Chapter 756
Chapter 756
The massive explosion made Zhong Yao and Zhong Yue jump in alarm, but fortunately, the fortress gate remained intact. Big Dummy, who had retreated a hundred meters, ran back to the gate and found only a single hole blasted into the stone. He pulled out another two hundred jin of thermite, packed it all into the large hole in the massive stone gate, and lit it.
*BOOM!*
At a glance, it looked as if the stone gate was burning fiercely. Stone has a melting point and can glow red-hot and melt, but melting through a gate nearly a foot thick was an incredibly difficult task. This time, by concentrating a huge amount of thermite in the large hole, the spot finally began to glow red and melt after several long minutes. Shortly after, the thermite burned out, leaving an area over a foot wide around the hole glowing crimson. Big Dummy raised his blacksteel staff and began to strike the gate, while from atop the walls, the enemy continued to rain down all sorts of projectiles on him.
*Thud, thud, thud, thud.*
After being heated red-hot, the stone gate was no longer as sturdy as before. A large hole formed under Big Dummy’s assault, and finally, it was breached. Big Dummy stuck his head through the opening to see what was beyond. In that instant, he was dumbfounded.
Was the Zhong Clan insane? They had piled countless rocks behind the stone gate, sealing it completely. But what did that matter? Big Dummy got busy, following the orders Shen Lang had left him. He endured the barrage from the fortress walls, making several trips to carry over the gunpowder. With each trip, he brought one crate, each weighing a hefty two hundred jin. Soon, several crates were gathered, and over a thousand jin of gunpowder was stuffed in front of the gate. Throughout this entire process, the Zhong Clan warriors on the walls continued to attack Big Dummy relentlessly.
“Fire! Use fire arrows! Hit those crates!”
Though the Zhong Clan didn't know exactly what was inside the crates, they could guess that fire arrows might set them off. But all their attempts were in vain. Big Dummy raised a large shield, blocking the front of the crates and preventing any fire arrows from hitting their mark. Watching Big Dummy repeatedly shove the strange crates into the gate, Zhong Yao felt a growing sense of dread.
“Zhong Yue, let’s go stop him.”
At last, the two peak masters, Zhong Yao and Zhong Yue, leaped down from the fortress walls to intercept Big Dummy. Both were martial artists nearing the grandmaster level, so Big Dummy was immediately at a disadvantage. As was always the case when he faced peak masters, he took a beating at the start. But after he had endured for about a hundred seconds, his opponents would be finished.
A moment later, Mulan leaped in, and the four of them became entangled in a frantic battle. The martial skills of Zhong Yue and Zhong Yao were superior to Mulan’s and Big Dummy’s. However, Mulan’s movements were astonishingly fast. She could sense which direction an attack was coming from and move her body like lightning, making it impossible for them to land a blow. And Big Dummy? He was the type to get hit until a grandmaster was exhausted.
*I can’t beat you, but I’m incredibly patient. As long as you can’t kill me, your internal energy will eventually run out.*
“Jin Mulan, your opponent is me!”
A clear shout rang out, and a crimson shadow leaped down from the fortress walls. It was Zhong Sisi. She had been eager to come down and kill Mulan for some time. The two had often been compared; in terms of looks and figure, they were both similarly beautiful, but Zhong Sisi’s martial arts were stronger, and her status was more noble. Moreover, Mulan had lost to Zhong Sisi in a past duel, a fact Zhong Sisi had always gloated about. But now, unexpectedly, Jin Mulan’s martial arts had grown stronger, she had become even more beautiful, and her figure was so stunning it seemed unreal. Zhong Sisi was intensely jealous of Jin Mulan.
*Who do you think you are? I am the greatest beauty in the State of Yue!*
Watching the battle, Zhong Sisi saw that Jin Mulan was at a disadvantage and immediately descended to surround her. She thought she had seized a golden opportunity and intended to deliver a fatal blow to Jin Mulan.
“Sisi, go back!” Zhong Yao shouted in alarm, seeing Zhong Sisi suddenly join the fray.
Zhong Sisi’s sword, as if performing a celestial’s dance, thrust toward Mulan through the air like a bolt of lightning.
*Jin Mulan, last time my palm strike shattered your bones. This time, I will run you through.*
“Die!”
Zhong Sisi’s sword stabbed toward Jin Mulan’s chest, but in the next moment, Mulan’s incredibly long leg shot up and kicked Zhong Sisi in the waist. It was too fast to defend against; at least, with Zhong Sisi’s current skill, she couldn't block it.
“Pfft!”
Zhong Sisi spat out a mouthful of blood and let out a wretched scream. Her beautiful body flew dozens of meters like a kite in the wind. Having just leaped down from the wall, she was kicked by Mulan right back up onto it, where she collapsed to the ground.
“I… I…”
Zhong Sisi coughed up several more mouthfuls of crimson blood before passing out completely. She had been defeated by Mulan in a single second.
***
Despite the brief interruption, the battle between the four continued. Amidst the fight, Zhong Yao discovered what made Jin Mulan so fearsome. Her internal energy was clearly weaker than his, and her level of martial attainment was not as high. But her movements were too nimble and fast, and her beautifully curved body was filled with an astonishing elasticity, allowing her to leap over ten meters with a light bounce. Moreover, she had an ability to sense danger in advance, which made it impossible to harm her. He couldn't land a single sword strike, and instead had to constantly guard against her attacks. Zhong Yao had never in his life seen someone move with such agility and speed.
While he couldn’t land a single blow on Jin Mulan, Big Dummy simply let himself be hit.
