Volume 1, Chapter 68 – Suppressing Demons

There had originally been a little over three hundred veteran soldiers; after that one night, only just over two hundred and sixty were left.

After filling the cups of those two hundred sixty-odd men, Huangfu Yun stepped in front of them without a word, poured himself a bowl of wine, raised it, bowed to the crowd, then drained it in one gulp.

Nie Yangze stood to the side, watching in silence, his expression complicated.

The centurions beside Huangfu Yun all tipped back their heads and emptied their bowls as well.

Those two hundred sixty-odd men raised their bowls together and drank them dry in one breath.

“Crash——”

A crisp, unified shattering sounded out as Huangfu Yun, the other centurions, and those two hundred-plus veterans all smashed the bowls in their hands at the same time.

Seeing this, Jiang Li narrowed his eyes and murmured,

“Smashing bowls before battle—no turning back. If we don’t succeed, we die with honor…”

Shi Lan was a little dazed by the words. Suddenly a chill ran over her skin. She sensed a familiar aura of slaughter and hurriedly stood up, looking toward the inside of the city.

Suspended silently above the City Lord’s residence was a massive square platform hundreds of zhang long and wide. Ten figures tens of zhang tall stood upon it—the very same thing that had been in Huangfu Yun’s hand before.

Compared to earlier, this square platform was now several hundred times larger and more imposing, both in size and in aura.

“What is that…?”

Seeing the hundred-zhang-long guillotine blade encircled by those ten figures, Shi Lan’s heart jolted.

After yesterday’s battle, she had already formed some guesses about this platform. To operate it, it must consume human blood and qi. To turn the platform into this… how much blood and qi would it take?

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She swept her gaze around and suddenly felt something was off. At this time yesterday, even if you couldn’t see demonic beasts or hear their roars, you could still make out the dust clouds being kicked up in the distance. But now, the dust on the east, south, and north sides had all vanished.

Only to the west did dust still billow across the sky.

Shi Lan glanced down from the wall and froze again. The city gates below were standing wide open, and over a hundred flood-drake steeds stood quietly before them.

Huangfu Yun led the Demon-Suppressing Army down from the wall to the city gate.

There were only a bit over a hundred flood-drake steeds in total, but their backs were broad. With two riders on each, they still didn’t seem crowded.

Shi Lan stared at the dust in the distance, her expression tightening. The dust was starting to draw nearer!

“Creak——”

A heavy grinding of axles sounded as the city gate slowly swung shut and finally locked tight.

With the closing of the gate, it was as if a layer of dusk settled over the people below, a dead and somber air hanging over them.

Mounted on a flood-drake steed, Huangfu Yun looked at the sagging morale behind him, drew the black saber at his waist, and barked, “Raise your heads!”

When the crowd had raised their heads, Huangfu Yun lifted his blade and pointed it toward the dust drawing ever closer in the distance. “Tell me—what are those things running toward us?!”

“Demonic beasts…” the men replied in unison.

“And what are we?!”

Huangfu Yun lowered his blade and thumped a fist against his chest.

“The Demon-Suppressing Army.”

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This time, their answer was noticeably louder.

“Why does our Demon-Suppressing Army exist?!”

“To protect the common folk under heaven and guard the territories of the human race!”

“Right now, what’s beneath your feet is the territory of our human race. Behind you, inside these walls, are the common folk of our world. Why are your hearts still unwilling?!”

Huangfu Yun’s grip tightened on the reins as he stared hard at them. “Why did you become Demon-Suppressing Army soldiers? And why are you standing here now?!”

Silence. No one answered.

“No one? Then I’ll tell you. You’re standing here because of your wives and children at home, because of that iron law everyone knows: ‘He who slays ten thousand demons shall be enfeoffed as marquis and appointed general!’ Because you want to stand above others!”

The silence held, but some men’s eyes were reddening, their breathing growing heavier.

“Whatever the reason, today you have still ended up here, fighting for the human race. If you die here, glory will follow you beyond the grave! Your names will be carved forever into the Heroic Spirits Stele, recorded in history, worshiped by descendants. Your families will share in that honor—they will stand straighter in this world because of you!”

Their bodies trembled. The dead, heavy dusk-like air around them began to disperse.

Huangfu Yun raised his blade again, pointing straight at the roiling dust.

“I’ll ask you one more time—what are those things?!”

“They’re battle merits!!”

Huangfu Yun’s hand on the reins didn’t so much as twitch as he shouted,

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“What is our Demon-Suppressing Army’s military law?!”

“Those who flee the battlefield—die!”

“Those who shake the army’s will—die!!”

“Those who cower before demons and avoid battle—die!!!”

Their answering shouts rolled out like waves, each crest higher than the last, surging straight into the sky!

The gloomy air vanished completely. Every pair of eyes was bloodshot, filled only with a fierce resolve that had already put life and death aside!

“Raise the battle flags!”

Three brand-new banners of black cloth and golden characters slowly rose.

Looking at the two characters “Demon-Suppressing” on the flags, Huangfu Yun swept his gaze over the men. “Do you remember what you said under this banner back then?!”

“May our human race flourish forever!!!”

Facing their near-roaring response, Huangfu Yun turned his reins, back to the men, blade pointing at the beast tide whose outlines were now faintly visible.

“From here on, there’s no turning back… Kill!!”

“Kill!!!”

Over a hundred flood-drake steeds turned into a swath of black shadows, charging toward the endless beast tide.

Shi Lan watched those three flags receding into the distance, her feelings a tangled knot she couldn’t put into words.

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Half sprawled over the city wall, Jiang Li said, a little dejected, “They never saw us as their own from start to finish.”

To die in such a blaze of glory… that wasn’t such a bad end, really…

Yan Shan clenched his teeth hard, his gaze flickering. The bleakness from before was gone without a trace.

The massive square platform hovering over the City Lord’s residence began to move as well, drifting seemingly slowly yet actually swiftly out of the city. It soon caught up with the Demon-Suppressing Army charging ahead.

When the platform floated over their heads, it was as if a heavy weight had suddenly settled onto those two hundred-plus men. Their backs bowed, and they bent over their saddles.

Just then, led by Huangfu Yun, they all took a blood-red pill from their robes and threw it into their mouths.

As the pills went down, they straightened up again, their auras surging to nearly ten times what they were. A thick, vivid crimson mist poured up from above their heads, connecting them to the platform in the sky.

After taking the pills themselves, the several dozen riders at the front also shoved a pill into the mouths of the flood-drake steeds beneath them.

“Neigh——”

Dozens of shrill cries rang out, flashing by in an instant and drowned beneath the thunder of hooves. The already-burly flood-drake steeds swelled again, scales flaring, veins bulging, their speed leaping up another level!

In less than the time it took to burn one stick of incense, the battle line was less than half a li from the beast tide.

Huangfu Yun raised his hand and swung the saber in a horizontal sweep. A blade of qi over a hundred zhang long slashed out in an instant, crossing several hundred zhang and chopping over a hundred demonic beasts into heaps of minced flesh.

Gripping the saber tight, bloodshot eyes blazing, Huangfu Yun felt a trace of regret flicker through his heart. That Earth Fiend Realm he had dreamed of day and night—he had only barely reached it by relying on a Bloodburst Pill…