While the battle grew desperate at the southern wall, there was no fighting along the eastern front.
Across the entire eastern wall, apart from the whistling cold winds, all that remained was the crunch of snow beneath the boots of patrolling soldiers.
The eastern gate tower lay a considerable distance from the southern wall; the battle there was impossible to see clearly, leaving only rising plumes of black smoke and faint, distant shouts, battle cries, and booms.
Yet merely hearing those sounds was enough for the Yulin Guards and border army troops here to imagine the carnage to the south.
Some were afraid, some felt fortunate, while others were eager to fight.
Standing atop the gate tower, Xu Yuan watched the varied expressions of the soldiers below and sighed softly.
"Vice General Cang, do you think Qingyan's plan can succeed?"
"..."
With downcast eyes, Vice General Cang seemed not to have heard Xu Yuan's question.
Ever since learning Princess Wuyuan's intentions, he had been mulling over several things.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan did not press him, knowing the man was most likely pondering the military situation.
After a long while, Vice General Cang glanced at the smoke before him, then up at the seemingly frail city-protecting array along the sky's vault.
Beifeng City's city-protecting array was an interlocking grand formation composed of countless smaller arrays; the southern wall's array collapse had not disrupted operations here, but the overloaded array patterns over there had diverted the Source Qi from the rest of the city.
In other words, until Source Qi could be replenished, the protection this city-protecting array could provide was effectively less than one-tenth of its full strength.
With that thought, Vice General Cang sighed.
"That Barbarian King is no simple opponent. Battlefield situations shift in an instant; whether this will succeed, I cannot say. But with the Princess at the southern wall, at least it won't collapse."
Hearing this, Xu Yuan glanced toward the southern wall, where smoke was billowing.
Empowered by the Blood Yuan Heart Calamity Art, he could see the ground of the inner city over there carpeted with flesh and blood frozen solid into ice.
In the ancient wars of his previous life, an army would usually rout after suffering ten or twenty percent casualties, and holding out past thirty percent made them elites. He wondered how casualties stacked up in this extraordinary world.
Withdrawing his gaze, Xu Yuan said quietly, "So long as there is no rout, this sortie can be considered a gain."
Vice General Cang gave a soft laugh. "Young Master Xu, whether it's a gain, I do not know, but I suggest you return to the government office first."
"Return to the government office?" Xu Yuan raised an eyebrow, instinctively glancing toward the dense Sun-Blotter smoke. "Vice General Cang, did you notice something?"
Vice General Cang also gazed at the chasm of smoke blanketing the land outside the city.
"Young Master Xu, with the war having reached this point, those barbarian tribal chieftains whose brains were made of muscle are either dead or have been made vassals of larger tribes under the Barbarian King's direction."
After a moment of silence, Xu Yuan caught on quickly.
"You mean that upon learning Li Qingyan has ambushed the Barbarian King's flank, they won't send troops to reinforce him, but will attack the city directly from both the east and west?"
"Yes. The surviving chieftains of the remaining tribes know full well the combat strength of our Great Yan elites. Even if they urgently divert troops to reinforce him, the Princess could simply wheel her forces around and cut her way back inside through the southern gate."
Vice General Cang seemed to know their old barbarian adversaries intimately, his eyes grave.
"They are old foxes who have fought thousands of battles, with a sharp nose for shifts in the tide of war. That the Princess dared lead an assault on the Barbarian King's camp means she took eight or nine tenths of Beifeng City's elites with her. The interior of the city is naturally empty. The choice with the highest reward is to place their faith in the Barbarian Heterodox King and lead their forces straight into an assault on the city."
Listening to Vice General Cang's analysis, Xu Yuan instinctively glanced at the Feather Forest Guards waiting in battle formation below.
Well, Li Qingyan had already prepared for this.
He had previously thought his chest-binding fiancée had left this battalion of Yulin Guards to cover her retreat, but seeing this now, she had never intended to return through the eastern gate at all.
Then again, were the minds of tacticians always this deep?
He wondered if he would ever be able to keep that chest-binding woman in check in the future.
Mm, day two of missing the big block of ice.
Seeing Xu Yuan fall silent, Vice General Cang cupped his hands as soon as he finished speaking.
"Young Master Xu, battle will likely break out at the eastern wall shortly. Forgive my presumption."
With that, giving Xu Yuan no time to react, he barked in a low voice:
"Qu Li, Zhang Hong! Escort Young Master Xu back to the government office!"
