58: The enemy is at the gates

In the days that followed, the atmosphere in Star South City was as oppressive as the dead calm before a storm. As people from the surrounding villages and towns frantically poured in, this originally somewhat spacious medium-sized city saw its refugee population instantly swell to several hundred thousand! The streets were packed with panicked crowds, makeshift shacks were everywhere, and the air was thick with the smells of fear, sweat, and despair.

City Lord Xia Wuyin issued a general wartime mobilization order. All Martial Artists, regardless of origin, must answer the conscription!

Cultivators at the Martial Apprentice level were organized into public security teams, responsible for maintaining order within the city and suppressing any potential riots.

All Martial Artists, however, were forcibly conscripted into the city defense force, issued crude weapons and armor, and subjected to emergency drills in preparation for the impending bloody battle.

Even the more than twenty medical halls, large and small, within the city were uniformly requisitioned, assigned designated areas to serve as rear-line treatment points for the war. Huichun Medical Hall was no exception; Doctor Chu, along with Qin Feng and Xiao Chun, began preparing large quantities of battlefield emergency supplies like wound ointments and hemostatic powders.

The entire city resembled a war machine forcibly wound to its breaking point, groaning in despair. Countless residents knelt day and night before idols or ancestral tablets, praying that the barbarian tribes would spare Star South City and take a different route.

However, Qin Feng, who possessed intelligence from the System, felt nothing but icy coldness in his heart. He clearly knew that the butcher's blade of the barbarians would not waver in the slightest because of prayers. Those five thousand bloodthirsty vanguards were coming precisely for Star South City!

What was destined to come, had finally arrived.

At noon that day, the already gloomy sky seemed shrouded by an even heavier pall. On the distant horizon, a sky-blotting cloud of dust first rose, like a rolling sandstorm. Immediately after, the thunderous sound of hooves, heavy and dull, grew from far to near, shaking the very bricks and stones of the city walls.

On the ramparts of Star South City, all the defenders involuntarily tightened their grips on their weapons, their breathing becoming heavy.

They're here!

A dark tide of barbarian cavalry, like a torrent from Hell, appeared at the edge of sight. They wore miscellaneous leather armor, wielded curved blades, spears, and spiked clubs, their faces painted with bizarre pigments, their eyes filled with savagery and a desire for slaughter. Their formation wasn't particularly orderly, but the murderous aura forged from mountains of corpses and seas of blood coalesced into a tangible pressure that washed over them!

Even more heart-stopping was the sight behind the barbarian army: thousands upon thousands of weeping, ragged commoners, tethered by long ropes! Most were able-bodied adults and young women captured from villages along the way, driven forward like livestock. The slightest delay would earn them a merciless lash or even a killing blow from a barbarian soldier. Desperate sobs intertwined with the barbarians' cruel laughter, painting a scene of a living Hell.

The entire Star South City instantly fell deathly silent. On the battlements, many of the newly conscripted Martial Artists turned pale, their legs trembling uncontrollably. Even seasoned veterans wore expressions of extreme gravity.

The barbarian army slowly halted just outside arrow range. A barbarian general, exceptionally burly, riding a giant war wolf, with a ferocious centipede-like scar on his face, rode out from the ranks. He held a massive axe like a door plank, his voice like a great bell, infused with berserk Internal Energy, shaking the entire wall:

"People in the city, listen! I am the mighty Ten-Thousand-Man Commander of the Azure Wolf Tribe—Warlord of the Canglang Tribe! Now, I give you one chance: open the city gates immediately and kneel in surrender! Otherwise, once my great army breaches the city, we will leave not a chicken or a dog alive, slaughtering every last soul!"

On the battlements, City Lord Xia Wuyin, clad in full military attire, forcefully suppressed the shock and fury in his heart and stepped forward from the crowd. He also channeled his Internal Energy, his voice steady yet carrying an undeniable firmness, spreading in all directions:

"Barbarian general, listen! I am the City Lord of Xingnan, Xia Wuyin! Star South City is the territory of my Qianyuan Kingdom! How dare you run wild here! If you withdraw immediately, I might grant you some provisions as a gesture of peace. But if you insist on fighting..." Xia Wuyin's voice suddenly rose sharply, filled with resolute killing intent, "Every single person in my Star South City will fight to the last drop of blood! Even if the city is destroyed and we perish, we will shatter every one of your teeth!"

Upon hearing this, Warlord of the Canglang Tribe did not get angry. Instead, he grinned widely, revealing his pale teeth, and let out an unpleasant, owl-like laugh: "Heh heh heh... City Lord Xia? You've got some guts. However..."

He changed his tone, adopting a teasing, cat-and-mouse manner: "Wanting us to withdraw? That's not impossible. As long as you agree to a few small conditions..."

He extended his thick fingers, counting them off one by one:

"First, hand over all women in the city above the age of twelve, for my warriors to enjoy!"

"Second, five hundred thousand dan of grain! Ten thousand head each of cattle and sheep!"

"Third, fifty million gold coins!"

"And finally..." he greedily licked his lips, "I hear you Qianyuan people are skilled at Alchemy? Offer up another one hundred bags of high-quality Medicinal Pills!"

With each condition announced, the expressions of the defenders on the walls grew uglier. By the end, the crowd was seething with indignation, and angry curses erupted everywhere!

"Bastard!"

"Wishful thinking!"

"Fight them to the death!"

This wasn't negotiation at all; it was blatant humiliation and an impossible extortion! Hand over all the women? That would be pushing half the city's populace into a living Hell! Five hundred thousand dan of grain? Even emptying Star South City wouldn't gather that much! Fifty million gold coins? An astronomical figure!

Xia Wuyin trembled with rage, his face livid, his fists clenched so tightly his nails nearly dug into his flesh. He took a deep breath, using all his strength to suppress the roar that was about to erupt, forcing three words through gritted teeth:

"Im... poss... ible!"

Warlord of the Canglang Tribe seemed to have anticipated this answer long ago. A cruel and excited smile spread across his face as he suddenly swung his giant axe forward:

"Heh heh... Then there's nothing more to say!"

"Warriors! Prepare—"

"Attack!!"

"Woo—woo woo—"

The desolate, bloodthirsty sound of Ox-Horn Horns, like the summons of the God of Death, suddenly resounded across the plains!

The dark tide of the barbarian army, like a bursting flood, let out a heaven-shaking roar and launched a ferocious assault towards Star South City!

The great battle erupted instantly!