Monster Army!

"Senior Wu!" Jiang Yuan started, quickly dissipating his force and catching the flying figure. It was Master Wu.

Master Wu's breathing was weak. His trembling finger rose and pointed into the distance.

"Quick..."

Jiang Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly and discovered that, at some unknown moment, an army had appeared in the distance. At the very front of that army, a figure was locked in a deadly battle with two Internal Force masters.

Invisible Internal Force scattered in every direction, carving ravines across the surrounding earth. Sand and stones flew through the air; ordinary soldiers could not approach.

The strength of Internal Force masters was beyond doubt. Their qi and blood were irresistible, and within this domain of formations that those above the Internal Force realm could not enter, they were nearly invincible.

Yet the three masters had first encountered those bizarre demons, then this person before them.

Neither could be defeated even by joining forces. Just who was the person the three of them now had to face together?

An Internal Force master?

Jiang Yuan steadied his breathing. After setting Master Wu aside, he charged forward with the army without the slightest hesitation.

Watching Jiang Yuan rush away, Master Wu's eyes suddenly widened. "Quick... run..."

Jiang Yuan could no longer hear Master Wu's words. He had not expended much of his qi and blood earlier, and still retained roughly seventy percent of it.

Besides, his most powerful method now was still having the Army Soul of a general star possess him. Qi and blood was not the most important thing.

Seeing that the two Internal Force masters were about to collapse, Jiang Yuan strode forward. Sha Qi coiled around him, and the phantom of a Black Bird emerged.

He swept lightly yet powerfully into the battle.

"Boy! Why did you come here?!" Master Wang wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and struck out again. His Internal Force danced through the sky, nearly solidifying into form.

Master Cai glanced at Jiang Yuan. With no time to think, his attacks became even fiercer.

The instant Jiang Yuan engaged his opponent, his heart jolted.

The same aura! The enemy before him was also a general star!

And, like him, a general star seed of qi and blood. But weren't general star seeds of this caliber supposed to be exceedingly rare?

Jiang Yuan studied the enemy before him, clad in iron armor that gleamed with cold light and wielding a massive axe.

A faceplate covered his face, making his features impossible to see. Only, the faceplate protruded slightly forward in a strange fashion. His attacks were exceedingly sharp; one glance was enough to tell that he was a soldier who had weathered countless battles in the army.

What surprised Jiang Yuan was that Sha Qi also emanated from this man's body, weaving itself into an enormous, majestic Golden Eagle.

The Golden Eagle's gaze was razor-sharp, as though it could see through everything. What chilled Jiang Yuan was that the Sha Qi contained within this Golden Eagle was far stronger than that of his Black Bird phantom.

The moment Jiang Yuan exchanged blows with him, he fell into a disadvantage.

Moreover, the Sha Qi on this man's body differed from his own. It seemed mixed with something else; whenever Jiang Yuan attacked him, the Sha Qi on his own body was consumed at a startling rate.

"Boy! Leave first! There's something wrong with his Sha Qi! There's something wrong with the army below too! Go quickly and report what happened here to the Imperial Preceptor." As he spoke, Master Cai moved to attack, intending to entangle the armored warrior and give Jiang Yuan a chance to escape.

Yet in the next moment—

Bang!

Master Cai took a heavy blow to the chest. Spittle mixed with blood sprayed from his mouth as he stared in disbelief at the third arm extending from beneath the armored warrior's armpit. Then he shot backward like a falling star.

Jiang Yuan stared uncertainly at the extra arm beneath the armored warrior's armpit.

That arm looked as though it had just grown anew, its surface coated in an unknown transparent mucus.

At that moment, the Black Profound Army behind Jiang Yuan collided with the army behind the armored warrior, which had remained utterly silent all this time.

The Black Profound Army, always unstoppable, was instead met with a crushing assault.

Jiang Yuan's attention split for an instant. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw those seemingly ordinary Golden Court soldiers suddenly grow another pair of arms beneath their armpits. Their faces thrust forward, transforming into horse-like shapes, while another pair of eyes appeared behind their original eyes.

These people... no, these definitely weren't people!

In the instant Jiang Yuan was distracted, the armored warrior rapidly grew a fourth arm, then lashed it at Jiang Yuan like a whip.

Jiang Yuan snapped back to his senses, but it was already too late to block.

Sha Qi crashed into him, and the Black Bird phantom around Jiang Yuan instantly scattered.

At that moment, a figure appeared before Jiang Yuan. It was Master Wang.

"Senior Wang..." Jiang Yuan had only just instinctively begun to cry out when the tremendous force sent him flying backward.

Jiang Yuan caught Master Wang and landed, dissipating the force.

