CHAPTER 1504: CHAPTER 1504: BLOOD FOR BLOOD

For the North Shore, Long Fei insisted on a defensive strategy, not out of fear of them, but because he didn’t want to exhaust the Human Race’s resources due to military conflicts.

As a result, the Imperial Court has really pushed too far, releasing such a demon to rampage across the South Bank’s positions.

Liuu Baiyuan was seriously injured, and more than half of the twenty thousand troops he led were ravaged by this demon.

If they weren’t dying in the great fire, they were succumbing to the heavy blows of the Azure Dragon Demon King.

The ground was strewn with bodies in disarray, blood converging into a small river that stained the front of the river red.

With a grim face, Long Fei summoned Wang Xun and immediately ordered the Army at the Rear’s Fire Cannon Camp to launch a half-hour of saturation bombardment on the Northern Shore’s Imperial Army camp.

The South Yangtze Prefecture’s New Army Fire Cannon Camp had just been established and never actively shown its hand as a trump card before.

This Fire Cannon Camp was temporarily under Wang Xun’s command, with only three hundred cannons, and other units were not equipped with them.

The cannons were large-caliber howitzers purchased from the outside world, whose fragments upon explosion could easily tear through the Essential Qi Barrier of Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Experiments showed that Enlightenment Realm Cultivators could withstand them, but Foundation Establishment Cultivators were easily killed.

The soldiers in the armies on both shores were generally Foundation Establishment Cultivators, with some being ordinary people only knowledgeable in basic martial arts.

After Long Fei gave the order, each cannon in the artillery unit immediately adjusted its angle towards the camp on the opposite shore.

"Fire!"

The camp officer gave the command.

Three hundred howitzers fired simultaneously; dong, dong, dong, the tremendous sound shattered the sky.

The dust soared, and the ground trembled violently.

The shells whistled through the air, drawing dazzling red arcs like a meteor shower, densely falling one by one into the enemy camp across the shore.

Bang,

Bang,

Bang!

The explosion tore through the night sky, with enormous firelights soaring into the heavens.

The sounds echoed back, causing the soldiers of the South Yangtze Prefecture forces at the riverbank to feel their hearts race and crushed by a suffocating wave of heat from afar.

These shells had been modified, their casings reforged to be purer than before.

The explosives inside had also been refined, increasing the power by at least tenfold compared to before.

The explosive sounds merged into a continuous roar, with the first wave of attacks enveloping the opposite camp in clamorous sound.

Waves of flames connected into one another, turning the opposite shore into a sea of fire.

Wails, screams, cries of fear, and pleas for help merged into a cacophony in the enemy camp.

The smoke billowed, the shockwave raged, and the explosive sounds shattered the sky, slowly calming down after a long while.

A camp of a hundred thousand people turned into ruins after one tremor of the earth and sky.

The small hill of fifty to sixty meters where the camp stood was leveled by the bombs.

The vegetation on it was completely destroyed, the smoke billowing, resembling an apocalyptic scene after a volcanic eruption.

Beneath the black ruins, the soil was soft, steaming, with no intact corpse in sight.

Veteran Han Fang and a group of officers looked on in disbelief at this scene, unable to comprehend what kind of magical treasure it was; they thought it might be a meteor from the sky crashing down.

A burly man with a bloodied head and completely blackened body flew in on a sword, crashing before Han Fang, crying out in distress, "Commander, it’s not good. The Vanguard Army is finished, totally finished!"

Han Fang picked him up and scolded him, "Crying like this, where’s your dignity? Who is causing this commotion?"

The officer cried out in panic, "Didn’t see anyone, this magical treasure is powerful. It came and turned our camp to ruins. Commander, we must retreat quickly! This treasure is sinister, we’ll be too late soon."

Han Fang glared coldly at the opposite shore, swearing, "Long Fei, that scoundrel, is showing me his colors! The Azure Dragon Demon King killed his men, so he takes it out on me. I’m standing right here, let’s see what he’s capable of against me?"

On the opposite camp, Wang Xun ran over and, cupping his fists, reported to Long Fei, "Commander, all three thousand shells have been exhausted. Shall we bring back the fleet and teach them a lesson with missiles?"

"Hurting your own only pleases your enemies, no need to let the Azure Dragon Demon King enjoy the show."

Long Fei shook his head.

This time, giving Han Fang a lesson will make the old fellow act with more consideration in the future.

No matter who he invites, they won’t target ordinary soldiers.

In the deep night, Han Fang hastily summoned the Azure Dragon Demon King into his command tent.

After transforming, the Azure Dragon Demon King had black skin, horned head, tall stature reaching over two meters.

Clad in black scales, in the middle of the night, under the light gathering stone, only his two fiery eyes were visible.

Han Fang sat in his command tent, waiting for him to enter, immediately chiding, "Azure Dragon Demon King, what deed did you do? Why sneak into others’ camp at night, killing over ten thousand soldiers? What grievance do these ordinary people have against you? Don’t you care for your cultivation level anymore?"

The Azure Dragon Demon King sat down with an air of disdain for Han Fang and replied, "A gentleman doesn’t concern himself with trifles. Commander, as someone leading an army, why fuss over these trivialities? It was merely twenty thousand men; I’ve already restrained myself. In the past, I would have laid a hundred thousand corpses at once."

"What nonsense are you speaking!"

Han Fang’s brow furrowed, immediately regretting collaborating with this Demon King; it felt like plotting with a tiger.

The Demon Clan is violent, historically incompatible with the Human Race, utterly unconcerned with human lives.

The Azure Dragon Demon King replied, "What’s done is done. If Commander Han fears Long Fei’s revenge, we can each go our separate ways. If Commander Han still has any fighting spirit left, as agreed for tomorrow, we shall march south together and eliminate Long Fei on the battlefield."

After finishing, he rose and left with a flick of his head, utterly disregarding Han Fang.

Furious to the point of spitting blood, Han Fang had no choice but to swallow his anger, unable to break ties with the Azure Dragon Demon King at this critical moment.

For now, he had to endure, only after securing victory would he deal with this Demon King.

The next day, before dawn.

The sound of military drums resonated within Han Fang’s army, signaling the assembly to move towards the shore.

Once the wooden warships were gathered, Han Fang personally led his men to the frontline.

To guard against another intensive bombardment from across the shore, Han Fang specifically ordered the officers in the army to hold defensive magical treasures, protecting their respective camps.

The magical treasure was in the form of a soil-yellow umbrella, mass-produced by Dragon-Tiger Mountain, called the ’Wuxu Yellow Umbrella.’

This umbrella could harness the surrounding Earth Elemental Force to form a layer of Earth Elemental Barrier overhead.

It could guard against enemy’s shrapnel, Fire Thunder attacks, wielded by the most cultivated person in the camp, with enough spiritual power to sustain for a stick of incense’s duration.

On the battlefield across, a group of South Yangtze Prefecture leaders also led their men in confrontation.

The two sides gazed across the five-thousand-meter-wide Huai River, faces on both sides filled with anger.

Long Fei signaled Ji Xiaolian, who immediately dispatched someone to challenge the opponent.

Niu Ang, holding the Thunder Drum Golden Hammer, was the first to step forward, shouting at the opposite side, "Hey, listen up, old men on the other side. You violated the rules, allowing the Demon King to destroy our camp, killing twenty thousand of our brothers. Today, I’ll repay the blood debt in kind and slaughter all you shameless wretches."