Chapter 521 - 452: Fire Prison Canyon

Chapter 521: Chapter 452: Fire Prison Canyon

"Lord Bai..."

Lu Wu looked at Bai Yuan, his eyes filled with worry.

The Tiger and Leopard Camp were his men, too, so he truly didn’t want to see them decimated here before they had even laid eyes on the enemy.

Soldiers should die on the battlefield!

"Lord Bai, why don’t we rest for one more day? At least that way, fewer men will die."

Lu Wu finally offered his suggestion.

Bai Yuan spoke calmly, "No. We must enter now. We will reach the Wunan Country tonight."

"Yes, sir!"

Seeing his suggestion rejected by Bai Yuan, Lu Wu’s expression became resolute once more.

Obeying orders was a soldier’s sacred duty. Even if it meant marching to their deaths, they had no choice but to comply.

On the battlefield, military discipline is paramount.

An army without discipline is like a heap of loose sand, incapable of exerting any real power. That was why in the Zhenxi Army, all soldiers had to unconditionally obey their superiors’ orders. Otherwise, they would be executed on the spot for insubordination.

Bai Yuan tightened his grip on the reins.

"Hah!"

The great army slowly advanced into Fire Prison Canyon.

The moment they entered the canyon, the surrounding scenery changed instantly. An invisible force seemed to pierce right through to the bone.

At first, it was just a faint, stinging pain.

But after a few hundred yards, the sensation grew more and more distinct, like millions of ants gnawing at their bones.

Soon, nearly every soldier wore an expression of agony, though they gritted their teeth and endured.

Bai Yuan felt the strangeness within his own body.

As a Mingxin Grandmaster, he had long been impervious to external evils, and that naturally included the Bone-Eroding Wind.

The Bone-Eroding Wind was useless against a Mingxin Grandmaster, but for any Martial Artist below that level, it was an almost indefensible killing blow.

A quarter of an hour passed.

The Tiger and Leopard Camp was finally starting to falter.

The first soldier fell.

Lu Wu watched the pale-faced soldier collapse to the ground. "Lord Bai..."

Bai Yuan didn’t respond to Lu Wu, his expression as impassive as ever.

Lu Wu sighed internally.

’Lord Bai is just as cold-blooded as the rumors say. The fallen soldier had no effect on him at all.’

"Continue the march."

Bai Yuan said flatly.

Lu Wu knelt and checked the soldier’s breathing. He was still faintly breathing, but it was now nearly impossible for him to make it through Fire Prison Canyon.

He gritted his teeth.

He hoisted the soldier onto his one remaining right arm and hurried to catch up with Bai Yuan.

He was at the Perception Realm. Although the Bone-Eroding Wind was excruciating for him, he could still manage.

But as he walked on, Lu Wu noticed something peculiar.

The journey was somehow getting easier and easier.

Soon, his eyes lit up in realization.

’It’s the pills Lord Bai gave us!’

Lu Wu felt a warm current rise from his Dantian, minimizing the harm from the Bone-Eroding Wind. At this rate, it was possible that even a Blood Refining Martial Master could make it through.

The other soldiers of the Tiger and Leopard Camp also felt this change.

The despair in their eyes was replaced by a renewed vigor.

Lu Wu stared at Bai Yuan in disbelief.

’Lord Bai actually managed to create a way to resist the Bone-Eroding Wind...’

He had guarded Ximo for decades.

He knew Ximo all too well. For millennia, the Bone-Eroding Wind had been an unsolvable problem, yet here it was, nullified by the small pills Bai Yuan had concocted.

’Lord Bai is just too capable!’

His martial arts, saber techniques, Body Technique, and even his Alchemy—all had reached a transcendent level.

Before entering the canyon, Bai Yuan had ordered them to eat all the rations they had.

Among them were the Spirit Pills mixed with Thunder Spirit.

All things in nature generate and overcome one another.

Wind overcomes Earth, Thunder overcomes Wind, Water overcomes Fire, Earth overcomes Water, and Fire overcomes Thunder.

That was why he had already begun refining Thunder Spirit Pills back in Lonely Wolf City.

However, Thunder Spirit was a rare type of spirit. Even as a Spirit Chef, he couldn’t produce too many Thunder Spirit Pills—enough for a thousand men at most. That was why he had brought this thousand-man unit from the Tiger and Leopard Camp.

The lineage of Spirit Chefs had long since vanished into the dust of history.

Therefore, he was very likely the only person in the world who knew how to neutralize the Bone-Eroding Wind.

An hour later.

Lu Wu finally saw a sliver of light at the end of the canyon, growing ever closer.

...

"Grand General, Ximo attacked our right flank! We have over five hundred casualties."

A soldier knelt on one knee inside the main tent.

"I know."

Gao Xiong said slowly.

Kongshan had finally made his move.

For the past five days, the allied forces of Ximo had simply made camp, showing little activity. This sudden attack was merely a small-scale raid by a force of a thousand men.

Liu Ancheng said coldly, "Kongshan is trying to bleed the Zhenxi Army’s morale."

He saw through Kongshan’s intentions.

Ximo was the attacker; the Zhenxi Army, the defender.

The defenders were protecting their homes and their country. Their morale was naturally more stable than the attackers’, and their spirit more potent.

If they were to clash now, even if Ximo won, it would be a pyrrhic victory.

Furthermore, the Ximo army was a coalition of ten nations. Once the losses became too great for any single nation to bear, the alliance would crumble, and they would be defeated without a proper war.

Thus, they needed to avoid a direct confrontation.

Therefore, Kongshan first engaged the Zhenxi Army in a standoff, then used elite cavalry to harass them, trying to exasperate the Zhenxi Army and wear down the soldiers’ patience.

One of the Zhenxi Army’s generals exclaimed in fury, "Grand General, I request permission to lead my troops out of the city and fight those Ximo barbarians!"

Gao Xiong didn’t even lift his gaze.

Liu Ancheng glanced at the general. "Go out? To your death? Who do you think you can beat?"

These three questions made the general even more furious.

"Then what should we do? Just cower in our shells like turtles and let those Ximo barbarians slowly slice us to pieces with a dull knife?"

"I’d rather die fighting on the battlefield!"

Another general sneered, "Zhao the Third, if you want to die, go out there by yourself. If you don’t, then just listen to the strategist. The Grand General hasn’t even spoken. What nonsense are you spouting?"

"Qian the Sixth, you...!"

He watched the two men who were on the verge of coming to blows.