Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 373 - 261 Receiving the Wounded Soldiers

Chapter 373: Chapter 261 Receiving the Wounded Soldiers

The blizzard dissipated under the power of the Cloud Qi Bomb.

The earth saw the light of day once again, the sky a vast expanse of azure, warm sunlight spilling onto the outside of Northern Border City, just as in the ancient times.

The brown earth bore ice-bound blood and frozen bones, testimony to the recent war and deaths here.

After the snow clouds vanished, there was a brief moment of warmth, causing the blood ice on the ground to start melting, seeping into the soil as nutrients.

Next year, the flowers and plants here should be exceptionally lush and beautiful.

But most people here won’t see next year, because the war is far from over,

The huge Northern Border City, with its northern wall collapsed, has now become a giant mill of flesh and blood, incessantly devouring the lives of the living.

The barbarian tribes’ momentum was like a rainbow, and the thirty thousand border soldiers from the sects were making a last stand.

But the barbarian offense came wave after wave, endless as the tides.

As a foot soldier with no background, Li Zixiang had been stationed in the Northern Frontier for five years after coming from the martial hall under Spiritual Water Palace.

Compared to those veteran soldiers who had spent over a decade or even decades here, his five years weren’t long, but he had just happened to arrive during the great timing of the barbarian invasion from the south.

War was dangerous, but it also presented opportunities.

When he first saw those tall, burly barbarians with fierce features on the battlefield, Li Zixiang did feel an inherent fear, but later on, he found his fear to be somewhat laughable.

These barbarians were all bark and no bite, the sort that Dayan’s border soldiers could easily shatter upon contact.

What a bunch of fools.

They can’t win, yet they insist on invading Dayan from the South; what are they if not fools?

Every time he went into battle, he would gain quite a few military merits from these dark-skinned, simple-minded fellows.

They provided him, a man with no background or family heritage, a chance to distinguish himself.

In just five years, he had gone from a lowly foot soldier to a current commander.

He was not a high-ranking officer in the military, but he had a following of about fifty brothers under his command.

With his monthly salary, in addition to ensuring enough for his cultivation, he could also visit his old flame in the Hook Bar and had even made plans to buy her freedom once he saved enough money, to have her bear him a big, fat son.

But at this moment, all these thoughts turned into bubbles.

The day before yesterday, in the fourth hour of the night, those generals who had been making them stand their ground and wait for reinforcements suddenly gave orders for them to cook and prepare to break camp immediately.

Although confused, he followed orders, because those generals must have thought of far more than what a simple soldier like him could fathom.

And just as he expected,

As dawn broke,

Those high and mighty generals once again used their fantastical spellcraft to "open the eyes of the heavens" and dispel all the cursed snow clouds above.

The barbarians encircling their encampment were now directly exposed within their line of sight.

Very close.

About ten miles away to the east of their encampment.

Li Zixiang thought this would be a fierce battle and even felt a bit excited about it.

After all, these barbarians were military merit, and with more merit, he might be able to get promoted to camp commander next year.

For someone who had sold his labor on the docks, this was something he dared not even contemplate.

But ideals and reality always had a gap.

The orders from the generals were not to prepare to meet the enemy but to avoid the mass of the barbarian army and form formations while retreating toward Northern Border City.

This left Li Zixiang feeling disappointed since on a clear day like this, the barbarians would be committing suicide if they chose to confront their Army of three hundred thousand head-on.

However, every loss comes with a gain, and soon the orders from the generals stirred Li Zixiang into excitement again.

Being a border soldier from the Spiritual Water Palace, Li Zixiang was to lead the vanguard into the city.

The barbarians would surely have left some forces in Northern Border City, so if he was able to seize the city walls, that would be a huge merit.

Unfortunately,

Right from the start, it seemed as if the script for the battle had begun to spiral out of control.

Innumerable barbarian siege engines hurled stones down on the marching route of their vanguard, but this did not pose a problem for the already formed Army.

The soldiers harmonized, and their vital energy washed over like a tidal wave, turning all those incoming objects into dust.

And the barbarians were now fearless in their attack.

In the clear weather, they dared to mount a massive pursuit of the Army while they broke camp.

Countless barbarian Wolf Cavalry charged into the ranks like moths to a flame, striking deep into the awaiting rearguard.

War, was about to erupt.

Li Zixiang thought the generals would order them to change formations immediately.

The vanguard would become the rearguard, deploy the troops, and face these ignorant barbarians head-on with a ferocious counterattack.

But the generals chose to fight and retreat, ordering their vanguard to take Northern Border City’s walls as quickly as possible.

Orders are like mountains, and although he did not understand, Li Zixiang had no choice but to comply.

After several hours of fierce fighting, they had successfully routed the small number of barbarian troops atop the city walls and captured the northern wall.

Thirty thousand elite vanguard troops entered the city to sweep the remaining barbarian forces, one hundred thousand Central Army troops swiftly cleared the city walls, and the quartermasters quickly set up simple defenses on top of the walls, readying to support the rearguard entering the city.

As time passed,

As the vanguard of the vanguard, Li Zixiang had turned bloodthirsty within the city, watching his comrades fall one by one by his side.

The blade in his hand had become notched from the hard black hide of the barbarians, so he simply picked up the swords of fallen comrades from the ground.

Under the vital energy boost from the formation, even with just Sixth Grade cultivation, each of his strikes was unstoppable even for a Grade Fifth Soul Condensation.

With each cut, Li Zixiang could no longer recall how many barbarians he had killed, but the black blood had already dyed his armor utterly dark.

