Douluo: Steal Tang San's luck and become stronger!

The Heavenly Soul Empire's garrison was undeniably elite. After the initial chaos following the sudden night attack, officers at all levels shouted themselves hoarse, and Soul Masters unleashed their Martial Souls.

Ordinary soldiers hastily organized a resistance, relying on their fortified positions. A barrage of soul skill lights flashed, and arrows rained down on the charging Sun Moon Empire soldiers.

However, the Sun Moon Empire's preparations for this night raid were far too thorough, and their attack far too methodical. The hastily organized defensive line of the Heavenly Soul Army was overwhelmed by the enemy's jagged, continuously rotating attack pattern.

Several gaps were quickly torn open. The soldiers of the Sun Moon Empire were incredibly brave and fierce, with outstanding individual combat strength. They were also equipped with excellent close-combat soul-guided weapons and armor. Once they got close, the soldiers of the Heavenly Soul Empire often found it difficult to resist.

Even more terrifying, those "serrated chains" also contained small assault soul guides and demolition experts specifically designed to deal with fortifications and dense formations, constantly destroying the obstacles and simple fortifications that the Heavenly Soul Army relied on to defend.

The entire Heavenly Soul Army camp seemed to be tightly bound by several barbed iron chains. Then, with the continuous tightening and friction of the chains, flesh and blood flew everywhere, and the defense line collapsed one after another.

Meanwhile, to the south of the "Three Crossroads," the attack on the Star Luo Empire's "Western Iron Wall" legion's defense line also unfolded violently in a completely different way.

Orange knew the characteristics of the Star Luo Empire's army well—tenacious, tenacious, and extremely skilled in close combat and positional defense; its heavy infantry and cavalry possessed the greatest striking power on the continent. To engage such an enemy head-on, especially in front of a well-defended and fortified position, was far from wise.

Therefore, the orders she gave to the attacking forces in the south were completely different.

Do not launch a rash group charge!

Instead of soldiers charging forward, there was an overwhelming barrage of soul-guided artillery fire and long-range strikes!
The astonishing number of various types of soul-guided cannons, secretly mobilized by the Sun Moon Empire, were quickly moved to their designated firing positions. Muzzle adjustments and energy replenishment were carried out under unified command.

The first wave of roars erupted as they headed towards the core area of ​​the Star Luo Empire's defenses, command nodes, supply depots, and Soul Master gathering areas!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The earth trembled, and the night sky was repeatedly illuminated by the blazing white and orange-red light of explosions! The Star Luo Empire's formidable fortresses and trenches, built up over many years, were bombarded by a barrage of high-explosive soul-guided shells.

Bricks and stones flew everywhere, and smoke and dust filled the air. Many sections were blasted open. Caught off guard, the Xingluo defenders, even in heavy armor, suffered considerable casualties and chaos under such intense artillery fire.

This was just the beginning. Before the soul-guided artillery barrage had completely subsided, another wave of chilling, dense shrieks echoed through the sky!

Those were tens of thousands of specially made crossbow bolts! These crossbow bolts were not ordinary steel arrows; the shafts were engraved with simple fire or wind-type acceleration runes, and the arrowheads were coated with a highly toxic mixture of various soul beast toxins and corrosive substances!

They were launched by large soul-guided ballistae in a projectile manner, tearing through the night sky and forming a dark "cloud of arrows" carrying the aura of death, which accurately enveloped the Star Luo Army's positions after being baptized by soul-guided artillery fire, as well as the soldiers who tried to rush out of the fortifications to fight back or put out the fire!

Flaming arrows ignite upon landing, setting tents, provisions, and wooden fortifications ablaze; while poisonous arrows mercilessly reap lives. Even if not directly struck in vital areas, a mere graze of the skin will cause the poison to spread rapidly, resulting in the victim collapsing in agony and losing all fighting ability.

The Star Luo Empire's defenders were undoubtedly extremely tenacious. Even under such terrifying long-range attacks, officers still roared and organized counterattacks, Soul Masters raised their defensive Soul Skills, and shield bearers tried to form a formation to block the rain of arrows.

But without the complete protection of fortified positions and with their vision obstructed in the darkness, their resistance against this overwhelming, saturation attack from beyond visual range proved incredibly difficult and passive. The entire front line of the Star Luo Empire's defenses transformed into a death zone of fire and poisonous fog, with casualty figures rising rapidly.

Orange's tactical arrangements on the two battlefields demonstrate his profound understanding and precise grasp of different opponents.

The Heavenly Soul Empire's army excels at combining mid-to-long-range soul skills and positional defense, but their close-quarters combat ability is relatively mediocre. Once their formation is broken, their combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced.

Therefore, she gave the northern generals a death order.

