Night Falls, Demons Come, My Blade Illuminates the Night Like Day!

Atop the city wall.

These three hundred and sixty paces fell within the guard range of the Lin Jiang Department.

Every thirty paces, a Willow Branch Night-Illuminating Lamp stood lit.

By rights, each Willow Branch Night-Illuminating Lamp required a lamp keeper.

Yet today, only one man sat upright atop the wall. Empty silence stretched to either side, bleak and desolate.

The evening wind always carried a sense of autumnal desolation.

Lin Yan's expression was blank as he gathered the loose strands at his temples, scattered by the autumn wind, behind his ear. Then he slowly looked back.

Behind him lay Gao Liu City. The first thing to catch the eye was Lin Jiang Ward, followed by Qing Shan Ward, Casting Cauldron Ward, Nourishing Origin Ward...

Even from this height, the Inner City could not be seen. This alone showed the immense scale and vast expanse of Gao Liu City.

He withdrew his gaze and looked down at his palm.

His palm remained as it had always been, without any abnormality.

Yet when he had accepted the Haoyang Talisman earlier, the mark of that strange egg had appeared upon it.

"The Haoyang Talisman comes from Phoenix Perch Prefecture City, originating from Wutong Temple. It can ward off evil."

"But even the Haoyang Talisman could not dispel this trace in my palm."

"What exactly is it?"

A shadow settled over Lin Yan's heart.

He turned his head toward the west, his gaze grave.

The setting sun had drawn its curtain, and the rosy clouds had faded.

The last lingering ray of daylight seemed to struggle as it gradually dimmed, until it vanished without a trace.

Darkness shrouded the land.

As though hell itself had descended.

At the instant darkness fell, he saw something far beyond the city.

A bird that had failed to reach a "pure ground" in time suddenly let out a miserable shriek.

The next moment, the sound cut off abruptly. Only the night wind swept past, leaving no trace behind.

The wind wailed sharply, like ghosts crying and demons howling, sending chills through the heart.

Even someone as strong as Lin Yan, an Essence Refining Realm cultivator, felt goosebumps rise over his skin as the night wind brushed past him. He could not help frowning.

The darker the sky became, the brighter the Willow Branch Night-Illuminating Lamps upon the wall shone.

"How much Sha Qi can I obtain tonight?"

With that thought in mind, Lin Yan slowly rose.

He removed the saber at his waist and planted it on the ground, sheath and all, quietly watching the darkness ahead.

At his side lay a packet of incense ash.

Short, slender arrows were stuck into the ash one after another.

To his right rested a small hand crossbow. An arrow was already nocked upon it, its keen arrowhead thickly coated in incense ash.

The night wind continued to blow, carrying a biting chill.

Everything seemed ordinary.

For the ritual altar in the Inner City had not yet begun.

At this moment, the Willow Branch Night-Illuminating Lamps were denser than usual, declaring the boundary and proclaiming where the Willow Venerable resided.

Under normal circumstances, the demons and evil things in the darkness feared the Willow Venerable's aura and would not easily draw near.

But once the ritual altar began, the immense incense-and-worship energy contained within the Inner City would draw the evil entities and monsters beyond the city walls.

The temptation of the ritual altar's enormous incense-and-worship energy would outweigh their fear of the Willow Venerable.

Therefore, once the ritual altar opened, darkness would surely come surging in.

As the outermost ward in the southern district of the Outer City, Lin Jiang Ward would bear the brunt of it.

His closest friends and neighbors were all within it.

Lin Yan gently wiped down his long blade, his gaze as calm as a lake.

He paced slowly, leaving a stack of white paper every hundred paces.

When he returned to his original spot and saw that the darkness remained still, he merely closed his eyes slightly, his expression tranquil.

About half an hour passed.

The cold wind remained fierce, and the stillness in the darkness was no different from nights past.

Yet an indescribably heavy gloom hung over the city wall and weighed upon everyone's heart.

The calmer it was, the more unsettling it became.

"After tranquility comes the raging storm."

Lin Yan abruptly opened his eyes, brilliance gleaming within them.

