The Elite Vanguard's Resolve: Death Without Return!

It was clear to see the thousand-man Elite Vanguard Camp charging and cutting its way through the Northern Barbarian Army, forcefully plowing a bloody path through the endless barbarian soldiers!

Yet before long, the bloody road behind them was filled in by Northern Barbarian soldiers.

As they charged ever deeper, the Elite Vanguard Camp soon could no longer see any other Divine Phoenix Army soldiers. Northern Barbarian soldiers were everywhere in all directions, like an endless tide of vicious beasts!

But they felt no fear. They simply charged and slaughtered, again and again!

For the resolve of the Elite Vanguard was death without return!

Before this, every one of them had already prepared themselves to die!

Sure enough, as time passed, even though the Elite Vanguard Camp soldiers were at least third-rank Martial Artists, they could not withstand the tide-like barbarian soldiers!

Elite Vanguard Camp soldiers were constantly struck down by the enemy amid miserable screams, dragged away, slain, or even torn limb from limb alive!

Even Ding Hao, positioned at the "tip of the blade," was under immense pressure. His entire body had already taken quite a few wild slashes from Northern Barbarian soldiers!

Fortunately.

Ding Hao was covered head to toe in armor, and with the Heavenly Tyrant Body and Golden Bell Shield, those random slashes did him no harm!

Instead, he continuously swung the heavy Mysterious Iron Saber in his hand!

Any Northern Barbarian soldier who stood before him—whether broad and powerful or clad in shield armor—was cleaved apart by his blade!

Especially after he used the Gale and Storm Blade-and-Sword Arts he had picked up from the two commanders of a thousand, Zhao Chou and Wang Tong, dazzling saber light mixed with inner force swept out like a raging gale and torrential rain!

It gave off the utterly overwhelming might of sweeping through a thousand armies, unmatched by ten thousand men!

The Northern Barbarian soldiers ahead fell in great swathes like weeds!

"Good lad!!"

Ding Hao's ferocity also stunned the surrounding sixth-rank officers!

After all, they had seen earlier that Ding Hao was no Platoon Leader or commander of a hundred. He was a soldier from the Death Row Camp!

A condemned prisoner not only possessed the cultivation of a sixth-rank Martial Artist, but was also ferocious beyond belief. It truly stirred them up!

"Brothers!"

"Are we, the bona fide elites of the Divine Phoenix Army, really inferior to a condemned prisoner from the Death Row Camp? Kill, kill, kill!"

The sixth-rank officers all roared as though pumped full of hot blood, and even the morale of the entire Elite Vanguard Camp surged wildly!

For a time.

The Elite Vanguard Camp advanced into the depths of the Northern Barbarian Army even faster!

But at the sight of the unstoppable Elite Vanguard Camp, the Northern Barbarians grew enraged as well!

"Damn it!"

"Stop this Elite Vanguard Camp! We absolutely cannot let them break through!"

"A pack of lowly Great Zhou monkeys! With so many Northern Barbarian warriors here, how can we let them rampage through an army of three hundred thousand!"

Under the roars of several Northern Barbarian officers, the barbarian soldiers began a frenzied interception!

For a time, the clash intensified once more, and both sides fought with bloodshot eyes!

The Elite Vanguard Camp charged forward, disregarding life and death, while the Northern Barbarian soldiers blocked them at all costs. Men and horses were thrown into chaos, and blood flowed into rivers!

Although the Elite Vanguard Camp still advanced unwaveringly toward the depths of the army, the speed at which its soldiers died had clearly increased!

Like peeling an onion, the soldiers on the outer edges of the Elite Vanguard Camp's formation were stripped away layer by layer by the wolfish, tiger-like Northern Barbarian soldiers!

Before long, the thousand-man spearhead formation of the Elite Vanguard Camp had visibly shrunk by a full ring, with two to three hundred men already dead or wounded!

Yet as far as the eye could see, countless black masses of Northern Barbarian soldiers still filled every direction. The feeling was undoubtedly enough to drive one to despair!

And indeed, as their strength dwindled and their numbers fell, shadows clouded the hearts of every Elite Vanguard Camp soldier.

