On the tenth day of the barbarian siege, Iron Wall City had become an isolated island.
Thirty thousand barbarian soldiers had surrounded the city so tightly that not even water could pass through, launching attacks in shifts every day.
The city walls had been battered open in dozens of places by catapults. The defenders plugged them with sandbags and human lives, only for them to be blasted open again and again.
The city's provisions were nearly gone, its arrows exhausted, and even the Golden Wound Powder used for the wounded had run out.
Every day, soldiers starved to death or succumbed to their injuries. Their bodies were piled in the open ground west of the city, and before they could be buried, they had already begun to rot.
The plague began to spread.
Despair grew in everyone's heart like a plague.
But the barbarians were suffering as well.
Wanyan Lie's serious injuries had yet to heal, so command of the siege had been handed to his deputy, Tuoba Shan.
This barbarian commander was brutal but rash. Ten days of fierce attacks had cost him eight thousand soldiers, yet they had barely managed to climb the walls a few times.
"Useless!"
Inside the central command tent, Wanyan Lie sat pale-faced in a tiger-skin chair. Thick bandages wrapped his chest, faintly stained with blood.
Although Li Xuan's saber had missed his vital points, the saber qi had invaded his lungs and damaged his foundation. He would not recover in less than three months.
"Please calm down, Young Chieftain." Tuoba Shan knelt on one knee. "The southerners are holding out stubbornly, especially that youngster named Li Xuan. Every time we are about to breach the city, he leads men out in a desperate charge..."
"Li Xuan." Wanyan Lie mouthed the name, his gaze sinister. "He's still alive?"
"Alive and well." Tuoba Shan gritted his teeth. "Yesterday, I led my guards in attacking the eastern wall. We were just about to get up there when that brat led three hundred death warriors out through a side gate and slaughtered their way in, forcing us back. Three of my centurions died by his hand."
The other barbarian commanders exchanged glances.
A southern youngster had seriously wounded the Young Chieftain, then repeatedly performed outstandingly in the defense of the city.
He had already become the barbarians' festering sore.
"We can't drag this out any longer." Wanyan Lie clenched his fist. "Father sent word that the three great sects in the south have dispatched reinforcements north. They will arrive in five days at the latest. If we still haven't taken Iron Wall City by then..."
He did not finish, but everyone understood.
The Blood Wolf Tribe was about to face attacks from southern martial artists and armies from both front and rear.
"Tomorrow." Wanyan Lie rose to his feet. The wound in his chest split open, blood staining his bandages red, but he paid it no heed. "Tomorrow at the mao hour, the entire army will advance. I will personally oversee the battle. If this city is not breached, bring me your heads!"
"Yes!"
At the same time, in the General's Residence of Iron Wall City.
Li Xuan sat cross-legged in the dim room, the incomplete volume of the Blood Fiend Bone Forging Technique spread open before him.
There were only three pages.
The first page contained the general principles: forge the bones with blood fiend energy, nurture battle through battle. The more one killed, the stronger one's blood qi became, and the tougher one's bones grew.
The second page contained the method: draw the battlefield's killing intent into the body to temper the bones. It had to be cultivated amid slaughter; sitting quietly was useless.
The third page contained a technique: the "Blood Fiend Fist." Simple and brutal, it was driven by blood fiend energy, doubling its power while injuring both the enemy and the user.
An incomplete volume, true to its name.
Yet Li Xuan's eyes gleamed.
This technique had practically been tailor-made for him!
As for injuring both enemy and self... With the panel, what did he have to fear?
"Let's try it."
Li Xuan closed his eyes and circulated his blood qi according to the method.
Nothing happened.
He frowned and rose, walking to the window.
Outside, the night was deep. Torches shone brightly along the distant walls. From time to time came the footsteps of patrolling soldiers, along with the groans of the wounded.
Without a battlefield and without slaughter, there was no killing intent.
No wonder it said that sitting quietly was useless.
Li Xuan pushed open the door and headed toward the north wall.
That was where yesterday's fighting had been most brutal. Half the wall had collapsed, and the bodies of the defenders and barbarians had yet to be cleared. They were piled at the foot of the wall like a small mountain.
The stench of blood was thick enough to choke him.
Li Xuan walked to the corpse pile and sat cross-legged.
He circulated the method again.
This time, it was different.
The air was filled with the aura of death, the stench of blood, and resentments and killing intent that had yet to disperse. As though they had found an outlet, they surged madly toward Li Xuan!
He guided the cold, violent energy along the route of the method and drove it into his bones!
Crack—
A splitting pain erupted from the bones of his left arm!
Li Xuan grunted, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.
