Surprise Attack

Zhou Heng took in the slight smiles on the faces of the others.

But he seemed to have expected it, not even flinching.

He simply stared intently at Fan Yuan, his eyes conveying two words—

No refunds.

We must go to the battlefield.

I must become stronger.

Fan Yuan met that gaze and felt a sudden headache.

He had mixed feelings about Zhou Heng.

One of them is an apprentice I've taught for so long; I can't just let them go like that.

Another layer...

It was the gentleman who entrusted the person to him.

Thinking of this, Fan Yuan suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

Oh, right, sir!

"Before you came," he asked urgently, "Did you speak to the gentleman about this?"

"I said that."

"What did he say?"

"He didn't say anything."

Fan Yuan: "..."

He didn't say anything.

That means... you've handed over all the authority to me?

Fan Yuan felt the burden on his shoulders suddenly become even heavier.

He composed himself and asked again, "Sir, did you receive anything as a gift?"

Zhou Heng was taken aback, then suddenly realized and nodded repeatedly.

"There really is!"

He rummaged in his pocket for a while, then pulled something out and placed it in Fan Yuan's palm.

It is a Jujube Pit.

Perhaps because it had been kept for a long time, its surface had developed a warm, lustrous sheen.

"This...?" Fan Yuan held the Jujube Pit, turning it over and over to examine it for a long time.

I looked at it from left to right, but I couldn't figure out the slightest thing about it.

It was as ordinary as it could be.

"Hmm." Zhou Heng scratched his head. "He said it was a talisman."

"Amulet."

Fan Yuan paused for a moment, then suddenly laughed.

He tilted his head back and let out a long breath, his eyes revealing a complex and unreadable expression.

"... He's still a gentleman after all."

Even a Jujube Pit can serve as a talisman.

Others took it as a joke, but Fan Yuan believed it.

In the gentleman's eyes, the more inconspicuous the object, the more unfathomable it often is.

He solemnly returned the Jujube Pit to Zhou Heng, but his expression turned serious.

"Even so."

"But I still can't let you go to this battlefield."

Zhou Heng panicked and was about to speak when Fan Yuan raised his hand and pressed him back down.

"Don't worry. I understand what you're thinking."

"You want to gain experience and become stronger quickly."

"But this isn't child's play."

"With your current abilities, going up there would be no different from sending yourself to your death."

Fan Yuan paused, his tone softening.

"How about this?"

"I'll find you a job; you can start here."

To put it bluntly, the job was just a logistical or miscellaneous task.

They moved supplies, looked after equipment, and went wherever manpower was needed.

That's it.

Although Zhou Heng wasn't a disciple of Soaring Tower, he gradually integrated into this behemoth.

He doesn't have a regular job.

Wherever there's trouble, you'll find his busy figure.

It's just that whenever I have free time...

He would always climb the hill behind the camp alone.

Looking out over the battlefield.

--

It was a sight he had never seen before in his life.

It was a scene he would never forget in his life.

Looking around, two armies spread out on the wasteland, forming battle formations.

With the central army in command, the left and right flanks spread out, the vanguard pressing forward, and the rear guard providing support, layer upon layer, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Nearby, densely packed Martial Practitioner formed military formations, their swords and spears like a forest, their commands thunderous.

People were packed together, and flags were linked together.

Before coming, Zhou Heng thought it was just a struggle between two forces.

They agreed on a location, each bringing their own men, to fight and determine the winner.

Just like it's written in the storybooks.

A few hundred, or at most a thousand people, would be considered a huge event.

But what he saw before him far exceeded his expectations.

The number of people within sight alone is no less than tens of thousands.

Banners blotted out the sun, men and horses surged like a tide, and shouts of battle blended into one, shaking even the mountaintops beneath their feet.

This is hardly a gang fight.

This is a war that requires the combined strength of an entire nation to wage.

It was at this moment that Zhou Heng realized just how enormous the Soaring Tower, where his master resided, truly was.

So this is the weight of one of the Great Power.

Amidst the initial shock, he gradually began to understand the underlying principles.

Those Martial Practitioner fighting for their lives across the mountains and plains were not the true Protagonist of this battlefield.

No matter how fiercely they fought, it was nothing more than laying down a foundation of flesh and blood at the very bottom.

The true masters of this battlefield are not those within the ranks.

And in a higher place.

That's Cultivator.

At this very moment, as Zhou Heng was gazing upon it.

A figure rose from behind the formation, its feet barely touching the ground, hovering in mid-air.

He didn't even see how the other person moved their hand.

A streak of light flashed across the sky.

Wherever it passed, the ground cracked, rocks collapsed, and dust billowed into the sky.

The once densely packed military formation was torn open with a hideous gaping hole in the blink of an eye.

A mist of blood filled the air.

Hundreds of lives were wiped out in an instant.

At an even higher vantage point, two more figures passed each other.

No moves, no fancy tricks.

Just one glance.

The sky darkened, and the Ley Line within a radius of several miles trembled. Even the mountaintop beneath Zhou Heng's feet was swaying as rocks tumbled down.

Zhou Heng watched this scene and unconsciously clenched his fist, his nails digging into his palm, completely unaware of it.

He was afraid.

It was a fear that ran deep in your bones.

Faced with such power, I am so insignificant that I am not even a speck of dust.

But it is precisely under this fear that...

There was something else, burning uncontrollably upwards.

It's longing.

"This is Cultivator."

"Can I also possess that kind of power?"

However.

This newly ignited passion was quickly extinguished before it could fully flourish.

That night.

People who were wounded on the front lines during the day were carried down in batches.

There were simply too many wounded, and there weren't enough people to help. Zhou Heng was also called upon to help look after the wounded.

He had thought that things would be more stable back home.

It wasn't until he lifted the curtain of that wounded soldier's tent that he realized what war truly meant.

Broken arms and shattered leg bones were piled up from one end of the tent to the other.

The strong stench of blood mixed with the smell of herbs was so strong that it made it hard to open one's eyes.

The horrific scene I witnessed from the mountaintop during the day has now transformed into the vivid faces before my eyes.

He personally bandaged the wound of a Martial Practitioner who was only a few years older than himself.

The man grinned at him and said that once he got through this period, he would go home and get married.

But the next day, that bed was empty.

The person disappeared at night.

In the end, he didn't even leave behind a coherent sentence.

Such things happened almost every day before his eyes.

At first, Zhou Heng would vomit at night and have trouble sleeping.

Later, I gradually became numb to it.

For the first time, he realized the horror of war and death.