The next morning.
The heavy snow had stopped. The great demon Yu Zhi erected a command tent on the summit of Xishan. As the dawn broke, the demon commander emerged from the tent, gazing at the northern battlefield with a slight frown. "A bunch of trash. Is it this difficult to attack a position defended by four thousand men? How many casualties has the First Army suffered from yesterday until now?"
The commander of the army tent looked ashen and clasped his fist. "Your… your Excellency, over fifty thousand have perished…"
"How many enemies were killed or wounded?"
"Ah?!"
The army tent commander's face grew even more grim. "Those despicable humans are merely hiding within their fortifications, raining down attacks from their superior position. Our demon warriors have no chance to get close to them. Lord Yu Zhi, that stronghold is a meticulously constructed human encampment, protected by a forbidden barrier and a sword formation. Furthermore, the garrison within the city is truly formidable, their archery is extremely precise, and there are many human cultivators within the city, hundreds of sword cultivators alone!"
"Oh?"
Yu Zhi sneered. "Are you making excuses for your incompetence?"
"This subordinate dares not!"
This dignified eleven-realm great demon knelt directly. "Lord Yu Zhi, grant me another chance!"
"Hmph…"
Yu Zhi smiled faintly. "Lin Zhao's command ability is extraordinary, and indeed, he is not someone of your caliber that can be easily taken. How about this, relay my military order: dispatch thirty thousand snake-people archers from the Seventh Army tent, and ten thousand demon cultivators adept at offense from the Ninth Army tent to assist in the battle. In addition, send fifty thousand giant hammer siege troops from the Fifteenth Army tent to charge together. We must take this stronghold before noon today!"
"Yes… Yes, this subordinate will personally direct the command!"
…
In the morning, the demon offensive became even more ferocious. Ten thousand demon cultivators attacked the barrier with various arcane arts, causing the spirit stones that provided spiritual energy to the formation within the human encampment to burn out in less than half an hour. When the golden barrier disappeared, the demons dispatched thirty thousand snake-people archers. Instantly, the whistling sound of arrows rending the air was incessant, and human armored soldiers began to fall one after another on the city walls.
"Iron Foot Camp!"
Lin Zhao frowned and bellowed, "Heavy shield soldiers, advance to the edge of the city, block the enemy's arrows for the archers! Those dark-skinned demon archers, what is their origin?"
Beside him, Chen Yu frowned slightly. "They are snake-people archers. I encountered them once when Commander Chu and I marched north to repel the enemy. These snake-people are a branch of the demon race that is looked down upon by others, but snake-people have immense arm strength, exceeding all other demons. Therefore, the Demon Ancestor ordered them to be trained into a group of skilled snake-people archers. These snake-people archers are well-trained, their archery is extremely accurate, and their arm strength is extraordinary, capable of hitting targets hundreds of steps away."
"Is that so…"
Lin Zhao furrowed his brow. "Relay an order to Xu Zhi. Command the sword cultivators on the city walls to find their own targets and prioritize using flying swords to strike down those snake-people archers outside the city, so they don't have too comfortable a time shooting arrows."
"Understood, I will relay the order now!"
On the city walls, the sword cultivators began their work, and strands of sword energy were sent out with the wind. "Puff, puff, puff," they struck down snake-people archers one by one. However, the snake-people were numerous, densely packed together like small fish at the bottom of a pond when a pond is cleared in summer. The sword cultivators of Xueyu Tianchi were few, and it was impossible to kill them all.
"Siege troops, charge!"
Outside the city, the eleven-realm army tent commander personally supervised the battle, seated in a demon war chariot. He pointed his blade forward and bellowed, "We must break through the stronghold before noon!"
Instantly, behind him, countless demon giant hammer siege troops swarmed out. These were creatures covered in scales, mostly pangolins, each looking incredibly strong and powerful. Wielding heavy iron hammers, they ferociously charged towards the encampment.
"Archers, aim carefully."
On the city walls, Wang Jiang, the commander of the Fenwei Camp, frowned. "Aim at the faces of those armored troops and shoot them. Do not let them approach the city, otherwise, there will be great trouble!"
"Yes, sir!"
On the city walls, arrows rained down like a storm. By the time the giant hammer siege troops reached the foot of the city, they were usually covered in arrows. After raising their giant hammers to pound against the stone walls, they were shot down by arrows descending from the sky. Outside the city, the snake-people archers specifically aimed at the human armored soldiers who poked their bodies out of the city walls to shoot arrows. The battlefield quickly became white-hot.
…
At noon, Yu Zhi saw that it was unlikely to capture Lin Zhao's encampment in a short time. Thus, she issued an order to dispatch two more army tents, splitting forces to flank Lin Zhao's encampment from both sides, forming a pincer movement. By the afternoon, Lin Zhao's encampment was surrounded by hundreds of thousands of demon troops, three layers deep.
In the human command tent at Xueyu Tianchi.
Old Marshal Chen Wanli, Palace Marshal Shao Shiyu, Lü Fengxian, and others were present.
"Are we truly not going to rescue them?"
Qin Yushan, a thirteen-realm human great cultivator, frowned deeply. "Lin Zhao's four thousand armored soldiers, from last night until now, have killed or wounded over a hundred thousand demons. Now Yu Zhi has ordered flanking maneuvers to encircle Lin Zhao's encampment. If we don't rescue them, Lin Zhao's encampment will be in dire straits."
