Chapter 316: s.h.i.+ba
The night sky was lit up by the stars. The Heavenly Icy City was lit up by the night resplendent night sky.
Knitting his eyebrows, Xuanyuan muttered to himself. “The Northern Army, huh?” The soldiers were all equipped with s.h.i.+ny, powerful armour, and each of them had a gleaming sword that gave off a murderous energy. The warriors were all carefully selected, each of them having experienced hundreds of battles. They were at least at the peak of the emperor realm, and they seemed to number as many as the stars in the sky.
“The Northern Army is directly under the control of the eldest prince, Chengyin. They are extremely powerful. It’s one of the trump cards of the Northern Dynasty. The army has seven xian realm commanders, each of them terrifying.” Chief s.h.i.+ hurriedly informed Xuanyuan.
Xuanyuan thought to himself, “Hmm, he clearly treasures this army. If it’s destroyed, surely he will be distressed. You dared to use the Heart-Devouring Bug as a bait, and then proceeded to hurt s.h.i.+guan? While she may have forgiven you, don’t think for one second that I have.”
Even though he was furious, Xuanyuan wouldn’t look down on the army. It was said that from the claw, one could know the lion. (Editor’s note: This refers to the Pythagorean experiment of proportionality. For more information, google ‘ex pede herculem’) It was impressive that Chengyin had managed to bring up an entire army of the size and strength at such a young age. Xuanyuan was of a similar age, and his own force, Xuanyuan Hall, was still in its beginning stages.
Although, it had to be noted that Xuanyuan had gotten thus far on his own merit. He had started from the bottom, and clawed his way up to his current strength. Chengyin was born with a golden spoon, his starting location was miles ahead of Xuanyuan. While Xuanyuan was still struggling to survive in the world, Chengyin was already able to establish his own forces.
The arrival of the Northern Army made the soldiers in the Heavenly Icy City exclaim. Seven strong auras were released from the direction of the Northern Army, as if to announce their arrival to the world. Xuanyuan frowned, he knew that the auras must belong to the commanders. While he wanted to wipe out the army, he didn’t act rashly.
The army consisted of seven corps, each of them in line with one of the seven Northern stars. Within each corps, soldiers were arranged into squads of seven, each guarding the other, forming an impenetrable defense. This was no simple army, it was a highly efficient killing machine.
Xuanyuan carefully calculated the strength of the army. It appeared that the army only had seven thousand people.
The seven Northern Army commanders, all xian cla.s.s fighters, stood at the heads of the corps, aligning themselves directly with the position of the Northern Seven Stars. One of them spoke up loudly.
“Listen up, soldiers of the Heavenly Icy City. You are to help our army in battle. Deserters will be beheaded.”
“UNDERSTOOD.” The entire army stationed in Heavenly Icy City shouted in unison. The disposition surrounding the city, which had been in defensive mode thus far, immediately switched to attack.
The dispositions in the Heavenly Icy City broke out in an endless brilliance. An icy Qi sword cut through the air, killing several Mo warriors who were attacking.
Starlight fell down like swords, splitting Mo warriors in half all over the place. The arrival of the Northern Army had completely turned the tides.
The Mo army had a tendency to fall apart when faced with surprises. Just then, a handsome man of the Mo clan stood out. His purple hair flew in the wind, and his body was wreathed in murderous Qi, wreathed by a blood fog. He held a Thunder Gun, which had beams of black lightning woven into grids. The lightning arced all around the man, daunting anyone who wanted to approach him.
He was mounted atop a black Kirin beast. Although it was not a real Kirin, it had inherited a large part of the blood of the black Kirin. It was able to compete with the ordinary xian cla.s.s beasts. Snorting out black flames, the beast’s body was extremely hot, and filled with strong Qi.
The man seated atop the beast was none other than the eldest prince of the Mo clan, s.h.i.+ Ba.
“Hmph. It’s said that the Northern Army is the trump card of the Northern Dynasty, raised by Chengyin. Today, I shall test exactly how strong they are.”
s.h.i.+ Ba’s face was cold and bloodthirsty. His expression was ruthless, as he channeled the power of the Thunder Gun. He moved towards the Northern Army on his black Kirin beast. The heavens and the earth trembled with his every step, as the black Kirin beast began to spit out balck flames towards the Northern Army. The flame immediately swallowed the army whole.
The Northern Army was engulfed by endless darkness in an instant. Around a hundred warriors of the Northern Army were reduced to ash as soon as the black lightning that s.h.i.+ Ba had released enveloped them. Not even the slightest trace of their bodies remained. The black flames also turned another hundred warriors to ash.
