A sliver of fish-belly white appeared along the eastern horizon.
Dawn had yet to break, but the sky was already bright.
The scenery of the world gradually came into focus.
The city had long since echoed with crowing roosters, their calls rising and falling, loud and clear.
By this hour, all evil spirits had retreated, and the demons had fled into the forests.
"This night is finally over."
Lin Yan carried his saber as he slowly walked along the city wall.
Wherever he passed, a light slap reduced the paper figures to scraps that scattered in the wind.
The three hundred and sixty paces of city defenses under his Lin Jiang Department had not been breached by the demons and evil spirits.
But beyond those three hundred and sixty paces, the stench of blood was overwhelmingly pungent.
The two sides had been torn open, leaving a six-hundred-pace gap.
If he had not taken his saber to seal the breach, reignited the Willow Branch Night-Illuminating Lamp, and stationed paper figures there to cow the demons and evil spirits, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
At this moment, Lin Yan looked at the mangled corpse on the ground, his expression heavy.
It had been a young man, but he had been torn apart alive, his intestines spilling across the ground, his blood thick, his limbs shattered, flesh and bone ripped apart.
Not far away, a head with bulging eyes and a face awash in bloody tears had rolled off to one side.
A six-hundred-pace gap meant that at least twenty soldiers defending the city had died in the darkness.
Quite a few members of the Patrolling Squad responsible for providing support had also died defending this stretch of wall.
The soldier before him was merely one of them.
"..."
Lin Yan bowed, then slapped apart the paper figure he had left on the wall the previous night.
He continued forward and saw a headless corpse lying on the ground in the distance.
Its head had been severed by a sharp blade.
Examining the wound closely, it appeared that the soldier had been ambushed while defending the city, his head chopped off from behind.
The chaos of the previous night had not come solely from the demons and evil spirits lurking in the darkness.
Lin Yan recalled the person who had swung a blade at his back.
That person had been wearing iron armor and was probably a high-ranking member of the City Defense Army.
What weighed most heavily on Lin Yan's heart was that the man had been carrying a Willow Branch Night-Illuminating Lamp.
"That was a genuine Willow Branch Night-Illuminating Lamp. Its lamp oil had not been replaced."
"He was not an evil spirit in disguise, nor was he possessed by an evil spirit. He was a true human."
"Why would a high-ranking member of the City Defense Army, a top expert in the upper levels of the Inner Strengthening Realm, betray the city, open a breach, and let the demons and evil spirits into the city?"
As he thought, he quickened his pace and arrived at the place where he had slain that person yesterday.
The lower half of the mutilated body still lay on the city wall, its life force utterly gone.
Lin Yan leaned out and looked down from the wall.
He saw only the corpses of birds, beasts, demons, and Lesser Demons that had been slain below.
All those corpses had been reduced to rotting flesh, some even decomposing, devoured by other demons and evil spirits in the darkness.
The upper half of the body he had severed yesterday was nowhere to be seen.
That was normal enough. To demons and evil spirits, a human body was a great medicine, far more delicious than ordinary Blood Food.
That half of the human body had surely been devoured completely the previous night, without even a trace of flesh, blood, sinew, or bone left behind.
Just as Lin Yan thought this, he suddenly froze.
The city wall was six zhang high.
Looking down from above, the ground was already quite distant.
Yet with the eyesight of the Essence Refining Realm, he could see everything with exceptional clarity.
Several blood-red characters were written on the ground.
The characters were small; from above, they were as fine as grains of sand.
The writing was messy, as though the person who had written it had endured immense pain and could not stop trembling.
"Vengeance for being cut in half—I will have it one day!"
"..."
Lin Yan's brows drew tightly together in an instant.
He said in a low voice, "Even with only half a body, after falling into the darkness, he still managed to live?"
Under normal circumstances, even someone in the Essence Refining Realm could not survive being cut in half, with only the upper body remaining.
What was more, that person's upper body had fallen six zhang from the city wall. It should have been smashed into bloody mud.
Yet he had still managed to leave behind a line of blood writing?
More importantly, after falling into the darkness, surrounded by demons and monsters beneath the wall and endless evil spirits, how had he not been devoured in an instant?
