Had the man already reached the ground?
Zhao Qinghe shouted, "Zhou Ming! Zhou Ming, did you make it down?"
He called three times in a row, but complete silence met him from below.
Where had Zhou Ming gone?
How could a living, breathing man vanish into thin air?
Refusing to believe it was something supernatural, He Chunhua picked two more men to go down.
Both disappeared just the same.
Everyone stared fixedly at the churning fog beneath the walls, their scalps tingling with dread.
No one knew what awaited anyone who dared descend.
The unknown was always the most terrifying.
By now, the beasts had begun to converge.
Initially, their numbers had not been great, but the Blackwater City troops held the ramp leading up to the wall, using makeshift barricades to intercept and kill a few of them. The scent of blood promptly drew the rest.
Standing atop the gate tower and looking down into the city, the men could see pale figures darting frequently through the streets and alleys. Beastly roars echoed from all sides.
Judging by this scale, there were easily more than three to five hundred.
Given the strength of these creatures, all the factions combined would be hard-pressed to handle even eighty. Against more than three hundred, mortals could only scurry away like cornered rats.
What was worse, the crimson light continued to disgorge monsters without a moment's pause.
He Chunhua had never imagined that creatures from an illusion could cross over into reality to wreak such havoc. When he entered the Panlong Ruins the last time, it had certainly not been like this.
Most terrifying was that someone had clearly laid a trap from the shadows, turning the ruins into a besieged cage—a display of cunning far outstripping the likes of Sun Fuping and Nian Songyu.
It was only unclear who the mastermind was targeting.
Was it everyone who entered the ruins, or some specific faction among them?
He Chunhua instinctively glanced at his eldest son, who had already taken the Mount Rong disciples down to the front line of defense, right in time to sever a monster's arm with a swing of his blade.
Despite their dire predicament, their fighting spirit remained high. Without them, the casualties and losses of the Blackwater City troops would have been far worse.
*Chuan'er...* He Chunhua shook his head inwardly. *Surely it couldn't be him?*
Just then, Zhao Qinghe rushed down and reported loudly, "The artillery on the gate tower has been inspected! Two cannon carts and one catapult are still usable, and their angles can reach the ground below. They've been cleared and adjusted—your orders, sir?"
There was existing artillery stationed on the South Gate. After more than a century of weathering, most had fallen into ruin, but a small portion remained functional.
With his mind crowded by scattered thoughts, He Chunhua replied without much hesitation, "Use them." Against the beasts below, it was best not to rely on flesh and blood.
Zhao Qinghe took the order and headed up.
He Lingchuan was in the thick of combat on the front line when Qiu Hu suddenly called out, "They're about to fire from the gate tower!"
Alerted, He Lingchuan looked up, a chill running through his chest.
"Stop!" he bellowed toward He Chunhua. "Halt the artillery!"
This cry carried true power, cutting through the din of the battlefield to reach He Chunhua's ears. Startled, He Chunhua looked down, only to see He Lingchuan bound through the crowd in a few swift leaps—more agile than an ape. Before anyone could see how he scaled the defenses, he was already standing right in front of He Chunhua.
*So... so fast!*
Before He Chunhua could recover from his astonishment, his eldest son spoke: "The roar of artillery is too loud. Provoking the beasts would be foolish."
"Still..." He Chunhua acknowledged the sense in his son's words, but monsters were pouring endlessly from the crimson light; his hundred-odd men could hardly hold out on their own. In the brief space of their exchange, two trusted guards below made a misstep and were clamped in the jaws of beasts, then dragged straight out from behind the barricades.
Those on the wall could only watch helplessly as the two were devoured alive. Before they had even breathed their last, their limbs were ripped off and their bellies torn open.
Fortunately, their agonizing shrieks lasted only briefly, dying out in fewer than a dozen breaths as their throats were finally crushed.
Who could witness such a sight without their blood running cold?
Trapped in a besieged city with no way out, who was to say this would not be their own end?
He Chunhua wrung his hands in fury. "Fools!"
One of the dead was a spellcaster. As someone meant to control supernatural techniques, why had he charged so far forward? Their company had possessed few spellcasters to begin with, and now their numbers were reduced by another.
"If we aren't fighting alongside the other factions, it's now a contest of who is more cautious and who can survive to the very end," He Lingchuan said rapidly. "The moment the cannons roar, all the monsters will converge here, and we'll only be easing the pressure on the other groups. They might even use the distraction to make off with the treasure."
Those last two sentences struck right at the core of He Chunhua's concerns. Playing the sacrificial pawn to benefit others was something he would never willingly do.
He immediately turned and signaled Zhao Qinghe: "Hold! Hold your fire!"
The artillery pieces on the gate had already ground into position with a creak, and the shells were loaded. Just as the fuses were about to be lit, his roar brought the operation to an abrupt halt.
Right then, the soul-snatching mirror suddenly alerted He Lingchuan that a shadow was flitting across the square not far away.
Under the cover of night and the shadows of buildings, it was trying to bypass the pack of beasts and sprint toward the gate tower.
He Lingchuan focused his gaze. *Wait, isn't that Zhou Ming, who slid down the rope and vanished into the thick fog outside the gate earlier?*
How had he appeared inside the city?
Zhou Ming crept closer with extreme caution, reluctantly exposing himself in the open twice. Zhao Qinghe and the others spotted him as well and cried out in alarm, "Zhou Ming? Quick, get up here!"
No sooner had the words left their mouths than several beasts caught sight of Zhou Ming. With a ferocious roar, seven or eight monsters lunged at him.
Zhou Ming could no longer bother with cover and broke into a full sprint toward the gate.
