"Defend the fortress!"
Soon, all the fortress’s fighting forces had assembled. Four Grandmasters stood atop the wall, gazing at the clouds of snow dust billowing toward them across the open snowfields, making no attempt to conceal their approach.
"It’s the Red Land Demon General. Heh. To think he wouldn’t wait for the other two generals to assemble, but instead pursued us with his own troops, hoping to take the fortress alone?"
Sensing the scorching, blood-soaked aura, thick with murderous intent and Evil Qi, rolling toward them, Li Daoran gave a dry laugh, though a flash of anger at being underestimated showed in his eyes. "He thinks that just because he injured Brother Weilie, all he has to do is get past Brother Han and to take the fortress? How arrogant!"
"He’s in for a big surprise when he ets Grandmaster Su!"
"Indeed." Grandmaster Han, standing to the side, stroked his beard. His normally expressionless face now showed a hint of displeasure. ’Even an old man is still a man, and a Grandmaster at that. How could I not be insulted by such blatant disrespect?’
Soon, the clamor in the snow dust grew louder, and a troop clad in black burst from the snowy mountain path. White robes were standard for the local, hidden Demon Soldiers, but this unit was in pursuit of the escort team, and they wore the standard-issue Profound Robe Armor of the Anx Dynasty Demons.
Standing on the wall, Su Zhou felt a familiar excitent at the chance to slay evil and indulge his... particular hobby. But there was also a deep sense of satisfaction. ’After all that training, I’ve finally got so real targets.’ The truth was, he had yet to use his full power. The skirmishes with Zhou Buyi’s escort team and the probing attacks from the three Grandmasters had only showcased his conventional fighting strength—at most, a fraction of his Dragon and Snake Power.
But his Celestial Human Cycle—a talent made for long, drawn-out battles and most effective in a Spiritual Energy World—had not yet been put to use.
’Co on, co on!’ Holding his bow, Su Zhou was like a child eagerly awaiting a new toy. He just needed them to get into range, and then he could let loose a volley. Hitting anything was secondary; the main point was to enjoy the process.
But the scene that unfolded next made his smile freeze. His expression turned from joy to ice, and his brows shot up in fury.
The Demon Soldiers were dragging civilians, clearly ordinary folk, clutching them casually in their grasp.
"Damn these jackals! They’re worse than beasts!"
With a grief-stricken roar, Zhou Buyi’s eyes went wide with rage, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the hilt of his sword. Beside him, Li Daoran raised a hand to block his disciple, his face impassive as he motioned for him to calm down. ’Such beastly atrocities are standard for the Demon Soldiers. A pity for the common folk who hid deep in the mountains; even in the ice and snow, they couldn’t escape the slaughter.’
But one could see that even Li Daoran’s eyes burned with a furious fla. Behind him, Fang Hui, Liuu Xizhao, and even Mo Ganxiu, the Skilled Craftsman, were all silently simring with their own rage.
Familiarity with such sights didn’t an they had grown accustod to them. Even after all these years, that anger—that fiery rage—burned constantly in the heart of every soldier of the Rebel Army!
This was a war of righteousness against depravity!
A quick scan revealed seventy-nine Demon Soldiers in total. Nearly every one of them was carrying a civilian. Their black robes were soaked in blood, as if they had just co from massacring a settlent. Though they looked human, they showed not a shred of remorse for their actions. One of them, seemingly unable to resist, stabbed the back of a thin, exhausted man as his five fingers transford into wooden roots.
The gaunt man had already passed out. ’How could a normal person withstand the mountain’s fierce winds, heavy snow, and extre cold?’ Even a Martial Artist needed to be impervious to the elents to disregard it. At this point, the man was barely breathing.
But when the Demon Soldier’s wooden root-fingers pierced his back, the man’s eyes shot open. He opened his mouth to let out a terrified scream... but the sound died in an instant. The flesh around his ribcage and spine was deflating at a rate visible to the naked eye. The man couldn’t even struggle. His head lolled to one side, and he breathed his last.
"Ahh—so satisfying! So invigorating!"
The Demon Soldier who had just "devoured" a person let out a gratified laugh. A series of CRACKs echoed from his joints as his entire body swelled in size. His Inner Strength surged by twenty percent. He had clearly used the man’s flesh and Spiritual Qi to temporarily bolster his own power and increase his regenerative reserves for the coming battle!
