Longzang

Chapter 856 New Defense Line

Dozens of massive tanks drove out from the rear and directly into the blasted trenches.

These vehicles are equipped with the latest three-cylinder engines and use high-quality roadbed as fuel, providing powerful performance. The front of the vehicle is fitted with a special shovel, which, when driven along the bottom of the trench, digs up and flattens the loose soil, creating a wide trench with a flat bottom.

Dozens of engineering vehicles were dispatched at the same time, each responsible for less than two miles, and the task was completed in less than an hour.

Meanwhile, thousands of trucks surged toward the construction site, each carrying several pre-cast concrete structural components, which were then carried by Daoji monks and loaded into the trench.

The components, weighing thousands of kilograms, are difficult for ordinary people to move, but two people are enough to move the formwork foundation. Yu Zhizhuo himself had several thousand formwork craftsmen under his command, and he also temporarily mobilized five thousand formwork foundation workers, so the trench installation speed was unprecedented.

Once the cement components were assembled, ordinary craftsmen rushed to weld the exposed steel bars at both ends of the components together, then erected a baffle and poured cement. This way, only a little over a foot of cement needed to be poured on-site.

These steps are carried out one after another in a well-organized manner.

Several hours later, when the two rested Wu Clan members and Liu Lan appeared at the front line, they were astonished to see that a hundred-mile-long concrete trench defense line had appeared out of thin air on the ground!
"What's going on? Where did this defensive line come from?" The voice of the witch on the left became somewhat distorted.

Several high-ranking shamans on the front lines didn't dare to breathe. One of them forced a smile and replied, "Last night, the human race blasted open the earth and used some strange machinery. Also, their Dao foundations are so numerous they're like aphids! As a result, they were completed overnight..."

"You didn't stop it? Didn't I give you soldiers?"

The great shaman forced himself to say, "We tried to stop them. We fought all night and suffered 60,000 casualties, but we couldn't break through Wei Yuan's defenses."

The shaman on the right shouted sternly, "Why didn't you tell us you failed to stop it?!"

The great shamans looked at each other in bewilderment. Both of them had said they needed to rest and should not be disturbed by anything. Who would dare to disturb their rest with such a trivial matter?

Seeing that no one answered, the shaman on the right became even more enraged. He grabbed the great shaman who had spoken first and lifted him up. Then his pupils turned from silver to black, and the great shaman's face showed an expression of extreme terror. His body deflated like a punctured balloon, quickly shriveling up until it turned into a skin in the blink of an eye.

"Useless!" The shaman on the right casually threw the leather on the ground.

The great shamans couldn't help but tremble. A great shaman in the late stage of the Dharma Aspect realm was gone just like that?

The two shamans looked at the thousands of wagons shuttling back and forth on Qingming's side, their faces grim. They said to Liulan, "Let's begin the attack now! You'll command the front lines!"

Liu Lan smiled obsequiously, but inwardly she cursed. The mobilization of millions of troops—wasn't something that could be done so casually? And they hadn't even provided a plan; they'd just dumped it on her. These two were indeed as stupid as the rumors said.

But no matter how much he complained in his heart, Liu Lan had to endure it and immediately begin to plan the attack. The problem was that he didn't even know the commanders of the various units and had to notify them to come to a meeting at the last minute.

Amidst the chaos, construction began on the low concrete wall at the rear of the Qingming defense line, and at the same time, fortresses were started every mile or so. The fortresses were made of large cast steel plates, which were directly transported over and welded on the spot, and then concrete was poured on top. After the concrete dried, a ring of steel plates was nailed around the key areas.

Having fought the Witch Clan for so long, Yu Zhizhuo, a master of physical properties, had long discovered that steel plates were ineffective against the Witch Clan's corrosive magic, while cement was quite durable. Therefore, the fortresses were now constructed with steel plates on the inside, instead of the outside. The steel plates in key areas were even harder, designed to protect against armor-piercing heavy arrows; these were consumables.