They were like an arrow that had been loosed. At the beginning, it was naturally unstoppable, but as time passed, their morale had already plummeted!

Even among the sixth-rank soldiers at the "tip of the blade," there were casualties. More than a dozen sixth-rank Martial Artists had been dragged away and killed by Northern Barbarian soldiers!

The rest wore numb expressions, utterly lacking the fierce vigor they had possessed at the start.

Ding Hao included.

Even though he could maintain his peak condition by fusing attributes, after charging and slaughtering for so long, his mind and spirit had grown weary!

He understood that as their stamina and morale weakened further, this Elite Vanguard Camp might very well be annihilated to the last man. If it truly came to that—

Even he would be unable to avoid being hacked into minced meat by the Northern Barbarian soldiers!

"Everyone, pull yourselves together! We're almost there!"

Thus, Ding Hao decisively stepped forward and let out a thunderous shout at the crowd.

At the same time, after such a long period of picking up attributes, his realm suddenly leaped forward, advancing to—seventh-rank Martial Artist!

"Tyrant Blade Slash!!"

Without hesitation, Ding Hao sprang high into the air and brazenly unleashed Tyrant Blade Slash!

As this slash fell, a terrifying force of tyrannical blade energy surged and crashed forth!

He killed more than a dozen Northern Barbarian soldiers on the spot, and under the sweep of that terrifying tyrannical force, the ground itself rapidly cracked and split open!

Large numbers of Northern Barbarian soldiers along the way were knocked sprawling, leaving men and horses in chaotic disarray!

"My heavens!!"

This sudden scene instantly sent the spirits of every Elite Vanguard Camp soldier soaring, shock rising on every face!

Because—

With that single strike, Ding Hao had directly swept aside over a hundred barbarian soldiers. Though most had not died, the sight was still astonishing!

Especially the surrounding sixth-rank officers—they truly had not expected that after charging into the enemy ranks to such an extent, Ding Hao, this death-row soldier, had not weakened in the slightest. Instead, he was even more valiant and overbearing than at the start!

"Brothers-in-arms!"

"For survival, for victory, for the rescue of Commander Luo!"

"Follow me and keep charging! The will to breach enemy lines—with me, we are invincible!!"

At last—

Ding Hao struck while the iron was hot, continuing his ferocious charge with the bearing of a leader!

Seeing this, the morale of the sixth-rank officers and all the remaining Elite Vanguard Camp soldiers, which had already fallen into the abyss, surged once more!

United as one, they followed Ding Hao in a mad charge... Northern Barbarian soldiers blocking their path were harvested row after row again!

"Damn it, how has the morale of Great Zhou's Elite Vanguard Camp risen again!"

"Damn it, it's that seventh-rank martial artist leading them. He's too strong!"

"Quick, quick, quick! Intercept and kill that seventh-rank martial artist! As long as we kill him, this Elite Vanguard Camp will sooner or later be swallowed by our barbarian army!"

At that moment—

Within the Northern Barbarian army, Northern Barbarian commanders of a thousand men immediately fixed their eyes on Ding Hao!

In the end, no fewer than two Northern Barbarian commanders of a thousand men at the seventh rank charged in!

One gripped a broadsword, the other a heavy hammer. Rugged-faced and powerfully built, they came straight for Ding Hao at the head of the formation!

"You damned bastard!"

"Great Zhou monkey, give us your life!!"

The two Northern Barbarian commanders of a thousand men closed in on Ding Hao from the left and right!

Seeing this, Ding Hao took the initiative to leave the formation and meet them in battle, because he knew that once the two forced their way close, their strength as seventh-rank martial artists would inflict enormous damage on the Elite Vanguard Camp.

And the Elite Vanguard Camp, as it stood, clearly could not withstand another collapse in morale!

He had to not only stop the two Northern Barbarian commanders of a thousand men, but kill them!

Thus, the moment he stepped out, Ding Hao unleashed his full firepower.

Wind Treading Steps beneath his feet, Golden Bell Shield over his body, while the two talents Innate Strength and Light as a Swallow were pushed to their limits. Almost instantly, he had charged into the vicinity of the two Northern Barbarian commanders of a thousand men!

He raised his blade and slashed!!