In the next instant, however, Feng Yu's body began to surge with chaotic True Qi, pressing down upon the platform below—which was entirely paved with thick, round logs—causing it to crack in numerous places. Feng Yu paid it no mind, his gaze fixed intently ahead.

"Since the army's momentum is broken, why continue this futile engagement? Are you waiting to be slaughtered one by one while tightly packed? Send the order: anyone who can disengage, scatter! Retreat three li and reform your ranks! As for the Black Cloud Cavalry and the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, it’s best if they escape; if they cannot, it scarcely matters!"

A flash of strange light crossed Xiong Kui’s eyes as he glanced at Feng Yu, a hint of admiration in his look. To recover his composure so quickly, not succumbing to rage after losing a major general, and to be capable of such a drastic, decisive cut—it was truly formidable.

He was indeed worthy of being counted among the contemporaries of Yunxia Mountain, someone not to be lightly slighted. At this moment, a fierce, murderous glint erupted in Feng Yu's eyes as he stared toward the location from which the shouts of slaughter were piercing the sky.

"All I want to know now is: who exactly is that person?"

"I am curious too! As far as I know, within Xuan Mountain City, the only two capable of breaking an army of fifty thousand with just three thousand men are Xuanyuan Tong and Zhu Junhou."

Xiong Kui also frowned deeply. "However, the provinces under Xuan Mountain City have been extremely unstable lately. Especially in the north, Linlan City has revived, possessing one hundred and fifty Cloud Ships and a massive army of six hundred thousand. Xuanyuan Tong is supposedly in closed-door cultivation, and how could Zhu Junhou possibly leave his post now?"

As they spoke, the mass of dark cavalry in the distance had already obeyed the order to 'part like clouds and disperse,' scattering in all directions.

The field of vision for the two men suddenly widened. They saw that the area spanning several li was already littered with corpses, and rivers of blood flowed across the ground. Over ten thousand men now lay forever on that barren plain. The armor they wore, some black, some white, were all meticulously crafted Talisman Armors, stabbing into Feng Yu's chest as if pierced by countless needle points!

And several thousand zhang away, a figure in scarlet armor, riding a Dragon-Horned Winged Horse and wielding a purple Thunder Spear, finally became visible to them. Although heavily armored, obscuring their face, both men recognized instantly that within that iron shell was someone intimately familiar to them.

"It’s Zong Yuan!"

Feng Yu clenched his fists violently, the surrounding surge of vital energy erupting with severe force. "How could it be him?"

"Could the person in front have seen incorrectly?"

In Xiong Kui's eyes, disbelief was overwhelming. "Last time in Jiefu City, although Zong Yuan had broken through to Martial Ancestor, he hadn't yet merged his Spirit Veins. How could he be this strong? Leaping past four tiers to slay an Eight-Vein Black Tortoise? Wait... it seems he relied on the power of an external elixir; that purple thunder spear of his also appears to be a Fifth-Tier Spirit Tool, and his armor is clearly extraordinary. But even so, it is absolutely impossible for him to contend with a Black Tortoise Grandmaster—"

Seemingly sensing their gaze, the scarlet-armored rider looked over indifferently. His expression was icy cold and aloof, devoid of any emotion. He merely raised his spear and pointed it in a gesture of provocation toward the high platform.

Feng Yu ground his teeth so hard that they nearly shattered at that moment, yet he fiercely suppressed his fury.

"Order Mu Ling and Xie Nu to adjust the formation. Contract the flanks, shift, and then transition into a crescent shape. We must bolster the center while keeping the wings thin. Order those two not to engage Zong Yuan lightly! Command the entire army above all else—I want that Zong Yuan to have nowhere left to bury his remains!"

Orders were issued swiftly. To the left of the high platform, the fifteen thousand infantrymen, arrayed in thirty formations, immediately began to shift. The formations angled sharply to the left. With swift and orderly movement, the thirty formations—fifteen thousand elite armored soldiers—formed a line backed against the high platform. The remaining infantry split, with fifteen formations on each side, expanding outward to the wings.

The reorganized cavalry ceased their advance, standing silently several li away, watching like predators.

Xiong Kui watched and gave a slight nod. Cavalry relied on momentum. Once their charge was halted before this impenetrable crescent formation, and with the allied Cloud Xia iron cavalry following closely after the wings enveloped them, these three thousand knights of Xuan Mountain City would only be crushed into powder.

The next instant, however, he felt a fierce, wolf-like gaze bore into his face. Xiong Kui turned his head to see Feng Yu staring back with a look of savage contortion. He couldn't help but let out a wry laugh; until the true strength of Zong Yuan was known, he had no intention of foolishly committing the main strength of his Blazing Mountain forces.

Though he harbored some disbelief internally, the deaths of Yang Xu and the twelve fallen Martial Ancestor experts were undeniable facts.

But as they were allies, he could not refuse outright. After a moment of contemplation, Xiong Kui made his decision and stated lightly, "I will allocate fifty thousand infantry to you, and Mu Jiang will also be transferred to the left flank. Satisfied? As for my Blazing Mountain's fifty thousand heavy cavalry—"

Xiong Kui paused, then smiled as he gazed into the distance. "It might be better to capture the leader first!"

Feng Yu's gaze turned cold again, and he let out a low snort before turning back to survey the twenty thousand elite infantry before him. He was confident that even if the enemy outnumbered him five-to-one, they would still shatter against the might of his main army! As for Mu Jiang, though not a brilliant general, he was still a Seventh-Tier Black Tortoise expert, which made him somewhat useful.

