Chapter 194:

The sun sets in the west. A mournful sound of the bugle spreads throughout the surroundings. The old city gates slowly rise, Captain Hai puts on his armor, and leads the remaining old soldiers out of the city to meet the enemy as he has done in the past. Over the past forty years, fighting has become a habit. However, this time, their mindset for battle is different from before. Before this, the city was destined to perish. Every soldier and civilian in the city knows that the city cannot be defended. They are destined to die, unable to withstand the inhumans, only differing in the timing. There are no reinforcements, as Great Yan is also no match for the inhumans. They cannot fathom the thoughts of the inhumans, why they only lay siege and not attack with full force. But everyone knows: this city will be destroyed, they will die, there is no other possibility. The final battle of the remaining soldiers of Great Yan was just a desperate resistance. The veteran soldiers, who have fought for forty years knowing they would die, are indeed admirable, but it’s like a mantis trying to stop a car. But Captain Hai and Qiao Mu’s lies brought false hope to this city and this small army. And just as they boldly left the city, they found that the approaching enemy army was different from before. This was a group of tall bean soldiers, standing at a height of two meters, wearing armor, but with round and tall bodies, reaching a full height of two meters. With every step they took, they left deep footprints in the sand, unlike the light and floating posture of the Paper Man Soldiers before. Searᴄh the nôvelFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. There were only fifty bean soldiers, led by a three-meter-tall bean general, making a total of fifty-one people. Compared to the previous three hundred Paper Man Soldiers, the number was much smaller, but the feeling of oppression was still strong. Captain Hai’s eyes narrowed, and his sharp intuition instantly sensed the spine-chilling danger. Even before the battle began, he had a faint understanding in his heart that the enemy today was different from those in the past. "This city may not be able to hold on today," Captain Hai thought at this moment. He didn’t feel sad or fearful, only a little comforted: "Fortunately, I had previously made a pact with Qiao Shuangsen to deceive the young and old in the city with lies. This month’s time has quenched their thirst, and it is enough." An old soldier who had crossed the desert, news of the approaching Great Yan Immortal Slaying Army was enough to dispel the city’s past ailments and make the entire city, which had been languishing for the past month, thriving like never before in forty years. The news was fake, but it truly brought hope to this isolated city. This was already enough. This remaining army could stand alone in the desert and sustain itself for forty years without reinforcements, which was already a miracle worthy of being recorded in history. Forty years had already been half of their lives, and now their journey was coming to an end. Captain Hai no longer felt scared, he only felt relieved. "Attack!" he shouted angrily as he held a long spear in his hand. The setting sun cast a hot wind across the desert, bringing a sweltering heat. Three hundred seasoned soldiers unsheathed their swords and blades, reflecting the cold light of the sun. Under their helmets, their grey beards trembled in the wind. Leading his troops, Captain Hai bravely thrust his spear at a towering bean soldier who stood two meters tall. The sharp tip of the spear pierced through the gap in the bean soldier’s armor, deeply embedding itself in its waist. No blood flowed from the bean soldier’s wound, indicating that it was not a real soldier but rather a lifeless Taoist soldier. If this were a real person, the wound would have been severe, and if it were a Paper Man Soldier, it would have been destroyed. However, the towering bean soldier seemed unaffected, only pausing momentarily and trembling slightly. Captain Hai suddenly felt something and his face changed a little. In the next moment, he dropped the long spear in his hand and dodged to the side to avoid the giant knife swung by the bean soldier. With a loud bang, the sandy ground under his feet trembled and shook, and a narrow trench of about two to three meters appeared when the sand exploded. "This bean soldier is heavier than Paper Man Soldier, stronger, and more resilient…" Captain Hai stepped back a few steps, and a sword appeared in his hand, pulled out from his waist. He could only hear the sound of wind behind his ears. When he turned around, he saw that the formation of three hundred old soldiers was easily torn apart by this incredibly powerful bean soldier. The towering bean soldier swung its huge weapon, sending both the soldiers and their weapons flying seven to eight meters away. Touch it and you die, get close and you get hurt. They had plenty of combat experience against Paper Man Soldier, but they had none against this first-rank bean soldier with extraordinary strength. "Are there only lifeless Taoist soldiers instead of bean soldiers? Even though it’s a bit of a disadvantage to be the last enemy, we have no choice." Captain Hai raised his sword and looked around, only to see endless yellow sand. There was no trace of any bean soldier. The Paper Man Soldier was hard to defeat, and although there were occasional instances of using magic beans