After rolling several times, he dropped to one knee. He looked at the armored warrior slowly walking toward him, his face grave but utterly fearless.

He only sighed softly.

Looks like I'll have to wait for the next simulation again...

That was what Jiang Yuan thought. At that moment, Master Wang lay before him with weak breathing. He struggled to open his eyes, then, drawing strength from who knew where, raised his upper jaw slightly and moved his throat, as though swallowing something.

Then an immense surge of Internal Force was born within Master Wang's body.

"Go!" Bloodied spittle splashed onto Jiang Yuan's face, but Jiang Yuan felt not the slightest disgust. He stared blankly as Master Wang rose from the ground like a tottering old man and charged toward the armored warrior, growing faster and faster. He stomped heavily against the ground, and dense yet unstable Internal Force mingled around the longsword in his hand as it thrust toward the armored warrior.

Then...

Squelch

Master Wang was sent flying backward once more.

Jiang Yuan's body flickered slightly as he caught Master Wang.

Looking at the increasingly dim light in Master Wang's eyes, Jiang Yuan let out a soft sigh.

Let's risk it.

"Senior Wang, until we meet again..."

After leaving behind those incomprehensible words, Jiang Yuan picked up Master Wang's iron sword, which had been blasted away.

With the iron sword in hand, Jiang Yuan's aura abruptly changed.

If he had previously been a military spear formation—grim, iron-blooded, cold, and merciless—then Jiang Yuan now was a wandering swordsman's blade: unrestrained and elegant, unafraid of royal authority.

A faint sword gleam flickered in Jiang Yuan's eyes.

He pointed his sword at the armored warrior, and Sword Intent was born around him.

The hallmark of martial attainments at the Sublime Mastery level was cultivating "Intent"—Sword Intent, Blade Intent, Spear Intent...

Martial attainment at this level had already transcended the restrictions of the original martial art, reaching the realm of Intent—mysterious beyond mystery.

A faint Phoenix Cry rang out. Jiang Yuan's scattered Sha Qi actually gathered of its own accord, once again forming the phantom of a Black Bird.

Yet this Black Bird was exceptionally excited this time, with a trace of spiritual light appearing in its avian eyes.

Sensing a hint of danger from Jiang Yuan, the armored warrior's muscles shifted slightly. Then a huge crater appeared in the ground, and the armored warrior vanished.

The next instant, he appeared before Jiang Yuan. Four thick arms reached out to seize him, while the great axe had somehow been discarded by the armored warrior.

The Golden Eagle-shaped phantom of an Army Soul around him overlapped with the armored warrior. The two had actually fused into one.

Jiang Yuan turned his sword. Sword Qi flashed sharply, and tiny wounds appeared across the armored warrior's two exposed arms, while the iron armor on his body also cracked slightly.

Jiang Yuan thrust out his sword at an incomparably tricky angle, carrying a faint trace of the Severing Gate Saber. As the sword edge moved—

One arm flew away.

Jiang Yuan glanced at the wound on that arm. There was not a trace of blood; instead, strands of flesh buds kept winding and tangling outward, seemingly regenerating the arm.

Jiang Yuan's gaze remained calm. He unleashed his sword technique, his long sword trembling as a Phoenix Cry sounded.

The Black Bird phantom around Jiang Yuan seemed to answer him, opening its beak in a silent cry as well.

The two clashed without end.

At that moment, a figure fought his way through the Golden Court soldiers and drew close to the battle.

It was Master Cai, who had been sent flying earlier.

Master Cai stared at the two locked in combat, disbelief written across his face.

"What kind of monster is this?! And this kid actually comprehended Sword Intent!" As Master Cai cried out in astonishment, seven or eight monstrous Golden Court warriors pounced at him.

Master Cai frowned. These Golden Court warriors actually possessed the traits of the flesh-and-blood monsters they had encountered before. His Internal Force was having almost no effect on their bodies!

Jiang Yuan did not see Master Cai's predicament. Beads of sweat the size of soybeans rolled down his forehead—his qi and blood were no longer sufficient!

Jiang Yuan gritted his teeth, seized an opening, and unleashed the final form of the Phoenix Cry Sword Technique.

Nine Phoenixes Facing the Sun!

Nine streaks of sword light shot out, forcibly shattering the armored warrior's iron armor. Jiang Yuan's iron sword shattered as well, and the web between his thumb and forefinger split open, spraying blood.

Jiang Yuan collapsed helplessly to the ground.

Worse still, the Sha Qi around him was steadily dwindling. The Black Bird phantom could no longer hold on.

If anyone had been observing the battlefield, they would have seen that of the three thousand Black Profound Army soldiers, not even one in ten remained.

And the generation of Sha Qi required an iron-blooded army.