Immortal Devil Transformation Book 13: Chapter 32: Strong Feeling of Autumn, Snowfall

Book 13: Chapter 32: Strong Feeling of Autumn, Snowfall

When the first City Defending Crossbow arrow released an air tearing noise, nailing that Great Mang Military Governor to the ground with absolute precision, the faces of many Great Mang soldiers became snow-white.
Then, under continuous shrill noises, as giant crossbow arrows smashed into the areas near the city wall’s openings one after another, most of Great Mang’s soldiers immediately woke up. The Yunqin defenders on the city walls didn’t have any plans to directly give up this wall, to just let them attack, they just wanted their formation to become a bit more concentrated.
Regardless of how their formation was already a bit more spread out, when they approached the city walls, without large scale escalades, Great Mang’s military only entered through those areas where the city wall collapsed. When they reached these openings, Great Mang’s soldiers would naturally become more concentrated. Every single crossbow arrow and every single spinning flying blade would often plow through them like crops on a farm, sending waves of blood splashing everywhere.
Only, some seasoned Great Mang high ranking officers just couldn’t understand… in this type of situation where Great Mang’s soldiers already began to crawl through the city wall’s openings, they still couldn’t see any Yunqin heavy armor or heavy cavalry. Then, how was Yunqin’s military supposed to stop Great Mang’s army from quickly scaling the city walls and then pouring into the city this way?
The destructive power of a City Defending Crossbow didn’t only lie in how many soldiers a single crossbow arrow could take down, the key laid in how many crossbow arrows they could fire in total.
Without enough time… if there was only enough time to fire three or four crossbow arrows, what meaning was there in doing this?
An ordinary Great Mang officer carried this type of thoughts in his head as he quickly climbed up the crushed rocks.
This part of the city wall’s collapse was rather severe. Some Great Mang soldiers who had their bodies penetrated by giant crossbow arrows forever fell in front of this area of the collapsed walls. However, for those who weren’t hit by crossbow arrows, in less than three halts of time, they already reached the highest point of the collapsed city wall.
This Great Mang officer who inwardly celebrated at his luck for surviving, while still confused, saw a giant black figure towering not far in front of him.
This was a giant structure made from wood and steel. In this world, only Yunqin’s craftsmen and Yunqin’s national force could create such a massive fixed style Stone Catapult Cart.
Under the chaotic drizzle and under the shadow of this massive figure deserving of respect, this Great Mang officer saw seven to eight black-armored Yunqin soldiers.
“Fire!”
Without any hesitation, this Great Mang officer immediately released this military order.
The concentrated Great Mang infantry troops around him, under the deadly threat of the giant crossbow arrows on the city walls, also already went beyond their normal limits. While breathing intensely, but with speeds even faster than normal, they removed the bows and arrows from their backs, releasing a rain of arrows.
This Great Mang officer watched as these seven or eight Yunqin black-armored soldiers were covered under arrows.
There were some among them that were struck by more than twenty arrows.
However, he saw that even if these Yunqin black-armored soldiers fell, their expressions still carried a type of cold mockery and disdain.
This type of smile made his entire body feel as if it fell into an icehouse.
He thought to himself, this type of giant fixed Stone Catapult Cart wasn’t something six or seven Yunqin soldiers could operate together… Moreover, with just the movement of the catapult’s arm, it would already send the heavy boulders more than a hundred feet out of the city wall, not near the openings they made in the city wall.
A great boom sounded.
This Yunqin giant Stone Catapult Cart in front of him fell.
The instant those Yunqin black-armored soldiers were hit by arrows and died, this massive Stone Catapult Cart fell. Just like an exhausted sky supporting giant, it began to fall towards the opening he was at.
In the end, this Great Mang officer’s eyes were filled with despair and fear, filled with a shadow made of endless wood and steel.
This city wall opening immediately became hell on earth.
The heavy giant chunks of wood and iron boards smashed down on the heads of the Great Mang infantry army, releasing a muffled sledgehammer-like noise. Then, while carrying a bloody paste, it broke apart, smashing about within the rubble and bouncing about.
