After a series of sonorous booms resounded through the sky, more than 10 enormous, round stone sh.e.l.ls flew toward the city wall of Ziyue City. More than half of them flew into the city and caused a few casualties.

A few of those stone sh.e.l.ls smashed into the city wall, creating holes of various sizes.

"Those are their catapults? Their range is much shorter than before, but they are slightly louder now." Standing on the city wall, Xiong Yue scratched his bald head with puzzlement. Why did Great Xia seem worse than before?

At this point in time, those metal barrels were 800 meters away from Ziyue City. Their shooting range had already reached its limit.

Previously, when that series of booms rang across the air, Xiong Yue had led everyone to the city wall to see what was going on. What he saw made him feel slightly bewildered.

The power of Great Xia's new catapults was much weaker compared to their old catapults. Xiong Yue did not understand why they would use these catapults.

After roughly two hours, just as Xiong Yue wondered whether he should go back and take a nap first or not, those metal barrels let out a series of loud booms again.

Every metal barrel shot out a round stone sh.e.l.l that had a diameter of six inches.

Xiong Yue jumped into the air and extended his arm. After flipping in the air, he landed back on the city wall with a round stone sh.e.l.l in his hand.

After tossing it up and down, Xiong Yue said, "Boring, I thought they came up with something new."

He flung his arm and threw the stone sh.e.l.l away.

The stone sh.e.l.l hit one of those metal barrels, causing broken stones to fly everywhere. Blood-curdling screams could be heard and that metal barrel toppled.

"I will go back and take a nap. I'm already so old, so my stamina can't keep up with these youngsters. Report to me if anything weird happens." Xiong Yue had a dull look on his face.

What was Great Xia up to?

However, Xiong Yue wasn't worried at all. There were still 8,000 fearsome warriors and tens of thousands of aboriginal citizens in the city that could easily defeat the Great Xia soldiers .

"Yes, Sir," everyone replied.

Suddenly, an angry roar echoed across the air, "Xiong Yue, where do you think you are going?"

Following which, iron chains shot out from the ground beneath Xiong Yue's feet and tangled up his ankles. Then, an enormous spear whizzed through the air and flew toward Xiong Yue.

At the same time, three figures streaked toward Xiong Yue like lightning bolts.

"Ha! Five Spirit Wheel experts? You are courting death!" Xiong Yue chuckled. Then, he brandished his iron fists and threw a punch at the spear that looked as though it could pierce through a city.

...

150 kilometers away.

Hong Wu was reading a book in his residence. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. In a flash, he appeared beside the perimeter wall of his residence. The longbow hanging on the wall appeared in his hand as well.

He nocked an arrow on the bowstring and drew it back. An imposing aura was exuding from his body.

Everyone in Ping City was shocked. They turned around and looked at the center of the city. They could sense a monster opening its eyes and baring its fangs at the sky from the residence at the center of the city.

A bone arrow shot out from the residence and soared skyward with a powerful might.

...

"Your Majesty, urgent report!" Xin Zhe ran hurriedly into the palace hall and kneeled down on one knee.

"Present it!" the empress replied coldly.

When the empress read the slip that Xin Zhe pa.s.sed to her, her face turned ice-cold.

After reading the slip, she crushed it, and it disintegrated instantly.

"Lu Qi, you're simply courting death!" The empress's voice was bone-piercing. It contained an obvious aura of death, causing Ren Baqian to tremble in fear.

"Your Majesty, what happened?" Ren Baqian asked softly.

"General-in-Chief who Supports the Nation, Hong Wu, fought with Lu Qi, aka Lu Pinghai, for an hour. Hong Wu was severely injured and Lu Qi retreated with heavy injuries," the empress forced these words out of her clenched teeth coldly.

Xin Zhe did not look surprised after hearing these words. Instead, there was a solemn look on her face. It seemed she already knew the contents in the slip.

Hearing these words, Ren Baqian was shocked. "How's General Hong Wu now?"

One had to know that Hong Wu was the key stabilizing force for the Protectorate of the South. If something happened to him, the Protectorate of the South would be in deep trouble.

