They raised torches in an attempt to drive them off; after all, most mind-confounding spells feared fire. But the rabid commoners merely stared with glassy eyes, even lunging forward to bite the arms holding the torches.
Afraid of fire? Like hell they were!
"What sort of mind-controlling trick is this?" Wen Daolun muttered under his breath. Pinching a wisp of true flame between his fingertips, he pressed it against the center of another frenzied commoner's brow.
The man let out a sharp cry and collapsed backward, struggling no more.
Then Wen Daolun heard Meng Shan shout, "Insects! They're being controlled by bugs! Knock them out and the bugs crawl out!"
Insects? Wen Daolun looked down to inspect the unconscious man, only to see a black beetle the size of a fingernail burrow out of his nostril, flutter its wings a couple of times, and take flight.
Wen Daolun seized the chance, pulling on a spider-silk glove and grabbing it in one swift motion.
The bug thrashed left and right inside his fist with astonishing strength—so much that Wen Daolun felt his fingers being forced open.
Only after bracing himself did he open his palm. The beetle instantly darted straight for his nose and mouth.
Yet halfway there, it seemed to lose interest in Wen Daolun, veering away to seek someone else.
Wen Daolun tracked it forward. Seeing it fly into an alley toward an ordinary home, intending to crawl inside, he caught it once more and unleashed true fire to incinerate it.
The beetle screeched shrilly and took ten full breaths to finally die.
This was trouble; not every soldier could manipulate true fire.
By now, turmoil was rippling through the streets and alleys due to the strange insects manipulating the townsfolk, made worse by the influence of Emperor's Flowing Dew. Curses, screams, and the crash of shattering objects erupted from every direction.
The East Gate was in grave peril.
The commoners controlled by the strange insects were fighting to seize the gate's winch ropes. Paying no heed to blades or spears slashing into them, they threw themselves forward and hauled.
Once the winches were undone and the drawbridge lowered, the enemy troops outside would storm straight in.
Though the city guards fought hard to push them back, they could not stem the rush of dozens surging forward at once. Each grasped at the winches as though laying hands on pure gold, locking on and refusing to let go.
Meng Shan roared. In a massive leap, he cleared a distance of forty feet, landing with a thunderous crash that directly knocked seventeen or eighteen commoners senseless.
The rest saw stars from the shockwave.
Meng Shan seized two of their heads and slammed them together viciously, knocking both out cold.
When the beetles crawled out of their seven orifices, the city guards could stab and crush them with a flurry of blades. Yet even if commoners held awls, they couldn't pierce them to death.
Meng Shan was no fool; after a couple of glances, he understood: "Origin power! They fear origin power!"
Origin power was the nemesis of almost every monster and demon in the world, the counter to all divine abilities and secret arts.
Yet commoners possessed none.
Wen Daolun, who had just rushed over, heard this as well. His steps hitched as he silently repeated the words "origin power" several times.
There were far too many of these beetles and far too many bodies possessed. If they had to drive them out one by one, how long would it take?
Could the guards knock every last person unconscious?
What about the fight below the gate? What about the enemy outside?
Then Wen Daolun caught sight of the giant bell atop the corner tower of the city wall.
This specially crafted bronze bell measured ten feet across; a sentry had to exert every ounce of strength just to sound it.
It was called the "alarm bell." Once rung, it signaled an invasion by foreign foes.
Since Panlong City took Yuheng City, it had rung only twice in total:
during the river bandit raid over a year ago, and today.
An idea flashed through his mind, and he immediately sprinted up the wall, several guards following close on his heels.
Reaching the bronze bell, he bit his index finger and traced several talismans in blood upon the metal. Then he pressed his official medallion against the battering beam and shouted to the guards behind him, "Strike the bell! Quick!"
Two guards stepped forward, hoisted the battering beam, and slammed it hard against the bronze bell.
*Clang—!* The resonant toll instantly reverberated across the eastern sector of Yuheng City.
