"Kunlong Stockade's foremost defense is a narrow passage, allowing only about ten people through at a time, surrounded by towering mountains. In such terrain, the bandits only need a very small contingent to hold the position. In the past, we paid an extremely heavy price to breach this point," Ye Xiangzhen continued. "Beyond this hurdle lies the second line of defense of Kunlong Stockade. This area is equally treacherous, narrow and long just like the first line. The entire Kunlong Mountain is structured like a long, narrow staircase, ascending layer by layer. Defenses composed of such terrain formations number five in total across Kunlong Mountain."

"Truly a formidable place, difficult to attack and easy to defend. No wonder someone as insignificant as You Fang could wreak havoc and act with impunity here," Yan Kong mused before asking, "Besides this direct frontal assault route, is there no way to flank and attack from another direction?"

"No," Ye Xiangzhen replied. "To the left, there are sheer cliffs over a hundred meters high, and behind lies a dense jungle leading directly to the Woma Great Forest. Even there, they have established checkpoints leading toward the stockade, posing challenges no less severe than the frontal assault. The terrain to the right will be similar to the front. If I were to divide my forces for an attack, it would only weaken our main thrust."

"It seems there is truly no better option than a direct assault," Yan Kong conceded.

"I believe with the might of the Shenyue Palace, breaching these few barriers shouldn't be difficult. In their ranks, only the three brothers, You Fang, You Feng, and You Xun, have reached the strength of the Mid-level Scarlet Moon. The rest are High-level or Mid-level Rangers. Their numbers are around two thousand."

"Good. Let the Scarlet Moon experts from the three halls of Shenyue Palace form the vanguard to charge directly at the Kunlong Stockade checkpoints," Yan Kong stated, subconsciously glancing at Yan Luo and Yan Zhen beside him, only to see them looking composed, clearly assenting to his operational plan.

"In that case, we entrust this task to you all," Ye Xiangzhen said.

In the deep night!

Chen Zhen and I cautiously hid behind a cluster of rocks.

"So many troops," I exclaimed, startled by the dense array of military camps and the flowing shadows of people below the mountain.

"Numbers are useless!" Chen Zhen scoffed. "Kunlong Mountain isn't something you conquer with sheer numbers."

"En," I nodded subconsciously. "What's the plan now?"

"It looks like they're busy preparing for a full-scale assault. I estimate the attack will commence at first light," Chen Zhen analyzed.

"A direct assault at dawn?" I queried.

"En!" Chen Zhen confirmed. "I participated in encircling these bandits before, so I'm familiar with the City Lord's operational methods. I estimate there's no alternative but a frontal rush."

"Excellent. When they launch their attack, we'll use the chaos to infiltrate from another direction," I decided after a moment's thought.

"Heh, that was actually my thought too," Chen Zhen praised. "I see your skills have greatly improved in these two years away. You even managed to send Uncle Wei flying with your strength—at least Mid-level Warrior prowess, I'd wager. Seeing you in this warrior attire," he noted, looking at my gear, "you actually look the part of a warrior now."

"You're not doing badly either," I recalled that before I left, Chen Zhen was only around the Mid-level Warrior stage, and now he seemed to have just stepped onto the threshold of High-level Warrior. It was clear he hadn't been idle these past two years.

"Can't compare to you," Chen Zhen said, his expression complicated. "I even advised you not to push yourself too hard back then, but looking at it now, your ability has far surpassed mine."

"En!" I merely nodded slightly, my gaze fixed unblinkingly on the entrance to Kunlong Stockade, continuously mapping out the detailed maneuvers in my mind.

Seeing that I hadn't engaged much, Chen Zhen also quieted down.

A faint, white glimmer appeared on the horizon; the long-awaited full-scale attack was about to begin. Yan Luo, Yan Kong, Yan Zhen, and the assembled masters of Shenyue Palace arrived before the main army, led by Ye Xiangtian, the Sect Master of the Ye family. On the stockade's defenses stood the same group of bandits who looked extremely arrogant. Their mouths were filled with vulgarities, showing no respect for the defenders of Ginkgo City. Several mages even hurled massive Fireballs from a distance, their intent to provoke glaringly obvious.

