So the fourteen-year-old boy stood in the streets of Huangtaibao, loudly cursing the current emperor for his debauchery and incompetence, his oppressive taxes and extortion, and the people's misery—declaring him a ruler doomed to lose his country.

That very day, as he wished, he was thrown into the death row prison, and before his execution, he boldly demanded to join the Wolf Soldiers Battalion to atone for his crimes.

The Wolf Soldiers Battalion was a special existence in Huangtaibao, not part of the regular one-town-five-battalions structure. Its numbers were uncertain—at its peak, over five hundred, at its lowest, less than a hundred.

Seven hundred years ago, when the Seven Kill Division launched a surprise attack on Huangtaibao and the situation was dire, the commanding general had no troops left at his disposal. In desperation, he organized the death row prisoners from the dungeons, promising that if they fought bravely and won, all their crimes would be wiped clean after the battle. The condemned fought with all their might and, against all odds, held out until reinforcements arrived.

Later, that general rose through the ranks, entered the cabinet as a martial official, and became the prime minister of the current dynasty. Because of him, the Wolf Soldiers Battalion system was preserved. Within the battalion were death row inmates guilty of serious crimes, traitors hunted by their sects, troublemakers who broke military regulations, and runaway slaves yearning for freedom.

Every soldier who entered the Wolf Soldiers Battalion bore a branded "prisoner sigil." The moment they left the boundaries of Huangtaibao, it would immediately trigger and explode, guaranteeing certain death with no chance of survival.

After Brian Cooper joined the Wolf Soldiers Battalion, he was assigned under Ethan Hill, and was taught the Ministry of War’s secret art, "Dormant Thunder Technique." In two years, he ignited fifteen nodes—not fast, but not slow either. Judging purely by cultivation aptitude, he was merely average.

But he had read ten thousand books and traveled ten thousand miles with his father. Though young, his knowledge and vision far surpassed the average soldier. After being pranked twice upon joining the army, he quickly adapted to military life. After handling a few “incidents” properly, the others in his squad accepted him. A year ago, he began standing at the end of the line.

The four of them passed by the women’s barracks, which were heavily guarded. Ethan Hill, unrestrained in his tastes, hollered a few times at the female cultivator guards at the gate, provoking a round of angry curses. Emily Scott, who had been waiting inside, came out.

It was said that female cultivators in Jiangnan mostly practiced the Five Elements Water Path, making them soft and charming; but in the northern frontier, most chose techniques like "Vermilion Bird Celestial Art" and "Starry Cloud Script," so they tended to be tall and agile, as lithe as panthers. Emily Scott, clad in leather armor with a dark-flame repeating crossbow at her waist, was just like that.

Half her face had almond-shaped eyes and peach-blossom cheeks, lips rosy and skin radiant; the other half was covered by a fierce iron mask, and beneath it, her eyes would occasionally flash with a chilling, unsettling light!

She too was a member of the Wolf Soldiers Battalion, but what crime she had committed, Brian Cooper still didn’t know, nor did he feel comfortable asking.

She unhooked her dark-flame repeating crossbow, didn’t even look as she pulled the trigger, and with a twang, shot an arrow at Ethan Hill.

Whoosh—a flaming meteor shot straight at the squad leader’s face. Ethan Hill was so startled his hair stood on end. At such close range, completely unprepared, he had to twist with all his might to barely dodge the arrow.

Boom!

The bolt struck a stone stele dozens of zhang away, shattering the seven- or eight-zhang-tall monument to pieces on the spot.

The female guards at the barracks gate applauded, laughing like night owls: “Old Hill, daring to take liberties with us sisters—do you not know how to spell ‘death’? Hehehe!”

Ethan Hill, still shaken, cursed, “If I ever go to a brothel again, I’ll never mess with you crazy women!”

He glared fiercely at Emily Scott before saying, “Let’s go!”

Emily Scott ignored him. She didn’t care about brothel visits—those were matters of mutual consent.

She gave a cool nod to Brian Cooper at the end of the line, which counted as a greeting, then merged into the squad.

Chapter 0003: The Supernatural of the Northern Frontier (Part 2)

Female cultivators held extremely high status in the Hongwu Dynasty, especially in the military. Women who achieved success in cultivation were no less formidable in battle than men, and they were meticulous, keenly intuitive, and many secret arts could only be practiced by women. Thus, three thousand years ago, during the Northern Campaign of the Great Emperor, an imperial edict decreed that every five-person squad must include a female soldier.

“Up on the wall,” Ethan Hill called from the front. The squad ascended the city wall, replacing another squad. Those guys had been patrolling since the latter half of last night and were barely holding on.

Ethan Hill led, Brian Cooper brought up the rear. This odd patrol squad—three ruffians, four ghost hounds, a half-masked beauty, and a scholar—walked their familiar route along the city wall. Wherever the Wolf Soldiers Battalion passed, ordinary soldiers would avoid them, not daring to provoke.

At the mouth of the canyon below the fortress, the dense forest and grass still held the remains of the demon clan. Seven days ago, a wolf cavalry unit from the Seven Kill Division launched a surprise attack on Huangtaibao. The garrison, caught off guard, suffered heavy losses. But all nine hundred elite wolf cavalrymen perished at the canyon’s mouth.

Although the commanding general had already sent people to “clean up” the battlefield, no one really put much effort into clearing the corpses.

A flock of flame-crowned vultures circled in the sky. These fierce raptors, if lucky enough to feed on the corpse of a great demon, could, by absorbing the essence in the flesh and blood, very likely mutate into wild beasts.

Halfway through their patrol route, they arrived beneath the head of the demon dragon. Even though Brian Cooper had passed by here at least twenty-six days each month for the past two years, every time he still felt a deep sense of awe!