Chapter 831: Dark Crossing

This Yi Zhuang, originally an ancestral hall, belonged to the Li clan. It included communal housing, farmland, granaries, and a private school, so it was not exclusively a place for storing coffins. Later, as the Li family declined, their descendants sold off the land and moved away from Heishui City, leaving the property vacant.

After several years of wear and tear, the characters "Li's" fell off the plaque, leaving only "Yi Zhuang." He Chunhua saw this as a sign of fate, and so the property became Heishui City's public Yi Zhuang, effectively a temporary mortuary.

Places where the deceased are stored are often considered to have the heaviest yin energy. There had long been suggestions to move it outside the city, but Heishui City saw no progress on this during He Chunhua's tenure as governor.

When Governor Hu took over later, he also made no changes.

Thus, the Yi Zhuang remained in the west of the city, less than a hundred paces from the southwestern corner wall.

Such a deserted place rarely saw visitors. For caution's sake, He Lingchuan and his group still looked around to ensure no one was nearby before quietly slipping inside.

The Yi Zhuang was very large and still retained the layout from the Li clan's prosperous era. He Lingchuan led Qiu Hu and others through several twists and turns, entering via an inconspicuous dark alley behind the old granary.

The brick walls were covered in moss from years of never seeing sunlight.

It was fortunate that he used to play here as a child; otherwise, he wouldn't have known where He Chunhua's instructed location was.

The seventy people following him included Qiu Hu and other Rongshan disciples, as well as the elite personal guards brought by He Chunhua.

In this important battle, He Chunhua still chose to trust his son, assigning his most elite subordinates to him.

He Lingchuan was very curious: did his father trust his eldest son's luck, or his capabilities?

At the end of the alley was a dilapidated woodshed, appearing to be no more than six or seven square meters, with its doors and windows nailed shut.

He Lingchuan casually twisted the wooden door, and with a snap, tore it open.

Inside, wooden materials lay haphazardly, some covered in green mold, others sprouting mushrooms. The room was full of cobwebs, suggesting it hadn't been visited in a long time.

As for strenuous tasks, Young Master He wouldn't lift a finger himself. He pointed inside the room:

"Move them!"

Six or seven men went in and began moving out the timber.

All were strong young men; they cleared the wooden shed within a dozen breaths, none of them even breathing heavily.

Suddenly, a hawk descended, landing in front of He Lingchuan and speaking in human tongue:

"No one there."

Only then did He Lingchuan enter the wooden shed, tapping all over the walls to listen for echoes.

Before he finished tapping, Qiu Hu pointed to two wooden planks and said, "There's a draft coming from behind these, along with a damp, moldy smell."

He Lingchuan glanced at him. The entire room smelled of mold; how could Qiu Hu distinguish one moldy smell from another?

Since Fushanyue, he had never encountered anyone with such a keen sense of smell.

"Why be polite? Tear it down!"

With several more snaps, the planks were torn off, revealing a dark hole behind them.

The hole was seven feet high and a man and a half wide, large enough for everyone to enter in single file.

"Remarkable," Qiu Hu said. Seeing the hole, he understood why He Chunhua had rejected his earlier suggestion to send a small team out of the city in advance—

Heishui City had a secret tunnel leading outside!

Whenever Commander He wished to send people out, he could.

That evening, when He Chunhua showed his eldest son how to escape the city through the secret tunnel, He Lingchuan was also greatly impressed.

It was truly unexpected, yet entirely logical.

Heishui City had been contested back and forth several times, and it was where He Chunhua had established himself in his early years. Even a cunning rabbit has three burrows; given He Chunhua's nature, how could he not have prepared an escape route for himself?

Now, this escape route had become a surprise maneuver.

He Chunhua told his eldest son that the other end of the secret tunnel was in an old riverbed two *li* west of the city.

The river had long since changed its course, leaving the old riverbed dry and overgrown with weeds.

The hawk had also flown out to scout, confirming that the tunnel exit was outside the An Dong encirclement, with no one in sight.

He Lingchuan looked up; it was already dark. Tonight, the sky was overcast, with no stars or moon.

"A truly good night for killing," he murmured, tilting his head to the others. "Let's go!"

The An Dong forces usually launched their offensives during the day and rested at night.

However, past midnight, war drums suddenly thundered from Heishui City, and the city gates swung wide open. A force of over three hundred charged out.

The An Dong forces were startled and quickly raised their flags in response.

Both sides cautiously engaged each other several times on the open ground east of the city.

He Chunhua watched from the city wall, deeply agreeing with what his eldest son had said. The An Dong and Heishui City armies were indeed evenly matched.

Clearly, the main An Dong force had not fully committed, still holding back against Heishui City.

Fifteen minutes later, Heishui City's North Gate quietly opened, and another three hundred soldiers surged out.

Both forces dispatched from these two gates included a large number of newly recruited soldiers.

The An Dong forces had already stationed troops here and moved forward to meet the attack upon seeing them.

Once the fighting at the East and North Gates was in full swing, Heishui City's South Gate quietly opened again. Over five hundred people bypassed the main An Dong forces by going south, attempting a surprise attack on their Hulushan Mountain camp.

This group included dozens of foreign reinforcements, such as Zhang Lianhai.

To reach the Panlong Desert, they needed to head north, but the northern battlefield was already blocked by both sides. Aside from taking Hulushan Mountain, they had no way to bypass it.

Although everyone possessed cultivation, they received almost no elemental power augmentation in Yuan Kingdom. On a battlefield of four to five thousand people, it was difficult for them to move freely as they pleased.

He Lingchuan, with his sharp eye, had long noticed their strong cultivation, but they were not soldiers and lacked significant battlefield experience.

There was a vast difference in combat effectiveness between battlefield recruits and veterans.

Initially, everything went smoothly. The group quickly wiped out the An Dong forces in front of the South Gate; the enemy only managed to send out two signal arrows.

The South Gate force then continued east. After advancing four *li*, they encountered enemy troops guarding the main camp!

The An Dong's main camp was not undefended.

Judging by the past tactics of An Dong Commander Liao Shan, who had successfully plotted to kill Governor Hu and force open Heishui City's gates, he was clearly a strategist.

He naturally understood the importance of the logistics camp and had left his most loyal confidants and elite troops to defend it to the death before engaging in battle.

Liao Shan knew very well that the Heishui City army was far outnumbered by his own. As long as his logistics remained intact and his main army wasn't thrown into disarray, victory would ultimately be his.

Since the surprise attack had turned into an encounter battle, what more was there to say?

The South Gate force and Liao Shan's elite army, numbering over 1,200, engaged in a fierce battle!

It was at this point that it became clear that while Zhang Lianhai and his group lacked extensive battlefield experience, they were incredibly formidable. Zhang Lianhai's attendants could each fight five enemies, and the Jianyang Sect disciples struck with the speed of wind, rapidly taking lives.

The most ruthless was undoubtedly Zhang Lianhai's lamp spirit. It was unpredictable and ethereal; apart from being wary of elemental power, it feared no blades, spears, or clubs.

Everyone understood the adage: "When two brave armies meet, the braver one wins." At this point, they had no choice but to endure the hardship and fight to the bitter end.

The South Gate force, despite being outnumbered, actually pushed the battle line eastward.

In less than half a *zhancha* (roughly fifteen minutes), the An Dong forces suffered over 140 casualties.