084 times trapped in the city of iron lotus tower

  Gongsun Sheng, Gou Ying, Xu Huai, Xu He and Xu Qingniang changed their clothes to wear uniform eight trigrams Taoist robes. They held hundred-year-old peach wood swords that could strike thunder and built an altar on the city tower. They arranged three animals for sacrifice and lit incense sticks. The five of them performed rituals in front of the altar, treading the Big Dipper, chanting: "Salutations to the Nine Heavens' Primordial Thunder God, Universal Transformation Great Heavenly Venerable!"

  "Heaven and earth are natural, the aura is scattered, the cave is empty, the great mystery is vast, the eight directions are powerful and divine, the spiritual treasure is commanded, universally informing the nine heavens, Gan Luo Dan Luo, moving the Tai Xuan: Beheading the demons and evil spirits, exterminating the martial bandits, hurry up like a law decree!"

  The prayer was finished, and the five of them simultaneously waved their swords. Each of them lit a small fire on the incense candles in front of them. A small flame rose from the incense candle and flew towards the direction of Wu Song's camp, with a faint ghostly glow.

  These five sparks flew over the military camp, suddenly connected together, getting bigger and bigger, and in an instant formed a red fire cloud of three to five miles around. Lightning flashed in the fire cloud, and suddenly a spherical lightning bolt fell like a fireball, hitting a tent, exploding, causing a big fire, and the soldiers inside had not reacted yet, were blown up by the thunder and fire.

  The Song soldiers on patrol saw it and hastily shouted: "The water is gone, the water is gone!" The soldiers in the camp suddenly woke up, rushed to fetch water to put out the fire, but at this time a loud thunder boomed in the sky. Everyone looked up and saw a huge cloud of fire hanging in mid-air, with hundreds and thousands of fireballs rolling down from the sky.

  These fireballs were like wheels, rolling with a rumble of thunder, hundreds and thousands of them rolling together, the deafening roar unceasing, drowning out all other sounds. The soldiers ran about, shouting loudly, unable to hear what they themselves were saying!

  Wu Song and Gongsun Yan stepped out of the tent to take a look, only to see that the fire cloud in the sky was like a burning hot branding iron, surrounded by many Taoist priests who were protecting the two of them.

  Gongsun Yanran said something to Wu Song, but Wu Song didn't hear clearly. He was trying to remove the small bell from the neck of the kingfisher, which was actually the Jiuyang Divine Bell, a pure Yang instrument that could break through thunder and fire perfectly.

  Just as he had just solved the Nine Yang Divine Bell, the kingfisher suddenly grabbed it and flew up to the sky, making a clear cry, and rushed into the endless thunder and fire.

  "You little beast!" Wu Song was greatly alarmed, and looking up, he saw that the rolling thunder in the sky had suddenly stopped falling down, but instead rolled in one direction. In the midst of the dull thunder, only the sound of a great bell resonated continuously, rushing straight into the thundercloud.

  From the national teacher to the soldiers, everyone saw a huge shadow slowly sliding across the sky, it was a giant bird, its claws grasping a glittering golden bronze bell, and then plunged into the fiery clouds.

  Only the fire clouds in the sky were getting smaller and smaller, and finally disappeared together with the thunder and fire all over the sky, and the sky was dark again.

  On the city tower of Qingzhou, Gong Sun and Xu Hua also found that the thundercloud suddenly lost its response. They looked at each other and exclaimed in unison: "There must be a superior man who has broken our Thunder Spell!"

  The five men used their old tricks again, and once more they unleashed the Five Thunder Heavenly Punishment technique. Another five small flames flew up, just as they were about to fly over the Wu army's camp, they suddenly went out, without a trace.

  The five Taoist priests still didn't give up and performed the ritual again, but the situation was no different from last time. The Five Thunder Heaven Seal Spell hadn't even had a chance to be fully cast before it vanished without a trace.

  The five people's faces turned pale as they exclaimed in unison: "This is strange! This is strange!"

  Liu Hui Niang was commanding the Thunderbolt Chariot and the main force, ready to sneak out of the city at any moment to launch a surprise attack on the enemy camp. Upon hearing the voices of the five Taoist priests, she hastily inquired about the situation. Xu He, the game's protagonist, replied anxiously: "We've encountered a powerful expert! The bandit camp is likely to have a Golden Elixir stage cultivator, Lu Xingxian, who can actually break our Thunderbolt Art without making a sound!"

  Liu Huiniang's expression changed, and she pondered for a moment before saying: "It is absolutely impossible for the bandits to ask Lu Xingxian to take action. There must be something strange about this matter..." Suddenly, she ordered someone to open the city gate and had a group of soldiers carry war drums out of the city. In each of the four suburbs, there were 100 soldiers who beat the drums all night without stopping, disturbing the enemy army and making it impossible for them to rest as part of a feigned military strategy.

  "Beat the drum every half hour, making the bandits wonder if they are gods or ghosts. By the second day, the bandit army will surely be exhausted!"

