Chapter 591: This Niu's Heart Grows Cold!

How had it come to this?

Cao Yuer could not make sense of it. Had someone leaked word in advance?

What worried her now was that since Niu Youdao clearly knew what was happening, was he even still inside the villa? Or had he already hidden himself somewhere in the mountains?

But she could not order a retreat. Without Ga Miaoshui's command, if Feihua Pavilion dared withdraw halfway through the operation, the consequences were not something Feihua Pavilion could bear.

She could only grit her teeth and keep charging forward. Circulating her power, she shouted at the top of her voice, “Rush through! Quickly!”

Atop the mountain, Su Jieren gauged the speed of the enemy's advance and calculated the range of his own arrow coverage. Once they reached the proper distance, the sword in his hand swept out again, issuing the attack order in advance according to the lead he had judged by eye.

The timing could be neither too early nor too late. Only a commander seasoned by real battlefield slaughter possessed the experience to judge such things.

The signalman beside him immediately began waving the command flag.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

War drums thundered below. Almost simultaneously, drums erupted all around the defensive lines encircling Maolu Villa.

At the sound of the drums, the officers in the formations below drew their swords, pointed them forward, and roared until their voices cracked.

“Loose!”

Ten thousand arrows rose toward the sky at once.

Bowstrings thrummed in unison, and an endless storm of hissing shafts tore through the air. Gathered together, the sheer force of so many arrows disturbing the wind was astonishing. Dense black shadows flashed overhead in a sight many cultivators had never witnessed before.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Soldiers swung wooden mallets down hard onto the release mechanisms of the siege crossbows.

With deep humming vibrations, five steel spears shot from every siege crossbow.

Row after row of steel spears tore through the sky with the force of mountains collapsing and seas overturning.

For this interception, Yuan Gang had brought out every reserve arrow stockpiled in the area. Whether a soldier was a dedicated archer or not did not matter. If he knew how to shoot a bow, he could be used.

A massed arrow formation like this did not require precision marksmanship either. All that mattered was obeying orders and sending the arrows into the designated area to blanket it.

Yuan Gang had turned almost the entire force of tens of thousands into archers.

He understood the situation very clearly. The imperial court could not possibly send a conventional army deep into Nanzhou without being discovered. Anyone capable of infiltrating through the mountains to attack them would inevitably be cultivators. At close range, the garrison had no chance against large numbers of cultivators. Only bows and crossbows striking from a distance could give ordinary troops the advantage.

Hissing arrows covered the sky like rain.

Combined with the downward acceleration of their descent, the arrows struck with greater force than shafts fired directly on a flat trajectory. The mass of cultivators rushing forward instantly fell into disorder.

Some slashed out sword qi to block them. Some struck with their palms to blast the arrows aside. Others circulated protective aura to withstand the storm.

But once forced to act and cast techniques in midair to defend themselves, they could no longer keep qi gathered into wings for flight.

At the front of the attacking formation, the first rank of archers completed a volley and immediately dropped to one knee, drawing fresh arrows and setting them to their strings.

“Loose!”

At the commander's shout, the archers in the second formation immediately followed with another full volley. The moment they fired, they too dropped to one knee and reached for fresh arrows.

“Loose!”

The commander shouted again.

The rear formation sent yet another wave of arrows into the sky.

By then, the archers in the first formation had already risen and drawn their bows again, while the second formation was standing up behind them.

Another torrent of arrows surged overhead.

Three waves rotated in succession, each rising as the previous fell, maintaining an unbroken rhythm of volleys and giving the attackers no chance to breathe.

Under the ceaseless rain of arrows coming straight at them, Feihua Pavilion's charging cultivators could no longer gather qi into wings and skim through the air. The arrow storm forced them onto the ground, where they had to run while dodging left and right.

Protective aura could not endure such continuous erosion forever.

One person after another was shot down.

Dignified cultivators were being killed by the bows and crossbows of ordinary mortals they regarded as ants. Who knew how many witnesses stared with eyes nearly splitting from rage?

