Chapter 263 - 259: The City Lord Has Come
Chapter 263: Chapter 259: The City Lord Has Come
The setting sun sank in the west, its last rays dyeing the horizon a shade of red, as if soaked through with crimson blood.
Across the land, outside White Cloud City, smoke and a bloody mist rolled and billowed, carried on the wind with a choking stench.
"Kill!" "CLANG! CLANG!" "Kill!"
"BOOM!" "BANG! BANG! BANG!"
Bodies piled up like mountains. Amidst furious roars and blood-curdling screams, severed limbs lay scattered across the ground.
Volleys of whistling arrows, massive boulders crashing down from above, and the sudden explosions of Heaven-shattering Thunder—the brutal war raged on, with the number of casualties continuing to climb.
The slaughter had begun at noon and lasted until dusk. Now, as night fell, the great battle continued unabated, showing no sign of stopping.
Before the Central Army Camp, beneath a fluttering banner, Grand General Ouyang Xu stood with his hands behind his back. His brow was slightly furrowed as he watched the two armies clashing fiercely ahead.
Just then, an officer came scrambling and stumbling over from the direction of the north gate.
"Grand General, the weapons of the White Cloud City defenders are too ferocious! Our army’s casualties have already exceeded thirty thousand. General Zhou Yong sent me to ask for your orders. Should we withdraw our troops to rest and reorganize, then attack again tomorrow?" the officer asked, covered in dust and grime as he gasped for breath.
"No retreat. Continue the assault!" Ouyang Xu said indifferently. "I will take White Cloud City before dawn!"
The officer gave a bitter smile. "But at this rate, even if we do take White Cloud City, I’m afraid our army will suffer devastating losses. It will be difficult to answer to the Ministry of War back in the Imperial City."
"No retreat. Continue the assault! Do I need to repeat myself?" Ouyang Xu’s gaze turned frigid, his body pulsing with killing intent.
The officer shivered in fear and quickly nodded. "Yes, yes! I will return at once and convey the Grand General’s orders to General Zhou Yong!" With that, he scrambled back toward the north gate.
The fighting at all four gates of White Cloud City—east, west, south, and north—was incredibly fierce. Ouyang Xu’s order was to take the city at any cost. In just one afternoon, the hundred-thousand-strong reinforcement army from Red Sun Main City had already suffered over thirty thousand casualties: nearly ten thousand dead and more than twenty thousand wounded. In other words, in a single afternoon, the army of one hundred thousand had lost the combat strength of thirty thousand men, leaving only seventy thousand. This showed just how brutal the war was.
While the Red Sun Army had lost over thirty thousand soldiers, the defenders of White Cloud City, who fought against them, were not faring much better. Despite their powerful armaments and sturdy walls, they had suffered an estimated one to two thousand casualties. Yes, the casualty ratio between the two sides was nearly twenty to one. But one must not forget that White Cloud City only had three to four thousand guards to begin with. Losing nearly half of them at once created gaps and weaknesses all over the city’s defenses, putting the entire city in a perilous situation.
The crescent moon hung like a hook, casting a cold, hazy glow over the world.
The night should have been silent, yet the sounds of slaughter shook the heavens from above and below the walls of White Cloud City.
"BOOM!" "CLANG! CLANG!"
The killing continued. Blood-curdling screams, the whistle of arrow-fire, and the clash of various weapons tore through the quiet night sky.
Aside from the warring Red Sun Army and White Cloud City defenders, groups of people of the martial world were lurking in a forest near the city. There were forces from the various great families and Major Sects of Red Sun Province, as well as some lone wanderers hoping to fish in troubled waters.
"This is too brutal. This war is terrifying!"
"Yeah, I thought White Cloud City was just some ordinary small city. I never expected it to hold out for so long under a frenzied siege by a hundred-thousand-strong army!"
"Who in the world is this Lord White Cloud to be so capable!"
"In terms of defenses, White Cloud City might even surpass Red Sun Main City. That army of a hundred thousand has really bitten off more than they can chew. Still, White Cloud City is just a small city in the end. I estimate it will be breached in a few more shichen!"
"The army of one hundred thousand has already suffered thirty to forty thousand casualties, right? From the looks of it, taking White Cloud City will probably cost them another twenty to thirty thousand men!"
"That’s great! White Cloud City gets breached, the Red Sun Army suffers heavy losses... when they’ve both worn each other down, we can just swoop in and reap the rewards!"
"Reap the rewards? Heh, you wish. Younger Brother Liu, haven’t you noticed that Ouyang Xu’s personal troops haven’t moved at all? Those are his true, battle-hardened elites. Even though they lost two or three thousand men before, there are still over seven thousand of them resting and conserving their strength in the main camp!"
"That Ouyang Xu is really ruthless. He’s using the lives of a hundred thousand soldiers to wear down White Cloud City while keeping his own troops back to preserve their strength!"
