Inside the mountain cave of the Flame Demon Tribe, the wounded lay everywhere.
Many Near Human women were tending to the injured, wrapping their wounds.
Di Na, A Li, and little Ya Ya were staying in the deepest part of the cave to ensure they received the best protection.
With an icy expression, Gou Li strode rapidly towards the depths of the cave.
“What are you doing?” a Near Human female warrior demanded. “You should be fighting outside. You shouldn’t be in here!”
She was the leader of the women, responsible for bringing the wounded in from the battlefield. Seeing Gou Li rush inside, she immediately stepped forward to stop her.
“Move!” Gou Li shoved her hard.
The female warrior was sent flying backwards, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
At once, the Near Human women who had been dressing the wounded stood up and drew their swords.
Everyone in the Flame Demon Tribe had survived years of exile. Almost none of them were defenceless, including the women.
Dozens of female Flame Demon Tribe soldiers immediately stepped forward and surrounded Gou Li.
Even some of the wounded soldiers on the ground struggled to their feet, drawing their weapons to block her path.
“Gou Li, what are you trying to do?” one of the women demanded.
Gou Li replied coldly, “What am I trying to do? Find myself a way out, of course. Didn’t you hear? The Silver Alliance army is about to break through the city walls. As women, do I really need to tell you what will happen? You’ll all be raped, then killed, and those who survive will become slaves, or even livestock.”
The faces of the hundred or so women present immediately changed.
An older female warrior stepped forward.
“You don’t need to worry about our fate. When the time comes, we’ll take our own lives. But now, leave. This isn’t a place for you.”
Gou Li sneered.
“You idiots, blindly loyal to a dead cause. Lanyling has already run away, leaving all of you here to die. Yet you’re still protecting his wife and child. He abandoned even his own family, let alone the rest of you. I almost pity you.”
The older warrior answered firmly, “First, the Chieftain hasn’t run away. He went to seek reinforcements. Second, we’re fighting to the death not for him, but for ourselves. This is our tribe. This is our home. If you want to harm Madam or the Chieftain’s daughter, you’ll have to step over our corpses first.”
Gou Li laughed coldly.
“You think you can stop me?”
Then she struck.
Her sword flashed.
Two female Flame Demon Tribe warriors collapsed into pools of blood.
“Stop her!”
Dozens of wounded soldiers and over a hundred female warriors charged at Gou Li with swords raised.
But Gou Li’s martial arts were simply too powerful.
She was a Demon Martial Grandmaster.
Not a single woman present had even reached the rank of Great Demon Warrior.
Charging her was nothing but suicide.
Just as Gou Li was about to unleash a massacre within the cave, just as more tribe women were about to die beneath her sword…
Di Na stepped forward.
“Sisters, let her come in.”
“Madam, go back inside!” the female warriors shouted, quickly forming a defensive line before Di Na.
Di Na gently stroked her swollen belly.
“Don’t worry. I can protect myself, and I can protect little Ya Ya. Let her come.”
Her voice was filled with unwavering confidence.
The dozens of wounded soldiers and over a hundred female warriors slowly stepped aside.
Shaking the blood from her sword, Gou Li walked deeper into the cave.
At the deepest point…
Behind them lay a pool of water, connected beneath to an underground lake.
Greed flashed through Gou Li’s eyes.
Lanyling’s endless treasures seemed to have all come from beneath that underground lake.
“Gou Li, what do you want?” Di Na asked.
Gou Li said, “Tell me. Those pills, those treasures, those countless gold coins of Lanyling’s, did they all come from beneath this lake?”
Di Na replied, “What if they did?”
Gou Li smiled.
“Excellent. Selling that secret to the Rakshasa King’s son in law should earn me an even greater reward.”
Di Na said, “You still haven’t answered my question. Why are you here?”
“Obviously to capture Lanyling’s daughter as a hostage, and to present you to Prince Consort Nai Shu. You may not be especially beautiful, but with that pregnant belly, you should have a rather unique charm.”
Di Na looked at her.
“So you plan to use little Ya Ya and me as stepping stones to gain Nai Shu’s favour? You want to become his woman?”
“Why not?” Gou Li replied. “I should thank Lanyling. After sleeping with him, I became so much younger and more beautiful. After taking his poisonous pills, I became twenty years younger, with the figure of a temptress. That should be more than enough to attract Lord Nai Shu.”
Di Na quietly asked, “Wasn’t it good enough staying with my husband?”
