Chapter 292: Floating Castle
Wait... Strengthening people with the power of a song? Isn’t this basically the Disney princess concept? Or not? No... it should be the anime protagonist concept. Whenever the protagonist’s theme starts playing, they mysteriously get a power-up!
While Wei Chen’s mind wandered into its usual nonsensical territory once again, Dream Butterfly smiled and nodded.
"Yes, Lord Husband," Dream Butterfly replied before taking out a zither from her storage ring and beginning to play.
As the distance between the vanguard of the beast tide and the defensive line grew shorter, the pressure and suffocating atmosphere created by the overwhelming number of enemies began to weigh heavily on the warriors atop the wall.
One of the young warriors, a rookie who had only reached the Qi Gathering Realm, stood frozen as he stared at the approaching beast tide.
His hands trembled uncontrollably around the hilt of his sword. His mouth had gone dry, and his heartbeat pounded so violently that it almost drowned out the thunderous footsteps of millions of fierce beasts charging toward the wall.
He was afraid... Terrified... Every instinct screamed at him to turn around and run, to somehow survive this ordeal!
But... as he thought back to the people in the city.
Behind him were his family, his home, and everyone he had ever known. He had volunteered to serve the Ximen Clan so that his family would have food on the table. If he were to run... what would happen to them?
Everyone knew that people despised traitors, and deserting the battlefield without even putting up a fight was a disgrace. Even if he survived, his family would not. He would definitely be cast out of all Ximen Clan businesses and facilities, and no one would hire him.
But... if he were to die on the battlefield and prove his worth and bravery... at least the compensation his family would receive would be very generous. Compensation paid in blood had always been generous in the Ximen Clan.
Because of this... even though his legs were shaking, he could only force himself to remain standing.
And this thought... he was not the only one.
Many of the rookies had pale faces. Their breathing became ragged as cold sweat soaked their backs. Even the veterans wore grim expressions. They had survived countless battles, but no one dared underestimate a beast tide of this scale.
Yes... they all knew the plan... but a plan was only a plan.
Once the battle began, anything could happen. They might never live long enough to see that plan succeed.
At this moment...
A clear, elegant zither accompanied by a heavenly voice drifted across the battlefield.
The melody spread like a gentle spring breeze, washing over the warriors one after another.
The rookie blinked. He could feel it... his racing heartbeat gradually slowed. The trembling in his hands faded, and they began to obey him once again.
The suffocating fear that had gripped his chest moments ago quietly dissolved, replaced by an indescribable warmth that spread throughout his entire body.
His breathing steadied, and his thoughts became clear. The terrifying beast tide before him continued to draw closer with every passing moment, but it no longer held any power over him.
He no longer wanted to run.
Instead, his grip on his sword tightened, and a quiet courage welled up from the depths of his heart.
At the same time, streams of spiritual qi flowed through every meridian with unprecedented smoothness. The bottlenecks that had hindered his circulation seemed to disappear as wave after wave of strength surged through his body.
"What’s this... I’m... I’m suddenly... stronger?" the rookie muttered as he looked at his own hand.
Not only him. The same transformation spread throughout the entire defensive line.
The change became even more apparent to the veterans. They could feel it. Their years of combat instinct sharpened even further, while the younger warriors discovered that the fear clouding their minds had completely vanished.
Almost everyone turned toward the source of the music.
What they saw was a sight they would remember for the rest of their lives.
It was as though an immortal fairy had descended from the heavens, blessing the mortal world with her voice and the heavenly melody of her zither.
Her slender fingers danced effortlessly across the strings, each movement so graceful that it resembled a masterpiece crafted by the hands of the greatest sculptor. Coupled with her breathtaking beauty, she seemed less like a mortal cultivator and more like a celestial maiden who had wandered into the human world.
As the melody continued to echo across the battlefield, calm settled over every warrior’s heart.
They... They could win this! No, they could definitely win this!
The sound of trampling earth grew closer, but the hearts and minds of the defenders became one. Their courage surged along with their power.
Meter by meter, the distance closed. It became so close that the defenders with sharp eyesight could see the saliva dripping from the mouths of the fierce beasts as they drooled while staring at them.
The howls and roars of the fierce beasts were as loud as thunder as they drew near, but one thunderous sound overwhelmed them all.
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
A thunderous salvo from the spirit cannons blasted through the valley. The explosion shook both heaven and earth as the power of the Spirit Thunder Cannon shells displayed its might.
The area where the blasts landed was obliterated, leaving behind nothing but the smoke and charred, mangled corpses of elite beasts.
"Reload!" the captain responsible for commanding the cannon towers shouted as the warriors quickly reloaded the massive cannons, each the size of a building, like a well-oiled machine.
The orb-like Thunder-element cannon shells were loaded into the cannons with the help of two warriors.
Once the reloading was complete, the gunners took very little time to aim. The elite beasts were packed so closely together that even if they missed an elite beast, they would still hit the cannon fodder. Aiming simply meant adjusting the general direction the cannons were pointed.
"Fire!"
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
The second salvo of cannon fire rocked the valley once again, but this... was the last time they could fire. Every usable cannon shell had already been depleted.
The casualties inflicted on the beast tide were still far from satisfactory.
Ximen Hao gritted his teeth. If it were not for Ximen Ren’s corruption, the usable cannon shells would have been enough to bomb them all to kingdom come.
"Brace for impact!" the captains commanding the walls all shouted in unison, giving the warriors time to prepare themselves. Every warrior tensed their muscles as their strength surged.
At that moment, the song rose by another note, giving the warriors the final push of strength they needed.
It was at that very moment that the vanguard beasts leaped up and climbed over the wall.
*Slash! Pierce! Push!*
The sounds of flesh tearing and metal slicing through flesh resounded across the battlefield as the blood of the beasts splashed over the walls.
The battle had begun. More and more beasts climbed the walls, and the vanguard gradually crowded the battlements. However, empowered by Dream Butterfly’s song, the warriors’ strength had increased, and their courage remained unshaken no matter how great the number of beasts became.
One beast climbed up and one beast died. Ten climbed up and ten died. None of them were able to breach the wall. The final resting place of every fodder beast was either at the base of the wall, where their bodies tumbled down after being slain, or upon the walls and battlements themselves.
But... at that moment, a massive beast trampled over the bodies of its own kind. It was a Stone Skin Rhinoceros, its body as large as a small mountain.
"Brother Wei, can you take care of that thing?" Ximen Hao asked, pointing at the Stone Skin Rhinoceros.
"Relax... everything is going according to plan," Wei Chen said with a relaxed smile as he raised his head and looked into the sky.
Seeing this, Ximen Hao followed suit.
"What!?" Ximen Hao blurted out, his eyes wide with disbelief.
He saw it.
A massive island floating in the sky.
No... it wasn’t an island. It was a vast castle, its size comparable to the entire Ximen Clan estate.
And beneath it...
There was a colossal cannon barrel.
At that moment, the barrel of the cannon slowly began charging as concentrated blue spiritual qi gathered beneath the floating castle.
As if they had received a signal, the beasts below slowly halted their assault. One after another, they raised their heads, wondering why such dense and condensed spiritual qi was gathering in the sky above them.
Even the Stone Skin Rhinoceros slowly halted its charge and came to a stop, raising its massive head toward the sky.
Their eyes were all drawn to one thing...
A brilliant blue star-like point shining brightly before their very eyes.