Chapter 322 Face-off

Chapter 322: Locked in Battle

The left-wing light cavalry ghosted along the edge of the Beidi Army's formation, never committing to a full charge.

They just peppered the flanks and rear with thick arrow volleys, forcing the Beidi Army to split off men to deal with it.

The once-tight defensive ring started to loosen and fray in spots.

Cui Ji's right-wing heavy cavalry swung wide around Wuliji and slammed into the Beidi center's front.

"Stop them!" Urkhan roared, stunned and furious—he never figured Cui Ji would be this bold.

He blew right past the trapped remnants and the pressure at the walls, making a beeline for Urkhan himself. He hefted his battle axe and led his elite guard to meet the charge head-on!

But Cui Ji wasn't looking to trade blows with Urkhan right away.

The heavy cavalry flood, the instant it touched Urkhan's personal guard, veered hard and scraped viciously along the edge of the Northern Di center!

Lances flashed, hooves pounded, and the Northern Di infantry in that zone got shredded into chaos—the push on the gate ground to a halt.

That surgical cut didn't just ease the pressure on the gate—it ripped open the dark cloud hanging over the Cui Family Army.

Up on the wall, Zhao Cheng saw it plain as day and grabbed the fleeting chance.

"Open the gates! Infantry, with me—out of the city to back up the Grand General and wipe these bastards out!"

"Rumble—" The gates swung open again, and Cui Family infantry poured out like a flood.

Meanwhile, the Northern Di heavy infantry that had been hemming in the cavalry started pulling back under Wuliji's orders, trying to link up with the center.

The battered Cui Family cavalry survivors, joined by the light horse nipping at the flanks, started tearing into them like a wolf pack.

Wuliji swung his one-handed hammer in silence, still a wrecking ball—each hit cleared a patch—but he couldn't cover the whole line.

The Northern Di offensive stayed vicious, but it was slipping into chaos and getting bogged down.

Urkhan chopped down two heavy cavalrymen back-to-back, scanned the field, and his face went dark.

He locked onto Cui Ji in the thick of the heavy horse, murder burning in his eyes.

Cui Ji caught the Northern Di line loosening up. "Keep hammering the flanks! Cavalry, swing around their rear! Archers, cover them!"

Arrows rained down thicker from the walls, surgically sealing off the Northern Di infantry's reinforcement paths.

The infantry that had charged out started working in perfect sync with the surviving cavalry, squeezing the Northern Di troops pinned under the walls tighter and tighter.

The flanking cavalry kept cinching in like a noose, savagely snapping at any Northern Di unit trying to pull back.

The Northern Di weren't about to take it lying down. Urkhan, eyes bloodshot, glared at that dark-armored figure.

"Kill—!" He swung his axe in a frenzy, his voice warped by pure rage.

They stopped caring about the arrows stinging their flanks, blew off the noose closing behind them.

They threw themselves at the Cui Family line—steel met flesh, and the front turned into a raw, primal meat grinder.

The roar of battle went eerily quiet at the core, leaving only the hiss of blades and the grind of armor scraping against armor.

Wuliji's hulking frame loomed like an iron tower, each step sending a faint tremor through the ground.

He swung his giant hammer in silence, movements stripped down to bare essentials, yet loaded with crushing, overwhelming force.

A plain vertical smash—the hammer's wind pressure choked the air. Cui Ji spurred his horse aside in a desperate dodge, and the head slammed into the dirt.

A dull boom—mud and rock sprayed, leaving a nasty crater behind.

Before Cui Ji could breathe, the hammer rebounded off the ground and whipped into a low, blurring black arc across the earth.

The swing covered a huge arc, sealing off any escape left or right.

Cui Ji's eyes went cold. He wrenched the reins, and the warhorse screamed, rearing up.

He tightened his core, leaning back until his body was nearly flat along the horse's spine, and his lance tip tapped the joint between hammerhead and haft with surgical precision.

The hammer's path skewed just enough, whistling past the hooves, and the wind shear ripped open the armor on a nearby corpse.

Wuliji didn't let up. He spun with the momentum, and his left fist lashed out without warning at Cui Ji's gut.

Cui Ji clamped his legs around the horse's barrel, rode the rear back until he was nearly flat, and braced the lance shaft across his body with both hands!

"Bang—!!" Fist met shaft in a violent clash—a dull, thunderous crack like a drum of stretched hide blowing apart!

A wave of raw force slammed into Cui Ji. His arms shuddered, the webbing between his thumb and forefinger split open, and warm blood soaked the cloth around his hands.

The warhorse screamed in pain and stumbled back several steps, hooves carving deep furrows in the earth.

Wuliji's thick arm went numb, his charge broken. He braced himself sideways, face dark and grim.

Cui Ji rode the momentum back, his stare turning icier and keener. The horse's hooves clattered in uneven rhythm as he circled Wuliji without pause.

His lance flickered without pattern, the tip quivering as it jabbed at the gaps in Wuliji's helm, keeping the giant on the defensive.

Impact after impact exploded between them, throwing flickering light and shadow across the field.

Wuliji held his ground like a mountain, every blow trying to crush his foe with raw power.

The duel settled into a deadly standoff, every exchange balanced on the razor's edge of life and death.

On the walls and below, countless eyes locked on them, breaths held without thinking.

The two traded blows at blinding speed, weapons crashing with deafening explosions, qi blasting outward and clearing the ground around them.

Urkhan watched the two locked in combat, firelight dancing in his eyes, a cold glint surfacing.

He slowly raised his bow, nocking a pitch-black, three-edged armor-piercing arrow and training it on Cui Ji.

He drew the string back inch by inch, a faint, bone-chilling creak building until the bow bent to a full moon.

Cui Ji ducked a brutal horizontal sweep from Wuliji, his balance faltering for a heartbeat on the horse's back—his right side flashed open.

Urkhan's lips curled, eyes gleaming with the thrill and spite of a hunter about to bag his kill.

He held his breath, the wind carrying the thick stench of blood, drifting over the city walls.

"Whoosh—!" His fingers released! The arrow vanished into the night in an instant, letting out a sharp whistle as it left the string.

Time seemed to stretch and freeze infinitely in that moment.

On the city wall, everyone who witnessed it felt their hearts seized by an invisible hand.

"General!!!"

That pitch-black arrow carved a line of death through the firelight, its target fixed squarely on Cui Ji.

The war drums scattered, each beat like a heavy hammer striking the heart, threatening to pulverize bone and flesh alike.

Cui Ji's peripheral vision had already caught that deadly threat, even as Wuliji's massive hammer hurtled toward him again.

If he diverted his focus to block the hidden arrow, he would surely be crushed into grave injury by the giant hammer; but if he devoted everything to countering Wuliji, he'd have no chance to deal with anything else.

Weighing his options, he had to pick the lesser evil—he must make a decision in the blink of an eye.

His expression hardened, he put sudden force into his wrist, and the Horse Lance in his hand met the howling hammer head-on without a second thought.