“It was wonderful,” Gou Li admitted. “Lanyling may be ruthless, but he gave me pleasures beyond anything I’d ever known. He’s the sort of man who becomes addictive. But unfortunately, he’s too weak. He’s not worthy of possessing someone like me forever. Women naturally rely on the strong. That’s only right. Lanyling is powerless. He can’t even protect his own tribe, his wife or his children. Why should I stay with him? Lord Nai Shu is stronger, nobler. Why shouldn’t I offer him both my body and my soul?”
“You shameless woman!” A Li shouted before Di Na could respond.
Gou Li laughed loudly.
“A Li, do you know how ridiculous you are? A beautiful woman talking about love, how childish. But don’t worry. I won’t offer you to Lord Nai Shu. I’ll kill you instead. I don’t need a little fox spirit like you competing with me for his favour.”
She raised her sword.
“Di Na, will you surrender peacefully, or shall I cut your tendons first before taking you prisoner? Your husband Lanyling is as good as dead. No one can save you now.”
Di Na sighed softly.
“Gou Li, do you know what you’ve done? You’ve thrown away your only chance. My husband spared your life because you’re experienced, cunning, and highly skilled. He wanted to make use of you. But now you’ve lost your only opportunity.”
“Make use of me?” Gou Li burst into laughter. “Is he worthy? What status does he have? What martial skill? Without Suomo acting like his dog, he’d be nothing! I accepted him sleeping with me because he excited me, because he became addictive. But for him to think he could command me? He’s not worthy!”
Di Na said calmly, “You’ve chosen your own death. No one can save you now.”
Gou Li’s beautiful face twisted viciously.
“No one can save you. Think carefully about your fate. Think about how you’ll be abused until you die. No one is coming to save you.”
With sword in hand, she slowly advanced towards Di Na.
Meanwhile, A Li held little Ya Ya tightly, covering the child’s ears and eyes.
At that moment, a mysterious voice echoed through the cave.
“Gou Li, you’re acting so arrogantly. Have you forgotten that I exist?”
The voice was distant and ancient.
Gou Li’s face changed dramatically.
“W… Who are you?”
“I am my Master’s shadow. The guardian of the ancient Demon God ruins, the master of Mirror Mountain, the ruler of the Mirror Empire,” the Mirror Demon King replied. “To put it more simply, I was the one who lured Constantine’s twenty five thousand allied troops into the giant pit where they drowned. I may not have much power left, but controlling you is still effortless.”
Then…
Gou Li suddenly found her entire body frozen.
She could not move at all.
The next moment, her body knelt against her will.
She poured every ounce of strength and determination into resisting, but she could no longer control her own body.
“You can control my body, but what does that matter?” Gou Li laughed wildly. “Can you save the Flame Demon Tribe? The tribe is doomed. Lanyling’s wife is destined to be violated. His daughter is destined to become someone else’s slave. Hahaha…”
“What a foolish woman,” the Mirror Demon King said. “My Master has been nearby the entire time, watching everything unfold. All your scheming has been for nothing. Listen carefully…”
The cave suddenly fell silent.
Then…
The water in the pool began to ripple violently.
The ground started shaking.
A thunderous roar exploded into everyone’s ears.
It was the sound of six thousand centaurs striking the earth with their iron hooves.
…
What did six thousand centaurs amount to in terms of sheer mass?
Far more than an army of one hundred thousand.
Every fully grown centaur warrior of the Xieli Tribe stood over three and a half metres tall and measured five or six metres in length.
Compared to the strongest horses on Earth, they were about a metre taller and more than twice as long.
Their muscle density and the thickness of their limbs far surpassed those of ordinary horses.
The strongest warhorse on Earth weighed less than one and a half tonnes.
A single centaur warrior easily exceeded five tonnes.
An adult barbarian warrior weighed only around two hundred kilograms.
Whether measured by size or weight, six thousand centaurs outweighed one hundred and twenty thousand barbarian soldiers.
Their speed…
That was even more astonishing.
A qualified centaur warrior could cover over one hundred and twenty five kilometres in an hour.
During a short charge, they exceeded forty or fifty metres every second.
When six thousand centaur warriors charged together…
The earth truly shook.
Their thunderous footsteps transformed the ground itself into a giant war drum.
Even from miles away, the violent trembling of the earth could be felt.
Lanyling had expected the centaurs to scream or howl as they charged.
But they did not.
When charging, centaurs were cold and disciplined.
Not a single one made a sound.
Between heaven and earth, only the overwhelming thunder of iron hooves remained.
