When they emerged from the forest, night had fallen completely.
Li Jinshui supported the veteran named Old Zhou. Behind them followed a young soldier with a broken arm. The three staggered along the mountain path. Old Zhou was badly injured. Every few steps, he had to stop and gasp for breath, his face pale as a corpse.
Still, he gritted his teeth and kept walking without a word.
Li Jinshui glanced at him but said nothing.
He hadn't paid Old Zhou much attention before. He only knew that he was one of Wang Tiezhu's old subordinates, at the eighth level of Body Forging. He'd been in Third Battalion for seven or eight years and was a taciturn sort.
He remembered the way Old Zhou had stared at him in the forest just now.
There had been a lot in that look: gratitude, confusion, and just a hint of wariness.
Li Jinshui didn't care.
Let him be suspicious. Without proof, nobody could do anything to him.
Besides, he had saved them.
That was enough.
After walking for the time it took an incense stick to burn, they suddenly heard voices ahead.
Li Jinshui stopped and put a hand on his sword hilt.
"They're our men!" the young soldier cried excitedly.
Sure enough, torches lit up in the mountain pass ahead. Er Gou's familiar face appeared in the firelight. When he saw Li Jinshui, he first froze, then jumped as if the flames had scorched him.
"Squad Leader! It's Squad Leader! Squad Leader's back!"
He came rushing over, half stumbling, his eyes red. "Are you all right? You went out there with just one squad—I was scared shitless! That bastard Wang, he—"
"Shut up," Li Jinshui interrupted him. "Where's the Camp Commander?"
Only then did Er Gou notice the two men Li Jinshui was supporting. He stared in surprise. "Old Zhou? Xiao Sun? How did you—"
"Lead the way," Li Jinshui said.
Er Gou hurriedly nodded and went ahead.
Beyond the mountain pass, several bonfires burned in a clearing. Soldiers sat or lay about in small groups. Some were bandaging wounds, some spoke in low voices, and others stared blankly into the flames.
Zhou Kui stood beside the largest bonfire, listening to several men report on the situation.
Li Jinshui walked over and handed Old Zhou to the men sent to meet them. Then he stepped forward and clasped his fist.
"Camp Commander, Li Jinshui of Squad Jia has returned to the ranks."
Zhou Kui turned. His gaze swept over Li Jinshui, then settled on the men behind him.
"Where's Wang Tiezhu?"
Li Jinshui lowered his head, his voice steady. "Reporting to the Camp Commander, Squad Leader Wang and I split up to search. Later, I heard fighting and hurried over. I found Squad Leader Wang locked in a fight to the death with two Di People. By the time I arrived, Squad Leader Wang had killed them both, but he too... succumbed to his injuries."
He spoke slowly, each word clear.
The surroundings fell silent.
Everyone looked at him.
Zhou Kui fixed his gaze on Li Jinshui. The scar across his face looked especially savage in the firelight.
"You saw it with your own eyes?"
"Yes."
"Where's the body?"
"At the bottom of the valley. I was afraid there might still be enemies nearby, so I didn't linger. I came straight back to report."
Zhou Kui fell silent for a moment, then waved a hand. "Take a few men and bring the body back."
"Yes, sir."
Li Jinshui turned, picked Er Gou and several other soldiers from Squad Jia, and headed back into the forest.
After they'd gone dozens of steps, Er Gou moved closer and asked under his breath, "Squad Leader, is that bastard Wang really dead?"
Li Jinshui said nothing and kept walking.
Er Gou watched his back and suddenly shivered.
He remembered that morning, when Wang Tiezhu had blocked the barracks entrance and Li Jinshui had said, "Fine."
His expression now was exactly the same.
At the bottom of the valley,
torchlight illuminated three corpses.
Two Di People, one Zhou soldier.
Wang Tiezhu lay on his back between the two Di People. His body was covered in wounds, and his right hand still gripped his sword, its blade drenched in blood.
"It's him..." Er Gou sucked in a sharp breath. "He killed two of them by himself?"