  Gongsun Yan sat beside Wu Song, the various generals were all in the camp, being stirred up by the drumbeats and tense with spirit, searching everywhere for the enemy, but not a single shadow could be found. At this moment, they heard again the war drums of the enemy army outside, Gongsun Yan smiled and said: "This is a stratagem to deceive the enemy, intending to make us unable to rest at night."

  Lin Chong said: "In that case, what should be done?"

  "She simply intends to keep us on high alert day and night, without rest, using a feigned attack. We'll play along with her plan, break camp at night and launch a surprise attack on Qingzhou, making it real and fake at the same time."

  Gong Shunyan thought for a moment, then smiled and said: "This matter cannot be done without General Qiong Ying's help." Immediately, he ordered someone to inform Zhang Qing's camp. After hearing Gong Shunyan's plan, Qiong Ying smiled and said: "This is easy." He immediately led his troops out, arriving at the foot of Qingzhou City that night. The soldiers and horses were silent, but suddenly drums were beaten and a charge was sounded, with thousands of soldiers and horses attacking the city together.

  The large army in Qingzhou City was originally resting, but as soon as they heard the sound of drums attacking the city, they immediately woke up. The city tower was bustling with people coming and going, defending the city under Liu Hui Niang's command, easily repelling the enemy's attack.

  Half a time later, the war drum sounded again, General Qiong Ying launched another attack on the city, and the people on the city wall were busy again.

  Liu Huiniang repelled the enemy's attack, only to see that the enemy corpses were all paper men and horses. She frowned and said: "This is also a tactic of suspicious soldiers, letting us guard the city for several nights without rest." She ordered the three armies to immediately leave the city and search for the enemy.

  But little did they know, the moment the army left the city, they were ambushed by the superior forces of the bandits. Suddenly, flames engulfed the area outside Qingzhou City, with figures darting about, and no one knew how many horses and men there were. The two sides clashed in a fierce battle below the city walls, fighting until dawn before retreating, leaving behind a field of corpses.

  As the attacking army on this side had just retreated, Lu Junyi's army launched another attack from the west gate, bringing in over a hundred catapults to hurl several hundred kilograms of stones at the city walls, directly targeting the defending soldiers.

  But all that can be seen is rocks falling like rain, pounding against the city walls, battering Qingzhou City into a state of disrepair, with houses collapsing and roofs caving in.

  Both sides were drumming war drums, urging soldiers desperately.

  There were also thunder cars, with ropes tied behind the long spears, shooting continuously. For a time, the city wall was filled with long spears, and the ropes connected to the ground. The government army held knives in their mouths, under the leadership of Drumming Ants, grabbed the ropes and climbed up the rocks.

  There were more than 70 bed crossbows covering, shooting out a rain of arrows, pressing the defending army on the city wall to lift their heads. Liu Huiniang brought the thunderbolt cart, fired it out of the city gate, and launched a barrage of cannons, destroying the bed crossbow carts and heading towards Lu Junyi's army.

  The bed crossbow broke, and the defenders on the city wall suddenly popped out their heads, some cutting ropes, others pouring hot oil, and some even carrying large stones, desperately smashing down. Shi Qianli led the way, first climbing onto the city wall, occupying one corner of the city wall, waiting for the government troops to climb up from below.

  The city defense troops rushed up and surrounded him, killing him in groups. More than a dozen knives and guns were handed over at the same time. Shi Chuan saw that the situation was not good, so he hurriedly jumped and ran away, but found that there were only defenders on the city wall, with no place to land.

  Shi Qian hurriedly slipped down from the city wall and came to the city, knocked out a soldier guarding the city, put on his clothes and hid.

  Lu Junyi's army encountered Liu Hui Niang's Thunderbolt Chariot, but saw a hail of stones flying wildly, smashing down without aim. Lu Junyi immediately ordered the deployment of the Thunderbolt Chariots with long spears to counterattack. Both sides were engaged in a chaotic battle, one side hurling stones and the other firing long spears, which flew wildly through the air.

  The Thunderclap vehicles were no match for the Thunderbolt vehicles, and over a dozen of them were destroyed. Lu Junyi then deployed the stone-throwing machines to hurl massive boulders at the Thunderbolt vehicles, destroying several more.

  In the face of this massive bureaucratic monster, human strength was almost negligible. The two sides fought until noon, when Lu Junyi's 100 catapults were almost completely destroyed, and only a few Thunderbolt Cars remained. Liu Huiniang's side also had very few remaining Rolling Thunder Cars, and the ground was littered with corpses.

  Lu Junyi then led the army to retreat, and at the hour of si (9-11 am), he found that Shi Qian and Xie Zhen were missing. He thought they must have been killed in the chaos of war. The 5,000-strong army now had only 3,000 men left. Lu Junyi was worried and sent someone to report to Wu Guo Shi while reorganizing his old troops and repairing the catapults and thunderclap carts.

  As soon as Lu Junyi's army retreated, Zhang Qing's army immediately launched an attack on the East City Gate, with seven or eight generals leading the charge. The offensive was fierce. Liu Hui Niang hurried to the East City Gate to direct the battle, and they fought until sunset before Zhang Qing's army withdrew.

