Within the dark mass of Western Ling army formations below the city, horn sounds suddenly blew. Drums on the war chariots rumbled like thunder.

The military formations originally divided into front, middle, and rear sections no longer maintained their formation in the drum sounds. Like a surging black torrent in a rainstorm, they finally merged into one vast black ocean, building towering waves that shook toward Gele City’s tower ahead with overwhelming momentum.

The soldiers on the city tower who had just rallied their morale and withstood the previous round of fierce attack all paled at the sight, their lips trembling, not knowing how to respond.

Mu Youliang, the veteran general who had galloped across battlefields for decades, also showed a moment of defeat on his face upon seeing this situation. But he quickly composed himself and shouted deeply: “Crossbowmen prepare!

“Catapults prepare!”

The city tower had just completed one round of clearing. The Western Ling soldiers who had climbed up the scaling ladders onto the tower had all been annihilated, and the scaling ladders against the battlements had been doused with oil and burned clean.

After Mu Youliang’s shout, the soldiers terrified by the scene below all came back to their senses. Those moving supplies hurriedly continued rushing down the city to move supplies, while the crossbowmen standing at the embrasures of the city tower forcibly suppressed their fear and pulled the triggers of their mechanical crossbows. In an instant, arrows like locusts, like nails, densely rained down from above the city tower in long arcs.

Among the charging Western Ling soldiers below, people continuously fell in this arrow rain, but the great army behind showed not the slightest slowdown and continued pressing forward.

When corpses were trampled over, it was as if they were merely grass and trees crushed by this massive military organism.

That scene was truly chilling to behold.

He Yi was clearly telling them all that even if she had to fill the way with mountains of corpses and seas of blood, she could rely on superior numbers to bring the Western Ling army right beneath Gele City!

Wen Yu used the dragon banner to hold the formation and boost the morale of the city’s defending army—she used this method to scatter their morale again!

Her method indeed proved effective. When the archers on the city tower continued releasing arrows, they clearly trembled severely from fear, their accuracy far worse than before.

And as the Western Ling army advanced to this point, they also reached bow and arrow range. They used round shields to protect the archers in the rear ranks. Those arrows like flying locusts shot through the gaps between round shields, instantly bringing down a swath of defenders on the city tower.

Across the hunting banners and rain of arrows filling the sky, Wen Yu gazed at He Yi seated steadily on the war chariot below. The latter made no effort to conceal the ambition and provocation in her eyes.

Wen Yu’s face was pale and cold, like a jade statue of a goddess observing this mortal world without joy or sorrow. In her eyes was faint compassion, yet there also seemed to be something else—through fierce fire’s burning, the dust-covered gold and black shell had cracked and shattered, leaving only boundless sharp determination.

A stray arrow shot directly at her. Zhao Bai cleaved it with her sword. Disheveled hair floated before her eyes as she shouted sharply: “Protect the Princess!”

The Azure Cloud Guards immediately formed a fan-shaped position, protecting Wen Yu tightly in the center.

Mu Youliang looked at the tragic situation at the battlements and urgently called orders: “Crossbowmen fill in!

“Catapults!”

Following his command, rolling stones launched from over ten catapults traced arcs through the sky. When they smashed into the ground, they stirred up clouds of dust.

But the catapults’ accuracy wasn’t good. Of the dozen or so rolling stones launched, only two or three could hit the small Western Ling military units advancing with round shields overhead.

Trying to block one hundred twenty thousand troops’ attack this way was truly difficult.

The lead drummer beneath the dragon banner, whether from fear or excessive exhaustion, beat increasingly frantic and chaotic rhythms. Sweat rolled down his forehead like beads.

On the battlefield, drum beats were military orders. When the drum beats became chaotic, military morale also became unstable.

The wind in the great desert was extremely strong. When it swept across the city tower, it blew the iron caltrops hanging on the dragon banner against the flagpole, making clanging sounds.

The next instant, a stray arrow pierced through the lead drummer’s throat. He collapsed with blood gushing from his mouth.

The drumming abruptly stopped. After brief shock, the remaining drummers forcibly suppressed their fear and continued beating the war drums. However, without the lead drummer’s guidance, the drum sounds became even more chaotic and frantic.

The Western Ling army below the city continued charging with undiminished momentum. The thundering sound of horse hooves, the killing roars like mountains calling and seas howling, invaded everyone’s senses like an inescapable nightmare, stretching nerves taut to their absolute limit.

Archers at the embrasures were continuously struck by stray arrows. The soldiers still strove desperately to defend the city, but the panic in their hearts seemed completely uncontrollable amid those chaotic drum beats, spreading like plague.

The soldiers fighting to the death below the city against the previous wave of Western Ling forces who had broken through the wall were also being cut down one by one.

Gu Xiyun’s twin sabers thrust and pierced like swimming dragons, yet still couldn’t block the Western Ling army’s tide-like offensive. When dodging spears and halberds, her entire body leaned backward, and a long diagonal gash was cut across her face.

Behind her, at the collapsed western barbican wall, the city’s defending army could no longer spare attention to fill it. Covered in blood and sweat, they desperately swung hammers to nail wood onto the damaged city gate, racing against time to repair the inner city gate that had been half destroyed. But that new wave of Western Ling troops charging forward through the arrow rain was already drawing closer and closer to the city tower.

“Crossbowmen continue releasing arrows!”

Mu Youliang shouted loudly on the city tower, conveying military orders one after another, trying to stabilize the situation, but the effect was minimal.

That string kept tightening continuously, as if something would soon snap.

“General Mu! The Princess has a plan that can temporarily frustrate the enemy!” An Azure Cloud Guard broke through layers of human walls and ran to Mu Youliang’s side amid the chaos to relay the message.