“Boom, boom, boom, boom…”
The six thousand centaurs surged forward like a black tidal wave.
For charging centaurs, a distance of several miles took barely three minutes.
Seen from above, the six thousand centaurs resembled a black spear hurtling like lightning towards the Silver Alliance’s seventy thousand soldiers.
…
Seeing this, Prince Consort Nai Shu’s face turned pale with shock.
The twelve Silver Alliance chieftains were equally horrified.
How was this possible?
The centaurs were the most brutal, xenophobic, and arrogant race of all.
How could they possibly obey a Near Human?
How could they come to rescue the Flame Demon Tribe?
What exactly had happened?
Had the sun risen in the west?
Or had Lanyling somehow bewitched these mighty centaur warriors?
An army of six thousand centaurs had never been seen before.
Ordinary centaur raiding parties rarely exceeded one hundred riders.
Six thousand centaurs represented the entire strength of a massive tribe.
How had Lanyling gained such reinforcements?
But no matter what had happened, one thing came first.
They had to survive the impact of the centaur charge.
“Form ranks!” Nai Shu roared.
The twelve chieftains snapped back to reality and rushed to their own troops, shouting orders.
The seventy thousand soldiers beneath the city walls completely ignored the defenders above and hurriedly formed ranks.
The entire army became a single massive formation.
The strongest warriors stood at the front with enormous shields.
Countless sharp spears protruded through the gaps between the shields.
It was a classic anti cavalry hedgehog formation.
Every soldier stood shoulder to shoulder, arms linked, knees bent.
Together, seventy thousand warriors became a single immovable fortress.
The countless outward pointing spears formed a forest of deadly spikes. Any cavalry charging into them should have been skewered instantly.
Surely seventy thousand soldiers in such a formation could stop six thousand centaurs.
That was what everyone desperately hoped.
Even Nai Shu kept repeating it to himself.
The barbarian soldiers forced themselves to believe.
We can stop them.
We can stop them.
After all, they were seventy thousand strong.
And this was an impregnable hedgehog formation.
…
“Boom, boom, boom…”
The world seemed silent.
Yet at the same time, it roared endlessly.
Because nothing remained except the thunder of centaur hooves.
If any other sound existed, it was the frantic beating of countless hearts.
The centaurs came closer.
Faster.
The trembling earth itself inspired terror.
One thousand metres…
Five hundred…
Three hundred…
Two hundred…
The answer was about to be revealed.
Could seventy thousand barbarian soldiers in their hedgehog formation stop six thousand centaurs?
Fifty metres.
Thirty metres.
Ten metres.
Impact.
Collision.
Like two worlds crashing together.
Like mountains smashing into the sea.
Like a meteor striking a planet.
Nai Shu roared.
“Hold! Thrust!”
“Boom!”
A deafening explosion erupted.
Then…
Nothing could be heard.
Nothing could be seen.
The answer had arrived.
Seventy thousand barbarian soldiers could not stop the charge of six thousand centaurs.
The seemingly indestructible hedgehog formation was shattered as easily as paper.
No.
It was not shattered.
It was crushed.
It was trampled flat.
The mighty centaur army ignored the spears.
Ignored the shields.
They charged straight through.
They ploughed through.
They crushed everything in their path.
Bodies flew into the air.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
There were almost no screams.
Whether trampled beneath hooves or smashed by the centaurs’ bodies, there was only one outcome.
Instantly reduced to mangled flesh.
The entire battlefield seemed to lose all sound.
The hedgehog formation of seventy thousand soldiers stretched only two hundred metres wide and four hundred metres deep.
A mere four hundred metres.
The six thousand centaurs punched straight through it in less than thirty seconds.
Every impact.
Every trampling.
Every collision.
Lasted barely one minute.
One minute later, the centaur army had already thundered past.
Behind them remained only blood and mangled flesh.
Corpses covered the battlefield.
Countless lay dead or dying.
In a single minute, thousands, then tens of thousands, had perished.
The hedgehog formation of seventy thousand soldiers completely collapsed within half a minute.
The surviving barbarian soldiers stood frozen.
Then they fled aimlessly.
Then terrified screams erupted.
Men who had never known fear screamed in horror.
They fled in blind panic, like headless flies.
But before the terrifying speed of the centaurs…
Where could they possibly escape?
What followed was a completely one sided massacre.
The centaurs wanted no prisoners.
Neither did Lanyling.
There was only one task left.
Exterminate every last one.