This was someone capable of serving as a high-ranking member of the City Defense Army in Gao Liu City!
Someone who feared neither the Willow Branch Night-Illuminating Lamp nor its light!
And someone who could remain unharmed by demons and evil spirits in the darkness?
Who exactly was this person?
As he thought this, Lin Yan's gaze fell to his feet, where the lower half of the body lay.
"Last night, your whole body was intact, and I still cut you down with one slash. Why would I fear half a mutilated corpse?"
--
The rising sun had just crested the horizon, and dawn had just begun.
At the Sky Gazing Tower in the Inner City, it had been determined that the calamity of the night was over. Most of the things within a hundred li that could threaten Gao Liu City's safety had already retreated beyond that distance.
Meanwhile, in the Outer City, every district was carrying out the aftermath according to the original plan.
Personnel from all government offices, the day-and-night patrols, the soldiers left on guard, and the various branches of the Heavenly Supervision Department had all joined in.
At that moment, on the southern city wall—
Grand Commander Zhao Zhou removed his helmet and armor. Without even having time to change out of his soaked clothes, he summoned the people responsible for the defensive positions across the southern city.
"Our unit suffered twelve casualties. However, the Patrolling Squad has completely sealed the breach and cleared out all the demons and evil spirits that entered the city."
"Our unit suffered eight casualties. One breach was not sealed in time, and two Lesser Demons entered the city. One has been slain, while the other is still fleeing. The city government offices have been assigned to send people to hunt it down."
"Our unit has two seriously wounded and one lightly wounded. There were no breaches."
The speaker was around thirty years old. His face was stained with incense ash, his armor covered in scars, and his eyes showed a hint of weariness.
Grand Commander Zhao Zhou could not help taking another look at him.
This young man named Meng Lu had still been at the Blood Tempering level half a month ago, yet today he had already reached the Marrow Cleansing Realm.
Clearly, he had used himself as bait to draw in the demons and evil spirits, relieving the pressure on the soldiers under his command and reducing casualties.
"He risked himself to lessen the burden on the soldiers under his command. He is a truly admirable talent."
Zhao Zhou thought, He was transferred from the Inner City six months ago. It seems this old man had buried a talent in the past. I must cultivate him from now on.
As this thought crossed his mind, the various units continued reporting their casualties one after another.
What they announced were one number after another.
Each number represented one life after another.
Grand Commander Zhao Zhou's face dimmed, and his heart sank.
But in the next moment, he frowned. "What about the Lin Jiang Department? This old man ordered Zhao Jing to bring people to reinforce them. Why has he still not returned to report?"
"Zhao Jing has yet to return. There has been no news."
Just then, an administrative secretary in charge of transmitting news for the City Defense Army spoke up. "There has not been the slightest news from the Banner Bearer of the Lin Jiang Department either."
Everyone's expressions shifted slightly as they looked at one another.
"Could the Lin Jiang Department's position have fallen?"
A lieutenant could not help speaking in a low voice, his tone carrying a hint of disbelief.
Originally, this would not have been unexpected.
After all, something had happened at the Lin Jiang Department yesterday, and the Twelve Junior Banners had been dismissed. The Banner Bearer was all alone, yet had to defend three hundred and sixty paces of wall.
But Grand Commander Zhao Zhou had clearly sent Zhao Jing with twenty personal guards to assist him.
By all rights, nothing should have gone wrong at the Lin Jiang Department.
Then why had no news come through?
In an instant, everyone felt a wave of unease rise in their hearts.
"Report!"
At that moment, a soldier hurried in from outside, panic written across his face. He said, "At the location of the sixtieth Willow Branch Night-Illuminating Lamp, a corpse has been found..."
Everyone slightly furrowed their brows and turned to look.
The demons and evil spirits had attacked the city the previous night, leaving corpses everywhere atop the city wall. Why was this soldier so panicked?
"The upper half of the body is missing. Only the lower half remains. From the skirt armor, belt, and military boots, we can preliminarily determine..."
The soldier's face was pale, and his voice trembled.
"It is your personal guard captain, Zhao Jing!"
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