Chapter 5: The Siege (Part 1)

Guo Shier felt a huge sigh of relief. He had been worried about Luo Zhan, and only when he saw Luo Zhan emerge from the forest did he relax slightly—only to become anxious again. He noticed that Luo Zhan seemed injured; though his speed was fast, his movements were noticeably stiff. He turned to the Fu Warrior beside him and said, “Uncle, shout! Tell Uncle Luo to run this way!”
“Lao Luo! Retreat this way!”
The Fu Warrior roared loudly, immediately drawing Luo Zhan’s attention. With his sharp eyes, he spotted Guo Shier and the other children at once, and he also relaxed. After fighting and fleeing all the way, he felt utterly exhausted, but as a powerful Fu Warrior—ten times stronger than a Fu Warrior—he could still maneuver easily even if attacked by two or three wildlings at once.
There was no one else outside the city walls now. Most of the people living in Ye Guancheng were combatants; ordinary people rarely left the city. Once they heard the retreat signal, those outside would hurry back immediately without delay. They knew that lingering would mean a 90% chance of death, so no one dared to be careless.
Luo Zhan skillfully dodged a wildling who lunged at him and rushed straight toward the city walls. He was the only living person outside, so all the wildlings focused on him. Five wildlings lunged at him at once, their speed terrifying—far too fast.
“Use the Fu Bow to hold them off!”
“Caster! We need a caster’s help!”
It was then that Guo Shier realized just how rare Fu Warriors and casters were. On this section of the city wall, there were only Fu Warriors and a few casters, along with some apprentices of both. There wasn’t a single Fu Warrior, which surprised him greatly.
“A caster and Fu Warriors are coming!”
Guo Shier felt as if everyone on the city wall had breathed a sigh of relief. Three Fu Warriors, one caster, and a group of Fu Warriors rushed up the walls. Seeing Luo Zhan struggling to run toward the walls, they shouted, “Brother, hold on! We’re almost there!”
One of the roaming wildlings picked up a stone the size of a water tank, ran a few steps, and hurled it at the city walls with a roar. Guo Shier stared in shock, muttering, “Damn… a human-shaped catapult?”
Boom!
The stone hit the outer wall of the city walls, about a hundred meters away from Guo Shier. He felt a strong vibration. Thankfully, it didn’t hit the top of the wall, or casualties would have been inevitable. Someone shouted, “Apprentices, back off! Go inside the city! It’s too dangerous here!”

Guo Shier stood behind the parapet, staring intently at Luo Zhan. If he were outside by himself, he might not have been so nervous, but now his forehead was sweating and his heart was pounding. He touched the talisman on his right wrist—a chaotic fireball talisman designed for group attacks, but he wasn’t sure he could activate it. This talisman required at least a sorcerer-level user to operate; if forced to be used, it would only activate halfway, resulting in one-third of its full power, which was even less effective than an ice arrow. After hesitating for a moment, Guo Shier realized he couldn’t waste too much time. He began to channel magic, activating the talisman on his wrist while keeping an eye on Luo Zhan, ready to intervene at any moment. With his abilities, he only had one chance. Last time he had been lucky; this time he could only do his best, even if it meant making a slight difference.

Luo Zhan had kept his strength intact. Since yesterday, he had been holding off the wildlings to allow Guo Shier and the others to escape, determined not to engage in a direct fight but instead to fight in a tactical retreat. A talisman martial artist was extremely powerful; even with just a few minutes, they could recover. By using this tactic, the wildlings couldn’t reach him, allowing him to escape to the city outskirts despite being surrounded.

The sorcerer who arrived was a earth sorcerer—a class with weak offensive power but extremely high defensive capabilities. Yet the talismans he used were fire-based, low-grade advanced fireball talismans, the kind crafted by sorcerer apprentices during their progression to full sorcerers—well-known as useless talismans. He also had many disposable attack talismans.

This was a pitifully poor sorcerer. If he had an earth-based talisman, things might have been different.

He fired a barrage of fireballs and ice arrows. After unleashing all those attack talismans, the guy actually said, “I’m out of talismans…” In truth, he did have a life talisman, an earth-based one, the very one that had helped him advance to sorcerer status. Unfortunately, it was purely defensive and completely unsuitable for attacks.

Guo Shier was speechless. Although the sorcerer was highly accurate, his talismans were so poor that the wildlings, enraged by his attacks, hadn’t managed to kill a single one. It seemed he was just causing trouble. Guo Shier quickly realized this man must have spent all his time cultivating within his sect, refusing to go on missions. He was skilled in cultivation but lacked both combat experience and the money to equip himself properly.

An archer beside him could no longer bear to watch and shouted, “I’ll do it!” He took out a long bow—a mid-tier magic bow with its black limbs covered in dense spells. He also drew a magic arrow, a slight expression of pain crossing his face, before drawing back the bow, concentrating intensely, and suddenly shooting the arrow.

The arrow left no sound. Guo Shier could clearly feel a gentle breeze surrounding the arrow shaft. Strangely, even the vibration of the bowstring was silenced. It was a silent magic bow—perfect for assassinations and surprise attacks.