The mountain knights in the distance were in no hurry to charge. They paused their horses, some tending to their wounded, others taking out pills or fodder to feed their warhorses. The previous skirmish, while overwhelmingly successful, had cost them over a hundred men, and the rest were significantly depleted. If they had time to rest, they would certainly rest thoroughly.

Leisurely, they waited until their stamina and inner energy had almost recovered before once again urging their warhorses forward in a slow trot.

This time, they advanced in the Fish Scale Formation, aiming directly at the thickest and strongest part of the crescent formation before them. The spearhead of the entire force was Zong Yuan.

At this moment, ten li away, on top of a carriage, Li Luo squinted his eyes as he gazed at the foremost soldiers among the tens of thousands of the Cloud Xia army—a contingent clad entirely in black armor, wielding five-zhang-long spears. Even from miles away, the sight was oppressively intimidating. He saw a dense forest of spear tips angled forward, and tall, square shields plunged into the ground like barricades of cold steel. Tens of thousands of men, their formation stretching for several li, were truly soul-shaking.

"Yunxia City is famed in the Eastern Lin for its cavalry—the Black Cloud Cavalry, Fire Wolf Cavalry, and Black Bird Cavalry can each hold sway over a region—but their infantry is also capable. These four thousand Black Cloud Dragon Spear Guards might not match your Xuan Mountain City's Iron Tiger Great Halberdmen or Blazing Mountain's Mad Bear Armored Warriors, but they still rank among the top forty in Yunlu. Furthermore, Mu Ling and Xie Nu, though both Seventh-Tier Black Tortoise experts, are rumored to possess even greater martial talent than Yang Xuan."

Li Luo paused here, then looked before him. A vast, immense swarm of knights was thundering and surging toward their position, kicking up clouds of dust. By his estimation, they would reach the carriage formation in only a few tens of breaths. A full fifty thousand heavy cavalry made the earth tremble and the air vibrate, seizing the heart.

A slight smile touched the corners of Li Luo's lips. The true trouble had finally arrived. He wondered how this young lord intended to respond.

In the next instant, Zong Shou also smiled. With a gesture, the Iron Tiger Great Halberdmen ceased their passive lining up behind the carriage formation. Instead, they immediately began to work, throwing open the black tarps covering the Cloud-Flipping Carts and climbing inside. They then opened the outer panels of the carriages. Revealed within were clearly siege crossbows—the Three-Armed Giant Crossbows, already fully drawn and loaded.

Almost simultaneously, nearly one hundred and fifty crossbow bolts inscribed with spirit talismans shot out together. In the blink of an eye, they covered the five thousand paces to the enemy ranks, and then exploded instantly.

In that single moment, Li Luo’s vision seemed to be filled with the explosive burst of a massive fire cloud. The roaring sound was so intense that even he felt a sharp pain in his eardrums.

The Iron Tiger Great Halberdmen and the Xuan Mountain City soldiers were even less able to bear it; almost all showed expressions of agony, with streaks of blood seeping from the sides of their ears. Some with lower cultivation levels were directly flung over by the fierce shockwave.

When the flames dissipated, a small, distinct mushroom cloud rose into the air, ascending a full hundred zhang high.

At this moment, everyone—including the Tiger Clan armored soldiers who had fired the arrows under Zong Shou’s command—stared at the scene in utter astonishment.

"These Spirit Crossbows of the Artifact Sect! And the Blazing Wind Explosion Arrows!"

Li Luo recognized the origins of the giant crossbows and bolts instantly, his eyes widening. This carriage formation was only firing from one side. With the other side included, wouldn't there be nearly three hundred Three-Armed Spirit Crossbows? The sheer cost of these alone was nearly twenty Seventh-Tier Beast Cores! And the Blazing Wind Explosion Arrows were even more expensive, reaching Fourth-Tier—a shocking price, even for consumables, equivalent to one-tenth the price of a Three-Armed Spirit Crossbow. One hundred and fifty bolts meant two full Seventh-Tier Beast Cores! In older currency, that was twenty thousand Fourth-Tier Beast Cores—no, the price of Beast Cores had plummeted recently. For military artifacts of this caliber, even one hundred Seventh-Tier Beast Cores might not be enough to purchase them.

This Zong Shou was astonishingly wealthy. No wonder he was so confident; he had such trump cards hidden.

The Three-Armed Spirit Crossbows and the Blazing Wind Explosion Arrows were originally designed by the Artifact Sect to counter Heavenly-Rank Martial Ancestors, yet Zong Shou used them here. It could truly be called ruthless!

He admitted he had been too careless these past few days. By staying in quiet meditation, he had never suspected that these few hundred Cloud-Flipping Carts hid so many killing weapons.

By the time the smoke from the explosion settled again, what remained was a deep pit spanning a thousand zhang at the epicenter of the blast. The surrounding area was a field of corpses; a full six thousand men had vanished completely, blasted into fragments of flesh and blood. In the vicinity, casualties were scattered everywhere, with the majority, whether lightly or seriously wounded, collapsed on the ground. Of the beasts, more than half of the Second-Tier Wind-Riding Colts were killed by the shockwave, and those that survived could no longer run.

Zong Shou privately lamented that he currently lacked the manpower to counterattack. If only he had a cavalry force of three thousand to charge in, they could slaughter the majority of the enemy here.