Boom—

A heavy drum beat sounded, as if some fatal rhythm had finally been interrupted. Spirits stretched taut to the extreme and nearly departing the body fell back into their shells.

Mu Youliang looked at that Azure Cloud Guard with lingering shock and uncertainty. The other only spoke two words: “Fire attack.”

Boom boom—

Two more urgent yet powerful drum beats sounded. All those chaotic drum sounds disappeared.

The Azure Cloud Guard had already withdrawn. Mu Youliang looked back and saw that on the high platform, beneath the black-and-gold dragon banner, that Great Liang Princess who shouldered the altars of state of two kingdoms with her slender arms had rolled up the wide sleeves of her ceremonial robes high, grasped the drum mallet, and was striking the war drum before her heavily, one beat after another.

Though clearly wearing the wide ceremonial robe, it couldn’t conceal her slender frame, yet the drum sounds she struck out were steady, vigorous, and magnificent.

Wind swept up Wen Yu’s long hair behind her. She gazed at the war drum before her, eyes unwavering, only swinging the mallet again and again. Within the resonant drum sounds hid killing intent.

It even gave one the illusion that she was beating the drum to challenge Heaven.

Heaven wanted to destroy both Liang and Chen kingdoms—she would contend with Heaven for this thread of survival!

The soldiers fighting to the death above and below the city tower turned back because of these drum sounds. When they saw it was Wen Yu beating the drums, everyone’s chest shook with the pounding of the drums, yet they were all struck speechless.

Dragon banner holding formation, the sovereign beating drums.

Even if this battle was lost, beneath Gele City there would only remain crimson blood and white bones!

The moment Gu Xiyun, lying back on her horse, saw the black and crimson robe hems billowing in the wind on the city tower, something like water seemed to overflow from her eyes. But it was quickly replaced by a bloody killing intent. Ignoring the mottled bloodstains on her face, she flipped up from horseback, speared through a Western Ling soldier attacking her, and with surging ferocity in her eyes, roared: “Kill—”

The Liang army soldiers behind her, as if they too had had enough of this unwillingness, roared likewise: “Kill—”

The Western Ling army below was still closing in. Soldiers transporting city defense equipment brought barrel after barrel of sealed oil onto the city tower. As they loaded them onto the catapults, the Western Ling main force had also entered firing range. Mu Youliang decisively shouted: “Catapults! Launch oil barrels!

“Fire arrows! Release!”

In those soul-stirring drum sounds, barrel after barrel of oil was launched by catapults. Fire arrows followed immediately after. The battlefield instantly resounded with successive thunderous explosions. Then flames spread open. Countless Western Ling soldiers were burned by the heat waves, screaming and rolling on the ground trying to extinguish the flames on their bodies.

The defending army on the city tower took advantage of this gap to continue shooting random arrows, blocking the Western Ling army behind from advancing.

Seeing this sudden change on the battlefield, He Yi was so angry she kicked over a low table and stood up from the tiger-skin throne, glaring coldly at the woman beating drums on the high platform of the city tower, shouting deeply: “Bring me my bow!”

Personal guards quickly brought He Yi’s special war bow. She nocked an arrow to the drawn bow, the gleaming cold arrow point aimed directly at Wen Yu: “Dying under this princess’s arrow, Hanyang, you won’t be wronged.”

The sharp arrow left the bowstring, leaving only the bowstring of the great bow in her hands still trembling.

The sound of wind breaking through air wrapped with killing intent closed in. Wen Yu still didn’t look sideways. The drum mallet wasn’t light. Fortunately, she had always practiced strengthening her muscles and bones in daily life, so she wasn’t unable to wield this drum mallet.

But prolonged arm swinging had made her shoulders and arms so sore and numb they were covered in needle-like stabbing pains. Her tiger’s mouth had also split and bled from forcefully beating the drums.

But she still had no intention of stopping. Only sweat slid down from her temples, falling onto the city bricks beneath her feet along with the drum sounds.

Until weapons and warfare ceased, the war drum sounds would not cease.

That fatal arrow was fiercely cleaved apart by Zhao Bai’s drawn sword. The arrowhead even maintained its force and deeply embedded itself in the city bricks below.

She raised her head, staring coldly and fiercely in the direction of He Yi’s war chariot.

He Yi clearly didn’t believe this was impossible. She drew the bow again like a full moon, and a quiver of gray-feathered arrows were all shot out by her plucking the string, each arrow carrying tremendous force sufficient to shatter stone.

Zhao Bai drew out with a “zheng” the other long blade she carried on her back. Using both blade and sword, she hacked and cleaved all arrows shooting close, whether blade technique or sword technique flowing like rainbows, clearly dancing out an impenetrable steel net. Around her, over ten more Azure Cloud Guards stood guard with swords, blocking stray arrows for Wen Yu.

He Yi quickly threw down the great bow in her hands in anger, heavily slapped the railing in front of the war chariot, and shouted fiercely: “Calibrate the ballistae! I don’t believe they can also block ballista giant arrows!”

She knew well that all of Gele City’s current morale came from Wen Yu.

As long as Wen Yu died, all of Gele City would once again become scattered sand.

She had indeed lost some composure. That one hundred twenty thousand troops sweeping across this dilapidated city tower were still obstructed to this extent—it truly was an utter humiliation!

Seeing the Western Ling army formation pushing all the ballistae forward, Mu Youliang also understood their purpose and immediately shouted: “Catapults aim at their ballistae and smash them!”

The soldiers on the city tower responsible for calibrating catapult accuracy immediately took distant aim at those ballistae below.

He Yi noticed this. She ran down from the war chariot, yanked away a soldier who was calibrating a ballista, and shouted coldly: “Move aside! This princess will do it personally!”