Xu Yuan glanced at Vice General Cang in slight surprise.
Assuming the barbarians would attack the city, he knew the vice general would not let him remain on the gate tower. A fifth-rank cultivation was indeed quite high compared to these Yulin elites who were generally sixth or seventh rank, but amid chaotic warfare, a stray projectile fired from siege machinery or an ambush by a barbarian squad could take his life.
Yet he hadn't expected the man to actively provide him with such a graceful way out.
This vice general had a bright future ahead of him.
Glancing at the two personal guards jogging over, Xu Yuan grinned.
"Vice General Cang, you understand me quite well."
Vice General Cang's expression did not waver.
"Should any harm befall you, I would be unable to answer to the Princess, and the Princess would be unable to answer to the Chancellor. Please."
Xu Yuan pondered for a moment, then shook his head.
Vice General Cang frowned.
Xu Yuan smiled. "A gentleman does not stand beside a crumbling wall, but has this wall begun crumbling yet?"
Vice General Cang looked perplexed. "Young Master Xu, remaining on this wall serves no purpose."
Xu Yuan naturally knew it served no purpose. If he were on the southern wall right now, there might be some point to it. After all, the Black Scale Army was over there. Through indoctrination by the Tian'an Martial Hall and within the Black Scale Army itself, a personality cult had formed in the hearts of most Black Scale soldiers—a cult of personality around his father. Even if Xu Yuan did nothing there, merely standing upon the ramparts would be equivalent to an imperial prince gracing the front lines in person, boosting morale. But here on the eastern wall, aside from a single battalion of Feather Forest Guards, there were only ten thousand regular sect border troops.
The problem was, he didn't dare return to the government office right now.
Li Zhaoyuan was still staying at the government office.
Vice General Cang would not harm him, but Li Zhaoyuan was another story.
Although the destruction of the sect depots had been orchestrated by Qin Weijiu and executed by the Succubus Su, it remained unconfirmed whether Li Zhaoyuan had been involved.
If the man truly collaborated with Qin Weijiu's faction, he would inevitably want to eliminate Xu Yuan.
Even if Li Zhaoyuan didn't know he was the Chancellor's Manor's designated heir, the explosive surge in his cultivation over the past year alone would be reason enough to want him dead.
"Barbarians attack the city; Chancellor's third son dies abruptly"—how neat and convenient that sounded~
After all, a Chancellor's Manor without an heir was the best kind of Chancellor's Manor.
Xu Yuan fixed his gaze on Vice General Cang and said earnestly:
"Vice General Cang, not everything in this world requires a purpose. Many things I must experience firsthand and see with my own eyes. Otherwise, in my mind, the lives of these soldiers will never be more than a cold string of numbers on a docket."
"..."
Vice General Cang's gaze shifted for a moment, softening slightly as he looked at Xu Yuan. He said nothing, but waved a hand to dismiss the two personal guards.
Amid the chilling wind and distant shouts of battle drifting from the southern wall, time ticked by second by second.
Suddenly, a fierce gale whipped up without warning. Yet what arrived was not a barbarian, but a slender figure clad in imperial jade robes.
It was Li Zhaoyuan.
Seeing him, Xu Yuan's expression remained unchanged, though his heart sank slightly.
After a moment of silence, Xu Yuan remained still, but Vice General Cang beside him dropped to his knees.
"Second Prince!"
Li Zhaoyuan glanced at him, his voice neither cold nor warm, carrying a faint detachment. "Vice General Cang, the military situation is urgent. There is no need for ceremony."
Vice General Cang rose immediately, bowing with his hands cupped as he looked down toward Li Zhaoyuan's boots. "The barbarians are on the verge of attacking the city. What brings Your Highness here?"
Li Zhaoyuan's handsome, sharp-featured face remained stern and unsmiling. "I have done all I could within the government office. With the military situation so dire, it is only right that I, as an imperial prince, come to the front lines to do my part."
Xu Yuan scanned the Second Prince up and down.
Though he had slapped this fellow's face before, he didn't actually know the Second Prince's cultivation realm—after all, when the slap happened, his father had been walking right ahead.
Judging by the unfathomable aura radiating from him, however, he had to be at least a third-rank Grandmaster.
Vice General Cang kept his head bowed and hands cupped. "Your Highness, the battlefield is not like an ordinary duel between cultivators. Your person is of supreme worth..."
"Vice General Cang."