"These bandits are really outrageously arrogant!" Yan Kong commented casually.

"En, this..." Ye Xiangtian looked quite awkward. "It’s because, for a long time, the military has been unable to deal with them. If too few people are sent, they can never take the stockade, but if large armies are mobilized from other major cities, they vanish long before arrival. Once the army retreats, they resurface immediately. It’s truly maddening."

"You Fang understands the art of advancing and retreating well," I observed. No wonder he could hold this territory for so long.

"But this time, they've run into the masters of Shenyue Palace; their time is up!" Ye Xiangtian declared.

"All troops, prepare."

Boom! Boom!

The drums roared! The encirclement legions, formed by the Ginkgo City defenders, had already arranged themselves in neat formations. At the front were purely Mid-level Warriors, numbering about ten thousand. In conventional positional warfare, the Warrior's role is to shield the Mages from being rushed by enemy Warriors or shot down by Archers, though in a strategically perilous frontal assault like this, the effectiveness of Warriors is greatly limited. Positioned behind and to the left of the Warriors were the Mage Legions, numbering six thousand. In large-scale group combat, the Mages' area-of-effect magic attacks are absolutely the most lethal; they are the main force in this offensive. Arrayed alongside the Mages were the Taoist Legions, the smallest contingent, numbering only about five hundred. Their mission was to heal comrades injured in battle with curative magic, and to cast defensive buffs like Ghost Armor and Divine Armor on their allies.

"Begin attack!" The Warriors at the forefront advanced slowly. The Mages and Taoists behind them followed quickly. However, upon reaching about two hundred meters from the stockade entrance, this triangular formation composed of Mages and Warriors halted.

The Mages immediately began chanting incantations, unleashing offensive magic into the narrow passage: Bursting Flame and Fire Wall. Instantly, the confined passage transformed into a sea of fire, accompanied by countless sounds resembling explosions.

The Mages' magical assault lasted a full two minutes before the burning fire walls gradually subsided.

"Magic traps confirmed cleared!" A Warrior officer at the front roared, "Continue advancing."

The orderly triangular formation once again began its slow advance of another hundred meters, stopping only when almost adjacent to the entrance of the narrow passage.

"Magical attack," the young Warrior officer shouted.

Rumble, rumble! Almost identical to the previous volley. After two minutes of indiscriminate magical bombardment, not even an ant could have survived in that passage.

However, the triangular formation did not press forward again.

"The rest is up to you," Ye Xiangtian, Ye Xiangzhen, and the others looked expectantly at Yan Luo and the rest. "That passage cannot leverage superior numbers, and even with our strength, forming elite assault squads to charge inside, we couldn't withstand their first wave of magical attacks."

"I trust that with your cultivation, the bombardment from a mere contingent of Mid-level Mages shouldn't be able to harm you," Ye Xiangzhen stated.

"En!" Yan Kong nodded slightly. With the cultivation of experts like Yan Kong and the others at the Scarlet Moon level, spells cast by Mages of the same tier could not inflict harm. Furthermore, they wore defensive gear with extremely strong magical defense, such as Metal Bracelets. Even Mages of the same tier couldn't hurt them without equivalent gear. This explained the immense confidence held by everyone in Shenyue Palace.

"Soon enough, a small triangular assault formation, composed of elite experts from the three main halls of Shenyue Palace, swiftly finalized its array."

These three hundred individuals were all composed of experts at the Scarlet Moon level or higher from Shenyue Palace—the elite of the elite. At this moment, Yan Kong, positioned at the spearhead, declared spiritedly: "Conical Assault Formation, commence attack."

