Dengzhou Prefecture borders Dongchang Mansion directly adjacent to Fuping County.
Villagers who received the warning in advance had already, under the command of various Day Patrol Deities, taken their valuables and sought refuge within the county city with tall walls.
Atop the city walls, dark cannons lined up in a row.
The command flag waved, and a dozen resounding voices shouted in unison:
"Imperial decree! Summoning Divine Might General to the altar! Open fire!"
Above the muzzle of each Divine Might General Cannon appeared a majestic figure, a golden armored general standing tall.
Countless fiery seal scripts connected into one on the cannon bodies, forming a formation altar infused with Fire Qi.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!...
With each flash of the seal scripts, the Divine Might General Cannons let out a burst of thunderous roars.
The city walls humd and the atmosphere trembled.
The intense blaze instantly painted half the sky red.
However, strangely enough, the fury of the cannons failed to hinder the charge of those refugees.
"Ah ah ah ah...."
Thousands of refugees with eyes blood-red and emitting beast-like roars, charged towards the county city.
Even as companions beside them were torn to shreds by the cannon fire, not a trace of fear showed on their faces.
Zhou Jinghuan, standing on the city wall, along with the group of civil servants and military generals following him, all watched with furrowed brows.
Deputy General Tang He couldn’t help muttering to himself:
"They... Do they look at all like they are fighting for the world?
After breaching the county city, they not only fail to use it as a base, advancing step by step, but they also empty the city of all its civilians.
This thod is not new. Most of the lowliest refugee armies started this way, without goals or military discipline, just to survive.
If they stop their advance, they quickly collapse.
But looking at these refugees, clearly sothing is not right. It seems they were directly turned into cannon fodder by so underhanded factions.
But why did they have to run into us of all places?"
In this era, forrly prestigious families in decline were referred to as "commoner families," those with houses and land as "commoners."
Those without land or hos were called "refugees," and those without legitimate jobs, "rabble."
From the mont these people left their hos to beco bandits, they naturally beca "refugees."
At this mont, Xie Yanji also approached Zhou Jinghuan and whispered:
"The information gathered from Cloud Tower Ghost Market has been delivered. They say this Tao lineage is a bit sinister..."
The "Demon Master Dao" is one of the side doors, and the "demon" here is not of fairies but of demons and monsters!
Although they do not have a Heavenly Official among them, they have absorbed a large number of Side Door Magicians who have slowly mutated from humans to demons due to violating precepts.
They are most adept at using various Daoist Skills to transform and combine the flesh, lding human with beast, demon, and instrunt.
They might even transplant the powerful organs of various demons and monsters onto themselves, replacing their frail human bodies to achieve constant physical enhancent.
Because of this characteristic, the Dharma Body that they achieve after ascending to Yellow Seal is jokingly referred to as the "Hundred-Patched Dharma Body."
It’s likened to the Hundred-Patched Coat worn by impoverished monks.
However, their way of doing things is not much different from the Six Desires Mortal Dao or the All Appearances Dao.
Indiscriminate hunting of other cultivators and spirit monsters is already indistinguishable from demons, and they cannot be recruited by the "Nine Soldiers."
As for these refugees, it is clear they are under the influence of the "Demon Master Dao’s" Daoist Skills, having lost their human nature and turned into mindless humanoid weapons!
After a short while.
"Eat!"
A refugee covered in blood, seemingly driven only by hunger, made it onto the city wall.
Bang!
A flash of fire.
The refugee was imdiately shot in the chest by a soldier from the Firearms Camp wielding a Thunderclap Cannon (infantry firearm).
At close range, the refugee’s chest was blown open with a massive bloody hole.
Yet he rely staggered and continued to rush forward, attempting to viciously bite the soldier.
Luckily, a quick-reacting Daoist Soldier nearby swiftly cut him in half, after which the "refugee" finally stopped moving.
Everyone saw clearly, a strange red worm with sharp mouthparts was tightly biting onto the corpse’s heart.
With each wriggle of its body, the still-warm corpse twitched.
It seed the control system of this body had been completely taken over by this bizarre worm.
Xie Yanji drew her sword and cut the worm in two, but instead of dying, the worm fed on the corpse’s flesh and blood and grew into two complete worms.
However, their vitality rapidly declined under the suppression of Dragon Energy.
The female general’s countenance turned slightly cold as she said to Zhou Jinghuan beside her:
"This appears to be the ’Blood Worm,’ one of the foundation techniques of ’Demon Master Dao’ as ntioned in the intelligence.
During peaceful tis, the effects were not that pronounced, but overnight, as the Dragon Energy collapsed and chaos descended, all sorts of demons, ghosts, and strange creatures have erged."
The latter nodded:
"We had indeed underrated our enemies before.
In addition to the three-thousand-strong ordinary Firearms Camp, we only brought nine hundred mbers of the ’Divine Martial Army’ as our trusted aides. Let’s hope this battle goes smoothly."
Although the "No-Life Dao" of the North has already collapsed, they have not forgotten that they still have a formidable enemy hidden in the Turbid River.
——[Green Seal Strange Immortal]One-Eyed Stone Man.
Pei Yulou, leading three battalions of [Daoist Soldiers], had been stationed at Dongping Lake, where the Grand Canal and Turbid River intersect, always on guard against the One-Eyed Stone Man.
To ensure it would co but never return.
Yet, he was also sowhat hindered by this strange immortal, with ample defensive capability but insufficient aggression.
"Eat! Eat! Eat!..."
As he spoke, more and more refugees infested with the strange blood worms braved the gunfire and charged up the city walls, not fearing death despite missing limbs as they ford human ladders.
"Kill!"
