Chapter 779: Their War

Chapter 779: Their War

“Swish!” A blood-colored blade flashed, and several heads flew into the air ahead.

Xue Canghai led the charge with his saber, sealing the camp gate and unleashing a crimson tide.

A hundred thousand troops stormed the stockade—the surging tide of sword shadows and blade light, like a swarm of locusts blotting out the sky, could make even Han soldiers tremble with fear. Even Xue Canghai, who had been itching for a fight these past days, couldn’t help a flicker of unease.

There were too many enemies… Though they had the camp to defend, no one could say how effective this hastily erected stockade would be. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but a vast torrent, a psychological pressure unlike any other.

Moreover, the enemy’s morale was no less fierce, burning with fanaticism. It seemed the earlier rounds of cannon fire, shielded by their Heavenly God, had driven the barbarians even more mad.

Damn it, your Heavenly God never cared about saving many lives under the cannon fire—it was clearly a half-hearted gesture in the midst of his busy schedule. What the hell are you so happy about?

Like now, who among you can withstand my blade!

“Clang, clang, clang!” Xue Canghai’s saber sliced several spears in two, then with a follow-up stroke, cleaved the enemy before him in half. For a moment, a small clearing appeared before him, and no one dared charge his way.

A scream rang out nearby—a Blood God cultist fell, struck by an arrow.

“Fuck your mother!” Xue Canghai’s eyes were bloodshot. Unable to reach anyone with his blade, he actually climbed up, trying to vault over the stockade fence, only to be grabbed desperately by his followers behind him: “Chief, don’t!”

At that moment, the earlier trace of fear had vanished to some unknown corner. Carried away, Xue Canghai thrust his saber forward, pointing into the distance: “Xue Canghai of the Blood God Sect is here! Who dares come to offer their head!”

The barbarians ahead were shocked and terrified, momentarily frozen in place.

“If you won’t come, I’ll go!” Xue Canghai’s arm bulged, and he suddenly swung his blade into the void.

All around, a sea of blood spread, and countless barbarian soldiers were abruptly wreathed in crimson light.

Hell itself… blood flooding the mountains and rivers!

This “Heaven and Earth Without Self,” whether voluntary or forced, this fully intoxicated Blood Fiend Art—Zhao Changhe hadn’t seen it like this in a long time. Watching from afar now, he felt a pang of nostalgia.

But old Xue, take it easy—this will drain you. Soon you’ll be like a drooling fool in a Dragon Sparrow’s beak. Others might not know the Blood Fiend Art’s nature, but I sure do!

Instructor Sun was also tugging at Xue Canghai from behind: “Chief, Chief, use it sparingly—you’ll collapse!”

“Who’s afraid of that!” Xue Canghai slapped his chest, producing a clanking sound from his storage box: “I’ve got the sacred artifact formation plate on me, providing endless blood energy for everyone. They have a god—don’t we?”

Indeed, the Blood God cultists felt their strength was inexhaustible… As long as they didn’t collapse after an outburst like before, then this endless slaughter was exactly the scene they loved—time to level up!

“Don’t hold me back—let me out there to cut people down!” Xue Canghai struggled.

“Roar!” A battle axe, crackling with lightning, came crashing down.

With a clang, Xue Canghai parried with all his might, and both sides staggered.

The enemy general had finally arrived at this front.

One of the temple’s guardian protectors, third on the current human ranking, Huyinletai.

The left protector, Yeltu, had once fallen in the capital. Now the commander of this army was the right protector, Chishan, one of the few remaining Earth-ranked fighters on the grasslands. Besides him, there was the fierce general Huyinletai.

Long ago, the temple guardians rarely involved themselves in mortal wars, but that had changed—both sides were now locked in bloody combat.

Xue Canghai’s eyes burned crimson: “Good, good, good—now this is a worthy opponent!”

Huyinletai: “…”

Your ranking is much lower than mine—why do you look at me like I’m prey? You’re the one famous for punching above your weight, don’t get it twisted!