And most importantly... ’It feels so good!’ That sensation of growing stronger in an instant was the ultimate pleasure. Everyone around him was a potential power-up. Once you gave in to the temptation and "used" soone, there was no going back!
Seeing their comrade do this, the other Undead Demon Soldiers laughed and followed suit, "devouring" the rest of the civilians in various grueso ways. So grabbed heads, their root-like fingers seeping into the seven orifices to penetrate the brain. Others simply tore out hearts and gnawed on livers, no different from cannibalistic beasts. The air filled with shrieks and tragic cries, but most were silenced within seconds.
The effects of this flesh-and-blood amplification technique were short-lived, but killing people in this manner right before a battle was an effective way to demoralize the defenders.
The Demon General at their head wielded a thick-backed, purple-gold saber. He wore bright red Mountain Pattern Armor, and his towering two-ter-tall fra was completely concealed by a full helm and plate.
But his exposed hands were another matter. They had completely transford into a tangled mass of greenish-blue wooden roots, no longer resembling those of a human.
It, however, did not kill anyone before the battle. It seed its Secret Technique had no effect on a Grandmaster. But its Mountain Pattern Armor was caked with clotted blood—God knows how many civilians it had slaughtered at the foot of the mountain.
"Form ranks—"
Without wasting words, the Red Land Demon General’s deep voice bood from behind its helt. "Prepare to..."
THWIP!
Before it could finish its sentence, an arrow shot across several hundred ters of open ground, screaming through the air before slamming into the snow!
BOOM! A deafening crack, like an explosion, rang out within the Demon Army’s formation. A shockwave radiated outward, sending snow churning into the air. The blast wave kicked up a fierce wind, sending several Demon Soldiers within two ters of the impact tumbling away!
As the flurry of snow settled, all that remained was the shattered shaft of a long arrow, its head buried deep in the ground, and a small crater nearly ten centiters deep!
"What?!"
Lifting its head in astonishnt, the Red Land Demon General looked toward the distant fortress wall. It had assud that after crippling one of old man Weilie’s hands, it wouldn’t have to deal with his accursed Rigid Shooting Technique. Without his bow, even if Weilie’s Qinggong was superb, he would be no threat.
But now, pushing its vision to the absolute limit, it saw a handso, expressionless youth drawing a greatbow a second ti, aiming at its formation from hundreds of ters away.
THWIP!
Another arrow exploded in their ranks like a bomb.
But when the snow settled, the terrifying arrow hadn’t hard a single Demon Soldier. It was just a false alarm. The Red Land Demon General narrowed its eyes, glanced at the new crater, and then laughed aloud. "Relying on brute force for archery... So what if it’s powerful? An arrow that can’t find its mark is useless! Prepare to charge!"
But the third arrow was already in flight.
THWIP!
"What?!"
Alarm bells scread in its mind. The Red Land Demon General instantly raised its weapon, relying on its sense of Heart-Eye Clarity to slash out in front of it. A violent explosion followed, and a white, wave-like shockwave rippled through the air. A chip from the saber’s edge spiraled through the air with the shattered arrowhead, falling to the snow below.
Heated by air friction, the arrowhead sizzled as it sank into the snow. The montum of the Demon Army’s charge ca to a sudden halt.
’Was that a coincidence?’
With a still-trembling hand, the Red Land Demon General silently raised its saber. A small chip was now missing from the cutting edge of the purple-gold, thick-backed blade.
It let out a long breath and raised its head again, its gaze fixed on the fortress wall.
anwhile, atop the fortress wall.
As everyone watched, dumbfounded, the young man—now exuding a chilling aura—drew another long arrow from the quiver at his side.
—Spirit Bow Swift Strike. A draw weight of Fourteen Stones of Strength.
—Arrow of Densewood. Weight, one hundred twenty-eight grams.
—The archer: Su Zhou. A Postnatal Grandmaster, an Innate Divine Power User.
Violet Spiritual Power surged from his back and core, converging into his arms and the arrow.
A fla so dense it glowed ignited on the arrowhead, burning like a targeting sight, aid squarely at the Red Armored Demon General who was now roaring and charging toward them, dragging its saber like a chariot of war.
Silence. Deathly silence.
The battlefield, once filled with blood and grief, now fell into a chilling, eerie stillness.
In the silence, the only sound was the groan of a bowstring being drawn taut.
Once more, Su Zhou drew back the greatbow!
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