Two wildlings blocked Luo Zhan’s path on either side, while two more chased from behind, and another kept throwing huge rocks and logs. At this moment, the arrow became extremely crucial.

The arrow wasn’t aimed at the wildlings’ vital points but at their knees, silently piercing the left wildling’s knee. Caught off guard, the wildling knelt on one knee and collapsed. Luo Zhan was overjoyed. He shouted loudly and darted past the fallen wildling like a gust of wind. At the same time, a blue light flashed, and the wildling’s huge head flew off as blood gushed from its neck.

The archer cheered loudly, “Great swordsmanship!”

Luo Zhan was still about a hundred meters away from the city wall, but he could no longer escape. The wildling on his right swung a tree trunk as thick as a bucket at him.

With no other choice, Luo Zhan leaped high, tapped the tree trunk lightly with his toe, turned, and charged at the wildling, shouting, “I’ll kill you!”

Blue sword light appeared again. The wildling was clever enough to shout and dodge to the side. The tree trunk in its hands was cut in two by the blue light, scaring it into screaming. Luo Zhan didn’t dare linger. After scaring the wildling away with a slash, he turned and ran. In just a few seconds, the two wildlings behind him had closed in.

Guo Shier shouted, “Shoot another arrow! The one on the right…” His clear voice echoed across the city wall, and everyone turned to look at him. He already had an ice arrow in hand, ready to be fired.

Luo Zhan rushed toward the city wall without hesitation.

Guo Shier nervously calculated the distance. He had to stop the wildling on the right, even if it was just for a few seconds to give Luo Zhan a chance to escape.

Luo Zhan ran at full speed. In moments, he was less than twenty meters from the city wall, and the wildlings behind him were now within range of Guo Shier’s ice arrows. Without hesitation, he activated the magic seal. This time, he poured all his strength into it, channeling almost all his spell energy into the talisman. In an instant, the ice arrow was shot out.

That talisman warrior also shot a talisman arrow. Silence reigned on the city wall as everyone watched the talisman arrow and the ice arrow being fired. Since the talisman arrow made no sound, the wildman being attacked didn’t even notice until he was pierced in the left chest by the arrow. Unfortunately, it missed the heart by a slight margin. The wildman let out a deafening roar, and his running speed immediately slowed down. He covered his chest with one hand while using the other to violently break the arrow that had penetrated his body.

Guo Shieru watched the ice arrow anxiously. He was relying on luck again, but even if he missed, it didn’t matter—as long as he could get within a foot of the wildman, he could detonate the ice arrow and still stop it. His luck wasn’t just good; it was absolutely exceptional. The arrow headed straight for the wildman’s lower abdomen. At that moment, the wildman was stepping forward, raising his body, and the arrow pierced his groin. His roar was filled with extreme pain. Guo Shieru immediately activated the talisman seal, causing the ice arrow to explode violently, turning the wildman’s groin to mush in an instant.

The wildman roared once more before collapsing and falling into a coma. Thus, a eunuch-like wildman was born. Those on the city wall were drenched in cold sweat—this kid was simply too ruthless. Thick ropes were lowered from the wall, and Luo Zhan leaped up, grabbed the ropes, and with a little effort, climbed five or six meters high. He quickly scaled the wall and bowed, saying, “Thank you, brothers, for saving me!” Though he looked a bit disheveled, he still exuded a heroic aura.

Guo Shieru realized that under the influence of his soul’s energy, the power of the talismans filled his body once again, but he felt weak all over. He knew that activating the talismans twice wasn’t a big problem, but the third time might be harder. Since his soul was his foundation, he didn’t dare try again—damaging his soul and preventing him from being reborn would leave him with nowhere to cry.

Luo Zhan came up to Guo Shieru and said with a smile, “Shieru, you’re amazing… Truly incredible—being able to take down a wildman!” The talisman warrior behind Guo Shieru added, “This is the second one!” saying as he held up the wildman’s head.

Luo Zhan was speechless. After all his efforts and struggles, he had only managed to cut off one wildman’s head by taking advantage of someone else’s arrow shot. It was hard to believe that the nine-year-old Guo Shieru had eliminated two.

“Look! Look!” A voice filled with panic. Guo Shieru turned around and felt his hair stand on end as he saw hundreds of wildmen pouring out of the forest. Luo Zhan said gravely, “They’re violent wildmen…”

Although the wandering wildlings have strong attacking power, they rarely form groups, making them easier to deal with. However, the frenzied wildlings are different from the bloodthirsty wildlings; they prefer to work in groups, and their attacking power cannot be underestimated. How many times has the tragedy of hunting parties being completely wiped out by swarms of frenzied wildlings in the Arctic Wasteland occurred? No one expected the frenzied wildlings to appear outside Ye Guan City.
Someone said in terror, “Has the Wildling Pass been breached?”
The Wildling Pass is home to a large number of troops from the Northern Talisman Sect. If it falls, Ye Guan City will also be in danger.