Seeing this, the momentum of the Mo army surged. Countless talismans burst out from the Mo warriors’ bodies, shaking the earth itself. The Mo warriors were like incarnations of death, using their own lives to perform kamikaze attacks. While the Northern Army had an upper hand due to this, they also suffered heavy losses.
Xuanyuan looked at the man and asked Chief s.h.i.+, “Who is that man?”
“That is s.h.i.+guan’s eldest brother, s.h.i.+ Ba. His character is the exact opposite of s.h.i.+guan. He is a man of both intelligence and courage, and he is ruthless in his actions. Unexpectedly, he has come here to a.s.sault the Heavenly Icy City in person. It appears that he wants to eliminate the entire firepower of the Northern Dynasty before s.h.i.+ Fu officially ends the war. Prior to this, he had destroyed thirteen cities. He is a very terrifying person.” Chief s.h.i.+ looked scared, since everyone knew that s.h.i.+ Ba was a ruthless maniac.
The commanders of the Northern Army shouted, “s.h.i.+ Ba! You won’t escape this time. They united into a Northern Seven Star formation and instantly surrounded s.h.i.+ Ba. Stars s.h.i.+ned on their bodies, and they were in complete sync.
s.h.i.+ Ba allowed them to surround him. Proudly standing, he shook his Thunder Gun. Suddenly, a terrifying black lightning burst out of his body. Surprised, Chief s.h.i.+ exclaimed, “That’s the Falling Thunder, which ranks tenth in the list of fighting thunders. Looks like the rumours were true.”
Xuanyuan sharply inhaled. He knew that all of the top ten fighting elements were terrifying.
Thunder rushed out endlessly and shot indiscriminately, causing the starlight to tremble violently. Several of the stars were destroyed. The commanders immediately changed their expressions, as one of them shouted, “The Seven Stars Tortoise Troops. Dominate over all techniques in the world.”
From their battle robes, the seven interwoven stars swirled, connecting them to the Northern Seven Stars. Starlight acc.u.mulated, forming a star tripod. The seven commanders immediately trapped s.h.i.+ Ba using all their power.
s.h.i.+ Ba’s expression was unchanged. He was clearly unconcerned about whatever they were doing. His Thunder Gun continued to rain attacks, slowly chipping away at the star tripod. One of the commanders shouted, “Star Swords Kill Mo! Destroy!”
The seven commanders all interwove their top rank heavenly weapons into a sword net. It emanated a strong sword Qi as it fell onto s.h.i.+ Ba.
The Falling Thunder infused itself into the Mo armour on s.h.i.+ Ba’s body, weaving a strong, black thunder s.h.i.+eld. Even he found it tough to defend against seven strong enemies.
“I’d like to see how long you can hold on for, s.h.i.+ Ba.” The chief commander of the Northern Army laughed
The sword net constantly attacked the black thunder s.h.i.+eld, which slowly began to crack under the pressure.
Apart from the seven commanders, the rest of the army had joined the battlefield. They formed platoons and systematically annihilated sections of the Mo army, making them fall back.
Chengyin was able to gather information even when he was imprisoned within the surveillance department. He had meant to deploy the forces earlier, but he had miscalculated the timing, which allowed s.h.i.+guan to appear and defuse the situation. He wanted to capitalise on the small opportunity remaining, and crush the remaining troops to prove his worth.
“Hmph, is this all the so-called Northern Army can do? You can’t kill me with that pathetic power.” Thunder Qi rolled off s.h.i.+ Ba’s body as black clouds formed in the sky. The power contained within the clouds was terrifying, further accentuated by his Falling Thunder. The terrifying power even frightened those far away from the fight.
As s.h.i.+ Ba was about to unleash his attack, a clear gentle voice rang out.
“Gentlemen, let’s call a truce now.”
“It’s the princess!” Some of the stronger warriors of the Mo army exclaimed. Seeing her, the warriors of the Mo army stopped fighting, followed by the humans.
Suddenly, the voice of the commander thundered, destroying the slight peace that had formed.
“Order of the eldest Prince of the Northern Dynasty. The one who captured s.h.i.+guan alive will receive one million pounds of pure energy source, and be appointed as a minister.”
Hearing this, the human army was once again frenzied, seeking s.h.i.+guan’s blood.
” Kill them all, and capture s.h.i.+guan!”
The Mo army could no longer hold back upon hearing the threat to their princess. Roaring like animals, they rushed savagely towards their enemies.