Shao Shiyu said, "There are a total of five of our encampments on both sides of Lin Zhao's encampment, and they are meant for mutual defense. We should save them. Elder Chen, what do you think…"
"No rescue."
Chen Wanli's palm trembled slightly as he unfolded a letter. "Half an hour ago, Lin Zhao sent a flying fish message in his capacity as the commander of the three armies. He forbids us from rescuing them, because although the demon army is surrounding his encampment, there are no signs of them penetrating deeper into the human positions. Therefore, Yu Zhi has not yet decided to commit all her forces to the south."
"Why?"
Shao Shiyu gritted her silver teeth. "Are we supposed to just watch Lin Zhao starve and eventually die? One Chu Huaixi is enough. A genius like Lin Zhao… why doesn't our Great Shang protect him?"
"We cannot protect him."
Lü Fengxian sighed. "Lin Zhao's ultimate plan is to trade his own life for the demons to engage. If we send full reinforcements now, the power of the Sky Furnace strategy will be revealed, and Yu Zhi will immediately retreat. Wouldn't Chu Huaixi have died in vain?"
Shao Shiyu's beautiful eyes were filled with complex emotions.
…
At dusk, the demon offensive intensified.
Within the encampment, the number of wounded human armored soldiers grew. Most were arrow wounds. Many were bandaged and returned to the city walls to fight. Others had severe wounds and could only be treated within the city. Under the fierce battle, Lin Zhao's four thousand armored soldiers began to suffer constant casualties. By dinnertime, fewer than three thousand were still able to fight.
Inside the city, cooking smoke rose. The Tianchi Army brought out the best food, stewing many pots of meat broth, along with pieces of white flour cakes, constantly sending them to the city walls. The armored soldiers whose arms were numb from shooting arrows sat under the battlements, eating cakes and drinking soup, no longer caring about anything else. Outside the city, the demon corpses were piled layer upon layer, reaching a thickness of three meters.
Night fell.
Lin Zhao still sat on the watchtower, surveying the battlefield. The demon offensive outside the city had not ceased. Yu Zhi had dispatched hundreds of thousands of troops to surround this small encampment, so the demons could rest. After tens of thousands of troops attacked for two hours, they would withdraw and be replaced by another batch of demon soldiers. However, the Tianchi Army within the city could not. Their numbers were already scarce, and there was no one to replace them. Many were exhausted to the point of collapse and were barely able to continue fighting.
"Commander Lin."
Behind him, three captains appeared: Xu Zhi, Luo Yang, and Mu Ya. They were Lin Zhao's true right-hand men. Xu Zhi stepped forward and respectfully said, "Many problems have arisen. Firstly, everyone's stamina is reaching its limit. From yesterday until now, no one has slept for a day and a night. Exhaustion is inevitable."
She paused and continued, "The second problem is that our arrows are almost depleted. After a day and night of shooting, the tens of thousands of arrows accumulated by Commander Chu in the encampment are almost gone. We now have only twenty thousand arrows left, which will not last long. Once we can no longer shoot arrows, the demon forces will gnaw away at the entire encampment like ants."
Mu Ya said, "Commander Lin, what should we do now?"
"Hoo…"
Lin Zhao looked down at the city, frowning. "On the wooden walls of the encampment, and on the demon corpses, are our arrows. Relay an order to Zhang Yanping to send the men from the Iron Foot Camp who are still full of energy out of the encampment to retrieve arrows. Bring shields, swords, and sabers. The demons outside the city will certainly not stand by and watch us retrieve arrows."
"Understood…"
Luo Yang gritted her teeth and said, "Commander Lin, is this all we can do?"
"Yes."
Lin Zhao looked down at the battlefield and said slowly, "Defeat and death are only a matter of time for us. The demons are just waiting for me to die. Perhaps Yu Zhi is waiting for my head to be presented. My head might just be the pretext for the demons to break through and launch a full-scale attack."
He turned around and smiled at the three of them. "It's alright, everyone. Even if we die in battle, haven't we killed so many demons? We are not at a loss. When we meet Commander Chu on the other side, we can still stand tall and have a clear conscience."
"Mm!"
Xu Zhi and Luo Yang smiled and nodded.
Mu Ya chuckled, "It's just too stifling to keep defending like this."
"Don't worry."
Lin Zhao said calmly, "In the end, I will let everyone die with exhilaration."
"Good!"
Mu Ya clasped his fist and laughed. "Then this subordinate will await that moment. Not being able to shatter a demon's body with a single punch is not satisfying!"
Xu Zhi and Luo Yang smiled and said nothing.
…
In the dead of night.
The Iron Foot Camp lowered soldiers down the encampment using ropes. These soldiers constantly retrieved arrows from the wooden walls and corpses. For every hundred arrows gathered, they were bundled with cloth strips and sent up by ropes. In a short while, bundles of bloody arrows were piled on the city walls. The distant demons had just ceased a fierce assault and were rotating their troops.
"They are retrieving arrows!"
From afar, a demon general roared, "Use demon smoke bombs to illuminate them! Snake-people archers, prepare to shoot!"
Instantly, red projectiles flew from the forest, bursting "peng peng peng" in front of the encampment. Flames spread everywhere, illuminating the figures of the armored soldiers leaving the city to retrieve arrows.
"Stop retrieving arrows!"
Lin Zhao suddenly stood up and roared with his true qi. "Shield defense in place, quickly!"