“Clang, clang, clang!” The Blood God saber and the battle axe clashed repeatedly. With someone holding off Xue Canghai, the pressure on the surrounding Han troops suddenly increased.

The stockade fence became a meat grinder, with casualties falling on both sides. The battlefield was a haze of blood and slaughter.

Even Instructor Sun was wounded… Ignoring the spear wound in his ribs, he yanked aside a nearby cultist and cleaved in two an enemy who had been thrusting at him.

“Damn it.” Instructor Sun looked up into the distance—an endless tide of people, no end in sight: “These fearless bastards are such a pain. In a normal battle, they’d have been scared shitless by now…”

Little did he know, the barbarians were gritting their teeth too. These thousands of red-eyed monsters were a psychological nightmare for them as well. Every one of them fought with pounding hearts, only mustering courage because they felt the Heavenly God watching. Otherwise, they’d have scattered long ago from the sight of these red-eyed freaks.

Blood God cultists on the battlefield—every general’s dream of elite troops. But for martial arts skirmishes, they were completely unsuitable!

Yet how the Heavenly God was watching, no one knew for sure. In the end, a blade cut and you died just the same—what difference did it make?

Or was it about entering the Eternal Heaven after death, enjoying endless wine, milk, and virgins? Xue Canghai and his men didn’t fully understand the enemy’s doctrine, nor how deeply they believed. In any case, both sides fought blindly, treating it purely as grinding for experience.

Relatively speaking, the Blood God cultists had it better—they were all high on Blood Fiend energy, feeling no fear in that state… But the other Han troops didn’t necessarily share that fighting spirit. Especially the surrendered troops transferred from Qinghe and Langya—they’d only trained for a month or two. How much grit they truly had was just talk.

As some defensive sectors began to show signs of chaos, Huangfu Qing’s younger brother, Deputy General Huangfu Shaozong, led a hundred men up the barren hill behind them.

This so-called deputy general had spent the whole journey stewing over his sister’s “blind commands.” He should have shouldered the heavy responsibility of offering counsel, but under his sister’s fierce authority, he hadn’t dared utter a single word—not even as bold as Xue Canghai. But now he understood: it was the application of Imperial Realm abilities in warfare that had changed too many rules.

Including this moment.

Effortlessly, he packed dozens of cannons back into storage boxes, carried them up the barren hill, then leisurely took them out again, lining them up on the summit.

What was once called “cumbersome and immobile” heavy artillery was no longer a fixed, hard-to-move solution in this day and age.

He adjusted the cannon barrels’ angles, all aimed squarely at the enemy’s heart.

“Boom, boom, boom!” Shells exploded among the enemy ranks, blasting countless elite grassland archers in the rear into minced meat.

The battlefield fell silent for a moment. The Eternal Heaven God had never imagined the cannons could be repositioned and continue firing. Caught in the melee, he hadn’t had time to shield them, watching helplessly as his own forces were shattered into disarray, caught off guard.

“You…” His eyes grew even more ferocious: “Are courting death!”

“Whoosh!” The split soul that had been tangling with San Niang for days suddenly vanished, returning to its main body.

He had thought that splitting off a slightly weaker soul for dual-minded interference wouldn’t affect his ability to crush Zhao Changhe and the others. But given the current situation, he couldn’t afford even a moment’s distraction, so he had to recall the split soul.

It also happened that Huangfu Yongxian’s army had already fallen into deep trouble—his split soul’s entanglement with Xuanwu had achieved its goal.

Zhao Changhe and the others suddenly felt the pressure surge.

Yuxu’s Taiji Diagram was, after all, not Yuxu himself. Earlier, they had roughly matched each other, but now that the Eternal Heaven God went berserk, they immediately struggled to hold.

“Boom, boom, boom!” A thunderbolt far more violent than before gathered in the sky, the heavens changing color, tearing the firmament apart.

Just looking at that apocalyptic might, Li Shentong felt he couldn’t withstand it… He had no doubt that if this thunderbolt struck the earth, not a single living thing would remain for a thousand miles—all mountains and grasslands would be reduced to ash.