Infused by Wen Daolun's medallion, the beam and bell both gleamed with a shimmering green light.
The origin power had taken effect.
Toll followed toll, growing faster and more urgent.
Enhanced by Wen Daolun's Sound-Amplifying Art, the bell's penetrative force became terrifyingly potent.
Even healthy folk felt their minds tremble at the sound, while those controlled by the strange insects froze in their frenzied tracks, clutched their ears, collapsed to the ground, and screamed in agony.
After a scream or two, they passed out.
As the strange beetles crawled out of their seven orifices, they seemed drunkenly stupefied, wobbling erratically and struggling to take wing.
The East Gate guards quickly moved in to finish them off, stabbing repeatedly to strike while the enemy was helpless.
Right then, a burst of crimson fireworks detonated in the south.
The South Gate was in danger too?
Needless to say, the enemy had split their forces.
Fu Shanlie had truly spared no expense this time, bringing so many troops. Wen Daolun glanced toward the south; no matter how anxious he was, there was nothing he could do.
He could not be in two places at once and could only tend to the East Gate before him.
As for the South Gate, with Willow and Chao Qian holding the line, it ought to be safe for a short while.
Just then, a rumbling of war drums suddenly sounded outside the south of the city. A guard behind Wen Daolun leaned over the battlements, both startled and overjoyed: "Reinforcements have arrived!"
Standing atop the city wall, Wen Daolun turned to look. Behind the teeming ranks of the Jintao army outside the gate, a fresh force had indeed burst into the fray.
"It's Cai Qiyong!"
Wen Daolun instantly recognized the general leading the charge: a young deputy general whom He Lingchuan had promoted only six months ago, likewise under twenty years of age.
This was Cai Qiyong's first time commanding on his own, and He Lingchuan had tasked him with leading eight hundred troops to strike the rear flank of the Jintao army.
Though the Jintao army numbered over two thousand, the sudden descent of Emperor's Flowing Dew had thrown their ranks into chaos.
Fu Shanlie, hailing from the ranks of Beijia, looked down upon the Jintao troops as mediocre in combat, which was why he had assigned them to attack Yuheng's East Gate. And this army certainly lived up to expectations: while the front lines were still attacking the gate, those in the rear stood frozen in place, craning their necks toward the sky with mouths agape, busy catching Emperor's Flowing Dew.
Some even pulled out rags to catch it, licking them as they did.
What a pity they had marched in such haste and brought no containers.
The allure of Emperor's Flowing Dew to living creatures was like that of a lake stumbled upon by someone dying of thirst after three days—a reckless craving to plunge headfirst and drink deeply that ordinary people could scarcely resist.
In extraordinary times, the disparity in discipline between armies was laid bare at once.
The eight hundred Yuheng Army soldiers who had just charged out from the shadows advanced with steady strides, radiating ferocious intent. They virtually ignored the spiritual dew raining from above, seeing only enemies to be slaughtered.
The two armies collided, battle cries shaking the heavens.
The Jintao army had not anticipated an ambush from the rear. Their commanders bellowed orders, but the soldiers were sluggish and panicked, turning around slowly.
Watching from the city gate, Wen Daolun felt his blood surge. "A golden opportunity! Quick, quick, charge out to strike from within and without!"
Though Zhao Linyang primarily oversaw civil administration, he was temporarily in command of East Gate military affairs right now. How could he ignore such an opportunity?
Inside the gate, hundreds of brave warriors were itching for action, waiting to burst forth.
Yet at the East Gate, no one gave the order, and no one opened the gates.
Where was Zhao Linyang?
Wen Daolun looked around, but the man was nowhere to be seen. Making a snap decision, he stood at the edge of the battlements and shouted down, "I am Wen Daolun! Troops of the eastern sector, hear my command: Open the gate and charge!"
He had served diligently in Yuheng City's administration for over a year, and most of He Lingchuan's subordinates recognized him. With no higher-ranking official on the scene, his word was an order.
