Red Armor, Silver Armor: Wolf of the Eastern Capital!

As everyone laughed and joked around, a deep roar suddenly rang out.

It's here! Bai Ge thought.

When Bai Ge had exposed Tang San's background earlier, his system had issued a reward:

Your Fourth Spirit Ring delivery is about to arrive. Please be ready to receive it.

Along with the roar came a massive lion, its entire body seeming to be forged from gold. It was over seven meters long, nearly eight, with a shoulder height of two meters. Its two exposed fangs were like a pair of sharp swords!

Xiao Wu's little face went pale with fright. "A Golden Saber-Toothed Lion—and a fifty-thousand-year Golden Saber-Toothed Lion at that!"

Zhao Wuji froze. "What?"

Xiao Wu hurriedly explained, "The Golden Saber-Toothed Lion is a mutant breed descended from the Saber-Toothed Lion.

It is also the king of the Saber-Toothed Lion spirit beast race.

Ordinary Saber-Toothed Lions are merely thousand-year spirit beasts. They are two to 2.7 meters long and just over a meter tall at the shoulder. Aside from their two enormous sword-like fangs, they are no different from ordinary lions.

But Golden Saber-Toothed Lions start at 2.7 meters long, growing another meter for every ten thousand years of cultivation. This one is nearly eight meters long, meaning it has at least fifty thousand years of cultivation!"

Xiao Wu anxiously tried to dissuade Bai Ge. "It's impossible to hunt it for your Fourth Spirit Ring! Never mind whether you can defeat it—the upper limit for a Soul Master's Fourth Spirit Ring is around five thousand years.

The Fifth Spirit Ring can absorb roughly twelve thousand years.

The Sixth Spirit Ring can absorb up to twenty thousand years.

The Seventh Spirit Ring ranges from thirty to fifty thousand years. Only upon reaching the Eighth Spirit Ring is it possible to absorb a spirit beast ring over fifty thousand years old.

Only the final Ninth Spirit Ring has the possibility of absorbing a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast."

Bai Ge smiled and shook his head. "Xiao Wu, have you ever seen me fight at full strength?"

Xiao Wu froze, as did the rest of Shrek.

Bai Ge smiled. "No. Forget me—even when Little San truly fought at full strength, none of you have ever seen it."

Bai Ge turned to face Tang San. They exchanged a smile, sharing an unspoken understanding. "Whether it's me or Little San, what we truly excel at is not fighting, but killing!"

Those final two simple words made even Zhao Wuji, the Immovable Bright King whose vicious reputation had once spread throughout the Soul Master world, feel a faint chill in his heart!

"If I had to put it into words, what Little San excels at is assassinating beneath the cover of darkness and claiming lives. What I excel at is close-quarters combat, fighting to the death."

At this point, Bai Ge could not help grumbling inwardly. In the later stages, Tang San would often just grab Poseidon's Trident or the Clear Sky Hammer and charge straight in.

Whenever Bai Ge saw that, he could not help complaining. Do you even remember that you're from the Tang Sect? You're a ranged fighter—why the hell are you playing melee?!

Looking at the Shrek group, Bai Ge could not help chuckling. "If Little San truly unleashed all his methods, you wouldn't even know how you died.

In Shu's great clans, strife arose; dark clouds surged across the nine heavens.

Needles, feathers, nails, and thorns danced between ten fingers; raging storms and flying stars overturned heaven and earth.

Better provoke the King of Hell than a Tang Sect man. That is the best advice I can give you."

Having said that, Bai Ge slowly stepped forward and stood before everyone!

Suddenly, a clanging cry like the roar of a tiger and the chant of a dragon rang out!

A long spear appeared in Bai Ge's hand, adorned with plum blossoms red as weeping blood.

It was eight chi and one cun long, weighing thirty-seven jin and four liang.

Though it was called a spear, Bai Ge felt that halberd was the more accurate description.

Halberds came in two types. The double-bladed variety was the Fangtian Halberd, and the one Bai Ge knew best from his previous life was wielded by the greatest warrior of the Three Kingdoms, Marquis Lü Bu, Lü Fengxian.

The single-bladed variety was the Azure Dragon Halberd. The one Bai Ge knew best was Holy Halberd Divine Sigh, wielded by Yan Gui Ren, known as the Central Plains' God of War.

The level-110 Tian Ce orange weapon in Bai Ge's hand, Weeping Blood, was quite similar to Holy Halberd Divine Sigh.

The moment Weeping Blood appeared in Bai Ge's hand, the Golden Saint Armor on his body transformed into the appearance of the Tian Ce Po Jun Set!

Long spear in hand, red armor and silver armor—the Wolf of the Eastern Capital!

This was Tian Ce!

If Bai Ge in his usual Golden Saint Armor was like a deity descending into the mortal world, untouched by worldly karma, seeming both real and unreal—

Then Bai Ge, transformed into Tian Ce, felt like blazing fire, carrying the iron-blooded slaughterous aura of one who rode across battlefields.

It was the open and righteous majesty of a thousand troops and ten thousand horses, victorious in a hundred battles!

Gazing at the Golden Saber-Toothed Lion before him, Bai Ge's lips curled into a cold smile. With a flick of his wrist, twelve spear blossoms bloomed in an instant alongside the crimson plum blossoms adorning Weeping Blood's blade!

It was Tian Ce's foundational spear art, the very basis of Tian Ce martial arts—the Plum Blossom Spear Technique, created by the legendary general Huo Qubing!

The spear's momentum was like a flood dragon emerging from the sea, a rainbow arcing across the heavens!

A flash of bloody cold light pressed onward without hesitation!

Where the spear pointed, heaven and earth alike were wounded!

