“What is that?”

The bandit troops turned their heads to look. They saw two strange objects flying up from within Bai Family Fortress, streaking across the sky, heading straight toward their direction.

No one thought they were cannonballs!

Not even Old Lu, who had served in the border army and possessed ample combat experience, believed they were cannonballs.

Everyone simply gaped stupidly as those two strange objects flew on and on… gliding over the fortress wall of Bai Family Fortress, sweeping past the dry, cracked farmland, soaring across the rolling expanse of yellow sandy earth, until they finally landed on the slopes of Huanglong Mountain…

“THUD! THUD!”

The two massive objects landed, striking the mountainside at least thirty meters away from the bandit troops, bringing down two large trees in the process.

Since they didn’t land on them, they weren’t afraid!

True to his name, Double-Winged Tiger moved quickly. With a swish, he dashed toward the spot where the gigantic objects had landed, laughing as he ran. “I’ll go see what those flying things are.”

Bu Zhan Ni actually called out a warning, “They might be some kind of giant birds. Be careful, don’t get pecked.”

Double-Winged Tiger burst into laughter, “I’m a tiger, would I fear birds? That Bai Yuan of Bai Family Fortress, he’s like a bird. I’ll definitely have him for dinner.”

“Hahaha!” A group of bandits roared with laughter.

Meanwhile, inside Bai Family Fortress, Cheng Xu was gesturing toward the spot where the projectiles had landed. He spread his thumb and index finger on both hands, forming a square frame with them. Peering through it at the slopes where the projectiles had struck, he then twisted around and yelled into the courtyard, “Turn the missile a little to the left! Lower its head a tiny bit… Yes… yes, yes, yes… just that much… hehehe, perfectly…”

“Are they aligned now?” Cheng Xu cackled. “No test shots this time! Fire all eight! Fire all eight missiles at once!”

“Orders received!” A villager wielding a big hammer swung it forcefully. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Four consecutive strikes activated four mechanisms.

Eight missiles flew out in rapid succession.

On the other side, Double-Winged Tiger had just reached the spot where the two strange objects had landed. He saw two massive, bizarre things lying on the mountainside, each taller than two men put together. Reaching out to touch them, he found the material was weird—neither metal nor iron.

He couldn’t figure out what they were at all.

He turned his head and bellowed, “Big Brother! It’s not a giant bird! It’s some weird thing. They might be chunks of meteorite!”

Bu Zhan Ni: “Meteorite? Landing right in front of us? That’s an auspicious sign!”

Throughout history, wasn’t the appearance of a monarch’s celestial sign often accompanied by falling meteorites?

He had barely formed the thought when his men cried out again, “Here they come again…”

Bu Zhan Ni turned to look. From the direction of Bai Family Fortress, another eight strange objects were streaking arrogantly across the sky, flying straight toward their position.

Old Lu suddenly screamed, “GET DOWN NOW…!”

Only Old Lu, after decades on the battlefield, could discern from the flight path and speed of those eight flying horrors that they were coming down right on top of them.

And only then did it finally dawn on him that these monstrous things might be some kind of cannonballs. It’s just that he had never seen cannonballs so huge before. Plus, there had been no explosive roar of cannon fire earlier, which had confused him initially.

Old Lu had just thrown himself face-down onto the ground when the eight monstrosities landed. The first smashed directly onto the mountain path where a large group of bandit troops were queued in a single-file line, descending the mountain. It crashed right into the middle of their line with a THUMP that flung several men sprawling through the air.

Then the second…

The third…

“BOOM! THWHUMP! THUMPTHUMP!”

Eight projectiles struck the mountainside in succession, wreaking havoc on the massed bandits, toppling men and sending others flying.

Cheng Xu was ecstatic. “Hahaha! The angle was perfect! Don’t just stand there looking at the other two missile launchers! Fire them too! Quick, quick, quick! Launch them!”

The villagers standing next to the other two block missiles also swung their huge hammers, knocking down all the mechanisms in succession.

Sixteen missiles soared into the air together.

This time, Cheng Xu didn’t even bother to see if they hit; he shouted loudly, “Loading, load immediately, hurry, hurry, hurry.”

The twenty-four groups of villagers, who were already prepared, lifted huge shells and ran to the missile launch racks in turns, stuffing them into the barrel…

One villager tripped, fell with a thud, and his whole group stumbled down together. As the shells were about to crash onto them, some officials nearby dashed over instantly, catching the shells, thus preventing them from injuring their own men.

“Hurry, hurry, hurry!”

Inside Bai Family Fortress, there was a scene of fervent activity.

Meanwhile, the bandit army on the hillside was in a miserable state.

Three thousand men were walking down several mountain paths on the hillside. The spacing between people wasn’t much, with many even squeezed into the paths. Suddenly, giant shells fell from the sky, crashing down continuously. Who wouldn’t be scared out of their wits by this?

The mountain paths were immediately thrown into disarray. Some hid in the woods on both sides of the road, some dived into dry grass piles, some crouched behind large stones, some ran forward, and some ran backward. In the shoving and collisions on the paths, some people lost their balance, fell, and rolled downward.

Next, more people fell, and large groups slid and rolled together.

The paths were thrown into disarray, and huge shells fell soon after, flinging mud into the air. Some were hit directly by shells and died on the spot; others were knocked over when shells bounced up. While not immediately fatal, they were severely injured.

Tumbling down the hillside and knocking over their comrades caused a stampede. In an instant, the whole hillside was filled with cries and wails, chaotic beyond description.

Old Lu roared, “Don’t panic, hold the formation, don’t panic! Hide behind large stones in an orderly manner.”

But no matter how much he shouted, it was useless. These people were not elite border army troops; they didn’t possess the skill to remain calm under pressure. They were just a bunch of peasants who had recently picked up knives. A very few had participated in militia training, but most only knew how to bully the weak when they outnumbered them.

“They’re coming again, again, lots of shells flying over here!”

“Ah, ah, ah, there are so many more!”

Seeing another volley of shells flying up from Bai Family Fortress, the bandit army screamed in fear, and many wet their pants.

“Boom! Boom!”

Another wave of shells fell continuously. This time, it was twenty-four again, scattering dust and sand all over the hillside.

“What kind of cursed place is this, why are there such devilish things?”

“Woo woo, mother, I want to go home.”

“I’ll never come to Bai Family Fortress again.”

With just one glance, Old Lu understood that morale had collapsed and they could no longer fight.

He rolled on the ground, tumbling over to Bu Zhan Ni and Zuo Guazi, and said quickly, “Brothers, retreat. We can’t fight; morale has collapsed. If we force everyone to charge downhill to Bai Family Fortress in this situation, Cheng Xu could easily crush us, defeating three thousand with just a hundred.”

Bu Zhan Ni and Zuo Guazi were now hiding behind a large stone, their hearts pounding in fear, afraid that a huge shell might land on their heads. Hearing Old Lu’s words, they didn’t hesitate and immediately ordered, “Withdraw, back to the mountains, all withdraw.”