novelraw Chapter 74 : The Crisis of Great Yan
Chapter 74 : The Crisis of Great Yan
Chapter 74: The Crisis of Great Yan
Half a year passed in the blink of an eye as Anxi Prefecture busied itself with intense preparations for war.
Beyond the borderlines, the Iron Cavalry of Great Jin remained utterly silent, their traces vanished as though erased from the world.
Yet within Anxi Prefecture, good news continued to arrive one after another.
First came the report that the Commander of the Yili Army, Huang Fan, had successfully broken through to the Myriad Phenomena Realm.
Then followed the announcement that Yue Fei, who had just been appointed Commander of the Pacifying Rebels Army, had “coincidentally” broken through to the Golden Body Realm.
However, news of Yue Fei’s breakthrough was known only among the upper ranks of the army and was not spread outside.
Despite the string of joyous tidings, Anxi did not relax even a little.
Instead, it was shrouded by an invisible, suffocating pressure—heavy as the leaden clouds before a storm.
And the source of that pressure lay in the main battlefield between the Great Zhou Dynasty and the Great Jin Empire:
The Great Yan Prefecture.
The northern frontier of Great Yan Prefecture had already turned into a bloody millstone of flesh and bone.
Under Jiang Zhaoqian’s command, the Great Zhou forces and the main host of Great Jin clashed upon that scorched land in a drawn-out, unimaginably brutal struggle.
The peril of that front was so grave that even without setting foot there, one needed only to observe the “Dragon Ranking” and the fluctuations of the Imperial Destiny Value to feel a tremor in one’s heart.
A year ago, Jiang Zhaoqian’s Imperial Destiny Value still stood at twelve thousand points, shining brilliantly.
But in just over half a year, that number plummeted like an avalanche.
Now, his remaining Imperial Destiny Value was less than eight thousand.
He had been overtaken by his old rival, Jiang Zhaoding, and his ranking had fallen off a cliff—dropping to fifth place.
That shocking plunge was written in the blood of the soldiers who fought and died in the northern frontier.
Even more terrifying news came from the front lines:
In that mere half year, three Golden Body Realm Generals had perished in the direction of Great Yan Prefecture.
Golden Body Realm—what kind of existence was that?
They were pillars mighty enough to hold up a region on their own.
And yet, three such giants had fallen within half a year. The chaos and danger of the Great Zhou’s frontline war needed no further explanation.
Within Anxi Prefecture, the air itself seemed to freeze solid.
Everyone who heard the reports felt as though a cold boulder had been placed upon their hearts.
Though the northern flames of war still burned far away, the heavy stench of blood and destruction had already drifted southward with the cutting northern wind, quietly seeping into Anxi’s skies.
Shaosheng Year 410, the twelfth month of winter.
Outside Eagle-Sorrow Gorge, on the frozen earth.
There stationed the final barrier on the northern border of Great Yan Prefecture—the Along Pass Army.
This weary force faced their homeland, freshly ravaged by Great Jin’s iron hooves and still smoking from devastation.
The cold wind, sharp as knives, carried snowflakes that whipped across the soldiers’ faces, freezing them to the bone.
Upon the watchtower, an old soldier’s eyes were wide with strain as he stared unblinkingly toward the north—toward that horizon blurred by the blizzard.
“They’re coming…”
His dry, hoarse voice carried a despair carved into the marrow.
It was not a scouting party. Not a small band of raiders.
It was a tidal wave.
A black, silent, endless sea.
It tore through the snowstorm, crushed the frozen ground beneath, and surged toward the final fortress of the Along Pass Army.
The sound of hooves began as dull thunder but soon merged into a roar that shook the heavens and the earth, making even the frozen soil beneath their feet quiver and groan.
At the forefront rode a man in golden armor and a dark cloak. His figure stood out sharply against the raging storm, like a moving mountain exuding an invisible, suffocating might.
He was—Pucha Yanghui.
The infamous star who had just stepped into the Profound Core Realm.
