Zither Emperor

He thoroughly understood that the situation of Konya City wasn’t very optimistic. The Beastmen Army’s assault, not mentioning the several tens of thousands of troops, also had those Behemoths. Konya City didn’t have a high chance of stopping them, but regardless of all of this, it would be more favourable to Konya City’s defense if the invading army was delayed as much as possible. As a result, Ye Yin Zhu was now atop the mountain peak, preparing to hold them off for a little while more.

Xiang Luan and Hai Yang stood relatively far away. Ye Yin Zhu originally wanted them to leave first, but Xiang Luan said that without the assistance of Ye Yin Zhu’s dou qi, they wouldn’t be able to walk very far even if they left first. It would be better to wait for him and leave together rather than to collapse from exhaustion.

Ye Yin Zhu wanted to do something very simple. This mountain peak was the furthest from Konya City. The mountain peaks closer to Konya City were relatively level, but the beastmen were attempting to climb up the more precipitous peaks. Many towering trees decorated this sloping mountain side. With this peak’s kilometer-high altitude, a tree falling on a person would have a very astonishing destructive power.

Although he was only one person, Ye Yin Zhu revealed an astonishing speed and near berserk power. Hai Yang and Xiang Luan were already staring at him in rapture.

The ten meter-long Jade Silk swung about. With Bamboo Dou Qi poured into it, regardless of how thick the trees were, the Jade Silk would wrap around it. When Ye Yin Zhu tugged, the giant tree would snap in half immediately with a smooth cut, as if a sharp blade had sliced through it in an instant. Afterwards, Ye Yin Zhu would rely on his immense strength to pile up the felled giant trees atop the summit. In merely a few moments, the peak already had a tightly packed pile atop it.

“How is he human? Does he not know the meaning of exhaustion?” Xiang Luan muttered. She and Hai Yang were mages; more specifically, they were useless Divine Music mages. At this moment, they were unable to help with the frenzied preparations and were only able to look on.

Hai Yang sucked in a deep breath of cold air. “Yin Zhu’s power might even be more than an ordinary beastman. Look, apart from cutting down the trees, he hadn’t used any dou qi.”

Xiang Luang smiled happily. Moving closer to Hai Yang’s side, she whispered, “Yes! He’s very strong.”

Hai Yang’s charming face reddened. Glaring at Xiang Luan, she said, “At this kind of time, you’re still thinking of such illicit things?”

Xiang Luan assumed an air of someone being wronged. “I am only commenting on his strength. When have I been thinking of illicit things? … From what I see, it’s your thoughts that are not very pure towards him! Hai Yang, I didn’t expect even you to have your heart moved by him.”

Hai Yang lightly smacked her, saying, “Stop playing around. Right now, you should think harder on how to solve the crisis in front of us. I didn’t expect the beastmen to unexpectedly stake everything on one campaign and launch an attack on the most impenetrable region. If they breach Konya City, then I fear…”

Xiang Luan’s brows were furrowed in worry. Sighing, she said, “I hope that we can delay them here for a long time. How else can my Imperial Father know to dispatch troops promptly? The beastmen this time appear to have a complex plan for plundering food. If they attack with all their strength, then I’m afraid the defenders of Sacred Heart City cannot help us.”

Hai Yang’s face changed colors. “If it’s like that, then we might be done for. It takes at least twenty days to reach the north from Milan City. Even if it’s purely cavalry, it is also impossible for them to rush here in ten days. But now, don’t even mention ten days… I fear we won’t be able to even defend against them for ten hours!”

Xiang Luan sighed, remarking, “We can only submit to the will of Heaven. Fortunately, even if the sky falls, we still have these men to cling to.” Saying this, she pointed to the bustling Ye Yin Zhu.

His figure flashed, and Ye Yin Zhu returned to the two girls’ side. At this moment, the giant, thick trees that had heavily forested the mountain peak were stacked up like piles of branches, forming a thick layer of protection. Only, Ye Yin Zhu didn’t have a trace of happiness in him.

