Chapter 423
Chapter 423
Hearing Jin Shiying's words, Grand General Wu Lian scoffed inwardly.
‘In your dreams. Jin Mulan will be captured, her meridians severed, and her martial arts crippled before being sent to Crown Prince Ying Yi of Yue. The fate of the Jin Clan's last remaining army is either capture or annihilation. They will never be returned.’
Jin Mulan's cold voice came from inside.
“Jin Shiying, you traitor. Think carefully. The moment you step inside, I will tear you to shreds.”
Jin Shiying said.
“I will enter alone. Kill me or spare me as you wish. But everything I say is true. The Jin Clan has no hope. Surrender!”
Jin Shiying walked to the top of the steps of the main hall of the fortress, opened a small door, and entered with his hands raised high. From within, Jin Mulan's voice was heard.
“Seize him!”
The moment he stepped inside, Jin Shiying was immediately captured.
*Thud!*
And the door slammed shut again.
Grand General Wu Lian burst out laughing at the scene.
“Hahaha! Jin Mulan is truly pathetic. To be so oblivious even at death's door. Does she think a single thin door can stop our ten-thousand-strong army? What a foolish dream! Jin Mulan, I will count down from five! If you do not open the door and surrender, we will charge in and annihilate the Jin Clan's army. Five! Four! Three! Two! One!”
The count ended. Grand General Wu Lian shouted loudly.
“All forces, charge!”
But just then.
*Thump, thump, thump, thump.*
Suddenly, something was being thrown down from above them.
*Crash, crash, crash!*
Then, all the gates around the training ground's courtyard were firmly shut. A startled Grand General Wu Lian looked up to see that the open sky above the training ground was now mostly sealed off with wooden planks.
‘Are they mad? What do they hope to achieve by sealing off half of this open-air training ground? And what on earth are they scattering down here? Is it poison? There may be many poisons in this world, but surely none can kill ten thousand men at once?’
“This seems to be ground wheat. It's flour...”
A soldier of Wu said, licking his lips. Wu Lian caught a handful of the powder from the air, opened his palm, and sniffed. It was indeed the smell of wheat. And it was very fresh, dry flour.
‘Isn't wheat used to make alcohol or cook meals? Why grind it into flour? Hahaha! Has the Jin Clan gone mad? Scattering flour all over the sky? They must be either giving it to us to eat or creating an artificial white fog as a smokescreen to blind us. But even if they fill the sky with flour to obscure our vision, it won't stop us from attacking the main hall before us. A trick like this won't prevent us from slaughtering every last one of the Jin Clan's remnants.’
*Thump, thump, thump, thump.*
The Jin Clan used nearly a hundred small catapults to frantically launch stones, and hundreds of warriors also hurled them madly. In an instant, the huge, half-enclosed training ground was filled with flour. Hundreds of thousands of catties of flour flew wildly through the air. The entire training ground was blanketed in white.
“Pfft, pfft, pfft!”
“Everyone, avoid inhaling the flour! Charge and break through the main hall! Let's kill all the remnants of the Jin Clan!”
At the command, the ten thousand soldiers of Wu charged forward frantically. However, just as the Jin Clan stopped throwing the flour, only the sound of their hurried footsteps could be heard, as if they were leaving.
At that moment, suddenly.
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.*
Dozens of flaming arrows shot down towards them with force. Grand General Wu Lian exclaimed in surprise.
“What are they trying to do with arrows?”
The flames from the dozens of arrows fiercely ignited the flour filling the air.
*BOOM!*
An earth-shattering explosion erupted, and in an instant, flames shot up to the heavens. The dark night sky was completely illuminated by the exploding fire. The force of the flour explosion surpassed even the black powder Shen Lang had created. A space of tens of thousands of square meters was instantly engulfed in flames, causing a blast that shook the very heavens and earth.
*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*
A series of smaller explosions followed. Flames repeatedly shot up to the sky. In the blink of an eye, some of the numerous Wu soldiers were blown into the air by the blast, while most collapsed in an instant, like rows of harvested barley.
*CRASH!*
The gates around the training ground, unable to withstand the pressure of the explosion, were blown away.
On Earth, countless flour explosions had occurred in various countries. Some of these escalated into massive accidents, like the one that blew up a gigantic grain silo covering hundreds of thousands of square meters. That explosion's area was ten times larger than the current training ground.
Flour mill explosions had a distinct characteristic. The flames and blast radius were astonishingly wide, but the fatality rate wasn't particularly high, nor did it flatten buildings like a bomb. The great flour explosion inside the fortress followed the same pattern. A fierce blast occurred over tens of thousands of square meters, with surrounding explosions sending flames soaring into the sky, yet the walls remained undamaged. Since the enclosure was only partial, the explosion's energy could dissipate upwards through the half-open space. Moreover, the fortress walls were incredibly thick and sturdy, so a flour explosion alone couldn't inflict critical damage.
* * *
“Aaargh!”