With a sweep of his longsword, its edge flashed bare.

Blade light flared through the night.

Night had fallen; fiends ran rampant!

Within three hundred and sixty paces, with the blade in my hand, I shall make this night as bright as day!

"They're here!"

"The Inner City ritual altar has been activated. The twelve temple priests have all taken the stage."

Grand Commander Zhao Zhou spoke slowly, his tone grave.

Though he was already advanced in years, the long halberd in his hand still lent him a fierce, chilling majesty.

His armor bore many marks left by the passage of time.

His helmet, shoulder guards, breastplate, backplate, and other pieces all bore numerous conspicuous claw marks.

Most notably, a long, narrow blade scar ran across the backplate. Though it had been repaired, the trace remained plainly visible.

This entire suit of armor was steeped in a dense aura of incense offerings.

For decades, every three months, he had sent this armor to the Temple of Lord Liu to be enshrined for three days. Touched by Lord Liu's divine might, it could keep Wandering Souls and evil spirits from drawing near him.

Holding his long halberd, he personally climbed the city wall and stared straight into the darkness ahead.

Six personal guards stood behind him, all archers scattered to either side.

"You are only to shoot the fiends in the sky. Do not let a single one slip through!"

Zhao Zhou spoke slowly and solemnly. "Though this Old Man is advanced in years, I can still wield a Divine Weapon! I am confident that within six hundred paces to either side, none who climb the city wall shall pass the edge of my halberd!"

His gaze blazed with fierce sharpness.

He seemed no longer a feeble old man in the twilight of his years, but as though he had returned to thirty years ago—at the height of his strength, high-spirited and full of vigor.

He had once commanded over a hundred personal guards, but to ease the pressure on all fronts, he had sent them all away, leaving only these six green young archers.

First, they could assist him. Second, before growing too old, he wished to train a few more elite defenders for the city.

"I really am old."

"Back then, I would have needed only one elite archer to help me defend six hundred paces of the wall."

Zhao Zhou felt somewhat wistful, but at the thought that followed, his heart sank another three degrees.

"But that newly appointed Banner Bearer is still young, his cultivation still shallow, yet he must defend three hundred and sixty paces alone."

"Perhaps the Outer Southern Department has given him something to rely on, but city defense allows no room for luck. If anything goes wrong, it will be the people within the city who suffer."

Thinking this, he turned his head and asked, "By my order, Zhao Jing was to select twenty men and go assist Banner Bearer Impermanence. Has he left?"

"He departed half a quarter-hour ago. By all rights, he should be arriving soon," a young soldier replied gravely.

"Good. Zhao Jing's abilities are already outstanding among the younger generation. He should be able to hold things steady."

As his words fell, Zhao Zhou's eyes suddenly lit up, killing intent flashing through them.

His long halberd suddenly swept out, and a streak of ghostly light was split apart in an instant.

Yet not far away, it gathered together again.

But as though cowed by his killing intent, it fled back into the darkness.

"That is a Wandering Spirit. It excels at invading one's mind and harming one's soul."

"But it has no physical form. Ordinary blades and weapons cannot harm it, making it exceedingly troublesome for Martial Arts practitioners."

"However, this Divine Weapon of mine has been blessed by Lord Liu's aura and stained with incense ash. It can heavily injure Wandering Spirits!"

Before Zhao Zhou's words had faded, a shadow appeared beneath the Willow Branch Night-Illuminating Lamp twenty paces to the left.

It had originally leapt onto the city wall at tremendous speed, but beneath the Willow Branch Night-Illuminating Lamp's radiance, fear rose within it. Its movements slowed, becoming delayed and sluggish.

Zhao Zhou's expression turned stern. He immediately stamped his foot, leapt twenty paces to the left, and swung his long halberd, cleaving a wild fox into two.

"This is a fiend that has become a Spirit. Though it is already considered powerful, it is ultimately flesh and blood and can be slain by weapons!"

"A wild fox itself is not particularly powerful. Only after it becomes a Spirit and transforms into a demon does it undergo metamorphosis, far surpassing its own kind."

