Where Immortals Once Walked

Yuheng City’s newly replaced winch was neither rusted nor jammed, and pushing it took little effort.

As soon as the gate came down and the main force poured into the city, victory would be theirs.

So far, everything had gone extremely smoothly.

One of the burly men had just begun to grin when an arrow flew in from nowhere, cutting through the bone-piercing wind. With a sharp hiss, it shot straight into his mouth.

Even the powerful north wind had failed to sway it off course.

A mist of blood burst from the back of his head. He did not even have time to scream before he dropped dead on the spot.

Three or four more arrows followed at once. Then, from the civilian houses at the street corner, a group of soldiers suddenly rushed out with blades, spears, and axes gleaming in their hands. In just a few strides, they had killed their way to the city gate.

Outside the city, just as the bandit army closed to within a little over 260 meters of the gate, more than two hundred soldiers suddenly appeared atop the walls as if out of thin air. Every one of them was clad in clean, proper armor, their helmets fitted squarely on their heads.

Whoosh, whoosh!

Arrows came pouring down like rain.

After the first row fired, they stepped back on their own, and the second row moved forward to release another volley.

The bandit army immediately scattered, shields raised across the line.

Atop the walls, the military machines creaked as they turned into position. They had actually been loaded long ago. The muzzles aimed at the enemy, the fuses were lit, and the first round of shells flew out.

They had loaded fragmentation shells. Each shell was packed with more than two hundred sharp nails, each as long as a little finger. When the shell struck the ground, it burst open and the nails inside shot in every direction, punching men and horses alike full of holes.

The trebuchets on the walls had also begun to launch their projectiles. What they launched were chain hammers, also known as meteor hammers. When they hit a human body, tendons snapped, and bones shattered. When they struck a horse’s legs, the result was even more horrific; man and mount could be sent flying several meters amid screams and neighs.

More than half the archers and loaders on the walls were recruits. Though they had prepared themselves mentally, the sight below—the men and horses toppling over, blood and flesh flying everywhere—still stunned them. Their hands trembled as they drew bows and carried shells.

War, blood, screams, and death struck novices with an impact beyond question.

The veterans beside them usually answered with a punch and a roar. “Don’t be cowards! Keep going!”

By then, the bandits inside the city who had been pushing the gate winch had all been hacked into mincemeat. The army outside waited eagerly, but after several groans and creaks, the city gate did not drop.

Torches blazed above and below the wall. Any leader with half a brain would now understand that the inside agents had failed.

Their plan to make the gate fall without a fight had completely broken down as well.

Of course, they still had a way to storm the gate by force. Two enormous bear monsters in the force each carried a heavy crossbow on their backs. The bolts were nearly two meters long, and the barbed hooks at their tips would bloom open after striking the city gate, anchoring themselves firmly in place.

These giant crossbows did not need to be unloaded and set up on the ground. Men could operate them from behind. Once the bolts sank into the gate, several powerful monsters in the rear could try to pull the gate down by brute force.

However, there was no need even to make such an attempt now.

Yuheng City had clearly been prepared from the very beginning, waiting for them to attack!

Gongs clanged throughout the bandit army, and messengers shouted at the top of their lungs.

“Retreat! Retreat!”

Yuheng City had sturdy walls and powerful artillery. Their only chance of victory had lain in a surprise attack.

Since that requirement could no longer be met, then what meaning was there in continuing the battle? If they tried to force things, they would be doing nothing but sending men to their deaths in vain.

Thus, the commander of the bandit army gave the order to retreat without hesitation.

This force had some discipline. They did not collapse into a panicked rout, but reversed head and tail, retreating eastward.

The moment they fled, the cannonfire from the walls grew even more enthusiastic.

They had not escaped even three hundred meters when rows upon rows of spikes suddenly erupted from the ground beneath their feet. Some were as small as daggers, while others stood about two meters tall. They thrust up without the slightest warning, skewering men and horses together like meat on a spit.