More terrifying still were the steel spears descending from above.

Those truly came down bearing the force of a thousand jun. A Foundation Establishment cultivator's protective aura might withstand the overall impact, but it could not withstand the penetrating force concentrated onto the spear's single point.

“Sect Leader, this won't work! We're using our weakness to smash against their strength! If we keep charging, Feihua Pavilion will suffer catastrophic losses. Withdraw!”

Clang-clang-clang!

A Feihua Pavilion Elder roared as he knocked aside a swath of arrows. But in the confusion, a steel spear plunged down from above and punched straight through his chest.

He toppled backward, yet did not even fall.

The spear had gone through his body and driven into the ground, propping him upright.

Puff!

Another steel spear pierced through him.

His body convulsed as blood spilled from his mouth.

The next instant, a storm of arrows turned him into a hedgehog.

The ground had already become a forest of arrows standing like thorns.

Cao Yuer, who witnessed it with her own eyes, cried out in grief, “Elder Xie!”

“Sect Leader, careful!”

Several Feihua Pavilion disciples rushed over to shield her, knocking aside arrows and steel spears with a storm of clanging impacts. Two of them screamed and were shot down.

Cao Yuer's eyes nearly split with rage. She ripped a steel spear from the ground and hurled it back with all her strength, shouting furiously, “All the sect's experts, charge through with everything you have! Destroy their arrow formations!”

Watching from the mountaintop, Fei Changliu's eyes flickered. He slowly asked, “Master Dao means to meet them head-on?”

Yuan Gang stood beside him holding the Three-Roars Saber, expressionless and silent.

But he understood perfectly well.

This time, Master Dao intended to seize the momentum and clash head-on with the imperial court once and for all.

Otherwise he would have slipped away long ago.

Why would he still be here waiting for the imperial court to attack?

Su Jieren, who was overseeing the battle orders, wore the faintest trace of disdain.

The charging cultivators before him were weaker than he had expected.

They possessed such excellent abilities, yet could not bring their strength to bear. They had no idea how to form ranks and charge together. Without shields, they simply rushed blindly. They did not understand how to distinguish primary protection from secondary protection during an assault. They just howled and charged in disorder.

It was an utter waste of Heaven's gifts.

Su Jieren believed that if he were given command of these cultivators, he could break through the defensive fire line very quickly.

If Fei Changliu ever learned Su Jieren wanted Liuxian Sect disciples trained to charge in formation carrying shields, Heaven knew what expression he would make.

Watching large numbers of Feihua Pavilion cultivators fall beneath the covering arrow storm gave Liuxian Sect's disciples a shock they would never forget.

These were the very ants they had always looked down upon.

Yet when those ants united as one and made use of powerful weapons, they could unleash such terrifying offensive force that they were actually slaughtering cultivators who normally stood far above them.

At first, seeing so many cultivators attack had left many Liuxian Sect disciples uneasy, even faintly panicked.

Now, after witnessing the effect of their own side's barrage, their nerves steadied.

At the very least, many of them were no longer so afraid.

One rank of siege crossbows loosed a volley, and those behind immediately followed with another.

After each release, thick bowstrings hummed violently.

Ordinary soldiers did not dare touch a vibrating bowstring with their bare hands. Forget human skin—even thick pig hide could have a layer stripped away by that whipping vibration.

Soldiers used wooden poles to force the vibrating strings down and reset them.

Liuxian Sect disciples standing nearby immediately used spiritual power to help, accelerating the loading of fresh steel spears.

As the enemy closed in, two soldiers lifted the siege crossbow's frame on their shoulders. Another immediately pulled out a wooden wedge beneath it, lowering the firing angle and adjusting the range.

On one of the enormous flying mounts high above, Ga Miaoshui and Gao Shaoming watched the attack being checked below.

The sight of bodies tumbling amid the slaughter darkened both their faces.

How had the imperial court's meticulously prepared surprise assault turned into this?

