Firmament Sword

Yuwen Shentong narrowed his eyes, gazing into the distance. ”That little girl is quite something,” he said faintly.

Little Fatty Liu Feng turned nervously to Sui Yan beside him. ”Sui Xiaoshi, are you scared?”

”A little,” Sui Yan replied softly.

”What about you guys?” Liu Feng asked, turning to Li Hong and the others.

”Scared? Not me! I can’t wait to get into the thick of it and kill those bastards!” Liang Ziyi said with a careless grin.

”The Martial Soul Squad is a single unit. Once we’re on the battlefield, we have to watch each other’s backs!” Huangfu Chongzhi said.

Li Hong nodded. ”We go to battle together, and we come back alive together!”

”Can we really come back alive?” Xu Lingtian asked, still shy and timid.

”Yes, we definitely will!” Ling Luoxi clapped Xu Lingtian on the shoulder, gritting his teeth. ”Even if we die, we’ll take a few of them down with us! Don’t forget, we’re much stronger than those Soldiers! If they aren’t afraid, what do we have to be afraid of?”

And so, this group of youths, facing a true clash of armies for the first time, spurred each other on. They were nervous, but there was no thought of retreat... only of pushing forward!

...

Cao Tianyi’s army truly knew the Endless Forest Sea like the back of their hand. Xu Luo had thought the Martial Soul Squad had gotten to know this region quite well over the past several days. They had even successfully drawn numerous detailed maps and handed them over to Yuwen Shentong.

But their knowledge paled in comparison to that of Cao Tianyi and his men.

For instance, they were currently traversing a desolate canyon. The grass grew taller than a man, making it difficult to see the path ahead, yet every soldier in the Cao Army moved through it as smoothly as flowing water.

Clearly, they were intimately familiar with this place.

”We’ll circle around from the rear and outflank them. These twenty thousand troops will split into left and right wings and attack from two different directions. We’re going to catch those Great Yan Empire bastards completely off guard,” Cao Tianyi said to Xu Luo. ”Once the melee begins, I won’t be able to protect you. You need to be extra careful.”

After spending the past several days together, Cao Tianyi had grown quite fond of the young man. If not for their opposing allegiances, and if Xu Luo had been just an ordinary boy, Cao Tianyi would have even considered taking him in as an adopted son.

”Thank you for the warning, General. I’ll be careful.” Xu Luo gave Cao Tianyi a grateful look.

Just then, one of Cao Tianyi’s scouts returned to report, ”My lord, the Great Yan Empire’s Mo Family Army and Yuwen Shentong’s main force are twenty li apart. They’ve likely already engaged and started fighting!”

”Excellent! That Mo Yun is just as impatient as I thought. Hahaha! The heavens themselves are on my side! She would never dream that I... would be right behind her, ready to deliver the killing blow!” Cao Tianyi roared with laughter. ”Relay my orders! Full speed ahead! Split into two wings!”

The twenty thousand soldiers of the Cao Army seamlessly split into left and right flanks, accelerating toward the battlefield.

Xu Luo’s heart was in his throat and his mouth felt dry. He took a deep breath, circulating his Shadow Shaking Heart Method to force himself to calm down.

”This is war,” Cao Tianyi said, giving Xu Luo a meaningful look. ”It’s time for you to grow up, kid.”

Hah!

Xu Luo let out a sharp breath, hung his sword, Lan, at his waist. A savage glint flashed in the depths of his eyes.

’That’s right... this is war! My father and my brother live in this kind of environment year-round. I, Xu Luo, will become the pride of the Xu Family! To hell with being a ”medicine jar”... a ”good-for-nothing”... a ”Civil Servant’s Rice Bowl”!’

The blood in the young man’s veins began to burn. ’Brothers of the Martial Soul Squad,’ he thought, ’take care. We’ll be seeing each other soon!’

...

THUD! THUD THUD THUD!

The heavy, rhythmic thud of marching feet echoed across the open ground at the edge of the Endless Forest Sea.

Two armies of equal number had finally met!

”KILL!”

”KILL!”

Without any need for pre-battle rallying cries, the two elite armies let out a heaven-shaking roar in unison and surged forward like a tidal wave.

In that instant, Huangfu Chongzhi, Xu Jie, and the rest of the Martial Soul Squad forgot all their nervousness, all their fear!

The blood in their veins felt like it was on fire. In their frenzied minds, only two words remained: ”Kill them!”

Little Fatty Liu Feng brandished a sharp blade that Xu Jie had only recently forged. Circulating the True Essence throughout his body, he instantly unleashed a wave of Sword Qi.

He unleashed the full power of a Tier One Sword Master.

THUNK!

The blade sank deep into the chest of a Soldier from the Great Yan Empire.

The sharp saber in the Great Yan Empire Soldier’s hand fell to the ground. His arm dropped limply, his eyes filled with bitter resentment.

GACK!

Liu Feng felt his stomach churn, and he couldn’t stop himself from dry heaving.

SWISH!

A blinding flash of steel slashed toward Liu Feng, aimed straight at his plump, pale neck!

CLANG!

With a deafening ring, the enemy’s saber shattered on impact.

Xu Jie, who had charged over, swung his blade in a backhanded slash, cleaving the man’s head half-off. Blood and brains sprayed into the air.

Xu Jie roared at Liu Feng, ”Snap out of it! Kill!”

Liu Feng shuddered violently. He looked up at Xu Jie, who was spattered with blood, and cried out in alarm, ”Second Brother, are you hurt? That bastard! KILL!”