Li Jinshui crouched down and made a show of inspecting the bodies. Then he stood and said to the other soldiers, "Take him back."
By the time they carried the body back to camp, almost everyone who was still alive had gathered around.
Torchlight fell across Wang Tiezhu's face. His fierce features were now eerily calm. His eyes remained open, staring into the pitch-black sky as if looking at something no one else could see.
Zhou Kui came over, crouched down, and examined the body himself.
He inspected it closely, turning over every wound and every cut again and again.
Li Jinshui stood beside him, his face expressionless.
It took a full incense stick's worth of time before Zhou Kui stood and wiped the blood from his hands.
"Those are Di blades," he said. "The fatal wound was in the chest, from a short sword. It's a standard Di weapon. He had one at his waist, too."
He paused and looked at Li Jinshui.
"You did the right thing. In that situation, saving the living mattered more than retrieving the dead."
Li Jinshui clasped his fist. "Thank you, Camp Commander."
Zhou Kui nodded, his gaze sweeping over the soldiers around him. His voice turned grave.
"Wang Tiezhu followed me for eight years and killed countless enemies. He died in battle today. He deserves to be called a hero."
He paused, and a chill crept into his voice.
"So not a single one of those Di People gets away."
The firelight flickered across every face.
Wang Tiezhu was dead.
Wang Tiezhu, at the peak of the ninth level of Body Forging, just one step away from Inner Strength, was dead.
Some remained silent, some sighed, and some secretly glanced at Li Jinshui—the man Wang Tiezhu had suppressed for a month, who just happened to find the body and save Old Zhou and Xiao Sun.
Could there really be such a coincidence?
But no one dared ask, and no one could.
Old Zhou and Xiao Sun were both alive, and both had said to his face that Li Jinshui had saved them.
How could a man who'd saved his comrades be the murderer?
The night grew deeper.
Li Jinshui sat with his back against a tree, eyes closed as if asleep.
The panel glimmered in the corner of his vision:
[Technique: Iron Shirt (Level 8, 0/45), Wolf Killing Seven Forms (Beginner, 48/50), Tiger Walk (Minor Mastery, 9/30)] [Points: 7]
He still had seven points. He'd save them for Iron Shirt; cultivation mattered.
He was just two points away from reaching minor mastery in Wolf Killing Seven Forms.
Soon.
He opened his eyes and looked toward the bonfire.
Zhou Kui was still standing there, holding a crumpled map, his brow furrowed.
Li Jinshui narrowed his eyes. In the firelight, he could make out a range of mountains drawn on the map, with a spot circled in charcoal.
It was a place where the Di People might be hiding.
And it was where they were headed tomorrow.
He closed his eyes, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
Wang Tiezhu was dead, but he still hadn't saved enough points.
More people would die tomorrow.
But not him.
At first light, the group set out.
Zhou Kui walked at the head of the column, followed by more than two hundred men. Five squads had returned over the course of the night. Thirty-odd men had fallen, but this many remained.
They still hadn't found the Di People, but their trail was clear now.
Deep in the forest were footprints, ashes from campfires, and stolen goods left behind: an embroidered woman's shoe, a child's cloth doll, and half a gnawed flatbread.
Each time they came across something, the mood in the ranks grew heavier.
Li Jinshui walked around the middle of the column. Er Gou followed behind him, his face pale, but he stubbornly kept quiet.
After about an hour, the trees ahead suddenly thinned.
A few steps farther, the view opened up—a valley, surrounded by mountains on three sides, with only a narrow entrance.
Smoke rose at the entrance.
Not cooking smoke. Signal smoke.
"Stop!" Zhou Kui raised a hand, and the entire column halted at once.
He narrowed his eyes at the valley entrance. The scar on his face twitched.
Then he smiled.
The kind of smile that sent a chill down your spine.
"They've come right to our doorstep," he said. His voice wasn't loud, but everyone heard him clearly. "Three hundred Di soldiers. Every last one of them is inside."
