Death of a Cultivator

"The enemy has sent out a cultivator. Are we not going to help?"

"I will tell you one last time: follow my orders."

"Are we just going to watch our soldiers be slaughtered?"

The cultivator who had earlier taken off his armor and hastily put it back on pointed downward. "The enemy is only at the Third Layer. I could kill him with a single move if I went down. I do not know what you are so afraid of!"

Such a low-grade provocation would naturally not work on Han Wang.

He spoke in as calm a tone as possible, "Do not try to goad me. Such tactics only make you look stupid. The squad leader already explained the dangers of the Human Mines and Snake Crossbows to you very clearly yesterday."

"If you feel I am not qualified to command you, you can take it up with the squad leader once this battle ends. But right now, my word is law here. I order you to return to the encampment immediately. You are no longer part of this attack."

"You!"

The cultivator's face flushed with shame and fury. He glared at Han Wang and stormed off.

After he left, the remaining cultivator wanted to offer a few words of persuasion, but seeing Han Wang's dark expression, he wisely shut his mouth.

He thought this storm had passed. Yet, Han Wang never imagined that the cultivator had not actually returned to the encampment. Instead, he had circled back and charged into the battlefield from the other side.

"Idiot!"

Han Wang cursed out loud. Caring about nothing else, he spun around and leaped down from the high ground to mount a rescue.

His reaction was not slow, but the Snake Crossbows from Donghuang were even faster.

In the night, several thin, winding black shadows-almost imperceptible to the naked eye-shot out in rapid succession from behind the enemy lines.

Relying on years of battlefield experience, Han Wang caught the trajectory of the crossbow bolts. He predicted their path and dodged, emerging completely unharmed.

But the cultivator who had acted on his own lacked such skill.

He managed to dodge two crossbow bolts on instinct, but he could not avoid the rest. He cast an art, summoning a wall of fire to block them.

Sizzle...

The serpentine bolts plunged into the flames. Most were incinerated, but a few still pierced through the fiery defense.

If this man had been wearing his armor properly, he might have been lucky enough to survive.

Unfortunately, having just taken it off and put it back on, he had only casually draped the armor over himself. Many vital parts of his body were left exposed.

Pfft.

A snake-shaped crossbow bolt lodged deep into his shoulder. Seeing this, Han Wang's heart sank.

The cultivator himself felt a sudden burning pain. He immediately circulated his spiritual power to force a clump of black blood out of the wound.

"Heh, nothing special. I don't know what everyone is so afraid of!" he said disdainfully.

He bounded into the air again, charging into the chaotic fray. With a few casually thrown fire arts, he instantly killed dozens of enemy soldiers.

He then locked onto the Third Layer cultivator with his Divine Sense, preparing to charge forward and strike him down.

"Hm!?"

"What is going on?! Why can't I circulate my spiritual power?!"

He realized with horror that the spiritual power within his body had inexplicably fallen dead.

Hidden among the enemy soldiers, three deathsworn Human Mines seized the opportunity to violently burst forth and rush him.

"Mere mortals think they can hurt me? Keep dreaming!"

After all, he was a mid-stage cultivator at the Fifth Layer of Qi Gathering. Relying on his powerful physical body, which had been tempered by spiritual power, he threw several heavy punches and killed all three men.

Then he stomped his foot, immediately creating distance from the three corpses to avoid the explosive aftermath of the Human Mines.

Yet in the very next moment, horror filled his eyes.

The three corpses that should have been dead suddenly sprang up from the ground and leaped toward him.

He hurriedly sprinted away, but for some reason, his body acted like a lodestone, drawing the three corpses directly to him. No matter how he tried, he could not shake them off.

Just then, another volley of crossbow bolts fired. Unable to draw upon his spiritual power, he was struck repeatedly.

Without spiritual power to expel the poison, the specially formulated toxin spread rapidly through his bloodstream, quickly numbing his body.

Thud.

The cultivator's body stiffened and crashed to the ground. The three corpses instantly pounced on him.

Boom!

With a deafening explosion, without even the chance to scream, the cultivator's body was blown to pieces by the three Human Mines.

