"Hmph. Planning to use the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon's overwhelming attack to break the walls? Dream on. Hidden weapon corps, deploy!" At Xue Beng's order, Tai Tan led the Tang Clan Army onto the battlements.
Ordinary soldiers' arrows were useless against high-level soul masters; defense would have to rely on the Tang Clan Army.
Tai Tan was exhilarated. His elite corps, trained for years, would finally shine today. He would make the Seven-Treasure Glazed Tile Sect a sacrifice to the Tang Sect.
Below, Zhu Zhuqing smiled faintly. As expected, Xue Beng had deployed this unit—just as she had anticipated.
In terms of numbers and elite quality, Heaven Dou outmatched them now. Therefore the only real threat to Heaven Dou was the joint Soul Master Army of the Seven-Treasure Sect and the Blue Lightning clan.
Zhu Zhuqing understood that Xue Beng's only hope of countering the Soul Master Army was this hidden weapon corps. And with relatively few men atop the walls, it seemed he had hidden a larger hidden-weapon force elsewhere as an ambush.
"Your Majesty Fire Dragon, please bring out what I asked you to prepare. Your Majesty Thunder, please be ready."
"Haha, such a spirited girl. If Star Luo had been ruled by you back then, I might not have left," Wu Zhao laughed as he took an enormous iron stone from his soul tool and hurled it before the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Corps.
In the next instant—almost to the second—the hidden weapon corps fired their Zhuge Divine Crossbows, while Yu Yuanzhen attached a measured charge of lightning to the iron stone.
Zhu Zhuqing was creating an electromagnet. With a Title Douluo like Yu Yuanzhen, she didn't even need copper wire as a conductor.
In a flash, all the bolts fired by the Zhuge Crossbows veered off course, drawn to the iron stone.
"What?" Tai Tan was shocked. The Tang Sect's Zhuge Divine Crossbows, neutralized so easily?
"Fourth spirit skill, Blue Lightning Divine Dragon Rush!" The Blue Lightning clan disciples seized the moment to unleash their spirit skills. Several thunder dragons roared toward the city walls.
Xue Beng was alarmed. "Quick! Disciples of the Defense Clan, hold the line!"
"Giant Rhino Guard!" A hundred Defense Clan disciples leapt from the walls, took on their martial soul forms, and tried to block the thunder dragons with their bodies.
"Good. Xue Beng's second layer of defense is exactly as I expected. Teacher Qin, use your explosive power to shatter the magnet. Fusion battalions, activate seven-in-one fusion skills. Blue Lightning clan disciples, prepare the second volley—this time we must breach the wall," Zhu Zhuqing ordered again. They were the attackers. Though attacking is generally disadvantageous in war, initiative often lies with the attacker; the defenders can only react.
In the battle of Heaven Dou City, Ning Fengzhi had dismantled all of Bibi Dong's offensives to win a great victory.
Today, Zhu Zhuqing would launch an unstoppable onslaught Xue Beng couldn't counter.
"Sixth spirit skill, Explosive Inferno!" Qin Ming didn't hesitate. As a Title Douluo, he acted even faster than the prepped Blue Lightning disciples.
With a boom, the iron stone shattered under Qin Ming's explosive power, sending a storm of bolts and fragments flying.
At that moment, the first Blue Lightning attack had been fully blocked by the Defense Clan.
Their defense was astounding enough to withstand the blows of the world's top beast martial soul. But the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon wasn't so easily received. Though the strike hadn't injured them, it shattered their iron armor.
Zhu Zhuqing had told them yesterday: once the Defense Clan blocked the attack, the second wave should begin immediately. They raised their fourth soul rings without hesitation.
"Hmph. It's useless no matter how many times you try," Tai Tan said confidently, arms crossed. The Defense Clan's defense was no joke. After Niu Gao's death, Tai Tan had forcibly incorporated most of the Defense Clan's disciples; they had since served as the hidden-weapon corps' meat shield.
"Is that so? Senior Tai Tan, you'd better look closely," Zhu Zhuqing smiled.
"Hm?" Tai Tan was taken aback. In that instant of distraction, a chorus of screams rose from below.
The Defense Clan disciples had been pierced through by the very hidden-weapon bolts and shards from moments before.
Tai Tan hadn't anticipated this at all. In the next second, with no more obstacles, the Blue Lightning Corps' second strike smashed the walls. Under the seven-in-one fusion skill, the leading Blue Lightning elders could temporarily exert power comparable to Title rank. Thousands of Tang Clan troops on the walls were slaughtered; only the higher-level soul masters survived.
"Breached wall! All forces, charge!" Yu Tianheng shouted.
"Kill!!" The two hundred fifty thousand troops, long raring to go, surged toward Binghai City like a tide.
Though they were outnumbered by Xue Beng's four hundred thousand, they were fresh from a string of victories and riding high morale—far beyond the shattered remnants under Xue Beng.
Not to mention the many Title Douluo leading them, while Xue Beng had only the three Title Douluo of the Clear Sky Sect—a far cry from the Seven-Treasure Sect's numbers.
"Your Majesty, we can't let them enter the city. Your servant requests to sally forth and meet them," Ge Long urged. His best unit was the heavy cavalry, but such troops were useless in cramped city streets. Only the open field was their stage.
"Very well. Heavy Cavalry Corps, advance," Xue Beng ordered at once. The wall had already fallen; defense had little meaning now. He had to seize every advantage.
This was exactly what Zhu Zhuqing wanted—to lure the heavy cavalry out. In the open, Tianlin's talismans could be used to full effect without harming innocent civilians in the city.
She left the rest to Yu Tianheng, leaped onto the wall, and faced Tai Tan. "Senior, in this battle against your Tang Clan Army, I've outplayed you. From here on, I'll be your direct opponent."
"You just used magnetism to break my Tang Clan Army and the Defense Clan's line, didn't you?" Tai Tan asked darkly. As one of the three master craftsmen of the age, he knew a bit about magnetism. The Defense Clan's iron armor was excellent, but when exposed to electricity, a magnetic field would form.
"Correct. A magnet's polarity can be reversed by reversing the current," Zhu Zhuqing said. "At first, His Majesty Thunder created a positively charged magnet; afterward, the Blue Lightning took care to create a negative field around your Defense Clan."
"The first Blue Lightning volley weakened the Defense Clan's armor. Then opposite polarities attracted, and the razor-sharp hidden-weapon bolts and iron shards were pulled right into them—naturally easy to pierce."
"I haven't spent all my seclusion years just cultivating. Out of boredom, I learned a bit of everything. Didn't expect it to come in handy today."
"You little lass!" Tai Tan roared and threw a punch at Zhu Zhuqing.
She slipped aside with a flicker. "Senior, your punches are fierce, but they're useless if they don't land. My speed is no less than the Speed Clan's, and while my attack may not match the Breaking Clan, my piercing power is among the best on the continent. Have a taste."
Two yellow, two purple, four black—eight soul rings flared as Zhu Zhuqing entered her true form. Tai Tan's strength surpassed that of some Title Douluo, but he lagged far behind in other aspects. If she relied on speed and skirmishing, she had overwhelming odds.