Li Zhaoyuan raised a hand to cut him off. Looking down at the patrolling soldiers with complex emotion in his eyes, he spoke gravely:
"I must see with my own eyes these soldiers who lay down their lives for Great Yan. Otherwise, in my heart, they may one day be nothing more than a string of cold, lifeless names."
"..." Xu Yuan almost couldn't keep a straight face.
"..." Hearing this, Vice General Cang's expression turned rather peculiar with his head bowed.
After a beat of silence, Vice General Cang cleared his throat and pushed his cupped hands forward in salute. "Ahem. That Your Highness frets over our soldiers, I shall take it to heart."
With that, Vice General Cang straightened and looked straight out beyond the city wall, eyes fixed ahead.
At that moment, Li Zhaoyuan shifted his gaze to Xu Yuan and asked, "Third Young Master, will you not return to the government office to rest?"
Xu Yuan reined in his smile and replied, "As for me, I wanted to see what the front lines look like."
With evident concern, Li Zhaoyuan urged, "War is no child's play; safety comes first. If Third Young Master is willing, I will immediately arrange guards to escort you back to the government office."
Hearing this, Xu Yuan immediately hissed internally.
Not good. This bastard couldn't really be trying to pull off the scheme of "barbarians attack the city, Chancellor's third son dies abruptly," could he?
Meeting Li Zhaoyuan's earnest gaze, Xu Yuan shook his head. "Thank you for the concern, but isn't Vice General Cang right here?"
Pausing briefly, he countered with a question of his own: "Though, Your Highness, if you truly wish to remember the gravity of our soldiers' lives, why not go to the southern wall? You should be needed far more over there."
Li Zhaoyuan's stated reason for coming was too bizarre; Xu Yuan found it hard not to suspect foul play.
Xu Yuan certainly knew the man wanted to establish prestige within the Great Yan military.
The issue was, if he truly wanted to build prestige, wouldn't heading to the southern wall be the far superior choice right now?
Not only was the situation more dire at the southern wall, demanding high-level cultivators, but Li Qingyan was also there. It was more dangerous, yet greater risk promised greater reward. A sly schemer like Li Junqing might not dare, but Li Zhaoyuan would certainly take that gamble.
No flaw could be spotted on Li Zhaoyuan's face as he answered without hesitation, "My Imperial Sister and Commander Yuan are already holding the line there. Naturally, there is no need for me to go."
"Heh." Xu Yuan chuckled noncommittally, then suddenly turned his gaze to Vice General Cang beside him. "Vice General Cang, when you command a military array, is your habit to charge at the very front, or hold the rear?"
Records on military arrays in the Chancellor's Manor's internal archives indicated that generals were almost always required to remain stationed in the center army; as the core of the array, even an injury to the general would jeopardize the array's cohesion, and if they fell in battle, the entire array would instantly crumble.
Yet back in Wanxiang City, Xu Yuan had watched Yuan Hao fight by charging at the very front as the commander.
Vice General Cang replied flatly, "My mastery over military arrays is not like Her Highness the Princess's, where it moves like an extension of her limbs. I generally remain stationed in the center army."
Hearing this, Xu Yuan nodded. "That's good, then."
If Vice General Cang liked charging at the front like Yuan Hao, Xu Yuan would truly have had to summon help and flee immediately.
Though he wasn't certain whether Li Zhaoyuan intended to make a move against him, this wasn't something he could afford to gamble on.
Vice General Cang said softly, "Rest assured, Young Master Xu. So long as I draw breath, no harm shall come to you."
"Thanks," Xu Yuan said with an easy smile, then turned to Li Zhaoyuan. "Your Highness, is this your first time on the front lines?"
"Yes." Li Zhaoyuan looked back, a faint smile gracing his lips. "It should be the Third Young Master's first time as well. Yet why do I feel that you don't seem nervous at all?"
Xu Yuan spread his hands, completely unbothered. "I'm used to idling about; I never picked up the habit of being nervous."
Pausing, he stared at him with a grin. "Still, even if I'm not nervous, I cherish my life. Your Highness must look out for me in a moment. So many people have seen you beside me; if danger comes and you don't lend a hand, it won't reflect well on you."
By the end, Xu Yuan put slight emphasis on his words.
"..." Li Zhaoyuan's eyes narrowed slightly.
Xu Yuan met his gaze with a smiling face.
Li Zhaoyuan was the first to look away, asking in a low voice, "There should be other Black Scale Guards in the city, right?"
Xu Yuan also looked toward the chasm of smoke obstructing their vision and laughed. "Indeed there are, but where they are right now, I haven't the foggiest."
