As soon as Zhao Xing entered Fengwu City, he felt his bones tingle, his heart racing, and his entire body involuntarily swelling up.
The Pure Essence Soil in his Dantian expanded, and spiritual energy flooded his body, making his bones turn golden. The Three Divinities Destiny Palace reappeared, and the long-lost sensation of power swirled in his heart.
"Big Brother."
Zhao Chuanzong's eyes lit up. Before entering the city, he was slightly taller than his older brother, but the moment they stepped inside, Zhao Xing seemed to grow a head taller.
What excited him even more was the aura emanating from his brother, which felt like the awakening of a prehistoric giant beast.
As expected of my older brother. Fengwu City is just a Seventh-Rank city, but his aura feels as though he's regained his peak form.
In Zhao Chuanzong's heart, his older brother was a family legend. He had admired him since childhood, and that admiration hadn't changed even now.
"Hmm?"
Inside Fengwu City's Lord's Mansion, in the council hall, Xia Jing, who had been looking at a map, suddenly raised his head, a flicker of confusion in his eyes.
"Where's this powerful aura coming from? Has Long Xiao returned? No, this aura feels familiar, but it's different from Long Xiao's."
Xia Jing immediately called for his guard.
"Zhao Zheng, go check what's happening at the East City Gate. No, I'll go myself."
Xia Jing quickly donned his armor, and with his personal guards, he rushed toward the East City Gate.
Fengwu City wasn't very large. The vertical distance between the inner and outer cities was just over six kilometers. The main street was wide, enough for eight lanes.
Xia Jing was riding a fiery red horse, its mane burning like flames.
When he reached the main street of the East City, he immediately saw Zhao Chuanzong's cavalry returning, and quickly spotted Zhao Xing standing beside him.
"Damn?!"
Xia Jing froze for a moment, then instantly felt a surge of joy. He didn't care about expending his spiritual energy anymore and immediately leapt off his fiery horse.
Swish~
He soared through the air and landed right in front of Zhao Xing. Xia Jing reached out with trembling hands.
"Zhao, brother, is it really you?"
"It's me," Zhao Xing smiled and said. "Brother Xia, it's been a long time."
"Hahahaha."
Xia Jing rushed forward and tightly gripped Zhao Xing's arms. "It really is you! Hahaha, I knew you couldn't have easily died!"
"If Moon God wanted to kill me, he was still too green. Maybe in a few hundred million years of cultivation he might have a chance." Zhao Xing also laughed. It felt good to see Xia Jing here.
"Big Brother?!"
At that moment, another familiar voice rang out. Zhao Zheng arrived, driving a chariot. Before the chariot even stopped, he jumped down from it.
"Big Brother, is it really you? Big Brother..." Zhao Zheng's voice caught in his throat as he hugged Zhao Xing, his lips trembling.
"Calm down, you're a lieutenant now. Stand firm."
Zhao Xing held onto Zhao Zheng's hand, steadying him.
Zhao Zheng had matured a lot. He had grown a beard, his facial features now sharp and firm, his brows carrying an air of authority. He was a far cry from the little brat he used to be.
"Yes!"
Feeling the warmth from Zhao Xing's hand, Zhao Zheng nodded fiercely, quickly wiping away his tears and standing straight.
"Brother Zhao, how did you find your way here?" Xia Jing asked curiously.
"It's a long story," Zhao Xing said with a hint of nostalgia.
"I just blindly wandered in a certain direction, and then I happened to see Long Xiao's flag. Then I saw Chuanzong. At first, I couldn't believe it. I thought I was seeing things."
"Big Brother, Fourth Brother is also a cavalry commander now, leading two units of cavalry."
Zhao Zheng pulled Chuanzong over. "Back then, Big Brother sent Fourth Brother to the Shenwei Army, but it turns out Fourth Brother was the one who found Big Brother."
Xia Jing laughed. "Soon you'll be more than just a hundred-man commander. I've heard that anyone who brings reliable news of the Grand Shennong will be promoted by two ranks and granted the title of Marquis."
