497 Magnificent Yutang, Majestic Nine Supremes (1/2)
If the charge of Yutang's eatern troop could be said to have raised the curtain to the sight of extreme battle, then the lightning strike would have raised the curtain to the onslaught of nature's forces. After the first thunderbolt, thick lightning strikes jabbed down from the sky incessantly into Dongxuan's formation. Nature's power was beyond a mortal man's ability to defend against; before long, both men and horses cried out in pathetic chaos.
There was no way to fight back against the power of heaven and earth. As Dongxuan's soldiers faced disaster, their misfortune continued to pile up as a burnt smell began to slowly permeate the earth…
In what could have been eons, or just within the blink of eye, there was a loud boom. Shards of flame that appeared out of nowhere swallowed Dongxuan's base. Within the time it took to exhale, dozens of miles of Dongxuan's camp had turned into a sea of fire.
The thunder and lightning from the sky and the flames from the earth appeared simultaneously; the sense of fear it struck into those witnessing the phenomenon was indescribable!
What was more, it was reasonable to say that the fire was scorching Dongxuan's camp because of the western gale, but the lightning strikes seemed to have eyes as they only focused themselves on Dongxuan's army. Not a single Yutang soldier was harmed by the endless bolts of lightning. It was absurd; even a novel would not have dared to write its plot in this manner!
Alas, there were even more absurdities that followed. Another loud boom echoed closer to Dongxuan's troop. A huge crack suddenly appeared on the ground, like the gates to hell had suddenly opened; the unexpected opening saw countless Dongxuan soldiers falling into the pit abruptly, and a surge of water which had miraculously appeared, poured itself into the hole. Understandably, none of the soldiers who fell in survived.
The calamity that happened next was the alarming collapse of the mountains the Dongxuan had pitched their tents on. The earth was like a pot of simmering water that refused to stay calm. Men and horses succumbed to it, unable to stay on their feet.
It was like the dragon of earth was moving about and there was more than one dragon; how could the motion be so small then? The land for hundreds of miles around was tumbling and crumbling; cries and moans of agony formed a chorus as thousands of people were shrieking in hopeless despair.
These were the desperate sounds of men who had been pushed to the brink of definite death!
In spite of this, the disaster still did not end there. A massive net woven from crimson stripes appeared in the air and landed on the ground with a swoosh. All the Dongxuan soldiers who were caught in the blood-tinged net moaned pathetically without exception before tiny beads of blood shot out from their pores and they succumbed to blood loss.
Then, golden rays blinked continuously and the blades on the weapons gripped by the Dongxuan army's hands curled up. Where they could once have easily killed an enemy, most of these weapons would only wounding the enemy without further damage. Killing someone proved to be a harder task. All sabers, swords, and spears had become logs forged with useless metals.
All of the phenomenon that were taking place and saw the Dongxuan faced with natural disasters and calamities, while Yutang was being taken care of by the unusual signs. Beams of green light flickered among Yutang's army and any soldier who was touched by the green ray was replenished, despite being heavily wounded earlier; their injuries were mostly healed inexplicably and they were recharged on the spot, sufficiently revived to fight again.
Clouds stacked themselves in the sky while thunder and lightning slithered among them; on the ground, fire and wind collaborated and delivered chaos to Dongxuan's initially uniform army. They were in utter chaos!
Zhan Ge hollered with all his might, intending to reunite his army and stabilize them, but the frequent disastrous events extended beyond man's control; how could the troop reorganize themselves?
Dongxuan's military unity and morale were utterly crushed!
The wind blew, fires burned, the earth trembled, thunder and lightning played in the sky. Gold was destroyed, water drowned, blood killed, and wood revived! All of these seemed so familiar – and for such familiar phenomena and natural anomalies to attack Dongxuan but assist Yutang, there was only one possibility!
There could be only one explanation.
The Nine Supremes!
Indeed, the clouds in the sky reeled harshly before two phrases were manifested!
Everyone could see the words clearly – ”Magnificent Yutang, Majestic Nine Supremes!”
Han Sanhe closed his eyes solemnly.
He was done for. What he feared the most had finally taken place after all.
Throughout the entire process, he had put Zhan Ge in charge of command; other than training the latter and allowing the person who was taking over his mantle absorb most of the merits, as well as letting him achieve the result of defeating Yutang's top militant of the younger generation and becoming renowned, Han Sanhe had his woes. Once the Nine Supremes came, they had him as a pillar; there would still be room for change.
However, when the Fortress of Resilience was subjugated, Supreme Cloud had not appeared!
When Qiu Jianhan was on the verge of dying and Yutang's elites were in an impasse, Supreme Cloud still had not stepped out!
Until the army had forced Yutang's army to a corner, until this very moment, Supreme Cloud was still absent!
The overall situation had been basically decided.
Although Han Sanhe's lessons to Zhan Ge was always tinged with warnings and hinted at his diffidence in the result of this battle, Han Sanhe had already come to a conclusion in his mind. For Zhan Ge to go against Fu Baoguo, no matter how devastating the battle would be and how much a casualty Dongxuan had to pay, this battle was theirs.
According to the current situation, it was rather certain that Supreme Cloud had indeed been killed – at least, at the very least, he would have to be trapped. Otherwise, he would not miss Yutang's current crisis for the world!
He was simply not fated to participate in this war!
Everything was simple then. No matter how glorious the end result of this battle was, only death awaited Han Sanhe when he returned. Then, why not pass this great merit to Zhan Ge and escalate his reputation? To cultivate the next generation of peerless marshal for Dongxuan, he would already be preparing for the rain.
Despite his less than perfect end, Dongxuan still had his prized disciple. His family, children, and descendants would not live too pitifully. The military had to support them in his place!
In spite of it, it was when Han Sanhe let his guard down to observe the continuation of the war in silence that the most unexpected moment had taken place…