Henry Lang spent the past four years learning to read and write, with a particular fondness for tales of gods, ghosts, and the supernatural. He knew that the Xiangchan barbarians had vanished countless years ago. No one could have imagined they would appear on Mount Kunai, and in such overwhelming numbers!

Countless Xiangchan barbarians swarmed in from all directions, charging into the camps of the condemned. Everywhere they passed, only mangled limbs and flesh remained.

The Jiulong Qingyi patrolling the perimeter, and Zhu Li the cultivator guarding the strange rocks, had neither raised the alarm nor come to help. It seemed the barbarians had silently eliminated them beforehand.

Those around the mine were caught off guard and slaughtered by the Xiangchan barbarians, chaos erupting everywhere. The unarmed convicts scattered in panic, while the Jiulong Qingyi, led by their officers, rallied to fight back.

But there were simply too many Xiangchan barbarians. Everywhere one looked, their leaping figures filled the land, monstrous forms rising from the ground in waves, nearly blotting out the sky. Though the Qingyi were well-trained, their usual skills were for assassinations, not battlefield formations. Now, mixed in with the fleeing convicts, their ranks were broken and scattered—they were no match for these monsters!

In the blink of an eye, many were killed, their bodies torn apart. Some Qingyi, faces full of unwillingness, shouted nonsense as they died: “Find a widow…” But before the words were finished, they met their end.

Mortals fell in droves. One squad of Jiulong Qingyi formed a blade formation, snowy flashes of steel sweeping over the Xiangchan barbarians, but only producing a clanging of metal on stone. A commander shouted, “These monsters are made of earth and stone, their bodies blinding—”

Before he finished, dozens of monsters dropped from the sky, crushing the squad in an instant. The Qingyi, skilled as they were, stood no chance against these bronze-and-iron beasts—only to be torn apart and trampled!

That commander watched his men die in an instant, his eyes nearly bursting with rage. From deep in his throat, he roared, “Bladesmen, unleash the power of sharp gold!” A flash of golden light flowed from his hand, his right hand turning almost transparent as he swept his palm across a Xiangchan barbarian.

The barbarian, whose body was hard as stone and impervious to blades, let out a miserable howl. Its massive form, like a block of tofu, was sliced in two by the commander’s palm…

In the distance, another Qingyi officer roared like a tiger: “Beast Lord, command all beasts!” He sat cross-legged on the ground, humming a strange tune through his nose, both hands slapping the earth. Moments later, a nauseating, bloody wind rose, and dozens of tigers and wolves burst from the forest, charging at the monsters under the officer’s command…

Shouts and roars echoed without end. Some commanders’ arms burst into flames; some summoned swarms of wild bees; some, their blood surging, grew to more than three times their normal size…

The Central Plains are a land of splendor, where countless cultivators pursue the Dao and possess great powers. Even among mortals, some are born with divine strength, blessed by the heavens from birth, wielding terrifying might.

Among the Jiulong Qingyi commanders, there was no shortage of such heaven-blessed individuals. Now, faced with a formidable enemy, they all unleashed their innate powers!

On the battlefield, only those few dozen Qingyi experts could truly harm the Xiangchan barbarians…

The Xiangchan barbarians, though uncivilized and bloodthirsty, were not mindless beasts. After the Qingyi experts had slain hundreds of them with their divine might, the barbarians regrouped and charged en masse at the only ones who posed a threat—the commanders. The ordinary Qingyi desperately rushed to their officers’ sides, hoping to protect them and keep their hope of vengeance alive!

Blood and flesh flew, screams filled the air. The steel-forged Xiuchun blades shattered, the vine-woven Wind-Stopping shields splintered, leaving only flesh and bone as defense.

The dozens of Qingyi experts, surrounded by their subordinates, companions, comrades, and brothers, stood like isolated islands. They could not hold out for long before being swallowed by the raging tide of Xiangchan barbarians!

……

The sudden appearance of thousands of Xiangchan barbarians overwhelmed the mine’s usual defenders—Qingyi and convicts together numbered barely over ten thousand. Though the Jiulong Qingyi fought back valiantly, they could not hold out for long. Now, only a few dozen Jiulong Qingyi remained, clustered around N/A, firmly blocking the mine entrance.

Whenever a Xiangchan barbarian approached, N/A would leap forward and, with a single kick, reduce the hulking, blade-proof monster to a pile of flesh! Only now did Henry Lang realize that this arrogant-looking N/A possessed such astonishing power!

Henry Lang was the last to emerge from the mine and was now hiding behind the Qingyi squad, peering out with a face full of misery.

As their numbers dwindled, N/A’s expression grew darker. He quietly gave a few orders to his men, and over twenty Qingyi immediately left the group, ignoring the man-eating jade discs below, and ran back down into the mine.

At the same time, N/A instructed the remaining comrades, “Hold on for a moment, I’ll be right back!” With that, he moved like the wind, dashing toward the nearby battlefield. After a few leaps, he vanished from sight.

About the time it takes to burn a stick of incense later, accompanied by a series of long howls, N/A returned, covered in sticky blood from head to toe, but now with a silver-headed human figurine lamp at his waist.

Seeing the brutal battle, Henry Lang hesitated for a moment, then picked up a nicked Xiuchun blade from the ground and joined the Qingyi ranks. The Qingyi were not surprised—at a time like this, anyone would pick up a blade to fight alongside them.