Chapter Fifty-Four: The Enemy at the Gates, the Great Wall Mechanism
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“How is Elder Jiang!?”
“He is still in seclusion! And he cannot hear a thing from outside!”
“Think of something! Think of something, now!”
“Yes…”
After the royal guards hurried away, Xia Changsheng slumped against the wall, his face filled with boundless remorse. It was all his fault. If he had not brought out that strange cultivation technique, Elder Jiang would never have entered seclusion, and Jiayu Pass would not have been placed in such an impossible situation.
It was all his fault!
“If Elder Jiang truly cannot be awakened, what are we to do about the eight Demon Kings at Jiayu Pass…?”
Xia Changsheng gritted his teeth. Then he suddenly rose, casting aside all dignity and pride, picked up the telephone, and dialed the deepest reaches of the human race.
The Royal Court!
Only the Royal Court could save Jiayu Pass!
“The Sovereign of Great Xia, Xia Changsheng, humbly beseeches the Royal Court to intervene!”
A desperate, blood-stained plea was sent rushing toward the Royal Court.
Yet the Royal Court lay more than two thousand kilometers from Jiayu Pass. Even if it sent aid, even if it dispatched a King-level powerhouse, reaching them would take at least four hours.
The Royal Court did not refuse Xia Changsheng.
Eight Demon Kings had gathered at Jiayu Pass. The ones who would bear the consequences of defeat were the countless common people. No matter how much resentment the Royal Court harbored over Lin Yin’s affair, it could not simply stand by and do nothing.
“Jiayu Pass must hold for four hours!” Human King Xiao Wanli’s voice over the phone left no room for argument. “Remember! Four hours! If Jiayu Pass collapses before then and the cities within the pass are slaughtered, Xia Changsheng, I want you to take your own life in atonement! Is that clear?”
A bitter smile touched the corners of Xia Changsheng’s mouth. He lowered his head. “Understood.”
“If you had informed the Royal Court sooner, things would never have reached this point!”
Click!
The call ended.
Xia Changsheng gazed out the window, his eyes seeming to reach all the way to Jiayu Pass. He had done everything he could. Now, all that remained was prayer.
Hold for four hours. You must hold…
…
Jiayu Pass.
Demonic wind swept across heaven and earth.
The wild laughter of the Demon King Jiangchen shook every brick and stone in Jiayu Pass.
“Hahahaha! Where are your Grandmasters? Where are the Grandmasters of the human race?”
“Xiao Chen, why have the Grandmasters of your human race still not appeared?”
“Hahahaha! Grandmaster, Grandmaster—when you say it yourself, do you not find it laughable?”
Jiangchen put tremendous force behind his final words. The violent sound waves struck Jiayu Pass like the shockwave of an explosion, instantly knocking down countless human warriors!
“What!?”
The nearby human warriors felt their hearts turn cold.
His voice alone could overturn so many people.
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If the Demon King Jiangchen truly made a move, would there be any survivors left in Jiayu Pass after today!?
Xiao Chen abruptly swung his sword, whipping up a fierce gale that barely dispersed the Demon King Jiangchen’s sonic assault.
But Xiao Chen’s expression had already grown incomparably grave.
Elder Jiang, if you do not intervene, Jiayu Pass will truly face disaster today…
“Heh heh, Xiao Chen, what other schemes do you have?” The Demon King Jiangchen extended three fingers etched with gilded patterns and smiled. “I will give you three chances to speak. When the time is up, I want all of Jiayu Pass… not a blade of grass left alive.”
“Three.”
“Two.”
“One…”
“Wait!” Xiao Chen hurriedly raised a hand.
“Too late!”
The Demon King Jiangchen threw back his head and roared, using the purest demonic howl to awaken the bloodlust of every demon in the field.
“Kill! Tear through Jiayu Pass! Tear through the human race!”
“Roar! Roar! Roar!”
The demons blanketing the land fell into a state of frenzy and charged toward Jiayu Pass with deafening roars. In an instant, the earth shook, while dust blotted out the sky.
“Battle!”
Lin Zhengyang issued the order in a deep voice.
The entire Lin family’s Imperial Guard instantly formed a tortoise-shell battle formation.