"His injuries aren't life-threatening, but he will be out of action for a few months," the empress replied coldly.

Ren Baqian furrowed his eyebrows. It was a good thing that Hong Wu's life wasn't endangered. However, it was a bad thing that he was severely injured when Great Xia was about to invade Dayao.

It was obvious that having the ninth most powerful expert in the world at the front line was extremely important.

Alone, he could secure victory on the battlefield by killing the enemy commander amid the chaos.

Hong Wu's superior individual strength and status as the ninth most powerful expert in the world had always been the main pillar of support for the Protectorate of the South.

Now that Hong Wu was severely injured, half of that pillar of support had collapsed.

Even though he could still command his army, the Protectorate of the South was still in a dire situation.

After all, this wasn't Earth. A few top-notch experts could easily behead the enemy commander of an army that had tens of thousands of soldiers.

The style of warfare in this world was slightly different from Earth's.

Just like how the situation of a few thousand aboriginal soldiers withstanding tens of thousands of Great Xia soldiers wouldn't happen on Earth.

However, Great Xia arrived with full fury this time around. It seemed that they were not as easy to deal with as everyone had thought.

While the empress's blood was boiling and Ren Baqian was pondering over the situation, another urgent report arrived.

The empress merely took a glance at it, but the aura of death from her body almost escaped Yangxin Palace.

Seven Spirit Wheel experts and 78 intermediate Earth Wheel experts from Great Xia mounted a sneak attack on Xiong Yue and his commanders while they were standing on the city wall. At the same time, the army of Great Xia advanced and launched an attack on Ziyue City.

Xiong Yue, the a.s.sistant Protector General of the North, was killed by the seven Spirit Wheel experts. Two of the attackers were killed in the process.

At the same time, six commanders of Ziyue City were killed in action while three were gravely injured. As for Great Xia's side, 17 of their intermediate Earth Wheel experts were killed and 21 of them were injured.

"Pa.s.s down my order! Summon Great Elder, Second Elder, Junior Elder, the six ministers, and all other officials into the palace for a court session!" the empress instructed Xin Zhe.

Xin Zhe left, and after quite some time, the empress finally withdrew her aura of death.

"Your Majesty, is there something wrong?" Ren Baqian asked softly.

The empress placed the slip on the table. After taking a look at it, Ren Baqian's facial expression changed.

Given the current situation, it seemed that Ziyue City was going to fall into the enemy's hands soon!

Great Xia was truly the most powerful nation in this world. The first offensive they launched dealt such a devastating blow to Dayao. It seemed that they wanted to annihilate Dayao in one go.

Ren Baqian furrowed his eyebrows.

After a while, the empress left.

Ren Baqian arrived at the garden outside of Yangxin Palace Hall and sat there for quite some time. He wondered what would happen next. Could the aboriginals stop Great Xia's invasion?

One had to know that if Ziyue City fell into the hands of Great Xia, their armies could march right into the interior of Dayao. Their margin of error, the variety of military strategies they could deploy, and the depth at which they could penetrate Dayao would increase significantly.

On the contrary, it would be very difficult for Dayao to block this opening.

The Protectorate of the North might even be cut up and surrounded by the armies of Great Xia.

At night, when the empress returned to Yangxin Palace Hall, the aura of death that she had exuded at noon had disappeared. She was now much calmer.

Ren Baqian automatically poured a cup of wine for the empress. "Your Majesty, Dayao's generals and officials are competent and capable. The armies of Great Xia will definitely be stopped outside of Dayao."

"Ziyue City has been captured," the empress said.

She had received this news during the court session that she held with all the officials. This was within Ren Baqian's expectations. However, it happened earlier than he expected.

"I am going to take to the battlefield myself!"

The empress's words made Ren Baqian realize that the peaceful life he sought was slipping away from him.

"Your Majesty, I will go with you!" Ren Baqian immediately said. His future wife was going to the battlefield soon, so he had better follow closely behind her. Tonight, when he returned to Earth, he would ask for an M61 Vulcan from the nation. It might not be able to kill Spirit Wheel experts, but it could definitely kill Earth Wheel experts.

He would mow down the peons while the empress would fight the BOSS.