A Thousand Miles of Battle, A Single Sword Against a Million Soldiers

The Red Iron Earth Dragon strolled forward leisurely, arriving right in front of Ju Zi.

With twenty thousand years of cultivation, it knew the aura of its mate deep within the cave remained stable, so it felt no urgency to assist just yet.

What needed to be done now was to eliminate these eyesores, lest these humans return to seek revenge once they grew stronger.

Looking at the dragon claw above that was about to crush her into a pulp, despair welled up in Ju Zi's eyes.

She would certainly die from this single blow.

But she had yet to take revenge on Duke White Tiger for murdering her parents; how could she die here?

Ju Zi squeezed her eyes shut in despair, then let out a terrified shriek.

"I don't care who you are, come and save us! I don't want to die here, please, come and save me!"

"Ju Zi..." Ke Ke, completely unable to move, shed tears.

"..." Wang Shaojie, facing the ground, struggled with all his might, but eventually collapsed, powerless.

Watching the dragon claw now inches away, Ju Zi closed her eyes in despair.

Squelch—

Ju Zi only heard the sound of a blade slicing through the air, followed by warm liquid splashing onto her body.

"ROAR!" The Red Iron Earth Dragon's pained shriek felt as if it would pierce her eardrums.

Then came the thundering sounds of a landslide; it was the Red Iron Earth Dragon struggling in agony.

Ke Ke stared in a daze as a naked man wearing nothing but a pair of boxers charged out from the cave passage.

Wielding a verdant, jade-green sword, he engaged the massive Red Iron Earth Dragon in a fierce struggle.

"Are you alright, little girl?" A kind-faced old man with a white beard appeared before Ke Ke, asking with concern.

He had Wang Shaojie slung over one shoulder and Ju Zi over the other; it was unclear when he had stepped in to save them.

"I..." Faced with the sudden turn of events, Ke Ke didn't know how to respond.

"If you're fine, go watch the show from a safe place. It won't take up much of your time."

With that, the old man freed a hand and grabbed Ke Ke.

With a flash, he brought her to a safe spot not far away before setting them down.

The old man placed his hand on Wang Shaojie's chest, injecting soul power to protect his meridians and prevent any lasting injuries.

Ju Zi opened her weary eyelids, realizing she had been granted a second chance at life.

She saw the black-haired youth ahead moving with ease, dodging and weaving through the Red Iron Earth Dragon's attacks.

Every time the Red Iron Earth Dragon's claw missed, it created an opening for the youth to strike, adding a new wound to its body.

Even after using its racial talent soul skill, Metal Element Control, combined with gravity suppression, it failed to land a single hit on the youth.

At most, it only managed to slow the youth's attack frequency, which proved largely ineffective.

Instead, every strike from the youth left a searing wound on its body, as if something were gnawing at the flesh within the cuts.

This was the destruction attribute imbued within the sword; to suppress this agony, the Red Iron Earth Dragon had to expend massive amounts of soul power to resist it.

"ROAR!" The Red Iron Earth Dragon let out another thunderous roar, whipping up a monstrous wave of air.

Facing the blast and the flying debris, Lin Yuan crossed his arms in front of his head to block the onslaught, though he was blown back a fair distance.

The Red Iron Earth Dragon's outburst was not without purpose; this move successfully widened the distance between itself and Lin Yuan.

Its twenty thousand years of dragon life told it that if this war of attrition continued, it would surely be the one to be exhausted to death.

It had to gather its remaining strength and annihilate this annoying cockroach in one go.

Lin Yuan suddenly had a strange sensation, his skin beginning to glow with a crystalline white light.

"Good grief, this must be a mutated Red Iron Earth Dragon, right? It even has mental locking?" Lin Yuan muttered.

In an instant, countless flying sand and metal from the rock walls swirled above the Red Iron Earth Dragon's head under its control.

Before it had finished charging for long, the metal, laden with sand and iron, surged toward Lin Yuan.

"Pretty clever, not wasting time charging for maximum damage, just aiming to catch me off guard." Lin Yuan held Jade Dragon-Slayer horizontally at his waist, closing his eyes to assume his stance.

The sandstorm arrived with incredible speed, reaching Lin Yuan in the blink of an eye.

In that brief moment, countless thoughts flashed through Lin Yuan's mind.

From the confusion of first arriving in this world to the despair of his parents' passing.

From the joy of his martial soul awakening to the mundane details of his daily life.

From the God of Destruction to the various people he had met, like Ning Tian and Wu Feng.

Over the past two years, he had attempted to swing his sword countless times under extreme pressure.

In the end, he distilled all his sweat and insights into this single strike.

Instantly, his eyes snapped open, erupting with a piercing brilliance that reached the heavens.

Ju Zi and Ke Ke, having recovered slightly, couldn't even see the motion of Lin Yuan's sword; he had already finished his strike.

A sword shadow suddenly emerged from the center of the flying sandstorm, instantly shattering the terrifying attack.

"Awoo!" The Red Iron Earth Dragon let out a painful roar.

Because one of its dragon claws, much like the attack Lin Yuan had just shattered, went spinning through the air.

It turned and fled in a panic, scurrying toward the passage behind it.

"So cool." Ke Ke lightly covered her mouth, looking at Lin Yuan, who was still holding his sword-swinging pose.

What is called "cool" is just a feeling; the fact that he was a mysterious naked man no longer mattered.

Besides, Lin Yuan was handsome to begin with, so his lack of clothing could just be considered a treat.

"Not bad, little Yuanzi." Cao Xin chuckled as he flew to Lin Yuan's side to offer praise.

Realizing the crisis had been resolved, Lin Yuan let out a long sigh and collapsed onto the ground.

His condition was no better than Ke Ke's or Ju Zi's; his eyes were even ringed with dark circles from the intense physical exhaustion.

"I suppose... I'm burnt out." Lin Yuan's voice was faint as he raised a hand to take the medicinal pill Cao Xin handed him, shoving it straight into his mouth.

He had already been soaking and cultivating in magma earlier, leaving him with only thirty percent of his strength.

If not for that full-powered outburst of mastery at the critical moment, he would not have been able to defeat that Red Iron Earth Dragon, whether through a war of attrition or a burst of power.

The essence of combat is to never show fatigue during the fight; that is the difference between a human and a beast.

"I never expected you to be able to cultivate my Affectionate Sword to great success in just two short years. You truly have made me look at you with new eyes."

"However, there seemed to be an unrivaled momentum within that sword strike of yours. May I ask what that was?"

Lin Yuan looked at Cao Xin, took a deep breath, and reminisced: "A single body fighting across three thousand miles; a single sword standing against a million troops."

"This was a state of mind I thought of at the time. I fused it into the sword intent of the Affectionate Sword, and that is what brought about the peerless momentum during that moment I swung my blade."

"A single body fighting across three thousand miles; a single sword standing against a million troops..." Cao Xin kept chewing on these lines of poetry from Blue Star, contemplating the state of mind within them.

The more he chewed on them, the more he could taste the flavor hidden inside.