Longzang

Chapter 852 Stalemate
When Wei Yuan returned to the front lines, it was nearly dawn. The Wu tribe had completely captured the first line of defense and was launching an attack on the second. Millions of troops from both sides were fighting along a battlefront stretching hundreds of miles, with the battle lines intertwined, creating a complex situation.

In a slightly wider trench, a heavily armored captain brandished a two-barreled musket that gleamed with a dark blue light, with a three-foot-long dagger mounted on the barrel, as he gave a pre-battle pep talk to hundreds of heavily armored soldiers.

The captain's face was hidden under his mask, but his accent revealed him to be Xu Wenwu.

He spoke passionately, but his soldiers, all young members of the Xu family, remained completely unresponsive, silently watching Xu Wenwu. Although he knew these men rarely spoke, for some reason, Xu Wenwu felt as if they were looking at idiots.

At this moment, the urgent sound of horns rang out. Xu Wenwu listened carefully to the number of horn sounds and their varying lengths, and said, "It's our turn! Charge with me and kill the Witch Clan!"

He took out a green talisman, ignited it with his Dao power, and countless points of green light and fortune were added to the Dao soldiers of his squad. Then, Xu Wenwu roared and leaped up, charging towards the Wu tribe just outside the three trenches!

But he had only been off the ground for three feet when two Taoist soldiers grabbed his calves and pulled him back to the ground.

The two Taoist soldiers then firmly held Xu Wenwu down, rendering him immobile. Many more Taoist soldiers bypassed Xu Wenwu and charged into the witch army. Only after most of the Taoist soldiers had passed did the two soldiers release him.

Xu Wenwu flew into a rage and cursed. Then, a strange war chariot suddenly appeared on the battlefield. Lights shone from the muzzles of the two cannons, and points of light kept converging towards the muzzles.

However, Wei Yuan in the air saw it, so he pointed and the chariot immediately disappeared. Xu Wenwu's Dao foundation was sealed inside his body and could not be manifested.

Xu Wenwu was utterly helpless. He knew that there were no more than a dozen people in Qingming with such abilities, and he couldn't afford to offend any of them. Finally, he suppressed his temper and, relying on the knowledge he had learned in school, led his team of five hundred Dao soldiers to the front line to begin fighting the Wu Clan.

Although he had been on the battlefield before, this was his first time fighting the Witch Clan at close range. Xu Wenwu was so nervous that he was sweating profusely, and his hands and feet felt numb. Suddenly, a heavily armored Witch Clan warrior jumped out from nowhere and slammed down on Xu Wenwu's head!

Xu Wenwu's rigorous training finally paid off at this moment. His body instinctively raised his gun and pulled the trigger. The egg-sized muzzle spat out a long tongue of fire, and the roar overwhelmed everything nearby. The terrifying force sent the witch warrior flying backward, leaving a trail of blood and flesh behind him, like a blood-red flag being unfurled.

At this moment, an inconspicuous Taoist soldier behind Xu Wenwu lowered the muzzle of his gun.

After his initial killing spree, Xu Wenwu finally calmed down and realized that the battlefield wasn't so scary after all. The lessons he had learned in training returned to his mind one by one.

He rapidly scanned the surroundings with his divine sense, withdrawing it in an instant, demonstrating his remarkable speed and mastery of the situation. This was a training requirement; otherwise, many of the witch clan's spells targeted divine sense, and some poisons could also damage it. Therefore, the requirement for scanning the battlefield with divine sense was speed—a single strike followed by an immediate withdrawal.

Having assessed the surrounding situation, Xu Wenwu began issuing orders, leading his troops to attack the enemy's weak points.

After charging all the way, he actually managed to reach the rear of a witch tribe army. Seeing that the situation was favorable, the young general in charge of this area immediately ordered the surrounding troops to move in and encircle the witch army of several thousand men, preparing to annihilate them.

Xu Wenwu's troops were in a critical position, facing immense pressure as they tried to prevent the enemy from breaking through while also blocking reinforcements. In the midst of the fierce battle, he suddenly sensed that the luck of many of his soldiers had vanished. So he burned another talisman, and thousands of streams of green energy were scattered in all directions, blessing the human soldiers.

In the fierce battle, the Taoist soldiers suffered continuous casualties, and their luck was depleted exceptionally quickly. Only after Xu Wenwu burned two more green talismans did the encirclement of the witch army finally come to an end.