Li Zhaoyuan's voice was calm and steady. "Heh... The Third Young Master is Duke Xu's most beloved son, and Duke Xu is a pillar of our Great Yan. Naturally, I will see to your safety."
Not long after Li Zhaoyuan spoke, the barbarians to the east of the city, having endured the demonic beast bombardment, finally launched their assault on the eastern wall.
Because there were no war colossi on the eastern front, the barbarians immediately had the strongmen of their tribes hurl countless iron spikes. These spikes bit deeply into the masonry, forming a makeshift stairway along the face of the ramparts for the barbarian soldiers to gain footing.
The smoke released by the Sun-Blotter instead became the barbarians' best cover for storming the ramparts.
Countless barbarian warriors swarmed upward with feral agility under the fog's veil.
Though the city-protecting array in the sky flickered faintly from the lack of Source Qi, it continued to provide unbroken protection to the Great Yan defenders atop the walls, while defensive siege machinery fired blind volleys straight down into the mist below.
Pained howls could be heard drifting up from below the wall from time to time.
From within the fog beneath the ramparts, manifested demonic beast totems surged out periodically, slamming upward against the skyward array.
With each impact, the city-protecting array shuddered.
After an impasse lasting the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the first barbarian leaped onto the battlements—only for his ten-foot-tall frame to be sliced clean in two by a Yulin soldier.
Yet immediately following him came a second barbarian, a tenth barbarian, a hundredth barbarian!
This was the first time Xu Yuan had laid eyes on the barbarian race in person. Humanoid, yet horrifying and grotesque, evoking an eerie uncanny valley effect at a glance.
Yet the Feather Forest Guards, drawn up in military array along the ramparts, seemed long accustomed to their foes' appearance, swinging their standard-issue ancient ingot sabers with ruthless ferocity.
As many as climbed up, that many were slain. It was practically a one-sided slaughter.
The barbarians' pitch-black blood stained the ramparts dark, rising in steaming vapor that vanished in an instant, rapidly freezing into solid ice under the bone-chilling cold.
Soon, however, the skyward city-protecting array appeared to have exhausted its Source Qi from the endless battering of totems from the fog. The frequency of its attacks gradually slowed, and the Great Yan defenders suffered their first casualty.
Once the dam broke, casualties could no longer be stemmed.
The barbarians below seemed endless; for every one killed, two leaped up in his place.
The barbarians who secured footholds on the ramparts attempted to expand their gains, but the formation-inscribed ballista bolts emplaced at staggered heights blasted them into flying gore.
Xu Yuan watched a barbarian chieftain whose aura rivaled his own attempt to face a formation-inscribed bolt head-on, only for his upper body to instantly disintegrate, leaving only a pair of legs standing where he had been.
He also saw a Yulin lieutenant general struck by a totem phantom, bursting instantly into a spray of bloody froth.
Hot blood of red and black splattered incessantly, rapidly chilling and freezing in the frigid air, only to be shattered by the clashing Source Qi of both sides and scattered across the sky as flying shards of ice.
Standing atop the gate tower, Xu Yuan silently watched this warfare of an extraordinary world. His breathing went from calm to ragged, before finally returning to an even rhythm.
Under the tide-like numbers of the barbarians, costly formation-inscribed ballistas were destroyed one after another, and fearless Yulin soldiers collapsed into pools of blood as the territory held by the barbarians atop the wall began to spread step by step.
This was the cost—the price of Li Qingyan's all-in gamble to concentrate forces for a decisive battle.
The advantage at the southern wall was bought with the perils facing the east and west walls.
Time seemed to lose all meaning in that moment. There was only splashing blood and the stench of death blanketing the ramparts.
Having reached this stage, it had turned entirely into a contest of willpower between both commanders and their troops. Whoever broke first would lose.
Xu Yuan clenched his fists slightly, only to realize that Li Zhaoyuan beside him had suddenly vanished.
In the next instant, a blinding flash of white lightning illuminated the heavens cloaked in snowclouds, and the formidable aura of a first-rank Transcendent Realm cultivator unleashed itself upon the ramparts with wanton fury.
A Dao domain manifested, and lightning filled the skies across a hundred-zhang radius!
In the blink of an eye, a hundred towering barbarian warriors collapsed, charred to ash.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan's pupils constricted sharply.
Crap. Back in the imperial palace, he had slapped the face of a Transcendent Realm prince.
