From a country cook to a master chef

Although the members of the Wolf Ridge tribe had never heard of the so-called Wushan Wizard, they were all horrified.

They couldn't understand where the giant poisonous scorpion on the heads of the Zhanbo people came from, and they only felt a chill run down their spines.

Lin Jue's expression changed drastically at this moment. Without hesitation, he ordered everyone to break through the encirclement, wanting to retreat back to Yantan Pass before the poisonous scorpion could make its move.

After all, Guanzhong is protected by the Tongtian Grand Array. As long as they can successfully retreat back to Guanzhong, there is still room for maneuver.

However, things didn't go as planned. The shaman Zhanbo suddenly attacked, and the giant scorpion released a cloud of poisonous mist that instantly enveloped Lin Jue and the entire Lang Jue tribe.

"My eyes, my eyes are blind!"

"Oh no, my feet! My feet are gone!"

In a short while, one scream after another rang in Lin Jue's ears.

At this moment, a giant scorpion shadow darted across the battlefield, wielding its pincers to reap the lives of the Wolf Rising soldiers.

Lin Jue's eyes were sharp. The moment he saw the scorpion clearly, he leaped onto its head and plunged the spear in his hand into the giant scorpion's eye socket.

As soon as the scorpion's eye was injured, dozens of wizards in the Zhanbo army camp suffered instant eye bleeding, and the intense pain caused them to tremble uncontrollably.

As the scorpion was injured, the surrounding poisonous mist gradually dissipated. Everyone who saw Lin Jue's actions was stunned. After they came to their senses, they continued to run wildly towards Yantan Pass.

The wizards, their faces hardening with frustration, simultaneously pulled out exquisite little black flags and planted them in the ground.

As the wizards chanted incantations, the black flags suddenly flashed with black light, transforming into thin, crimson-black beams that shot towards the Wolf Ridge tribe.

In the blink of an eye, before Lin Jue and the others could enter the city, it was planted in front of Yantan Pass, turning into a black cage that trapped everyone.

With the gate closing in sight, dozens of soldiers, ignoring warnings, charged their horses toward the black wall, only to be smashed into piles of flesh and slowly absorbed by the eerie black wall.

The crowd was horrified and retreated hastily, fearing they would suffer the same fate as these people.

Lin Jue was also experiencing the terror of Zhanbo Wizard for the first time, and at this moment he was completely at a loss as to how to deal with it.

The members of the Wolf Rising Tribe looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

At the same time, scorpions as strong as oxen and horses appeared out of thin air from the black wall, roaring and attacking the Wolf Tribe led by Lin Jue under the control of the Zhanbo Wizard.

"Quickly pour the oil!" A murderous glint flashed in Lin Jue's eyes. He immediately ordered everyone to pour the oil from their waist canisters and then ignite it with rockets, forming a blazing wall of fire to block the scorpions.

At this moment, Xu Liao, who was left behind at Yantan Pass, saw that Lin Jue's Langjue tribe was engaged in a desperate battle and was unsure whether to go out of the city to provide support.

The current situation is in great conflict with Lin Jue's plan. The wizard's methods are strange and unpredictable. If he rashly leads his troops out of the city, it is very likely that this gate will be lost.

At that time, even if he had ten heads, it wouldn't be enough to chop them off.

After much deliberation, Xu Liao ordered his troops to hold their ground and not venture out. If the Wolf Clan could break out, that would be a good thing; if they could not, they would die on the battlefield, serving their country loyally, which was better than the city gates falling.

At the Salt Beach Pass, the group, protected by fire oil, temporarily withstood the scorpion attack.

The scorpions kept appearing without stopping. Lin Jue knew that this was not a long-term solution. When the oil ran out, they would all perish.

"We absolutely cannot sit idly by and wait to die!"

Lin Jue's heart stirred. While directing everyone to continue using oil to defend against the scorpions, he walked thoughtfully toward the black wall, recalling what had just happened.

The moment a soldier's body touched the black wall, it was as if it were corroded, instantly turning into a pool of flesh and blood.

With that thought in mind, Lin Jue calmly raised a long spear and slowly brought it to touch the black wall.

He keenly noticed that the instant the spear made contact with the black wall, a large amount of black energy swiftly wrapped around the spear.

Seeing this, Lin Jue quickly threw down his spear, which, like those of the dead soldiers, was corroded into a pile of rust in the blink of an eye and merged into the black wall.

Upon seeing this, he did not hesitate to take several steps back, moving away from the eerie black wall.