The Azure Talisman was specially made by Wei Yuan, each containing a thousand strands of azure energy. When ignited with a specific incantation, it could enhance the fortune of allied soldiers in the surrounding area. This particular Azure Talisman was custom-made for Xu Wenwu, as only he could clearly sense whether soldiers within a certain range still possessed this aura and replenish it in time. At this moment, the morale of the Witch Clan army wavered, and Xu Wenwu keenly noticed this. His spirits lifted, and he instantly felt a sense of complete control over the battlefield. With a snap, he loaded two fist-sized bullets into his gun barrel, stood up, and prepared to lead his troops in a charge.

But then the bugle call to retreat suddenly sounded from the position, and Xu Wenwu froze. Seeing that Xu Wenwu was a beat too slow to react, Wei Yuan in the air moved his mind, and several Dao soldiers carried Xu Wenwu and fled like the wind to the third line of defense, giving the position that had just been fought back to the Wu Clan.

The witch tribe was alarmed rather than pleased. The witches and nobles paled; the stronger ones turned tail and ran, while the weaker ones sought cover. They were now adept at hiding in trenches and had learned to cling tightly to the walls to avoid the airbursts.

In the blink of an eye, an unusual whistling sound rang out in the air, a sharp cry that sent chills down the spines of both humans and shamans. But this shrill whistling was merely a prelude; the more terrifying heavy artillery shells were completely inaudible.

In the blink of an eye, the surface of the position was engulfed in flames. Under the terrifying barrage of heavy artillery fire, there was no survival below the trenches on the surface. Only those who managed to take cover in the trenches were lucky enough to survive.

This great battle has now entered its fifth day. Aside from a few brief hours of rest, the rest of the time has been a bloody struggle. The Witch Clan is losing tens of thousands of corpses every day, while the Azure Netherworld is suffering over ten thousand casualties daily. The majority of casualties on both sides come from heavy artillery and powerful spells; direct combat on the battlefield accounts for less than a third of the losses.

It seemed that the Wu Clan was at a significant disadvantage, but Wei Yuan knew very well that the Wu Clan was depleting Qingming's nourishment and heavy artillery shells.

The cannonballs weren't too much of a problem for Wei Yuan. However, the nurturing energy was a major issue. More than half of the Wu Clan's sacrificial power was being used to directly attack Qingming, and several powerful spells that could compress the boundary were being used repeatedly. Wei Yuan didn't have a good solution and could only rely on the nurturing energy accumulated by Qingming to withstand the attack.

Wei Yuan would repeatedly lure the Wu Clan army deep into their positions, then suddenly unleash a barrage of heavy artillery fire, before sending troops to retake the positions. This back-and-forth tug-of-war was like a meat grinder, reaping the lives of the Wu Clan. The Wu Clan saw through this tactic on the very first day, but they were powerless to stop it, forced to use the human trenches for cover.

The witch clan once attempted to completely destroy the human race's defensive fortifications, only to find that the reinforced concrete structures were extremely sturdy and incredibly large. Witchcraft spells were largely ineffective; only the nobles and strongmen of the Dao Foundation could demolish them by brute force. But these were all lords; why would they do such menial work?

Moreover, dismantling fortifications on the battlefield can easily lead to sudden death.

The Terran race has two types of indirect fire projectiles: one with sound and one without. They use the sound projectiles during the general offensive and the silent projectiles for targeted raids and eliminations.

Meanwhile, Wei Yuan began constructing the fourth, fifth, and sixth lines of defense deep behind the main position, making astonishing progress each day. The Wu tribe members watched this closely, and were forced to periodically unleash powerful spells to strike the construction sites and prevent Wei Yuan from building more fortifications. However, the number of people on the construction sites was small, and the damage inflicted by the spells was far less than that on the front lines.

Several years later, the Witch Clan and the Azure Netherworld fought a great battle again. Both sides had learned from the lessons of the previous war and made some improvements, but the Azure Netherworld's changes were more obvious and rapid. Neither side had a good way to counter the other's trump card.

Liu Lan's plan for a swift victory failed by the third day. The war proceeded as Wei Yuan had envisioned, with both sides engaging in a protracted, stalemate in a highly fortified area. Wei Yuan continuously exchanged steel and gunpowder for the flesh and blood of the Wu Clan, and... their souls.

The war was fought on the land of Qingming. Wei Yuan, bearing the great curse of the Witch Clan, preferred to expend resources and nurture his strength rather than shrink the Qingming Realm. A crucial reason for this was that the souls of those who died on both sides would be absorbed into the mortal world. The Yellow Springs Cave was growing at an astonishing rate, filled with wandering ghosts and spirits, so crowded that it was almost impossible to turn around.

　The morning's post wasn't sent out due to a timing error.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)