If he couldn’t take it, then Zhao Changhe, Yue Hongling, and the others had even less chance. Even the troops on both sides would likely be annihilated together!

But even if it wiped out a thousand miles of life, the barbarians numbered only a little over a hundred thousand, while the Han’s most important Imperial Realm experts were all gathered here. The Eternal Heaven God would probably pay several times the price willingly.

“Do you really think that banding together can stand against the pinnacle of the Second Imperial Realm? You seek to weaken me through the decline of living beings, to ruin the foundation of my qi—a fine idea, but you will surely die before that!” The Eternal Heaven God hovered in the void, arms spread wide. The raging wind pushed Zhao Changhe and the others back several li. The gathered thunderbolt finally finished brewing and crashed down with a roar.

A flash of determination crossed Li Shentong’s eyes. He was about to act when he saw Zhao Changhe suddenly holding a massive axe in his hand.

Eternal Heaven God: “?”

“Boom, boom, boom!” The thunderbolt struck.

The giant axe swung fiercely.

The lightning, thick as a mountain, seemed to be drawn by the swing, abruptly veering and sinking into the divine axe.

The axe crackled with electricity, radiating divine majesty. Zhao Changhe seemed to suffer a considerable backlash, a trace of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

But only that trace of blood.

That thunderbolt, which had seemed capable of annihilating a thousand miles and unstoppable… was simply gone.

The Eternal Heaven God’s mind blanked for a brief moment, then he erupted in fury: “Bo’e! Why wasn’t it you who got stolen away in the Central Plains!”

“Slap!” A fiery spear swept past, striking beside Bo’e’s scepter.

Bo’e, harshly scolded by his revered god, lost his focus. Finally, Huangfu Qing drove him back, aggravating his unhealed old wound, and he too spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Swish!" A great rosy light burst across the horizon; Yue Hongling's sword-aura tore through the thunder-darkened sky, divine radiance like a rainbow, in an instant reaching the brow of the Eternal Sky God.

At the same moment, the Star River Sword soared into the heavens.

As Yue Hongling traced the setting sun's rainbow, the split sky revealed stars twinkling on either side, the Milky Way cascading as if falling from the ninth heaven.

The Dragon Sparrow blade coiled close in a wild gale; the battlefield of over a million souls roared with bloodlust and shrieks, slaughtering all living beings!

The divinity of the Star River Sword and the demonic might of the Dragon Sparrow blade erupted together, god and demon as one.

The sky exploded with earth-shattering thunder, mingling with the cannon fire from the ground, like a symphony of mountains and rivers.

Huangfu Shaozong took over his sister's baton, stood by the desolate hill battery, observed for a moment, then suddenly drew his bow and nocked an arrow, aiming not far behind Huyinletai, who was locked in combat with Xue Canghai before the stockade gate.

There, a barbarian was stealthily drawing his bow, aiming at Xue Canghai, whose eyes were blood-red and who had gone berserk without awareness.

Those two were actually well-matched... Huyinletai's cultivation was higher than Xue Canghai's, but the battlefield's bloodlust gave Xue Canghai an immense boost, and his blade was a treasure; overall, Xue Canghai had the advantage.

If Xue Canghai were given enough time to turn that advantage into victory, it would have been a clean leap in rank.

But this was war; no one would grant him such a fair chance.

"Clang!" The blade and spear clashed countless times; the Blood God Blade struck heavily against the spear shaft, which was already chipped and about to break.

"Twang!" The bowstring's sound was nearly inaudible amidst the chaotic battlefield; in the instant the ambusher loosed his arrow, his own throat was pierced cleanly by Huangfu Shaozong, and he fell backward. The arrow he had shot lost all force and accuracy, landing on the stockade fence.

At the same time, another dull thud of blade and spear rang out; Huyinletai was cleaved in two, along with his spear, by the frenzied berserker Xue Canghai.

Both armies were shaken!

