Night fell.
The Soul Beast army that had ravaged Eagle Beak Pass for hours slowly withdrew.
Everywhere, ice had swept the ground clean. Ruined walls and buildings lay all around, along with the severed limbs and corpses left behind after the Soul Beasts had devoured their victims.
"They're retreating... The Soul Beast army is retreating."
A surviving militiaman wept with joy, but before he could say another word, a thick hand shot out of the darkness and clamped around his throat. "Shut up, you damned fool! Do you want to lure those Soul Beasts back here?"
The passage leading to the lowest-level chamber of the bunker was strewn with the corpses of countless ice- and snow-type Soul Beasts.
In the cramped chamber, Su Changge's arms hung limp. His Soul Power was depleted, and his face was as pale as paper.
Commander Mo and several members of the Musket Cavalry gathered around him.
Commander Mo stared at the enormous claw marks denting the chamber's iron door, his eyes full of terror. Only after the commotion outside had completely died down did he work up the courage to approach the door.
After hesitating for a few seconds, Commander Mo gritted his teeth and looked at the Musket Cavalry members. "You few, take good care of Lord Changge. I'll go out and check the situation first... If you don't hear my voice, under no circumstances open the door."
Commander Mo was quick to leave, and just as quick to return.
But unlike his grim expression earlier, there was now a trace of relief on his face.
"Lord Changge, the Soul Beast army has retreated. They're gone!!!"
"They've retreated?"
The Musket Cavalry members stirred at once. The taut string in their hearts finally slackened.
They'd survived. They'd made it through!!!
"Cough..."
Su Changge spat out several mouthfuls of congealed blood, then slowly rose with the help of a few Musket Cavalry members.
"Commander Mo, I'll remember the loyalty you showed today, when you all stood between me and danger."
"But this is no time to let our guard down... There are a few things I need you to take care of immediately."
"We'll obey Lord Changge's orders!"
In a flurry, Commander Mo and the others dropped to their knees.
Back in Wheat Fragrance Village, Su Changge's instant killing of two Soul Grandmasters had been enough to inspire their awe.
But after what had happened during the Soul Beast siege, the young man before them was not only worthy of their reverence—he was worthy of their worship, a figure of faith.
If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, who would believe that a Soul Master of only a dozen or so levels could hold off a hundred foes and kill over a hundred Hundred-Year Soul Beasts, each comparable to a human Soul Grandmaster???
The former Earl, Murong Boda, couldn't have done it at this level!
Neither could any of the Murong Earls from generations past.
Even across the entire kingdom or empire, surely no one could have done it.
This was a super thigh a hundred, even a thousand, times thicker than an elephant's!
As long as they could cling to it, their futures were guaranteed to soar.
"First, count every survivor in Eagle Beak Pass immediately. Find out—make absolutely sure—how many of the Musket Cavalry we brought from the castle are still alive."
"Second! Send out a team specifically to gather the weapons, muskets, and gunpowder scattered throughout the pass under cover of night. Above all, confirm the condition of the six Divine Fire Thunderbolt Cannons."
"Third..."
Before Su Changge could finish speaking, a wave of dizziness swept over him. He fainted on the spot, and chaos erupted in the chamber.
The next day.
Dawn broke.
Su Changge awoke from his deep slumber. The moment Commander Mo learned he was conscious, he hurried over to report on everything that had happened at Eagle Beak Pass.
Hearing Commander Mo's hoarse voice, Su Changge's expression gradually darkened.
Of the several hundred militiamen and able-bodied men they had brought, only a hundred remained!
More than half of the hundred-plus Musket Cavalry members had been lost!
The refugees in Eagle Beak Pass had been slaughtered to the last!
Three of the six Divine Fire Thunderbolt Cannons had been destroyed...
They had almost played every card in their hand.
"Commander Mo."
"If I remember correctly, the cliff below the western side of Eagle Beak Pass curves inward, right?"
Su Changge's mind raced as he considered how to turn the situation around.
By now, the sky was already light.
It wouldn't be long before the ice- and snow-type Soul Beast army outside the city attacked again.
They had held out yesterday.
But what about today?
How were they supposed to hold out?
His Soul Power had only recovered to one-tenth.
In this state, he would struggle to deal with even a single Hundred-Year Soul Beast. Fighting several at once was out of the question.
"Lord Changge remembers correctly. The cliff below the western side of Eagle Beak Pass does curve inward."
"Good! Then that's settled. Go... Send everyone to the western side of Eagle Beak Pass, except the Musket Cavalry!"
"Also, gather all the black powder and bury it at the inward-curving points of the cliff..."
Commander Mo understood what Su Changge meant.
Horror flashed in his exhausted eyes.
The man before him intended to use every person in Eagle Beak Pass who wasn't a direct retainer of the Murong Earldom as bait.
Commander Mo took a deep breath. Without saying anything more, he accepted the order and left.
He wasn't some saint. His compassion had its limits.
If helping Lord Changge win this war meant those militiamen and able-bodied men had to die... then at least they would die for a worthy cause.
The Earldom would remember their contribution.
And so, the militiamen and able-bodied men, completely unaware of what was happening, were all moved to the western side of Eagle Beak Pass.
At almost exactly the same time as the previous day, the Soul Beast army gathered outside the city launched another assault.
This time, with no Su Changge leading the defense, hundreds of Soul Beasts easily broke into Eagle Beak Pass.
Sensing the dense presence of humans in the western part of the pass, they charged straight toward it.
Su Changge and Commander Mo hid at a high vantage point in Eagle Beak Pass. Their eyes swept over the militiamen and able-bodied men being slaughtered by hundreds of Soul Beasts, then settled on the spots where the black powder had been buried.
"Wait... Wait until more of the Soul Beasts have gone farther in."
As they waited, anxious and on edge, hundreds of Soul Beasts poured into the western area.
The moment the time was right, a signal arrow shot into the sky.
At the same time, fuse after fuse was lit, and a pungent smell spread through the air.
Boom! Boom!
A dozen or more violent explosions shook all of Eagle Beak Pass. Buildings collapsed in droves, and the ground split with countless cracks beneath the terrifying shock waves.
Then, under the watchful eyes of Su Changge, Commander Mo, and dozens of Musket Cavalry members stationed at scattered points, the entire western section of Eagle Beak Pass collapsed and plunged toward the abyss below.
Hundreds of ice- and snow-type Soul Beasts sensed the danger and tried to turn back and flee, but it was already too late.
They could only let out helpless cries as the unfathomable abyss swallowed them whole.
"It worked... It actually worked!?"
Seeing hundreds of Soul Beasts fall into the abyss as the scattered survivors in the inner city and at the pass fled in a panic, Commander Mo trembled from head to toe. With a thud, he prostrated himself behind Su Changge.
Under the leadership of this man, they had really turned the tables, despite having not the slightest chance of victory.
This battle would go down for all time in the annals of the Murong Earldom!
Outside the city.
When the six Thousand-Year Soul Beasts sensed the commotion at Eagle Beak Pass, they let out earth-shaking roars.
Terrifying Soul Power surged outward in every direction like a tidal wave.
But the six Thousand-Year Soul Beasts didn't charge into Eagle Beak Pass. Instead, as if they had completed some kind of task, they led the two or three hundred surviving Soul Beasts in a swift retreat. They headed south and vanished without a trace!