The siege remained at a stalemate.
From time to time, Lin Household armored guards climbed the Cloud Ascending Ladders and fought their way onto Zichuan City's walls.
But the Zhao Household had not simply sat and waited for death, either.
Though the Zhao Household's armored defenders had all been forced into battle, they were still the ones defending the city!
With little difference in the number of armored guards on either side, the defenders clearly held the advantage.
After a brief spell of chaos, the Zhao Household's armored defenders even seemed to be stabilizing the situation...
Outside Zichuan City, the forces of quite a few immortal cultivation households were watching it all from afar.
Those immortal cultivation households had not helped the Lin Household attack the city. Though they had prepared to submit to the Lin Household, they had no wish to expend their own armored guards.
After all, even if they helped the Lin Household take Zichuan City, they would gain little from it.
"Ancestor, why hasn't the Lin Household's ancestor appeared yet?"
"If he made a move, the Lin Household should be able to fight its way into Zichuan City in the snap of a finger..."
Among the Bai Household's forces from Iron Rock Town, a Skin Refining Realm cultivator gazed at Zichuan City, then at a middle-aged man, his face full of puzzlement.
The middle-aged man wore a red robe. Though short and stout, he radiated an astonishing presence!!
The middle-aged man was none other than the Bai Household ancestor of Iron Rock Town-Bai Youfu!
The Bai Household ancestor's cultivation was by no means weak. He had reached Bone Refining Realm Perfection and was only a single step away from breaking through to the Organ Refining Level.
It was precisely because this ancestor held the fort that the Bai Household had been able to develop independently within a thousand li of Zichuan City while enduring pressure from the Zhao Household!
Bone Refining Realm Perfection... even the Zhao Household at the height of its power had not dared to take it lightly.
If Lin Xiye had possessed the cultivation of Bone Refining Realm Perfection when he left the Falling Rosy Clouds Sect, the Zhao Household would never have set its sights on Qiao Town.
The Bai Household had led its forces in a grand procession to the outskirts of Zichuan City, both to probe the depths of the Lin Household's foundations and to show goodwill...
As for submitting to the Lin Household? The Bai Household had no such intention.
The Bai Household had no wish to submit to any power. It only wanted to develop quietly in Iron Rock Town and pass the lineage down...
The Bai Household alone would naturally have found it difficult to maintain its former independence in the face of the Lin Household's rising tide.
But behind the Bai Household, several other immortal cultivation powers, including the Xu Household and the Zhou Household, were also unwilling to submit to other powers!
The three powers headed by the Bai, Xu, and Zhou Households had always been allies!
The three households supported one another in attack and defense, and each had a Bone Refining Realm ancestor holding the fort. Even the Zhao Household of the past had lacked the ability to swallow them up.
Of course, the three households had not always been at odds with the Zhao Household. Their relationship had been closer to coexistence and cooperation.
Within a thousand li of Zichuan City, they had been willing to follow the Zhao Household's orders, so long as their fundamental interests were not touched.
Now the Lin Household was about to move into Zichuan City and replace the Zhao Household as hegemon.
The three households and the other immortal cultivation powers still wanted to preserve the old order.
"I fear the Lin Household's ambitions are no small thing."
The Bai Household ancestor kept his eyes closed, countless thoughts running through his mind. Only after a long while did he slowly respond to the Skin Refining Realm cultivator.
As he spoke, worry appeared in his eyes.
He saw everything clearly.
The Lin Household... was using war to temper its clansmen! Using war to forge the lineage's foundations!
The Lin Household would pay a heavy price for this battle.
Yet once it was over, extraordinary figures would likely emerge among the Lin Household's younger generation!!
War and life-and-death struggles... could reshape a power, and could reshape many people as well.
"Lin Changge... ruthless!!"
The Bai Household ancestor murmured to himself. He looked at the current Bai Household head and could not help sighing inwardly.
Compared with Lin Changge, the Bai Household head he had personally chosen was not lacking in ability, but whether in resolve or breadth of vision... he fell far short of Lin Changge.
What was more, behind Lin Changge stood a Lin Household ancestor who was becoming ever more mysterious!
At the thought, Bai Youfu's expression turned dazed. He had a faint sense that... the Lin Household's rise had already become unstoppable!
Before the steadily rising Lin Household, their three households and those other immortal cultivation powers would likely be no match for it, even if they were all bound together!
Rumble!!
Amid the bleak autumn wind, dark clouds swept in from the west, covering the sky and bringing with them an overwhelming sense of pressure!
Below Zichuan City, broken swords littered the ground and severed limbs lay scattered. Scarlet blood covered the earth like tongues of flame, telling of the cruelty of war...
In just two quarters of an hour (note: one quarter of an hour equals fifteen minutes), the Lin Household had already lost half its clansmen and a third of its armored guards!
Even Lin Changge was covered in wounds by now!
The morale of the Zhao Household guards on the walls had utterly collapsed. No matter how their overseers threatened or killed them... they could no longer stop the rout.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud, thud!!
Every strike of the battering ram against the city gates produced a heavy, muffled boom.
On Zichuan City's walls, numerous strongpoints had been seized by the Lin Household's armored guards.
Even Lin Household banners were slowly rising above the walls!!
The wind howled.
The clouds churned.
That last sliver of the setting sun was just like the Zhao Household at this moment, making its final struggle before death...
Rumble!!
Another half a quarter of an hour passed. With a tremendous crash, Zichuan City's gates... were smashed open!
The instant the gates fell, every Zhao Household defender lost all remaining morale!!
Some broke into cries; others tried desperately to flee...
Even the Zhao Household's overseers were thrown into utter panic.
They were high-ranking figures in the Zhao Household, every one of them enjoying privileges and standing above others!
Moments ago, they had treated human lives like blades of grass, casually cutting down armored guards who fell back... yet when faced with death themselves, they were more terrified than anyone! More cowardly than anyone!
"Don't kill me... don't kill me..."
"I surrender, I surrender!!"
A Zhao Household overseer knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly to the Lin Household's forces. His fat body trembled without cease, and the loose flesh on his face shook violently... making him look rather comical.
Unfortunately for him, all that greeted him was a sharp saber!
"Those who risk their lives for the Zhao Household are to be killed without mercy."
"Spare none of the Zhao Household, old or young."
"As for the city's ordinary residents, so long as they have no ties to the Zhao Household... do not kill any of them indiscriminately!!"
Riding a horned beast, Lin Changge looked at the Lin Household clansmen and the many armored guards behind him and gave his orders!
At this time, inside the Zhao Household estate,
The remaining forces and the few immortal cultivators could no longer sit still...
The Zhao Household head stepped out of the estate. Looking at the Lin Household's forces inside Zichuan City, he roared out a threat.
"Must your Lin Household really wipe us out to the last?"
"I've already sent word to the Song Household of Thousand Rocks City! If your Lin Household dares to keep attacking... aren't you afraid of the Song Household's wrath?"
As he spoke, the Zhao Household head continued to glance around discreetly. He did not attack the Lin Household's forces, but kept searching for any sign of Lin Xiye!
He knew that Lin Xiye was the key to everything!!
If he wanted to flee for his life, let alone several thousand Lin Household troops, even tens of thousands of mortals... could not stop him!
No number of people could bridge the gulf between immortals and mortals!
But that was only if Lin Xiye did not make a move against him!
As for the Song Household? It was merely something he had invoked to intimidate the Lin Household.
Whether the Song Household would show itself, and even if it were willing to intervene, when it could reach Zichuan City-the Zhao Household head had no idea at all...