"Caw... Caw..."
Several crows flapped their wings and flew, only to be shot down by the alert soldiers standing guard, falling to the ground with a thud.
The night wind swept over the majestic and desolate Imperial City, the silence broken as the world exploded into chaos.
Inside the Imperial City, deathly silence reigned, corpses lay scattered everywhere without anyone to collect them.
Outside the Imperial City, piles of human heads stacked like mountains, the sound of battle cries shaking the heavens.
The remaining forces of the Liang Kingdom were attacking the city alongside the cultivators from Lingtai Mountain.
These were not the Governor's troops guarding the Imperial City, but rather the former subordinates of Huo Hengxuan, forcibly disbanded by an imperial edict, now regrouped from all directions.
In seven days, twenty thousand mortals had flocked from all over the Liang Kingdom, quickly rebuilding this army.
Among them were not only soldiers but also commoners from the Liang Kingdom who voluntarily joined in.
Initially, they held only pitchforks and machetes, with fierce determination and their own bodies, but now they were clad in armor, laughing and drinking blood, with heads hanging at their waists, indistinguishable from the surrounding soldiers.
War is a machine; once it starts running, it quickly produces elite soldiers.
From the mobs emerge heroes.
The remnants, filled with murderous intent, approached the city gates, raised ladders, and pushed siege hammers with all their might.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Above, as cultivators clashed, flashes of white light streaked by, creating vacuum zones in the air with explosive blasts, some falling like meteors into the ground, leaving enormous craters!
Glyphs twisted and warped like earthworms appeared, instantly spreading a scarlet mist, carrying plague, where disease pervaded, mortals turned to withered bones.
Further away, someone conjured a hundred-foot giant beast from thin air, resembling both qilin and dragon, its long tail sweeping across, leaving blood and flesh in its wake.
Looking over the wilderness and towns outside the Imperial City, not an inch of land remained intact.
Countless pits, both large and small, dotted the landscape, with barely any remnants of walls, leaving only scorched earth, bristling with weapons.
In seven days, people continuously joined the battlefield, yet their numbers continued to dwindle.
Of the more than twenty thousand, now less than four thousand remained.
This was now the eighth day.
When the night was at its deepest.
A young captain holding high a flag embroidered with the blood-written "Huo" character killed the enemy before him, saw the city gate finally breached, and shouted with reddened eyes, "Into the city! Enter the city! Follow me into the city! Kill—!!!"
Excitedly, he raised the flag and walked forward, only to find few people following him.
The young captain paused, only to discover that there were corpses all around him, with barely one in ten still standing.
"Clang! Clang!"
The sound of armor clashing rose from behind the city gate as fully-equipped Black Armor Army soldiers emerged from both sides of the street, forming a new defensive line.
The young captain clenched the flag made of long spears and fellow soldiers' clothes, gritting his teeth, the blood drained from his face.
A cultivator from Lingtai Mountain suddenly descended, supporting his shaky body.
The young captain said, "Thank you."
"It's nothing." The cultivator smiled, brushed his hand, and sent the young captain ten feet away.
More and more cultivators landed, collectively surpassing the Black Armor Army, and looked at Li Hongling who stood high in the Imperial City.
The lead cultivator said, "Jiang Jian of Lingtai Mountain, now intends to break through General Li's formation."
"Kong Yunyi of Lingtai Mountain, now intends..."
"Lingtai Mountain..."
Voices were continuous.
Murderous intent soared.
Li Hongling sat atop the giant star submerged in the abyss, scarlet eyes showing disdain, chuckling:
"Could they really believe that these worthless creatures could diminish the strength of my Black Armor Army even slightly?"
With Mystic God Daoist Sect's Shen Xingzhu present, both sides dared not break the rules, only deploying king against king, soldier against soldier.
They believed they'd exchanged those twenty thousand remnants for one thousand Black Armor Army soldiers.
But... it's likely these loyal ministers of the Liang Kingdom couldn't fathom in their wildest dreams.
The so-called "Black Armor Army" they fought against in recent days were actually Liang Kingdom soldiers who had defected.
Five thousand Black Armor Army soldiers had not moved an inch.
Mocking laughter widened in Li Hongling's eyes as she waved a hand, summoning a Black Armor Guard:
"Is there still such spirited courage? Then it's time to drag out that useless old fool."
For the past two days, she had deliberately ignored any movement in the Celestial Prison.
This was to observe Huo Hengxuan's attitude towards Chen Kuang, to confirm the latter's claims of authenticity.
With Huo Hengxuan's cunning, he couldn't fail to know that this little musician belonged to Emperor Liang; upon seeing the fine wine and delicacies, he should realize that the latter had betrayed him.
As expected, Huo Hengxuan loathed Chen Kuang in recent days, often exchanging curses with him.
This indirectly proved that Chen Kuang truly knew the whereabouts of the Elixir of Longevity.
The Elixir of Longevity had been found, so Huo Hengxuan had no reason to live anymore.
It's just unfortunate for Qingqi, who, along with Qingcuo, monitored the Celestial Prison...
After being by her side for so long, he still didn't know when to stop.
She hadn't intervened during the plundering when they entered the city; now with Shen Xingzhu here, he dared to attack mortals outside the city.
She had just personally ended his life.
Li Hongling sighed.
She narrowed her eyes, looking at the numerous cultivators below.
"Come, let me see... if I execute Huo Hengxuan before your eyes, will you still have the courage to stand against me?"
This was the last value of keeping Huo Hengxuan alive till today.
...
[With a few words, you destroy Shen Xingzhu's Dao Heart, gaining the passive "Celestial Demon Law": the melodies you play seem to possess an irresistible and terrifying magic, influencing others' minds according to your emotions.]
Chen Kuang looked at the state bar with another passive added, feeling slightly more secure.
But it's still not enough...
One day, the passives on this state bar should span multiple pages.
However, before this newfound sense of security could settle, Chen Kuang heard Huo Hengxuan's muttering:
"Finally, it's here..."
Then,
came the sound of the Celestial Prison door opening.
In an inappropriate time, hearing inexcusable sounds.
Chen Kuang's heart sank.
The person wasn't Qingcuo, but two unfamiliar Black Armor Guards.
The two headed straight for Huo Hengxuan's cell.
Chen Kuang's pupils contracted, he suddenly stood up, chains clanged as he took two steps forward, grabbing the bars.
Huo Hengxuan was picked up by the two, dragged out of the cell, glancing at Chen Kuang before bursting into laughter.
Chen Kuang shouted, "Hey! Where are you taking this old man?"
The Black Armor Guards naturally didn't respond, but the commotion did awaken Chu Wen Ruo and the Little Princess in the next cell, she sat up confused, then in panic.
"General Huo!"
Chu Wen Ruo was at a loss, stepping into the void unprepared.
Chen Kuang watched helplessly as Huo Hengxuan disappeared outside the door, taking a deep breath.
Huo Hengxuan wasn't surprised; this was within his expectation...
But could someone come and tell him what's going on?!
This old enigma hadn't revealed any information, prepared to give him a surprise test?
Yet, damn it, taking tests without preparation wasn't to be joked about!
"Bang!"
Chen Kuang admitted he was a bit anxious, he even attempted to use the second form "White Lotus Rebirth," gathering force to forcibly break out of the cell.
But the Celestial Prison was set with prohibitions, "only to be opened with a key," he couldn't accomplish it with his current strength.
"Creak..."
As if hearing his complaint, the Celestial Prison's door opened again.
Qingcuo walked to Chen Kuang's cell with the usual fine wine and food, just now with two bottles of wine instead of one.