Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme

Sons with wealthy parents should never sit idle in the hall. Access to the Sky-reaching Tower is a Lord's last lifeline. Since the enemy sealed it off, aren't they forcing them to fight desperately?

But can they overpower the enemy? The opponents are veteran Lords ranked above 7,000 and 6,000 on the Reputation Leaderboard. This time, they've even formed an Alliance Army that's besieging the city with nearly ten thousand troops from a civilized army, including many special troops. The combat power is terribly fierce.

Facing such an invasion, only by defending the city do they stand a chance of victory.

Leave the city for a field battle?

That would be certain death!

Now, the enemy is forcing you out of the city; if you don't go, they'll drag it out until your demise, relentlessly pushing until you might not even have the resources to make one final stand.

What should be done?

"Let them surround us!"

Xu Yang simply smiled, unconcerned, and handed over the battlefield command to Mulan, then returned to the tavern with Zhang Yan and Feng Cheng.

It must be said, as veteran Lords, the opponents' strategic vision was exceedingly sharp. This tactic of "Soldiers Under the City" was used just right; it was effective against both conventional Lords who focus on groups and individual Lords who excel in martial power, with not a single fault found.

However, they didn't know that their opponent was such an outlier.

Siege the city?

Go ahead and siege!

His territory may not have much, but it was particularly rich in food resources, enough to last for years.

As for the depletion of morale, as long as there was sufficient food, the morale of the Yellow Turban troops could be maintained at a stable level. They wouldn't achieve extraordinary feats, but they wouldn't easily crumble either; defending the city would be more than enough.

The same went for the Heroic Female Guards, not to mention having a high baseline morale. Coupled with the special skill boost from Mulan, the commanding hero, even if the enemy sieged for half a year, it wouldn't affect the performance of the Heroic Female Guards, who could even sustain daily releases of Ten Thousand Arrows Fired Simultaneously.

Thus, the siege did not pose a great threat to him; on the contrary, the longer it dragged on, the stronger he became. If it were extended over three months, he could even shift from defense to offense, striking back.

Although he did not know if the opponents had this intention, either way, he couldn't help now. Instead of wasting time on the city walls, giving the enemy a chance to behead him, it was better to return to the tavern and produce more steamed cakes to support the battlefield.

A month later...

Atop the city wall, Zhang Yan's brow was furrowed tightly, and Feng Cheng was grimly silent.

Looking into the distance, the enemy had formed camps outside the city with wooden walls and tall towers established. Both armies were entrenched, giving no quarter.

These three Demon Abyss Lords really intended to wear them out, besieging for a month without a single attack, just encamping and fortifying, building a large number of defense buildings and siege machinery.

Indeed, defense buildings, as long as you possess the corresponding skills or civilization traits, can construct various buildings even within enemy territory, effectively turning the tables.

Now, these three Demon Abyss Lords had established the "Camp" and many towers, stubbornly forcing them to leave the city for a decisive battle.

But how could they leave the city? They were not the match in the first place. Now with the enemy's camp established, they were even less likely to win.

Yet, if they didn't leave, the batch of siege machinery constructed by the enemy clearly indicated preparations for a final assault.

"Some powerful siege machinery such as giant trebuchets require a lot of time to build."

"But because of this, once these siege machines are constructed, they can pose a great threat to defensive structures like city walls and towers, even capable of destroying the entire city defense system from a distance."

"The enemy has adopted the 'siege flow' strategy. They surely possess siege machinery like giant trebuchets. Once they construct about a dozen or twenty of these, capable of pounding the city walls and towers from a distance, we, with no defenses left, would be in the most desperate situation."

"This is a slow death!"

Zhang Yan's expression was fierce, filled with worry but helpless.

Turning her eyes, she saw groups of Yellow Turban troops sitting by the wall, enjoying their lunch.

"Uh!"

"This steamed cake..."

"Did our general really provide us with such food?"

"Long live the general, long live the Great Virtuous Master, long live Taiping Yellow Heaven!"

They surround us, and we eat; this is the current state of the Yellow Turban Army.

The morale hadn't decreased much, but it hadn't increased much either; overall, it seemed a bit like idly waiting for death.

The situation was not much different in Mulan's Army either; although it managed to launch Ten Thousand Arrows Fired Simultaneously at the enemy daily, with the enemy well-prepared and defensive constructions like the camp established, the effectiveness of these arrows was dwindling, killing less than two thousand enemy troops in a month.

There was no helping it; their opponents didn't attack, just holed up in their camp enduring the onslaught. Even with strong arrow fire, you couldn't pierce through their camp; achieving this small feat was already quite good.

But this kind of wear...

"A month has gone by!"

"Isn't it about time?"

Within the Demon Abyss Camp, three Lords gathered, Augustus in a red robe and golden armor sitting in the central position, flanked by the visibly frustrated and impatient "Zhao Wuji" and "Adams!"

This month, without launching attacks and solely being worn down by the opponent's Bow Riders, they had incurred deaths and injuries amounting to over two thousand people, the majority from Zhao Wuji's "Tianli Sect Army" and Adams' "Federation Army", with Augustus's "Roman Legion" suffering the least.

Inevitably, Zhao Wuji's Tianli Sect Army and Adam's Federation Army were mainly lightly equipped archers with rudimentary equipment and weak defense, facing the arrow rain with severe casualties, while Augustus's Roman Legion, being a Heavy Equipment Army, was effectively resistant to arrows.

Although they were all in the same boat, facing such losses, Zhao Wuji and Adams were somewhat frantic and turned to Augustus, "Isn't this being overly cautious? The opponent is just a Newcomer Lord; is he worth such a waste of our time?"

Augustus remained calm: "Achieving the maximum victory with the minimum cost is our aim for this mission. Although the opponent is a Newcomer Lord, his rapid rise in rank indicates a strong reliance; charging in headlong would only lead to mutual destruction, which is not worth the loss."

"Alright!"

Hearing him say so, the other two could not rebut and could only say solemnly, "Is it time to move to the second stage now? We must curb the opponent's rain of arrows, or we will also be at a loss."

"Hmm!"

Augustus nodded, stood up, and walked outside.

Following him, it was seen...

"The enemy Lord 'Augustus' used the Heroic Skill—Reinforcement Order!"

"Enemy reinforcements have arrived!"

"Enemy strength reaches 15,000 troops. Heroic Skill 'Soldiers Under the City' effect enhanced!"

"Your territory has entered a 'heavy siege' state, Lords and Heroes are forbidden from entering the Sky-reaching Tower, all production buildings, recruitment buildings, and training buildings lose effectiveness, food resources consumption doubles, all troops' morale will decrease by 5-15 points tomorrow!"