Chapter 780: Primordial Soul!

Chapter 780: Primordial Spirit!

A little earlier, when the Eternal Heaven God withdrew his divided soul, Sanniang and Huangfu Yongxian's route had already encountered their most difficult battle.

On the march over the past few days, they were initially harassed by Chi Li, who used the wind and sand as cover to appear and disappear like a ghost; Cui Yuanyong, Situ Xiao, and others led squads on left and right flanks, patrolling front and rear to maintain the march's stability, leaving Chi Li's several attacks to return empty-handed.

Chi Li had never seen Situ Xiao before, whose rank was slightly lower than Cui Yuanyong's, and heard he loved wine, a taboo for military vigilance. He originally thought he would be easier to bully, but after shifting to that direction and testing him with a few raids, Chi Li declared he would rather deal with Cui Yuanyong than ever lay eyes on Situ Xiao’s stubbly, unshaven face again.

This was what it meant to be an iron chain across a river, a wall of bronze and iron.

That Zhao Changhe could tangle with the Eternal Heaven God for so long was largely due to the defense of Situ Xiao's master, Li Shentong, which perfectly complemented Zhao Changhe's strategy. When that same set of skills was applied to mortal warfare, it was like a mouse trying to pull a turtle, offering nowhere to strike; Situ Xiao alone dared to block an entire army, leaving swords, spears, and halberds hitting his body without so much as a mark.

It was absolute cheating.

Fortunately, whether the so-called harassment succeeded or not was actually of no consequence.

Over the next few days, exactly as Huangfu Yongxian had predicted, the surrounding areas protected by the Black Tortoise manifestation began to form a muddy, swamp-like protective belt due to days of moisture, making it highly difficult for Chi Li to gallop his horse through such mire. Consequently, even the harassment ceased in the following days, making it irrelevant.

For the harassment was merely to create an illusion, leading Huangfu Qing, a first-time commander, and Zhao Changhe, a wartime layman, to misjudge, believing that such raids were meant to delay the pace of this march, which would imply there was no main Hu army here; combined with the prior soul-clash between Temür and Zhao Changhe, it made them truly believe Temür was leading the main Hu force on their route.

In truth, the boundless wind and sand whipped up by the Eternal Heaven God in the great desert were not to cover Chi Li's harassing troops, but to conceal the movements and deployments of Temür's great army.

Under the cover of the blinding wind and sand, Temür had long since cast an inescapable dragnet, waiting for the arrival of Huangfu Yongxian’s main force.

This was the true grand battle of humanity that would decide the rise and fall of the Hu and Han fortunes, where the troops deployed by both sides and the involvement of the major steppe tribes far surpassed anything on Zhao Changhe’s route.

It closely resembled the division of labor between Wei and Huo... yet before this, the Han army seemed to have misjudged where the main force lay, with almost all those of the Domain Realm on the eastern route, leaving only the Black Tortoise on this side.

"Whoosh!" Behind her, the enchanting Black Tortoise's serpent whip wrapped heavily, tightly trapping the divided soul of the Eternal Heaven God, while before her stood another Black Tortoise of solemn composure, whose fist struck out like a mountain, slamming into the core of the deity's divided soul.

Over these days, it was hard to tell whether this divided soul had entangled her, or if Sanniang had intentionally used this second-tier Domain Realm divided soul to temper herself, otherwise there would have been no need to fight for so long. Sensing she had gained much from using one soul for two purposes and that further entanglement offered nothing new, Sanniang ceased to drag it out and finally delivered the killing blow.

As it happened, the moment her iron fist struck, the divided soul vanished, not even bothering to cause her any final trouble. Sanniang withdrew her fist, and her twin souls took two steps toward each other; a ripple of clashing waves passed over them, and they merged back into one.

Sanniang turned her head to look at where the divided soul of the Eternal Heaven God had vanished, sinking into a brief contemplation. This divided soul did not seem to have been beaten away by her; it was obvious that he felt the strain on the eastern front and was disinclined to keep playing along with her.