Under the control of the wizard Zhanbo, the scorpion's offensive became increasingly fierce, attempting to annihilate all the Great Wu soldiers and troops surrounded by the black wall as soon as possible.

"My lord, just now when I discovered the object being corroded by the black wall, a brief gap appeared around it. We can drive all the warhorses toward the black wall and use our overwhelming numbers to widen the gap. Perhaps we can break through this way," Xi Ning shouted quickly, his face ashen.

Upon hearing this, Lin Jue realized that, as Xi Ning had said, although the black wall could corrode objects, there would be temporary gaps in the wall during the process.

If there are enough of them, the black wall will not be able to corrode them enough, and gaps will continue to appear, allowing them to break through.

Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Jue immediately ordered everyone to blindfold their warhorses and drive them towards the black wall.

As he expected, a gap several meters wide indeed appeared in the black wall.

Seeing this, Lin Jue decisively led everyone to rush towards the gap and successfully broke through.

On the city gate tower, Xu Liao saw that the Wolf Rising tribe had successfully broken through the black wall, so he immediately opened the city gate to welcome everyone.

In the center of the Zhanbo army, the Wushan wizards were stunned, their faces turning extremely grim.

In their unwillingness, the group of evil cultivators from Wushan raised the black flag in front of them, pointed the tip of the flag towards Yantan Pass, and instantly condensed the countless black mists in front of the pass into a huge fireball that crashed straight into the city gate tower.

The black fireball was extremely fast, making a muffled "poof" sound, and arrived above the city gate tower in the blink of an eye.

Just as the entire city gate tower was about to be destroyed by the black fireball, a buzzing sound suddenly came from the Tower of Babel in the city.

A peculiar surge of magical power instantly rippled outwards from the Tower of Babel.

In an instant, a huge protective shield materialized, enveloping the entire Salt Beach Pass.

The black fireballs crashed in, but like moths drawn to a flame, they were completely blocked by the Tongtian Grand Array of Yantan Pass. The scattered flames were silently absorbed and transformed into energy to power the array.

Upon witnessing this scene, the city's guards cheered with joy, and their gazes toward the Tower of Babel in the distance suddenly held a newfound sense of awe.

But before they could relax, tens of thousands of Jampa's army launched another fierce attack on the gate.

Lin Jue, carrying military orders, had no choice but to climb back up the city gate tower to direct the defense.

The Tongtian Formation at Yantan Pass could only defend against attacks from wizards, but it was completely ineffective against the stone projectiles launched by the catapults of the Zhanbo army.

Lin Jue could only order his men to fire stone projectiles at Zhanbo's army in return, using their own methods against them.

The dark mass of Zhanbo soldiers surged forward like a tidal wave amidst a rain of arrows, pushing the battering rams to violently slam into the city gates. Crossbowmen, hidden behind shield bearers, continuously fired arrows toward Yantan Pass.

As ladders and iron hooks were attached to the city wall, countless Zhanbo soldiers roared as they climbed upwards, their blood-stained blades gleaming with a cold light.

"Rolling logs and boulders!"

Lin Jue's roar pierced through the smoke of gunpowder.

As time passed, the mottled city walls were stained a horrifying red with blood, and the city walls were covered with corpses, making it impossible to distinguish friend from foe.

Lin Jue was covered in blood, his armor riddled with holes. He couldn't remember how many enemy soldiers he had killed in this battle, only that he had broken three large swords.

The Salt Beach Pass was successfully defended.

Watching the retreating Zhanbo army, Lin Jue leaned on the battlements with one hand and let out a long sigh of relief.

Where is Xi Ning?

"Reporting to Your Excellency, Commander Xi has been killed in action!"

"Killed?"

Lin Jue was taken aback, then clenched his fist.

"Xu Liao, where are Guan Huai?"

"Reporting to Your Excellency, both Captain Xu and Commander Guan were stabbed multiple times and have died in battle."

"..."

Lin Jue remained silent, gazing at the devastated Salt Beach Pass.

Soon after, Zhanbo's army, which had been unable to capture Yantan Pass for a long time, completely abandoned its attack plan and retreated to the rear.

Later, Lin Jue learned that it was actually Lord Qinglan, Song Mu, who led his troops in a surprise attack on the rear of Zhanbo, and in one fell swoop recovered the four prefectures of Xiaoyao Prefecture, including Yucheng, which Lin Jue was familiar with.

What surprised him most was that not long after Yucheng was recovered, Zhang Shiyou specifically appointed him to guard Yucheng.

Thus, Lin Jue accepted the order and led more than ten light cavalrymen, traveling day and night, to Yucheng.

……