“Yin Zhu, how’s things below? Have the beastmen come?” Xiang Luan asked.

Ye Yin Zhu shook his head and said, “Not yet. They seem to be centralizing their troops in the valley, probably because we have killed those Apemen earlier. The beastmen seem to be cautious.”

Xiang Luan asked, “When will we leave then?”

Ye Yin Zhu said, “When the beastmen come up the mountain. I want these giant trees to deal them some losses. Our sloping side is lush with trees. The side they are climbing have steep trees but in significantly less amounts. This may slow them down, but I’m afraid these rolling trees won’t be very effective. If only we had decent fire. It’s almost winter, so the trees are dry, meaning it would be very appropriate to attack with fire now. Yesterday, I even heard Elder Brother Oliveira specifically mention examples of fire attacks used in war. It’s a pity we’re not Fire mages.”

“Who said we didn’t have fire?” A voice suddenly spoke out, attracting the three’s gazes. Turning around to look, it was actually Sura, who had returned.

Sura’s complexion was somewhat pale, and his chest was moving up and down furiously. Gasping heavily for air, his face had a hard time masking his exhaustion. The small Silver Dragon Yin Bi was comfortably perched on her shoulder, its rather fat body still adorable. From time to time, it would use its front claws to scratch Sura’s head.

“Sura, why did you return?” Ye Yin Zhu asked in surprise.

Sura walked up to Ye Yin Zhu before plopping his butt on the ground. “I already told the news to Oliveira. I was afraid you met danger, so I returned to find all of you. Who would have imagined I would find you atop the mountain? Yin Zhu, are you planning to use rolling logs to deal with the beastmen?”

Ye Yin Zhu nodded, saying, “There’s a steep incline over there. It’s easily guarded but hard to attack. I only wanted to delay the beastmen’s advancement as much as possible. I also want to give Elder Brother Oliveira more time to prepare. What did he say when he heard about the situation?”

Sura bitterly laughed and said, “What can he say? Although we have five hundred Dragon Cavalrymen, we only have a fighting strength of six hundred people with the inclusion of the students. The original five hundred defenders of Konya City can practically be disregarded. At this moment, he already used magical communications to notify Sacred Heart City. I don’t know how Sacred Heart City responded. Upon passing him the news, I immediately returned.”

“Thank you, Sura.” Ye Yin Zhu’s eyes expressed a poignant radiance.

Sura quirked his lips downwards, saying, “For what? Have you forgotten that I said I would follow you?”

The two of them looked at each other and couldn’t refrain from revealing knowing smiles. Just at that moment, Ye Yin Zhu suddenly realized the beastmen had already begun climbing the mountain and hurriedly called out to the others.

The four of them came to the mountain side holding the tree trunks and looked down, only to see a vast amount of beastmen just starting to climb the mountain after exiting the valley. In the valley, the already assembled beastmen troops had begun advancing towards their mountain peak. This was the final protective barrier before Konya City.

Currently, the ones rushing in the forefront were no longer Apemen; they were the slighter built but significantly faster Leopardmen. Their numbers were innumerable. The Leopardmen used their extremely astonishing speed to climb up the mountain. Following the Leopardmen were the Tigermen and Apemen. Those striking Behemoths hadn’t moved; they seemed to be ordering the other beastmen to climb the mountain.

Sura glanced at Ye Yin Zhu. “What should we do now?”

Ye Yin Zhu countered, “You just said you had fire a moment ago. Were you referring to Yin Bi?”

Sura nodded. “Although Yin Bi is young, it can at least cast Red Rank Fire Magic. Even though it’s not enough to attack the enemy, setting things on fire is not a problem. These trees are also very dry.”

Ye Yin Zhu promptly made a decision. “Good! We will just use a fire attack. Regardless of the success, after sending these logs rolling down the slope, we will immediately returning to Konya City.”

Sura had Yin Bi jump down from her shoulder, patting its head. “It’s up to you now, isn’t it?”