But since he had departed, it likely indicated that Temür's preparations were complete.

During her struggle with this divided soul, she had no leisure to project her divine sense to scan thousands of miles around, and with the boundless wind and sand outside, there was no telling what the distant scene held. Even though Huangfu Yongxian had been watching the path all along, his mere second-tier Secret Treasury strength meant he likely could not see very far.

Sanniang sent a sound transmission to inform Huangfu Yongxian, and seeing that the sky-filling sandstorm was now left unguided after the deity's divided soul departed, Sanniang suddenly threw another fist.

A fist-wind capable of halting a tsunami could, when deployed here, naturally blow away the wind and sand.

As the sandstorm began to recede, before it had completely cleared, Huangfu Yongxian suddenly raised his spear to the heavens and barked, "All troops, halt! Front army, raise shields! Spearmen, form ranks behind the shields! Let the three armies return to their respective formations!"

The messengers swiftly carried the orders to the three armies, and the well-trained soldiers began to arrange their lines with speed. In the process, keen-witted soldiers already felt the faint tremors traveling through the distant earth, as if an earthquake were creeping toward this very spot.

"This is... a cavalry raid! So many... they are coming from all directions!"

As the voice of the scout listening with his ear to the ground rang out, the wind and sand finally dispersed entirely.

Looking out into the distance, one could faintly discern a black line emerging on the horizon, which then overspread the sky and earth from every direction, rushing toward their position like an infinite, surging tide.

Innumerable steppe cavalrymen!

The dust kicked up by the horse hooves was in no way inferior to the previous sandstorm, obscuring the sun from view.

This grand battle of Mobei, the true main force of the various tribes led personally by Khagan Temür, was all here; except for their rear which had no troops, the other three directions were filled with a countless torrent, drawing near in the blink of an eye.

The so-called absence at the rear was merely the tactic of surrounding three sides and leaving one open, a ploy to make the Han army lose their fighting spirit and flee of their own accord. This Han army consisted mostly of infantry, with only a tiny amount of cavalry for strategic purposes; once they began to rout, it would be utterly impossible to outrun the pursuit of hundreds of thousands of iron riders, rendering death certain!

Fortunately, this army was chiefly composed of the original Yanmen garrison, the most elite legion of the Great Han that had braved life and death alongside Huangfu Yongxian for many years; though the countless torrents on three sides struck dread into hearts, they did not fall into chaos after all, swiftly forming their defensive array.

It was a blessing Sanniang had given warning a step ahead; had they only discovered it when the enemy rushed right before their eyes, everything would truly have been finished.

"Huangfu Yongxian... you have played the coward inside Yanmen Pass for decades, but today you can finally determine who is master in a proper, honorable clash upon the battlefield—is this not a joy!"

Temür's flush-with-success voice carried effortlessly across a hundred miles, displaying his current transcendent peak of the first tier of the Domain Realm, looking every bit deserving of his top rank on the Heaven Board.

Sanniang narrowed her eyes, even sensing whether this fellow had a hint of being half-a-step into the second tier... Strange, how could he be so fast? This shouldn't be; Sanniang had personally experienced the earlier Battle of Yanmen, and at that time, Temür had clearly not broken into the Domain Realm. Even if he had broken through, it would at most be after the slaying of the dragon when everyone universally broke through. How could he have reached half-a-step into the second tier in such a short time? Was there some hidden anomaly here?

Huangfu Yongxian naturally would not engage in this war of words with Temür, silently commanding the formation instead. Failing to receive a satisfying response, Temür actually turned his spearhead toward Sanniang, who still floated in mid-air: "Venerable Black Tortoise... the divided soul of the Honored Deity before was merely playing with you... Your true opponent is this Khagan."