"Anyone who brings back the Grand Shennong will be promoted five ranks and made a Duke."
Zhao Chuanzong scratched his head awkwardly.
"General, I never thought about all that. I'm fine with just being a hundred-man commander."
"Well, generals are made through training."
Xia Jing patted Zhao Chuanzong on the shoulder. "From now on, you'll be a five-hundred-man commander."
"Yes."
Zhao Chuanzong straightened his back.
"Brother Xia, why are you here?" Zhao Xing asked.
"It's a long story. Come, let's go to the Lord's Mansion and talk."
Xia Jing led Zhao Xing toward the Lord's Mansion. It was then that Zhao Xing noticed Xia Jing's horse was a Seventh-Rank Fiery Horse, and Zhao Zheng's chariot was drawn by an Eighth-Rank Purple Horned Horse.
When Zhao Xing glanced at the city gate, he saw that once these horses left the city, they immediately turned into ordinary horses. But as soon as they passed through the city gates, they returned to their extraordinary forms.
Upon entering the Lord's Mansion, Zhao Xing saw another familiar face practicing in the training grounds—it was Liao Rulong.
"Liao is here too. Right, he's the Lord of Shenwei. With Zhao Zheng here, he should be too."
However, at that moment, Liao Rulong was so focused on his training that even though Zhao Xing passed by the corridor just fifty meters behind him, he didn't notice.
Xia Jing led Zhao Xing into the main hall and instructed people to bring him a clean set of clothes and some meat to eat, letting Zhao Xing feast.
"You really understand me," Zhao Xing tore off a large piece of pig knuckle. "I haven't had meat in so long."
He had been so lucky on this journey, not encountering any wild beasts, so he had been living off plant-based food. His mouth had become so bland it felt like eating nothing at all.
"Achoo? There's even fish?"
"Wait, what happened to you, how did you become a naval general?" Zhao Xing noticed the flag behind Xia Jing, which bore the insignia of the naval forces.
"Don't mention it."
Xia Jing sighed. "It's all because we were forced into it. In the 16th year of Yuan Ding, when that damn Moon God activated the Severing Heaven and Earth's Connection, we had just finished the battle at Qingyan Battlefield. We were returning by warship when suddenly the ship lost its balance and began to fall."
"Because the effects of Severing Heaven and Earth's Connection spread incrementally, at the time, we were still at the Seventh-Rank."
"We weren't flying very high, and below was a large lake. The ship belonged to Lord Zhenhai. When we fell, we made an emergency landing, and in the end, we didn't suffer any major injuries."
"However, within a minute after the fall, we were completely ordinary humans."
"The ship also began to sink."
"We managed to push a few warships and flying boats down, and using sheer manpower, we rowed them to shore," Xia Jing explained.
"Because we were on the edge of the Severing Heaven and Earth's Connection, it didn't take long for us to exit the range."
"But not everyone was as lucky as we were."
"When Moon God activated the technique so suddenly, many of our troops fell to their deaths!"
"Some were crushed inside the ships when they collapsed, others died from the fall..."
"Afterwards, when I led the remaining forces out of the restricted zone, the only intact unit was the Zhenhai Army."
"We had no choice but to rely on them to rebuild after the war," Xia Jing continued, with a bit of bitterness in his tone.
Zhao Xing paused his eating as he listened. He could easily imagine that scene.
To think that massive warships, weighing over a hundred thousand tons, would fall from the sky—it must have felt like a dream. Even if they had crashed onto the ground, they still wouldn't have been safe.
The structure of the warships would have collapsed in that instant. If you didn't escape in time, you'd be crushed alive. Warships, flying boats, tower ships, and war chariots were common tools for large-scale armies.
When the Severing Heaven and Earth's Connection suddenly activated, it must have felt like a large-scale aviation disaster. Even if you weren't on the ship but were flying, the situation was the same.
To suddenly lose the ability to fly and then be reduced to ordinary humans... the likelihood of falling to your death from even a ten-meter drop would be extremely high.
Moon God was ruthless, indeed.
