Chapter 1270: The Azure Dragon's Fate

Everyone reformed their formation, but Yan Zhichun's face grew heavy with concern.

She knew that this joint offensive wouldn't truly affect Tianniu; it was all a feint to breach the enemy's "belief." The assault by the Lou Yi was a diversion, Su Shan's coordinate reports were a diversion, and Old Sun's bold stone-throwing was also a diversion. Only when Tianniu revealed herself, thinking she had spotted a weakness, would Black Sheep's attack and the group's "reverberations" become the real killing blow.

Yet, even after making it so obvious, Tianniu still took several attacks before taking the bait.

"She's even more dull than I imagined..."

Su Shan stared at her bloodshot eyes, scanning repeatedly, and quickly locked onto Tianniu again.

"Yan Zhichun, what do you think...? Should I keep positioning her?"

Yan Zhichun hesitated slightly. The first layer of their trap had wounded Tianniu, and now it was time for the second layer. This was the strategy she had learned from White Sheep—layer upon layer of feints to hide the true kill, so that when the enemy believed the assault was over, they would plunge into deeper despair. It would exhaust their mind and body, leading to total defeat.

Only then could it truly be called a "win."

Yan Zhichun glanced toward Jiang Ruoxue, who was in conversation with the old man digging in the earth. The two held an eyeball in their hands, seemingly still negotiating.

"Tianniu can't see through our plan, so let's proceed. Give Jiang Ruoxue a bit more time, and we'll soon have an automatic tracking offensive."

"Got it." Su Shan nodded blankly, about to report Tianniu's position again, when unexpectedly, Tianniu prepared a desperate tactic at that critical moment.

Sound waves vibrated from her direction, and a massive voice boomed like thunder.

"Enemy attack on the cargo hold!!"

She broadcasted recklessly, shouting toward the entrance.

"All idle Zodiac members, rush to the cargo hold entrance for support!!"

Many people covered their ears, waiting for the enormous sound to fade, while a few locked onto Tianniu amid the broadcast and unleashed fierce "reverberation" attacks.

Tianniu grunted invisibly, seemingly wounded again, but she had her own plan now and stopped evading, instead continuously calling for help.

"Even if I die, I must destroy the entrance!! We can't let the Lou Yi enter the carriage!!"

More and more "reverberations" flew toward Tianniu's position. She knew she couldn't hold out much longer as the aura of death closed in, and she felt something gripping her heart once more.

A thought she had never had before surfaced in her mind—

"Are we going to lose?"

Was their ultimate goal really to "liberate the Lou Yi"?

The moves they were making were even riskier than she had imagined.

At that moment, her heart was clenched, her body began to swell, invisible stones grew on her hands, and her feet sank into water. If she had only one thing left to say... what could turn the tide?

Yes, just one sentence.

Tianniu thought for a second and shouted loudly:

"This is Qinglong's command—please, everyone, obey it!!"

With that, she fell silent, bearing her wounds as she moved quickly out of the attack range.

For some reason, she felt like she had been fighting alone all along. The Zodiac on the "train" outnumbered the participants by several times, so why was she in this isolated battle?

Was it because the Zodiac on other fronts were using their vast numbers to suppress the participants, leaving her short-handed?

Tianniu quickly assessed the situation. The only thing she could do for Qinglong now was to secure the cargo hold. The next phase wouldn't be hard—as long as the Zodiac worked together to block the cargo hold exit, they wouldn't even need to deploy Heavenly Rank forces. Just a group of Earth Rank and Human Rank would suffice to keep it safe. Even if she died, the rebels wouldn't escape.

That way, the participants' vanguard mission would fail, disrupting their connected plans. The Zodiac would gain time to regroup and use their absolute superiority in strength and numbers to eliminate the participants one by one.

After all, with Heavenly Rank and Qinglong holding the fort, even she could come up with tactics like this—surely Qinglong, the other Heavenly Rank, and Earth Rank had thought of it too?

The chances of losing this battle were slim.

Though she had falsely invoked Qinglong's command, in the field, a commander's orders could be adapted—this was all to suppress the rebellion, and she'd explain it later.

Tianniu had just finalized her plan when a swarm of Lou Yi lunged at her again, forcing her to evade once more.

She had taken heavy damage in the previous attacks, making her movements even slower, but now she didn't dare attack the man summoning stones again, fearing more traps.

Seeing this, Yan Zhichun had to revise their tactics. She directed Su Shan while issuing orders to Zhou Mo:

"Their reinforcements will arrive soon. Have Aunt Tong and Luo Shiyi lead five people to the exit area for support, but don't show yourselves— just observe for now."

Aunt Tong and Luo Shiyi knew this was essentially a suicide mission; at the critical moment, they might have to sacrifice their lives to guard that door. But neither hesitated, and they led several Jidao members away from the square amid the chaos.

Perhaps even Tianniu hadn't realized how effective "Qinglong's command" would be. Since the cargo hold door wasn't closed, her massive voice echoed from the lower level through the corridors, reaching every Zodiac member's ears.

Across the entire "train," the Earth Rank and Human Rank members who had been idly watching or wandering began to move, albeit reluctantly.

After all, this was the first clear instruction from Qinglong since the rebellion started.

Near the front of the train, Zodiac members in small groups started heading toward the cargo hold.

Though Tianniu's words sounded noble, most people didn't care about her fate—they only picked up on one key point: "destroy the entrance."

At the cargo hold entrance, Ren Hou stood with a group of Di Hu's students, looking worried as they waited outside. They had clearly heard Tianniu's broadcast, and now footsteps echoed from the corridors, signaling a large force approaching.

"What do we do...?"A Ren Gou asked Ren Hou.

"Turn around, face the door," Ren Hou said sternly. "Put on your masks if you have them. We can't do much, but we'll hold them off as long as we can."