*I’m wearing steel armor half an inch thick. If you can pierce me with your sword, I’ll admit defeat.*
*Swish, swish, swish, swish.*
Masters from the Zhong Clan continuously leaped down from the walls. Soon, a hundred masters were confronting Big Dummy and Mulan. Then, the slaughter began. The Nirvana Army unleashed a volley of arrows, and Big Dummy turned his back to Zhong Yue as if inviting him to strike. Then, he swung his blacksteel staff and began a great massacre.
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.*
A storm of arrows rained down. Except for the absolute peak masters, ordinary martial artists could not withstand the volleys from the Nirvana Army.
*Thud, thud, thud, thud.*
The First Nirvana Army advanced. These powerful, heavily armored infantry formed a tortoise-shell formation with their shields and escorted a dozen more crates of gunpowder toward the gate.
“Stop them! Stop them!” the Zhong Clan’s main force shouted from the walls.
Countless arrows rained down, and rocks and cauldrons of oil were hurled. But the First Nirvana Army paid no mind to the casualties. When hot oil was poured on them, the boiling liquid, with its astonishing temperature, would seep through the gaps in their thick armor and burn their skin, despite their protection. Yet they did not dodge or hide, steadfastly maintaining their steel formation as they stuffed the remaining two thousand jin of gunpowder into the hole in the gate.
“Retreat! Retreat!”
This would be enough. At Jin Mulan's command, the First Nirvana Army withdrew, followed by Big Dummy, and finally, Jin Mulan retreated like a flash of lightning. Seeing this, Zhong Yao sensed a terrible premonition and shouted loudly.
“Pour water on the gate! Water!”
Bucket after bucket of water was lowered on ropes from the top of the wall. Dozens of Zhong Clan warriors grabbed the buckets, intending to douse the hole in the gate. Normally, they could have poured water on the gunpowder from inside, but to completely block any enemy intrusion, the Zhong Clan had sealed the gate from within with rocks.
“Block the hole in the gate!”
The Zhong Clan warriors who had jumped down to fight Big Dummy and Mulan raised their shields and tried to block the hole Big Dummy had made. But it was all for naught. Jin Mulan swiftly drew her bow and fired a series of arrows, which Zhong Yao and Zhong Yue desperately blocked. The two were truly formidable, managing to block all of Mulan’s arrows with their shields. Then, with one thick shield, they finally covered the hole in the gate. Only then could they breathe a sigh of relief.
*Swish.*
But just then, Mulan suddenly fired another arrow.
*Thud.*
The massive, two-meter-long arrow struck the shield covering the hole in the gate, embedding itself three inches deep. Her arrow had been blocked by the shield, but in the next instant…
*BOOM!*
The arrowhead suddenly ignited and exploded. Thermite flames shot into the hole in the gate, scattering in all directions. Inside, over three thousand jin of gunpowder, placed by Big Dummy and the First Nirvana Army, was packed tightly. Every hair on Zhong Yao’s body stood on end. He instinctively sensed mortal danger and used all his internal energy to leap madly to one side.
*BOOM!*
An earth-shattering roar erupted, and the entire ground shook. The whole area around the gate suddenly swelled, and the thick stone gate was sent flying. The countless rocks blocking the gate were also forcefully blasted away. Hundreds of Zhong Clan warriors, both inside and outside the gate, were caught in the explosion. They were tossed about like scarecrows, spewing crimson blood in mid-air as their bones shattered.
*Crash, crash, crash.*
The countless rocks that had been launched into the air rained back down, and the thick stone gate flew over ten meters before crashing violently to the ground, crushing a dozen men into pulp. Zhong Yao and Zhong Yue both escaped the shocking blast wave, but their ears rang violently, and they could hear nothing but a deafening hum. A wave of dizziness washed over them, and their vision went black—a classic sign of a concussion. Because Zhong Yao was such a powerful master, he only suffered a mild concussion despite being so close to the explosion. But the Zhong Clan soldiers on the walls were all thrown to the ground by the blast, their fates unknown. The scene was like a vision from hell.
***
The gate of Zhenxi Fortress was finally breached. Thousands of jin of gunpowder had finally shattered the gate and brought down the fortress wall. How to describe this? To an outsider, the power of the gunpowder seemed immense, but Shen Lang would have sighed at how weak it was. A shortage of saltpeter ore meant this was all the gunpowder they could produce. High-grade explosives all required saltpeter ore, and the saltpeter scraped from latrines was far too little. Still, it was enough to destroy the Zhenxi Fortress gate.
“Enter the fortress!”
At Jin Mulan’s command, the Second Nirvana Army assembled and advanced into the fortress. Big Dummy once again took the lead, plowing through all enemies like a tank. The First Nirvana Army surrounded the Second, acting as a moving wall of steel, while the Second Nirvana Army fired their bows from within, allowing them to easily push into Zhenxi Fortress. No matter how fearlessly the Zhong Clan army fought, desperately trying to stop the Nirvana Army from entering, their efforts were meaningless.
Once the enemy lost the protection of their walls, the First Nirvana Army was invincible in close combat, and the Second Nirvana Army was invincible at range. Another one-sided slaughter unfolded. In truth, the Nirvana Army only had a few hundred thousand arrows left, but the Zhong Clan’s defending force numbered only ten thousand.
Two hours later, Zhenxi Fortress had completely fallen, and the Zhong Clan’s defending army of nearly ten thousand was almost entirely annihilated. Jin Mulan stormed the Marquis of Zhenxi's estate and captured over five hundred members of the Zhong Clan.