Dragon's Soul Chapter 147: Surrender Or Perish

How are you guys and gals? This arc should wrap up in a few chapters and then we can get to some neater stuff so look forward to it lol. Also Ascending is starting to pick up if any of you follow that too o_o

===============================================================================================
As oil seeped into the cracks between the tiles on Rainbow Rock city’s walls Yuying’s archers prepared to set their enemies ablaze. With fiery arrows nocked in their bows, the archers were simply awaiting orders before turning the top of the city walls into a blazing inferno.

It was obvious to some of the soldiers of the Rainbow Rock Army that they were in a terrible position after the clay pots hurried by Yuying’s soldiers had covered them in oil.

“d.a.m.n it, I don’t want to be turned into a living torch!” A few of them cried as they tried to push their way through their comrades and escape.

While panic ensued atop the walls, the conscripted soldiers had managed to create a large dent in the iron gates below and it was only a matter of time before the gates get knocked down.

On the other side of the wall, Ling’s heavy cavalry poured into the small hole in the wall smas.h.i.+ng through the enemy soldiers that had gathered around the entrance that Ling created. While her cavalry soldiers entered the city, Ling unleashed havoc with dozens of rays of light aimed toward the tops of the walls. She had ordered her forces to move back so they would not be caught in her attacks if the man clad in crystal armor decided to deflect the rays of light.

Since there was only one main gate into Rainbow Rock City, Ling’s cavalry was tasked with charging through the city and opening the gates from the inside, of course, they were also commanded to unleash chaos upon the enemy soldiers when given the opportunity.

If one can imagine how devastating a cavalry charge was in an open plain, the extent of damage a cavalry charge can deal if they were atop a city’s walls that were packed with soldiers was on an entirely different level.

Since there were so many civilians inside the city, Ling had no ordered her heavy cavalry to initiate a fire attack. Although Yuying and perhaps Lingqi would be able to do such a thing without batting an eye, Ling was much like Zhang who can kill enemy’s soldiers mercilessly by could not bring themselves to harm civilians.

Soon enough Ling’s cavalry soldiers made their way to the other side of the city, however, they were unable to open the city gates because when they arrived at the city gates the soldiers of the Rainbow Rock Army lit the inside of the gate on fire to prevent them from opening the gates from the inside.

“Report to her highnesses that the operation is a failure.” One of the cavalrymen said as another pulled out red colored flare from underneath his armor and shot it into the sky.

“Swap to the other plan.” Another one of the cavalrymen said as he set his gaze toward the provincial lord’s mansion. In total about ten thousand cavalrymen had stormed into the city, when considering the enemy amounted to a few hundred thousand soldiers total, ten thousand wasn’t much but now that they were inside the city and were free to roam the amount of damage they could deal was unimaginable.

As the ten thousand heavy cavalries charged toward the Provincial lord’s mansion, Yuying’s archers set the top of the city walls ablaze causing thousands of Rainbow Rock Army soldiers to turn into human torches.

While a section of the walls was changed into what resembled the fiery pits of h.e.l.l, the siege towers moved to another section of wall where the side of the siege towers opened up and acted as bridges, allowing Yuying’s soldiers to storm the top of the walls.

Considering that most of the soldiers of the Rainbow Rock Army were comprised of conscripted civilians it was obvious that they would get slaughtered by the professional soldiers of Aurora and original soldiers of the Rainbow Rock Army that were conscripted by Lingqi.

“WE SURRENDER!!!! WE SURRENDER!!!” A few of the soldiers of the Rainbow Rock Army cried as they tossed their swords onto the ground. For they who did not wish to be here in the first place, their lives were more valuable than the city. Surely if they were allowed to surrender then their families would not be harmed. Also, there was the horrid stench of burnt flesh and the agonizing cries of those who were turned into human torches to reinforce their decision to surrender.

“General wha-what should we do, the conscripted soldiers are surrendering!” A soldier said in a trembling voice to general Hong Yang as small sections of the wall soon fell into the hands of the soldiers of Aurora.