Zhao Xing stuck his meat-cutting knife into the table. "He must have activated the technique suddenly to kill me. That means he didn't notify the Southern Barbarians in advance, and they couldn't prepare in time."
"Exactly," Xia Jing nodded. "There were many casualties on the Southern Barbarian side as well. In that large-scale disaster, many strong warriors were killed by falling or being crushed. The highest-level fatality was a strong warrior from the Holy Spirit King's Court, someone named 'Tris.'"
"I heard he was inspecting the condition of the forging equipment in an underground lava cave when the Severing Heaven and Earth's Connection struck. The collapse of the volcano crushed him to death."
"Apparently, he had the 'Heaven and Earth Guardian' skill and was at the Fifth-Rank when he activated it, but his bad luck was that he was in a perilous place."
Zhao Xing nodded. The activation of the Severing Heaven and Earth's Connection was definitely a move that could damage both the enemy and the user.
With the existence of the Purple Bone Heavenly Venerable, if Moon God had informed his forces before the Purple Bone's defection, the Purple Bone would have certainly received the message.
Had Moon God activated the technique after the Purple Bone's defection, Zhao Xing would have been saved.
So, to successfully kill Zhao Xing, Moon God had no choice but to act during the Purple Bone's defection event.
"Such a huge scheme, all just to kill me. He really does think highly of me," Zhao Xing snorted.
"Perhaps in Moon God's eyes, if you die, then even if we win the Plain Barbarian War, we still lose," Xia Jing said.
Zhao Xing nodded. If he were to die, the early revival of spiritual energy would become nothing more than a pipe dream.
In fact, the early revival of spiritual energy was already a pretty extreme plan, and if he died, it would be even harder. If Great Zhou won the Plain Barbarian War but he couldn't ascend, they would be trapped in the Xuan Huang Realm.
Once Emperor Wu dies, there's no need for the Southern Barbarians to do anything. After a few hundred years, Great Zhou's internal collapse would be swift. War is a costly affair, and Great Zhou is also consuming its national power.
If the national war didn't result in the revival of spiritual energy or ascension, then Great Zhou would break apart due to the war itself. No matter how big a country, it will fall through war.
Once Emperor Wu dies, hope will be shattered. No one will be able to suppress those who have reached the Super-Grade realms (those in Super-Grade realms do not give up their luck easily).
Strong figures like King Beichen Qin Feng, who had once inflated their egos, will rise. Once the Emperor dies and the hope of ascension is lost, countless ambitious strong men will emerge to devour Great Zhou's luck.
This is exactly what happened to Great Zhou in the past. Once Emperor Wu died, Great Zhou became weak, and the ministers grew powerful.
Of course, this time's Emperor Wu will have more time than the previous one. For example, he could kill all the Super-Grade kings before his death, leaving only the First-Rank kings. However, even if he does that, it will still lead to the decline of Great Zhou.
Therefore, Emperor Wu has no way out.
Once I die, the spiritual energy stored in my body will quickly degrade into Yuan Qi and spread across the entire Xuan Huang Realm.
Even if Great Zhou had reverse Yuan devices, they wouldn't be able to collect it in time. Without ascension, Great Zhou will automatically perish.
Zhao Xing seemed to have seen through Moon God's calculations. "Moon God considers himself the protector of the Xuan Huang Realm. No matter how many people the Southern Barbarians kill, after a few hundred years, when the Central Plains Dynasty collapses, it will be enough to restore spiritual energy and life will rise again."
"As long as the material and spiritual energy of the Xuan Huang Realm aren't taken away, no matter how many people die, it will all rot within the Xuan Huang Realm. Moon God doesn't care about the casualties."
"This is what it means to be a god—cold and ruthless."
"Those who are poor fear the reckless, and the reckless fear the desperate. Clearly, in this war, Moon God is the one who is desperate."
"Xia Jing, tell me about the situation in Wu City and the Heaven and Earth Guardian," Zhao Xing said, collecting his emotions. After filling his stomach, he wanted to understand the situation.
