Seeing this, He Lingchuan felt the already bizarre spider nest had grown even more grotesque and uncanny.
What was the connection between these things and Zhu Erniang?
Why did they have to come deep into this cavern to sit in a row and pass away?
At last, at the far end of the row, He Lingchuan spotted an eighth one.
Its build was comparable to Zhu Erniang's, and it too stood motionless against the rock wall.
Yet He Lingchuan could not shake the feeling that something was amiss.
He took two steps back to compare it with the seventh giant spider, only to realize this eighth one bore no fluorescent spores on its body.
In other words, had it not been dead for very long?
Just as he stared and pondered, the giant spider suddenly raised a front leg and rubbed its eyes!
Holy crap, it was alive!
The shock was immense, making He Lingchuan's scalp tingle with dread. Leaping backward, he spun around and sprinted away without a second thought.
A labyrinth lay outside; if he could make it out, there might still be a sliver of hope for survival.
***
The chaos inside Weicheng raged on.
Beneath the city gate, the Baling city guards and the infiltrated Gale Army were locked in a tug-of-war. The Gale soldiers possessed superior individual prowess, but the defenders held the advantage in numbers, and the Baling troops inside the city had already rallied and begun mounting counterattacks.
The fighters could feel the ground trembling faintly as galloping hooves approached in the near distance.
Coupled with the signaling arrow the spy had launched into the sky earlier, this was likely another Gale Army detachment lying in wait out in the wilderness, rushing to storm the city upon seeing the signal.
Outside Weicheng stretched a flat expanse where one could look out for a hundred li by day, but the tall grass and tonight's darkness had cloaked the Gale Army's approach.
It turned out the five thousand Gale soldiers who had attacked earlier were merely bait; the true lethal force had bided its time all along.
Luring the tiger away from the mountain—yet another diversion.
The Baling defenders paled at the sound, and the struggle for the gate instantly escalated to a fever pitch. Both sides knew full well that if the city gate remained unbarred when the Gale Army reached the walls, there would be no closing it tonight, and Weicheng would inevitably fall.
Yet the gateway arch of Weicheng was narrow and low. While originally constructed that way for defense, it now worked in favor of Xiao Maoliang and his men. Few enemies could squeeze through at once, and most Baling soldiers were blocked behind their comrades, allowing the twenty-odd infiltrators to barely hold the line.
Even so, their position remained precarious.
They were like a tiny islet in a tempest, liable to be swallowed by the next crashing wave.
Standing beside the bronze talisman on the city wall, the disguised logistics soldier looked down at the small pot in his hand.
The Three Corpse Worms released from the pot had long been roaming throughout the city, attempting to invade the Baling soldiers, but before they could enter their facial orifices, they were repelled.
Something was wrong. The Three Corpse Worms had always been invincible on the battlefield. Their original plan was to sabotage the bronze talisman battle array behind the gates and unleash the worms, inciting frenzy and mutiny among the Baling troops so they could swing the gates wide and let the army outside sweep through to clear the field.
The plan was flawless, yet step two had gone awry.
The Three Corpse Worms could not complete their task.
In other words, the Clear Breeze Mantra or some other divine ability was still at work, keeping the Baling soldiers' minds clear and undisturbed.
However, such large aura-type battle arrays were exceedingly intricate to craft, far from compact, and quite cumbersome to relocate. Glancing down from the wall, he could not spot any trace of the array.
Where could it be hidden?
Just then, the voice from the inner street rang out again, aimed directly at him: "Take down General Red on the city gate, dead or alive! The first to achieve it shall be made a marquis and receive five thousand gold!"
General Red?
This quiet spy lurking in the wall's shadows was none other than General Red?
The enemy commander dared to put himself in such danger? If the gates shut, wouldn't it be trapping a dragon in a jar?
Like a ladle of water tossed into boiling oil, the Baling soldiers erupted into an uproar.
General Red flickered aside, evading seven or eight arrows fired from all directions.
Under the lure of such hefty rewards, the Baling soldiers shifted all their attention toward him.
General Red's next move was surprisingly to leap straight down from the gate tower. Maneuvering room was tight up here, and staying would only make him a sitting target. Yet down below was a dense press of Baling soldiers.
Midair, however, he snapped his fingers.
"Wind, rise!"
An unnatural gale sprang up from the flat ground—a violent burst of at least force eleven or twelve—laden with the wilderness's pervasive sand and grass roots, whipping so hard no one could keep their eyes open.
The wind struck so suddenly that the Baling soldiers reflexively turned their heads and shielded their eyes to keep them from watering and stinging.
Seizing the opportunity, Xiao Maoliang and his men pushed the gate inward by several more feet.
One to two hundred torches were snuffed out, plunging the gateway into instant darkness. Baling soldiers leaned into the wind to seize General Red, only to find that he had vanished!
From the start, he had remained hidden in the shadows, his true face seen by no one. When he jumped down the wall steps... he was already clad in a Baling uniform; blended into this sea of soldiers, who could tell which one was General Red?
Meanwhile, General Red's cold voice resonated in the minds of Hu Min and the others: "Shoot out those torches!"
Torches?
Hu Min looked closely and saw that the whole city was indeed pitch-black. Even the inner streets were dark, the oil lamps in common residences snuffed out as well.