  Liu Huiniang hadn't even had a chance to rest for a while, when the war drums sounded again at the North City Gate. She hadn't slept all night and was busy all day, seeing that the bandits' attack was relentless, not allowing her to rest for a moment. Sighing, she said to Zhu Yongqing Shi Jin: "The bandits are trying to exhaust me to death..."

  The North Gate is the focal point of the battlefield, and Wu Song himself has led his troops to attack. The Fierce Beast Army, Iron Cavalry Army, and City-Breaking Army are all elite forces, with soldiers riding on mechanical beasts launching a fierce assault on the gate. On the city wall, people are coming and going, constantly transporting large stones to throw down, while Gong Sun is mobilizing cloud ladders, placing them against the city wall, as government troops climb up, Liu Hui Niang commands the defending army to bring iron sledges to push the cloud ladders away.

  The battle lasted until midnight, and both sides lit up huge bonfires to aid the fight. Dozens of bonfires, tens of meters high, blazed fiercely, illuminating the night sky.

  When the fight was fierce, suddenly a loud drumbeat sounded, thumping the soul, and then an urgent horn came. Liu Huiniang stood on the city wall, looking down from above, only to see that in the flickering firelight, a huge mechanical monster was being pushed over!

  That monster was a giant bronze bull's head, suspended from an enormous sled. The sled stood over thirty meters tall, even higher than the city walls of Qingzhou. In front were sixty or seventy bronze bulls pulling the sled, while behind it several hundred soldiers pushed with all their might, creaking and groaning as they moved towards the city gate!

  "Tank!"

  Liu Huiniang's face changed drastically, and the soldiers next to her didn't wait for her order before immediately smashing down all the big stones and fire oil. There were also archers shooting arrows non-stop. Because the distance was too close, they couldn't use a catapult. Instead, Dong Ping led the soldiers in setting up bed crossbows on the city wall and firing downwards.

  However, this attack was apparently ineffective against the copper oxen, and the soldiers hiding behind the shields were rarely hit by arrows. The siege cart slowly approached the north gate of Qingzhou City.

  Only saw that the rhinoceros's single foot was tied with more than a dozen thick iron chains, extending to over 100 meters away.

  A hundred meters away, there were over a dozen wheelbarrows, with wheels three or four meters in diameter. Only then did the great general of the fierce beast army, Hu Yan Zhuo and Chen Li Qing loudly shout: "Tighten the wheel disk, quickly tighten the wheel disk!"

  On either side of each cart were fifty strong men, who turned the wheels round and round with iron bars. The oxen lowed and snorted as they were pulled back, one zhang, two zhang, three zhang... soon they had been pulled back ten zhang!

  Hu Yan's whip was raised, and he shouted loudly: "Release!" The wheels of the pulley flew rapidly, and the oxen's heads suddenly charged forward, crashing into the city gate with a loud crash!

  The solid city gate with copper inlays was instantly knocked out of two big holes by the cow's horns, and the city tower shook!

  Chen Liqing saw that the city gate still did not collapse and loudly shouted: "Tighten again!"

  A dozen or so carts started again, the iron chains pulled back, and the massive wooden oxen were lifted up with a creaking sound. Liu Hui Niang saw this, hoarsely shouting: "Hit it one more time, the city tower will definitely collapse, quickly bring my steel wheel fire cabinet!"

  The city's defenders didn't even have time to launch a second attack, when suddenly countless copper boxes were thrown down from the castle tower, exploding as soon as they hit the ground, sending shrapnel and steel balls flying everywhere!

  Liu Hui Niang directed from the city wall, only throwing towards one side of the rolling wheel of the catapult. Over a hundred steel fire cabinets were thrown down, blasting the catapult's rolling wheel. Suddenly, the siege engine tilted to one side and crashed to the ground with a loud noise, shaking the people on the city tower so much that they could hardly stand firm. Even the bronze oxen were sent flying dozens of feet high.

  The soldiers hiding under the siege engines were killed by the rolling logs, and they rushed to the city tower to avoid the arrow rain. Liu Hui Niang ordered people to throw down steel wheel fire cabinets, blasting all the soldiers to death.

  Just as the siege engine on this side had fallen, another iron-clad vehicle came up, with 7-8 inch steel plates on top and wheels below. Soldiers stepped on the pedals, the wheels rolled forward, and they rushed to the bottom of the city tower at high speed.

  Liu Huiniang sighed and said, "The outer city can no longer be defended, go to the inner city!" She led the defending troops to retreat and came to the inner city of Qingzhou City. Gu Yingzhen did not believe in evil and remained on the city tower, directing soldiers to throw down giant stones and steel wheel fire cabinets, all of which were blocked by steel plates. Nearly a hundred soldiers rushed out, placed explosive packages under the city gate, and then stepped on the pedals to leave.

  When Gou Ying saw the iron pagoda retreat, he was overjoyed, but suddenly heard a loud noise and then knew nothing.

  Liu Hui Niang stood on the inner city wall, watching as Xie Zhenren Gou Ying was blown to smithereens amidst a deafening explosion. In her heart, she silently sighed: "I'm sorry, True Person... no one can stop it, not even the inner city can be saved..."