Chapter 43: First Battle: Breaching the Marketplace
Chapter 43: Chapter 43: First Battle: Breaching the Marketplace
Lu Zhao had been at this location for half a month, and the bloody slaughter had been relentless.
The army’s marching horn once again tore through the silence of the Celestial Cloud Mountain Range as Lu Zhao advanced with the troops.
His gaze swept over the familiar canyons on either side, and a ripple stirred in his heart.
The North Slope of the Celestial Cloud Mountain Range—this place he had once cautiously explored with Wang Yun’s Demon Hunting Squad, risking his life for a few Spirit Stones—was now trembling under the thundering hooves of the Zhou Family’s Cloud Patterned Iron Cavalry.
The scenes from all those years ago stood in stark contrast to the army’s current might as it passed through, a power that made even Demon Beasts retreat.
After trekking for more than another half a month, they crossed the final snow-covered mountain ridge. The landscape suddenly opened up before them—they had arrived in Celestial County.
Another three days later, the army arrived at Qingyan Marketplace.
This stronghold, situated at the edge of the Zhao Family’s sphere of influence in Celestial County, was comparable in size to the Qingshi Small Marketplace.
Above the Marketplace, a pale-azure light curtain resembling an enormous inverted bowl enveloped the entire area. From a distance, the Marketplace looked like a giant turtle crouching on the plains, covered by a hard, azure shell. This was the Tier One High-Grade Defensive Array: the "Azurestone Profound Light Formation."
The Zhou Family’s army halted about a mile outside the Marketplace and began to construct a simple camp.
Enormous Siege Spiritual Artifacts were brought out. Three towering Mountain-Splitting Crossbows, each forged entirely from Cold Iron, were pushed to the front lines, their aim locked on the Marketplace’s Array Light Curtain from afar.
The Cloud Pattern Cavalry set up a defensive perimeter to the side, their gazes as sharp as eagles’. The Array Masters, meanwhile, swiftly laid down Guard Arrays and traps around the camp’s periphery to prevent the Cultivators within the Marketplace from breaking out or launching raids.
Standing within the ranks of the Honored Guest Elders, Lu Zhao stared at the azure light shield. He could clearly sense the Array’s tenacity; its strength far surpassed that of the Guardian Array at Cyan Rattan Stream.
Tier One High-Grade. That meant it could, at best, withstand a single full-powered strike from an Early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, or endure a few days of a sustained barrage from Qi Cultivation Stage Cultivators.
The next day, the horns of attack sounded.
"Fire!"
At the command, the three house-sized Mountain-Splitting Crossbows let out a deafening roar! Massive bolts, each as thick as a man’s thigh, shrieked through the air as they slammed violently into the azure light curtain!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The deafening booms nearly made the very earth tremble! The azure light curtain instantly caved inward at the points of impact, and countless Runes flickered erratically.
Violent ripples spread rapidly outward from the points of impact, and the entire light curtain trembled violently. Faint cries of alarm and sounds of chaos could be heard from within the Marketplace.
However, the light curtain did not break. The indentations snapped back into place, and as the Runes flowed across its surface, its color seemed to have dimmed just a fraction.
"Keep firing! Same target! Continue the attack!" a Zhou Family Preparatory Elder commanded, his voice ice-cold.
The next three days became a hellscape of interwoven Spirit Light and thunderous roars.
The Mountain-Splitting Crossbows fired a volley once every hour. Each bombardment made the azure light curtain tremble violently, causing the Runes to flicker erratically between light and dark.
The Zhou Family’s Qi Cultivation Stage Cultivators attacked in shifts, unleashing a torrent of various Magical Artifacts, Talismans, and Five Elements Techniques onto the same section of the light curtain.
Fireballs exploded into brilliant waves of flame, Ice Cones trailed bone-chilling frost, slashes of golden-spear light crisscrossed the air, and massive boulders of earth and rock crashed down... The Array Light Curtain was like a giant bullseye, enduring an endless torrent of abuse.
The Cultivators inside the Marketplace were clearly scrambling to replace Spirit Stones and keep the Array functioning. But the Zhou Family’s siege resources were simply too vast; their supply of Spirit Stones and Talismans seemed infinite.
Every bombardment from the Mountain-Splitting Crossbows was like a heavy hammer blow, striking at the very hearts of the defending Cultivators.
On the dusk of the third day, the setting sun painted the sky a ghastly blood-red.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
CRACK!
A series of booms rang out, accompanied by a sickening, grinding crack!
The massive bolts of the Mountain-Splitting Crossbows finally pierced through the light curtain, which was already covered in spiderweb-like fissures! A gaping hole, dozens of feet wide, appeared.
At the edges of the breach, shards of the azure light curtain rained down like shattered crystal.
"The Array is broken! Charge!" All the attacking Zhou Family Cultivators grew ecstatic.
"Kill!"