Only a few torches to the right front of the city gate still burned. Even as hail mingled with the howling wind, the stubborn flames continued to shed their light and heat.
Earlier, torches had been everywhere, so these few had blended right in; now that all the others were extinguished, their glow stood out starkly.
That direction... was that the courier station?
Since it was General Red's command, Hu Min and his comrades raised their bows and shot without hesitation.
As an archer, he had ducked into a shadow to conceal himself as soon as fighting broke out, allowing him to act with composure now.
Miraculously, the moment they raised their bows, the gale abruptly ceased—otherwise, who in hell could hit anything drawing a bow in such a gale?
Hu Min was not the only sharpshooter General Red had brought. In just two or three blinks, two of the six torches were snuffed out by arrows.
Amid the chaotic tumult, just as the Baling troops were feeling utterly at a loss, someone shouted, "General Red went toward the courier station!"
Hearing this, the men broke into a sprint toward it.
From the inner street came another stern roar: "Halt, all of you! Disobey and be executed!"
A large troop of soldiers surged out from there. The man surrounded in their midst wore light armor and a sweeping cloak. Behind him stood two personal guards, each cradling a box brimming with fluorescent spores.
Instant illumination.
The commander pointed at the men below the wall and shouted, "Stand down! None of you step forward!"
Clearly this man commanded immense authority, for most soldiers halted in their tracks. However, Hua Mucuo's garrison troops were also present; less disciplined in obedience, they ran several steps closer to the courier station.
Built beside the city gate for the convenience of envoys and travelers, the courier station sat barely thirty or forty feet from the wall. A few extra strides brought those soldiers right up to it.
Hu Min and the others followed up with several more targeted shots, leaving only the final two flames around the courier station.
In the dark, two figures suddenly pounced toward the courier station.
Someone beside the Baling commander promptly drew a bow, thwacking two arrows into them.
Yet nobody noticed another figure crouching behind the two unfortunates, slipping like a ghost into the courier station.
He moved as fast as a wisp of smoke, and in the pitch darkness, no one could see clearly.
This person was General Red.
The moment he entered, he glanced left and right. Just then, his archers shot out the final torch, plunging the entire courier station into darkness.
General Red moved swiftly through the station. In just two breaths, he combed through the entry shop, the main hall, and the stables. Passing by the stalls, he noticed a faint teal glow radiating from the ground, obscured beneath yellow straw and hard to make out.
Here it was, just as expected.
General Red stepped forward and flicked away the straw with his long saber, revealing another bronze talisman underneath!
No wonder the Three Corpse Worms couldn't invade their bodies; the Clear Heart Mantra on this bronze plate was still active.
His opponent was meticulous. To protect and conceal this battle array, they had even arranged a separate formation of torches around the courier station—layering array upon array.
Unfortunately, this cleverness had backfired. Under the gale's sweeping force, the stubborn, unextinguished torches became glaringly obvious instead.
Now that Hu Min and the others had snuffed out the six torches and dispelled the outer array, General Red's final obstacle was cleared.
Slash this bronze talisman and release the Three Corpse Worms, and the scales of victory would tip toward the Gale Army.
Yet just as General Red raised his saber, the stack of fodder in the corner suddenly exploded, and a colossal figure burst forth from within!
Barely four feet separated them, and the stable was narrow, leaving General Red with no room to dodge.
What was more, he had sensed no living breath from the pile of straw.
***
At that moment, the battle for the city gates had reached its final juncture. Warriors on both sides were locked in bloody slaughter.
Xiao Maoliang's squad lost three more men.
If the gates were shut, any hope of survival for this squad would likely be snuffed out. Yet even though stepping back a few paces would let them escape through the gates, not a single one was willing to do so.
Gritting their teeth, they would rather block the gap with their chests and hold the line with their lives.
Hold on—reinforcements would arrive any moment;
Hold on—victory would surely belong to General Red!
In three years and twelve battles, General Red had never lost. No matter how dire the situation, he had always turned defeat into victory in the end.
The Gale Army soldiers at his side possessed an almost blind faith in him.
Just then, a huge hole was smashed through the thatched roof of the courier station, and General Red was blasted out.
Like a ball struck by a club, he flew thirty feet before hitting the ground, barely steadying himself.
Immediately afterward, a massive silhouette smashed through the brick wall of the courier station and charged out, planting itself before the Baling commander and glaring menacingly at General Red.
It was actually an enormous stone golem, composed entirely of rocks large and small, driven by an unknown core.
Without needing an order, Baling soldiers surged forward and encircled General Red.
The situation instantly reversed.
"The legendary General Red, famed for godlike command of troops, is nothing special after all!" The Baling commander roared with laughter. "Is this still the Lady Mitian of old?"
Trapping General Red with a single calculated ploy, he could not help but gloat.
General Red tilted his head. "Who are you?"
"The man who defeated you is Shao Yingyang, son of Baling's National Preceptor Shao Yan! Remember that—"
Before he could finish, General Red cut him off: "Which god stands behind you?"
Shao Yingyang's smile vanished. "Hand back what doesn't belong to you, and you will know." With that, he raised his hand and commanded, "Kill them! Leave none alive!"
General Red wanted to stall for time, but he would not fall for it. Closing the city gates was the top priority; the rest could be handled at leisure.
Heh, what God of War, what Gale Army? To him, they were nothing more than a bunch of brutes!
Chapter 199