"Number three on the Human Roll—nothing more! Who else comes to die?" The roar echoed across the battlefield, faintly audible even amidst the thunder and cannon fire.

Huangfu Shaozong looked up at the sky; the divine battle above was obscured by a spectacle of thunder, rosy light, and falling stars like rain. His eyes swept over the spot where his sister was locked in combat with Bo'e, just in time to see Bo'e spitting blood and staggering back.

Huangfu Shaozong's heart stirred, and he seized the moment to shout fiercely: "The Prince of Zhao lightly broke the false god's ultimate technique! The Grand Marshal gravely wounded the second on the Heavenly Roll! General Xue has slain the third on the Human Roll! Our Divine Punishment continues—where is your protection?"

"Boom!" Countless rounds of the cannon "Divine Punishment" thundered again into the enemy's rear; the barrels finally gave out, exploding one after another, wounding many gunners.

But the enemy did not know.

What they saw was an unending "Divine Punishment"; their battle formations could not hold, and the gods gave no response. They were but flesh and blood—how could they endure endless bombardment?

The Temple soldiers believed that since Xia Longyuan's death, the Great Shaman Bo'e should have been invincible in the mortal world—yet he was driven back by a single spear thrust from the Four Symbols Sect's "Great Shaman," Vermilion Bird.

The stockade gate remained unbreached; a group of "mini Zhao Changhes" blocked the way like mad dogs. Countless brave soldiers had fallen, their corpses piled like mountains. The Temple general Huyinletai was dead, cleaved in two.

The ceaseless, frenzied assault finally stalled; many chiliarchs and centurions could see a clear intent to retreat.

Huangfu Shaozong took a deep breath, leaped down from the hilltop, and mounted his warhorse: "The enemy is in chaos, their soldiers have lost the will to fight! Open the gate! Light cavalry, charge!"

The stockade gate swung open, and countless light cavalry poured out.

It was a full sortie; aside from a few thousand Blood God Cult infantry who could run as fast as horses, this army was almost pure cavalry.

The barbarians, on the other hand, had abandoned their horses for the assault, and their rear was shattered by cannon fire, their formations broken. Every chieftain had thoughts of retreat... After fighting this long, how could they withstand the well-rested Han iron cavalry?

Huangfu Shaozong led the charge; wherever his spear rose, barbarians fell from their horses, carving a bloody path. He shouted, spear in hand: "This is not a breakout—this is a counterattack! Whoever takes the enemy commander Chishan's head shall receive a thousand gold and be appointed general! Whoever takes the enemy chieftain Bo'e's head shall receive ten thousand gold and be enfeoffed as a marquis of ten thousand households!"

For the first time in over thirty years, since Xia Longyuan marched beyond the northern passes and forced the Eternal Sky God to defend himself, Han sons galloped across the northern steppe as attackers, smashing the Temple's elite.

The Temple's elite scattered in rout; the last guardian force, led by the protector Chishan, fled in panic toward the northern mountains. The Great Shaman Bo'e shook off Huangfu Qing and retreated north in disgrace.

In the northern mountains lay their true Temple.

Huangfu Qing could not be bothered to pursue Bo'e; as soon as he retreated, she flew to reinforce Zhao Changhe... She knew that Zhao Changhe's side was merely stalling—the truly grueling battle was there, desperately needing her support. If this were a case of inferior horses against superior ones, the enemy would never have guessed that Zhao Changhe, Yue Hongling, and Li Shentong were considered the inferior horses by their own side.

Inferior horses meant the greatest danger, a high chance of death.

Zhao Changhe had been wounded long ago, even earlier than Bo'e; if the battle below dragged on much longer, who knew how it would turn out.

But in this war, who was not gambling with their life?

Even with her, Huangfu Qing, added now, they might not be able to do much to the Eternal Sky God. The true outcome still depended on the mortal realm—how much it could shake him.

Huangfu Qing handed command to her brother. Huangfu Shaozong personally led twenty thousand cavalry, along with Xue Canghai's five thousand Blood God troops, chasing the Temple's routed army.

Target: Langjuxu.