Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 367 - Two Hundred Fifty-Seven: Recapture Hou Ting

Chapter 367: Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Seven: Recapture Hou Ting

"Commander Yuan."

A deep voice pulled Yuan Hao back from his fantasies of killing.

Suppressing the impatience in his heart, Yuan Hao turned to look at the newcomer and smiled,

"General Zhou, are you prepared?"

Houting County was the first line of defense established by Dayan to prevent the Barbarian Tribes from descending southward, and it had been managed for a long time.

It consisted of three main fortresses centering on Houting County and twelve permanent fortified camps, forming mutual support and stretching hundreds of miles from east to west.

After taking over the Mixed Iron Cavalry that had come to reinforce from the south and having a brief respite, he and several Commanders urgently allocated siege tasks.

They had to capture the entire defensive line before Zong Qingsheng’s Central Army arrived and be ready to face any offensive from the south at any moment.

General Zhou pondered for a moment, then said in a low voice,

"We’re ready, but I went to check the snow accumulation near Houting County. It’s quite deep, which might not be very conducive to a major assault on the city."

"Snow accumulation?"

Yuan Hao murmured, glancing at the border city in the distance through the wind and snow.

If the snow covers the ankles, it’s considered heavy; if it’s as high as a person, it’s extreme.

But in the Northern Frontier, the snowstorms that have endured for months have nearly buried the century-old coniferous forests in the wilderness.

In the plains, snow accumulation is normally seven to eight zhang deep, and five to six zhang is considered shallow by comparison. In some cases, the snow even fills the low-lying gorges almost completely.

Heavy cavalry, together with their mounts and heavy armor, can weigh several tons, making it impossible to charge at speed across such snowy terrain.

This Iron Cavalry was able to traverse a thousand miles southward in half a month solely because high-ranking Cultivators accompanying the army worked tirelessly day and night, taking turns using their profound cultivation to clear the snow on the ground and forge a path through the sea of snow for the tens of thousands of heavy cavalry behind them.

After pondering for a short while, Yuan Hao smiled softly and said,

"It doesn’t matter."

Seeing his reaction, General Zhou hesitated,

"Commander Yuan, are you sure you want to attack Hou Ting with just one battalion?"

Yuan Hao heard this and shook his head with a smile,

"General Zhou, I’ve said before, the fortresses in the area near Houting County are virtually empty. A single battalion is more than enough."

"An empty city..."

General Zhou frowned upon hearing this, wanting to ask about the source of the information but restrained himself.

They had always been near Dali Mountain, unaware of much information, whereas Yuan Hao, who had been parachuted in, probably knew some intel they did not.

After a moment of silence,

General Zhou sighed and cupped his hands in respect,

"Since Commander Yuan you have made your calculations, Zhou will not say more. May your military fortunes be prosperous."

Yuan Hao’s grin broadened,

"Then I shall take General Zhou’s good words."

He paused,

then Yuan Hao reiterated,

"Also, don’t forget, General Zhou, to immediately set off the Cloud Qi Bomb after I ascend the city walls. This is Lady Lou Ji’s wish."

Having said that,

Yuan Hao did not bother with the confusion evident in General Zhou’s eyes, his figure leapt and vanished into the snow.

...

...

...

In the Houting County yamen, a separate courtyard.

"Creak—"

With the fine sound of the wooden door of the chamber opening, a handsome man wearing a loosely fitted robe walked lazily from the chamber into the courtyard.

While walking, he lazily lifted his eyes to glance at the still dim sky.

As an Integration Body, he didn’t need to sleep, but not sleeping would be too dull.

Because he was under house arrest.

After being harshly exploited by that kid Xu Changtian and coming to the outskirts of Houting County to save his life, he was personally welcomed into the city by the local commanding general and was immediately put under "protective" house arrest in this separate courtyard.

Thinking of this,

Li Yunqing had already walked into the dilapidated pavilion in the courtyard, brushing off the snow while sighing.

Actually, house arrest wasn’t much of an issue; he had already prepared himself for the possibility of being house-arrested, but these Sects were utterly inconsiderate—the house arrest didn’t even come with any form of entertainment.

Forget about having a servant to keep him company, there wasn’t even a book to pass the time with.

Apart from sleeping, his only pastime was to sit idly in the courtyard, admiring the snow and letting his thoughts wander.

As for cultivation?

Cultivation was out of the question.

If he continued to cultivate, he might inadvertently break through to the Third Grade Great Grandmaster, and his elder brother would probably have something to say about that.

To avoid conflict with his brother, he decided it was best not to undertake such unnecessary tests.

Taking out half a jug of monkey wine from the Sumeru Ring, which he hadn’t finished the day before, Li Yunqing began another dull day of snow appreciation.

Unfortunately, under the thick clouds laden with snow, the daylight was almost indistinguishable from night.

Without using his cultivation technique, he could only see a blur of something dark and heavy drifting downwards, but if he did use it, he might attract attention from the elite guards of the Sects stationed outside.

Under someone else’s roof and to avoid suspicion that he was planning something and then going missing, Li Yunqing ultimately chose to endure it.

If it looked ugly, then let it be ugly; black snow was still snow, and he made do with admiring it.

To live is not to be pitied.

As glasses of fine wine kept going down his throat, Li Yunqing was just starting to feel a bit tipsy when he suddenly heard a series of noises coming from outside the courtyard.

Even though he wasn’t using his cultivation technique, the physical prowess of a Fourth Grade Integration Body was still quite extraordinary.

At first, the noises were faint, and Li Yunqing wondered if he had misheard, because those serving as guards in the county government were essentially elite troops from the Sects.

Though they might not remain completely unchanged in the face of great upheaval, these battle-hardened veterans could at least maintain basic discipline during peaceful times.

However, it didn’t take long for Li Yunqing to dismiss that thought, as the noises rapidly spread.

The inside of the county government seemed to descend into chaos, he even heard the whinnies and hoofbeats of frantic horses.

Were people riding horses in the county grounds?

Were they fleeing?

After a brief silence,

Li Yunqing carefully placed his cup on the stone table and was about to rise to see what was happening outside.

In the next instant,

a sudden glow burst into the sky, forming a sphere of light roughly several dozen feet in size above the northern sky of Houting County.

The moment he saw that sphere of light, Li Yunqing’s pupils constricted.

He had seen such a sphere of light once before.

Cloud Qi Bomb...

While he pondered, the surface of the sphere in the sky started to crack layer by layer.

Light scattered through the fissures, so dazzling it could nearly blind someone’s sight.

And in the instant when the sphere completely shattered, a wave of invisible shock spread out in an instant, leaving a vast emptiness hundreds of feet wide among the pitch-black clouds!

While the clouds roiled majestically, the shock didn’t continue to spread but instead, sucked back in upon reaching a critical point, forming a circular high-pressure zone about half a meter wide on the heavy snowy clouds.

At that moment, the strange phenomena in the sky seemed as if they were put on pause.

Everything suddenly became eerily silent.

In the next instant,

a ferocious gale spread out from the center of high pressure!

The wind pressure swept across, ruthlessly dispersing the snow clouds that stretched for thousands of miles.

After one breath,

a ray of splendid noontime sunlight fell upon the ground.

Two breaths later,

the wind pressure rolled over the deep snow on the ground, bending tree trunks nearly to the point of breaking.

Three breaths later,

the sky was clear, the snow clouds completely scattered.

Watching the scene unfold before him,

Li Yunqing realized something, narrowed his eyes slightly, let out a sigh, and sat back down on the stone stool:

"A final ultimatum to the Barbarian King and the Sects, huh? Quite the show they’ve put on, tsk..."