"Wu City is divided into nine to five ranks. As you can see, within the bounds of Wu City, everyone's strength can be restored to the corresponding rank," Xia Jing explained.
"At first, Wu City was nearly impenetrable. A group of mortals could never break through Wu City," Zhao Xing nodded. Taking the lowest-level Ninth-Rank Wu City as an example, everyone inside would be at the Ninth-Rank Essence Gathering Realm.
Moreover, they could set up magical formations and use Ninth-Rank divine weapons. Attacking a city like this would be nearly impossible. As you go up the ranks, the difficulty increases exponentially. For a Fifth-Rank Wu City, even the city's defense barrier is unbreakable.
Of course, the people inside Wu City can only defend the city. Once an arrow leaves the Wu City, it becomes just a regular arrow unless the person has activated the "Heaven and Earth Guardian."
"How long did it take Great Zhou to conquer the first city?" Zhao Xing asked.
"The first day," Xia Jing answered.
"Huh?" Zhao Xing was stunned. "The first day?"
"Yes, the first day, Great Zhou captured a Fifth-Rank city, three Sixth-Rank cities, and four Seventh-Rank cities."
Xia Jing continued.
"Most of these cities were captured by sect members led by the Xuantian Divine Sect, such as the Qingmu Sect, Baohua Sect, and others."
"Among them, the strongest Fifth-Rank city, named Mist City, was contributed by a defector named 'Mist Walker.'"
"Of course, at first I didn't know this news. It wasn't until six months later that I got accurate information that the lords of these cities had already pledged allegiance to our Great Zhou," Xia Jing explained.
"Mist Walker?" Zhao Xing raised an eyebrow. "So it was him."
Unlike Purple Bone Heavenly Venerable, the sect led by Mist Walker, the Xuantian Divine Sect, hadn't done anything harmful from the beginning to the Plain Barbarian War.
Although it left behind a lot of secret actions, Mist Walker and his sect had quietly stayed in the Southern Barbarians, never doing anything that could harm them.
When the Severing Heaven and Earth's Connection was activated, Mist Walker, who had endured for years, launched a devastating strike. He immediately opened the city gates and surrendered, then swiftly killed those in the nearby cities, opening a path for Great Zhou.
"Hahaha, Mist Walker really achieved something huge this time," Zhao Xing slapped his thigh.
"No," Xia Jing shook his head.
"He wasn't rewarded; he was thrown into prison instead."
"What?" Zhao Xing froze again. "What happened?"
"Mist Walker was furious when he heard about your near-death. He felt that Great Zhou hadn't protected you well enough, the sect master of the Divine Sect," Xia Jing said.
"When he heard the news, he immediately took off his official hat and cursed out loud."
"I won't repeat the exact words, but they were filthy, definitely not something you'd find in official records," Xia Jing added.
Zhao Xing thought for a moment and nodded. "It sounds like something Mist Walker would do."
To sect members, the Emperor was nothing. They had no respect for imperial power.
But Zhao Xing, as their sect master, was a symbol of faith, almost a saint-like figure!
Mist Walker cursed directly at Ji Che's face, and while Ji Che could bear it, the ministers couldn't. They had no choice but to lock him up to let him calm down.
"How about the Dragon Clan?" Zhao Xing quickly asked. "The Dragon Clan is fine," Xia Jing replied. "Yin Xiu immediately calmed the Dragon Clan's powerful warriors. He said he could feel that you weren't dead. Considering there might be some bloodline connection among the Dragon Clan, his words helped stabilize everyone."
Zhao Xing let out a breath. Yin Xiu truly was a wise dragon!
"Mist Walker's rebellion gave Great Zhou a good start," Xia Jing said. "But advancing from there is still extremely difficult."
"Besides the cities that surrendered," Xia Jing continued, "during the first six months, Great Zhou didn't capture a single Ninth-Rank Wu City."
"The area affected by the Severing Heaven and Earth's Connection was just too vast. In most battle zones, we had no choice but to use the clumsiest methods to fight."
"That means we used people as bait, luring the enemy out to kill us."