"That hundred-thousand-strong army is made of ordinary soldiers. Ouyang Xu’s few thousand personal troops are the ones who are truly powerful. Those elites are all Martial Artists with high Cultivation, and they even know Combined Attack Skills. Younger Brother Liu, with your Martial Arts Seventh Realm Cultivation, you’d probably be torn to shreds in an instant if you charged in headfirst."
...
"Sect Leader, what do we do now? That White Cloud City isn’t as weak as we imagined!"
"Mm, White Cloud City is no simple matter. I just received news that Lord White Cloud, Ye Xing, is an expert of the Martial Arts Ninth Layer. He’s also assisted by Gao Zhisong of the Seven-Snake Centipede Whip, who is ranked seventy-ninth on the Wind and Cloud List. He won’t be easy to deal with!"
...
"So what if he’s at the Martial Arts Ninth Layer? He’ll be killed by Ouyang Xu eventually. It would be even better if he managed to escape, but was seriously injured. Patriarch, that would be the perfect opportunity for us to strike and seize the treasure."
...
"Hmph. Look, White Cloud City’s side is about to break! A few soldiers have already made it onto the walls!"
"Everyone, pay attention. When we enter the city later, don’t rush to make a move. Wait until Ouyang Xu’s army has killed most of White Cloud City’s experts. Then we’ll act. Even if we don’t get the treasure, the city is full of wealthy households. Sacking ten or twenty of them will be enough to make us rich. If we’re lucky, we might even be able to loot something from the City Lord’s Mansion!"
In the forest outside White Cloud City, leaves rustled as countless pairs of eyes, like those of starving wolves, stared toward the city. Some had their eyes on the treasure, others on plunder, all just waiting for the moment the city walls fell to pounce and pillage.
...
The moonlight was like water, spilling over the tiles and plating the roof of every house with a frost-like whiteness, adding an invisible chill to the air.
Tonight was destined to be a sleepless one. Listening to the fierce sounds of battle outside, the residents of White Cloud City were all filled with anxiety. Candles were lit in every home. One by one, they gripped wood-cutting knives or iron shovels, ready to fight for their lives.
The Red Sun Army outside had already announced its orders: to slaughter the inhabitants and sack the city. The hundred-thousand-strong army, their eyes red with bloodlust, attacked with frenzied abandon.
A city-wide slaughter meant the entire city would run with rivers of blood. Parents would be killed, wives and daughters violated, and the wealth they had painstakingly saved would become the spoils of those butchers. The city’s residents were all filled with rage. Young and able-bodied men, even the elderly and women, all took up arms, organized themselves, and stood guard at key intersections in the streets.
The crowds furiously cursed the Red Sun Army outside, while also whispering amongst themselves. Besides anger, there was also panic and unease.
"How much longer can the guards hold on? Are the enemy about to break in?"
"What’s there to be afraid of? If the enemy army gets in, we’ll fight them to the death! The worst that can happen is we die!"
"It shouldn’t be that soon, right? The City Lord distributed a lot of powerful weapons a few days ago. The enemy has taken heavy casualties too!"
"Hey, that’s right, why haven’t we seen the City Lord?"
"Yeah, it seems like only Vice Leader Ma and Vice Chief Niu are on the gate tower. Vice Chief Niu and Squad Leader Hong are both seriously injured, and we haven’t seen the City Lord at all this whole time!"
"This... do you guys think the City Lord could have fled from the battle?"
"Wang the Second, what nonsense are you spouting? The City Lord worked hard to build White Cloud City from the ground up. He would never abandon us!"
"Exactly! Miss Qiao’Er is still in the City Lord’s Mansion!"
"The City Lord may seem cold on the outside, but he’s a man of real ability, and he’s treated us well. Under his leadership, everyone’s lives have been getting better and better. If it weren’t for this damned Red Sun Army attacking us, our White Cloud City would have definitely grown stronger and stronger."
"If the city falls, I’d rather the City Lord escape. He’s so young; with his skills, he’ll definitely be able to avenge us."
Throughout the city, residents holding weapons discussed amongst themselves in small groups.
Suddenly, at that very moment—
"ROAR!"
A massive beast’s roar, deafening in its intensity, erupted from the direction of the City Lord’s Mansion.
On the streets, all the townspeople—men and women, young and old—looked up. At the sight, they were all overjoyed, their morale soaring. "It’s the City Lord!"
"Look, the City Lord is here!"
"Wonderful! The City Lord didn’t abandon us! He’s here!"
Amidst the cheers, a young man in green robes, a Treasure Sword at his waist, could be seen under the moonlight, riding a Gale Leopard as he sped across the rooftops toward the gate tower.
The night wind was biting cold. It howled, causing his green robes to flap and billow wildly.
The Gale Leopard’s cyan fur fluttered slightly. Its four limbs moved lightly across the snow-white tiles of the rooftops at an incredible speed. With a single leap, it covered a distance of over ten meters, carrying the green-robed young man as it raced toward the gate tower.