All Heavenly destiny reduced to ashes
Chapter 512 - 126: Close-quarters Combat (1/3)

Chapter 512: Chapter 126: Close-quarters Combat (1/3)

Yujiang’s Iron Cavalry advanced, disregarding all terrain and barriers between heaven and earth, whether it be rivers or mountains, whether accumulated ice or snowy forests, even mountains could not stop their pace.

On the march, aside from the uniformly thunderous footsteps that shook heaven and earth, no other sound was present, not even the neighing of the horses existed; there was only the surging tide of Fiendish Qi and the booming of induced landmines.

Surrounded by fierce flames and thunder, they moved forward. This army’s direction of advance was not Linjiang City, but Broken Blade Mountain.

What truly obstructed them, and could obstruct them, was not any feeble, powerless natural terrain that could only stop ordinary people but was rather the similarly silent Da Chen Martial Army that had already deployed its military formation by the side of Broken Blade Mountain.

The two armies faced each other ten miles apart, an archer at the forefront of the Iron Cavalry drew his longbow to the fullest, his arrow shot like lightning and vanished in a flash, and as it approached Da Chen Martial Army’s battle formation, it disintegrated and shattered, finally turning into ashes about thirty paces in front of the military formation.

It wasn’t a Xuan Iron Arrowhead; without the attachment of Art of Magic, ordinary weapons would be shattered by the Fiendish Qi once they neared the Martial Army’s military formation, and to destroy the military formation, one could only collide it with another military formation.

"The numbers are not right."

Hang Mofeng was positioned at the center of the martial formation; standing on a hill, this Da Chen General, flanked by a full troop of Golden Armored Guards forming a triple-layered magical shield, had an eye as sharp as arrows and quickly perceived something was amiss, "There’s only one Iron Cavalry in the frontal battlefield, there are two more."

Although there must be one Iron Cavalry waiting on one side for a surprise attack, there must be another hidden... Is it going to attack Linjiang City? Impossible, that place has so many defense mechanisms, it would take at least seven or eight days of grinding to breach it, and it’s not certain they could capture it.

Could it be they’re planning to encircle from behind for a pocket formation? Ha, if so, let them encircle.

"The vanguard, advance." A real commander dares to make judgments, Hang Mofeng ordered, "Let’s see what these Northern Border barbarians are made of."

The great army formation moved forward.

The vanguard’s Cang Armor Guards wore white Mysterious Iron Armor, wielding shields and hatchets in one hand, a long sword at the left waist and a crossbow at the right; the rear ranks of the Martial Army held Magic Soldier Spears like an iron forest, and the sky was covered with howling volleys of arrows. Even if Xuan Iron Arrowheads broke through the barrier of Evil Qi, hitting their unified form of Magic Soldier Armor would only leave minor marks.

But hidden in the rain of arrows were heavy crossbows and even ballistas shooting giant bolts. The Iron Cavalry, true to its name, essentially relied on the speed of the Demon Blood Warhorses and the physical fitness of Martial Artists for rapid formation and equipment transportation – a fast, heavy-duty unit. If An Jing were here, he would definitely exclaim ’Blitzkrieg’; the Iron Li people’s Iron Cavalry was essentially mechanized troops from a former life.

Cang Armor Guards hit by gigantic crossbow bolts were blown away; their Armor could save their lives, but their weight could not withstand such a massive impact, and being hit by an attack of this caliber, one would not die but would lose the ability to fight.

The attack from these massive bolts was not aimed at killing the enemy soldiers but at destroying key nodes of the martial formation.

However, Hang Mofeng quickly adjusted the formation; the Martial Army’s movement slowed down, but the sharp Gold Fiend and Weapon Fiend began to swirl like a vortex. The rain of arrows was diverted as if they were fish in the tide, and even the ballista’s giant bolts could not accurately hit the soldiers in the battle formation.

At the same time, on the side of the battle formation, over a dozen Cang Armor Guards stepped out, holding javelins; the white and gold patterns on their armor rippled layer upon layer. The power of the martial formation was concentrated on them through the adjustment of the commanding General.

With a flashing cold light, the Thunder Light-imbued javelins brutally tore through the air along the way, the rushing air waves even became shockwaves, blowing away the snowflakes in the sky, tearing open a vacuum corridor, and in a blink of an eye, three ballistas were destroyed. Although Han Hao managed to preserve the other ballistas with Fiendish Qi, two unlucky souls were pierced through, becoming the first casualties of this battle.