He turned to the soldiers behind him.
"Third Battalion, listen up."
Everyone straightened.
"Today, either they die or we die. There's no third option."
He paused, then slowly drew the blade at his waist.
It was a thick-backed saber, its blade black and its edge glinting coldly—clearly a vicious weapon that had drunk the blood of countless men.
"Follow me."
He strode toward the valley entrance.
More than two hundred men followed in silence.
The moment Li Jinshui stepped into the valley, he caught a familiar smell.
The stench of blood.
And something burning.
Thirty paces inside the entrance, the sight before him stopped him in his tracks.
Dozens of bodies lay strewn across the clearing.
They weren't Di corpses. They were Zhou people.
Old men, women, children.
The worst was a young woman. Her clothes had been torn to shreds, her belly split open, her innards spilling across the ground. A baby lay beside her, its head smashed in and its little body curled into a ball, as if still in the womb.
Someone began to retch.
Someone's hand shook around his sword.
Li Jinshui stood motionless, staring at the mother and child.
He remembered the woman who'd sold pancakes below his office in his previous life. She always brought along a child of three or four. The little one was fond of smiling at him, showing the two gaps where his front teeth were missing.
Then one day, the child stopped showing up.
The woman said she'd sent him back to his hometown.
He hadn't thought much of it at the time.
Now, staring at the baby with its head smashed in, he suddenly remembered those two gaps where the front teeth were missing.
And the child who had smiled at him.
He lowered his head and gripped his sword hilt tightly.
When he raised his head again, his face showed nothing.
"Keep moving," Zhou Kui's voice came from up ahead, cold as ice.
The column continued deeper into the valley.
The farther they went, the more bodies they saw.
All villagers.
All the old, the weak, women, and children.
There were no able-bodied men. They had probably already been killed or captured for forced labor.
As they reached the depths of the valley, a sharp bone whistle suddenly rang out ahead!
At once, countless dark figures surged down from both sides of the slopes!
Di soldiers!
They'd been lying in wait all along!
"Form ranks!" Zhou Kui roared, his voice shaking the valley!
The soldiers of Third Battalion quickly gathered, forming a circle back-to-back!
The Di soldiers surged in like a tide, their curved blades flashing in the sunlight!
The first wave crashed into them, both sides colliding with brutal force!
Screams, the clash of weapons, and furious shouts rang through the valley in an instant!
Li Jinshui cut down the Di soldier rushing at him. From the corner of his eye, he saw Zhou Kui—
Zhou Kui didn't retreat or defend himself. He didn't even glance at the Di soldiers surging toward him.
He simply walked forward, step by step. Each footfall shattered the rocks beneath him, and with each step, someone fell.
The Inner Strength Realm!
Li Jinshui was seeing someone from the Inner Strength Realm fight with his own eyes for the first time.
The broad-backed saber in Zhou Kui's hands seemed to come alive. Wherever its blade flashed, Di soldiers fell like stalks of wheat before a scythe! Some were cut in half at the waist, some split down the middle, and some had their heads sent flying three feet into the air as blood gushed like a fountain!
He didn't even break a sweat!
So this was the Inner Strength Realm?
Even someone at the ninth layer of Body Forging probably couldn't withstand three strikes from him!
"Kill!!!"
Li Jinshui tore his gaze away and threw himself back into the fight.
He unleashed the Wolf Killing Seven Forms with all his might, his blade flashing like a flurry of snow!
Wolf Fang Bite! Three consecutive slashes burst into sprays of blood from a Di soldier's throat, chest, and belly!
Wolf Tail Sweep! His blade swept sideways, knocking aside a descending saber, then spun around and severed another man's arm!
Wolf Charge! His blade shot straight forward, stabbing into an enemy's mouth and emerging from the back of his head!
Wolf Devour! His saber flew from his hand, spinning as it sliced through a third Di soldier's neck!
[Defeated Northern Di soldier, points +1]
[+1]
[+8, defeated Northern Di Squad Leader]
[+3...]
His points were climbing like mad!