But he gritted his teeth and continued.
Since he was forging his bones, he had to endure the pain of shattered bones!
Once, twice, three times...
No one knew how long passed.
When the eastern sky began to pale, Li Xuan opened his eyes.
The pain in his left arm had vanished, replaced by a sensation as hard as iron.
He clenched his fist, and his bones emitted a faint metallic grinding sound.
A new line had appeared on the panel:
[Technique: Blood Fiend Bone Forging Technique (Incomplete, First Layer Initial Mastery)]
Success!
Although he had only achieved initial mastery, the effect was immediate.
Li Xuan moved his left arm and felt that his strength had increased by at least twenty percent. More importantly, his bones' defensive power had risen sharply. Ordinary blades and swords would probably leave only a white mark if they struck him now.
"Li Xuan!"
Chen Feng hurried over, his expression grave. "The barbarians are making a move! The entire army is assembling. It looks like they're preparing for a general assault!"
Li Xuan rose. "Let's go."
On the city wall, Wang Meng was already armored and holding a sword.
This General Zhenbei had not slept for ten days. His eye sockets were sunken and his beard disheveled, but his gaze remained as sharp as an eagle's.
"The scouts report that Wanyan Lie is personally overseeing the battle." Wang Meng's voice was hoarse. "Today will be a battle of life and death."
He looked down beyond the walls.
The barbarian army loomed like dark clouds pressing down on the city.
At the very front were three thousand heavily armored infantrymen, carrying huge shields and marching in perfect formation. Behind them were five thousand archers, arrows already nocked. Farther back were battering rams, siege ladders, catapults...
As for the defenders of Iron Wall City, there were only six thousand left at most.
More than a thousand of them were wounded.
"General," Li Xuan said as he approached Wang Meng, "give me five hundred men."
"You want to leave the city?" Wang Meng frowned.
"If we don't, we won't be able to hold it." Li Xuan pointed to the Blood Wolf banner in the barbarian central army. "Wanyan Lie is there. As long as we kill or seriously wound him, the barbarians will fall into chaos."
"You nearly died last time."
"Not this time." Li Xuan said, "I've cultivated a new technique."
Wang Meng stared at him for three seconds, then suddenly laughed.
"Good. I'll give you five hundred cavalrymen, all elite soldiers. But remember—I want you to come back alive."
"I'll do my best."
Li Xuan turned and headed down from the wall.
Chen Feng followed him. "I'm coming with you."
"You stay in the city." Li Xuan shook his head. "General Wang needs help. Besides..."
He paused. "If I don't make it back, you have to return to the martial arts academy alive and tell the master that the evidence of Elder Zhao's treason is on Zhao Wuji's corpse."
Chen Feng gritted his teeth, then finally nodded. "Come back alive."
"Mm."
At the third quarter of the mao hour, the horn of the barbarian attack sounded.
The catapults struck first.
Dozens of millstone-sized rocks whistled toward the city walls, and the thunderous crashes shook the heavens. A section of wall that was already fragile collapsed under the bombardment. Shattered stones flew everywhere, burying more than a dozen defenders alive.
"Crossbowmen! Suppress them!" Wang Meng roared.
A rain of arrows poured down from the walls.
But the heavily armored barbarian infantry raised their huge shields. The arrows clanged against them, having little effect.
The siege ladders were raised.
Barbarian soldiers climbed like ants.
"Rolling logs! Boulders!" Chen Feng commanded from the wall.
Logs and boulders crashed down, followed by a chorus of screams. Yet even more barbarians climbed up.
Several sections of the wall were in urgent danger.
Just then—
The northern gate suddenly opened!
Five hundred cavalrymen surged out of the gate like a black torrent!
At their head was Li Xuan!
This time, he was not wearing leather armor. He wore only a black martial outfit and held an iron spear taken from the armory—his Battle Saber was too short, and a long weapon was more convenient for mounted combat.
"Target the central army's Blood Wolf banner! Kill!"
The five hundred cavalrymen roared as one and shot straight into the barbarian formation like arrows!
The barbarians had clearly not expected the defenders to launch a counterattack outside the city. Their vanguard formation was thrown into chaos in an instant.
But Wanyan Lie had been prepared.
"Wolf Riders, stop them!"
A thousand wolf riders charged out from the flank!
Snow wolves galloped forward, shaking the earth.
Li Xuan's gaze was cold.
"Change formation! Wedge assault!"
The five hundred cavalrymen swiftly changed formation. With Li Xuan at the tip, they boldly crashed into the wolf riders!
Boom!!!
The cavalry collided, sending men and horses tumbling!
