Xiong Kui’s eyes had almost entirely lost their focus. As the booming sound of thunder drew ever nearer, the shadowy figures of a squadron of silver-armored knights finally appeared several dozen yards away.
First came three or five forms, indistinct, as if a bank of mist were rolling in. In an instant, more and more silver-armored knights materialized before their eyes.
Xiong Kui’s gaze filled completely with despair. “The Black Fox Iron Riders of Qiantian Mountain City!”
At this moment, escape was impossible. As the thousand knights charged, a swirling wind whipped around every silver warhorse. The wind amplified their speed, making it seem as if they encountered no resistance, flying forward with breakneck haste. Their galloping pace was not even inferior to that of ** his own variant Wind-Rider steed!
Advancing ahead of the silver-armored contingent was a towering middle-aged man clad in brilliant silver armor, wielding a massive Zhanma Saber. Xiong Kui’s face turned even paler. Finally, with a slight turn of his eyes, he completely abandoned any thought of flight, decisively tossing aside the great axe in his hand and raising both hands in surrender.
The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes at the sight, showing a hint of surprise. After a brief moment, his expression returned to one of cold ruthlessness. The movement of his blade did not halt in the slightest. As he swept past, the shadow of the saber flashed briefly, but it struck with the flat of the blade, slamming heavily onto Xiong Kui’s head, sending the brute flying over fifty yards before he collapsed, unconscious.
When the thousand silver-armored knights gradually slowed their pace, all the infantry and cavalry forces of Blazing Flame Mountain surrounding them abruptly halted their advance. Not a single man dared to move another step closer.
The handsome general in silver armor seemed utterly unconcerned by the host of nearly four hundred thousand infantry and cavalry barely four hundred yards away. He leisurely guided his horse to Xiong Kui, directly seizing the young lord of Blazing Flame Mountain in his grasp.
This standoff, where the opposing forces outnumbered them by more than a hundred to one, lasted only a moment before the troops of Blazing Flame Mountain began to withdraw, ceasing all engagement.
However, unlike the ten-thousand-odd scattered remnants from Cloud Scar Mountain, the army of Blazing Flame Mountain clearly possessed personnel capable of command. Even in their retreat, their movements remained orderly.
The handsome middle-aged man paid them no mind, waiting silently with a stern expression. Then, in a mere instant, three thousand Black Armor Knights charged out from the nearby camp gate. The man leading them was none other than Zong Yuan.
Upon seeing the thousand Black Fox Iron Riders, Zong Yuan’s expression immediately shifted. After a slight hesitation, he ordered all the knights of Black Mountain City behind him to halt their horses. He then proceeded alone to the towering middle-aged man, bowing respectfully from his saddle: “Clan nephew Zong Yuan pays respects to Clan Uncle!”
The middle-aged man’s face finally warmed. He scrutinized Zong Yuan up and down, his expression complex. “Your Raging Thunder Spear Intent is unparalleled in breaking formations; no wonder the Lord has protected you all this time. After today, you, Zong Yuan, have truly made a name for yourself. Three thousand Iron Riders defeating the combined army of forty thousand from Cloud Scar and Blazing Flame—the name ‘Purple Thunder Spear’ will surely echo across the Eastern Lin Continent. If my elder brother were here, he would likely be overjoyed. However, since you possess such ability, it must be put to good use, applied to the righteous path. Zong Hao and Zong Yang, that father and son, are both treacherous villains. If you remain with them, you will inevitably be betrayed one day.”
As he spoke this final sentence, a sharp glint flickered in the middle-aged man’s eyes. Only when he saw that the other party remained utterly unresponsive even after his words insulted the Zong Hao father and son did a trace of astonishment surface.
Has this fellow truly defected to the Young Lord? Given Zong Yuan’s disposition, his voluntary betrayal was strange enough. But to align himself with Zong Shou, who is incapable of cultivation, was even more astonishing.
Zong Yuan remained silent for a moment. When he heard the phrase, “the name ‘Purple Thunder Spear’ will surely echo across the Eastern Lin Continent,” he felt nothing but bitterness rising in his throat. He hadn't registered any of the words that followed.
In today’s battle, others saw only his peerless Purple Thunder Spear, crushing thousands and washing away past humiliations. But who could know that all of this was orchestrated by the Young Lord, manipulating the strings from afar?
Once he left Zong Shou’s side and fought against others, his true inadequacy would be exposed.
However, he quickly rallied his spirits. Zong Yuan’s eyes began to shine with intense fervor once more. Though the success was not his own making, the lessons learned from today’s battle surpassed all imagination! One day, he would earn that reputation legitimately.
He would never give up on personally executing those two—that beast named Zong Hao—with his spear!
The handsome middle-aged man watched, growing subtly perplexed. Zong Yuan, moments before, had been despondent, completely unlike someone who had just led three thousand Iron Riders to rout forty thousand enemies. There was no trace of satisfaction, nor any sign of smug complacency; instead, he seemed deeply dejected. Yet, after only a short interval, he was suddenly brimming with fighting spirit again, leaving the observer utterly bewildered.
But he cared little to dwell on it. He pursed his lips, turned his head, and focused intently on the direction of the carriage formation. Then, his expression becoming bland, he said, “I do not care what your intentions are for aligning with the Young Lord, Zong Yuan. But should the day come when you dare to harm the Young Lord, then even if you have completely mastered the Raging Thunder Spear Intent, I, Zong Lan, will personally take your life! The conflict here is settled. If you have no intention of pursuing them, you may accompany me to see the Young Lord!”