"Roar!" The Warriors at the front let out earth-shaking roars. In an instant, everyone’s features contorted into ferocious masks, bristling with killing intent. Dazzling golden light erupted from their bodies—this was the Body Protection Battle Qi, the ultimate life-saving skill of the Warriors. Simultaneously, the massive blessing spells of the Taoists, Divine Armor and Ghost Armor, rained down upon the entire Conical Assault Formation.

"Charge!" Yan Kong roared.

The three hundred Scarlet Moon experts shot forward like arrows loosed from a bowstring, plunging into the narrow passage.

"We have long heard that Shenyue Palace's Conical Assault Formation is astonishingly powerful, a top-tier formation for breaking through defenses and seizing strongholds," Ye Xiangtian and others marveled as they watched the Shenyue Palace masters fly forward.

Soon, as the Conical Assault Formation reached the entrance of the narrow passage.

"Formation change." Because the passage was exceedingly narrow, Yan Kong could only order a change in formation—this time, an ultra-small Conical Assault Formation. At the front were four Warriors abreast, forming a moving shield, followed closely by three Mages and one Taoist. The Shenyue Palace experts divided themselves into dozens of such insertion squads, instantly surging into the passage.

Quickly, after advancing about a hundred meters inside the passage.

Rumble, rumble, rumble! Innumerable dazzling fireballs and lightning bolts swept down like a fierce storm. On the ground, strange columns of towering fire erupted—the Fire Walls cast by the Mages during group combat.

In the blink of an eye, the Shenyue Palace experts were enveloped in a raging sea of flames, with dense lightning and fireballs raining down from above.

Roar! All the Warriors roared again. Their Body Protection Battle Qi was instantly pushed to its strongest state.

The Mages' Magic Shields also became even more dazzling and vibrant at the same moment, resembling huge golden eggs.

Bang! The offensive spells hammered violently against the Shenyue Palace experts, but only managed to splash up waves of dazzling light, entirely unable to impede the rapid advance of the Shenyue Palace masters.

Soon, the Conical Assault Formation pressed forward to the enemy lines. They were met by a continuous torrent of powerful arrow and stone rain—massive arrows and large stones launched by Ballistae and Catapults.

Roar! Bang, bang, crash! But this overwhelming hail of falling arrows and stones also failed to harm the Shenyue Palace experts. Relying on the powerful defense afforded by their equipment and their own superb cultivation, these attacks were easily blocked by the Shenyue Palace experts.

"No! Retreat!" Panicked shouts came from the checkpoint: "It's an assault formation composed of Scarlet Moon experts!"

"Damn it, how is this possible?"

"Those damned golden Magic Shields and Body Protection Battle Qi—who else besides Scarlet Moon level experts could unleash them?"

"Heck, and there are over three hundred of them!"

"Escape first!"

..........................................

The bandits on the checkpoint promptly turned and fled.

"Damn it, they saw through us," Yan Kong grimaced. "Speed up, don't let them escape." In reality, this scenario was quite normal. On the Fama Continent, the gap in levels directly represented a gap in strength, a disparity that numbers couldn't bridge. Who had ever seen one hundred rabbits defeat a strong, hungry wolf? The powerful attacks of High-level Rangers usually couldn't even breach the defenses of Scarlet Moon experts, let alone this group of bandits, poorly equipped, facing Scarlet Moon Rangers who were top-tier in terms of level, strength, and gear. If they persisted in fighting, they would truly be demonstrating idiocy.

In an instant, the Shenyue Palace experts rushed to the main gate of the checkpoint.

The thick, sturdy Nanmu gate could not withstand the combined, fierce attacks unleashed by several Scarlet Moon level Warriors.

Roar! Bang! Bang! Bang! Rumble! Under the onslaught of dozens of Raging Flames, the gate was smashed to pieces.

However, the bandits on the checkpoint had long since vanished without a trace.

"Damn! They run fast," Yan Kong and the others showed no sign of relief. If the bandits were pushed too far, the hostages they held would be in danger.