He paused, seemingly in mockery: "In truth, to call the two Venerables, Black Tortoise and Vermilion Bird, warriors is not entirely accurate; your nature is closer to our Böe—half warrior, half priest. The one this Khagan wishes to exchange blows with most is instead your new Night Emperor, Zhao Changhe. He is the true warrior, cleaving with blades and shooting with arrows, peerless in bravery. Sadly, our destiny has not yet aligned, and we could only meet in a fleeting glance of divine sense, a sincere pity... Forgive this Khagan's bluntness, but given the strength the Venerable displayed in the prior battle against the divided soul of the Honored Deity, I fear you are no match for this Khagan today."

Sanniang was indeed half-caster, and the reason she had not stopped the cavalry charge to buy time for her own army during these words was that she was silently casting a spell... Yet having heard it all, she was momentarily taken aback, amused by his speech: "You mean, you think highly of my man, yet look down upon me?"

Temür laughed heartily: "The Venerable once sold wine at the counter in Huangsha Hamlet; why not continue to do so? The heroes of the steppe would be more than glad to patronize your establishment."

Killing intent welled up in Sanniang's eyes, though her lips still curled with a flirtatious charm: "The Khagan still does not seem to understand one thing... We are in a war, not a duel between braves. In war, the value of a caster is not something the Khagan can measure. In our eyes, a Böe is far more troublesome than you..."

Temür roared with laughter: "That this Khagan does not cast spells does not mean this Khagan cannot break them, let alone that you will have the opportunity to manipulate your magic..."

Along with his words, his tone suddenly sharpened, filled entirely with killing intent: "The charging distance is reached, and we are about to enter the firing range we excel at. The Venerable need not vainly attempt to shield them. Die!"

"Boom!" A spear shadow crashed forth, arriving before Sanniang's face in the blink of an eye.

Sanniang's expression turned exceedingly grave; the Black Tortoise manifestation that had been sustained below to protect the army for days was already withdrawn, as she dared not divide her focus any longer. With a wave of her delicate hand, an arched mirror of ice appeared before her. Temür's war spear jabbed into it and was guided to slide across the icy surface, failing to breach the Black Tortoise’s defense.

Yet even so, Sanniang swayed slightly; though she had held the defense, she truly was no match for Temür in raw power... What the devil, how exactly had he trained during this period?

Temür crossed paths with Sanniang while holding his spear, throwing another spear strike as he turned, laughing at the same time: "So, can the Venerable still cast spells?"

Sanniang threw back a whip strike, answering with a graceful smile: "I can."

Before Temür's words could fully land, his laughter choked in his throat.

The cavalry below charged with extreme speed; within the space of a few exchanges, they had already sprinted from the boundless line on the distant horizon to within a few miles of Huangfu Yongxian's vanguard, and any closer would allow them to loose arrows. Once they entered the rhythm they excelled at, this battle would essentially be decided.

Yet right within the Hu cavalry's formation, countless plump water-men inexplicably burrowed out from beneath the earth; most of them emerged to shove directly against the bellies of the horses, throwing men and mounts into immediate chaos.

How could cavalry in a rapid charge endure such disruption? The horses in the rear tripped over the fallen men and steeds ahead, flipping over another large swath like falling dominoes, throwing the scene into absolute turmoil.

The water-men were unyielding, even attempting to launch water-arrow attacks.

"This place is still on the northern edge of the Gobi Desert, where did you get so much water to summon water-men?" Temür lashed out in fury, sending countless bursts of inner qi slicing through like arrows, accurately landing upon every single water-man within a radius of several miles, blasting them into smithereens.

With this single distraction, the war spear in his hand was ensnared, and a torrential fist-force surged from behind. Sanniang had somehow formed a clone behind him without notice, and her mountain-moving, sea-toppling Black Tortoise fist crashed squarely into Temür’s back: "Though the Khagan is brave, you do not know that deep beneath the earth, there is water... and plenty of it, more than you can possibly imagine."

Temür hurriedly erupted his astral qi to deflect this heavy punch, but two Sanniangs launched an unreasonable, furious assault, instantly reversing the roles of offense and defense.

Temür did not even have time to worry about his own situation, his mind still casting a glance at the battle below.

