Cangyan Province. The northwest border of the Cangling Country. Chongyun Pass.

It was late at night. There was no sound on the walls of the vast pass, except for the footsteps of the patrolling soldiers. Within a radius of more than ten miles, there were only the cries of crows and a small number of nocturnal animals. There was no light other than the stars and the moon in the sky, and the faint light in the hands of each patrol soldier. Tonight's moon is the last quarter moon again, and the light is very dark, not bright white, but dim yellow, reflecting the towering mountains on both sides of the pass.

Hundreds of soldiers stood guard at their posts on the city gates. With the exception of the patrolling soldiers, each soldier crouched behind the walls tens of meters thick, carrying a giant crossbow or musket cannon as large as their body.

Chongyun Pass is one of the five important checkpoints on the eastern front of the Cangyan Mountain Range controlled by the Cangling Kingdom. Since the sneak attack by the Spirit Master troops of the Solid Rock Country, the number of ordinary soldiers stationed here has doubled. The number of Spirit Master troops has also doubled. The other four important checkpoints have received the same reinforcements.

The Cangyan Mountains are not only the border between the Cangling Kingdom and the Jianyan Kingdom, but also the dividing line between the western plains of the Cangling Kingdom and the southeastern plateau of the Jianyan Kingdom. The west side is controlled by the Jianyan Kingdom, and the east side is controlled by the Cangling Kingdom.

The vast majority of the country is made up of plateaus and mountains, and the northwest is covered with snow all year round, with only a narrow river valley in the center dividing the country into two parts, the west and the east. To the east of the Cangyan Mountain Range, until Cangqing City, the capital of Cangyan Province of Cangling Country, is the plain area of Pingchuan. It was precisely because of the existence of the Cangling Kingdom's defensive line on the eastern side of the Cangyan Mountains that the western provinces were rarely damaged by border conflicts. The reason why the "Qingluo Change" happened back then was because the Scorpion Sect acted as an internal ghost and opened the relatively weakest of the five major levels, the Qingluo Pass, from the inside. If this were not the case, the ordinary army of the Jianyan Kingdom would not be able to break through the defense line of the Cangling Army.

Not long ago, after repelling the attack of the Jianyan* team, the commander of the Northwest Army of the Cangling Army ordered the removal of many of the original generals guarding the pass, and assigned part of the troops of the Third Army Corps in the Northwest Army to various checkpoints to strengthen the defense of each checkpoint. The remaining troops are stationed near the ruins of Qingyan Town, as mobile troops, ready to support each level. Since then, the offensive of the Rock Country has been significantly reduced. Chongyun Pass was not attacked at all.

Jiang Chengyu led a small army and climbed the city wall. He was still wearing a brand new silver military uniform and a silver helmet on his head. That was the standard attire of the Spirit Division in the Third Legion of the Northwest. The soldiers lined up in a column behind him. Each soldier was fully armed, dressed in full armor and uniform. The last soldier had a ball-like object like a water bottle tied around his waist.

They are a squad of spirits in charge of night patrols. Since the last sneak attack by the Dark Spirit Force, the Cangling Army has focused on strengthening night patrols. A part of the Third Spirit Regiment of the Third Army in the Northwest was assigned to various checkpoints on the front line of the Cangling Mountain Range and was responsible for daily patrol work. Every two shifts, there will be two teams of spirit masters to take over the patrols of ordinary soldiers. They all carry special communication flares, and as soon as they spot an enemy, they will immediately fire them to call for the support of the spirit division troops.

Under the leadership of Jiang Chengyu, the soldiers advanced from north to south in turn. Their steps were completely aligned, and they didn't even make any sound. A finger-wide fluctuation of spiritual power was released from under each person's feet.

Jiang Chengyu raised his head and glanced out from the gap in the city wall. In the distance, there is nothing but the moon and stars hanging in the sky. Only by concentrating on the eyes and looking due west can you see a few faint points of fire. It was the light of the fire of the Solid Rock* Strong* camp on the other side of the Cangyan Mountains.

"Captain. ”

A burly soldier standing behind him gently reminded him. His voice was very thick, and this one was so soft that it suddenly made normal people feel like they had eaten a big mouthful of mustard.

Jiang Chengyu turned his head, nodded, and continued to lead the soldiers forward. His pace was still unhurried, but his gaze began to wander, no longer looking at the various defensive positions on the city wall as he had just done before, but glancing in the direction of the Solid Rock Camp in the distance from time to time.

Everything is normal and there is nothing wrong with it. But he always felt a little uneasy in his heart.

Just as they walked to the other end of the city wall where another team was going up, and were about to go down to the city to change the guard, several clusters of light suddenly rose from the direction of the Jianyan* camp.

