Heavy dread weighed on everyone's hearts, and in their ears echoed the low weeping of ten thousand dead souls. The Zhenbei Army, forged through blood and iron-blooded slaughter, actually felt a wave of cowardice before they had even engaged in battle.
“This killing intent...” The Prince of Zhenbei's pupils shook as if hit by an earthquake. Just how many people had he killed, and what kind of cruel slaughter had he experienced to forge such an aura?
Even without holding the saber themselves, the endless despair and the terror felt before death wafted from the blade.
This was the curse of every soul that had died beneath it.
“Zhen Shan He! That is Young Master's saber!” Old Chen's voice raised several octaves, his tone filled with excitement and shock that could not be concealed.
This killing intent... Standing on the city wall, Fengqingzi felt the aura radiating from the long saber. Even his hand holding his sword hilt trembled slightly. At this moment, he did not even have the courage to draw his sword.
And this was merely a single saber of his.
“This is way too exaggerated, haha!” Zhang Wuji's scalp went numb under the oppressive killing intent, and he couldn't help but let out a couple of dry laughs.
Ning Qingzhu was also frightened out of her wits. Her face was incredibly pale, but her hands, which had been gripping the city wall tightly, had already let go.
The atmosphere within the Zhenbei Army at this moment was terrifyingly quiet.
One after another, the sound of gulping rose from the ranks. Everyone looked as if they were facing a formidable foe, not even daring to breathe too loudly.
“Commander-in-Chief...” the vice commander whispered, his voice incredibly hoarse.
The Prince of Zhenbei did not speak. He only stared at the fiercely oppressive black saber in the distance, the chill in his eyes growing deeper.
“All forces, on alert. Await my command.”
The commander-in-chief?!
Under the watchful eyes of the Zhenbei Army, only his solitary back remained visible amidst the drifting snow.
Stepping onto the snow, the Prince of Zhenbei walked forward slowly, his crescent halberd dragging behind him on the ground, tracing a long trail in the snow and making a piercing scraping sound.
Everyone watched him. Their eyes held wariness and admiration, but above all, sheer disbelief.
They had never expected the Prince of Zhenbei to advance alone. If the entire iron-blood army pressed forward, they might still stand a chance at fighting back, but if it were just the Prince of Zhenbei alone...
After all, the title of Number One in the World had only fallen vacant because the man had vanished without a trace, not because he had been defeated and stripped of it.
The Prince of Zhenbei continued to draw closer. The entire Zhenbei Army stood behind him; they could afford to be cowardly, but he could not. For he was the Prince of Zhenbei, the commander of this army!
With every step he took, his aura soared higher, until he ultimately resembled a god of war, too dazzling to look upon directly.
The torrential killing intent suddenly paused. This pause was very peculiar, as if the entire world had fallen silent for an instant, causing an underlying sense of unease to sprout in everyone's hearts.
The Prince of Zhenbei's eyes narrowed, and he drove his crescent halberd heavily into the ground.
—Boom!
Killing intent raged, shaking the surrounding wilderness!
With the black saber at the center, the ground spiderwebbed outward in cracks. The killing intent was so dense it almost dyed the surroundings red, carrying a majestic pressure as it bore down heavily upon the Prince of Zhenbei!
A faint glow radiated from the Prince of Zhenbei's armor, but under the constant battering of the aura, it gradually began to dim.
He desperately gripped his crescent halberd, resisting the pressure unleashed by the black saber.
The crescent halberd trembled slightly in his hands, digging a deep trench into the earth. This scene filled the onlookers with dread, as if the weapon would snap in two at any moment.
The Prince of Zhenbei gritted his teeth. His pupils began to dilate, and his consciousness was continuously eroded by overwhelming despair.
He saw the crimson killing intent gathering together, intertwining with black weeping souls, ultimately condensing into a savage giant dragon...
It materialized right before him, staring at him with crimson dragon eyes, its mouth letting out high-pitched, baby-like wails that made one's skin crawl.
What is this... The Prince of Zhenbei was shocked, instinctively tightening his grip on his crescent halberd.
His dilated pupils slowly focused.
His blurred vision grew clear once more, yet this fiendish dragon still remained. It seemed he was the only one who could see it.
The Prince of Zhenbei shook all over, his aura rising once more. He stood tall on the snowy ground, tightly gripping his crescent halberd as he stared at the fiendish dragon.
The wails from the fiendish dragon grew even more piercing and shrieking as it lunged at him, baring its fangs and claws!
Like a drop of red ink falling onto white paper, the killing intent rapidly spread across the snow, locking onto the Prince of Zhenbei with an intense murderous intent.
The muscles in the Prince of Zhenbei's limbs stiffened, yet he still swung his crescent halberd with all his might, slashing furiously at the fiendish dragon!
Rip—!
Half of his armor was ripped apart by the dragon's claws, leaving three ghastly claw marks carved deep into his flesh. However, his strike also managed to slash into the fiendish dragon's underbelly, cleaving it in two right at the waist!
