#662 - Airstrike

Five days later, Tian Shan Mountains.

At Hai hour (9-11 PM), heavy snow began to fall in the mountains. Snowflakes danced in the air like torn cotton, and the cold wind made the torches sizzle.

The vanguard of the eight hundred thousand Jue Ji allied forces had already arrived near the Immortal Pool where Wei Changtian had once slain the White Feathered Crimson Bird. As it was late at night and snowing heavily, they set up camp by the lake to rest.

Not far away, soldiers erected dense rows of tents and lit bonfires, currently cooking food.

By the lake, several general-like figures were quietly discussing something while looking at the icy lake in front of them.

"Logically speaking, this lake should not freeze all year round. Could the previous intelligence be incorrect?"

"Not necessarily. Perhaps it's just colder this year than usual."

"By the way, has there been any new news from the capital in the past few days?"

"Keep your voice down. I heard that the Crown Prince is powerful, and Prime Minister Liu will soon be dismissed and return to his hometown."

"Alas, the Crown Prince is ruthless, even to his own father..."

"Hush, Brother Zhang, be careful what you say. This matter is not yet settled. Besides, we only need to follow the orders of the Ministry of War. What does the court struggle have to do with us?"

"That's true, but the Emperor is only a captive of the enemy, not deceased. Why doesn't the Crown Prince negotiate with Da Ning first?"

"Brother Zhang, compared to the throne, what does a father matter?"

"Besides, perhaps the Crown Prince simply doesn't want to be controlled by Da Ning because of this..."

But even so, they kept their voices low, fearing that they might be overheard, allowing those useless officials to seize upon their words.

The cold wind howled across the ice, tearing their conversation apart in the night, also covering the chaotic noises of the soldiers cooking and setting up camp.

The army had been in the Tian Shan Mountains for more than ten days, and in another four or five days, they would be able to leave the mountains and reach the Liangzhou territory.

During this time, the Jue Ji allied forces had not encountered even the smallest harassment. Aside from occasionally encountering a few demon beasts, there had been no battles.

This matched the intelligence from Liangzhou.

Da Ning deployed heavy troops in Liangzhou City, refusing to come out, clearly intending to fight them there.

Therefore, the Jue Ji allied forces were naturally not too vigilant.

"Whoosh!"

The wind and snow obscured the sky, hiding the stars and moon, and even the surrounding vast snow mountains were hidden in the darkness.

The generals by the lake had finished talking and were preparing to return to their respective camps to rest.

However, at a certain moment, they all stopped in their tracks.

"Brother Zhang, did you hear that?"

A general frowned and asked, "Why do I seem to hear someone shouting something?"

"It sounds like..."

Another general, surnamed Zhang, also squinted his eyes, and after a long while, shook his head.

"Maybe it's just the sound of the wind."

"Yeah."

The others looked at each other, and just as they were about to leave.

But the next second, when the urgent shout in the wind sounded again, the expressions on everyone's faces changed to astonishment in an instant.

Because this time they finally heard the voice clearly.

"Enemy attack!!!"

"Enemy attack!!!!"

"Whoosh!"

The cold wind howled like a knife, and Chu Xianping looked calmly at the snowflakes that flashed past him.

The eagle demon under him flapped its giant wings, appearing like a black cloud in the night sky.

Around him were also thousands of flying demon beasts, connected into a dark, oppressive cloud layer, filled with murderous intent.

That's right.

On the fifth day after Chu Xianping arrived in Liangzhou, after a series of preparations were completed, the Ning-Shu allied forces finally began their first strike against the Jue Ji allied forces.

This was part of Chu Xianping's new combat plan, so he ignored Wei Changtian's dissuasion and resolutely decided to lead the team himself to carry out this "air raid."

Five thousand flying demon beasts belonging to the Tengu Army, carrying five thousand barrels of "black gunpowder", set off at night and arrived at Immortal Pool at midnight, returning at midnight and a quarter.

The tactics and purpose of this battle were very simple.

No head-on engagement, no greed for killing enemies, and no entanglement with the enemy.

They only needed to fly over the enemy's continuous camp and drop the gunpowder barrels.

Although it sounded simple, this mission was not without danger.

Because after many tests, if they wanted to ensure the accuracy of the "bombing", then the demon beasts could not fly too high.

And since the enemy had long known that the Tengu Army had such an "air force", they must have prepared "anti-aircraft" measures.

So once "shot down" and falling into the enemy's formation, there would be no chance of survival.

For this reason, Wei Changtian was unwilling for Chu Xianping to personally go into battle.

But the latter was quite insistent, saying that this battle was of great importance and no accidents could occur, and he reluctantly agreed.

"..."

"Whoosh!!"

The eagle's wings trembled, and the black feathers were like ink.

Chu Xianping leaned down and clung tightly to the eagle's back, his vision filled with rugged snow rocks.

If nothing unexpected happened, crossing this mountain should be Immortal Pool.

According to the latest situation reported by Zhang San and Huang Sheng, the enemy's 150,000 vanguard army was currently stationed around this not-so-large Immortal Pool.

Dense personnel, surrounded by mountains on all sides.

This was the best environment for a sneak attack, and the best opportunity to deter Yan Huaiqing.

"Whoosh!"

The eagle's head was raised high. At this time, the eagle demon was only a few dozen zhang away from the mountain surface below. From a distance, it didn't look like it was flying, but rather like it was rushing along the mountain wall.

And as it got closer and closer to the summit of this mountain, Chu Xianping's breathing began to quicken slowly.

Then, just as a huge rock rolled down with a "rumbling" sound, he finally crossed the summit and saw the valley below, as bright as day.

Countless torches illuminated the continuous military camp, illuminated the frozen Immortal Pool, illuminated the dark mass of soldiers looking up, and illuminated the dense rows of longbows and giant crossbows.

Immediately afterwards, countless arrows, blessed with inner force, left their strings, shooting upwards towards him.

Seeing this scene, Chu Xianping did not panic at all.

He sharply pulled the animal rope in his hand, and the eagle demon under him continued to fly upwards, instantly climbing dozens of zhang higher, greatly increasing the distance from the valley floor.

As a result, even though the range of these arrows blessed with inner force far exceeded ordinary bows and arrows, most of them could hardly touch him at all.

Only a few arrows were clearly different, still continuing upwards at an extremely fast speed even when other arrows had already fallen weakly, until they fiercely pierced the bodies of several demon beasts.

"Ah!!!"

A terrified scream fell from the sky, quickly disappearing into the wind.

Clearly, these "different" arrows should have been shot by middle or even upper third-rank martial artists, so they could have such power.

However, this negligible lethality could not change the overall situation at all.

"Everyone! Listen to my command!"

At a certain moment, Chu Xianping shouted loudly in the wind:

"Release!!"