“Form ranks! Hold the line!”
The Commander of the Along Pass Army, a man built like an iron tower, bellowed hoarsely, trying to drown out the approaching roar of destruction.
With the blessing of the battle formation, he drew his saber, releasing the full might of his mid-stage Golden Body Realm cultivation as the blade tip pointed straight ahead.
The soldiers clenched their teeth, driving their spears deep into the frozen soil. Their shields locked tightly together, forming a wall of flesh and iron.
They all knew—this might be their final battle.
But behind them lay the heartland of Great Yan. There was nowhere left to retreat.
The Commander roared, “All forces! Prepare to engage the enemy!”
As the words left his lips, his body flared with golden light. Surging blood and energy wrapped him like flame as he shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bowstring.
The golden radiance condensed into a hundred-zhang-long blade that cleaved toward the Great Jin formation with unstoppable force.
The leading ranks of the Great Jin Iron Cavalry all saw the flash of golden light.
Pucha Yanghui lifted his gaze slightly, a trace of disdain curling at the corner of his mouth.
He did not even draw his weapon.
He simply raised his hand and pointed in the direction of that charging commander.
Time froze.
The Commander’s roar and the blinding blade light halted midair.
His raised saber—the symbol of the Along Pass Army’s final courage—together with his massive body, seemed seized by an invisible hand.
Then—
Boom!
A sickening, muffled detonation resounded.
Blood mist and shattered flesh burst open upon the snow, blossoming into a brilliant yet tragic red flower.
A man who had reached the mid-stage Golden Body Realm with the blessing of a battle formation was obliterated in an instant.
The warm blood splattered onto the faces of the soldiers nearest to him. They stood frozen, unable even to form an expression of fear.
The might of the Profound Core Realm!
To slay a Golden Body general was as effortless as crushing an ant.
The instant annihilation of their commander drained the souls and strength from every soldier of the Along Pass Army.
The battle flag that symbolized their military spirit was shredded to ribbons by the violent air currents.
Despair slithered into their hearts like an icy serpent, coiling tight.
Formation?
Courage?
Before absolute power, they were as fragile as thin ice in early winter.
“Kill! Leave no one alive!”
Pucha Yanghui’s cold voice—like a decree from hell—cut through the thunderous gallop.
The black tide crashed forward mercilessly.
This was not a battle. It was slaughter. It was harvesting.
The spears of the Along Pass Army shattered easily; their shields crumbled like paper.
Iron hooves trampled flesh into mud.
The soldiers’ cries of despair and dying screams were swallowed by the cacophony of metal and horses’ shrieks.
Familiar faces were pierced by spears, cleaved apart by curved blades, hurled away by galloping steeds.
The world turned into a blur of blood spray, torn limbs, and the cold, twisted visages of the enemy.
The proud defense line of the Along Pass Army collapsed within a single breath—torn apart and devoured completely.
The surviving soldiers fell into the icy sludge, broken spears impaling their bodies as pain dimmed their consciousness.
The last thing they saw was Pucha Yanghui astride his massive black war beast, passing indifferently by the ruins of battle like a demon god—without even lowering his gaze.
Behind him, the black iron tide surged onward with unstoppable momentum, rolling toward Eagle-Sorrow Gorge and deeper into the heartland of Great Yan.
The blizzard intensified, sweeping up blood foam and torn cloth, covering the mangled, cooling corpses beneath a white shroud.
As that elite border force was silently ground to dust outside Eagle-Sorrow Gorge, Pucha Yanghui’s advance did not slow in the slightest.
Within a single month of that bitter winter, he swept through several northern counties of Great Yan like a storm, crushing every fortress and stronghold in his path.
The occupied territories of Great Yan expanded rapidly and relentlessly.
At last, even Shanhai County fell. Pucha Yanghui linked the lost northern lands of Great Yan with Shanhai County.
Thus, the Great Jin Army drove a deadly nail deep into the heart of the Great Zhou’s most crucial region within the pass.