One Man, One Spear: I Am the Wall of the Northwestern Section

The Beast Tide advanced faster than anticipated.

The broadcast had said thirty-six hours, but in reality, the vanguard arrived in less than twenty-four.

The first wave at the forefront was a pack of Bloodthirsty Wolves, mostly Second Rank, mixed with a small number of Third-Rank Martial Artists.

At the very least, there were several hundred of them. Howling across the wasteland, they reached within three hundred meters of the city wall in mere minutes.

The firing points atop the wall opened fire.

There were six firing points in the Northwestern Section. Two had jammed, one had a misaligned sight, and only three could actually fire.

The ballistae roared, blasting down a swath of wolves, but those behind immediately filled the gap.

"Hold them off! Keep the ballistae suppressing them!"

The temporary commander of the Bladebreaker Battalion was an old soldier named Hu Dahai, a Fourth-Rank Martial Artist and Great Martial Master. He had spent four years at the fortress and was considered an old hand.

He stood atop the wall directing the defense, shouting until his voice nearly cracked.

"What the hell is going on with the third firing point on the left wing? Why has it gone silent?"

"Report! The ballista string snapped! The spare is broken too!"

Hu Dahai cursed.

Just how badly had the Northwestern Section's equipment deteriorated? The ballista strings should have been replaced last year but never were. Even the spare parts were defective stock from the warehouse. No one cared during peacetime, but once the Beast Tide came, every problem was exposed.

The first wave of Bloodthirsty Wolves reached the base of the wall.

The jumping ability of Third-Rank Martial Artists was enough for them to leap straight onto the five-meter-high wall.

When the first Bloodthirsty Wolf climbed over the battlements, the nearest recruit was so frightened that he dropped his blade.

The wolf opened its jaws, its fangs gleaming coldly.

A long spear swept in from the side.

The shaft of the Dragon-Gallbladder Golden Spear struck the Bloodthirsty Wolf across the waist, backed by the hardness of S-Rank alloy and the arm strength of a Ninth-Rank Martial Spirit.

The wolf's body bent into a V-shape in midair. Its organs sprayed from its mouth as it flew more than forty meters beyond the wall, smashing into the ground and exploding into a bloody crater.

The recruit who had dropped his weapon stared blankly at the figure before him.

Li Zhengyang stood atop the wall, the Dragon-Gallbladder Golden Spear held horizontally before him.

The second wolf climbed up. Collapse Formula—the spearhead pierced straight through the center of its skull, bringing a spray of brain matter with it.

Then came the third, the fourth, and the fifth.

Three spear shadows flashed, too fast for the naked eye to follow.

Five wolf corpses fell from the wall within three seconds.

"Everyone, fall back ten meters behind me!"

Li Zhengyang roared.

The sound waves spread with the pressure of a Martial Spirit Rank expert. Whether they heard him clearly or not, the Bladebreaker Battalion soldiers atop the wall found their legs going weak and instinctively retreated.

Good. With them out of the way, he had no more reservations.

Astral Qi unleashed.

The Astral Qi of a Ninth-Rank Martial Spirit erupted from his body, forming a translucent wall of energy across the top of the city wall and covering nearly two hundred meters of the Northwestern Section's front.

The Bloodthirsty Wolves leaped up and slammed into the energy wall.

Like flies hitting glass.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

More than twenty Bloodthirsty Wolves were sent flying by the energy wall. They fell from the height onto the piles of rubble outside the wall. Some died on impact, while others broke their legs and rolled about on the ground.

Every soldier on the wall was dumbfounded.

Hu Dahai had been cursing about the firing points, but when he turned and saw that scene, the curse caught in his throat.

Astral Qi forming a protective wall?

What level of cultivation did that require?

Li Zhengyang did not keep the energy wall up for long. It consumed too much, making it inefficient.

He withdrew the energy wall and leaped down from the city wall.

Outward.

"Has he lost his mind?!"

"He jumped down! He jumped down alone!"

What was outside the city wall?

