On the morning of the second day, before the sun lit up the sky, the dawn of winter came exceptionally late.
However, the abrupt cry to kill that rang across the sky almost tore through the dark night.
Dongxuan's focused attack was finally and officially launched. Yutang's troops who had been thoroughly worn out in the Fortress of Resilience struggled wearily to the top of the wall at once.
Qiu Jianhan was already scaled down in size, unrecognizably thin. This old marshal who had gone through a good portion of his life had been standing at the top of the fort the entire time. He stood tall amidst the thick smoke. There were several times he had almost fainted from the choking smoke; after all, the top of the fort was where the flame burned the brightest and hottest. Even when he had enough mystical skill to protect himself, it was difficult to shoulder.
However, he would rather succumb to the smoke than to leave the fort.
"How many of the enemy troops are partaking in this attack?" Qiu Jianhan's voice was extremely hoarse; his eyes gleamed like the will-o'-the-wisp in the nightfall.
"More than a hundred thousand." Wang Dingguo had only roughly listened to the movement on the other end before reporting an accurate number. This was the skill of a general who had been through one too many wars; it was not a big deal.
"Still too little…" Qiu Jianhan sighed, "However, this should also be Han Sanhe's limit and the last advantage we can scoop up!"
Wang Dingguo stood up straight. "They shall come, and never return!"
"Use all the remaining kerosene in this battle. There is no need to save any more supplies, pour them all!"
Qiu Jianhan coughed harshly, hacking a mouthful of phlegm laced with blood, and said sternly, "After pouring all the kerosene, everyone is to retreat from the fort promptly! Go according to the plan, turn to the west gate for the ultimate battle!"
"Yes!"
Barrel upon barrel of kerosene was spilled in a messy yet orderly fashion while squads of Yutang soldiers charged down the fortress with loud cries. They crashed into the enemy ranks and began to fight hand-to-hand within the sea of kerosene.
With the icy slope as a buffer, it benefitted the Yutang soldiers as well, since they could hop off the fort right away without injuring themselves. There was a total of thirty thousand Yutang fighters who rushed out like hysterical tigers, battling to their deaths against the enemy in flowing, flammable liquid.
These Yutang fighters possessed contrasting emotions against Dongxuan's soldiers.
Dongxuan soldiers only knew that their enemy had gone crazy. It was their last battle that would put their lives at stake; as long as they beat them, it was victory, it was an unhindered path to success.
Yutang soldiers were well aware that from the moment they had bolted down, their lives were on a countdown. Once the kerosene under their feet was drained, a huge fire would take its place!
By then, both the enemy troops and they would all be turned into charred remains.
Right now, whether they won or lost this battle, it was a battle no one could survive! Nonetheless, there was no fear in their eyes.
"Follow your father on the way! Dongxuan's rascals! Hahaha!"
The thirty thousand Yutang warriors had become a mighty force the moment they hopped off the fort, wielding their glaives and spears to execute the most spectacular retaliatory strike. They had pushed Dongxuan's army of a hundred thousand men back so forcefully that it was hard for the latter to advance. They couldn't even move an inch forward!
"Marshal, Yutang's soldiers have hopped off the Fortress of Resilience to do battle!"
"How many of them are there?"
"They come with strong resolve. The attacking momentum mustered by our hundred thousand men is being restrained!"
"Does that mean the enemy has at least fifty thousand people and more?"
"Maybe… even more."
Han Sanhe kept quiet and measured out a pace of two steps before giving his command, "Add another eighty thousand soldiers, make it a landslide victory!"
The drumbeat in Dongxuan's base changed, thundering loudly to another rhythm. Han Sanhe's expression was unreadable from the illumination of the torch.
"Qiu Jianhan loves his soldiers like his sons. Unless it has come to the last juncture… otherwise, such an extreme tactic would never have been used. This also means that…"
Yutang's thirty thousand warriors became a new stretch of the Fortress of Resilience, made of flesh and blood, right on this slope that had been built by them and their enemy under the fort.