With nearly a hundred zhang separating the two sides, his comrades cheered him on, while He Chunhua ordered, "Go receive him, quickly!"
If they could question Zhou Ming about what had happened, they might uncover the mystery of the gate.
Yet before they could send anyone out, dozens of monsters burst from the streets and cut Zhou Ming off.
He dodged and weaved, executing every evasive maneuver he could muster, but the beasts were simply too numerous, and many among them were remarkably agile.
In the end, the Yuan men on the wall could only watch helplessly as he was swallowed by the beasts, their hearts sinking into despair.
Everyone had clung to the thought: *Worst comes to worst, we can just leap over the wall and flee.* But with Zhou Ming's sudden reappearance inside the city, they finally understood that leaping outside offered no escape either!
This was truly a trap where even wings could not save them. What were they to do?
He Chunhua's face turned ash-pale.
Who could possess the divine power to secretly transfer Zhou Ming, who had leaped down outside the gate, right back inside the city?
Most likely, it was the Dafang Pot itself.
Because Zhou Ming's appearance had drawn away the attention of most beasts, the pressure on the gate ramp eased considerably.
At that moment, two more figures darted out at the far end of the gate square, running toward the inner streets.
He Lingchuan recognized them at once—the other two personal guards who had leaped down from the gate earlier.
Presumably terrified by Zhou Ming's gruesome fate, they did not dare approach the gate tower under any circumstances, fleeing in the opposite direction instead.
Yet their movement immediately alerted the nearby monsters, which whirled around and gave chase.
He Chunhua collected himself and barked an order to his men: "Fall back into the walls, now!"
He was decisive in his command. Seeing that the monsters beneath the gate had thinned, he immediately abandoned the ramp and ordered everyone to withdraw into the wall gallery.
In truth, the thick stone walls were enough to protect the majority of them.
No one wished to bear the brunt of the front line; all were eager to pull back and save their own skins. He Chunhua's order was met with unanimous relief. Scrambling to safety, the men rushed into the wall and slammed the heavy doors shut.
Viewed from below, the top of the wall was now entirely deserted, without a soul in sight.
Of the two fleeing guards, one had already been caught and devoured. The other raced through the alleys, employing every trick he knew, and was about to leap down into a drainage ditch where the narrow space might keep the monsters from following.
Just as success seemed within his grasp, a blast of frigid qi streaked from an unknown source and struck him squarely.
Before he even hit the ground, his limbs stiffened. He tumbled twice across the flagstones.
Only then did a massive brute stroll over unhurriedly, scoop him up in its jaws, and swallow him whole!
Watching this monster from behind the wall slit, cold sweat instantly broke out across He Chunhua's back.
The creatures that had emerged earlier were bizarre in shape, but the largest stood no more than one and a half zhang tall. This behemoth, however, was easily over three zhang—the height of a two-story building when it stood erect. Its frame was as stocky as a bear's, but a pair of horns crowned its head.
The other beasts were terrified of it, not daring to come within ten zhang and following behind with their heads lowered.
Had the Blackwater City troops fired their cannons and catapults earlier, creating a deafening racket, this monster would almost certainly have charged straight for the gate.
His eldest son had indeed possessed true foresight.
No one wanted to provoke this colossus. The thought of their earlier plans to fire the artillery filled everyone with lingering dread.
"A leader," Qiu Hu whispered to He Lingchuan. "We've finally seen the leader of this pack."
He Lingchuan gave a low grunt of assent.
With so many frost monsters around, it would be strange if a few chieftains didn't emerge.
The soul-snatching mirror inside his coat asked, "Whoa, did you arrange this too?"
He shook his head.
Everything in the city tonight had exceeded his expectations. The Dafang Pot had truly prepared plenty of surprises for him—or rather, frights.
Where on earth had these frost beasts come from?
One thing was certain: the temple's pool-well had to connect directly to the Dafang Pot. That meant these frost monsters were coming out of the pot.
Which made it utterly bizarre.
He had no memory whatsoever of such abominations inhabiting the world inside the pot!
That beam of crimson light was like a disturbed hornets' nest of monsters.
*Wait, a monsters' nest?*
A strange thought crossed his mind. *Could it be... that these creatures truly aren't native to the Dafang Pot?*
Tonight's operation had been meant to be simple, but with the Dafang Pot stirring up such trouble, the complexity had skyrocketed.
Worst of all, his own life was now on the line.
This pot truly never gave him a moment's peace.
Having devoured its snack, the giant beast seemed unsatisfied. It surveyed its surroundings, sniffed downwind a few times, and began ambling step by step toward the city wall.
He Chunhua quickly issued a hushed command: "Retreat to the middle curtain wall and take cover! Do not move, and do not make a sound!"
The South Gate possessed two barbicans and three lines of walls. The men had all pulled back behind the partition wall of the first barbican, leaving the outermost layer to the monsters.
Barely had they concealed themselves when the behemoth arrived beneath the wall.
The inner wall stood considerably higher than the creature, forcing it to tilt its head back as it pressed close to a small aperture, sniffing intently.
With every breath, it exhaled fine ice crystals. Whatever its breath touched—be it the masonry or the passage within—instantly grew a thin layer of frost.
Had that breath struck a human body, it would have left the victim crippled at the very least.
It snuffled back and forth, appearing somewhat perplexed and reluctant to depart.
Just then, a thunderous explosion erupted from within the city—*BOOM!*
Some faction or other had unleashed a tremendous blast of lightning.
The giant monster snapped its head around at once and bounded toward the source of the sound.
The lesser beasts trailed behind in a massive, swelling tide.
Only then did He Chunhua exhale in relief.
This expedition was turning stranger and stranger by the moment.
Chapter 827