Lord of the Desert

Chapter 453 Iron City
The huge blue ship sailed on the endless sea of ​​clouds.

Hundreds and even thousands of oars were lined up on both sides of the ship, mechanically rowed by shirtless men with green cloth around their waists.

The world is speeding backwards.

Hong Fan on the deck didn't know where he was. He only remembered that the paper he was about to submit had not yet been typeset, so he was anxious to ask.

"where are we going?"

The moment the human voice was uttered, the giant ship's centipede-like oars blades stopped at the same time.

The wind and clouds also froze.

In Hong Fan's eyes, thousands of faces turned towards him, without any facial features, but instead with dark, bottomless holes.

Feeling detached from the present moment.

Hong Fan seemed to be a spirit sealed into the abyss, wandering in agony of eternal loneliness, unable to find a way out.

"No!"

He roared with all his might and averted his gaze.

The huge ship shook violently.

The bow of the ship crashed into the wall of cloud.

Hong Fan fell on the deck and saw torn wisps of cloud hanging on his fingertips, and a chill and wet feeling covering his body.

In the mist, prying eyes were vaguely visible, full of hatred, densely packed like insect eggs in an ant nest.

He was surrounded by overwhelming malice and wanted to escape, but he could not remember his home and only felt weightless under his feet.

The giant ship crashed into the storm, like a blue meteor hitting the sea, causing huge waves.

Deck shattering.

Hong Fan fluttered down and hugged the dragon bone tightly. When he looked up again, he saw that there was no sky and no clouds, only a huge tree towering over the sky. Only then did he realize that those eyes were not eyes, but trembling leaves.

From the beginning, there was no boat in the clouds; what he grasped in his hand was not a dragon bone, but a leaf vein as big as a city...

"Chirp!"

Hong Fan suddenly woke up, sat up abruptly, and heard the clear singing of birds.

There is twilight setting in front of the window.

【It is dusk now.】

On the bedside table, the bandage that was changed early in the morning had not yet dried with medicine stains.

【It was the evening of April 18th.】

Hong Fan pinched his upper arm and found that the wound no longer hurt.

Just as he was feeling uneasy and recalling his dream, the housekeeper of the courtyard came to the door and reported that there were many guests.

The person who came was Shi Yuanwei who was lame.

He held two steamed buns in his hands and sat down at the end of the bed without any hesitation. He handed one to Hong Fan first, and when Hong Fan took it, he started to chew it, talking about gossip while chewing.

"Dai Wangchen charged too deep and was exhausted, so he refused to retreat. In the end, one of his legs was bitten off by a bug. When I saw him today, he had a new prosthesis made of black iron."

The portion of the huoshao was huge, and Shi Yuanwei had a big appetite, so he ate one third of it in one bite.

"I heard from Xiao Lin (Lin Luchuan) that this morning, that guy saw two officers laughing on the road and thought they were mocking him, so he got angry and slapped them both in public!"

Hong Fan stared at the dusk in a trance: "He really went a little crazy last night."

"It's probably because of His Highness."

Shi Yuanwei interface.

Hong Fan turned to look at him and motioned for him to continue.

"I also heard from the second son of the Wei family that although the Chaos Realm requires drinking dragon blood, it is fine as long as it is not used frequently. However, if it is used excessively in a short period of time, the dragon vein will degenerate..."

Shi Yuanwei lowered his voice.

Hong Fan nodded without saying anything.

Erbai City has suffered more than 40,000 casualties in the war so far, so this little bit of blood is not a big deal.

But as he thought about it, he felt a surge of shame for harming others for his own benefit.

For the Star God, death is a ladder to climb higher.

Not only himself, under the induction of the Destiny Star, he knew clearly that Hu and Dai also benefited greatly from the battle - in the third battle, Hu Zhuang was close to the peak of the innate level, and Dai Wangchen was even above him.

"Hong Fan, this insect meat is so delicious, why don't you eat it? You are so absent-minded?"

Shi Yuanwei finished the fire in three bites, looked at the one in Hong Fan's hand that was not moved and asked.

"Brother Shi, please forgive me."

Hong Fan handed the fire back considerately and looked down at his palm.

"When I woke up, I broke through to the Xiantian Sanhe."

After these words were spoken, Shi Yuanwei, who was still in the state of innate harmony, was speechless and lost his appetite instantly.

······
April 22nd.

Four days later, the southern city wall had been restored to its former glory thanks to the efforts of the two star gods and countless craftsmen, only with more colorful "patches".

At noon, the scorching sun bit Erbai City.

The insect swarm launched its fifth attack in the strong light.

With the precious rest time gained from Luanjie, Gu Yixin's injuries further improved, and he once again faced Xiao Tanghuang.

This time, the one assisting him was Hong Fan.

