BOOM!

Amidst a dozen intense explosions, the entire Eagle Beak Pass shook violently; large numbers of buildings collapsed, and dense cracks appeared on the ground under the terrifying shockwaves.

Then, under the gaze of Su Changge, Commander Mo, and dozens of Musket Cavalrymen scattered in various locations, the entire western region of Eagle Beak Pass collapsed completely, plummeting toward the abyss below.

For a moment, the hundreds of ice-type soul beasts sensed the danger and tried to turn and flee, but it was already too late.

They could only let out helpless cries as they were swallowed by the bottomless abyss.

"It... it worked!?"

Seeing hundreds of soul beasts fall into the abyss, while the scattered remnants in the inner city and the pass fled frantically outward, Commander Mo could not stop his body from trembling. With a thud, he prostrated himself on the ground behind Su Changge.

Under the leadership of the man before him, they had truly turned the tide in a situation that had seemed to hold not a shred of hope for victory.

This battle would be recorded forever in the annals of the Murong Earldom!

Outside the city.

The six millennium-level soul beasts let out earth-shaking screeches upon sensing the commotion at Eagle Beak Pass.

Terrifying soul power swept in all directions like a tidal wave.

However, the six millennium-level soul beasts did not charge into Eagle Beak Pass. Instead, as if they had completed some sort of mission, they took the remaining two or three hundred soul beasts and retreated rapidly, heading south until they vanished without a trace!