Galloping in all directions, making ghosts weep and gods howl!

"Swift as the wind, shaking as thunder!"

With a furious roar, Bai Ge unleashed his burst from the very start!

Under the infusion of the incomparably fierce Proud Blood Battle Spirit internal energy, combined with the defense-ignoring Space Blade enhancement of the Silver Emperor Skyfalcon External Soul Bone and Weeping Blood's own sharpness, the Golden Saber-Toothed Lion's golden fur—which had originally been impervious to blades and spears—was no different from paper before Bai Ge's strike, which combined both strength and speed.

Its throat, head, heart... every vital point was completely covered!

In a single instant, twelve transparent holes appeared across the fifty-thousand-year Golden Saber-Toothed Lion's body!

Dai Mubai's knees went weak, and he dropped straight to his knees.

The chubby Ma Hongjun and Oscar collapsed onto the ground.

Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing clung to the nearby trees and vomited violently.

Xiao Wu's eyes went blank, her mind empty as she muttered, "No, impossible... This has to be my imagination!"

It was no wonder Xiao Wu's worldview had shattered. Back then, she had nearly ended up in the jaws of a Golden Saber-Toothed Lion. Had the Titan Giant Ape Er Ming not arrived in time, she would have become its snack.

Da Ming and Er Ming acknowledged Xiao Wu as their elder sister because Xiao Wu's mother had protected them during their childhood.

Later, they protected Xiao Wu in return.

(This is my own additional setting. This book's plot draws from both the original novel and the anime. As for the comic, it will not be considered; it deviates too much from the original.)

But precisely because she had nearly died in its jaws before, Xiao Wu had been frightened of Golden Saber-Toothed Lions before even fighting them!

Who would have thought that today, Bai Ge would kill one on the spot with twelve strikes from a single spear?

The Weeping Blood granted to Bai Ge by the system was less a martial soul than a bonded divine weapon.

It required no Soul Rings. The moment he grasped Weeping Blood, the system passed down to him everything belonging to Cao Xuehan, the JX3 Tian Ce account character Bai Ge had personally created!

Or rather, Cao Xuehan was Bai Ge's counterpart in the JX3 Great Tang world!

Cao Xuehan had been Bai Ge's first Tian Ce character, and also the only character he had not leveled through quests. During the war in Tian Ce, he had slaughtered Wolf Fang soldiers for an entire day and night, forcibly grinding his way to max level.

At the time, the "Battle of Tian Ce" expansion had launched, and the game developers announced that the players' actions would determine the direction of the story!

Thus, Bai Ge, who had been intensely invested in JX3 at the time, completely lost his mind!

He controlled his character and went straight to Tian Ce.

With bloodshot eyes, he killed for an entire day and night, forcefully reaching max level!

The corpses of the Wolf Fang soldier NPCs who fell beneath his spear could not even refresh in time!

He even wore out a keyboard.

Fortunately, Sister Cao was safe and sound in the end.

Unfortunately, the later JX3 was no longer the jianghu they had held in their hearts. The chaotic storylines and utterly unrecognizable skills left him completely disheartened.

Uncle Ye Boxiu of Hidden Sword, thrown into the sword-forging furnace until not even his bones remained; old Master Sun Simiao, the Medical Saint who died after absorbing countless disease gu into himself to save others in the Valley of Ten Thousand Flowers; and that little girl Su Yuebai of the Valley of Ten Thousand Flowers, who always carried a little rabbit and ultimately died a miserable death...

After that, he half-played and half-quit, effectively retiring from the game.

What the system gave Bai Ge was the complete life and memories of his counterpart in JX3's Great Tang, the Tian Ce warrior named Cao Xuehan—including his martial arts, spear techniques, and emotions!

These memories had also been influenced by Bai Ge's own actions.

From becoming a disciple and entering Tian Ce, to receiving guidance from General Cao Xueyang, the General Who Spreads Might, and advancing rapidly in martial skill.

Then, after completing his training, he entered the jianghu.

He rose to fame while young, high-spirited and full of vigor, dressed in fine clothes and riding a spirited horse.

The An Lushan Rebellion erupted, and Tian Ce was destroyed.

Though he admired General Cao Xueyang, how could he possibly indulge in romantic feelings at such a time?

His battle robe stained with blood, he defended Tian Ce to the death. Before Lingyan Pavilion, no one took another step back!

The battle lasted an entire day and night. More than ten thousand Wolf Fang scum died beneath his spear, forging his world-renowned title of "Blood Shura."

Yet from Manor Lord Li Chengen down to the newest recruits, no one knew that all he had ever wanted was a single smile from General Cao Xueyang.

The war was quelled, but the eight years of smoke and flames had drained all her heart's blood and vitality.

Several years later, as she watched the Great Tang gradually recover its former prosperity, she passed away with a smile.

The youth who had once studied martial arts under her had become a famed general. Returning from the battlefield, he had intended, as before, to boast of his military achievements to her. Yet what he saw was a scene he refused to believe.

When you were born, I had not yet been born. When I was born, you had already grown old.

Before the words could be spoken, the one they were meant for was already gone.

Ten days later, while suppressing a rebellion at the border, Cao Xuehan routed the enemy army but ultimately perished together with the enemy general. He was buried at Tian Ce Manor, Mount Bei Mang, in the Generals' Tomb.

(Cao Xuehan was the protagonist of the author's first book. It was never contracted and was later 404'd.

Yet he was also the character into whom the author poured the most effort, so this serves as an explanation for him.

Because the work was never contracted and was 404'd, it was given a tragic ending.

Also: because this book does not have a single female lead, it will not involve JX3 instances.

Any work in which the author decides Sister Cao will be the female lead will definitely have only one female lead.)