Li Xuan's iron spear moved like a dragon. He pierced the throat of the lead wolf rider with one thrust, then flicked the spear upward and hurled the corpse into the three riders behind him, knocking them down.
[Potential +0.3]
He swept the iron spear sideways, crushing the heads of two more barbarians.
[Potential +0.2]
Kill! Kill! Kill!
The Blood Fiend Bone Forging Technique circulated madly.
The killing intent on the battlefield surged into his body like a tide, tempering his bones.
With every person he killed, his bones grew a little harder and his strength increased a little further!
The more Li Xuan fought, the braver he became.
Wherever his iron spear passed, flesh flew and blood splashed.
The five hundred cavalrymen had also gone berserk.
They were all death warriors of the army, already fearless of death. Seeing their commander fight with such ferocity, their morale soared like a rainbow.
The thousand wolf riders were actually hacked straight through!
"Useless!" Wanyan Lie saw this from the central army and flew into a rage. "Guards! Follow me!"
Although his serious injuries had yet to heal, he was still a body-tempering eighth-layer expert. He personally donned his armor and mounted a horse, leading three hundred guards toward Li Xuan.
"He's coming." Li Xuan's eyes sharpened.
This was precisely the moment he had been waiting for.
"Scatter! Fight on your own!"
The five hundred cavalrymen quickly dispersed and became embroiled in close combat with the barbarian guards.
Li Xuan, meanwhile, faced Wanyan Lie alone.
The two met again.
"Brat." Wanyan Lie held a gigantic ax as wide as a door, his gaze savage. "Last time, you were lucky to survive. This time... you will die!"
"Enough talk."
Li Xuan thrust his iron spear straight forward!
Wanyan Lie swept his huge ax across!
Clang!!!
Sparks flew in every direction!
Li Xuan and his horse were forced back three steps. The web between his thumb and forefinger split open, and the iron spear bent.
Wanyan Lie also staggered. The wound in his chest split open, staining his battle armor red.
"You've grown stronger." Wanyan Lie's expression turned solemn.
"You've grown weaker." Li Xuan sneered.
He abandoned the spear and drew the spare Battle Saber at his waist.
Shadow Step erupted!
His figure flashed like a ghost, instantly circling around to Wanyan Lie's side!
The Battle Saber came crashing down!
Wanyan Lie raised his great axe to block.
Another deafening clash rang out.
But this time, Li Xuan did not retreat.
Borrowing the force, he twisted in midair and landed behind Wanyan Lie's horse, then swung his saber backhanded at its legs!
The warhorse let out a tragic whinny and collapsed.
Wanyan Lie tumbled from the saddle, looking utterly disheveled.
"You..." he roared, bringing his great axe down with tremendous force.
Li Xuan neither dodged nor retreated. He swept his Battle Saber upward!
Force met force!
Clang!!!
This time, Wanyan Lie was driven back.
Three steps.
Li Xuan also retreated—five steps, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
But he smiled.
[Blood Fiend Bone Forging Technique, First Layer: Initial Mastery → Minor Mastery] [Effect: Bone Hardness +50%, Strength +20%]
The Killing Intent accumulated on the battlefield explosively transformed at this moment!
His bones erupted with a series of crackles like beans popping in a pan!
His strength surged!
Li Xuan felt his entire body brimming with explosive power, as though one punch could pierce through a city wall!
"Again!"
He launched an attack of his own!
The Battle Saber came down like a violent storm, every strike heavier and faster than the last!
The longer Wanyan Lie fought, the more shaken he became.
How was this southern boy growing stronger the more they fought?
Moreover, he could clearly feel that Li Xuan's bones were absurdly hard. Several strikes had landed cleanly, yet left behind only shallow marks while numbing his own arm with the impact.
"The Blood Fiend Bone Forging Technique?!" Wanyan Lie finally realized. "You practiced the Blood Fiend Bone Forging Technique?!"
"Only just figured it out?" Li Xuan said as he cleaved the great axe apart with one slash. The blade swept across Wanyan Lie's chest, adding another wound.
"Impossible! That's the Blood Wolf Tribe's secret inheritance! How could you have it?!"
"Zhao Wuji gave it to me."
"Zhao..." Wanyan Lie froze.
That moment of distraction was all Li Xuan needed.
The Battle Saber thrust forward, aimed straight at his throat!
Wanyan Lie hurriedly retreated, but he was half a beat too slow.
Pfft!
The tip of the saber pierced half an inch into his neck!
Blood sprayed out!
"Young Chieftain!" The personal guards charged forward like madmen.
Li Xuan pulled out his saber and retreated, evading their encirclement.
