Martial Cultivator

Li Changling leaned over, pondered for a moment, then frowned and said, ”Great General, to be honest, your wine isn’t all that good.”

Ning Ping gave Li Changling an expressionless glance before saying with a forced smile, ”This general was wondering why the numbers didn’t add up all this time. So it turns out you’ve had your eye on my wine.”

Having let it slip with a single sentence, Li Changling’s old face reddened. But after spending so much time with Ning Ping, this cavalry commander had long since come to understand the Great General’s temperament. Chuckling awkwardly, he hurriedly said, ”Great General, just watch, this subordinate will skewer that fellow and use it to pay for your jar of wine!”

As he spoke, Li Changling reached out and grabbed the spear, aimed its tip at a spot below the city wall, and took a deep breath.

In terms of cultivation realm, Ning Ping had reached the end of Nepenthe, a level rarely seen in the world, making him naturally one of the top martial artists. But Li Changling, as the famed commander of the Northern Frontier cavalry, renowned for being capable of facing ten thousand enemies alone, was by no means weak. Long ago, he had already stepped into the Nepenthe Realm. Although he had yet to reach the end of Nepenthe, he had truly already caught sight of its threshold.

At this moment, he gripped the ordinary spear tightly. The qi within his body instantly boiled, surging through his meridians into his arm, until it seemed to reach the edge of a cliff before pouring forth in an unstoppable torrent.

With a powerful throw from Li Changling, the spear shot forward, leaving a long white trail through the space between the city wall and the ground!

The surrounding air seemed to ignite in an instant.

Its speed was so great that the air itself was filled with the smell of scorching.

As the spear tore through the air, some of the demon cultivators had already noticed it by the time it drew near, but having received no military orders, they merely watched.

By the time the demon lieutenant seated atop the white wolf reacted, the spear was already right in front of him. There was nothing he could do anymore.

The next moment, accompanied by a wet thud, the spear pierced straight through the demon lieutenant, and continued on to impale the towering white wolf beneath him as well.

Finally, the spear buried itself in the ground, pinning the demon lieutenant there, dead.

The soldiers atop the city wall erupted into cheers at the sight. There was no doubt that, in that instant, morale had received an enormous boost.

Ning Ping glanced at the commotion below before clicking his tongue. ”Li Changling, who would’ve thought you’ve actually improved a bit after all these years?”

Li Changling threw back his head and laughed. ”Great General, that’s a bit insulting. I’ve got one head and two hands just like everyone else. Could I really be worse than everyone else?”

Ning Ping said nothing, merely smiling.

In truth, Li Changling really was no mediocre man. The Northern Frontier Army had always been the branch of martial artists within the Great Liang Dynasty that produced the greatest number of powerful martial artists. Whether in terms of talent or cultivation, Li Changling had been among the very best of his generation. If not for his temperament being too headstrong and his frequent lack of the composure and steadiness that came with age and experience, he would undoubtedly have been the first choice to succeed as Great General.

Although Gao Xuan and the others were all outstanding enough, they were indeed too young. If Li Changling had served as Great General for another ten or twenty years before handing the position over to them, the timing would actually have been just right.

The pity was that this fellow could pour every ounce of his hot-blooded spirit into battle when leading the cavalry in a charge, and more often than not, fight a magnificent victory. But when it came to commanding the overall situation and holding the center, he was probably the sort who would never be able to do that in his entire lifetime.

......

......

Demon Lord Redsleeve sat within the royal carriage in the midst of the army, the crimson ribbons around it fluttering in the wind. Demon Lord Redsleeve...

Earlier, through those crimson ribbons, she had already seen that spear descend from the city wall. In truth, she could even have intercepted it herself, but there had been no need, so she did nothing and merely watched.

She watched as that lieutenant died in the midst of the army.

Only now did Demon Lord Redsleeve rise from the royal carriage, part the crimson ribbons, and look at the soldiers who would obey her every command.

Demon Lord Redsleeve smiled. ”You saw that, didn’t you? They aren’t ants. They aren’t the sort of people who’ll dig out their own hearts and livers for you to eat just because you want them.”

There was much contained within those words. She was reminding them, reminding them that perhaps the humans to the south could once be bullied at will, killed at will, eaten at will...

But ever since this Great Wall had been built more than two hundred years ago, these humans had no longer been so easy to kill.

The soldiers all remained silent. Perhaps they were thinking of the lieutenant who had just been pierced through by the spear thrown from the city wall.

”Prepare yourselves. Many of you may die. Dying in great numbers is nothing to fear. What I truly fear is that after so many of you have died, you still won’t have made it onto that city wall.”

Demon Lord Redsleeve’s voice echoed throughout the demon army. There was no special emotion in it, as though she were merely stating something utterly ordinary.

Yet the eyes of the demon soldiers were already filled with fury.

There were many ways to stir the fighting spirit of soldiers. Like the spear thrown from the city wall. Like Demon Lord Redsleeve’s words.

They were all simple, and they were all very effective.

But now, what needed to be said had been said, and what needed to be done had been done. Demon Lord Redsleeve could not be bothered to say anything more. She pointed toward the city wall and said calmly, ”Go. For your own sake, trample this place!”

......

......

The essence of war had always been bloodshed.

When Demon Lord Redsleeve finished speaking those final words, the demon army’s assault on the city officially began. Several demon generals stepped forward, took their places at the very front of the formation, and began making their deployments.

Those ordinary demon soldiers whose cultivation realms were not high and whose physiques were not strong enough would indeed be the ones to die the most on the battlefield, but at this moment, it was not yet their turn to die.

A number of powerful demons appeared at the very front of the formation. After exchanging glances, they hesitated no longer and all shot toward the city wall.

Ever since the human race gained the Northern Frontier Great Wall, the demon race had only ever had one method of attacking it - sending their powerful demons to storm the wall first.

Their purpose was not only to exhaust the bolts of those divine crossbows, but also to find an opening and carve out a path for the demons behind them.

But with more than two hundred years of experience, the Great Liang’s Northern Frontier Army had long since mastered every aspect of defending the wall. In particular, the cultivators operating the divine crossbows understood perfectly when those bolts should be fired.

A moment later, after those powerful demons had crossed about half the distance, the cultivators operating the divine crossbows finally took aim at them.

No one gave the order, but with a sharp whoosh, the first crossbow bolt, carrying an overwhelming aura, was fired.

And as the first bolt left the city wall, the second, the third... countless crossbow bolts followed!

Every bolt carried terrifying power. Over the past two hundred years, generation after generation of master craftsmen of the Great Liang Dynasty had continuously improved the divine crossbows. By now, their might was worlds apart from what it had been two centuries earlier.

A rain of bolts filled the sky as it descended. In that instant, countless demons in the first wave were pierced through.

Bloody mist blossomed, as though crimson flowers were blooming one after another between heaven and earth.