Zhao Xing nodded. Having just the Wu Cities was merely having supply stations. To move freely in the wild and advance, they needed to shift the authority of the Heaven and Earth Guardian.
This would allow more of their cultivators to enter the restricted zones.
Even Mist Walker's rebellion didn't significantly change the overall situation; those with him were relatively unimportant in the larger picture. It only boosted morale. The battlefield was still mostly made up of ordinary people.
Xia Jing sighed, "A single Essence Gathering Realm cultivator can usually be killed by ten trained soldiers, but in real combat, to lure the enemy into a trap, we often have to pay a much higher price."
"Because once a Southern Barbarian soldier with Heaven and Earth Guardian is killed, the transferred energy won't go to our side. Instead, it goes to someone who already has the Heaven and Earth Guardian."
"In certain ranges, if there are no 'cultivators,' the energy will randomly transfer. It could go to someone from Great Zhou's side or perhaps a foreign military force."
Zhao Xing took a sharp breath, imagining how devastating this could be. If Great Zhou's army spent enormous effort killing an enemy Ninth-Rank warrior, only for that power to be transferred to another enemy Ninth-Rank, it would effectively make the enemy stronger after each kill.
If it came to a military clash, the Southern Barbarians would only grow stronger with each kill!
This was utterly hopeless!
Moon God's evolution was simply too perverse.
In the past life, fusion of energy didn't exist! After killing an enemy, the victor would gain their tokens, thus recovering their strength.
But in this life, Moon God had developed the energy transfer technique, making it exponentially harder to defeat.
"If it weren't for the sect world dragging us down, the evolution of the Severing Heaven and Earth's Connection would be nearly impossible to break through," Zhao Xing thought quietly.
The sect alliances within the Dreaming Sleep Realm also had authority in the Severing Heaven and Earth's Connection, and this authority couldn't be revoked by Moon God.
Because the Severing Heaven and Earth's Connection wasn't directly activated by Moon God—he only guided it.
Maybe this life would allow him to make some changes, but he couldn't strip the Dreaming Sleep Realm of its authority. That's why Moon God sent people to the Dreaming Sleep Realm to negotiate cooperation instead of issuing orders.
The sect world once ruled the Central Plains, dominated the Southern Barbarians, and led the revival of magic and martial arts. This was the foundation of the sects and the capital they used to cooperate with Moon God.
"Although attacking cities is extremely difficult, in the wild, we still have opportunities," Xia Jing said. "After all, even when evolving to the Seventh-Rank, it's not impossible."
"In the wild, even the Seventh-Rank, without supplies, can hardly continue fighting."
"Even if they try to escape, it depends on their profession."
"Except for the mages' teleportation techniques, we have little means of stopping them. Warriors, on the other hand, can't escape the traps, such as bed crossbows, trebuchets, and heavy arrows. Most of our early kills were against warriors, ritualists, and musicians."
"When all the enemies are dead, we'll gain the status of 'cultivators,'" Xia Jing said. "And once we have cultivators in our ranks, the transfer of energy will become balanced."
"Take small units of messenger soldiers or scouts, for instance. The Southern Barbarians have this advantage. They can't always rely on their legs."
Zhao Xing nodded. No wonder Zhao Chuan Zong and that Captain Liu looked so excited when they saw him—they thought of him as a big catch.
Once they killed him, there'd be no one else around, and their team would gain a Essence Gathering Realm cultivator.
At first, this was uncontrollable, but once more people were involved, it would become manageable.
Xia Jing suddenly remembered something.
"Zhao Xing, you seem to still be at the Essence Gathering Realm, right?" Xia Jing asked.
"Yes." Zhao Xing nodded.
In the wild, he was actually not even at the Essence Gathering Realm yet. But his situation was unique and could not be measured simply.
"Perfect," Xia Jing smiled. "I have two at the Eighth Rank and twenty at the Ninth Rank. They can help you recover your strength further. Let's go."
"Alright."
Zhao Xing was curious about how this power recovery worked.