Wanyan Lie clutched his neck, horror filling his eyes.
That close.
He had been only that close to death.
"Retreat... retreat!" he rasped.
The barbarian horns sounded.
The barbarian soldiers attacking the city withdrew like a receding tide.
Under the protection of his personal guards, Wanyan Lie fled back to the main camp in a sorry state.
Li Xuan did not pursue him.
He stood where he was, looking at the corpses covering the ground and the barbarians fleeing in the distance.
They had won.
But Wanyan Lie was still alive. The next time he came, he would only be harder to deal with.
"Back to the city." He turned around.
Of the five hundred cavalrymen, only a little over two hundred remained. Every one of them was wounded, yet their eyes burned with fervor.
"General Li is mighty!" an old soldier shouted hoarsely.
"Mighty! Mighty! Mighty!"
Everyone roared in unison.
Li Xuan said nothing.
He raised his head and looked toward the battlements.
Wang Meng stood there and nodded at him.
Then this General Zhenbei swayed once before collapsing to the ground.
"General!"
The General's residence was brightly lit.
Wang Meng lay on a couch while the military physician treated his wounds.
During the siege, he had been struck in the left shoulder by a stray arrow. The arrow had been poisoned, and half his body had already turned black.
"The poison has entered the bones." The military physician shook his head. "This old man can only suppress it temporarily. If there is no antidote within three days..."
He did not finish, but everyone understood what he meant.
"What poison?" Li Xuan asked.
"A special barbarian poison called 'Wolf Poison.' It's refined by mixing Snow Wolf saliva with seven poisonous herbs. Only the barbarian shamans know how to prepare the antidote."
Li Xuan fell silent.
Wang Meng could not die.
Iron Wall City could do without Li Xuan, but it could not do without Wang Meng.
"I'll make a trip to the barbarian camp," he said.
Chen Feng's eyes widened. "Are you insane? Wanyan Lie wants nothing more than to tear you apart right now!"
"Precisely because he hates me, he'll lower his guard," Li Xuan said. "Besides... I need the antidote formula."
"The formula?"
"Not just to save General Wang. Others may be poisoned by this in the future." Li Xuan rose. "Prepare a set of barbarian leather armor for me, and... a poisonous pill."
"A poisonous pill?"
"One that seals the throat the moment it draws blood."
It was midnight, with the moon hidden and the wind howling.
Li Xuan changed into barbarian leather armor, smeared mud and ash over his face, and silently climbed over the city wall.
With Shadow Step fully activated, he moved through the night like a shadow.
The barbarian camp was under tight security.
But Li Xuan had experience.
He circled around to the western side of the camp, where the wounded soldiers' quarters were. The guards there were relatively lax.
Sure enough, there was a gap in the western palisade. Two barbarian guards were crouching in the shadows, dozing.
Li Xuan crept over, struck both unconscious with the edge of his hand, and dragged them into the darkness.
Then he swaggered into the wounded soldiers' quarters.
The camp reeked of blood and medicine. Wounded soldiers lay in dozens of tents, their groans unceasing. Several barbarian physicians were busy treating wounds and boiling medicinal broths.
Li Xuan lowered his head and walked toward the largest tent.
That was the shaman's tent.
Inside, an old man wearing a fur robe and covered in painted designs was pounding medicine. Dozens of clay jars sat before him, filled with powders and liquids of every color.
Li Xuan lifted the curtain and entered.
The shaman looked up and frowned. "Which unit are you from? Are you wounded?"
Li Xuan said nothing.
He struck like lightning, clamping one hand around the shaman's throat and covering his mouth with the other.
"Don't move. Don't shout." Li Xuan spoke in the barbarian tongue. "I ask, you answer. Lie to me, and you die."
The shaman nodded in terror.
"The antidote for Wolf Poison. The formula."
The shaman pointed toward a clay jar in the corner.
Li Xuan released him, but kept his blade pressed against the man's neck.
Trembling, the shaman wrote down the formula: three stalks of snow lotus, two taels of blood vine, one ice toad, boiled with rootless water for three hours.
Li Xuan memorized it, then asked, "Where is Wanyan Lie?"
"The Young Chieftain... is being treated in the main tent."
"Take me there."
"No... I can't..."
The blade sank half an inch into his flesh.
"Take me there, or die."
The shaman's face went deathly pale. In the end, he nodded.
The two of them left the tent.
In the darkness, Li Xuan pressed his blade against the shaman's lower back and walked toward the main command tent.
There were guards outside the main tent, but they did not stop them when they saw the shaman.
"The Young Chieftain needs his dressing changed," the shaman said.
