454: Chapter 454 The Long Night Finally Dawns

As he made his way, Lin Xiao's mood grew heavy.

Passing through the border of Tai Prefecture, Lin Xiao discovered that the severity of the fighting far exceeded his estimates.

On the wild battlefields, large numbers of dead Yan Army soldiers, and even his own Zhenbei Army soldiers, had been hacked beyond recognition by chaotic blades.

He was experienced in fighting the Northern Barbarians; although the Northern Barbarian cavalry were vicious, they fought with abandon on the battlefield and would not resort to such brutal methods.

What made Lin Xiao feel even more chilled was seeing signs of gnawing on some of the corpses. He wasn't sure if it was wild beasts or something else...

Lin Xiao had previously crossed swords with the Iron Kite Army and the White Wolf Cavalry, and he hadn't felt much difference between the Khitan people and the Northern Barbarians.

But this time, it was clearly different.

"Clip-clop, clip-clop!—"

Just as Lin Xiao intended to continue his journey and head straight for Mohe Pass, where Zhao Caiwei was, he heard the sound of rapid hoofbeats ahead.

Lin Xiao expanded his perception and quickly approached, discovering that a Khitan Army unit of about thirty men was launching a charge at a small county town?

Lin Xiao was somewhat surprised. This was already a small city deep within Qizhou; had such a small Khitan Army unit really made it this far?

Had the Border Army been breached, or had this small unit slipped through?

However, what felt even more bizarre to Lin Xiao was: where did a Khitan cavalry unit of only thirty men get the confidence to charge a county town directly?

Even if the county garrison wasn't elite, the city walls were still there. Without siege equipment, were these thirty men planning to climb up with their bare hands?

On the other side, the county garrison was facing a formidable enemy. Seeing the Khitan people approaching, they hurriedly mobilized over a hundred soldiers; those who could draw bows did so, and those who could throw stones did so.

Very quickly, however, the combat power of the Khitan people caused the county garrison to feel a sense of despair!

The leading Khitan squad leader, after taking an arrow, continued to charge forward as if he felt no pain at all!

He reached the base of the wall, kicked off his horse, and leaped high, pouncing directly to a height of over five meters on the wall!

Following closely, he thrust his blade into a gap in the wall, grabbed the hilt with one hand, and used the leverage to vault upward.

Relying on astonishing arm strength and explosive power, he actually climbed onto the wall!?

Although the county town's walls were only about eight meters high, it was relatively easy for some martial arts experts with lightfoot skills.

However, this cavalry squad leader clearly had no such skills; he did it purely through brute force!

This scene terrified the county garrison, who had little experience in battlefield combat, causing them to panic and lose their composure.

The squad leader immediately snatched a blade from nearby and began hacking three defenders to death on the wall.

Meanwhile, the remaining twenty-some Khitan cavalrymen also displayed astonishing physical stamina; one by one, like geckos, they relied on the strength of their knuckles to forcibly scale the wall!?

Lin Xiao had not intended to intervene, but the bizarre turn of events forced him to change direction to investigate what was happening.

When he was only a little over a hundred meters from the small county town, there were already over a dozen Khitan Army soldiers on the wall, and dozens of defenders had already fallen in pools of blood.

Lin Xiao flicked out streaks of sword qi, killing these Khitan Army soldiers from a distance.

When he landed on the battlements, the Khitan people had all been killed, not even knowing who had killed them.

The county lieutenant guarding the city saw Lin Xiao and, knowing a martial arts expert had arrived, rushed over and knelt down excitedly to thank him.

"Thank you, young master, for saving the people of our county! Thank you..."

The county lieutenant was sobbing uncontrollably. The battle just now had been too terrifying; these dozen or so people seemed to have no sensation, as they were hacked by blades and shot by arrows yet remained alive!

Lin Xiao used his Eye of God to scan them carefully, only to discover that most of these people were actually "laborers," not regular soldiers!?

He looked further into the city and saw the tragic corpses of the defenders, a shocking sight!

This city had not been attacked for the first time!

"Why are your casualties so heavy? Where is the Yan Army?" Lin Xiao asked.

The county official said with a miserable face, "The Princess's Yan Army, as well as the Zhenbei Army that came to support, are all fighting the Khitan people."

"But these Khitan people seem possessed by evil spirits; they are all monsters, running around like mad dogs. It's impossible to defend against them!"

"In just these few days, this is already the third wave!"

Lin Xiao felt an ominous sensation after hearing this. He scanned the corpses of these Khitan people again.

Their cultivation levels were fine; logically, they were just ordinary Khitan cavalrymen.

But he had indeed just seen them get shot and injured without it affecting them, and their strength was astonishing.

Lin Xiao found the squad leader's corpse and searched his body, wanting to see if there was anything like a "strengthening agent."

After all, for an ordinary soldier to suddenly have surging strength and not fear pain, he could only think of drugs. However, he found nothing.

"Huh?"

Lin Xiao suddenly noticed that this Khitan soldier's eyes were exceptionally red, his skin was sallow, and his gums showed signs of atrophy and bleeding, making his teeth look particularly sharp.

"Could it be... poisoning?"

Although Lin Xiao was not trained in medicine, with his current Celestial Immortal cultivation, he could grasp many things intuitively.

The symptoms of these Khitan people clearly indicated the accumulation of toxins in their bodies, with damage to the liver and kidneys.

There were too few clues to draw a conclusion yet.

Lin Xiao turned to the county official and said, "Evacuate the women and children as soon as possible; hide if you can. Although these Khitan people have strong combat power, their minds are likely not clear; they are being controlled by drugs."

The county official wanted to ask how he knew it was drugs, but Lin Xiao had already vanished in a flash.

Half a day later.

At nightfall, Lin Xiao arrived at Mohe Pass.

From afar, Lin Xiao could already smell the scent of blood in the wind.

All around the fortress, there were severed limbs and body parts, with many wild wolves and dogs feasting.

Lin Xiao drifted into the city and quickly found Zhao Caiwei.

The woman was in the infirmary camp; it was full of wounded soldiers, many of whom had already lost their limbs, and the heavy atmosphere made it hard to breathe.

Zhao Caiwei was in full armor, her hair slightly disheveled, busy comforting some wounded soldiers who had just returned from the gates of death, trying to bolster their courage to keep living.

"Who goes there?!" Seeing a figure suddenly appear at the entrance of the camp, the guard soldiers exclaimed.

When they clearly saw the man's face, the two Zhenbei Army soldiers were pleasantly surprised.

"Your... Your Highness!?"

Inside the infirmary, everyone who could turn their heads looked toward the tent entrance.

Faces that had previously been dejected now showed long-lost excitement and hope.

It was as if with this man's arrival, the endless night would finally see the light.