Yin Feihu is dead, and Shi Yuanwei has lost his speed due to a leg injury, so there is no better choice.

After four major battles, the two opposing sides had become familiar with each other. There was no more probing, only killing and dying in an orderly manner.

The defenders took turns fighting until the evening.

The sunset is dim.

A red star shuttles through the clouds, occasionally overflowing with red clouds.

At some point, Zhou Wenyang and Zhe Lei, the strongest fighting force, had moved the battlefield above the city.

Night is falling.

A red light flashed around the sky, and then a green light fell and hit the city section two miles east of the battlefield, causing people and horses to fall to the ground within dozens of meters.

Zhou Wenyang laughed heroically and chased after him, but he didn't expect Zhe Lei to stay and fight on the spot. Not long after, he crashed into the city wall while trying to avoid it in a panic.

It’s actually the same paragraph.

The city wall, which was solidified into rock, only had two gaps several meters square, but the whole wall was slightly tilted and cracks spread on both sides.

Zhou Wenyang had already sensed something was wrong - the overall combat power of this giant insect was not as good as his, but its physique was much stronger and was far from being defeated.

The hidden purpose of Zhe Lei was revealed, he no longer concealed it, and charged for the third time under the blow.

Then, under the stunned gaze of countless defenders, a section of the city wall more than 20 meters wide actually collapsed vertically into the ground.

The dust shot into the air like sharp arrows, with a dull sound of collision and accompanied by a huge shock.

[The bottom is hollowed out! ]

In the watchtower behind the city, Xiao Chu leaned against Luanjie, and his heart suddenly felt cold.

"I have monitors all over the city, with people on duty day and night. If there are underground fortifications, how could I not hear the digging sounds?"

Wang Shengrong's voice was trembling and he was on the verge of collapse.

His arms were immediately supported.

"It's running water."

Xiao Chu has reacted.

Since the You Lake burst its banks, water has accumulated outside the city for several days. During this period, the insect swarm cleared the water system underground, which was all recorded in the monitoring reports.

But no one in the city thought that, taking advantage of the noise of underground water at that time to cover up the situation, they also took advantage of the situation and quietly dug to the bottom of the city - they even dug the underground cave extra deep to avoid Hong Fan's inadvertent sensing when he passed by the ground.

There is no point in holding anyone accountable.

Since the city wall was broken, the insect swarm immediately divided its forces; Xiao Chu also sent out a reserve force and the most elite Guantong Guards to plug the gap.

But how to block it?

In field battles on flat ground, the soldier bug's body weighing hundreds of pounds, combined with the dual drive of muscles and hemolymph "hydraulics", can instantly burst out at a catapulting speed of twenty meters per second, and even heavy tower shields can be smashed in one go.

More and more fires started and moved in the city.

People in Erbai City spread the word that there was a feeling that the end of the world was coming.

Xiao Chu was stunned for a long time, and with trembling hands he pushed open the chaotic world for the second time.

The giant umbrella is raised high and the dragon shadow is flying.

Led by more than a hundred heavy armored soldiers, the front line pushed back at high speed. However, the commander was unwilling to give up such a good opportunity and continued to add fuel to the front line, "burying" more than 2,000 real insects, and holding on until the chaos effect ended after midnight.

Hong Fan knew the situation had changed, but he could do nothing about it.

In the dark night, Xiao Tanghuang shuttled silently, shook off Gu Yixin and dodged two rock bombs in succession, then encountered the third one thirty meters away from Hong Fan.

Iron finger hit the bullet head.

Red flames erupted, but were pushed back by the materialized purple true energy and disintegrated into fire lotuses.

Purple light penetrated the flame.

Hong Fan was struck down by lightning and fell into the insect swarm, and an unfortunate soldier insect was smashed into pieces.

The pain came and went, and the ringing in my ears continued.

He glanced down and saw that the front of the sand armor had melted into magma. His internal organs were churning in his chest but he felt no pain, which showed that his injuries were serious.

The giant insects immediately surrounded them.

Gu Yixin's angry roar and Xiao Tanghuang's ridicule gradually faded away.

Hong Fan's limbs were sore and weak, so he forced himself to breathe. He sent out thoughts several times to drive the sand armor to recover, and his head felt as painful as if it were being pricked by needles.

The first insect soldier approaches.

The giant claw was raised.

Hong Fan tried his best to raise his arms, ready to resist.

Just at this moment, an iron snake jumped up from his side, pierced straight into the soldier insect's eye sockets, and then passed through the cracks in the armor below its mouthparts.

The insect soldiers were limp as if they had lost their bones.

"stand up!"

Hong Fan heard the shout and turned his head to see an iron foot with thunder patterns stepping beside him, and then he was rashly pulled up.

The one who came was Dai Wangchen.

He was wrapped in an iron armor so no injuries could be seen. The lower half of his face was torn off, and his exposed muscles were slipping and twitching, making him look like a devil.