“Regroup the soldiers who are still willing to fight and gather them at the provincial lord’s mansion!” General Hong Yang said with mixed emotion in his tone. A part of him wished to surrender because victory was now a fleeting dream while another part of him could not bear the thought of abandoning his lord.

“All forces move in!” Yuying commanded as her soldiers who had reached the top of the walls began tossing down rope so their comrades below can climb up.

“Extinguish the fire behind the gates so our comrades can enter!” A few of Yuying’s soldiers said.

“Time to move out also.” Lingqi said, for the most part, the neither soldiers under Lingqi’s command nor the elite guard had contributed to the battle partic.i.p.ated in the battle. The elite guard simply waited for orders while Lingqi’s soldiers contributed via playing instruments and had not directed partic.i.p.ated but now as the battle was reaching a turning point it was now time to move out.

Tens of minutes later the fire blocking out the city gates were extinguis.h.i.+ng and the forces of Aurora stormed inside, but of course, the battle was long from over. Rainbow Rock City like all of the provincial provinces was ma.s.sive in size, so despite occupying a large section of the walls and entering the city, the majority of the city was still under enemy control.

For instance, the section of wall in the east and west still bolstered large amounts of soldiers while the southern wall which had been bombarded by Ling still had a considerable amount of soldiers also. If they all retreated to the provincial lord’s mansion and holed up inside with the soldiers already stationed there, then unless the city was razed to the ground the battle would be drawn out much longer.

That is if anyone can reach the provincial lord’s mansion. Hong Yang and his men were the first to retreat to the provincial lord’s mansion however before they could reach the inner city walls they were attacked by ten thousand hors.e.m.e.n. As s.h.i.+elds were splintered by spears and lances, rivers of blood bang to form as the once orderly retreat turning into a ma.s.s of hysteria.

“Charge!!!” The ten thousand hors.e.m.e.n roared as their horses sped forward.

“We surrender!” General Hong Yang said as he saw that the longer he continued on the more his men would suffer.
With General Hong Yang’s surrender, roughly a sixth of the forces within the city had submitted while one-sixth were concentrated in the provincial lord’s mansion and four sixths who were under the command of the man clad in crystal armor were still atop the city walls.

“Section off the walls and surround the provincial lord’s mansion!” Yuying commanded to the soldiers inside the city as her throne made of skulls broke apart and turned into a column.

Thus, the battle raged on into the night and despite having entered the city, the beauties had not been able to achieve total victory yet.

=====================================================================

As the flames of war burned under the night sky in the Rainbow Rock Province, the items that Zhang had requested had been brought to him and he was about to begin operating on Tang Wei’s father.

“Brother Lee if you need anything please just tell me.” Tang Wei said as he stood beside his mother.

“The medicine is taking effect and his lords.h.i.+p is about to entire a deep sleep so I think it would be best to begin the operation. I would advise those with a faint heart to step outside of the room.” Zhang said as he picked up a scalpel and placed its blade into an open flame burning in a bronze bowl to sanitize it. Once the blade was glowing bright red, Zhang arrived in front of Tang Wei’s father and began to operate. As the scalpel began to cut through skin and flesh, blood spurted out of the newly cut wound onto Zhang’s face.

“Towel.” Zhang said calmly before Ai handed him a white towel to wipe away the blood that oozed out of the wound and the blood that splashed onto his face.

As Sheng Yi saw blood splatter onto Zhang she felt a tad light headed but nonetheless steeled herself to watch her husband’s operation until it was complete.

“Now to get through the muscle layer and find out where that critter is…” Zhang mumbled as his scalpel continued to cut deeper into the Red Thorn Province’s provincial lord. From the knowledge he had acquired from his past life and the knowledge he had acquired from his current life, Zhang could be considered an expert at traditional medical practices.

“Tang Wei! What the f.u.c.k are you doing in there!” Tang s.h.i.+ang’s voice could be heard outside as someone banged on the door.

“Open the door this instant! I want to know what you’re doing to father!” Tang s.h.i.+ang roared as his fists pounded on the screen door causing parts of it to splinter off.

“Hold the door, we can’t allow him to interrupt.” Tang Wei said to two of his guards who were inside the room. With a nod, the two bulky men headed toward the door and began to build a barricade. 