With that, he charged forward like a madman, brandishing his incredibly sharp blade.

Huangfu Chongzhi wielded a Long Sword. It was heavy and incredibly sharp, forged entirely from Top-Grade Refining Materials that Master Mao had ”acquired” from the great clans of the Imperial Capital.

The power of a Tier Three Sword Master was overwhelming against mere Soldiers.

The Eldest Prince, also tasting battle for the first time, felt his own stomach churning. But he constantly reminded himself: ’This is war! It’s kill or be killed. There’s no room for mercy!’

’Only killing!’

Being slightly older, Huangfu Chongzhi quickly overcame his internal barriers. The normally gentle and immaculate Eldest Prince was now in a bloodthirsty frenzy.

At the same time, Huangfu Chongzhi retained enough clarity of mind to watch over the other Martial Soul Squad members around him.

Among the Martial Soul Squad, the most outstanding performers were Liang Ziyi, Xiahou Xian, Liu San, and Xiaotian.

Liang Ziyi had an explosive, overbearing, and arrogant personality. The massive chopper in his hand, which he had specifically asked Xu Jie to make heavier, was like a headsman’s axe and weighed dozens of pounds!

He barely needed to infuse it with True Essence; its sheer weight was enough to cleave a man in two with a single swing!

And that was before factoring in Liang Ziyi’s strength as a Tier One Sword Master. He wielded the massive blade as if it were weightless, felling an enemy with nearly every stroke. The Yan Army soldiers who died by his hand suffered gruesome fates.

They were either beheaded or hacked in two, their entrails spilling across the ground.

”Fuck, Liang Ziyi, can you kill a little cleaner?” Li Hong finally snapped after Liang Ziyi lopped off half of another Yan Army soldier’s head, splattering Li Hong with brains. As he shouted, Li Hong thrust his own sword into an enemy’s chest.

”Hahaha! This is a warrior’s finest medal!” Liang Ziyi bellowed, and with a single motion, he cut down another charging Yan Army soldier.

Xu Lingtian and Ling Luoxi stuck together. Ling Luoxi specifically targeted weaker-looking opponents, while Xu Lingtian, despite being a Tier One Sword Master, couldn’t bring himself to land a killing blow.

Even two or three Yan Army soldiers were no match for him, yet after all this time, Xu Lingtian still hadn’t killed a single one.

”Xu Lingtian, what the fuck are you doing? Kill them! If you don’t, they’ll kill you!” Ling Luoxi roared at him.

”I... I...” A look of terror crossed Xu Lingtian’s face. ”I can’t do it!”

As he spoke, a Yan Army soldier crept up from behind and swung his blade viciously at the back of Xu Lingtian’s neck.

If that blow landed, even a Great Sword Master like Xu Lingtian would die on the spot!

”Watch out! Shit!” The usually cunning Ling Luoxi’s eyes went bloodshot. He poured True Essence into his legs and, in a flash, darted to Xu Lingtian’s side, tackling him to the ground.

The Yan Army soldier’s blade sliced across Ling Luoxi’s left arm.

Blood... instantly began to gush from the wound.

HISS!

Ling Luoxi couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath.

At that moment, three or four Yan Army soldiers formed a small phalanx and charged toward the pair.

With Ling Luoxi injured and Xu Lingtian still on the ground, their situation was critical!

”Don’t you dare touch my brother!” Xu Jie leaped into the air, slashing his blade down at the Yan Army soldiers.

The single slash seemed to envelop all of them.

At the same time, Liang Ziyi, Huangfu Chongzhi, and Li Hong all noticed their comrade was in danger and instantly began moving to converge on the spot.

Xiahou Xian, Liu San, and Xiaotian joined forces to hold back the other advancing Yan Army soldiers.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

With a sickening sound of shattering bone, the Yan Army soldiers were hacked to pieces by the converging youths, leaving no intact corpse behind.

But their last, desperate counterattack left wounds on both Liang Ziyi and Li Hong.

Xu Lingtian seemed frozen in shock until he saw the wounds on Liang Ziyi, Li Hong, and Ling Luoxi. Suddenly, as if possessed, he let out a furious roar.

Snatching up his sword, he leaped to his feet and viciously stabbed a Yan Army soldier who had just broken through the line held by Xiahou Xian’s group.

SQUELCH...

He ran the Yan Army soldier clean through.

Afterwards, Xu Lingtian just stood there, blankly gripping the hilt of his sword, at a loss for what to do.

Xu Jie and the others closed in, shouting, ”Xiaoxuzi, nice one! That’s how you do it! Kill those bastards!”

”Kill... kill those bastards!” It was as if Xu Lingtian had suddenly found his soul. An unprecedented aura erupted from him, and all his previous cowardice was swept away!

Their struggle was but one small corner of the entire battlefield.

A clash between a hundred thousand men had turned this battlefield into a gigantic meat grinder.

Men were dying with every passing moment.

Bodies littered the field, rivers of blood flowed, and the stench of gore filled the air!

The commanders of both armies, however, had yet to move. They sat upon their steeds, staring at each other across the distance, their battle intent... growing ever stronger!

Finally, Mo Yun grabbed the long saber hanging from her saddle and pointed it at Yuwen Shentong.

Yuwen Shentong, in turn, hefted his long spear. He pulled down his helmet’s visor, his gaze turning to ice. Pointing his spear to the heavens, he pulled on his reins. His warhorse let out a long cry and charged thunderously toward Mo Yun!