My Cultivation Starting from Archery-Chapter 861 - 257: Desolate Starfall, Devastating 1 Million

Chapter 861: Chapter 257: Desolate Starfall, Devastating 1 Million

Rainy night.

Yu State.

Battlefield.

Weapons.

The torrential rain poured down like the Milky Way, accompanied by a roar as it drenched the vast earth, turning the ground into a muddy mess in just an hour.

"Crack—"

A strange violet lightning streaked across the night sky, the stars in the clouds emitted a piercing white light, casting the entire ancient Central Plains battlefield in a bizarre and uncanny color.

The massive army of a million troops, like a heavy iron machine, moved with a ponderous and slow maneuver, their ranks steadily retreating.

On the opposite bank, on the surface of the Luojian, a tributary of the Fei River, a troop of light cavalry charged forward against the wind and rain.

According to the court’s original plan, as soon as the rebel cavalry landed, the army would immediately turn around and execute a backward charge.

However, under such omens, during the retreat, rumors spread uncontrollably like a plague.

"Why are we retreating?"

They had a million troops lined up on the bank, what fear was there no matter how many enemy troops there were? Why retreat? Could it be that the celestial anomaly is truly a divine punishment, or did something unexpected happen at the front of the line that forced a swift retreat?

The soldiers craned their necks, but the ordinary person’s eyesight has limits. Coupled with the adverse weather, how could they see clearly what was happening miles or even tens of miles away in the stormy night?

This cumulative effect pushed their nerves to the extreme, eager to understand the current situation and the forthcoming direction.

"Dada dada—"

Accompanying the splashing sound of hooves in the waterlogged mud, a Fire Horse burst through the curtain of rain, carrying the rolling incense and Purple Energy to the rear of the Central Army.

Lu Ji held the Heavenly Halberd in his hand, his expression serious yet anxious. He stopped his horse before the soldiers, his deep gaze swept over everyone until he gathered Qi-Blood and abruptly spoke, his voice resounding like a great bell throughout the battlefield:

"Our army has been defeated—"

"Our army has been defeated!"

"Our army has been defeated!"

"..."

Almost simultaneously, these four words echoed through different parts of the million-strong army, the waves of sound rising and falling, drowning out all other noises.

"General Wu!!!"

Third Brother Nie Yuan, his armor in disarray, face full of blood stains, weakly leaned halfway on the horse’s back, crying out to an Imperial Army Assistant General ahead: "Our army has been defeated, we’ve been utterly defeated!"

"Defeated?!"

General Wu was taken aback: "Is it true?!"

"Retreat quickly, retreat quickly!"

Nie Yuan cried out with bloodshot eyes: "Chen Sansi is leading two hundred thousand Qing Country troops to attack, they have set up a Second-Tier Formation from Yunding Palace, its power surpasses even the Six Ding Six Jia Formation, the front can’t hold it anymore, if we don’t retreat now it will be too late!"

"Rumble—"

Such disastrous news, accompanied by rolling thunder, weighed heavily in the hearts of the soldiers, causing the tense nerves to completely collapse.

No wonder they had to retreat!

It turns out...

The front was defeated!

"The ominous sign came true!"

"Our army has been defeated!!!"

"..."

"Run quickly!"

"Chen Sansi is about to come and kill us!"

"..."

Panic erupted explosively.

If the million-strong army was originally like a heavy and precise iron machine operating in orderly fashion, then at this moment, part of the gears in the machine suddenly failed, initiating a massive chain reaction, until... complete collapse!

The soldiers were already anxious due to the celestial anomaly that people called "divine punishment," and coupled with the inability to verify the situation at the front, only seeing the order to retreat, it truly solidified the notion of a "major defeat" in their minds.

A million troops, although numerous, did not mean they were all elite. Most were a mixture cobbled together from various garrisons and newly recruited soldiers, only two or three parts being the real elite from the Capital.

And among these less than three parts elite, there were the Black Tortoise, White Tiger, and Heavenly Lion three battalions, who fled in disarray, abandoning armor as their startled warhorses trampled at will, creating chaos and completely disrupting the Six Ding Six Jia Formation.

They were like a festering wound on a giant’s body, once the rot appeared it could not stop, only endlessly spreading and expanding, a battalion, two battalions, fifty thousand, one hundred thousand, the army plunged into endless chaos.

The very front.

Emperor Longqing and others noticed the anomaly immediately.

"How could this happen?!"

Dan Liangcheng recovered quickly from brief astonishment, calmly and urgently commanded: "Quick, tell them we haven’t been defeated, everyone hold the formation and fight back, don’t panic, don’t panic!"

However, even if the cultivators could fly and earth tunnel with great skills, facing such a vast number, it was impossible to quell the disorder in a short time.

Just a few shouts, and among the combined sixty thousand troops of the Central and rear armies, at least more than half descended into chaos.

"What is happening?" Prince Qin loudly questioned: "Who is shouting we’ve been defeated?!"

"Your Highness!"

"It seems... it seems it was General Lu Ji!"

"What?!"

Prince Qin grabbed the Assistant General’s armour and lifted him: "How is it possible, has Lu Ji gone mad?!"

"He hasn’t gone mad."

Dan Liangcheng saw it clearly: "Your General Lu is probably the inside man planted by Chen on our side..."

"Ah—"

In a fury, Prince Qin roared to the sky: "House slaves of four surnames, house slaves of four surnames!!!"

"All efforts wasted, all efforts wasted..."

Dan Liangcheng looked at the irreparable chaos before him, unable to hold back his anger, almost yelling: "What have you done?!

"In the upper ranks of the army, the most taboo is having even a single enemy inside man, it cannot be allowed even one!"