“Miu Liu, smash the door!” Tang s.h.i.+ang yelled

Soon enough Zhang could feel the aura of a level seven cultivator emit through the air as a loud boom sound turned the screen door into hundreds of pieces.

“Yo-you you… What are you doing?” Tang s.h.i.+ang asked with an ashen face as he saw Zhang sitting beside his father with blood stained hands once he entered the room. 

“Saving your father’s life.” Zhang said with a smile as he turned back with a squirming blue colored silkworm in his blood stained hands.

“You successfully took it out?” Tang Wei said with relief on his face.

“That was in father?!” Tang s.h.i.+ang asked with a disgusted look on his face.

“Playing the fool now? Aren’t you the one to put it in him?” Tang Wei said as he turned around and grabbed Tang s.h.i.+ang’s collar.

“I don’t know what the f.u.c.k you're talking about. If anyone did it, it should be you! You probably did it so you can take over father’s position without having to worry about him changing his mind and appointing me rightful heir!” Tang s.h.i.+ang said angrily as he brushed off Tang Wei’s hands.

“You think I would harm father over something like that?” Tang Wei said.

“And you think I would harm my father over something like that?” Tang s.h.i.+ang refuted.

“Ai hand me the thread and needle.” Zhang said to Ai as the two brothers continued to argue. After playing the silkworm in a large bronze bowl to have a look at later, Zhang began to st.i.tch his patient’s wound back together and mend it with the Underworld Heart.

In a few quick moments, Zhang was able to skillfully mend the previously gaping wound without leaving even a scar. After he was done, Sheng Yi quickly arrived beside her husband’s bedside held onto his hand.

“The two of you can quit arguing now. Since the operation was a success and I can use this silkworm to find the culprit.” Zhang said calmly as the brothers were about to begin swinging their fists at each other.

“Since this is a matter concerning the future of the province I would recommend both of you to take a step back and reconsider the current situation. If neither of you admits to infecting your father, then who else would have the motive?” Zhang said after the two brothers stopped arguing and silence filled the room.

“If father dies and I don’t become the provincial lord then he does.” Tang Wei said.

“If both this b.a.s.t.a.r.d and father are gone and I don’t become the provincial lord then….” Tang s.h.i.+ang mumbled

“Uncle Tang Pan….” Both brothers said in unison. 

“How could your father’s brother be next in line to be the provincial lord when he married into the family.” Ai asked with a confused look on her face.

“He’s not our father's brother, but Tang s.h.i.+ang’s mother’s cousin and more than likely if both of us were disposed of he would become the next provincial lord… But of all the people, Uncle Tang Pan is father’s closest supporter. They are practically like brothers...” Tang Wei said with a sigh.

“Well, we’ll find out soon enough.” Zhang said as he picked up the bowl containing the b.l.o.o.d.y silkworm in it.

“These things are only able to survive roughly three days after they hatch unless they find a host, they also become unbelievably attached to the place where they hatched so if they are not in the host they will almost always find their way back to their sp.a.w.ning point.” Zhang said as he placed the silkworm onto the ground.

“So you're saying if we simply follow it I can find out the b.a.s.t.a.r.d that put that thing in my father?” Tang s.h.i.+ang asked.

“Yes my lord.” Zhang said with a nod.

“You heard him… Gather our men… Once I get to the bottom of this, whoever did it will be hanged…” Tang s.h.i.+ang said angrily.

“Brother Ai you stay here and keep an eye out on his lords.h.i.+p.” Zhang said as he proceeded to follow the silkworm as it crawled on the ground.

Soon, Zhang, Tang Wei, Tang s.h.i.+ang and a bunch of men began to trail the silkworm who was moving fairly faster despite its size. Without a doubt as they walked through the provincial lord’s manor they caught everyone’s attention, from maids, butlers, soldiers to generals and n.o.bles, everyone was wondering what was happening. 

It was a rare occasion for Tang Wei and Tang s.h.i.+ang to be in the same place at once and not fight each other so soon enough people began to trail them to see what was happening.