"Your injury..."

Hong Fan's heart was shocked and he asked a question instinctively, but he was interrupted by the sudden increase in the grip on his arm.

"Hong Fan!"

Dai Wangchen's eyes were like swords and his voice was like a roar.

"After Dai dies, you will be like me, devoting yourself to His Highness until your death!"

In the center of the battlefield, Hong Fan saw this man's face clearly for the first time.

His facial features are very tight, with a flat nose, a protruding mouth, and sinister eyebrows and eyes.

Only those deep black eyes were filled with an indescribable pride, as if something insignificant was burning in them.

A giant hand stretched out from the mud and waved away the rushing insect.

Seven iron snakes roamed in all directions, piercing and killing everything.

"No, I will not."

Hong Fan received the gaze, took a deep breath, and replied word by word.

The latter was stunned when he heard this and couldn't continue speaking.

Countless lights and sounds appeared and intersected at this moment.

Golden light and purple lightning entangled in the low sky.

The wandering god dragged the green flame and cut into the white rainbow.

Zhe Lei held up his horn and pressed the red sun into the dark lake.

Under the dim moonlight, a black wave is hitting the city.

Dai Wangchen frowned, gritted his teeth, his tense cheeks trembled, and a few drops of scarce bright red blood squeezed out from between his muscles.

Then, when he turned around, his whole body suddenly relaxed.

"Ah……"

He stepped on his iron feet and leapt into the insect swarm, leaving behind a sound that sounded like anger and laughter, but his thin back was deeply engraved in Hong Fan's vision.

The huge gap in the east of Erbai City is still open.

The two tribes fought over this place, and casualties increased several times.

Hong Fan did his best to share Gu Yixin's pressure.

Two quarters of an hour later, he felt the ground shaking beneath his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a deformed monster as tall as a five-story building crashing out of the city against the tide of insects. It had a flying eave on its head, long brackets on its shoulders, and doors and windows embedded in its chest. As it walked, it carried mud as muscle between the wooden pillars and stone walls, and swung its giant fists covered in steel...

That is not the innate level of combat power.

Amid the noise of war, Hong Fan could vaguely hear loud and crazy laughter.

That laughter came from within the world and echoed throughout the world.

After a long time, the insect tide receded slightly.

Avoiding the purple electric net, Hong Fan took a breath and while he was in a daze he once again heard the sound of a strong wind breaking through the moving clouds.

He looked back hastily and saw a ray of golden light rising high into the sky and soaring eastward.

Another fruit grew on the branch of the Dragon Soul Tree.

On April 23, at 9:00 a.m., the fighting was temporarily stopped.

Hong Fan ate and drank in silence for a while, and when he had recovered a little of his true energy, he walked up the path to the city.

The wounded had already been carried away, and the laborers were either dealing with the bodies or washing away the bloodstains.

He walked through the crowd, looked at the place where the stinging thunder hit the city, randomly found a defect in the opposite direction, and began to repair it.

A quarter of an hour later, Hong Fan heard footsteps approaching and stopping not far away. He turned around and saw that it was Xiao Chu who was patrolling the city.

"Your Highness."

He straightened up in greeting.

Xiao Chu was wearing a scarlet martial arts uniform, with his hands clasped behind his back. His face was much paler than it was at the morning meeting yesterday, almost returning to the same look as when the two had first met.

"Young Master Hong, there is no need to be so anxious to repair the city defenses. How is your injury?"

Xiao Chu forced a smile and said with concern.

"It's okay with me."

Hong Fan shook his head and asked again.

"How is Dai Jun?"

"He has."

Xiao Chu's face was wooden, as if he didn't expect Hong Fan to ask this.

"My true essence is exhausted, and my body has been fused with the external objects. I cannot separate them at this moment."

After a moment's silence, she added another sentence.

Hong Fan nodded and looked at the deformed monster sitting in the gap of the city wall a hundred meters away.

"Mr. Dai has merged into Erbai City."

He sighed in vain.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Chu finally lost color, with sadness in his eyes.

"Your Highness once taught me that there was an old dragon in You Lake, and Erbai City got its name from it."

Hong Fan looked at her, but his tone was more proud than ever before.

"We have been fighting for 24 days now, and more than 50,000 people have sacrificed their lives since Dai Jun. How does that compare to the old dragon?"

Xiao Chu couldn't say that.

Hong Fan then stood outside the city wall and pointed to the smoke from thousands of cooking fires behind the city.

"Your Highness, the lake has lost its dragon, or it is the ruins of water."

"When people gather together, they become a stronghold."

After whispering these words, he lowered his head and continued to mend the city.

The wind is howling.

Xiao Chu stood there in a daze for a long time before leaving.

PS: Happy New Year everyone

(End of this chapter)