We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real? Chapter 386: Shuihou City

A month prior, in the domain of the Zhao Kingdom.

By then, Xiao Shi and Bai Qi had seized two vital provinces from the Zhao Kingdom, yet to them, such advancement felt agonizingly sluggish.

What's more, the deeper their campaigns pushed, the greater the Zhao Kingdom's forces exhibited shocking endurance, even beginning to mount a counter-push.

This urgency weighed heavily on both Xiao Shi and Bai Qi.

Though Xiahou Nan strained every nerve to impede the Qi Kingdom, his command of five hundred thousand soldiers pitted against the realm's mightiest power left his efforts constrained.

Besides, not every stronghold in Chu territory proved impregnable.

Every passing day intensified Xiahou Nan's struggles, rendering their slim edge woefully inadequate.

Thus, after conferring, Xiao Shi and Bai Qi resolved to thrust forward via the Cold Bone Path, stationing Bai Qi to guard Shuihou City while Xiao Shi himself spearheaded assaults on enemy strongholds.

Should Bai Qi secure Shuihou City and shield Xiao Shi's rear, immense pressure could then bear down on the Zhao Kingdom!

Once Zhao Kingdom uncovered Xiao Shi's scheme, they elevated Li Mu to supreme commander, dispatching him to assail Bai Qi.

Despite his youth, Li Mu commanded troops with formidable skill. Matched against Bai Qi, he stood toe-to-toe, never yielding ground, his brutal city barrages a spectacle Bai Qi had seldom witnessed.

Throughout this ordeal, Bai Qi barely snatched any sound sleep.

Midnight often found him restlessly pacing, devising countermeasures.

Bai Qi believed mere gate-guarding insufficient—he must seize the offensive!

One fateful day, a trusted retainer in Bai Qi's service unveiled a cunning ploy.

This advisor was none other than the White Demon Sect's sect master. Betrayed earlier by his treacherous disciples, he had fled the White Demon Sect grievously wounded, seeking sanctuary under Bai Qi, who granted protection and orchestrated the sect's reclamation.

The sect master pitched a method of sheer horror.

Horrifying enough to give even Bai Qi pause.

Shuihou City, Bai Qi's current bastion, stood as no mere settlement.

Ancient tales whispered that Shuihou City once marked the mortal portal to the Netherworld. Yet after the cataclysmic divine war of old, the Nether God's demise plunged Netherworld laws into turmoil, allowing Ghost Separation Fire to seep forth uncontrollably.

At intervals, once Ghost Separation Fire amassed sufficiently, it scorched rifts through the city's soil and surged upward—yet cause invariably summons balance, as heaven and earth's principles ever harmonize.

Legends thus revealed a Profound Soul Lake hidden beneath the city.

As Ghost Separation Fire swelled, Profound Soul Lake's waters vaporized relentlessly, shaped by Shuihou City's peculiar laws into a lingering canopy overhead.

When Ghost Separation Fire teetered on eruption, Profound Soul Water morphed into deluge, quenching the blaze while revitalizing the earth.

Shuihou City thus shunned conventional seasons, alternating only between a blistering "summer" as Ghost Separation Fire brewed underground and a chilling "winter" post-Profound Soul Rain.

This duality preserved a razor-thin equilibrium.

Now in Shuihou City, Ghost Separation Fire brewed as heat steadily mounted, though Profound Soul Rain loomed at least three months distant—yet the White Demon Sect sect master asserted his lineage held an primordial array to hasten the Ghost Separation Fire's fury!

Moreover, this array would fleetingly warp Shuihou City's laws, postponing Profound Soul Rain to seven days after the fire's rampage, demanding in exchange the blood offering of Shuihou City's full seven hundred thousand souls!

Such a price left Bai Qi deeply torn.

These seven hundred thousand innocents stood blameless, yet for Qin Kingdom's path to supremacy.

Lest he betray Frost Prince and His Majesty's confidence, Bai Qi steeled himself to enact it!

Hundreds of thousands of Qin Kingdom soldiers toiled united to erect the array.

Ignorant of its dark purpose, the Qin forces simply followed orders to the letter.

With the array complete, Bai Qi marched his troops beyond the walls into combat, as the White Demon Sect's master commanded his disciples to enact the blood sacrifice upon the city's populace.

The formation sealed off the anguished cries echoing from inside the city.

Seven hundred thousand residents morphed into rivers of blood surging across the city, gathering within the vast formation runes before vanishing completely.

Bai Qi on the battlefield was fully aware of the horrors unfolding in Shuihou City at his rear, yet his expression remained utterly stoic.

All these sacrifices fueled the Qin Kingdom's drive for supremacy!

With the formation fully activated, Bai Qi's five hundred thousand soldiers withdrew into the city. The troops found every single inhabitant gone, transforming the whole place into a ghost town.

The soldiers had no clue about the actual events that transpired inside the city.

In the days ahead, Bai Qi persisted in guarding the city, sometimes spearheading assaults against Li Mu's forces, only to simulate retreat and fall back within the walls each time.

Over time, Shuihou City gave the impression of teetering on collapse.

At dawn one day, scouts brought word that not a single soul guarded Shuihou City's ramparts!

Li Mu swiftly rallied his men and positioned them below Shuihou City.

Besides the barred city gates, the walls stood eerily empty. It seemed Bai Qi had deserted the city in flight.

"General... do we go inside the city?" a deputy general inquired of Li Mu.

Li Mu's brow creased in doubt. "This feels way too off. There must be an ambush waiting in the city!"

"The general worries too much." Chen Shengze grinned. "Shuihou City's defensive formation was frail from the start. Our relentless attacks lately have all but destroyed it. Bai Qi's forces are utterly drained too. Even staying put, this subordinate could breach the walls in five days flat. Fleeing now lets him pull back and tighten his lines."

"Exactly, General. Let's seize Shuihou City fast and press the attack. Xiao Shi's pushing us hard at Cold Bone Path right now." Another deputy general added.

After much deliberation, Li Mu commanded, "Full alert, entire army. Advance in serpent formation. Pull back at once if trouble stirs."

"Yes! General!"

The officers chorused their assent.

Li Mu's army forced the gates and poured into Shuihou City.

Surveying the barren landscape, Li Mu's eyebrows knitted tighter.

Where had Shuihou City's people gone?

Not one remained?

Had Bai Qi evacuated them all?

Yet why haul away even the old folks and kids? It defied all logic.

"General, what's happened to this city? Where'd everyone go..." Deputy general Wen Qian questioned, baffled.

"I can't say what went down, but Bai Qi has clearly departed."

Li Mu shook his head.

"Shuihou City looks secure. Tell the whole army to rest up today. We march tomorrow!"

"Yes! General!"

The orders spread via messenger, and soon Li Mu's full force settled into Shuihou City, just as the Zhao army prepared to pitch camp.

Abruptly, a thunderous "clang" rang out as the gates crashed shut, while a crimson formation enveloped the entirety of Shuihou City.

In the blink of an eye, the temperature in Shuihou City skyrocketed!