"Yet limited by the innate physical body of its species, it is roughly equivalent to the peak of the second stage of Martial Arts—the Marrow Cleansing stage!"

"Many demon beasts that have become Spirits in the mountains and forests are even killed by tigers, leopards, and vicious wolves that have yet to awaken their intelligence. That is because such ferocious beasts are born with powerful physiques!"

"For instance, once a tiger reaches adulthood, it is comparable to a human martial artist at the peak of Inner Strengthening. Should it awaken its intelligence, become a Spirit, and transform into a Demon Tiger, it would rival a great figure of the Essence Refining Realm."

"However, for demons of that level, the Inner City's ritual altar will provide a portion of incense offerings to placate them."

"Therefore, the Wandering Spirits and fiends we face usually do not exceed this level."

Zhao Zhou followed the sound and stepped forward again. In only three strides, he crossed more than thirty meters. His long halberd came down, cleaving apart a swath of mist.

"This is another kind of Wandering Spirit, formed from strange energies in the water. It's relatively rarer."

He looked in the other directions and said in a low voice, "In the darkness, evil spirits and demonic fiends are beyond counting... Without the Willow Branch Night-Illuminating Lamp to deter them, without the incense candles and flames of the Temple of Lord Liu, and without this incense ash to restrain them, even at my peak, Old Man would inevitably be exhausted to death!"

He was already at the peak of Internal Strength. Though age had diminished his qi and blood, his cultivation was formidable nonetheless.

Yet at the other defensive positions, there were generally only soldiering men with a rudimentary grasp of martial arts, and most of their leaders were at the first threshold of Martial Arts.

Those somewhat stronger had tempered the four realms of Skin, Flesh, Tendons, Bones, reaching the major accomplishment stage of the first threshold.

Those weaker were even no more than beginners in Skin Tempering.

"I hope the ritual altar in the Inner City can be completed soon. Otherwise, there will certainly be no small number of casualties tonight."

"But what Old Man worries about most is still that newly appointed Banner Bearer."

As Grand Commander Zhao Zhou spoke, he reached into his robes and took out the Haoyang Talisman that had been returned.

He wielded his long halberd with seeming ease, but his breathing had already grown labored.

He extended the talisman paper ahead of him, using the flame of the Willow Branch Night-Illuminating Lamp to burn it.

At the sight, the expressions of the six archers all changed slightly.

This meant that the Grand Commander's qi and blood had been depleted too severely, forcing him to use a Haoyang Talisman to bolster his yang energy and stimulate his qi and blood.

Though the talisman was highly effective for an old man, it would inevitably shorten his lifespan.

The Grand Commander, at the peak of Internal Strength, had been defending these six hundred paces of city wall and was already feeling fatigued.

Banner Bearer Impermanence was defending three hundred and sixty paces. Shouldn't he have already collapsed from exhaustion and died by now?

"Stop spacing out. There's a Demonic Bird in the sky!"

Zhao Zhou stamped his foot, kicking an incense candle into the air. It lit up a patch of darkness, revealing a great eagle.

Three arrows thickly coated in incense ash followed, all piercing into the eagle's belly!

"Your archery is decent, but your coordination is poor. You still need more training!"

"Three arrows fired together at one eagle—among the personal guards Old Man has led, you are the worst batch."

"What Old Man demonstrated earlier was the most straightforward way to deal with enemies. From here on, it's time to conserve some strength."

"Otherwise, you won't make it through the second half of the night."

As Grand Commander Zhao Zhou spoke, he sighed helplessly to himself.

After all, when leading recruits into their first battle, he had to establish his authority and show these young men what this old man could do, so he could suppress their youthful fire.

But now that he had established his authority, it was time to conserve his strength.

His qi and blood returned to their flourishing peak, yet he began to restrain his imposing aura.

Amid the darkness, in the eyes of countless demons and evils, he gradually became Blood Food that was not especially powerful, yet more delicious than an ordinary person!

Luring the demons and evils here, sparing himself from running back and forth, was the more energy-saving method.

But for himself, it was also comparatively more dangerous.