"This Martial Army is different from the other armies of the Northern Border... They really are the elite from Han South."

Han Hao was not surprised by this; it was just a test. The enemy’s bold advance indicated that their commander was extremely confident, and the rapid ability to change and counter-attack demonstrated his strong control and considerable experience, surpassing Han Hao’s own capabilities.

However, if it came down to a head-on confrontation, this would certainly be a thorny battle. But before the clash of martial formations, he had a real mission to complete.

On the other side of the mountain range, another segment of Iron Cavalry was maneuvering heavy iron vehicles towards the Broken Blade Mountain Forest, seemingly war chariots refurbished, with their rears transformed into giant ’storage tanks’.

But those were not water tanks; they contained flammable oil. As the soldiers adeptly manipulated them, rows of mounted rapid-fire crossbow arrows were deployed atop the iron vehicles, and burning arrows soaked in oil were shot out at an incredible speed in all directions, like a fire octopus wildly flinging its tentacles, igniting everything around it.

Flames quickly spread through the forest, steam rising and melting the frost as it billowed into the sky, and those white vapors were lit up by the fire and turned into crimson fire clouds, coloring half the sky red.

"Two-front battle? Scorched mountain?"

From a distance, Hang Mofeng saw this spectacle and felt a sinking feeling, "They’re trying to burn a path through—Is Broken Blade Peak their real target?"

An Jing and Virtuous King had vaguely mentioned to him that the most critical part of Broken Blade Mountain was the Spirit Land around Broken Blade Peak. That’s why they instructed him not to stay near Linjiang City but to guard this gateway leading to the Spirit Land. Hang Mofeng originally didn’t quite understand the importance of the Spirit Land, entirely frozen during the Frost Calamity, but he now realized the enemy’s true objective based on their willingness to appear weak at the front, burning a path through the dense forest.

But entering Broken Blade Mountain wouldn’t be easy.

As the fire grew, billowing clouds of steam condensed into thick clouds in the sky. The Iron Cavalry hadn’t noticed that some of these clouds weren’t natural formations. As roots and vines spread throughout the groves, controlling the mist to form clouds and intersecting into thunder, a deep blue Thunder Light struck from the sky, blasting an iron vehicle responsible for spreading the fire and a downpour of ice followed, extinguishing the blazing flames.

The entity of Weng Cuiyu was located in the Spirit Land of Broken Blade Peak, but its control over the Broken Blade Mountain Groves was increasing.

Situated at the heart of the Spirit Land, it could perceive numerous Iron Li Scout teams swiftly searching for Earth Pulse Nodes in the groves. The flammable iron vehicles aimed at these nodes, and despite not fearing landmines, as they rolled over the ground, many landmines exploded but merely caused them to pause briefly.

It seems that these were the preparations the Iron Li people had been working on recently, and they were keenly aware of the terrain of Broken Blade Mountain, with each step seeming to trigger something.

"After all, it was originally their sacred land... Wait, do they intend to directly cut off the Earth Veins to release the underground Source of Demon Energy?"

Once Weng Cuiyu grasped this point, it understood why An Jing was willing to offer so many resources to strengthen its power. Broken Blade Mountain was vast, with the enemy’s mobility being extremely strong. A frontal battle didn’t matter; if overwhelmed, they could simply take a detour.

Without it, the Tree Sea Spirit to block them, the Iron Cavalry could easily bypass the Martial Army, attack the Earth Pulse Nodes from several different directions, trigger the landmines, then suppress the nodes to achieve their goal.

But now, with it present, the Iron Li people’s plans were doomed to failure.

Rain and thunderstorms accurately struck, demolishing one iron vehicle after another. Flesh mixed with iron shards flew through the air, and wails filled the moment. Weng Cuiyu originally worried that its power would be insufficient in winter, but the fire had inadvertently helped it to form rainclouds and call down thunder.

Contrary to everyone’s expectations, the first Divine Skill that a tree spirit masters is definitely not the Wood Element, but rather ’water’ and ’earth,’ and some would even master ’fire.’ Since they live long lives, nearly immortal, they don’t seek rapid strength but rather abilities that can aid their life’s growth.

The flank was blocked, and on the front lines, Hang Mofeng’s controlled Martial Guards had already begun a bloody melee with the main force of the Iron Cavalry.