to create soldiers, he hadn’t seen a living inhuman like that in many years… Captain Hai, holding a knife, charged into the enemy’s formation and climbed onto the shoulder of a tall bean soldier. With one hand grabbing the bean soldier’s neck and the other hand gripping the knife, he swung it fiercely, cutting open the bean soldier’s neck with a sharp gleam. The tall bean soldier’s body trembled slightly, while Captain Hai heard a sharp whistling sound behind his ear. His instinct made him break out in a cold sweat on his back. Without enough time to turn around, he felt a tremendous force coming from behind. Even the powerful gust of wind brushing past his shoulder lifted his entire body and sent him flying. Looking up, he saw a towering bean general, standing at three meters tall, holding a huge hammer in his hand. He stared expressionlessly at Captain Hai, with the broken body of a tall bean soldier lying beneath his feet. Their eyes locked, even though Captain Hai knew the other person wasn’t real, his whole body bristled again, sensing a powerful threat. "Just a gust of wind brushing past me was enough to knock me down… I can’t match this strength…" "Unfortunately, even in this final battle when the city was about to fall, I still didn’t get to see the inhuman hiding behind the scenes…" He gripped the sword tightly in his hand, knowing that he was nearing the end. Memories surged in his mind uncontrollably. Hai Siyuan is not a general, just a sixth-ranked captain, barely surviving till now. Among the former hundred thousand troops, there were many officials higher than him, with stronger martial arts skills, and older elders. But almost all of them have died and those who are still alive are too old and weak to go to the battlefield, only leaving him, the former sixth-ranked captain, to shoulder the burden. The former generals in the army may have deeper feelings or a greater understanding of righteousness, with deeper ideals and stronger determination. But he doesn’t, he is just a mere sixth-ranked captain, a "young successor" who took over the torch from his predecessors. And he should have died a long time ago. "The former generals in the army used to say that being inhuman to a besieged city without overpowering it is like playing with a mouse." "The old general said that inhuman sees us humans as insignificant and we are just ordinary people, but we also have the spirit of humans." "Those who came before us sacrificed themselves for the country, and as later generations, we must not let them be ashamed!" "If the city is breached today, we will only have death left." Captain Hai glared and bellowed, this was his final call as a commander. He and a group of seasoned soldiers raised their swords with high spirits, ready for their final battle in their lives. And at this moment. A stream of blood-red light, like a shooting star in the sky, with a sharp sound that caught the attention of even the experienced soldiers on the battlefield. It turned out to be a long spear wrapped in a bloody aura, its tip pierced through several tall bean soldiers’ bodies effortlessly, and then remained planted in a sand dune in the distance, the spear trembled slightly. "Young man, don’t rush to meet death." An even older man than these lonely old soldiers walked forward, with a profound gaze. "Let me go first!" When he appeared, these tall bean soldiers seemed to sense something, their small green eyes turned towards this Qiao Mu, as if they were all attracted by him alone. From a deserted hillside several miles away, the monk Dao Shun gazed out over this place. "Elder Lao?" Captain Hai visibly startled, briefly surprised. The atmosphere was tense, and he was prepared to die, almost thrown off balance by Qiao Mu’s remark of "young man." Qiao Mu teased. Child, your age is only about half of mine. In such a big matter, naturally I, as an old man, should step aside first! "Children, the reinforcements are coming, don’t rush to your deaths!" Since he had arrived, he naturally took position at the forefront of the battlefield. He had said it earlier, he wouldn’t let others rush to their deaths in front of him. Standing in the wind, his robe rustled, emitting a powerful surge like a crashing wave. This surge initially presented a pale color, but quickly took on an indelible shade of blood red. "Heavenly Demon Disintegration Method！" Under the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Method, his internal strength surged several times, and his visible whole-body energy suddenly exploded, like waves of blood-colored tides rushing out. He took a heavy step, leaving deep footprints on the sandy ground, his body already gone like the wind. The figure shrouded in blood light, like a shooting star attacking the moon, advanced without any hesitation. Arriving late to the battlefield, he quickly surpassed the soldiers in front of him in an instant, leaving them only able to see his back. "Did he just call out Heavenly Demon Disintegration Method? Is this the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Method I know? Did the Jiu Province’s Heavenly Demon Disintegration Method outside also turn out like this?" Captain Hai’s gaze became focused, his thoughts in turmoil. He did know about the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Method, which could be considered the most well-known self-destructive secret method, even recorded in the city’s arsenal. But it seems different from what Qiao Mu is using