He followed Xia Jing to a dungeon.
Inside the dungeon, there were twenty Ninth-Rank Southern Barbarian soldiers and two at the Eighth Rank.
"This dungeon is actually out of the coverage of Feng Wu City, so they now only display Ninth and Eighth Rank realms," Xia Jing explained.
"If they were still in the city, their powers would have been restored to the Seventh Rank."
Zhao Xing looked at the prisoners. They were silent and calm, despite being imprisoned. There was a powerful aura about them, and their eyes exuded resilience.
"They're all Third-Rank," Xia Jing said.
"I've interrogated them. They were originally the leaders of tribes."
Indeed, even when a high-rank person was reduced to a low-rank one, their aura remained completely different. This wasn't something they could pretend to have.
Zhao Xing nodded.
Now, there were three types of cultivation situations: First, the person's original cultivation before the influence of the Severing Heaven and Earth's Connection. Second, their cultivation within Wu City, where even those without the Heaven and Earth Guardian would be restored to the cultivation corresponding to the Wu City's rank.
For example, if a Third-Rank cultivator entered a Fifth-Rank Wu City, they would be restored to Fifth-Rank cultivation.
The third situation was in the wild. If they hadn't obtained Heaven and Earth Guardian, even if they entered the Establishing Dao Realm, they would still be ordinary people.
"Are you Zhao Xing?" A deep voice interrupted his thoughts.
A giant, with dark purple skin, heavily muscled, and a body as sturdy as a small mountain, walked toward him. His shoulders and abdomen were pierced, and to be cautious, the prisoners were also sealed with needles, blocking their pressure points.
His blood and qi were seriously insufficient, like a dried-up purple yam.
"You know me?" Zhao Xing asked with interest, looking at this Eighth-Rank prisoner.
"Didn't expect you're still alive," the purple yam-like man said, grinning.
"However, you'll die soon."
"How can you be so sure?" Zhao Xing asked.
"Hahaha." The purple yam man laughed suddenly. "Didn't expect to see a big fish caught before dying. I'll get to die with King Tagu, this is worth it!"
"Hahaha, worth it!" The other prisoners in the dungeon laughed loudly. "Pretending to be a god, shut them up!"
Xia Jing immediately ordered one of the Thunder Arts cultivators guarding the dungeon to come over.
Zzzzt—
The spell was activated, and lightning crackled through the dungeon, constantly electrocuting the prisoners.
These people, who were powerful before, couldn't withstand the thunder spells. One by one, they foamed at the mouth and collapsed, twitching on the ground.
"You... you will die!" The purple yam man growled, "The great Nine Nether God is watching you filthy destroyers! The god will kill you!"
The Thunder Arts cultivator guarding the dungeon, a Hundred General, couldn't hold back his expression. The boss had told him to shut this guy up, and yet this man was still talking?
Zzzzt!
The lightning intensified, and the cultivator immediately increased the power. "Shut up, let him speak."
Zhao Xing furrowed his brow and stood still, staring at this tribal leader. "You mentioned the Nine Nether God. Are you from the Nine Nether Army?"
The man, who had been moments away from being electrocuted to death, suddenly shut his mouth.
"What was his position before?" Zhao Xing looked at Xia Jing.
"A Soul Commander."
Xia Jing explained, "His superior was killed, and his power was transferred to Old Chen. Long Xiao and Old Chen aren't in the city; they're out hunting down the remaining enemies."
Zhao Xing pondered. "What about his personal belongings? Are they here?"
"They are," a Hundred General from the dungeon replied.
"Bring everything to me, quickly!" Zhao Xing spoke in a low voice.
"Yes."
The Hundred General immediately ran out.
"Zhao Xing, what happened?" Xia Jing asked when he saw Zhao Xing being so serious.
"Have you found something?" he asked.
"I'm not sure," Zhao Xing said, "Maybe I'm being overly cautious."
The atmosphere in the dungeon suddenly became heavy.
Soon, the Hundred General returned, carrying a large bundle, including all the personal items of the prisoners, including King Tagu's.