The air was filled with furious shouts, screams, and curses.

This was a combat array that the Yuheng forces had set in advance; it was a large-scale spike array.

It could not move, and it consumed an immense amount of energy. It also required seven or eight spellcasters to jointly set up and cast, and the casters could not move about as they activated the array.

However, the array’s power was considerable, making it the perfect choice for ambushes and dirty work.

By the time the bandit army struggled through the spike array. It escaped the range of the city gate’s artillery and crossbows; only a little over 1,300 remained of the original 2,000, and utter terror was written across every face.

“Scatter, scatter!” A fork in the road lay just ahead. Their odds of survival would be higher if they broke apart into smaller groups.

The border was not far from here, so they only had to push a little harder.

But just as they divided their forces and rushed to retreat, a large body of troops suddenly appeared on the small hill ahead. Another two volleys of arrows were loosed, and then those troops charged down from the woods, battle cries shaking the sky.

This was the real ambush!

* * *

Two hours later, the battle was completely over.

This night battle had stretched from below the city gate all the way to the border. Corpses lay along the entire route, making the later cleanup of the battlefield much more difficult.

Yet despite the bloody scene, everyone’s face was bright with joy.

Yuheng City’s army had won its first battle!

The 2,000 bandits had fallen into an ambush and suffered disastrous casualties. In the end, only a little over 600 escaped back across the border, while more than 300 dropped to their knees on the spot and became prisoners.

He Lingchuan led the army in pursuit all the way to the border. When he saw the enemy flee across the Yin River, throwing away helmets and armor along the way, he did not cross the boundary in pursuit. Instead, he had his men drag over a plump wild boar monster.

By the time it was shoved close, it had already gone mad with fear, foaming at the mouth and thrashing its head and tail. But He Lingchuan had personally seen it gore a Yuheng soldier until the man’s belly burst open and his intestines spilled out.

He Lingchuan ordered a man to tie the smallest fragmentation mine beneath its belly and light the long fuse. Then he had them drive the boar toward the opposite bank.

That boar ran faster than an ordinary horse.

People called to it along the way, but it ignored them all, single-mindedly intent on escape.

Not long after, figures could be seen moving in the woods on the opposite bank, as if many people were sprinting outward. Then came a thunderous boom as the fragmentation mine exploded.

The soldiers on Yuheng’s side burst into laughter.

Only after enjoying that sight did He Lingchuan give the order to withdraw and return to the city.

On the way back, the two forces led by Meng Shan and Willow returned one after another, both in triumph.

Meng Shan asked He Lingchuan in his rough voice, “Boss, how did you know they’d attack in force?”

He and He Lingchuan had originally been opponents. Later, after more than a dozen life-and-death battles, he had watched with his own eyes as He Lingchuan grew from weak to strong, and as his military rank rose again and again. If it had been anyone else, perhaps they would have felt envy, jealousy, and resentment, but Meng Shan held none of those emotions. Instead, he admired He Lingchuan wholeheartedly.

He could fight, he could kill, and he had a brain. To him, it was only natural for someone like that to rise to the top.

“After I took office in Yuheng City, they never came to harass us. That meant they were saving their strength for something big.” The halberd in He Lingchuan’s hand hung low, and the last drop of blood slid from its blade. “It quickly became clear to me that they wanted to give me a show of force.”

Yuheng City had a new commander. After so many days, there was no way the other side still did not know.

He Lingchuan was a new officer from Panlong City. To the outside world, his reputation could not compare to Commander Xiao’s, so it was inevitable that the enemy would look down on him.

Meng Shan’s voice rumbled from his chest. “Trying to take Yuheng City with so few men? They underestimated us too much!”

“They never expected to take Yuheng City. They only wanted to make us bleed a little, establish their might, teach us a lesson, and give me a warning.” He Lingchuan understood the present situation very clearly. “In their plan, they might have been able to loot the eastern part of the city, then ride away in a rush once we organized an effective counterattack.”