The Cloud Pattern Cavalry took the lead. Their Cloud Patterned Horses let out spirited neighs, the first to surge through the breach!
Close behind them were the elite disciples of the Zhou Family and the Law Enforcement Team Cultivators, followed by the Middle-Low Tier Honored Guest Elders and cultivators from vassal powers! Shouts of "Kill!", the clang of Magical Artifacts, and the boom of Magic filled the air!
Qingyan Marketplace, inside the Array Core Stone Chamber.
Zhao Yongfeng sat cross-legged on a cold stone platform, his hands pressed on a faintly trembling Bronze Array Plate before him. Of the three Middle-Grade Spirit Stones embedded in the plate, two had already gone completely dark and shattered. The light from the last one flickered precariously, like a candle in the wind.
His face was pale, his forehead beaded with sweat. Spiritual Power poured from his body into the Array Disc like a ceaseless flood, as he desperately tried to maintain the crumbling Azurestone Profound Light Formation.
The roars from outside the stone chamber grew ever closer. Each impact from the Mountain-Splitting Crossbows felt like a direct blow to his Spiritual Soul, making his Qi and Blood churn. Dust trickled from the ceiling as the ground beneath him trembled without pause.
"Third Uncle! The Spirit Stones at the West District’s Array Base are almost gone! We can’t replace them as fast as they’re being consumed!" a young, blood-streaked Zhao Family disciple cried out, stumbling into the room. His voice was hoarse with despair.
"Hold the line! Get the Li and Wang Family cultivators up there! Tell them if this Array falls, none of us will make it out alive!" Zhao Yongfeng roared, though his voice could not conceal his exhaustion.
"It’s no use, Third Uncle!" another, older Zhao Family Cultivator, Zhao Changhai, burst in. His arm was wrapped in a blood-soaked bandage, his face ashen. "Those vassal families and Wanderers are nothing but a rabble! As soon as the Zhou Family’s assault began, they panicked. They’re just going through the motions! A moment ago, some of them tried to flee from the south and were cut down by the Law Enforcement Team!"
Zhao Yongfeng closed his eyes, a chill spreading through his heart. ’Of course he knew.’ When he had received the clan’s secret order three days ago, he had understood the fate of this place.
The order had been concise and cold: "Qingyan Marketplace. Hold for three days. After three days, regardless of whether the Array has fallen, you, Zhao Changhai, and Zhao Changyan are to activate the Tier Two High-Grade Escape Talismans and retreat immediately. There must be no delay."
"This Marketplace is but a whetstone, meant only to blunt the Zhou Family’s spearhead and probe their true strength. Your lives are of greater importance than this Marketplace."
What the family valued were their lives—the lives of three members of the Zhao Family’s Direct Lineage—and the intelligence they could gather on the Zhou Family’s siege tactics. They didn’t care about this Marketplace, which was doomed to be sacrificed, nor the lives of the Wanderers and vassal families within it.
Zhao Changhai watched the light-points on the Array Disc grow dimmer and dimmer. His voice was low. "Third Uncle, it’s almost been three days. The time... is nearly up. The Mountain-Splitting Crossbows are even more powerful than we anticipated, and our Spirit Stone reserves are almost depleted..."
As if to prove his point, a tremendous, heart-stopping CRACK echoed from outside, a sound louder than any before! It was followed by a tsunami of earth-shaking battle cries!
On the Array Disc, the point of light representing the area under the heaviest assault abruptly went out!
PTHOO! Zhao Yongfeng could no longer hold on. He violently spat out a mouthful of blood, staining the Array Disc before him red. The last glimmer of light on the plate faded into nothing.
"The... Array... it’s broken!" Zhao Changhai’s voice trembled.
"Go!"
Zhao Yongfeng made his decision in an instant. A flash of pain and regret crossed his eyes but was immediately replaced by steely resolve. He ripped open the front of his robes, revealing a palm-sized Jade Talisman covered in profound silver Runes, which had been hidden against his skin.
Zhao Changhai and the other Zhao Family disciple, Zhao Changyan, who had been standing guard silently at his side, also took out their own Jade Talismans without a moment’s hesitation.
"Activate!" Zhao Yongfeng growled, frantically pouring the last of his Spiritual Power into the Jade Talisman in his hand.
HUMMM!
Three brilliant columns of silver light erupted within the stone chamber, and in a flash, the three men vanished.
Moments after they disappeared, the chamber’s heavy stone door was blasted open with tremendous force!
Amidst the swirling dust, a fierce-looking Zhou Family Late-stage Qi Cultivator charged in, wielding a blood-drenched Long Saber. His lightning-quick gaze swept across the empty chamber, taking in the shattered Array Disc and the bloodstained Spirit Stone fragments on the floor. His expression darkened.
"Damn, they’re fast," he spat, then turned and plunged back into the even more ferocious din of battle outside. The fall of Qingyan Marketplace was now a certainty.