They cared nothing about their lives, fearlessly charging forward. At this moment, nothing was in their minds; their parents, their wives, their children, their confidants, their brothers and friends, all they were and all they had, their pasts flashed in their heads before they were all tossed into the emptiness. The fighters' eyes were reddened, like those of a pouncing tiger.
A sonorous voice rang out as someone sprang up and cried in midair, "Yutang's warriors are here, who dares invade our land?"
"Who dares invade our land?" All thirty thousand militants hollered in unison as they moved three steps forward.
"There's no regret in this life to be in Yutang!" The booming voice cried.
"There's no regret in this life to be in Yutang!" The thirty thousand warriors cried together.
"Forge the fortress with my resilience!" cried the leading voice.
"Forge the fortress with my resilience!" The troops took another three steps forward.
"We will fight again if there's the next lifetime!"
"We will fight again if there's the next lifetime!"
"We will requite the country with our crushed remains!"
"We will requite the country with our crushed remains!"
All thirty thousand soldiers howled in unison to the sky like a wolf pack, bolting out of their formations regardless of their safety and embedded themselves into Dongxuan's formations. As they cried, they began a battle of life and death.
"Fight the war today!"
"So what if we die?"
"We will live in our next lives!"
"We are still Yutang!"
The saber glinted, the blood splattered; countless warriors battled against the enemy in the dark before dawn. They charged, killed, perished; the process repeated almost endlessly.
It was because these people had put their life and death aside so that the blood of countless Dongxuan's soldiers coursed in rivers on the ground. Behind them, at the top of the fort, more Yutang militants were pouring the barrels of kerosene swiftly and resolutely despite the tears streaming down their faces. All of them on the fort felt their blood burning, how they wanted to fight without a care like their thirty thousand comrades, but they could not; they were tasked with draining the kerosene, they could only talk about other matters after completing this important responsibility!
Dongxuan's drum beats were incessant and thunderous; countless warriors charged over again like a rising tide.
Having fought until now, there were not many of the thirty thousand fighters left who got off the fort. Those surviving were littered with wounds, but they did not retreat. One man, covered in blood, growled into the sky, "Before your grandfathers die, who can take a step forward?"
"Hahaha…" His comrades who were entangled in the enemy's formation chortled as well. "That's right. Before your grandfathers die, who can take a step forward?"
…
"Old Marshal, the remaining kerosene have all been poured away!"
Wang Dingguo's tears were coursing freely down his face.
Qiu Jianhan looked solemn and commanding as he said, "Wait a bit more! Wait, until all our fighters fall fighting! They shouldn't die in the fire that we ignite ourselves!"
"This old man wants them all to perish in the battlefield, not in the hands of our own people!"
"Yes!"
Wang Dingguo and Qiu Jianhan stood at the highest point, observing the battle below closely. They quivered and sobbed, eyes trained on the fierce combat that was happening at their feet.
The battle cries were growing softer, gradually fading away… Dongxuan's soldiers began popping up at the top of the fort!
Qiu Jianhan's eyes were ablaze. He roared with all his might, "Ignite the fire! Send the brothers off!"
"Light the fire!"
Wang Dingguo sprung up in a frenzy, the bow in his hands pulled to a full moon; when his arrow lit up, it was shot far and fast.
"Light the fire!"
Countless Yutang soldiers shouted hoarsely with tears staining their faces. At the same time, innumerable flaming arrows illuminated the sky above the Fortress of Resilience.
"Send the brothers off!"
Boom!
The soaring flame burned bright and hot, forming a heated wave of red.
On the ground, the sticky kerosene that was still flowing everywhere was like slithering dragons of flame that glowed abruptly before they surged into the sky, igniting with a radiance never seen before.
The front line of Dongxuan's hundreds of thousands of men had already reached Yutang's fort wall. The rest of the army was still on the slope, advancing at a swift speed.
When the fire sprung up, it spread at an unbelievable speed, reaching the other end of the slope almost instantly.
This also meant that the hundreds of thousands of men that Dongxuan had deployed to launch the attack were all consumed in the ocean of fire. None of them stood a chance. Each and every one of the poor souls turned into a blazing pillar, staggering about in the sea of fire, crying out and struggling in agony.