"The attack has started!" Chen Zhen and I anxiously watched the billowing smoke and dust swirling inside the distant passage, immensely relieved. Without hesitation, I sped towards the other side of Kunlong Stockade.

Chen Zhen and I stealthily approached another path leading up to the stockade, and soon arrived before the narrow passage leading to the stockade. From afar, the thick Nanmu gate stood seven or eight meters high. Carved on the plaque above the gate were three large, wild cursive characters: Kunlong Zhai. There were also several openings above the gate, resembling firing ports on a World War II pillbox; their function was the same—Mages and Archers hidden inside could attack enemies outside without fear of being harmed themselves. On the high walls, a large contingent of defending bandits was also stationed, filling every corner, their expressions grave and tense as they watched their surroundings.

Based on their appearance, they should mostly be High-level Rangers. If I was fast enough, I could still scale the wall. If possible, the best method would naturally be to sneak into the stockade quietly. But looking at the current situation, although the fighting at the main gate was fierce, the defense at the rear stockade remained tight, and the terrain here wasn't suitable for stealth infiltration. It seemed there was no alternative but a direct assault.

But I had to rush inside in the shortest possible time, or attracting the attention of their top experts would cause trouble. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but look at Chen Zhen. Although the guy was very nervous, his face showed a look of absolute resolve; he seemed to have no intention of backing down.

Truly admirable, I praised him internally. However, with his High-level Warrior strength, breaking through this defense was impossible. Moreover, I had never planned for him to charge in with me from the start.

Now that he had brought me here, the rest was up to me. Naturally, I kept this from Chen Zhen.

With a hand chop, I struck the back of Chen Zhen’s head.

With a thud, Chen Zhen, completely unprepared, was knocked unconscious. I carefully dragged Chen Zhen far away and covered his body with some branches and fallen leaves.

Afterward, I unfurled my figure and sped toward the stockade.

Inside the narrow passage, there was absolutely no cover; approaching unnoticed was simply impossible. Even with my speed, it was the same.

Swish! With a few quick maneuvers, I rushed sixty meters in the blink of an eye.

"Someone's breaching the pass!" A chorus of shouts immediately rose from the stockade.

Actually, Xing Chen did not know that Chi Yan, just in case, had deployed five Scarlet Moon experts to guard the side gate. These five were Chi Yuan, Chi Xiong, Chi Tong, Chi Han, and Chi Lin. Although they couldn't match the strength of super experts like Chi Yan, they were still rare masters among the Scarlet Moon level. A combination of three Warriors, one Taoist, and one Mage—this lineup possessed enough power to contend even with a master as extraordinarily skilled as Yan Luo.

They spotted Xing Chen's rapidly approaching figure from afar. Chi Yuan and the others were considerably surprised. In Chi Yan's analysis, the Shenyue Palace experts were unlikely to split their forces to attack the side gate. Doing so would only weaken their Conical Assault Formation, and moreover, they were unaware of the situation within the stockade, likely treating Kunlong Stockade as an ordinary bandit stronghold. The simplest method would be to use their powerful Conical Assault Formation to forcibly charge the stockade checkpoint and crush Kunlong Zhai's defenses head-on.

Of course, there is always an exception. Chi Yan had considered this possibility and specifically left this contingency, ordering Chi Yuan and the others to guard the side gate. In her view, even if Shenyue Palace did divide its forces to attack the side gate, they couldn't spare too many troops—at most, one squad. If that were the case, Chi Yuan and the others would be sufficient to hold them off.

Chi Yuan and the others dared not be careless, constantly monitoring every sign of movement around them. Thus, they quickly spotted the rapidly approaching Xing Chen.

Roar! Hundreds of High-level Rangers immediately launched a frantic magical assault.

A deluge of Fireball Arts, Lightning Spells, and Bursting Flames hammered down violently.

Swish, swish, swish! In just a few quick movements, the agile and eerie figure shot through the sea of fire to the base of the city wall. Then, a rope was shot out, nailed onto the wall, and using the rapid momentum of the swing, he scaled the wall.