Inside the fortress training ground, the ten thousand soldiers of Wu lay on the ground, bloodied and wailing. The scene was too gruesome to behold. Blood was everywhere, and the stench of burnt flesh filled the air. Only about a hundred men had died in the explosion, but most had suffered severe burns. Furthermore, the concussions and ruptured eardrums from the massive blast were crippling injuries. Unable to hear anything, they writhed on the ground, screaming in agony from the unbearable pain of their burns.
Grand General Wu Lian, in agony, crawled on the ground and pushed himself up.
‘What is this...? It's too horrific.’
The sight before him was devastating. He looked again at the main hall of the fortress; several doors had been blown off by the explosion. But there was no one left inside. There must be a huge, shelter-like cellar within that hall. When the great explosion occurred, Jin Mulan must have led all her remaining troops into that cellar, and the blast would not have affected them at all.
‘A conspiracy! It was all a conspiracy. Jin Shiying's betrayal was a lie. It was a ploy to lure the main army of Wu into the fortress and wipe them out in one fell swoop.’
“Brothers, get up! Rise and fight for your lives!”
Realizing the truth, Grand General Wu Lian shouted loudly, trying to rally his soldiers, but they couldn't even stand. They could endure the severe burns, but the concussions from the blast had damaged their vestibular systems, making it impossible to get up. The soldiers lying on the ground were dizzy, vomiting and suffering from diarrhea.
“Aaaargh!”
Ten thousand men screamed and writhed on the ground. The scene resembled a school of fish caught in a net, flopping helplessly on the deck—a truly wretched sight. Just then, Jin Mulan emerged from the underground shelter with over two thousand warriors, crossed the main hall, and arrived at the training ground outside. The swords in the hands of the Jin Clan soldiers rose and fell, and the heads of enemy soldiers rolled ceaselessly to the ground. The Wu army had no strength left to resist; they were easily slaughtered as they writhed and cried out on the ground. After killing three thousand of them, Jin Mulan raised her hand and said.
“Stop! They have already lost the will to fight. Disarm them, bind them, and take them as prisoners!”
At Jin Mulan's command, Jin Shiying looked as if he wanted to say something, but ultimately held his tongue.
‘They all deserve to die, but since the young lady has ordered otherwise, I can only obey her will!’
A short while later, the several thousand surviving soldiers of Wu were all disarmed and taken prisoner.
* * *
Before the great explosion, Wu Mu, the commander of the Wu army, had noticed the sounds of battle inside the fortress growing fainter. It was a sign that the fighting was about to end. Dawn was beginning to break, and everything was finally coming to a close. Awaiting the good news Wu Lian would soon bring, Wu Mu set up the Go board again and played a game with Wu You. The battle for Raging Tide City, which had lasted for eight days and nights, was finally over.
“Will you and Jin Shiying hold your wedding in Raging Tide City? Or will you do it in the State of Wu?”
Wu Mu asked with a smile. Wu You placed a stone on the board and replied.
“It would be better to have it in Raging Tide City. This is his home, after all.”
“I'm quite looking forward to meeting Jin Mulan now. I'm curious to see what that remarkable woman will say when she becomes my prisoner. Besides, Shen Lang prided himself on pacifying the world with his divine strategies, yet in the end, he couldn't even prevent his own wife from falling into my hands. What a pathetic, laughable fool!”
People are most prone to hubris when they are most triumphant. Normally, Wu Mu was not one to make such remarks. But now, with Raging Tide City about to fall into his hands and an immortal achievement within his grasp, he couldn't contain his excitement and let those words slip out.
But just then.
*BOOM!*
A sudden, violent explosion erupted from within the great fortress before them, shaking the ground. The stones on the Go board in front of Wu Mu jumped into the air. Then, an unexpected column of fire shot up from the center of the fortress, momentarily illuminating the entire sky. Wu Mu leaped to his feet and asked in a startled voice.
“What happened? What in the world happened? Quickly, into the fortress!”
But as soon as he gave the order, he immediately changed it.
“No, do not enter the fortress! All troops, prepare for battle and await my command!”
The army Wu Mu had brought to besiege the great fortress of Raging Tide City numbered over ten thousand. At his command, the entire force snapped awake as if from a dream and immediately prepared for battle.
*BOOM!*
Another explosion roared from within the fortress, and another burst of flames erupted. Wu Mu's face turned pale, and his body grew cold as ice, trembling. A dreadful thought had crossed his mind.
‘We've been had! We've been had! Jin Shiying's betrayal was a lie. It was a scheme to lure the main force of the Wu army into the fortress and annihilate them. But how did they create such a massive explosion? What did they use? Does the Jin Clan possess such a weapon? Why didn't they use it in the previous battles?’
Wu Mu didn't know that for flour to explode, it required a specific, nearly enclosed environment, even if not perfectly sealed.
Beside Wu Mu, Wu You, who had also witnessed the explosion, turned pale as well.
“He... he deceived me. He deceived me...”
Her vision went black, and she fainted, collapsing to the ground.