"Attack the city! Attack the city!!"

Han Zhen's vision darkened with rage.

He had just expended a decade's worth of accumulated power of the masses to forcibly bypass the army and connect with an abandoned Witch Spirit Idol within the city.

What he saw were rows of logistics troops busily setting up various military equipment in full swing.

That brat was clearly bluffing!

And then he noticed something else.

A general of the Inner Landscape Realm was using a Gale Domain to blow the smoke from their barbecue straight toward his forces.

What the hell was this?

Huh?

Just as the siege was finally about to begin, the troops below didn’t charge out like wolves as expected—instead, they descended into utter chaos.

"Damn it, we’ve been smelling that barbecue for ages, and now we finally get to attack?"

"It’s so damn fragrant, I’m practically drooling."

"Someone’s fainted from the smell!"

"Medic! Medic! Our captain’s foaming at the mouth!"

Han Zhen snapped out of his fury and took a whiff of the smoky aroma. His expression suddenly changed.

At first, he’d just found it odd how mouthwatering the barbecue smelled, but his attention had been diverted by the kid on the city walls and Ying Bing. Now, it finally dawned on him.

That barbecue smoke was poisoned!

It was Muscle-Weakening Powder!

This wasn’t just an empty fort strategy—it was a full-on combo!

"That little bastard tricked us?!" The Beast Hall Master glared at Li Mo atop the city wall. He wasn’t affected much, but the ordinary soldiers were.

Honestly, as a lifelong schemer in the demonic sect, he’d pulled countless underhanded tricks in his time.

But lacing barbecue smoke with Muscle-Weakening Powder, first lulling the enemy with the aroma, then incapacitating them with it…

What a goddamn diabolical move.

"Damn shame. Even as an enemy, that kid’s a real talent..."

"See? True odorless poison isn’t about being scentless—it’s about blending into the environment so no one suspects a thing."

On the city wall, Li Mo raised an eyebrow at Huang Donglai.

Huang Donglai fell into deep thought, realizing Li Mo had a point.

It was time to revise his poison theories.

All his stockpiles, plus the dozens of crates of Muscle-Weakening Powder Li Mo had bought, had been used up in this one gambit.

"Commander Qu, the real battle starts now."

Li Mo turned solemnly.

"..."

The soldiers wiped their sweat.

"Young Hero Li has already done more than enough."

Qu Sheng gripped his sword hilt, resisting the urge to take a deep breath (given the poisoned air), and bellowed:

"Men! The enemy has fallen for Young Hero Li’s brilliant stratagem!"

"Behind us lies Qingmu City! If the savage Witch Barbarians breach these walls, they’ll slaughter everyone—sparing neither man nor beast! Our only path is to hold until the prince’s reinforcements arrive!"

"Years ago, the prince fought side by side with us to build Qingmu City. Today, we have two prodigies—Young Hero Li and the Frost Fairy—standing with us! Do you have the courage to fight?!"

The soldiers on and behind the walls erupted in a thunderous roar.

Meanwhile, down below—

The last stretch of time had been bought by the Muscle-Weakening Powder.

WOOOO—

A colossal war horn shook the heavens.

After the initial chaos, the less-affected rear enemy forces took over the assault. Siege towers, battering rams, and arrow carts advanced toward the city like a tide.

BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—

Above the walls, the Thunderbeast war drums roared like the heartbeat of the city itself.

The twang of bowstrings was relentless.

Volleys of heavy crossbow bolts, infused with the inner energy of elite archers, tore through the air like a gale, piercing even the enemy’s rattan armor.

Sharpshooters of the Observation Divine Realm manifested divine intent behind them—even Inner Landscape experts had to watch for their deadly arrows.

The battlefield below turned into a hellscape. Enemy soldiers fell in droves, trampled into pulp by their own comrades.

In mere minutes, two thousand lay dead under the rain of arrows.

Their screams were drowned by the deafening horns and war drums.

Their lives served only one purpose: to escort the siege engines and the towering Witch Spirit Colossus closer to the walls.

One moment, warm and breathing—the next, crushed into mud.

Such was war.

"Their only role is to die—to pave the way for the siege weapons and the Witch Spirit Colossus," Qu Sheng muttered, watching the massive shadow approach.

His voice was lost in the cacophony of battle.

"Flying Calamity Beasts incoming!" Wu Lang shouted.