The stone fragments and dust produced thick smoke in the rainy mist.
Moreover, it wasn’t just this opening. Almost all of the Stone Catapult Carts that were above the wall openings came crashing down one after another.
The muffled crashing sounds, coupled with the howling and screaming of Great Mang soldiers in the thick mist made all of the Great Mang soldiers outside the city wall openings become filled with shock and fear.
Even though this type of destructive force was still limited, this type of method was indeed shocking and intimidating.
It was because the wooden parts of the Stone Catapult Cart were even heavier than the large beams of palaces. If the ones here weren’t ordinary infantry but rather heavy cavalry and ordinary cultivators, they would similarly die under this type of collapse.
…
“This type of abandoning the city wall defenses, fighting in the alleys in the streets and alleys, the key isn’t in whether one has the courage to do this, but rather if the traps one established in the city possess even greater destructive force than defending the city walls, moreover if they could complete a divide and conquer deployments and arrangements within an extremely short amount of time.”
Right at this moment, in the rear army of this entire Great Mang great army, there was a comfortable carriage pulled by six warhorses.
The curtains of the carriage were made from green bamboo, currently not rolled up.
There were seven swordsmen cultivators dressed in Great Mang’s refined court dress inside, their faces always carrying a true humble stance towards the military instructor who was always masked, listening to the instructions of the one in this carriage.
“Within Yunqin empire, the one who understands how to defend a city best, and the one who has the greatest ability in transforming this entire city into a killing formation is Tang Chuqing. One of Yunqin military’s greatest advisors, in charge of the defense of all of Central Continent City.”
“As for treating this type of giant Stone Catapult Cart as a weapon, it isn’t that easy either.”
The people in the carriage quietly complied. “Even if you all want to play around with these giant Stone Catapult Carts, can you ensure that these giant Stone Catapult Carts will do what you all want them to, that they will fall towards the places you want them to fall towards? Could you make them break apart this thoroughly, send endless wood and steel flying?”
“Those who can understand Yuqin’s giant Stone Catapult Carts this well, moreover able to make these Yunqin Stone Catapult Carts fall in the direction that is desired, this is something only Yunqin military’s great craftsman Chu Yehan could do.”
“That is why right now, there is no way to say for certain whether Tang Chuqing is inside this city or not, but Chu Yehan is definitely in this East Scenery City.”
“Teacher.” Of the seven Great Mang swordsmen cultivators, a thirty something year old handsome man whose sword scabbard was navy blue colored, covered in flowery patterns said, “Only, even if it is like this, these Giant Stone Catapult Carts’ collapse cannot stall for that much time either, I do not know what the significance behind them is.”
“I have always taught all of you that when looking at something, you have to see it from a bigger picture, and also to look at it from different perspectives, to not look at it with the manner ordinary people do. It is because the enemies that you face will not be ordinary people. What they think in their minds will definitely not be what ordinary people think about.” The gentle and calm voice in the carriage sounded again, “I did not bother considering the issue of time, if one move doesn’t work, there will naturally be more methods to stall for a bit more time. The most crucial point is rather the point of interest… Tang Chuqing is a Sacred Expert, Chu Yehan, despite only being at the peak of State Master level, still a step from Sacred Expert, he has the nickname of Metal Man, possessing many special soul weapons on him, so his strength isn’t inferior to a Sacred Expert either. Moreover, according to earlier confirmed intelligence, if Tang Chuqing really is here, then the number of Yunqin Sacred Experts in the city will already number four. This way, when the true battle begins, the number of Sacred Experts fighting in East Scenery City will exceed that of Central Continent City half a month ago.”
“Generally speaking, when the armies are larger, cultivators few, then the ones who would decide victory and death would be the military. However, if the strength of cultivators is exceptionally great, sometimes, the key to deciding victory will instead lie in these powerful cultivators from both sides, if they can appear in the most suitable position… as well as in some surprise moves from both sides.”
“Even if it is me, leaving alive from East Scenery City might not be an easy task.”
When they heard these words, these seven swordsmen cultivators who seemed to have understood a bit all shivered inwardly.
