The nightmares didn't disappoint. I had the one about my death again, which I took as a bad omen.
After that, I woke up unrested and had barely any time to eat breakfast before a horn sounded—a signal for everybody to gather and be prepared for a fight.
When I ran out, dressed and with a sword on my belt, I saw soldiers hurrying to the walls alongside me, ready for a fight.
At least it was sunny today.
From the walls, I immediately saw the source of the alarm. During the night, the Crystal Phoenix army moved its camp.
Now they stood almost right under our walls, facing the northern gate. They weren't besieging us entirely yet, but a line of wooden barricades was already built in front of the enemy army.
It was only a matter of time before a full-scale siege. Maybe even with siege towers!
From our walls, a few crossbowmen shot at the enemy camp, but their arrows fell just a little short.
Lin Chu and Lin Deng were watching the same thing not far from me, arguing.
"These sons of dogs and chickens! What do they try to achieve with this?! I shouldn't have even considered your idea, cousin. We should've attacked them yesterday as soon as we arrived here!"
"Charging at an even more fortified hill, when our army and our horses were tired from march? We would've lost, Young Master Lin Deng. I don't understand it, however… They had a chance to take over the city and sit behind its walls before we arrived. Why move in for a siege now? We are at an advantage."
"The Crystal Phoenix Sect is full of fools and cowards. That doesn't matter. We will charge at them, anyway!"
I saw Lin Chu's jaw tensing, but that was the only indication of his disagreement. He bowed slightly.
"If these are your orders, Great General Lin Deng. You are in command of this army."
"Exactly. Me and not you, cousin. Now, while their own walls are not too tall, our cavalry and cultivators will charge at them like a heavenly hammer, leaving nothing but scattered survivors!"
I closed my eyes in despair and dread. This was what I feared the most. Even a siege was better, because at least then there were walls between me and the enemy.
The order spread down the chain of command, but the war machine was slow.
By the time the attacking force gathered near the northern gates, three hours had passed. The cavalry stood in a spearhead formation, with cultivators sharpening its edge. Our job was to destroy enemy fortifications and break their formation. The crossbowmen stayed on the walls, and the small amount of infantry we had was standing at the back of the formation.
A single cultivator could defeat dozens, even hundreds, of normal soldiers. Only another cultivator could stop one—and on a battlefield, cultivators will inevitably find each other. The question was, "How much damage can a cultivator deal to the enemy army before being brought down?".
A lot. We were powerful and effective, but not powerful enough to destroy an army on our own.
Unless, of course, there was a cultivator of a Golden Core stage, who could wipe the battlefield clean on his own. But the only one such cultivator I knew of was Grand Elder of the Purple Dragon Sect. Maybe there were others in more prominent clans.
The strongest cultivators were easy to see, because we were on foot. Everybody who purified and strengthened their body could easily run faster than a horse. Others were on a horseback, like the cavalry. Qi Condensation cultivators were hovering on their swords a short distance aboveground.
"Today, we will conquer our glory! The Divine Dragon is on our side!" Lin Deng shouted. He was holding a spear with the Lin clan's banner, and now waved it energetically in the air. "Glory for the Lin clan! Glory for the Purple Dragon Sect! The Crystal Phoenix will shatter! The Divine Dragon will accept the souls of those who died fighting for him, and they will be reborn as his immortal progeny! Now, CHAAAAAARGE!"
With a sound of loud creaking of wood and metal, the tall gates opened, and the cavalry charged out.
My position was at the left flank, next to Fen Kuang, but when everybody started running, the flank quickly turned into the middle of the long line that pushed through the narrow gate.
I just ran, trying to keep together with Fen Kuang and not get trampled by a horse. That forced us both to run slightly ahead of the soldiers, and as soon as I ran past the gates, I wished I didn't.
The Tao clan army was ready for our attack, and a cloud of arrows was falling at us. There was enough for every soldier in the army!
Lin Deng shouted something furious, but I didn't hear him over the clatter of thousands of hooves and the battlecries of soldiers. Not that I cared.
My only focus right now was on surviving for the next second. I spread Qi over my body, activating the Stone Body technique, then focused it on my forearms. I raised them to protect my head and upper body just when the arrows started to land.
Men and horses began to fall under the deadly rain. The charge was unbroken, but now there were holes in the formation. Most of the arrows flew past me, but one struck my forearm. It cut through the sleeve, scratched my skin, but couldn't pierce further, and fell.
The hardest part was to not flinch, keep concentration, and keep running. A couple more arrows hit me, but they couldn't do more than scratch me and add some gray hairs to my temples.
I lowered my arms only when the arrows stopped falling and looked around. Fen Kuang had a Clear Sphere surrounding him, and our other cultivators nearby were also unharmed and protected by a shield or another.
Soldiers weren't all so tough. Next to me, a horse kept running forward, carrying the corpse of its master by a leg caught in a stirrup. The soldier had an arrow sticking out of his throat.
A gruesome sight, but I recognized it as an opportunity.