Yet in the next moment, Xu Yuan raised his eyes toward the city-protecting array above.
Even if Li Zhaoyuan was a Transcendent Realm powerhouse, Xu Yuan didn't believe the man would dare flaunt his might so ostentatiously in a battle of this scale. For any high-level cultivator who struck would instantly face the concentrated bombardment of an enemy military array.
And just as Xu Yuan thought, the moment Li Zhaoyuan's Dao domain unfolded and before his technique could subside, a colossal serpent phantom burst abruptly from the curtain of smoke!
The resilient rampart turned to powder the moment the serpent's body grazed it. The beast plunged straight into Li Zhaoyuan's storm-wracked thunder domain, thick arcs of lightning striking the colossal serpent without halting it in the slightest.
Unfortunately for the beast, the city-protecting array that had nearly stalled in the sky flared back to life at that very instant.
A dense shield materialized around Li Zhaoyuan in a flash.
Shield collided with serpent; the two currents of Source Qi grappled and locked, sending a tremendous tremor through the entire eastern wall!
Steadying himself, Xu Yuan instantly understood what the Second Prince was trying to do.
He had intentionally conserved the city-protecting array's Source Qi, waiting to strike at the crucial moment and rely on the array's protection to shatter the barbarians' morale in one fell swoop with his own power.
The barbarian commander controlling the array totem below was naturally no slower than Xu Yuan to adapt.
After Li Zhaoyuan slaughtered nearly another hundred barbarian soldiers, the phantom of a gargantuan tortoise shell coalesced before the lightning arc into which Li Zhaoyuan had transformed.
The thunder Dao domain contracted in an instant. The lightning illuminating the sky shifted into a terrifying violet hue, and the speed radiating from Li Zhaoyuan surged once more!
Simultaneously, the city-protecting array above brought down an invisible, crushing weight of ten thousand jun.
The instant the tortoise shell phantom met the lightning arc and the crushing pressure, cracks spiderwebbed across it, spreading with blinding speed before detonating into starlight that dissolved into nothingness within breaths.
Just as Xu Yuan thought Li Zhaoyuan would continue his personal show, the prince suddenly reined in his momentum and flew back into the gate tower.
Looking at Li Zhaoyuan, whose body still crackled with bursts of lightning, Xu Yuan asked with a smile, "Your Highness, has the city-protecting array completely run out of Source Qi reserves?"
Li Zhaoyuan replied quite candidly, "Naturally. I wouldn't dare act recklessly in the face of such a military array. The barbarians' morale should be on the verge of breaking now; what remains can be left to Vice General Cang."
With this sudden turn of events, the momentum on the ramparts shifted once again.
Before long, excited shouts drifted into Xu Yuan's ears from across the wall:
"The barbarians are retreating!"
"The barbarians are retreating!"
"Long live the Second Prince!"
"May the Second Prince's martial fortune prosper!!"
Listening to the cheers, Xu Yuan turned and cupped his hands toward Li Zhaoyuan.
"Your Highness has reaped quite the harvest. Such profound cultivation truly fills Changtian with awe."
Li Zhaoyuan retained his placid, tranquil expression, though his face was slightly pale. He smiled faintly. "Third Young Master is too polite. I merely relied on outside aid this time."
Pausing, Li Zhaoyuan seemed to hear something. He glanced toward the south wall and said with a light chuckle:
"My Imperial Sister has also re-entered the city. She... asked me to bring you over, Third Young Master."
Xu Yuan didn't budge. Grinning, he asked, "Oh? How did you two contact each other?"
"The city-protecting array. As members of the imperial clan who can control the array, we can naturally transmit messages through it within the city." Li Zhaoyuan pointed up at the sky's vault and added with a mild smile, "Of course, Third Young Master may also have Vice General Cang arrange someone to escort you."
Xu Yuan gave him a deep look, then burst out laughing. "Listen to you, Your Highness. Why treat me like a stranger?"
With that, Xu Yuan glanced at Vice General Cang, whose face was pale from the backlash of the military array, and said loudly, "Vice General Cang, I'll go meet Qingyan with the Second Prince. Take care."
Carried along by Li Zhaoyuan's Source Qi, the two quickly arrived at the southern wall, where the Feather Forest Guards' military camp was located.
Arriving together outside the massive barracks belonging to Li Qingyan, before they could even speak to the guards outside, Li Qingyan's raspy voice drifted out from within:
"Second Brother, wait outside for a moment. Prince Consort, you come in first."
Chapter 249