This time, it wasn’t just scouts—it was an elite force led by high-tier Calamity Beasts.

Their bloodline power was immense. A single beast could scatter an entire unit.

If they breached the walls, they’d disrupt formations, slaughter archers, and dismantle defenses—creating openings for the ground forces.

Then—CRACKLE—

Lightning erupted.

"Activate the formations!"

The formation stones embedded in the walls flared to life as mystic crystals were slotted in.

Above Qingmu City, dark clouds churned, split apart by golden lightning that weaved into a deadly net, sealing the skies.

Any flying beast that touched the net was either fried or paralyzed, plummeting to be hacked apart by waiting soldiers.

Heavenly Tribulation Formation—Sky-Sealing Array!

"This formation burns two mystic crystals every incense stick’s time," Wu Lang muttered in awe.

He’d never forget today—how Young Hero Li had pointed at over a hundred crates of mystic crystals and said, "Use them freely. Don’t throw lives away unless absolutely necessary."

So damn cool.

If Wu Lang were a woman, he’d have married Li Mo on the spot.

A few beasts broke through the net, but Qingmu had its own high-realm experts—and a certain ice-cold swordswoman who could blink through space.

CRACK—

A sixth-tier Calamity Beast, already wounded, was impaled by a frost-laced sword beam.

It froze mid-air and shattered on impact, crushing enemy troops below.

"The Frost Fairy!"

The defenders’ morale soared.

Flying Calamity Beasts had once been their nightmare—too fast to chase, too deadly to ignore.

Now, that ethereal figure dancing through lightning, cutting down beasts alongside Inner Landscape experts, was a terror to the enemy—and an inspiration to Qingmu’s soldiers.

Years from now, they’d boast in taverns: "Back in the siege, I fought beside the Frost Fairy herself!"

Li Mo’s ears rang with constant system notifications.

But he had no time to check.

A massive bronze battering ram was closing in, primed to strike with enough force to shake the city walls.

The Rong Yuan ballistae had just fired and were reloading, while thunderfire bombs risked damaging their own defenses at this range.

WOOOO—

The ram’s colossal hammer swung with a howling gale.

"Everyone, MOVE!"

Li Mo shot forward on his Somersault Cloud.

Against the siege engine’s mountainous bulk, he looked like a pebble before a landslide.

Then—golden light erupted around him.

Fragile yet unyielding.

CLANG—

Indestructible Vajra Body!

A tremendous force carried the figure crashing toward the city wall.

He plowed two deep furrows into the ground.

Li Mo's back was already pressed against the wall, and he could even feel the tremors running through it. Finally, he forcibly halted the momentum of the battering ram.

Clang—

A deafening metallic roar echoed.

Wrapped in swirling mist, he surged upward, his body radiating the sharp, lethal aura of a weapon. He struck the mechanical linkage of the battering ram, instantly sending the massive contraption crashing to the ground. The bronze siege engine, now off-balance, toppled like a collapsing mountain.

"Young Hero Li is invincible!"

The city walls erupted with even fiercer cheers.

The morale of the Green Wood City defenders soared to its peak.

"An Observation Divine Realm cultivator, stopping siege machinery with his bare body?"

The Beast Hall Master narrowed his eyes. Such a physique was unlike anything he had ever seen—a peerless specimen.

"That must be some kind of secret technique."

Han Zhen searched his mind but found no known technique that matched what he had just witnessed.

But the more pressing matter was this:

Thanks to Li Mo and Ying Bing, the soldiers of Green Wood City were now brimming with morale, their fighting spirit blazing.

In contrast, his own forces had already fallen victim to the enemy's earlier schemes, and now their momentum had been crushed, leaving them disheartened.

"That boy must die first."

Han Zhen turned his gaze toward Helian Wu beside him.

The latter grinned, revealing a row of gleaming white teeth.

"I’ve been itching to test the mettle of today’s so-called prodigies!"

Restless for battle, he slapped the scaled warhorse beneath him and charged forth with his warriors.

Behind him, the spectral avatars of calamity beasts—

One by one, they linked with the towering bronze colossi, merging into them.

These war golems might not match their true forms in power, but on the battlefield, they were fearless, unyielding to damage. Each one could unleash combat prowess equivalent to the fifth or sixth tier, fueled by the faith of their worshippers.

In an instant, the metallic war cries of the golems tore through the chaos of battle.

