"Is it already over?"
Ning Zheng was hiding in the bushes on the mountainside as a sniper, unable to recover for quite some time.
Because this was all too extraordinary.
Hadn't this suddenly disastrous manor defense battle just reported a great victory?
"I really worried about them for nothing."
Ning Zheng sighed, marveling at how thrilling their actions had been.
To be fair, this move was indeed brilliant.
But, it was also Ning Zheng who helped them lure out the Crow King.
According to the previous situation, the Crow King didn't need to show itself at all; by merely commanding the crow flock, attacking one dead angle after another, they could tirelessly wear them down.
Ning Zheng made no further moves, simply staying hidden on the mountainside, quietly observing the situation.
The situation that followed was rather simple.
They sealed the breach in the defense tower that the Crow King had opened.
The Headless Crow King outside was chaotically darting back and forth, like a headless chicken, relying only on bodily instinct.
Caw!~
Caw!~
The crows, without direction, were each on their own, in total disarray.
They started assaulting various tower defense openings again, like a swarming, dense beehive.
But without organization and discipline, they were like mixed troops, with no method at all, unable to find any temporary dead corners while on the move.
Each manor's defense tower covered one another with arrows, holding their ground effortlessly.
The battle was overwhelmingly favorable!
However, that one particular Crow King was quite peculiar. After flying headlessly for a while, it suddenly seemed to weaken and its vigor was gradually fading.
A strong survival instinct led the headless body to attack a passing crow nearby, brutally snapping its head off with its claws.
Lowering its head, as if donning a crown anew.
Crunch!
It placed the other crow's head on its own body, and two dull green eyes slowly relit.
....
Within the defense tower.
The blacksmiths watched with wide eyes, visibly startled: "Does the boss have this move too? Grafting... Duck, no, Crow head?"
How to describe this worldview?
Before, being a blacksmith just felt a bit strange, now it seems increasingly eerie.
However, due to the emergency, changing to a new head, the Crow King clearly became much more stupid.
Basic observation could assert that.
The Crow King's brain had already been replaced by a new soul, no longer the original it.
Although the Five-Body Realm doesn't die with a severed head, the soul ultimately resides in the head.
Without a head, survival is hard.
The body seeking a new host for survival is understandable.
This game is evidently filled with verdant opportunities.
No matter whether it's a blacksmith or a crow, the server has been open only for a few days, and slipping up even slightly can hit you.
"What a pitiful boss."
"Once I'm outside, I have to make a few emotes, giving it a green cap to commemorate its lost youth."
"Wasn't it you who made it green? Scum!"
"You just thought of the surface; I thought even deeper: a headless crow, with a body instinct driven to find a head? If a cultivator got decapitated, would their body instinct be to seek a new head?"
The group found this perspective quite fresh.
It indeed seemed possible.
Looking everywhere for a head, isn't the original cultivator now green?
If such a good thing is possible, please have this headless body traverse bustling towns and crowds to find me, to remove my head and replace it with theirs.
It's not an issue of being a Cao.
The main allure is the other body; getting a powerful body from nowhere is a heaven-sent opportunity.
"No more thinking about greening others' cultivators."
"Yes, just daydreaming."
They shook their heads, chatting as they continued shooting arrows, and the battle was going very well.
Arrow after arrow, they continued shooting for over half an hour, and a pile of crow corpses nearly stacked like a mountain, when suddenly a blacksmith noticed from the lookout window a crow that was clearly dead, staggering and standing up.
It was actually a soul body.
And then something strange happened.
The soul body was like an empty bubble, starting to devour the surrounding crows' blood and flesh, beginning to fill with flesh, while the surrounding corpses' dense feathers flowed onto it, just like water.
Caw!
This crow came back to life.
"What the hell? A ghost?"
The crowd was so startled they got goosebumps and quickly informed Su Yuniang to come over.
A few minutes later, Su Yuniang climbed up from the underground passage behind the defense tower, listening to the crowd's words, feeling slightly taken aback, "It's just Embers."
"What are Embers?" the crowd asked, curious.
"It can be understood as a ghost! The grievances of this world are corporeal ghosts, and these Embers can devour blood and flesh, adhering together to form a physical body."
"Considering we've killed thousands of crows, isn't it normal to see an Ember?"
Su Yuniang had read info on this; such unclean things often show up on battlefields!
It's widely known common sense among the general populace, very prevalent.
But because these blacksmiths didn't grow up in this world, they find it surprising.
Ghost, ghoul, Ember, these take many names.
Humans are like candles, after burning out, they always carry some leftover fire!
Ning Jiaojiao and even all the people of Spirit Manor are the Embers left by the deceased, products of their obsessions.
Yet that was produced by Demon Men using special spells.
Most of the manor's old folk, from lacking flesh replenishment for too long, were left with hollowed spirit bodies.
Not everyone is like Ning Jiaojiao who gets fed, often eating meat to maintain the fresh, delicate young girl's figure from life.
Creatures as weak as the small crows had low chances of producing Embers originally.
Even if produced, they don't exist long and will soon dissipate.
Such things the common folk are used to.
Some even keep the embers of their loved ones in their homes to stay with them, awaiting the time their relatives' obsessions fade away naturally.
Of course, if displeased with their relatives' Embers, they can invite cultivators to perform a spell to directly eliminate them once and for all.
Hearing Su Yuniang's words, many were amazed.
"This must be the worldview outside? The common folks are all accustomed to it."
"Pity we can't descend the mountain."
"So how should we deal with this crow's Ember?"
...
Hearing the crowd's heated discussion, Su Yuniang thought about it and said, "Embers follow the logic of their actions in life, but have no self-awareness, not even realizing they've died... Just ignore them, treat them as ordinary crows, and defend normally; they'll disappear in a few days."
The group found this interesting.
Embers.
People die like flames go out, just occasionally leaving behind ember remnants.
"They don't even realize they've died." Many felt a shiver of horror, mixed with unaccountable sorrow.
Embers are merely the last hope for this world's lonely living beings.
At this moment, the curtain of this mysterious world was lifted slightly, and some couldn't help but imagine what the majestic urban landscape beyond the manor would be like.
In the wilderness, headless bodies traversed town after town in search of new heads.
Before the spirit halls, the populace embraced the shadows of their departed's embers, sobbing together.
Outside the towns, Demon Cultivators secretly hunted Cultivators, recomposing Corpse Demon Artifacts with their flesh and spiritual roots.
Meanwhile, this Sword Casting Manor outside Pingchang City in Xinyi Continent was sending forged weapons to various towns, writing myriad stories in people's hands.
"This opening battle of the game is already a palpable epic history."
Someone spoke softly, "With the letter system, we sit high above in the manor, isolated from the world, yet able to communicate with our customers below, forging arms and armor, becoming part of their life's journey."
"What a pity."
"Indeed a pity, as we can't go out ourselves to witness this world."