now? Of course, whether the secret method Qiao Mu is using is called Heavenly Demon Disintegration Method is not very important. The important thing is that this person just entered the battlefield and used the most fierce secret technique, his whole body was almost boiling with energy, this is a way of fighting by burning one’s life. A martial artist from Jiu Province came from afar, at this moment running faster than these old soldiers from the city, charging to the front of the battlefield. "Reinforcements are coming?" Captain Hai forced a smile. "It’s one thing to deceive the people in the city, but is Qiao Shuangsen deceiving himself too?" He took a few breaths and rallied the old soldiers behind him to go forward and fight. As the last surviving soldiers of the hundred thousand troops, who had defended this city for forty years, how could they fall behind on the battlefield compared to this outsider Qiao Mu? Seeing that Captain Hai and the others were planning to approach the battlefield, Qiao Mu became even more anxious. "Don’t rush, let me rush first." "Bloodthirsty Skill！" His eyes suddenly became filled with bloodshot veins, and in a blink of an eye, his vision seemed to improve. Time slowed down, and all the surrounding bean soldiers came into his sight. "The blood-igniting technique." The blood in his body suddenly flowed faster, like a rushing tide. At that moment, he could almost hear the sound of his blood flowing inside his body. His skin turned a faint red color, his heart beat faster, and his internal strength infused with blood became visible from within and spread outward. Qiao Mu pulled out the long spear that was stuck in the sand dune, and a bright burst of energy shot out. With each thrust of the spear, the thick red aura surrounding him burst forth. If normally Qiao Mu relied on the Pure Yang Wuji Skill, which had been cultivated for a hundred years, his cultivation was of the highest quality. However, under the influence of the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Method, he suddenly unleashed hundreds of years worth of power that an ordinary martial artist could not reach in a short period of time. The spear pierced through the body of a tall bean soldier, and the immense internal strength, like a raging tide, erupted inside the soldier’s body. In an instant, the two-meter-tall bean soldier’s body split apart from within and fell to the ground. Faced with the incredibly strong and tall bean soldier, Qiao Mu didn’t dodge, but instead unleashed his maximum power at the fastest speed, colliding head-on. The internal strength that ordinary people accumulate through great hardships must be carefully used on the battlefield, as once an internal strength martial artist loses their internal strength, they become like a tiger without its claws. But Qiao Mu is different, he is like a newly wealthy gambler entering a casino, completely disregarding the consequences and unleashing his powerful internal strength without hesitation, fully and unreservedly. The power cultivated over hundreds of years is not something a normal person can withstand. When Qiao Mu fully unleashes the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Method, his life has already entered a countdown. Since that’s the case, he fights against time, and his life will burst forth like the most splendid blood-colored fireworks. He collides head-on without caring about his injuries, unleashing his power at the fastest speed and reaping the lives of these bean soldiers. Each time the spear’s internal strength erupts, his face becomes even paler. Moreover, ever since he appeared, these dozens of bean soldiers have almost exclusively targeted him, leaving the three hundred old troops aside. This certainly gave Captain Hai and the others precious breathing time, but Qiao Mu himself was also trapped. Even with the explosion of the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Method, which was equivalent to four or five hundred years of power in a short period of time, it couldn’t withstand his wastefulness, and it was rapidly consumed. ………… By the side of the city wall. Storyteller Clairvoyance also heard the news and came. He climbed onto the city wall and leaned on the railing to look at the fierce battle before the city gate. Like Qiao Mu, he was a visitor from Jiu Province outside. So, Qiao Mu and Captain Hai’s lies naturally couldn’t fool him. "Although the spreading of the "Xumi Mountain King Sutra" by Elder Lao in this city is amazing, the Immortal Slaying Army doesn’t exist at all." His eyes shone brightly as he looked at the figure of the old man fighting bravely on the front line, feeling a sense of sorrow. "Without reinforcements, it is doomed to a dead end." "So, why was he fighting to the death?" A third eye opened silently on his forehead, and he unconsciously turned his head slightly to look towards a certain direction in the deep desert. With the naked eye, that direction was just a vast expanse of yellow sand, with no noticeable difference from the other directions. But he saw something different. The Tide Listening Building is a supreme power in the martial arts world. Despite the destruction of Shaolin and Wudang, it still exists, naturally possessing extraordinary qualities. Among them are people like Clairvoyance, who have unique abilities. "Fighting to the death is indeed admirable, but how much meaning does sacrificing oneself truly hold?" Clairvoyance’s expression was complex.