Zong Yuan raised an eyebrow, glancing at the hundreds of thousands of routed soldiers retreating toward the valley entrance, and then at the Black Mountain Knights behind him, whose breathing was uneven and who already showed slight signs of fatigue.
After a moment of thought, he unhesitatingly followed Zong Lan toward the carriage formation.
Inside the carriage formation, everyone had emerged from their compartments and climbed onto the roofs, gazing toward the distant scene ten li away.
The images were indistinct. Yet, the general situation over there was vaguely discernible. Especially Tan Tao’s shout, "Feng Yu is slain!" which carried for dozens of li. Even the occupants of the formation heard it clearly.
Every eye was fixed there with burning intensity, watching this near-miraculous sight. The thousand elite cavalrymen left behind from Black Mountain City were particularly envious, resentful, and regretful. Their greatest regret was not being chosen to charge the lines and become one of the three thousand Iron Riders!
To charge the enemy formation, to be invincible—to participate in such a heroic endeavor, even death would feel glorious!
“They actually won…”
Li Luo’s eyelids twitched, followed by a wry smile. “What happened today, just as the Young Lord predicted, will surely become a legend across the Cloud Continent!”
Turning his gaze back, Li Luo slanted his eyes toward Zong Shou. The man was sitting there serenely, seemingly unconcerned with the surrounding events, murmuring to himself as if calculating something. Listening closely, Zong Shou was reciting a stream of numbers: three hundred and forty Feng Yan explosive arrows used, four hundred and forty-three casualties, how much compensation money was needed. Also, one Origin Annihilation Spirit Talisman—what was its worth in beast crystals?
And the captured armor and spirit artifacts—how much could they fetch? He was calculating the final losses of this battle.
By the time he tallied that nearly two hundred seventh-tier beast crystals had been expended, Zong Shou’s face twisted in agony. If this expenditure had come from Qiantian Mountain, he naturally wouldn't have cared. But this investment was from his private stash. He wondered if he could get reimbursement after becoming a Demon King in the future.
Li Luo Shidan was momentarily speechless, thinking that this future Demon King of Qiantian Mountain was truly one of a kind. After a moment of hesitation, he returned the two remaining Origin Annihilation Spirit Talisman, realizing he likely couldn't wrest such an item from such a ‘formidable enemy.’ Li Luo simply shook his head and continued staring into the distance. “Congratulations, Young Lord. Your Black Fox Iron Riders have arrived. The outcome of this battle is decided, with no possibility of reversal. If you pursue them with full force, even if you cannot slay all forty thousand allied troops, you will certainly cripple the vitality of both Blazing Flame Mountain and Cloud Scar Mountain! The infantry soldiers, regardless of the cavalry, could be largely accounted for.” Hearing the words ‘Black Fox Iron Riders,’ Zong Shou snapped back to attention and gazed outward. Indeed, in his field of vision, a full thousand silver-armored knights were slowly approaching along with the three thousand Black Mountain Knights.
They were all clad in complete suits of gleaming silver chainmail. Their warhorses were clearly variant Silver-Scaled Wind-Treaders, a breed of Wind-Rider, only slightly slower than the pure Wind-Riders.
Zong Shou involuntarily gasped. Observing them from afar, these silver-armored riders were indeed all individuals skilled in both spiritual and martial cultivation, and they all belonged exclusively to the Fox Clan. Among them were three Martial Grandmasters and twenty Martial Sovereign experts.
No wonder the Black Fox Iron Riders numbered only a thousand; among the elite forces of the Eastern Lin Continent’s cities, they ranked firmly in the top three. They had never known defeat in the western regions of the Eastern Lin Continent!
He had been wondering why the spirit masters of Cloud Scar and Blazing Flame suddenly went silent. Weak Water alone couldn't account for this degree of suppression.
Now it seemed likely that the Black Fox Iron Riders had swept them all up.
His original plan was just to rout these four hundred thousand troops and be done with it. But if he had such an elite cavalry unit at his disposal, he truly had a good chance of leaving at least half of those forty thousand men behind!
However, after careful consideration, Zong Shou decisively shook his head and dismissed the thought: “These people are also part of the Demon Clan lineage; killing too many does no good for my future subordinates. Even if I force some to surrender, I don't have enough manpower to guard so many prisoners. Besides, I don't have that much spare capacity right now.”
Li Luo Shidan both were stunned. This Young Lord spoke with astonishing arrogance. He hadn't even become the Demon King of Qiantian Mountain yet, and he was already treating the people of Cloud Scar and Blazing Flame as his own subjects.
But then, recalling Zong Shou’s age, his peerless swordsmanship, and the formation-breaking technique he used to remotely control Zong Yuan, they fell silent again.
Yes, and there was Zong Yuan, an unparalleled talent. Once grown, in just a few years, perhaps no one in the cities of the Eastern Lin would be his match on the battlefield!
Since the collapse of the Di Dynasty nearly a thousand years ago, the Eastern Lin Continent had endured nearly four thousand years of warfare. Could it be that the kingdoms and cities of the Cloud Continent were destined to be unified once more under Zong Shou?
The two began to drift into reverie, but Zong Yuan paid them no mind, his gaze fixed straight ahead.
The three thousand Black Mountain Armored Riders and the Black Fox Iron Riders stopped their horses fifty zhang outside the carriage formation. Zong Yuan, leading the way, approached alongside the other handsome middle-aged man. (To be continued)