Zhou Jinhuan was aware that against such abnormal enemies, all strategies and commands were useless. He stood erect atop the city walls, unsheathed the long sword at his waist.
With a single swing, he cleared a thirty-foot radius around him of the "refugees," who no longer resembled normal people, leaving no one standing.
The treasured sword in his hand let out a clear and bright clang, its blade unblemished by blood.
This was Xie Yanji’s dowry, an ancient famous saber passed down through history - the [Daxia Dragon Sparrow].
The hilt was designed with a large ring, encircled by dragons, with the head shaped like a bird, and the blade was three feet and nine inches long.
Inscribed on the back of the blade: Ancient weapon of excellence, the Zhan Lu sword of Wu and Chu, the Daxia Dragon Sparrow, fad throughout the Divine Capital, capable of extending reach, capable of offering rcy, slicing through like a breeze over grass, commanding respect throughout the Nine Wilderness!
Not only was it unparalleled in sharpness, it also naturally carried an aura of kingship, greatly benefiting one’s Military Skill Cultivation and the practice of the [Peace Saber Technique].
Daoist soldiers rushed forward behind him, their battle cries shaking the heavens.
"Destroy the rebels!"
"Destroy the rebels!"
These crazed "refugees" were endless.
Even though Zhou Jinhuan and his n knew they were influenced by the [Blood Worm], they did not dare to let sympathy run rampant, allowing the refugees to breach the city.
In the midst of this fierce battle, like all the Hidden Dragons who had heeded their heavenly destiny,
Zhou Jinhuan’s Military Skill Cultivation also began to advance by leaps and bounds, drawing ever nearer to the boundary between mortals and [Heavenly People].
You must know, the path of a magician reaches the step of [Green Seal Sage] through progressing step by step through the three stages of man, earth, and heaven.
Like a ripe lon falling from its stem, they would build a Small Heaven and Earth within themselves, independent of the world’s natural cycle, self-contained and self-sufficient.
Truly mastering one’s fate, no longer drifting along with the current of this world.
Only after a [Military Leader] of the fourth realm undergoes a qualitative change in military will, breaking through the boundary between mortals and [Heavenly People] to achieve the ’Heavenly People No Leak’ state with a lifespan of 150 years,
Can they undergo the second transformation of [Military Dao’s Dharma Image].
Capturing the spirit and image of so mythical divine beast, becoming a unique and mighty being in the world.
And even power to function within a certain range as representing Heaven’s heart with their own will.
Especially in these chaotic tis without the suppression of an upper-tier Qi Fortune Golden Dragon, where the Human Dao Torrent surges forth unabated.
The will of all living beings will propel a Hidden Dragon to rapidly ascend to the status of [Military Leader] or even a [Martial Saint] in an extrely short period of ti.
Circumstances make heroes; in tis of chaotic warfare, the number of [Martial Saints] is far greater than in tis of peace.
The brutal slaughter lasted from afternoon until dusk.
Outside of Fuping County, blood flowed like rivers, corpses were strewn across fields, and the stench was overwhelming.
Zhou Jinhuan was not particularly tired, but as he looked at the grisly scene before him and the shadowy figures reappearing at the horizon, his heart began to waver.
"Evil demons must die!
They are not here to contest territory nor to plunder food. What on earth could be the purpose of the ’Demon Master Dao’ behind them, driving the people to besiege the city regardless of their own lives and safety?"
At that mont, Zhou Jinhuan narrowed his eyes.
In the distance, an exceptionally tall figure with blood-red skin suddenly appeared within sight.
He strode into the blood-drenched battlefield, and from his pores writhed countless [Blood Worms].
The mont they touched a corpse at his feet, the body dissolved like dough into the blood and flesh, rapidly rging with him.
As this figure approached the city, he grew even larger.
Everyone he touched along the way was ’eaten’, becoming part of his own body.
By the ti he was twenty paces from the city, he was already as tall as the city walls.
The ordinary soldiers who had not glimpsed such grand spectacles in peace tis trembled with fear, struggle to even hold onto their firearms.
Even as cannons continuously fired upon the giant, ripping his flesh apart, he would rapidly heal within a breath’s ti.
Not even his advance slowed.
On a hilltop several miles away from the battlefield, a group of Daoists clad in grey robes, most bearing unusual characteristics, watched the scene with eyes gleaming with excitent:
"Hahaha, our ’Demon Master Dao’s’ Four Beasts Sect’s unique Daoist technique [Artificial Abnormality·The Immortal of Colossal Spirit] will shine brightly today!
Wearing layers of blood and flesh armor to resist the Dragon Energy, it will function normally for an entire two hours."
The leading Daoist, with pendulous ears, tightened his fists as he looked at Zhou Jinhuan on the city walls:
"I, Yan Liangcai, was born with the [Square Gang] phenonon. Utilizing our sect’s ability to seize others’ organs and even innate strange phenona through the [Blood Worm], I also acquired the [Pendulous Ears] phenonon.
Today, I shall take away Prince Zhou Jinhuan’s [Purple Qi Cos from the East] phenonon and achieve the supre Heavenly Destiny!"
The [Square Gang] is an extrely unique innate phenonon.
As the na suggests, his ’that-which-should-not-be-nad’ is square, not round.
Such individuals can endure hardships that others can’t, possessing exceptionally strong life force.
A great historical figure who suffered humiliation in that particular regard was born with this innate phenonon.
For the magicians of the ’Demon Master Dao,’ they can also use it to stitch limitless innate strange phenona together without rejection, far surpassing those sect mbers who can only transplant demon organs.
Therefore, under the backlash of the Human Dao’s debt, these people were not after territory or food, but were eyeing Zhou Jinhuan himself!
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