The earth-shaking beat of war drums, deafening.
The walls of Tianlang Pass were merely a few hundred meters long, bordered on both sides by staggering cliffs.
Yan Yan’s warriors wearing armor that weighed over a hundred jin each, carried nearly twenty-meter-high siege ladders as they desperately moved forward.
"Fire, fire, fire..."
Upon the city wall, thousands of Black Cloth Army archers released arrows like rain at each command.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."
Countless arrows struck the warriors, sparking off like Mars.
Each of these warriors was nearly two meters tall, weighing three to four hundred jin, each with immense strength, clad in armor that weighed over a hundred jin, rendering them impervious to ordinary arrows.
Braving the torrential downpour of arrows, a few hundred warriors kept pressing towards the city wall.
Behind them, several thousand elite blade fighters hid behind massive wooden shields, advancing step by step.
Still, despite their defenses, agonized cries rose incessantly as men continued to fall under the dense barrage of arrows.
"Bowmen, suppress," Yan Yan commanded.
Suddenly, several hundred large crossbows and thousands of archers began a barrage towards the city walls.
Shooting upwards was inherently a disadvantage. Thus, their goal was simply to suppress the opposing archers, not expecting to inflict heavy casualties.
"Bang, bang, bang, bang..."
The roar of war drums drowned out all else as Tianlang Pass blazed with fire.
After a grueling quarter of an hour, a few hundred warriors finally placed the first batch of siege ladders at the base of the city wall and, with furious roars, set them against the nearly twenty-meter-high fortifications.
"Bang, bang, bang, bang..." Dozens upon dozens of siege ladders thudded against the wall, raised into place.
Then, four mighty warriors worked fervently to secure the siege ladders against the wall.
"Knock them down, knock down the siege ladders," the officers on the wall shouted loudly.
But Yan Yan’s Army had made their siege ladders ideally threatening, their tops almost flush with the wall, showing no vulnerability to being pushed over.
About two thousand elite soldiers climbed the ladders.
The first to ascend were all elite Samurai, who held massive shields to protect their brethren below from arrows, rocks, and rolling logs, earning them the designation of shield-bearing warriors.
These shield-bearers could not die, for if they did, there would be no one to protect the soldiers behind them from a hail of arrows and tumbling stones.
"Drop the rocks, roll the logs..."
At another command, the top of the city wall rained down heavy stones, with boulders weighing over one hundred jin harshly smashing down.
Rolled logs, hundreds of jin in weight, tumbled down furiously.
"Bang, bang, bang, bang..."
The shield-bearing warriors of the Silver Wolf Legion, braving a terrifying barrage of stones and rolling logs, climbed upwards step by step.
From afar, the dozens of siege ladders looked like great serpents, crowded with men like ants, climbing incessantly.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
One after another, the boulders crashed against their fine steel shields, and the shield-bearers shook but held firm, the massive shields continuing to protect the soldiers trailing behind them.
Zhi Ning and Nurdan were shocked, fearing their first assault might allow the attackers to scale the walls.
"Is the boiling oil ready?" Nurdan shouted.
Zhi Ning said, "We don’t need to wait for it to boil over, pour it now and then light it."
Then cauldrons of oil were brought atop the city wall.
Yan Yan glanced at Fen Mo, and both bent their bows and notched their arrows.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."
Yan Yan, with astonishing spiritual power, aimed and shot to kill on the spot.
Fen Mo had a natural talent for archery, almost never needing to aim and hitting whatever he targeted.
Suddenly, those carrying up pots of oil, yet to spill their contents, were struck down, the giant pots toppling and splattering everywhere.
The half-boiling oil was terrifying in its own right, instantly cooking the men alive.
Yan Yan fired an incendiary arrow.
Instantly, the spilled oil ignited, unleashing towering flames.
Turing Duo, witnessing this scene, was deeply shocked, the intensity of the battle surpassing all expectations from the start.
It appeared as though Yan Yan’s Army would breach the walls on the first wave of their attack.
"Sharpshooters, suppress," Turing Duo ordered.
She had only brought a hundred people to Tianshui City, leaving her elite officers to lead Nurden’s ten thousand rebel soldiers in combat.
Beyond that, she also brought three archers, all Dragon Archers, the prized talents of the Turing Clan.
After Turing Duo’s command, the three Dragon Archers began to draw and loose their arrows.
Arrows from Dragon Archers were, of course, extraordinary.
Suddenly, Yan Yan and Fen Mo were completely suppressed, hardly able to expose themselves or shoot.
This moment revealed the distinction between a divine archery talent and elite archers.
Yan Yan’s arrows were precise and powerful, but his shots relied completely on spiritual power and physical strength. With the three Dragon Archers now suppressing him, he could hardly fight back.
Shooting arrows required Yan Yan to use his spiritual power to aim, needing time and exposure.
Fen Mo, however, was different; without showing himself, he could still shoot based on instinct. Releasing an arrow casually, he would almost certainly hit his mark.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."
Moreover, he fired Chain Arrows, sending out five in succession, and with nearly every volley, he struck soldiers carrying oil pots.
Seeing this, Turing Duo demanded sternly, "Why haven’t we suppressed their archer?"
"Miss, the opponent possesses divine archery talent," one Dragon Archer reported. "He shoots purely by feel, without the need for aiming or significant spiritual power, making him difficult to suppress."
Turing Duo asked, "What level of shooting skill does he have?"