89: Linyuan City was broken and the beacon fire started

While Lu Ming was breaking through to the Fourth Realm,

Linyuan City, located a hundred miles from the Youhai Mist Zone, stood as the first barrier to the Great Xia’s southern gate.

It had stood there like a silent giant god for over a hundred years.

Old Zhou of the Demon Suppression Army was currently patrolling outside the city with his squad.

His direct superior, Wang Hao, had been missing for several days, and he had temporarily taken over the position of centurion.

Behind him, a squad of veteran soldiers huddled together, whispering.

“If Brother Zhou was really our centurion, that would be great. Unlike that scoundrel Wang Hao, who’s always punishing and berating us.”

“Haha, who’s to say! It’s a pity it’s only temporary. If that bastard comes back, we’ll still have to put up with his temper…”

“Why not think positively? Maybe that bastard was dismembered by some kind soul?”

…Old Zhou heard their whispers, but his heart remained largely unmoved.

He was due to retire in a month.

His thoughts had already drifted back to his small courtyard in his hometown a thousand miles away.

The old locust tree in the corner of the courtyard must be blooming now, right?

His wife would surely be drying cured meat under the tree, and his daughter might belie on the doorstep, counting the days until he returned home.

Having guarded the border for over a decade, from an eighteen-year-old following veteran soldiers with a gun to defend Linyuan, to his current age of over thirty, all his grand ambitions had long since faded.

Now, he wanted nothing but to retire safely.

To step through his front door, smell his wife’s chicken soup, and hear his daughter’s childish voice call out, “Daddy.”

“Everyone, stay sharp!”

Old Zhou’s voice suddenly deepened, carried by the night wind, striking the squad with an undeniable seriousness.

“Tonight is a Blood Moon, the most restless time for the Nether race. Don’t you dare get distracted!”

He gazed at the towering Linyuan City, and the unease in his heart slightly dissipated.

As long as Linyuan City stood, those foreign races wouldn’t be able to cause any trouble.

But as soon as he turned around, before the pebbles under his feet could settle, a deafening roar suddenly came from Linyuan City.

There was no warning, like a corner of the sky had collapsed, and the entire ground trembled violently.

“Is it an earthquake?!”

Old Zhou and the others quickly steadied themselves.

When they looked back, everyone’s faces instantly turned ashen.

The originally towering profound iron stone city wall, which reached into the clouds, now looked like building blocks torn apart by an invisible giant hand.

Starting from the East Gate, the entire section of the city wall collapsed with a roar, sending debris flying thousands of meters away.

Smoke and dust billowed, obscuring the sky and sun, even staining the red light of the Blood Moon a greyish-black.

“Linyuan City… has fallen!!”

The youngest soldier stared intently in the direction of Linyuan City, his voice trembling, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Old Zhou’s heart felt as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer, and a chill shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

The walls of Linyuan City were built from the hardest profound iron stone in Youhai, and were also inscribed with ancient defensive formations.

Let alone an ordinary earthquake, even a full-force attack from a Seventh Realm Demon King would only leave a shallow mark. How could it suddenly collapse?

Before they could sort out their thoughts, an even more terrifying sight appeared.

Amidst the dust, a colossal creature slowly rose.

Its body, over a hundred meters tall, was like a moving black mountain, blocking half of the Blood Moon.

Several thick tentacles waved behind it; the fragments of the collapsed city wall were merely toys it had casually torn off.

Most horrifying was its head, devoid of eyes, ears, mouth, or nose, with only a constantly expanding and contracting fleshy tumor.

That was clearly not any known Nether race creature.

“What… what kind of monster is that!”

A veteran soldier cried out in alarm, his weapon clattering to the ground, his legs shaking uncontrollably.

Old Zhou gripped his sword hilt tightly, his palms slick with cold sweat.

He had guarded the border for over a decade, encountering no less than eighty or a hundred foreign races, but never had there been one comparable to the creature before him.

The pressure emanating from that monster made it difficult for him to even breathe.

“Steady yourselves! Commander Gao and Bureau Chief Chen of the Night Watch Division’s Vermilion Bird Bureau are here. The sky won’t fall yet!”

Old Zhou’s voice was deliberately calm, attempting to stabilize the squad’s morale.

But even his own voice was trembling slightly.

The pressure emanating from the unspeakable behemoth was simply too terrifying; even he, a veteran soldier who had guarded the border for over a decade, felt suffocated, let alone his brothers behind him.

No sooner had he spoken than two dazzling lights suddenly erupted from the dust.