"Master, everything is here."
Zhao Xing immediately began rummaging through the items. Soon, he found a black, shiny round disc.
When King Tagu saw this, his eyes twitched slightly.
"King Tagu, this is the Nine Nether Order, right?" Zhao Xing waved the token in front of him.
King Tagu let out a short laugh, but didn't say a word, just closed his eyes.
"Two-faced mark, at the order of Nine Nether, proceed," Zhao Xing read aloud.
"King Tagu, this is a death order. Why did the Nine Nether God have you guard Feng Wu City? What is your conspiracy? Speak!" Zhao Xing's hands shot out sharp spikes and pierced King Tagu's pressure points.
"Ugh..." King Tagu gritted his teeth, his teeth cracking, but he refused to speak.
Xia Jing's face changed. During the interrogation, this King Tagu had been very cooperative, revealing everything. Now, he was acting this tough? There could only be one explanation.
"Damn! He lied to us?!" Xia Jing quickly shouted, "Hong Sikou, where are you? How the hell did you interrogate him? Get over here and do it again!"
"It's useless," Zhao Xing shook his head.
"These people are all mentally strong. Here, the highest you get is Seventh Rank. Your methods are too simple, you won't get anything out of them."
"Xia Jing, take your people out. I need to kill and recover," Zhao Xing said.
"And get the military history officer to bring me a detailed combat record, especially about your experience breaking into Feng Wu City."
"Understood."
Xia Jing immediately took his people and left.
Once Xia Jing and his group left, only twenty-two prisoners and Zhao Xing remained in the dungeon.
"Poof!" Zhao Xing reached out and instantly killed another Eighth Rank prisoner.
A streak of golden light shifted from Zhao Xing's body to his, and King Tagu felt a bit puzzled.
There were twenty-two people present, and with every kill Zhao Xing made, the probability would randomly land on him. King Tagu didn't realize it, but it was the effect of Yanjiao's luck.
Even if the probability was one in twenty or even one in a hundred, once a kill was made, the luck would transfer to Zhao Xing, unless there was someone else with similar luck within the dungeon's range.
"My cultivation has recovered."
Zhao Xing moved his body.
"I have now returned to the Eighth Rank Spirit Bridge Realm. The abnormal condition has been lifted, and both Heavenly Timing Technique and Earthly Advantage Technique are now usable."
Previously, he had relied on the Mo Yun Vine to sustain his existence, but that power wasn't complete, and many of his spells were unavailable. Now, after killing an enemy, he had truly gained the full power.
The Mo Yun Vine could finally rest within his body. Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
Zhao Xing summoned a gale, instantly killing all the remaining enemies except for King Tagu.
An Eighth Rank and twenty Ninth Rank cultivators—Zhao Xing had gone from the early stages of Eighth Rank to the mid-stage!
"It seems that every time I advance a large rank, I need to kill about ten people of the same rank to level up," Zhao Xing thought to himself.
"King Tagu, look into my eyes."
Zhao Xing's voice was mesmerizing. King Tagu couldn't help but make eye contact. Soul Binding!
Using the Soul Binding Puppet technique, Zhao Xing immediately pulled out King Tagu's soul and then opened his mouth wide.
Crunch crunch~
It sounded like he was chewing as Zhao Xing crushed King Tagu's soul. At the same time, large amounts of memory fragments appeared in his mind.
Since these were fragments of memory, they weren't complete, and the older the memory, the blurrier it became. Any memory over a month old was almost impossible to recall.
Zhao Xing closed his eyes, began sifting through these memory fragments, and sorted them into useful information. When he opened his eyes again, his expression changed.
"This is bad! Xia Jing and the others have entered the Nine Nether God's encirclement. This is the Nine Nether God's large-scale purge plan."
What was the Nine Nether God's large-scale purge? It referred to the first large-scale troop movement of the Southern Barbarians, launching an attack on the southern regions of the Great Zhou that had entered the vast area of Severing Heaven and Earth's Connection, to carry out a suppression operation.
