Firmament Sword

Right above their heads, from the towering, ancient trees with their lush foliage and thick trunks, a massive amount of sticky liquid suddenly poured down!

Hardly any of the Noble Legion’s soldiers managed to avoid it. Nearly everyone was splattered with the viscous fluid on their faces, hands, and bodies.

At first, they thought the substance was also poisonous and were terrified. But then someone shouted, ”This looks like honey!”

”That’s right! It’s honey!”

”Is the honey poisoned?”

”Goddammit, what do we do? A big glob just fell right into my mouth... Am I gonna die from poison?”

Waves of angry curses rose and fell among the Noble Legion’s soldiers.

Just then, Wan Tong’s junior brother suddenly focused his attention and said, ”Senior Brother... something’s not right.”

Wan Tong took a deep breath. ”What is it?”

”Listen.” The junior brother narrowed his eyes, his expression strange.

BZZ... BZZ... BZZ...

A buzzing roar suddenly filled their ears!

The sound came from the distance, growing louder and louder as it approached!

”Oh no, it’s hornets!” A soldier from the Noble Legion on the perimeter spotted what was coming and cried out in alarm.

”Gods, so many hornets! They’re... they’re coming for us!”

”Agh, one stung me... It hurts like hell!”

”Get away, you damn bugs!”

”Aah, help me! I’m surrounded by hornets!”

”The ground! Look at the ground! Dammit, where did all these big white ants come from?”

”Agh! These ants are eating me!”

In an instant, the entire Noble Legion descended into utter chaos!

If the earlier mechanical ambush had merely dampened their high morale, then these tiny insects, which they would normally disregard, had now become grim reapers in their minds!

Wan Tong watched, wide-eyed, as a soldier was instantly swarmed by a vast number of white ants. These ants were enormous and innumerable, a dense, crawling mass. Soon, the ground was covered in a layer of white!

It looked as if a layer of snow had fallen!

The Noble Legion soldier was engulfed by the white ants in a brief moment. He only had time to let out a few blood-curdling screams before collapsing lifelessly to the ground.

More giant white ants crawled over his body. A moment later, all that was left of the soldier was a stark white skeleton!

SHH SHH SHH...

BZZZZZZ...

The sound of the white ants surging forward like a tide, and the sound of countless hornets attacking from all sides of the forest, drowned out all the battle cries and screams of agony.

The Noble Legion had completely collapsed!

Back when Wan Tong had trained them relentlessly, it wasn’t as if they’d never seen such things before. They had burned countless hornets’ nests. But none of them had ever expected to face such a terrifying attack here today, a mere li from Xu Luo’s fiefdom.

The giant white ants and hornets attacked the men with a crazed frenzy.

The soldiers were on the verge of madness. Terror had completely overwhelmed their reason, and they began to scatter and flee in all directions.

And so... more traps... were triggered!

Pitfalls underfoot, spears from above, automatically triggered arrows...

A chill went through Wan Tong’s heart. His junior brother beside him was trembling, looking at him with terror. ”Senior Brother... w-what is happening?”

Wan Tong gritted his teeth. ”We’ve been tricked! Even if it’s just the two of us left, I’ll slaughter every last one of these bastards! Junior Brother... are you afraid?”

The youth nodded, his face tense. ”A little.”

Wan Tong clapped the youth’s shoulder. ”Don’t be afraid. Follow me... We’ll fly... and cut our way through. Over there... no one is your match!”

Reassured by his senior brother, some color returned to the youth’s face, and his gaze gradually grew resolute.

”Senior Brother, I’ll follow your lead!” the youth said.

”Good. Let’s go!” Wan Tong glanced at the scattering soldiers and the ever-increasing number of white ants. He gritted his teeth, leaped into the air, and flew up above the forest.

The youth landed on a treetop and instinctively glanced down. The sight nearly made him fall in shock. Through gaps left by fallen ancient trees, he could see the clearing below, which now looked like it was covered by a thick white carpet!

And that carpet... was made of man-eating giant white ants!

”It’s horrifying!” The youth’s face turned pale again. ”Senior Brother... your men...”

Wan Tong gritted his teeth. ”Anyone who survives is lucky. I will have my revenge for this!”

The youth nodded forcefully and also gritted his teeth. ”They’re too vicious! To use such a malicious trick instead of fighting us honorably... I’ll kill them all!”

”Right, kill them all! Let’s go!” Wan Tong took the lead, flying straight toward the tall castle that was now visible in the distance.

Meanwhile, the forest below was a gruesome scene, a hell in the Mortal World.

Many people understood the cruelty of war. A battlefield wasn’t an arena where you won by simply knocking someone off the stage. A battlefield... was a field of slaughter, an inferno!

Once on the battlefield, life and death were out of one’s control. It was kill or be killed.

But no one could have imagined that the cruelty of war had another face... one where you suffered heavy casualties and completely collapsed without even seeing a shadow of the enemy!

...

On the lookout tower at the highest point of the castle, aside from Sui Yan, who remained perfectly calm, nearly everyone else stared, dumbfounded, at the forest less than two li away.

