Chapter 222 Book 5 Defeated
The living vines that had coiled protectively around the towering walls of Qinglan State writhed one last time under the early evening sun, their green sheen dimming, their pulse fading like the last breath of a dying beast. Then, with a crackling sigh that echoed across the battlefield, they collapsed—slithering off the stone ramparts in tangled heaps.
A cheer erupted from the ranks of the imperial army camped beyond the perimeter.
General Xiong Gong, tall and clad in obsidian plate armor streaked with red, narrowed his eyes from atop his horse. Weeks—no, months—of failed sieges and countless casualties against what he had deemed unnatural vegetation had finally come to an end. It was unnatural, yes. But formidable. The way the vines strangled siege ladders, pierced through armor, and even dragged men from their mounts had demoralized even his elite.
And now, like magic, they had withered.