Han Wang had decisively abandoned him the moment he took the first arrow, turning back to conceal himself in the forest.

"This spot is compromised. Follow me!"

He called to the remaining cultivator to fall back.

The man hurriedly followed, his heart still trembling with residual terror.

"Is that Fellow Daoist... dead?"

"Dead."

"But that enemy cultivator..."

As he spoke, he looked up toward the battlefield. He happened to spot the Third Layer cultivator who had been wreaking havoc mere moments ago. Now, the enemy had stripped off all his armor and clothing and was rolling wildly on the ground.

"It burns!! It burns!!"

He let out agonized howls. Even though he was already stripped bare, his hands continued to claw frantically at his own flesh.

A few breaths later, his body was a bloody mess. Scalding blood splattered against the dirt, emitting sharp hissing sounds as if it had been brought to a furious boil.

Whoosh-

In the next moment, the cultivator's body erupted into flames. He became a blazing fireball that illuminated the night sky.

After a brief, intense blaze, his corpse was reduced to a pile of black ash on the ground.

Seeing this, the remaining cultivator was utterly stunned into silence. His mouth hung open, but he could not utter a single word.

"The Heartfire Art. Our Zhuhu army's signature secret technique."

Han Wang explained, "The Eastern Wasteland Wangchao's massive scale far surpasses ours in Zhuhu. A Starved Camel Is Still Bigger Than a Horse. Even in their fractured state, they hold the absolute advantage in cultivator numbers. If we did not have some hidden means at the bottom of our trunks, how do you think we could have held out for so long?"

The Heartfire Art used the life souls of every Zhuhu soldier as a catalyst. Every time an enemy Qi Gathering cultivator killed an ordinary soldier, a small wisp of heartfire would accumulate within their own body.

When it accumulated past a certain limit, the heartfire would detonate. The result was exactly what had just happened to that Third Layer cultivator.

Compared to the endless stream of killing techniques the Donghuang forces deployed against cultivators under the Sect's guidance, the Zhuhu side's methods were remarkably simple.

They only had two methods. One was the passive, inescapable Heartfire Art. The other was the Tiger Cannon.

Yet these two methods alone left both Donghuang and the Sect completely helpless. To this day, they still had not found a good way to break them.

With the Heartfire Art looming over them, the Qi Gathering cultivators on the Donghuang front lines did not dare slaughter Zhuhu soldiers indiscriminately. Even when they attacked, they had to silently keep track of their kill count to ensure they never breached the limit.

Upon returning to camp, they would still have to spend vast amounts of time purging the accumulated heartfire from their bodies.

Meanwhile, the terrifying might of the Tiger Cannon-capable of annihilating late-stage cultivators-was the ultimate deterrent against Donghuang's forces.

"Here is good."

Stopping near the edge of the battlefield, Han Wang crouched low and said, "That idiot did not die in vain. We have now pinpointed the Snake Crossbow's position. The squad leader and Yingxuan should have already moved in close. Now, we need to bait out another volley of bolts to give them an opening to strike."

Han Wang grasped the remaining cultivator by the shoulder and swept his hand from right to left. "In a moment, you will run along this path. Cross the entire battlefield as fast as you can. Remember, you absolutely must not slow down or stop. Otherwise, even I will not be able to save you."

"Understood!"

The man nodded hastily in agreement.

With the grisly fate of his companion still fresh in his mind, he no longer harbored a shred of doubt regarding Han Wang's orders.

Half an incense stick of time later, the mortal soldiers' clash below reached a fever pitch. Seeing that the moment was ripe, Han Wang gave the command.

"Go!"

Swish-

The cultivator shot out like an arrow. He firmly executed Han Wang's orders, pushing his spiritual power to its absolute peak. Transforming into a blur, he swept across the bloodstained field without looking back.

Han Wang leaped into the fray right behind him, carving through over a dozen enemy soldiers in rapid succession.

"Ignore the one running up high! Strike the one below!"

Toward the rear of the battlefield, in the Donghuang encampment.

The cultivator in charge of command watched the first man speed across the battlefield and immediately knew he was trying to bait out a Snake Crossbow volley. In response, he instantly locked his sights onto Han Wang instead.

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