The Little Fatty’s eyes were glazed over as he murmured, ”Gods, Sui Xiaoshi... what... what have you been doing these past few days?”

”You had people prepare all that honey and took all those medicines from me... was it all for this?” Huangfu Chongzhi, equally horrified, stared at the expressionless Sui Yan beside him.

Xu Jie added from the side, ”These people... they may be our enemies... but this... this is truly horrific!”

Mo Yun said, ”Am... am I, the Vanguard General... just for show?”

Xu Luo knew a little about what Sui Yan had been up to lately, but he had never imagined that his fifth brother could use mechanics to such a degree. This was no longer just simple Mechanical Skill; it was the result of mastering human psychology and nature to an extreme level.

”Fucking terrifying!” Tang Yong stood to one side, his face a mask of horror.

Li Yu and the others felt their legs go weak. These tough, hardened men were by no means cowards who feared death, but the scene before them made them understand that this seemingly peaceful world held far more unexpected dangers than they could have imagined.

They had never heard of such a way to die, let alone seeing an entire, powerful legion nearly wiped out without even catching a glimpse of its attackers!

At that moment, Sui Yan muttered from the side, ”It’s still a bit imperfect...”

’That’s not perfect? Then what in the world *is* perfect in your eyes?’

Aside from Huangfu Chongzhi and his other sworn brothers, the way everyone else looked at Sui Yan had changed.

’This youth is simply too terrifying!’

To have personally created a scene from a hell in the Mortal World, yet to say something like that so calmly.

”You can offend anyone, but never, ever offend the Fifth Master...” This sentence would later become a famous maxim in Xu Luo’s fiefdom.

The Little Fatty’s mouth twitched violently. He looked at Sui Yan and asked, ”Besides those out there, do you have any other traps?”

Sui Yan pouted, saying with some disappointment, ”Actually, I have a lot more backup plans right around our castle. But it looks like they won’t be needed now.”

Seeing Sui Yan’s regretful expression, the Little Fatty nearly fainted. A chill ran down his spine as he mumbled, ”These traps... they won’t be triggered by our own people, will they?”

Sui Yan glanced at the Little Fatty and frowned. ”Idiot!”

The Little Fatty was instantly speechless. The fat on his cheeks twitched a few times, but surprisingly, he didn’t talk back.

This was the first time he hadn’t retaliated against his fifth brother’s provocation, because he was genuinely terrified by Sui Yan’s methods.

”Someone’s coming,” Xu Luo said calmly, watching the two figures flying toward them from the distant sky. ”That should be their commander.”

A hint of color finally returned to Mo Yun’s pale face. A flash of excitement appeared in her eyes as she said, ”I’ll go meet them in battle!”

”Don’t.” Xu Luo quickly stopped Mo Yun, his voice grave. ”Those two are Sword Venerables. You’re no match for them!”

As he spoke, Xu Luo waved to the people beside him. Someone on the lookout tower immediately began signaling with flags.

As the two figures flew closer, hundreds of soldiers suddenly appeared around the castle, rolling out dozens of large carts. Immediately after... a series of piercing shrieks tore through the air.

The dozens of large carts were all loaded with Military Heavy Crossbows!

Military Heavy Crossbows—powerful weapons of war!

These dozens of Military Heavy Crossbows were enough to wage a siege battle!

And these were a gift that Su Tong had brought for Xu Luo last time. It wasn’t that Xu Ji was showing favoritism; if Xu Luo didn’t hold the rank of General, not even Xu Ji could have easily given these weapons to him.

Now that these weapons had been revealed, they delivered a head-on blow to Wan Tong and his junior brother!

The arm-thick arrows fired from the Military Heavy Crossbows were nothing like the spears in Sui Yan’s traps. They were incomparably faster, and their arrowheads... incomparably sharper!

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Wan Tong and his junior brother simultaneously drew their Long Swords to defend against the Military Heavy Crossbows.

In the sky, Wan Tong’s junior brother let out a furious roar. With a sweep of his Long Sword, a visible halo of light instantly struck the crossbow bolts speeding toward them from the Military Heavy Crossbows.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

With a series of loud impacts, the Military Heavy Crossbow Arrows, powerful enough to pierce a city gate, were shattered into dust!

The expressions of everyone on the lookout tower changed on the spot.

Mo Yun, who had just been asking to join the battle, was especially horrified. She gasped, ”That youth... what realm of power has he reached? Heavens... he... he can actually shatter the Crossbow Arrows fired from those heavy crossbows!”

The faces of Huangfu Chongzhi and the others turned grim. It could be said that they had won today’s battle without a fight. Sui Yan’s preparations alone were enough to entrap and annihilate Wan Tong’s Noble Legion.

The impact of this incident would undoubtedly cause a massive uproar throughout the entire Da Han Empire.

But the battle to come would not be so easy.

Just look at that youth beside Wan Tong—he alone seemed capable of holding off an army of thousands!

”That person’s strength... he could probably take an enemy commander’s head from within an army of a million!” Xu Jie said, also watching in horror.