# 1437
Chapter 1438: Grave Situation
Lin Qiye finished the cake and found there was still quite a bit of time left. From Jiangcheng City to the front lines wasn't too far—by Somersault Cloud, it would take just over a minute, but the problem was they were currently carrying a huge object, so they could only fly slowly, extending the travel time by more than tenfold.
He first greeted Gilgamesh, then checked on Yulan's condition before walking straight toward the prison cells at the asylum's underground level.
The Mojialuo he had killed on the Island earlier hadn't been recruited as an orderly. He wondered if the same problem would occur this time?
Lin Qiye stood before the cell, his gaze sweeping across the giant mice behind five consecutive enclosures, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Sinner: Mouse Beast (Unknown Species)
Choice: As the mythical creature you personally killed, you have the right to decide the fate of its soul:
Option 1: Directly annihilate its soul, causing it to vanish completely from the world.
Option 2: Raise its 'Fear Value' toward you to 60, after which you may hire it as an asylum orderly. While caring for patients, it can also provide you with protection to a certain extent.
Current Fear Value: 77"
Seeing such a high fear value, Lin Qiye wasn't particularly surprised. When he first encountered these mouse beasts, he had used [Yanyan覆天术], instantly killing two of them and grievously wounding three others. Then he had summoned Laifu for continuous torture... especially the latter, which was an absolute nightmare for these mouse beasts.
Lin Qiye reached out and grasped the void, five contracts appearing in his palm. Just as he was about to thrust them into the cell, another burst of炽热的火焰 blazed to life!
Lin Qiye quickly released his fingers. The burning contracts drifted slowly to the ground, turning into black ashes that scattered into nothing.
He gazed at this scene, his expression darkening.
Another failure.
If the last time was because Mojialuo itself had problems... then what was wrong with these five mouse beasts this time?
What? Did this asylum discriminate against Indian mythological creatures?!
Lin Qiye stared at the five terrified mouse beasts, hesitated for a moment, then chose not to directly annihilate them. After all, these were five Divine Beast-level fighters, and he still hadn't figured out why the asylum wouldn't let him recruit them... He decided that after the war ended and he had time, he would thoroughly investigate this matter.
Lin Qiye's consciousness exited the asylum and returned to reality.
The howling wind whistled past everyone's ears. In the distant mountain ranges, they could already faintly make out countless terrifying divine lights colliding and intertwining, with beast roars echoing continuously through the valleys.
They weren't far from Chennan Pass.
...
Chennan Pass.
Above the divine battlefield.
A white-robed, white-haired figure lowered his gaze to survey the chaotic battlefield below, his brow furrowing increasingly tight.
"Grandfather." Nezha, riding his Wind Fire Wheels, rose from below. Several bloodstained gashes marred his jade-like body, grotesque and frightening. "That group of Indian gods aren't engaging us directly—they're already retreating toward the border... Are they trying to escape?"
Jiang Ziya stroked his beard with his right hand, shaking his head. "No. They're buying time."
"Buying time?" Nezha considered this. "Waiting for the Olympian Gods?"
"Precisely. These Temple of Heaven gods have been fighting on Great Xia's soil for two days and are already exhausted. If they don't consolidate their battle line soon, they'll be picked off one by one by the Gods of Great Xia. Moreover, they absolutely cannot retreat into the mist. Once they withdraw from this battlefield, they won't be able to use Chennan Pass and the cities behind it to constrain us anymore...
At that point, with no concerns about rear casualties, the Great Xia gods would pursue and hunt them down, and their losses would only be even more severe."
"Then what should we do?" Anxiety flickered in Nezha's eyes. "If we really let them buy enough time for the Olympians to arrive... our situation will become even worse."
Jiang Ziya said nothing. His gaze fell upon the dilapidated silver-white fortress on the land below, his expression somewhat grave.
After two days of fierce fighting, the Gods of Great Xia, with their home-field advantage, should have already gained the upper hand, even grievously wounded these invading Temple of Heaven gods. But they had precisely exploited the "Mother Beast" to continuously harass Chennan Pass and the rear cities, causing the Gods of Great Xia to hold back their hand. After all, even if they seriously wounded the Temple of Heaven gods, the cost would be hundreds of millions of innocent lives.
If they delayed, once the Olympian Gods arrived, Great Xia's situation would become extremely perilous; but if they fought a lightning war with everything they had, Chennan Pass certainly wouldn't withstand the beast tide's assault... Currently, the Gods of Great Xia found themselves trapped in this rigid predicament.
"Grandfather!" Nezha called out again, anxious.
"We can't delay any longer..." After weighing the options in his heart for a long moment, Jiang Ziya finally spoke. "Issue the order: in one incense stick's time, all gods still capable of fighting will launch a full-scale assault... No matter what the cost, we must grievously wound them in the shortest time possible, then return to reinforce Chennan Pass."
At the Gods of Great Xia's current state, if they faced simultaneous attacks from two divine kingdoms, their chances of victory were practically nil. Rather than face that, they might as well take a gamble and see which side could act faster!
The key to victory in this battle lay in two things: first, whether the Great Xia gods could rapidly annihilate the Indian gods, and second... how long Chennan Pass could hold out against the largest-scale Divine Beast assault.
"Yes." Nezha's expression turned unprecedentedly solemn. He transformed into a streak of light and vanished rapidly across the horizon.
...
"...Understood."
Jiang Ziya's voice faded from beside Zuo Qing, who took a deep breath and nodded heavily.
Standing atop the riddled exterior wall, he unconsciously gripped the hilt of his Straight Blade tighter.
He knew—the most arduous battle for Chennan Pass... had finally arrived.
He quickly activated his communicator and spoke in a grave tone: "This is Night Watch Commander-in-Chief Zuo Qing..."
The moment this voice sounded, Night Watch personnel and Great Xia military personnel across Chennan Pass all raised their alertness.
"In one incense stick's time, the Gods of Great Xia will launch a full-scale assault. We will also face the most severe beast tide impact, its scale possibly several times what we're currently facing..."
*Clack—!*
The sniper rifle's shell casing ejected from the chamber. Atop Chennan Pass's watchtower, a special forces soldier from the Great Xia military paused mid-motion as he worked the bolt.
He fell silent for a moment, his expression unchanged, then continued working the bolt. Pressing his face against the scope, he locked onto the eye of a massive snake approaching Chennan Pass's outer wall, and squeezed the trigger once more!
*Bang!*
Hundreds of meters away, the snake's eye shattered on impact. Several Night Watch soldiers seized the opportunity, swarming forward and cutting it down where it fell.