And just as their vanguard unit was about to reach the South City wall and fully reclaim Northern Border City, a rumble like the earth-dragon turning over exploded behind them.

Time seemed to stand still at this moment.

The earth-shaking roar made the entire ground of Northern Border City tremble, and nearly everyone turned back to look in the direction of the sound.

In the astonished gazes of all the border soldiers,

the Northern Border Wall that had stood in front of the Barbarian Tribes for a thousand years...collapsed.

Mountains crumbled, stones flew, and the dust raised by the collapsing walls enveloped half of Northern Border City.

What instilled fear in all the low-ranking officers was that their connection with the commander through the small military formations had also been severed at this moment.

The morale of the army, which had been like a rainbow, began to waver now.

The collapsing wall had trapped the more than a hundred thousand troops ready to enter the city outside, and the disconnection of the commander led the super-large military formation of three hundred thousand border soldiers into individual combat.

The previously orderly battle became chaotic, and the balance of the war began to tip at this moment.

An hour later, Li Zixiang successfully climbed up the South City wall and looked back at the city.

Under the clear sky, the vast Northern Border City was shrouded in gunpowder smoke.

The screams of comrades could faintly be heard on the South City wall as well.

It was a rout...

"Li head..."

"Li head."

"Li head!"

A call from beside him startled Li Zixiang back to reality, and he looked around instinctively.

The surroundings were no longer the immense Northern Border City but a boundless snowy wilderness, with heavy snow from the sky almost completely obscuring their vision. About a dozen soldiers wrapped in coats were sitting quietly around, resting, while a young man wearing the plain armor of the border army stood next to the tree where he was seated.

Glancing up at the newcomer, Li Zixiang managed a weak smile:

"Li Xia, what’s up?"

The visitor was a young man of about twenty, who had just graduated from the military academy and arrived at the Northern Frontier this year.

Li Xia pulled his fur coat tighter and said softly:

"Li head, General Hou just sent a message saying we’re about to reach Houting County and asked us to prepare to break camp and move out."

Li Zixiang fell silent for a moment, then looked back at the demoralized soldiers around him and asked, "Have we... finally shaken off those barbarian Wolf Cavalry harassing us?"

Li Xia’s youthful face revealed a hint of a smile: "Yes, General Hou said that Marquis Wucheng’s reinforcements have already reached the Houting County area, and it is highly unlikely that the Barbarians will dare to chase us deeply."

Hearing this, Li Zixiang’s heart lightened a bit, and with a slight curl of his lips, he smiled sincerely:

"That’s good... that’s really good..."

Ever since the great defeat at Northern Border to this day, four days had passed. The armies had broken through in all directions, with the barbarian tribes relentlessly pursuing them from behind.

At first, the clear weather allowed them to fight and retreat, but that only lasted for two days before a blizzard struck again. This small force of less than twenty thousand survivors was targeted by a pack of the barbarians’ snow plain Wolf Cavalry.

Two days of pursuit had left thousands of their brothers’ bodies scattered across the snowfield.

Of the fifty brothers under his command, only about a dozen remained now.

But thankfully, they had reached Houting County, and they were finally safe...

The entire army’s morale, previously low, finally warmed a bit upon hearing the news of nearing Houting, and hope returned to the vacant eyes of the lower-ranking soldiers.

Food, weaponry, and security could all be assured there.

With this belief, after marching urgently for two hours, their small band of survivors finally arrived at the base of Houting County.

But the situation upon arrival was somewhat different from what Li Zixiang had imagined.

There was no hot water, no hot food, and no warm rooms here; even the tall and thick gates of Houting County did not show the slightest intention of opening.

Li Zixiang instinctively thought that the guards had mistaken them for barbarians and quickly moved to the front of the column.

He saw General Hou and the young female general from the other military sections standing beneath the city wall.

The two of them were looking up, seemingly talking to someone above the wall, but it seemed they were using voice transmission spells, and Li Zixiang could not hear their conversation.

In contrast,

two figures clad in red stood atop the walls of Houting, their indifferent gazes looking down upon their desperate band of survivors.

As minutes passed by, the city gates showed no sign of opening, and even some soldiers with higher cultivation saw through the snow that the defensive implements on top of the wall were already quietly aimed at them.

It was at this time,

a smooth and jade-like male voice, enhanced by Origin Qi, reached the ears of every soldier below the wall:

"General Hou, General Luo, if you agree to this condition, we will immediately open the gates and welcome your forces into the city. I am not a patient man, and one quarter of an hour should be enough for you to decide."

Condition?

Hearing this, Li Zixiang grew even more puzzled and glanced at the two generals in front of the ranks.

Yet, he saw that the expressions of the male and female generals had darkened to the point where it seemed they could drip water.

Opposite them, the soldiers had begun whispering among themselves, and the initially stabilizing army began to grow chaotic once more.

In his confusion, Li Zixiang circulated his cultivation technique and looked up at the two figures on the city wall.

The man on the wall seemed to notice and glanced down with a smile, but his eyes quickly moved away flippantly.

Xu Yuan retracted his gaze, wrapped his coat around himself, and half-joked:

"Qingyan... don’t you think the condition you offered is a bit too much?"

Li Qingyan’s lips curved up, clearly in a good mood, she chuckled and gave the man beside her a sideways glance:

"Handing over all the Sumeru Rings and military supplies is too much?"

Xu Yuan let out a white breath, eyeing the survivors below, and said thoughtfully:

"Yuan Hao has reported receiving about thirty thousand or so; all things considered, we can take in about seventy or eighty thousand survivors. The feeling of getting something for nothing is quite nice, tsk tsk..."