The guard lifted the tent flap.
Inside, Wanyan Lie lay on a tiger pelt, his chest wrapped in bandages and his face pale. Two maids were feeding him medicine.
When he saw the shaman enter, Wanyan Lie frowned. "At this hour..."
Before he could finish, he saw Li Xuan behind the shaman.
Their eyes met.
Wanyan Lie's pupils contracted violently.
"It's you—!"
Li Xuan moved.
He shoved the shaman aside and shot toward Wanyan Lie like lightning!
The maids screamed.
Still badly wounded, Wanyan Lie reacted half a beat too slowly. Li Xuan's saber plunged into his abdomen!
Pfft!
"Argh—!" Wanyan Lie screamed.
But as the barbarian Young Chieftain was a Body Tempering Layer Eight cultivator, he launched a desperate counterattack, slamming a fist into Li Xuan's chest!
Li Xuan was sent flying, overturning a low table and coughing up a mouthful of blood.
His ribs had broken again.
But he did not stop.
He rolled to his feet and stabbed once more at Wanyan Lie's heart!
This time, Wanyan Lie failed to dodge.
The blade sank three inches into his flesh!
At the critical moment, however, a personal guard rushed in and slashed at the back of Li Xuan's neck.
Li Xuan had no choice but to withdraw his saber and defend.
Sparks flew in all directions.
The guard was a Body Tempering Layer Six cultivator. His strike numbed Li Xuan's arm with the impact.
Wanyan Lie took the opportunity to roll aside and roar hoarsely, "Guards! Seize the assassin!"
A thunderous rush of footsteps sounded outside the tent.
Li Xuan knew there was no chance left.
Without hesitation, he turned and charged into the tent wall. One slash tore open the hide, and he burst outside.
Outside, barbarian soldiers had already surrounded the tent.
Li Xuan pulled a black pill from his robes and threw it onto the ground.
The pill exploded, and thick smoke billowed everywhere.
It was the smoke bomb Chen Feng had given him.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Li Xuan used Shadow Step. After several leaps, he broke through the encirclement and vanished into the night.
Iron Wall City, the General's residence.
Li Xuan vaulted into the courtyard, covered in blood.
Chen Feng had been waiting for him. Seeing his condition, he hurried over and caught him. "How did it go?"
"I got the formula." Li Xuan pulled the sheet of paper from his robes. "But Wanyan Lie... still didn't die."
"Getting the recipe was already good enough!" Chen Feng took the recipe and immediately went to find the military physician.
Li Xuan slumped to the ground and examined his injuries.
That punch to his chest had broken three ribs. He had also taken a slash to the abdomen. Although it was not deep, the blood would not stop flowing.
The Potential Points on the panel had risen again.
[Potential: 8.6→10.3]
He had killed several guards in the barbarian camp just now, and seriously wounded Wanyan Lie, earning him quite a few points.
He put them all into Constitution!
[Con: 9.5→11.8]
A hot current surged through him.
His wounds healed at a visible speed.
Although he had not fully recovered, he could at least move now.
Li Xuan rose to his feet and looked north.
The barbarian camp was brightly lit, clearly searching for him.
But tonight, they would not attack the city.
Wanyan Lie was gravely wounded. The army's morale would surely be thrown into chaos.
Iron Wall City could hold out for a few more days.
"That's enough," Li Xuan murmured.
As long as they held out until the reinforcements arrived...
He turned and returned to his room, sitting down cross-legged.
He circulated the Blood Fiend Bone Forging Technique.
The Killing Intent from tonight's slaughter, along with the peril of escaping death by a hair's breadth, was all the finest nourishment.
His bones were transforming.
His strength was growing.
When Li Xuan opened his eyes, the sky was already faintly bright.
On the panel, the Blood Fiend Bone Forging Technique's progress had advanced another step.
[Blood Fiend Bone Forging Technique, First Layer: Minor Mastery→Major Mastery] [Effect: Bone Hardness +80%, Strength +30%]
His bones were now as hard as refined iron, and his strength rivaled that of the seventh Body Tempering Layer.
Although his cultivation was still at the fifth layer, his combat strength... was already no weaker than the eighth layer!
"Wanyan Lie," Li Xuan said, clenching his fist. "The next time we meet, I'll take your life."
Cheers from the soldiers rang out beyond the window.
"The reinforcements! The reinforcements are here!"
Li Xuan pushed open the window.
On the eastern horizon, a vast army was advancing in grand procession.
Their banners whipped in the wind, and their armor gleamed brightly.
Embroidered on the foremost great banner was a scarlet Cloud Pattern.
Before you continue