6kv Chapter 82 The Enemy is at the Gates
Chapter 82 The Enemy is at the Gates
"Close the city gates!"
At Duanmu Hong's command, the city gate slowly closed with a heavy thud.
When the iron-clad city wall slammed against the door frame, the door hinges let out a long groan, and the dust on the battlements fell in a flurry, swept up by the morning breeze and covering the faces of the guards on the city wall.
The iron cables of the suspension bridge creaked on the winch, and the last section of the bridge plank was pulled up, scraping the surface of the moat. The murky water splashed onto the riverbank, wetting several demonic field mice that were climbing up.
The field mice were splashed by the water, squeaking and falling back into the river, then clung to the muddy bank of the riverbank and climbed back up.
"What is that?"
Zhao Sheng lay prone on the edge of the stack, half of his body sticking out, his eyes wide open.
He was the youngest among the martial arts scholars in Heyuan, and it was the first time he had ever seen such a scene. His voice unconsciously rose several octaves.
"Demonized field mice".
Sun Qi's longsword was already drawn, its tip touching the city bricks. His tone remained steady as he said, "The lowest-level demonic beast is weaker than the early stage of Ming Jin."
"But these things never appear alone; they always come in groups of hundreds."
Lin Mu stood in front of the crenellations, his hand resting on the city bricks.
The damp moss from the cracks in the bricks clung to his palms, icy cold.
In the distance, towards the direction of the Eternal Night Forest, something was vaguely wriggling in the morning mist, like dark clouds pressing down on the horizon before a storm.
Then those things emerged from the fog.
First came two or three dark figures, on all fours with their backs arched, each push digging a small hole in the frozen soil.
"Demon wolves!" someone on the city wall shouted first. "Three! There are three more demon wolves ahead!"
Sun Qi's face turned pale instantly.
His knuckles turned white as he gripped Zhao Sheng's belt, but his voice remained relatively calm: "What level is the demon wolf?"
"Ming Jin"
Quan Feng had drawn his short sword from his waist at some point, resting the tip on the edge of the crenellation. His tone was unusually free of laziness as he said, "He runs fast, jumps high, and can tear through ordinary leather armor with a single claw."
"Most importantly, they will cooperate."
"Look at their formation."
Three demonic wolves charged straight at the city gate from the front, while the other two silently flanked from both sides, barely splashing water as they waded across the shallows of the moat.
They were a whole size larger than ordinary wolves, with gray-black manes standing upright from the back of their necks to their spines, and drool from the corners of their mouths dragging on the ground, splashing up tiny white wisps of smoke.
"Is that a blood python?" Zhao Sheng exclaimed again.
Seven blood pythons emerged from the mist, their scales gleaming a wet, dark red in the morning light, leaving winding tracks in the soil.
"Blood Python," Zhao Hu's blade tapped lightly against the city brick, "Ming Jin level."
"More troublesome than a demon wolf."
"They can swim in the water, and the moat can't stop them."
"There are also five tusked boars with dark gray, stiff bristles that can deflect ordinary arrows."
"The last one is the most troublesome."
"The armored rhinoceros cubs have only just grown their horns, but their charge is already powerful enough to shatter ordinary wooden shields."
"This is still a cub?" Zhao Sheng's voice cracked.
The armored rhinoceros cub was already half the size of an adult ox, and it was burying its head and arching towards the riverbank.
"A fully grown armored rhinoceros," Quan Feng continued, his tone taking on a serious tone for the first time, "possessing the power of internal energy. Its entire body is covered in dark gold patterns, and ordinary weapons can't even cut through its hide."
"However, these cubs haven't reached the Transformation Realm yet."
"The real trouble is yet to come."
Beneath the city walls, all the demonic beasts rushed to the moat.
For a moment, the area between the riverbank and the city wall was filled with rising and falling shadows. Several demonic wolves climbed up the wall through the cracks, their claws digging into the brickwork, and bits of stone fell down.
Dozens of pairs of dark golden pupils shone brightly under the city wall, like embers scattered on the ground.
"Are those the original marks on their foreheads?" Sun Qi suddenly pointed to the demon wolf's forehead.
The extremely faint and fine dark gold lines appeared and disappeared with the rise and fall of the muscles, gleaming faintly in the morning light.
"Only demonic beasts at the Ming Jin level have these faint markings," Zhao Hu said. "At the An Jin level, the markings will spread from the forehead to the whole body."
"The patterns on the body become clearer once you reach the level of mastery."
Listening to the discussions of the crowd, Lin Mu observed the stronger demonic beasts.
The martial arts techniques showed no reaction whatsoever, whether it was because the demonic beasts did not use the power of their primordial imprints or for some other reason.
He wanted to try jumping off the city wall.
Just then, Duanmu Hong walked up from behind.
"Young Master Wen?"
Wen Haoran understood.
He took a step forward, stood at the edge of the stack, turned a page of the bamboo slip with his right hand, and ran his fingertips across the bamboo surface.
Each character lit up, a pure white light seeping from the characters, extremely faint and thin, like the first glimmer of dawn on the horizon.
He gently shook the bamboo slip, and the light flowed down silently, like morning mist blown away by the wind. It cascaded down the surface of the city wall, overflowing the crenellations, the moat, and all the climbing monsters.
The dark gold patterns on the wolf's forehead began to shatter the moment they touched the white light, melting and peeling away inch by inch from the edges of the patterns.
The largest demon wolf raised its head and let out a long, mournful howl. The sound was swallowed up by the stream of light as soon as it left its mouth. Its entire body emitted white light from the inside out. Its gray-black mane turned into ashes in the light, then flesh and bones, and finally only a small clump of charred powder remained, which was scattered by the morning breeze.
The bristles of the tusked boar curled and turned black in the light, and its thick skin dripped down like burning wax, revealing the dark red muscle underneath, which turned to ashes in the next instant.
The blood python reacts the fastest.
As soon as the light flowed over the crenellations, they swung their snake tails and darted into the moat, but the river water could not stop their righteous spirit.
The pure white light silently seeped into the water, and the entire moat shimmered with a faint glow. Seven blood pythons writhed violently underwater, their dark red scales unfolding one by one to reveal the pale snake flesh beneath. Then, even the snake flesh slowly dissolved in the water, leaving only ripples spreading across the surface.
......
When the light dissipated, only a scorched earth remained on the opposite bank of the moat, covered with a thin layer of ash.
Occasionally, one or two extremely faint, fine specks of dark gold light would flash within the ashes.
Those remaining fragments of the original imprint flickered a few times in the morning light before extinguishing completely.
There was a moment of complete silence on the city wall, followed by a sudden uproar.
"Gone just like that?"
"Of course, my brother Haoran is a scholar who passed the imperial examination, and he also possesses rubbings of the Book of Ten Thousand People." Yue'er said proudly.
"You flatter me."
"It was the ancestors of Heyuan who sacrificed themselves, building the city walls with their blood and flesh. Their fighting spirit remains, and it is with the people, which makes the strength multiply."
"In this way, I can fight monsters three times a day."
Wen Haoran put the bamboo slip back into his palm, speaking humbly.
Lin Mu: "..."
One swipe isn't enough, you need to swipe three times?
Are they not allowing people to observe anymore?
Feeling hopeless, Lin Mu turned and left.
"Young Master Lin, please wait a moment."
"I have something to ask you."
Seeing that he was about to leave, Wen Haoran called out to him.