One was golden, carrying an unyielding and fierce aura—Commander Gao’s Cleaving Mountain Spear.

The other was crimson, glowing with scorching flames—Bureau Chief Chen’s Heaven-Burning Sword from the Vermilion Bird Bureau.

The two Seventh Realm powerhouses charged towards the behemoth, one after the other.

The golden spear light plunged directly into the behemoth’s fleshy tumor, while the crimson sword light slashed at its waving tentacles, moving with lightning speed and a desperate resolve.

“It’s Commander Gao! And Bureau Chief Chen!” Ah Wu shouted excitedly, his earlier fear largely dissipated.

Old Zhou also breathed a sigh of relief. Commander Gao was the supreme commander of the Demon Suppression Army in Linyuan City; his spear techniques were divine, and he had once single-handedly slain a Seventh Realm Demon King.

Bureau Chief Chen was the current head of the Night Watch Division’s Vermilion Bird Bureau, and her fire-element cultivation naturally suppressed the Nether race. With the two of them present, the sky wouldn’t fall.

Golden light and flames illuminated the entire sky.

The violent spiritual energy stirred up a shockwave, making it impossible for several people to even open their eyes.

But the next second, everyone’s smiles froze on their faces.

The golden spear light and crimson sword light instantly dimmed in the mist.

Commander Gao’s roar and Bureau Chief Chen’s muffled grunt came from the mist, but soon fell silent.

As the mist gradually dispersed, the scene before them sent shivers down everyone’s spines.

Commander Gao’s Cleaving Mountain Spear was broken in two, its shaft covered in corrosive marks.

He himself was tightly entangled by a tentacle, his golden armor already shattered, blood constantly gushing from the corner of his mouth, his eyes filled with unwillingness, but he no longer had the strength to struggle.

Bureau Chief Chen’s Heaven-Burning Sword had also lost its luster, stuck in the ground, its blade covered in cracks.

His body was impaled by another tentacle, his crimson robe soaked with blood, motionless, clearly having lost all signs of life.

The behemoth’s fleshy tumor expanded again, and it violently flung its tentacles.

Commander Gao and Bureau Chief Chen’s bodies exploded into a bloody mist in mid-air!

Two Seventh Realm powerhouses, the last hope of Linyuan City, were slain by this unspeakable monster in mere seconds!

“Commander Gao! Bureau Chief Chen!” Old Zhou roared, his voice filled with despair.

The veteran soldiers behind him completely panicked; some even began to retreat, muttering, “It’s over, it’s completely over.”

But that behemoth seemed to have come solely to breach the city; once the city wall was broken, its figure turned and walked into the Black Abyss.

Immediately after, an eerie horn blast sounded.

Dense black shadows surged out of the Black Abyss.

These were the beasts that had long hidden in the Black Abyss, waiting to devour the flesh and blood of Great Xia!

“The Nether race! It’s these beasts, indeed!”

Old Zhou’s pupils constricted, and he gripped his sword hilt tightly.

“Xiao Bin!”

Old Zhou suddenly turned and shouted at the youngest soldier:

“Quickly send the message back! At the fastest speed, tell the rear that Linyuan City has fallen, and to quickly set up defenses!”

The young soldier named Xiao Bin froze for a moment, and tears instantly streamed down his face: “Brother Zhou, then you all…”

“The rest of you, follow me and defend the passage to the death!!!”

Old Zhou interrupted him before he could finish, his voice carrying a hint of final resolve.

“Behind us is not the city wall; it is your parents, your wives and daughters, and the hundreds of millions of common people of the entire Great Xia! If we retreat, what will happen to them?”

Old Zhou glanced back at the passage.

That was the only entrance to the heartland of Great Xia.

As the wind carried the red light of the Blood Moon, he seemed to see the scene in his small courtyard back home.

His wife was stewing soup in the kitchen, and his daughter, holding a newly awarded certificate, stood on tiptoes, pouting, “Daddy, look! I got first place again!”

His eyes suddenly welled up, and Old Zhou quickly turned his head, raised a hand to wipe his face, mixing tears with the bloodstains.

He knew he couldn’t go back.

He also knew that with just a few of them, they couldn’t possibly stop the dense hordes of Nether race.

But so what?

As long as they could hold on for one more second at the passage, those wives and children behind them would have one more glimmer of hope to survive.

Old Zhou suddenly drew his sword, with a desperate resolve: “For Great Xia!!!”

“For Great Xia!!!”

His brothers behind him also raised their weapons, their roars tearing through their throats…