At all costs, with the fastest speed and the fiercest close-quarters assault, within half an hour, we must penetrate the Heavenly Soul Army's position completely, like a red-hot knife cutting into butter, and tear apart their seemingly tight "iron barrel formation".

This prevented them from utilizing their advantages in volleying soul skills and defensive formations, plunging them into chaotic close-quarters combat. The Sun Moon Empire's formidable close-combat capabilities were precisely the best weapon to counter the Heavenly Soul Army at this moment. As for the Star Luo Empire, its army was invincible in close combat, and its defensive formations were impenetrable; a direct frontal assault would be too costly. Therefore, Orange's strategy was to leverage the Sun Moon Empire's absolute advantage in soul tools to launch a saturation attack beyond visual range.

First, use soul-guided artillery to destroy or weaken their fortifications and disrupt their deployment. Then, use a wide range of flames and poison arrows to cover and kill them, maximizing the depletion of their manpower and demoralizing them, forcing them to either abandon their forward positions and retreat.

They would either suffer heavy casualties and then charge out in disarray for a final battle—or, once the Star Luo Army left their fortified positions to launch an attack, the Sun Moon Empire would deliver a crushing blow with its armor-piercing soul tools and mobile soul master regiments, which were already prepared specifically for heavily armored units.

The course of the battle unfolded almost exactly as Orange had planned.

Under the relentless onslaught of the Sun Moon Empire's "sawtooth" tactics, the Heavenly Soul Empire's North Wind Legion's defensive lines were breached in multiple places, communication between units was severed, and command fell into chaos. Despite some generals leading their troops in a desperate fight...

The attack inflicted considerable casualties on the Sun Moon Empire's army, but the overall decline was irreversible. After abandoning more than 20,000 corpses and a large amount of burned supplies, the remaining Heavenly Soul defenders had no choice but to abandon large areas of their camps and retreat hastily towards the second line of defense.

The Star Luo Empire's "Western Iron Wall" legion to the south also suffered heavy losses. The first salvo of soul-guided artillery fire and the subsequent barrage of arrows dealt a devastating blow to the defenders in their positions.

More than 15,000 soldiers were killed in their sleep or in hasty battles by bombs, burns, or poisoning, and a large number of defensive fortifications were destroyed. The Star Luo Army commander saw that the front lines were no longer defensible and that remaining in place would only make them sitting ducks.

After a heavy-hit counter-offensive was repelled by the Sun Moon Empire's Mobile Soul Master Corps, they had no choice but to abandon their forward positions, retreat, and regroup using a deeper defensive system.

After a night of fierce fighting, as the sky began to lighten and the faint light of dawn barely dispelled some of the smoke and blood from the battlefield.

The situation in the "Three Crossroads" area has changed drastically. To the north, the Tianhun Empire's meticulously constructed forward camp is now mostly covered by the flags of the Sun Moon Empire, with embers still burning and corpses strewn across the fields.

To the south, the Star Luo Empire's fortified forward positions were in ruins, with scorched earth everywhere and poisonous fog still lingering. The Sun Moon Empire's reconnaissance soul guides had already begun to hover over the occupied territory.

Aside from the Sun Moon Empire, the other side that was originally in a four-way standoff—the eastern side where the Douling Empire and the Tang Sect allied forces were located—appeared unusually "calm" at this moment.

They were nearly a hundred miles apart, gazing at each other from afar, and had not suffered any attacks in the chaos of the previous night. Orange had intentionally avoided this direction when formulating her plan.

On the one hand, the southeastern garrison of the Douling Empire is relatively far away and has close ties with the Tang Sect. Its strength is unclear, and a rash attack may lead to a stalemate, affecting the achievement of the main objective.
On the other hand, keeping this direction in place for the time being can also confuse the opponent to some extent, making it difficult for them to judge the true intentions and main direction of attack of the Sun Moon Empire, and may even cause suspicion among the three parties.

Standing atop a newly captured Heavenly Soul Army watchtower, still emitting wisps of smoke, Orange exhaled a long, slow breath, carrying the stench of blood and scorched earth, as the slightly chilly morning breeze blew through her.

Her crisp commander's uniform was slightly dusty, but she didn't look too tired. Instead, she had a complex expression that blended relief with sharpness.

She gazed at the war-torn lands to the north and south, and the temporarily peaceful region to the east, a cold, knowing smile curving her lips.

"As expected, I was right."

Orange murmured to herself, her voice audible only to herself.

"Even if they had spies on our side, and might even have bribed some lower-ranking officers... last night's sudden, comprehensive attack was still a shock."

In the face of an emergency operation where orders are directly issued to the grassroots units, no insider has time to transmit the complete battle plan and specific objectives before the attack is launched.

At best, they could only deliver a vague warning that "a large-scale operation might be underway," which was insufficient for Tianhun and Xingluo to mount a timely and effective targeted defense. (End of Chapter)