“Young Master Lin Tianjiao? Young Master Lin Tianjiao? This place is dangerous. Please return inside Jiayu Pass with me…” A-Long hurriedly searched for Lin Tianjiao, only to discover that he had vanished at some point. Looking up, A-Long saw that Lin Tianjiao had already withdrawn to the walls of Jiayu Pass.
“He ran fast.” A-Long froze for a moment, then sighed. “Well, that is only natural.”
War had never been child’s play. The instant the Lin family’s Imperial Guard collided with the demonic tide, flesh flying became the most common sight, while shouts and wails became the most frequent sounds.
The eight Demon Kings advanced.
Even the Great Wall at Jiayu Pass sensed that the end had arrived.
“Heavy cannons! Fire!”
“Heavy cannons! Fire!”
The generals screamed themselves hoarse.
One heavy human cannon after another poured forth shells as though ammunition cost nothing.
Brilliant blossoms of explosive fire erupted continuously across the bodies of the eight Demon Kings.
Screech!
A cry capable of rending metal and stone tore through the sky. The crimson Demon King Crimson Crane beat its broad wings and effortlessly broke through the human artillery barrage, arriving above the walls of Jiayu Pass.
“Ah! Save me! Save me!”
The moment a human warrior raised his head, Crimson Crane seized him in its beak. After only two shrill cries, the Demon King bit him in half. It swallowed the upper half, while the lower half fell in a mangled heap of flesh and blood, stabbing into the eyes of the surrounding human warriors.
“Demon King Crimson Crane! It’s Demon King Crimson Crane!”
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“Engage! Engage!”
The nearby experts of the Meridian Forging Realm charged forward with bloodshot eyes.
But the difference between the Meridian Forging Realm and a Demon King was as vast as a heavenly chasm.
Crimson Crane had needed only a little time to bite thirteen Meridian Forging experts to death with ease.
In the blink of an eye, the human race had lost thirteen mid-level combatants.
“Lin Yin, leave now!” Fan Chou seized Lin Yin and shouted frantically. “This is no longer a place where we can get involved! Leave! Hurry!”
“Let’s go, little brother. Something terrible will happen if we stay!” Jiang Zixun had noticed the gaze of the Demon King Jiangchen. Nearly every dozen seconds, his eyes would turn toward Lin Yin.
A mighty Demon King repeatedly watching a warrior in the Bone Condensation Realm.
What else could it be but vengeance for the son he had lost?
“I want to take a gamble.”
Lin Yin suddenly uttered those words, leaving everyone baffled.
“Gamble? On what?”
“I’m betting that Jiangchen will turn misfortune into fortune—and then find fortune become misfortune!”
With that, Lin Yin suddenly shot forward like a tiger or leopard, bypassed the fortifications of Jiayu Pass, and entered the inner mechanisms of the pass.
…
Turning misfortune into fortune.
The Demon King Jiangchen had indeed obtained the pure bloodline of the Azure Demon clan.
He had spent thirteen years in seclusion precisely to refine that Azure Demon blood essence.
Even without the vengeance for his son’s death, Jiangchen would have led his forces eastward upon emerging from seclusion and swallowed Jiayu Pass like a tiger devouring its prey.
The Jiayu Pass of his previous life had likewise faced the same desperate situation as today.
The only difference was that in his previous life, the other seven Demon Kings had not been present.
But that was not important.
What mattered was that the Azure Demon bloodline possessed an extremely terrifying hidden side effect.
If—if fate had not been altered by the butterfly effect—then at this very moment, the heart of the Demon King Jiangchen… should have been boiling violently.
So violently that it was already showing signs of melting!
“Restricted Mechanism Zone! Unauthorized entry prohibited!”
The Great Wall mechanisms formed the core of every section of the Great Wall.
This place contained the most complex and densely packed mechanical systems. Beneath the ground lay vast magnetic-electric accumulators that supplied the Great Wall with power, all of it among the human race’s highest-level secrets.
Yet Lin Yin slipped into the mechanisms of Jiayu Pass with practiced ease.
“Lin Yin? How do you know about this place? What are you trying to do?” The general responsible for guarding the mechanisms stared at him in astonishment.