But the fighting went on. More and more Di soldiers kept coming, as if they could never be killed!
Suddenly, a furious roar rang out from the hillside!
"Zhou Kui!!!"
The roar made everyone's ears ring, and the fighting in the valley faltered for an instant!
A burly Di man leaped down from the hillside. When he landed with a "boom," the ground cracked!
His upper body was bare, his muscles knotted like the gnarled roots of an old tree, and a snarling black wolf was tattooed across his chest! In his hands was an enormous battle axe as wide as a cartwheel, its blade stained with fresh blood!
The Inner Strength Realm!
This was the Di leader!
Zhou Kui cut down the last Di soldier blocking his way and turned to face the Di leader.
"Chimu of the Black Wolf Tribe." The Di leader grinned, showing yellow and black teeth. "I hear you're the Camp Commander of the Third Battalion in North-Rejecting City, and at the mid-stage of the Inner Strength Realm?"
The scar on Zhou Kui's face twitched. "You've heard of me?"
"I have." Chimu planted his great axe on the ground. "They say you once killed someone in the late stage of the Inner Strength Realm. I don't believe it."
Zhou Kui smiled.
The kind of smile that sent a chill down your back.
"Believe it or not, you'll find out when we try."
Before the words had even left his mouth, he was already moving!
An Inner Strength Realm fighter against another Inner Strength Realm fighter!
The two figures slammed into each other!
"CLANG—!!!"
The thunderous clash of metal shook the entire valley! A few soldiers standing too close were sent sprawling, blood streaming from their noses and ears!
Li Jinshui forced back the Di soldier beside him with a slash, then looked up at the two figures—
Fast!
Too fast!
With his eyesight at the eighth layer of Body Forging, all he could make out were two blurred shadows colliding again and again! Every impact erupted in a deafening boom, and the ground beneath them trembled!
"Kill!!!"
Someone shouted, and the fighting exploded anew!
But this time, everyone's spirit had changed!
The Camp Commander was fighting with his life on the line. So would they!
Li Jinshui turned away and threw himself into the slaughter!
He drove the Wolf Killing Seven Forms to their limit, his blade sweeping toward the Di soldiers like a shining ribbon! One, two, three—he was a tireless killing machine, bodies flying wherever he went!
[+4]
[+2]
[+1...]
His points kept soaring!
As he killed, he roared inwardly, This isn't enough. I need more fighting strength right now. Add points! Put them into saber techniques! All of them!
[Spent 2 points, Wolf Killing Seven Forms proficiency +2]
[Wolf Killing Seven Forms: Beginner → Minor Accomplishment!]
His technique shifted!
More cunning, more vicious, faster!
The three slashes of Wolf Fang Bite came one faster than the last. When the third fell, the Di soldier still hadn't even reacted!
[Spent 1 point, +1]
[+1]
[+1...]
He didn't know how long he'd been killing.
He only knew that daylight had gone from glaring white to dusky yellow, then from dusky yellow to blood red.
Corpses piled layer upon layer across the ground. Blood soaked the valley's soil into mud that squelched beneath their feet.
The living grew fewer and fewer.
But so did the Di soldiers.
At last, a piercing howl rang out from the hillside—
The Di people's signal to retreat!
The remaining Di soldiers pulled back like the tide, fleeing deeper into the valley!
"Pursue them!" Zhou Kui's voice rang out from ahead, hoarse but fierce. "Don't let a single one get away!"
The soldiers of the Third Battalion roared and chased after the fleeing Di soldiers!
Li Jinshui went after them, too.
He was the fastest.
Because he was so close.
Just a little more, and the Wolf Killing Seven Forms would reach Great Accomplishment!
Ahead, a Di soldier ran while glancing back in terror at the pursuers closing in.
Li Jinshui caught up to him and slashed—
Wolf Fang Bite!
Three consecutive strikes, the last cutting across his throat!
[Defeated Northern Di soldier, points +1]
[Current points: 70]
Enough!
"Put them into the saber technique!"