The scale of an army of hundreds of thousands was simply too massive; though Sanniang had conjured a host of water-men to disrupt the formation, she obviously could not cover the entire field, and a vast number of troops and horses continued to charge. Sanniang's summoning of such a large-scale horde of water-men clearly required a certain amount of preparation time, roughly spanning the few sentences of their dialogue just now, but now she evidently had no way to repeat it.

After all, just as she said, the water lay at an extreme depth, and she could not possibly draw it forth with ease.

Just as he felt a modicum of relief, his expression changed once more.

Whether it was caused by the death of the water-men dissolving into streams, or because Sanniang's prior guidance had already caused the groundwater to well upward, in that very instant, the yellow sand on the ground was suddenly submerged in water, and the sandy terrain quickly transformed into a swamp.

"Whoa!" Innumerable warhorses stepped onto it and instantly sank into the mire, their forward momentum causing them to tumble over one after another. The Han soldiers, having formed their array, watched wide-eyed and dumbfounded as the boundless, pressure-inducing cavalry coming from all around put on a grand spectacle of falling off their mounts en masse, watching until even they felt as though they had fallen into a dream.

The way Sanniang previously soaked the sand to interfere with Chi Li's sneak attacks was something everyone had seen, and Chi Li and his men had tasted it too; it was nothing more than the road turning a bit bad, making it slightly harder to conduct rapid raids that came and went like ghosts, but it was not impossible to ride horses. As it turned out, even that was an intentional misdirection, leading the enemy to believe her methods stopped there and that she possessed no stronger means—otherwise, Chi Li's group would never have made it back.

Yet who would have guessed there was an even more ruthless trick, truly capable of turning dozens of miles of sandy ground into a swamp!

Was this even human?

This was simply the power of a heavenly deity!

The state religion of the Great Han, the Grand Priestess Black Tortoise of the Four Symbols Sect... She claimed she was very lazy, just a woman who wanted to sleep.

But in reality, she was the shared deity of tens of millions of people upon the sea; having contemplated her succession as the Sea Emperor for half a year, she resembled a true deity far more than her family's new Night Emperor.

"I am very lazy; once a move proves useful, I research it to the very end. I hope the Khagan did not think I was lying." Sanniang smiled radiantly: "The Khagan considers himself capable of breaking all magic with raw strength; now that your strength is great, why don't you try breaking this?"

Temür: "..."

Like hell! Even if one could use the most exquisite, sublime aura to evaporate every drop of moisture here and return the ground to its primal state, the chaotic battlefield—with men and horses thrown into disarray—had already taken shape. How could it be undone?

And Huangfu Yongxian wasn't just standing there for show!

"Swish, swish, swish!" Arrows like locusts rained down from the Han army's formation, scattering into the tangled mass of the Hu army ahead.

They had already entered range.

Hearing the screams from below, Temür fumed with rage and anxiety: "Dismount and fight on foot! We outnumber them—we'll crush them by sheer mass! Vulture Fang, lead the charge!"

Pity that he, commanding from the sky while engaging the enemy, had to personally direct the battle. Others like Bo'e didn't need to, and Huangfu Qing had his brother.

For this was a coalition of countless great tribes; aside from Temür himself, no one could unify command.

Vulture Fang steeled himself, rallied his own tribe, and charged ahead through the rain of arrows toward the army formation.

On the ground to the side and rear, where San Niang had failed to cover, the sound of hooves rose again. Chili led his harassing force, cutting in from behind to assist Vulture Fang.

In the Han army's formation, countless gleaming spear tips flashed with orderly cold light under the blazing sun, blinding Chili as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

In terms of numbers, Chili still had some confidence in this battle.

But the instinct of a warrior told him this fight would be hard... Their advantage had already been shattered by that one woman, Yuan San Niang. Even if they won now, who knew how many lives it would cost?

Including his own.

On a narrow path, the brave prevail. Without a heart that casts life and death aside, this battle could never be won.