Immediately after, the ground began to shake, tilting at an angle exceeding forty degrees, like a small boat in a storm.

If someone were to look down from high above at this moment, they would surely see the entire mountain plateau of Lower Yingong City with its southern edge suddenly collapsing all along the line!

That was an area of several qing of land!

More importantly, this was the front line of battle between the two armies, the forefront of Xi Kingdom’s resistance against the enemy invasion!

For Yu Haizhen, the ground a hundred zhang away fractured before her eyes. What had been solid earth crumbled into billions of tons of stone and sand, all plunging into the bottomless abyss below.

The sky falling and the earth splitting—it was exactly like this.

Her vision darkened, and her figure swayed.

The nearby officers and soldiers fared worse, either shaken so badly they couldn’t stand or so terrified by the magnitude that their legs went weak, dropping to their knees with a thud.

With a rumbling sound, thunder emanated from the abyss as countless dust particles surged upward from below, like a black dragon emerging from the mountain.

Human power cannot resist it; human hearts cannot be steadied.

Both sides, who had been fighting fiercely, froze simultaneously as if under a binding spell, soldiers unable to even move their eyes.

Among them were many battle-hardened veterans who had fought for half their lives, but when had they ever witnessed such a scene?

Cold sweat covered Yu Haizhen’s forehead. Her nails dug deeply into her palms as she barely maintained her composure: “Fall back, everyone retreat twenty zhang!”

The cliff edge had suddenly collapsed, and the ground remained unstable—a second or third landslide could follow. In terms of terrain, the collapsed cliff was to the front right of the land bridge. The Yan forces’ bombardment had been skillful; though their path forward had narrowed, the Xi army’s losses were far greater.

Those were Xi Kingdom’s last elite forces—tens of thousands gone in an instant. Witnessing this scene, how many soldiers dropped their weapons with a clang, never to pick them up again?

Originally, everyone had been resisting the Yan forces with fierce courage, but who didn’t know the situation was already lost? After seeing how many comrades’ lives were swallowed in an instant by the mountain collapse, who could still have any fighting spirit?

Yu Haizhen could feel the already limited elemental power remaining in the Ji Artifact diminishing drastically once more.

After receiving the order, the Xi forces standing at the cliff edge quickly retreated and began to rebuild defensive fortifications. Otherwise, there was nothing left on the bare cliff edge.

The painstakingly established city defenses had fallen down the mountain. Now Lower Yingong City was like a girl with her skirt torn off, with nothing to block the advancing enemy forces.

Yu Haizhen’s decision was made out of necessity—the cliff edge continued to break and fall, making it impossible to station troops there.

But at this moment, someone standing on the high platform of Upper Yingong City witnessed everything and was so angry he stomped his feet repeatedly. His orders quickly reached Yu Haizhen:

“Go up, everyone go block the bridge entrance! If the Yan forces come in, we’re certainly dead!”

Hadn’t this fool just said in the evening that he was leaving the front lines to her management? Now he was giving orders again. Yu Haizhen gave a cold laugh. Seeing that the cliff edge had temporarily stopped breaking, she commanded the troops to continue advancing. “Order Generals Shi and Qi to lead their men up to guard the land bridge.”

The Yan forces had also recovered their senses. Now their morale was high, shouting as they charged forward.

Wasn’t this just like divine assistance?

Once they took the bridgehead, Xi Kingdom would truly be finished. Even if another earth-splitting event happened now, Yu Haizhen couldn’t allow the army to retreat a single step.

The remaining sections of the city wall could no longer withstand the Yan forces pouring in like a flood, collapsing in an instant. Thus, the advance forces of Xi and Yan finally crashed together directly and without pretense, engaging in close combat.

The further forward one went, the clearer the tragic and chaotic nature of war became.

Feng Miaojun had a strange sense of déjà vu as if she had returned to Yinzi City three months ago, the day the Yao people broke through the Yao capital. A foreboding premonition suddenly arose from the depths of her heart.

It was the thick anger and despair that shrouded the military camp and this battlefield.

People were dying here every moment, their departed souls restlessly circling and howling at their places of death; and the living in the Xi military camp all knew that, like this mighty city, they were merely prolonging their inevitable demise. This battle—they had already lost it, with no hope of turning the tide.

Soldiers differed from civilians. Civilians who had lived through three months of artillery fire gradually became accustomed to it and developed the illusion that Yingong City’s natural defenses could always be relied upon. But only soldiers directly facing the war knew that Xi Kingdom was going to lose, beyond salvation.

What Feng Miaojun sensed was this oppressive and dark emotion.

Having mastered the Devil Magic Secrets, she was particularly sensitive to fluctuations in human souls and emotions, and could easily see lingering spirit forms. Just then, a dead soul flew past her; judging by the battle armor it wore, its rank in life had not been low. She grabbed this dead soul as if catching something tangible. It instinctively struggled in her grasp, but she poked its brow with a finger, immediately causing it to freeze.

Then, her vocal tone changed strangely: “Where is State Preceptor Yu Haizhen? Take me to her.”

Her voice, to the living, was so sharp it made one want to spit blood, but this dead soul shuddered, stopped struggling, and respectfully bowed to her.

Feng Miaojun released her grip, and it floated away, seeming to lead the way.

Seeing that its chosen direction was still southward, she knew her initial judgment had been correct.

But halfway there, several consecutive cannon blasts suddenly came from ahead, followed by a deep, strange sound that seemed to rise from the center of the earth. The entire area trembled, like a person cut by a blade, writhing in pain.

She had never heard such a sound before, but her heart felt extremely uncomfortable, as if being forcefully squeezed, making it difficult even to breathe.

Only the power of heaven and earth could exert such pressure on a cultivator!

After this series of sounds, the vast military camp fell silent, as if all sound had vanished from the world.

Feng Miaojun abandoned the dead soul and rushed toward the source of the sound. A major change had occurred, undoubtedly due to the Yan forces’ machinations. Yu Haizhen was still at the front lines—she had to hurry!

At this time, the delayed effects of the mountain collapse began to spread throughout the camp, with panic everywhere. The Xi forces were unlike the former Yao people; the latter knew reinforcements would arrive in days and still had hope and determination to hold Yinzi City. But the Xi people understood that after such a long struggle, all their reinforcements had been defeated by the Yan forces, with only one Wei army left to fight alongside them.

This war, even if fought to the end, would be tragic and hopeless.

Thus, in the logistics camp, all the previously busy operations suddenly halted. Some people facing south dropped everything in their hands and simply sat down.

Since they were going to lose anyway, why continue to work?

If not for Yingong City’s peculiar geographical location, with nowhere to flee and nowhere to retreat, there might have been many desertions or rebellions by now.