[Spent 70 points, Wolf Killing Seven Forms proficiency +70]
[Wolf Killing Seven Forms: Minor Accomplishment → Great Accomplishment!]
Boom—
It felt as if something had exploded inside his mind!
Countless scenes of slaughter surged in like a flood: wolves surrounding their prey, the wolf king fighting, a lone wolf battling to the death. Each scene fused with his saber technique!
Wolf Killing Seven Forms, Great Accomplishment!
With his eyes closed, his right hand swung out a saber strike of its own accord—
A simple strike, without a hint of flourish.
Yet as the blade cut through the air, it didn't make the sound of rushing wind. Instead, a low wolf's howl rang out!
Awooo—
Li Jinshui opened his eyes and looked at his hand.
The saber was still there, and he was still himself, but it was no longer the same saber.
A faint, indistinct light seemed to flow along its edge.
This was—
The Great Accomplishment stage, when saber aura first emerged!
He lifted his head and looked ahead.
The Di soldiers were still fleeing, and the Third Battalion's soldiers were still in pursuit.
But he didn't need to chase them anymore.
He knew none of them would get away.
By sunset, the battle had finally ended.
Corpses lay everywhere in the valley: Zhou soldiers, Di soldiers, and the innocent villagers.
Fewer than a hundred people were still alive.
Zhou Kui stood atop a boulder, drenched in blood, his chest heaving. Several wounds marked his body. The deepest ran diagonally from his left shoulder to his right hip, the torn flesh exposing stark white bone.
But he was still standing.
The Di leader called Chimu lay at his feet, dead.
"Count the casualties," Zhou Kui rasped, his voice like sandpaper scraping stone.
The results came soon.
The Third Battalion had sent out 237 men: 142 killed in battle, 39 seriously wounded, and 56 lightly wounded.
The Di Army had numbered 327.
Every last one had been wiped out.
Not a single survivor.
Li Jinshui stood amid a mound of corpses, covered in blood—some his own, but mostly someone else's.
Er Gou staggered over and dropped onto the ground beside him, panting heavily.
"Squad Leader... we... we won..."
Li Jinshui didn't answer.
[Current points: 3]
[Spent 3 points, Iron Shirt proficiency +3]
He brought up the panel:
[Technique: Iron Shirt (Layer 8, 3/45), Wolf Killing Seven Forms (Great Accomplishment), Tiger Walk (Minor Accomplishment, 24/30)]
[Realm: Body Forging, Layer 8]
[Points: 0]
Just a little more, and his footwork would reach Great Accomplishment.
He raised his head and looked toward Zhou Kui.
Zhou Kui was crouched beside a seriously wounded soldier, personally bandaging his injuries.
Li Jinshui knew the man. He was one of Wang Tiezhu's old subordinates—the veteran called Old Zhou.
Old Zhou had actually survived.
He was covered in wounds, his right leg gone, his face as white as a corpse's. But he was alive, his eyes still open as he looked at Zhou Kui.
Li Jinshui watched without any expression on his face.
Then he stood and walked toward the mouth of the valley.
"Squad Leader? Where are you going?" Er Gou called from behind.
"Back to sleep."
He didn't look back.
Behind him lay a field of corpses, the stench of blood, and low groans and sobs.
Before him lay the pitch-black night, the road they had come by, and—
North-Rejecting City.
Someone was waiting for him in that city.
Li Jinshui walked through the night, step by step, quickening with every stride.
On the panel, the proficiency of Tiger Walk glimmered faintly.
Six points to go.
Almost there.
When he reached Great Accomplishment in his footwork, when he reached the ninth layer of Body Forging, when he became a Squad Leader—
He would be able to leave the camp.
He would be able to go back.
He would be able to—
Their faces surfaced one by one in the darkness.
Smiling, smug, greedy.
The corners of Li Jinshui's mouth slowly curled into a smile.
In the pitch-black night, that smile was hard to make out. He looked like a wolf, sharpening its fangs in the shadows.
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