Those clusters of light were similar to the firelight in the previous barracks, but the brightness was slightly lower, not like natural light, but more like the light released by spiritual power. Although it is called light, it gives people a darker feeling, like the dim yellow light of an oil lamp lit in a poor family's house, and it is also a bit like the bronze of the moon.

Several clusters of light slowly rose into the air tens of meters high, and then quickly flew towards the Chongyunguan city wall. They grew rapidly in size, gradually becoming as large as boulders jutting out from the high mountains on both sides of Chongyun Pass, and in an instant they flew half the distance between the Jianyan* camp and the city wall on the west side of Chongyun Pass.

"Enemy attack!"

Jiang Chengyu was the first to shout these two words. The silver whip appeared in his hand, flashing with a dazzling silver light. Under his gesture command, a group of warriors behind him quickly set up their positions and unleashed their respective martial spirits. The spiritual power light of various attributes was released at the same time, combining with the silver whip in his hand to form a small spiritual power battle array.

One of the soldiers who had been standing at the end of the battle line stood at the back of the battle formation, raised his right arm, and threw the flare at his waist. The same goes for the other team of spirit masters on the other side. Two signal flares exploded in the air at the same time, releasing two fireworks, which were in the shape of two national emblems of the Cangling Kingdom.

Trumpets and whistles sounded one after another. The sound of neat running also sounded. Several groups of bows and muskets quickly ran up to the top of the wall.

Dozens of giant crossbows and musket cannons aimed at several clusters of light in the air at the same time, and fired fiercely at the light clusters. The crossbow arrows as thick as the beams and the large cannonballs all poured down towards the clusters of light. The city-defending giant crossbow had a long range enough to hit those clusters of light.

Several clusters of light were not affected in the slightest, and continued to move at a high speed. Most of the bolts and shells couldn't get close to them, either missing or low. Occasionally, some of them were struck and absorbed by them like mud cows entering the sea. There are some faint ripples on their surface, but the color becomes brighter, changing from dim yellow to bright white.

When the light regiment was less than fifteen meters away from the gate of Chongyun Pass, most of the archers and muskets stationed in the pass had already reached the top of the city. They were followed by a force of spirit divisions scattered into several squads. Not far to the east, several clusters of bright light of different colors were rapidly approaching. It was a spirit unit that had come to support from the rear.

Under the unified order, all the musket units that had ascended to the top of the city opened fire at the same time. The Spirit Master Team unleashed spiritual power fluctuations, illuminating the night sky as if it were day. All firepower forms a network of fire in the air, facing the light that is stagnant in the air.

Including Jiang Chengyu, all the spirit masters who attacked from the Cangling Realm all felt that those clusters of light did not have any attack power, and they were completely protective spiritual power shields. In the midst of them should be one or several spirit troops. They stay just outside the longitudinal range of the bow and arrow, and can only try to contain or break it with the fire of muskets, and wait for reinforcements from the follow-up mid-tier spirit divisions.

But why would the enemy send only one or a few spirit troops? Their purpose is also difficult to judge, not like reconnaissance, not like a tentative attack...... What would that be?

"Buzz ......"

A dull, loud roar suddenly rang out. A spiral of spiritual power fluctuations spread out from the middle of several clusters of light. Several clusters of light simultaneously emitted a yellow wave of spiritual power towards each diagonally upward, converging into a sphere higher in the sky.

The orb was double-layered, with a strange color, shrouded in a layer of yellow fluctuations that looked like flames, and the inner layer was black like a fruit pit.

Black spiritual power ripples erupted, enveloping the walls below like a flood, painting the sky dark again.

Thousands of muskets, hundreds of guns, and at the same time stopped the roar. The spiritual power released by several spirit master squads of the Cangling Army was all frozen, and it dissipated into the air in an instant. The spirits suspended in the air fell one after another. Ordinary soldiers fell down in rows.

"Whoosh!"

With just one blow, the yellow and black sphere disappeared in an instant. In the next second, the clusters of light that had completely turned white were already thousands of meters away and disappeared.

It was only a few seconds before reinforcements appeared on the ramparts. The two young officers led by him each unleashed two spiritual power fluctuations, illuminating the sky above the city walls.

There was a lot of damage to the walls, and there were even large collapses. A dozen giant crossbows and a dozen cannons were destroyed. Each of them was knocked to the ground, temporarily incapacitated. Most of the soldiers fainted, and some of the poor were directly shocked to death.

"Uh......"

Jiang Chengyu was the first to struggle to get up. He looked up and saw that the enemy was long gone, and only the battered walls, his comrades who fainted on the ground, the wounded soldiers who were helped down the city, and the corpses that fell on the walls. He also saw that the commander stationed at Chongyun Pass had already joined up with the Spirit Division officers who had come to support, began to clean up the battlefield, and sent people to report to his superiors.

"What's that......"