Taking on Two

The Xiji puppet troops held numerical superiority, but the Yuheng Army was bolstered by dense origin power. Moreover, clashing in such a cramped barbican kept them from falling behind right from the start. The two hundred elites He Lingchuan brought joined the fray as well, further narrowing the numerical gap and steadily tilting the scales of victory in their favor. Before long, the barbican's peculiar terrain became the very bulwark upon which the Xiji puppet troops gritted their teeth to hold their ground. This was the first time He Lingchuan had fought Fu Shanlie on land. Even though this was more than a hundred and sixty years in the past, this fellow was plainly several cuts above Fu Shanyue. Lacking a distinguished lineage, Fu Shanlie had fought his way up to the rank of general purely on military exploits. His presence, divine abilities, and combat skills were completely unlike those of a pampered scion. The ferocious savagery bred into the man's very bones and his keen grasp of battlefield opportunities were qualities Fu Shanyue simply did not possess. After trading dozens of blows, Fu Shanlie grew increasingly alarmed. How could this kid be under twenty years old? Granted, the Emperor's Flowing Dew had descended a bit more frequently of late, but someone who had lived as long as Fu Shanlie understood that cultivation level did not necessarily equate to combat power. What was more, He Lingchuan possessed origin power! That dark-red origin power granted him a direct boost in combat. It even seemed to make Fu Shanlie's ghostly, darting figure slow down automatically in He Lingchuan's eyes. Leading the Xiji puppet troops, Fu Shanlie had next to no origin power to draw upon, so the longer he fought, the more he felt at a terrible disadvantage— When a sneak attack failed, the one who suffered was oneself. Even if there was a gap between him and He Lingchuan, the origin power was on the verge of leveling it completely. What was going on with Panlong City's origin power? Even a mere Yuheng City commander possessed origin power this dense; Fu Shanlie could hardly imagine how formidable General Red's origin power must be. Panlong City was nothing more than a frontier wasteland city under Xiluo's jurisdiction. It had no business wielding origin power like this! There was definitely something fishy going on. After all, Xiluo Kingdom was so poor and feeble that neighboring Beijia Kingdom had not even bothered to conquer it. Just then, a buzzing sound rose behind He Lingchuan. The swarm of black beetles had returned. Earlier, the insect demon had harassed Willow, causing a single misstep that Fu Shanlie took advantage of; now, it wanted to pull the same trick again. The swarm landed on the ground, rapidly amalgamating into a new monstrosity. When it stood motionless with its wings folded before its body and its head bowed, it looked like a cloaked traveler. Yet the moment it tore away its disguise, it resembled a fusion of spider and ant. Its entire body gleamed with a dark-gold sheen, its six claw-tips were like steel needles, and two scythe-like forelegs were raised at its flanks. Normally, these did not touch the ground, but when attacking, they drove forward in rapid gouges—its movements resembling not a mantis, but a pile driver. When it ambushed He Lingchuan, it struck six times in the span of a single breath, gouging six small craters into the ground. A nearby Yuheng soldier got in the way; the monstrous insect swept its scythe, piercing straight through him, and hurled the corpse at He Lingchuan. The thing was absurdly agile. Its coordination with Fu Shanlie—advancing and retreating, one fast and one measured—showed an astonishing degree of unspoken synergy. Having dealt with the spider demon sisters for so long, He Lingchuan was doubly vigilant. Sure enough, the creature caught him off guard by spitting acid at him. He Lingchuan dodged, but the stone wall behind him had several holes corroded into it, hissing with plumes of white steam. Good grief. If that mouthful had caught him in the face, he truly would have become two of a kind with Dong Rui. Now that he no longer enjoyed the privilege of invulnerability when entering and leaving the Panlong World, he had to value his life when fighting. Yet this monstrous insect was far more reckless than he was. He Lingchuan's saber, Fusheng, could cleave through the incorporeal, but when slashing into this creature, it was surprisingly less effective than usual. Wounds inflicted by Fusheng did not heal easily, but the monstrous insect