The moment his voice fell, gears groaned and clanked, and the city gates swung outward.
Before the drawbridge had even lowered all the way, hundreds of warriors roared and charged out, mounting a pincer attack alongside Cai Qiyong's force to crush the Jintao army.
For over a year, Jintao had constantly harassed the border with petty skirmishes. Focused on its own development, Yuheng City had generally paid them no mind.
Yet that did not mean the soldiers of Yuheng City had swallowed their anger.
Now that they had full justification to vent their fury in blood, what Yuheng soldier didn't want to swing their blade with abandon?
Yet just as Wen Daolun was about to pull back, a shadow flickered across the corner of his vision.
"Look out!" shouted the guards beside him as both threw themselves forward to intercept.
These two personal bodyguards had served him for over a year, following him from Yuheng City all the way back to Panlong City; both were highly skilled and fiercely loyal.
Wen Daolun watched as they clashed with several bizarre figures.
They looked like two praying mantises nearly as tall as a man, along with three or four... er, wasps?
The two monsters possessed only the mantis's signature scythe-like forelegs and upper torso, without its swollen abdomen; their lower bodies were like those of fleas, leaving afterimages in the air with the slightest leap.
As for the wasps, their species was unknown, each larger than a human fist, banded in yellow and black.
The moment Wen Daolun saw them, he caught a whiff of a strange fragrance and his head began to spin.
He quickly performed a wind-summoning incantation to disperse the scent, calling out a warning: "The pollen on them is poisonous!"
The lethal weapon of these wasps was not merely the stingers on their tails; even the fragrant powder released by the rapid fluttering of their wings carried a stupefying poison.
Fortunately, all three had origin power protecting them, or the scent would have swiftly incapacitated any living person.
Both guards were locked in combat and had no time to respond.
Wen Daolun cast divine arts from the rear to aid their counterattack.
Down below, Meng Shan noticed the disturbance atop the gate and dashed up the steps at top speed.
Their luck did not hold. Barely five breaths later, an opening was seized on one guard, and his movements abruptly froze.
Wen Daolun watched helplessly as a sinister blade-like appendage protruded through the back of his neck, with hardly a few drops of blood spilled.
The sole remaining guard parried desperately, hanging by a thread.
Meng Shan reached the top of the gate just in time and was about to let out a roar and charge in to help when a familiar voice sounded by his ear:
"Steady your breath. Prepare to ram."
Meng Shan had long obeyed the owner of that voice without question. Hearing it, he braked without hesitation, sank into a stance, and kicked off the ground with his hind legs—
*Clang, clang!* Several thunderous chimes rang out as the alarm bell pealed once more.
This time, the chime was louder than all the previous ones combined; far from merely echoing through Yuheng City, it could be heard clearly even across the river in the cities of Jintao!
Like muffled thunder suddenly bursting across the sky, even Wen Daolun, protected by origin power, was rattled to the point of ringing ears and dizziness, his mind churning so violently that he nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood.
The insect demons fared far worse, literally rattled until their silhouettes blurred into afterimages.
The wasps crashed to the ground, and the mantises slumped limply.
Wen Daolun turned his head to see that a figure had appeared beside the giant bronze bell at some unknown moment. He lifted the three-hundred-jin battering beam with a single hand, striking the massive bell into a deafening clamor.
The glow upon the battering beam and the bell was dark red—far denser than the origin power Wen Daolun had infused.
Though Wen Daolun was an official of Panlong City, he held no military command in Yuheng City, and his origin power was far from reaching such a level.
The chiming it generated dealt far greater harm to the insect demons.
In the next instant, Meng Shan charged forward, ramming one giant mantis straight off the city wall.
The figure beside the bronze bell flashed across as well, skewering a strange wasp dead with a single blade strike.
Wen Daolun cried out in overjoyed relief, "Commander He!"
Chapter 1036