Xia Jing's group only had three factions, with cultivators only at the Hundred General level—one cultivator for every hundred soldiers. That meant there were only about three hundred cultivators.
But the Nine Nether God's purge had mobilized forty factions, almost all of them cultivators!
Zhao Xing's scalp went numb as he thought about the strongest instance in the Severing Heaven and Earth's Connection descending. He immediately rushed out of the dungeon.
"Xia Jing!" Zhao Xing called.
Xia Jing appeared, his face darkened.
Seeing that both had something to say, Zhao Xing calmed down. "You go first."
Old Chen and Long Xiao had just returned and reported bad news: Large-scale forces from all directions had appeared around Feng Wu City. The nearest forces were reported to have appeared at Pang Ge Peak, three hundred and fifty miles away.
Xia Jing spoke seriously, "We need to break through."
"Where did the information come from?" Zhao Xing asked.
"It came from Wang Ji." Long Xiao and Chen Shijie entered and, seeing Zhao Xing, didn't have time for pleasantries. "The Ju Zi Sect Mechanist can communicate remotely through the Boundless Ju Zi Mechanism. He reported this news."
Zhao Xing immediately activated a miniature sand table. Clouds, mountains, rivers, and many red dots symbolizing enemy forces quickly spread across the three sides of Feng Wu City.
The four of them gasped. The red dots meant cultivators. At least several thousand cultivators were forming a siege!
Even if most of these cultivators had just reached Essence Gathering Realm, they were still cultivators! "How can there be so many...?" Long Xiao muttered.
"The map still shows fewer; in reality, the siege has at least fifty thousand people."
"What? That's impossible!" Xia Jing was stunned. "Fifty thousand? All cultivators? What kind of joke is this?"
"This is a large-scale purge personally commanded by the Nine Nether God."
"In total, more than four hundred thousand people, all cultivators! They're preparing to launch a massive clean-up of the entire southern battle zone." Zhao Xing sighed.
"Once you take Feng Wu City, you will have marked yourselves as targets for the Nine Nether God's table."
"You, a powerful leader, one top-tier sword immortal, and a young agricultural commander, and these three factions, all well-trained elites of the Great Zhou, are already qualified to join the Nine Nether God's table."
"Forty factions?! All cultivators?!" Long Xiao, Chen Shijie, and Xia Jing were completely stunned. This number was terrifying.
"We don't have time for you to be shocked."
Zhao Xing spoke quickly, "We need to break through now, there's not much time left."
"Where do we break through to?" Long Xiao asked instinctively.
"Should we go north and join up with Dong Ze's main force?"
"We can't go north anymore. Since it's a purge, there's no way our small force can break through successfully."
Xia Jing said, "The purge only leaves the south open, so now, no matter which direction we go—east, west, or north—it's very difficult to break through. We can only go south."
Chen Shijie nodded, "Should we head south and find Li Hao's Wu Yao Army? Which route do we take?"
Zhao Xing remained silent, his mind racing. Documents and battle reports rustled in front of him as he quickly sifted through army and terrain information in his mind, integrating it all.
After a while, Zhao Xing nodded. "Yes, we can only head south."
"Even south has three directions: Should we take the direct route south to Nanping Road, or head southwest to Wu Yingling, or southeast to Tianshui River?" Xia Jing asked.
"Xia Jing, you're the navy general with many ships, so we'll naturally take the nearest Tianshui River." Zhao Xing said.
Xia Jing suddenly realized he had forgotten this; there wasn't actually a choice of three routes, just one.
"We need to act quickly. Xia Jing, immediately give orders to the whole army, we'll cross the Tianshui River."
"Throw away as much as you can, leave only the horses, ships, and mountain carriage. We don't need war chariots."
"But if we throw away all this heavy gear, what will we do if we encounter the enemy?" Long Xiao asked.
"Don't panic, the enemy will bring it to us," Zhao Xing said. "As long as we have the green mountain, we don't have to worry about firewood."
"We'll compete with the enemy's large army in speed and flexibility, so we must go light... No time to explain, just order the river crossing immediately!"