The tens of thousands of troops stationed here included eyes and ears belonging to the imperial court as well. Defensive preparations this orderly and extensive could never have been improvised at the last moment.

Yet the court had received no warning whatsoever beforehand.

It was not that either man cared about the deaths of Feihua Pavilion or Zhenling Academy disciples.

The problem was that Maolu Villa had plainly been prepared in advance, leaving them unable to determine whether Niu Youdao was still inside.

The people within Maolu Villa could not see the fighting around the outer defenses because the surrounding mountains blocked their view.

When horns began sounding in every direction, the people atop the high pavilion all tilted their heads to listen.

Then the battle drums rose, one after another.

Huang Lie abruptly turned toward Niu Youdao. “Little brother, what is that sound? Why does it sound like drums ordering battle?”

“Enemy attack,” Niu Youdao said flatly.

Huang Lie looked astonished. “An enemy attack?”

Niu Youdao's voice turned cold. “I never believed those earlier rumors. How could Dachan Mountain possibly collude with the imperial court, strike from within and without, and put me to death? Still, I'm a man afraid of dying, so I made a few defensive arrangements outside just in case. Who would have thought someone would actually attack?”

He slowly added, “I meant for my heart to shine upon the bright moon, only for the bright moon to shine upon the gutter. This Niu's heart truly grows cold!”

A bone-deep chill ran beneath the words.

Shang Shuqing looked toward Huang Lie and the others, startled and uncertain.

The flower-robed man swept a cold glance across them as well.

The corner of Guan Fangyi's mouth curved faintly.

Master Dao knew perfectly well what was happening and knew it had nothing to do with Dachan Mountain.

Why insist on pouring this basin of dirty water over Dachan Mountain's head?

Did he truly mean to seize the opportunity and eliminate Dachan Mountain's senior figures here?

The expressions of the Dachan Mountain group changed sharply.

All of them heard the killing intent in Niu Youdao's words and immediately became highly alert to their surroundings.

Still, looking at the situation in the pavilion, they did not believe Niu Youdao could necessarily do anything to them. None of these people were weaklings.

Huang Lie's face turned black. “Little brother, I can swear to Heaven that Dachan Mountain has absolutely no collusion with the imperial court and has never done anything harmful to you! Could this be the grand gift you invited me here to see? Little brother, you must not fall for another person's scheme to sow discord between us!”

With both hands resting on his sword, Niu Youdao gave a slight nod. “Even though someone truly did predict this, I still refuse to believe Dachan Mountain would treat me this way. Given Nanzhou's present situation, it simply shouldn't happen. I also suspect someone is trying to drive a wedge between us.”

Huang Lie said, “Little brother's ability to think this way puts my heart at ease!”

Despite saying so, the people of Dachan Mountain remained highly alert to everything around them.

Just then, Duan Hu suddenly pointed toward the sky. “Master Dao, look!”

Everyone followed the direction of his finger.

More than a dozen black specks were faintly visible high above.

Someone was plainly approaching aboard enormous flying mounts.

Niu Youdao slowly walked to the railing and narrowed his eyes.

He released one hand from his sword and gently raised it.

Seeing the gesture, Lei Zongkang immediately turned and waved downward from the pavilion.

In another courtyard below, where the monks of Nanshan Temple lived, a large bell hung inside a pavilion. Several monks stood waiting beside it.

Yuan Fang, dressed in snow-white monk robes, had been standing outside the pavilion with both hands tucked into his sleeves, staring up at the high pavilion the entire time.

The moment he saw Lei Zongkang's signal, he darted inside, swept his sleeves outward, and chased the other monks aside.

“Move, move! You don't have enough strength. I'll do it myself!”

He rolled back both sleeves, seized the suspended wooden striker, circulated his power, and rammed it violently into the bell.

Dong!

Dong!

Dong!

Deep, vast peals rolled out from Maolu Villa and spread in every direction.

[End of Chapter 591]