…
“It’s about time.”
On the piece of the city walls where a City Defending Crossbow cart shot down that Great Mang Military Governor, that grave and stern black-armored Yunqin officer said this in a manner that wasn’t too fast or too slow to that old soldier named Old Cheng.
Right now, there were already quite a few Great Mang soldiers who recovered from their initial extreme fear when the giant Stone Catapult Carts collapsed, many of them already climbing up through a city wall opening not far from where they were.
The grizzled haired old soldier nodded. He quickly adjusted the crossbow cart. The remaining dozen or so Yunqin soldiers only calmly waited.
“It’s done.”
The grizzled older soldier said soon after.
Right at this time, a wave of arrows tore through the sky.
A young black-armored soldier stood directly in front of him, his body instantly penetrated by six to seven arrows.
“Die!” This old soldier supported the body of this young Yunqin soldier who blocked in front of him, his tears filled with hot tears as he shouted this.
Ka!
A black-armored soldier whose arm was hit by an arrow didn’t show any sluggishness in movements. The heavy hammer was brought down on the trigger. When this old soldier roared out, the City Defending Crossbow’s arrow once again flew out towards the opening on the city wall.
This time, attached to the City Defending Crossbow arrowhead, were more than ten ropes. Behind each of these ropes were packages bound in water resistant rain cloth used for military equipment.
The bottom of these packages had already been punctured, only patched up randomly with oil paper like the garments of some city beggars.
These packages weren’t light. With a peng sound, all of the ropes immediately released a muffled noise. Even the City Defending Crossbow arrows’ momentum in the air became a bit sluggish.
Under this force, the oil paper patches on the bottom of these packages ruptured, ripping apart.
Some fine white powder that carried a bit of slightly red color scattered out from these ripped packages.
Even though the packages were heavy, there were clearly tests that had already been conducted. They were still brought into the air by the City Defending Crossbows’ terrifying power. As they moved quickly through the air, all of the packages poured out this type of white powder, as if countless people were dumping out flour.
On East Scenery City’s city walls, at this time, many of the crossbow arrows fired by the crossbow machines tore apart these packages.
Zheng… Zheng… Zheng…
When many crossbow arrows fell after using up all of their momentum, it was as if snow had fallen across those areas on East Scenery City’s walls.
This slightly red fine white powder was ice-cold like stone when it scattered down, but under the rain, it quickly became burning hot. When it landed on the skin and eyes of Great Mang soldiers, even breathed into the mouth and nose, it would become even more blistering hot, bringing even greater pain, as if extremely fine flames were burning.
Ah!
Countless Great Mang soldiers screamed out miserably in horror. Their eyes were blinded, their mouths, nose and lungs were under piercing pain, scorching to the point where they couldn’t breathe at all. Many people frantically fled outwards, to the extent where they jumped off the city walls. Many people dropped down, starting to roll on the ground, their bodies twitching, but this only brought even greater pain.
“What is this?!”
A Great Mang high ranking officer’s face was deathly white as he looked at this ‘snow’ in the city wall opening in front of him, shocked as he asked a middle-aged scholar-like Great Mang cultivator next to him.
“It isn’t poison, it is lime powder… as well as large amounts of chili powder.” The middle-aged scholar-like Great Mang cultivator’s nose shook slightly, seizing the bit of smell in the rain, saying this with a grave expression.
East Scenery City’s locally produced hot pepper had the nickname ‘Hot East Scenery’, so Yunqin military preparing large amounts of this type of chili powder, mixing it in dried lime powder wasn’t strange at all… Regardless of whether it was extremely spicy chili pepper or the lime powder that would quickly reach high temperatures upon contact with water, they wouldn’t be immediately fatal. However, it is precisely because these two weren’t fatal that they would inflict extreme pain when this kind of powder entered through the eyes and lungs, even better at stirring up terror and chaos.
Under Great Mang infantry army’s extreme chaos, all of the Yunqin soldiers on the city walls next to the crossbow carts still only continuously prepared the crossbow carts’ capstans, sending crossbow arrows down upon the Great Mang army below with the fastest speed possible.