had no need to heal at all. The wounded sections simply detached as dead black beetles, and new swarms immediately replenished the losses. The monster was constantly renewing itself, possessing more than enough capital to wear down its foe to the bitter end. This was the first time He Lingchuan had encountered such an unreasonable opponent. It truly lived up to the reputation of the northern demon kingdom, brimming with bizarre demon species. Still, after wounding the monster several times in succession, he noticed that the black beetles flying in from the sky to reinforce it were dwindling. Fortunately, there was an end to them after all. Yet the key to defeating this creature likely lay in finding the host bug. That was to say, the culprit who had murdered Zhao Linyang. Meng Shan had also followed He Lingchuan to the South Gate. He was exceptionally ferocious. First, he led his squad in forcing the Xiji puppet troops back into the barbican, and when he turned back and saw He Lingchuan fighting two enemies alone, he let out a great roar and charged over to help. Amidst the frantic clash, He Lingchuan spared a moment to stop him: "Stay back! Go bring down the alarm bell for me!" Bring down... the alarm bell? Meng Shan subconsciously glanced up toward the corner of the wall. Upon the South Gate's watchtower hung a massive bronze alarm bell, nearly identical in size and weight to the one at the East Gate. Meng Shan had witnessed firsthand how Wen Daolun used the alarm bell earlier to repel the enemy, so he charged up the city wall without hesitation. Conveniently, as the Xiji puppet troops retreated into the barbican, they had vacated the passageway leading up the wall. Taking the steps three at a time, he rushed into the watchtower, channeled his full true force, and rang the alarm bell with rapid clangs. He used his origin power as well, but unlike Wen Daolun, he had not drawn a blood talisman beforehand, so the tolling of the bell failed to purge the black beetles possessing the civilians. It was purely an exercise in futility. Seeing this rash fellow's antics, He Lingchuan was seized with frustration: "Chop through the mortise beam and push it down!" He had told Meng Shan to "bring it down," not ring it. "Oh." Meng Shan drew his axe and began chopping at the wooden pillar supporting the bell. To his shock, the thing was absurdly tough. His mountain-cleaving axe was no ordinary tool, yet after several chops, it still could not hack through. Raising its scythe-legs, the monstrous insect gouged toward He Lingchuan's back with a sharp thud. In his haste, He Lingchuan leaped away with a burst of speed, but his back armor was snagged by the barbed tips of the monster's claws. With two sharp clinks, he spun around and slashed away the monster's descending scythe. A prime opportunity! Fu Shanlie pounced forward, aiming straight for the center of his back. Black Tiger Steals the Heart! If this gouged through, today's battle would be settled once and for all. Just as his claw-tips struck He Lingchuan's chest, the latter vanished with a soft puff. In his place was only a cicada slough, drifting lightly away in the wind. Fu Shanlie snatched the cicada slough, squeezing out a few words through gritted teeth: "Sacrifice the Plum to Preserve the Peach!" Yet inwardly, rather than being troubled, he was delighted. For a life-saving technique like this, every time an opponent used it in the short term, they had one fewer chance to escape. Several surrounding Yuheng soldiers rushed forward, but they were no match for the two monsters. Watching the battle between the three commanders, onlookers felt dazzled and chills ran down their spines, utterly at a loss as to where they could even intervene. He Lingchuan emerged from the base of the wall and shouted upward once more: "Meng Shan!" Still not done? Taking on two opponents alone, both of them such formidable foes, was proving exceedingly grueling. If not for the vast disparity in origin power between the two sides, He Lingchuan would have long ceased to be in one piece. "Right away! Right away!" Unable to chop through the pillar and urged on by He Lingchuan, Meng Shan grew desperate. He swung his axe to hack savagely at the four corners of the bell tower, dropped into a horse stance, and slammed his shoulder against the bell tower with all his might. Thud! The bell tower did not budge in the slightest. Instead, his own shoulder throbbed with fierce pain. Motherfucker, who built this watchtower so sturdy back then? Why didn't they think to cut a few corners?