The Prince of Zhenbei stood tall, leaning on his crescent halberd, half of his blood-drenched chest exposed. Yet his back did not bend in the slightest, still embodying the majestic bearing of a god of war.
His chest rose and fell slightly, heavy breaths of white mist continuously escaping his mouth.
But in the eyes of the onlookers, the Prince of Zhenbei had merely swung a heavy, powerful blow with his halberd at the empty air. A sudden explosive boom echoed through the atmosphere, making everyone's eardrums ache!
Yet his armor shattered anyway, and three ghastly claw wounds appeared, stretching from his shoulder down to his chest.
“What just happened?” Ning Qingzhu stared at this scene, her face filled with shock and confusion.
“To think it could reach such a level...” A look of utter disbelief appeared on Fengqingzi's face, yet his eyes shone as if a fog had been cleared, like someone who had just caught sight of a whole new world.
“It... it is the Manifestation of Killing Intent!!” he muttered to himself.
In contrast to Ning Qingzhu's confusion, Fengqingzi was experiencing a sudden realization, catching a glimpse of the path. When he usually unleashed sword qi, it was merely an instinctive application of his inner force. He had never considered that sword qi could also possess its own form and intent!
But to achieve this, one not only had to bestow form and intent to their sword qi, but they also had to reach the realm of unity of sword and self.
Attempting it by force would, at best, result in a severe backlash to oneself, and at worst, see one's body torn to shreds by countless strands of sword intent.
He suddenly realized... Senior seemed to have manifested his killing intent.
The white mist exhaled by the Prince of Zhenbei obscured his vision, making it impossible for others to see his expression. Only he knew that within the blinding white fog, several streaks of crimson light were once again gathering.
The fiendish dragon that had been sliced in half by his crescent halberd was condensing once more, becoming even more hideous and terrifying this time.
And only he was aware of this.
Behind him, the cheers of the Zhenbei Army echoed continuously. They only knew that their commander-in-chief seemed to have won, entirely unaware of the bitterness pulling at the corners of the Prince of Zhenbei's mouth.
Death had already silently descended upon him, yet there was nothing he could do. He could only watch helplessly as the fiendish dragon lunged at him once more.
...Whew. He exhaled one last breath of white mist.
Let him die on his feet—that was the pride unique to the Prince of Zhenbei!
...
“Presumptuous!!”
The Prince of Zhenbei's mind shook as a majestic pressure surged from behind him. It bore no intent to slaughter, nor did it carry a single trace of killing intent; only an absolute majesty unique to an emperor swept across the field.
Within his dilating pupils, a majestic five-clawed golden dragon soared upward, its momentum instantly overpowering the fiendish dragon that had been rushing toward him.
The ranks of the Zhenbei Army instinctively parted to both sides, carving out a path.
A man dressed in silk robes walked forward, his face completely expressionless, yet his eyes carried an absolute indifference that looked down upon the entire world.
By his side followed an old eunuch.
“Is... is that the Emperor?!!”
“What?!!”
A wave of kneeling rustled through the Zhenbei Army as they bowed their heads, not daring to look directly upon the majesty of the Son of Heaven.
“Emperor Yewu...” The City Lord of Yinhan City's voice trembled, his eyes filled with shock.
The Emperor of the Tianwu Kingdom had actually arrived on the battlefield in person!!
With the dragon qi of an entire nation concentrated in his body, he actually managed to suppress the surrounding shroud of killing intent.
Ji Ye walked over unhurriedly. He did not spare the Prince of Zhenbei a single glance, his gaze instead landing on the figure in the distance.
Middest the howling cold wind and dancing snow, a figure stood beside the black saber, clad in a tattered black robe that obscured his build.
Upon his face was only a mask, half of which was stained red.
His appearance was silent and without a sound, yet more and more eyes fell upon him, unable to look away. For that black robe was simply too conspicuous against the snowy white of the northern plains.
Simply because...
That mask had been a staple of countless tavern storytellers' tales, circulating throughout the jianghu for far too long.
And even more so, because it was an unshakable legend.
“Ha... You have got to be kidding me...” Hu Mei'er, who was already standing on the city wall, stared at that legendary black robe, her voice trembling uncontrollably.
That man had been telling the truth. She really couldn't escape—she wouldn't even have the chance to run.
The soldiers of the Zhenbei Army stared blankly at Ghost-Mask. Peering through the mask, what they saw were the eyes of the Grim Reaper himself.
“You are not bad, to be able to exchange two blows with my saber,” Ghost-Mask evaluated indifferently. Reaching out, his hand loosely gripped the hilt, slowly drawing the saber...
A ripple of emotion finally flickered in Ji Ye's eyes!
Whether it was the Zhenbei Army or the people of Yinhan City, everyone made the exact same movement at this moment.
They raised their heads in utter disbelief. Snow was still drifting down from the sky, but it was now tinged with a bizarre, vivid crimson.
The sky had turned red.
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