Even a single heavy arrow shot by a strong archer from an ordinary Taoist foundation of the Wu tribe can penetrate a foot or more into cement. Pure cement cannot withstand the impact of a heavy hammer, so not only is steel reinforcement added inside, but steel plates are also temporarily added to the outside.

The fortress was constructed at an astonishing speed, almost as fast as the concrete setting. The Qingming cultivators didn't just wait for the concrete to solidify; several fire-element cultivators worked around it to heat it, while a water-element cultivator accelerated the evaporation of moisture. In less than two hours, it was completely solidified.

Liu Lan led dozens of high-ranking shamans back to the front lines, while several shaman legions emerged from their camps and split up to attack different positions. Coordinating an offensive of a million men in such a short time, Liu Lan was indeed a capable commander.

The high shamans watched the humans across from them working like ants. Suddenly, one of the high shamans asked, "Where did they get so much steel?" The shamans were all shocked. After careful calculation, they realized that Qingming had consumed at least hundreds of millions of kilograms of steel just to build this one defense. Their faces turned grim.

A high shaman forced a smile and said, "Perhaps they've dug up all their family's secrets!"

The high priests had no choice but to accept this explanation.

A new round of battle began, and the Wu tribe's offensive was bogged down from the start. The ground was littered with mines, which, while not fatal, could maim; the aerial artillery fire never ceased, and dozens of missiles were even launched to bombard the altars in the rear.

However, this time it was the altar that was attacked, so the witch clan spared no expense and directly deployed dozens of great witches skilled in incantations to defend against it. They instantly cursed and killed the guinea pigs in the missile warheads, causing all the missiles to miss their targets.

On the ground, all of Qingming's troops retreated into fortifications, relying on them to resist the Wu tribe. With the cover of the fortifications, artillery shells could even land twenty or thirty feet in front of the position, creating a line of fire to block the attack.

The two sides clashed fiercely along the long battlefront. As the Wu tribe's army surged across the lines, casualties on both sides began to rise sharply. Qingming engaged in hand-to-hand combat and melee fighting, while the Wu tribe faced crossfire from all directions.

The Azure Netherworld is now far larger than it was during the battle with the Land of Rain, making encirclement virtually impossible. Even a simple flanking maneuver would take a very long time. Therefore, both sides are currently locked in a protracted, stalemate on the main battlefield, resulting in a quagmire-like fighting.

Suddenly, a deafening roar erupted, drowning out even the cannon fire and battle cries from the front lines. Dust billowed into the sky behind the first line of defense; Wei Yuan had actually begun breaching the second line of defense.

Inside the witch clan's camp, two witches who looked almost identical had identical expressions—both extremely ugly. The one on the right said, "I'm afraid we can't continue fighting like this."

"That's true, the human race has much more reserves than we imagined."

"Liu Lan didn't report this, that idiot!"

"Now is not the time to blame it; switching to something else would only make things worse. Should we use that one?"

"We haven't received any news from the master yet. This round must have gone poorly, with some unexpected interference."

"Did other immortals from the human race intervene?"

"I don't know. Let's wait for news first. Send a troop eastward to cut off Qingming's connection with Western Jin, so that it can't get supplies from Western Jin anymore."

"good idea!"

In an absolutely dark space, a beam of light descended from the sky, illuminating the boy sitting cross-legged in the center and Xu Lanshan kneeling in front of him.

The boy opened his eyes and said slowly, "A legion of the Witch Clan is heading towards Hanyang Pass."

"I have strengthened the city's defenses, but our forces are somewhat insufficient. The tribe's elite troops are all in the north."

The young man said, "Don't all families have many private guards and protectors? These are the elite. Have each family contribute some and hand them over to you."

"This... I'm afraid the elders will have some reservations. Besides, the Wu Clan's arrival may not necessarily be aimed at Hanyang Pass."

The young man said calmly, "Whether they really intend to fight or not is not important. Let's just assume they have already fought."

(End of this chapter)