Every soldier who heard them felt their eyes burn red, their strength surging.

"Kill, die..."

Han Zhen murmured to himself. The mouth on his right palm silently devoured the thickening scent of blood in the air.

On the city walls—

"The appetizers are finally finished."

Qu Sheng’s expression grew graver.

The War Golems of the Divine Beasts.

Once, these were among the Great Shang’s most formidable weapons of conquest, capable of shaking heaven and earth when fueled by the gathered fortune of the nation.

Now, though the Great Shang’s fortune had scattered, they remained a force to be reckoned with.

"Rong Yuan Siege Crossbows!"

At his command, $2ows of terrifying siege weapons were wheeled to the front lines, their cold, beast-like muzzles aimed downward.

Boom—

The sound of the Rong Yuan Siege Crossbows was like the roar of thunder, the howl of death itself.

By the time you heard it, you might already be dead.

The bolts were aimed at the calamity beasts—those of the sixth tier and even the fifth.

Explosive fire-thunder pellets were also strapped to ordinary heavy crossbows and loosed toward the bronze golems.

The battlefield, already ablaze with fury, now descended into the most brutal, white-hot carnage.

After losing a third of their bronze golems and leaving the ground littered with the corpses of calamity beasts—

"Break through Green Wood City, and we’ll never have to cower in these barren wastelands again!"

"Take back everything that’s ours!"

Having paid a steep price, the besiegers finally achieved their tactical goal.

The two sides clashed in close combat.

Calamity beasts and warriors of the southern tribes, scaling the siege towers pushed against the walls, surged onto the battlements like a tide of ravenous wolves.

The bronze golems of the Divine Beasts conjured mystical totems, not only enhancing their own combat prowess but also imbuing their followers with power akin to the divine insight of the Observation Divine Realm.

"Formations!"

Qu Sheng handed command of the battle formations to the frosty immortal whose intellect and talent far surpassed his own.

Ying Bing stood atop the central tower, directing the movements of the armies.

The Green Wood Army swiftly assembled their formations, drawing upon the defensive runes carved into the walls to clash relentlessly with the invaders.

At this level of battle, $2ven the domains of Inner Landscape Realm experts could not hold—they were shattered by the sheer force of the collisions.

Inner Landscape cultivators could only unleash their domains in bursts, reaping lives before swiftly withdrawing.

Or, bolstered by the army’s formations, they engaged in deadly duels.

Qu Sheng locked blades with the Beast Hall Master.

"Li Mo!"

Helian Wu swooped down like a hawk, his gaze fixed on the young man empowered by the army’s formations.

"What the hell are you looking at?"

"Looking for a beating?"

Li Mo’s eyes flashed with the light of the Heavenly Mandate Divine Eye.

The weapon in his hand, Forty, hummed with a resonant keen, pushed to its absolute limit.

...

Evening.

The northern wind howled like a blade, yet it could not disperse the stench of blood clinging to the walls.

After repeatedly channeling the power of the world to unleash Seven Determinations of Heaven and Earth, a once-celebrated prodigy of the Hidden Dragon Ranking was left forever on the battlements.

The walls were crowded yet silent. Soldiers cleared away the wreckage and corpses, all moving in solemn quiet.

Li Mo sat on the ramparts.

His body ached, his Heavenly Mandate Divine Eye fixed on the distance. His foreboding had not been wrong.

Han Zhen cared nothing for the dead.

Nor did it matter to him which side they had fought for.

Tomorrow’s assault would only grow fiercer.

"First Battalion: 201 dead, 200 severely wounded."

"Second Battalion: 180 dead, 230 severely wounded."

"Half our fire-thunder pellets remain. Seven Rong Yuan Siege Crossbows were destroyed..."

...

Behind him, an aide reported the losses to Qu Sheng.

Li Mo’s heart grew heavier. Tomorrow’s battle would be even harder.

"Go eat something?"

A clear but weary voice reached his ears.

Ying Bing, still clad in her flowing immortal’s robes, approached as she tied up her loosened dark hair.

"I don’t have much appetite."

His numb nerves were slowly awakening, and his stomach churned.

"Be good."

Ying Bing reached out, gently tapping his forehead.

Though his spirit was exhausted, and he had not summoned the Moon’s Serene Radiance, he suddenly felt as if bathed in tranquil moonlight.