The Beast Tide, still pouring in.

Li Zhengyang landed in an open space five meters beyond the wall, facing the overwhelming army of Demonic Beasts.

He planted the spear tip against the ground and filled himself with Blood Qi.

Three blood channels lit up at once, their dark golden glow especially dazzling in the night.

The first pack of Bloodthirsty Wolves pounced.

Mountain-Splitting Spear Art, sweeping strike.

With an S-Rank weapon and the Blood Qi infusion of a Ninth-Rank Martial Spirit, the Astral Qi released in that sweep directly formed a crescent-shaped shockwave.

The shockwave cut horizontally through the pack, spanning thirty meters. Wherever it passed, the wolves were cleanly severed in two.

Their upper halves still held their pouncing poses while their lower halves remained where they had been, hot blood spraying from their torn bodies across the ground.

One sweep, more than twenty wolves.

Yet more continued pouring in from behind.

Instead of retreating, Li Zhengyang charged forward, spear in hand, and plunged into the Beast Tide.

In the open terrain, Cloud-Shocking Steps could finally be fully unleashed. His figure weaved through the wolf pack, each step landing atop the head of a Demonic Beast.

His spear rose and fell in a blur.

The Collapse Formula handled piercing, the Twisting Formula handled shredding, and sweeping strikes cleared the field.

The three techniques switched seamlessly, his spear momentum unending.

On the wall, the Bladebreaker Battalion soldiers lay prone atop the battlements and stared below.

No one spoke.

Because what they were witnessing had already surpassed their understanding.

One man, one spear, standing surrounded by hundreds of Third-Rank Martial Artists, slaughtering them with an almost crushing dominance.

This was not a battle.

It was a massacre.

The Bloodthirsty Wolf pack broke.

No matter how fierce Third-Rank Martial Artists were, their instincts told them that the man before them was untouchable.

The surviving wolves bypassed Li Zhengyang and scattered to either side.

But something larger followed behind them.

Ironclad Bears. Five of them.

Fourth-Rank Martial Artists.

Each was three meters tall, covered in iron-gray armor plating. Within the Beast Tide, they were moving fortresses.

They did not detour. They charged straight at the city wall.

Li Zhengyang stood directly in their path.

The first Ironclad Bear pounced before him, both forepaws slamming down with all the force of a Fourth-Rank Martial Artist.

Li Zhengyang did not dodge.

He gripped the spear in his right hand and thrust upward.

The spearhead drilled into the bear's palm, traveled all the way up its foreleg, pierced through the entire limb, and emerged from its shoulder.

The Ironclad Bear's howl of agony was deafening.

Li Zhengyang pulled out the spear, stepped on the bear's knee to launch himself upward, flipped in midair, and smashed the spear downward.

Collapse Formula.

Together with Astral Qi, the triangular spearhead of the Dragon-Gallbladder Golden Spear drilled from the bear's crown all the way to its jaw.

The first one died.

The second charged in immediately after.

Li Zhengyang tapped off the first bear's corpse, shifted sideways with Cloud-Shocking Steps, dodged the charge, and drove his spear into the second bear's eye socket with a backhand thrust.

The third and fourth attacked from both sides.

The spear split in two—no, it was merely moving so fast that it left afterimages.

One thrust pierced the throat on the left, another pierced the heart on the right.

The fifth turned and fled.

The long spear left his hand.

It traced an arc through the air and precisely nailed itself into the fleeing Ironclad Bear's skull.

A one-hundred-and-six-pound S-Rank heavy spear, thrown with the force of Martial Spirit Rank Blood Qi.

The bear's head exploded outright.

Its headless body ran another dozen meters before collapsing.

Li Zhengyang walked over, planted one foot on the bear's corpse, and pulled out his spear.

On the city wall.

The communicator slipped from Hu Dahai's hand and fell to the ground.

An old soldier beside him stood with his mouth open. After a long while, he finally managed to say one thing.

"Is that really a fucking Bladebreaker Battalion recruit?"

The Beast Tide continued to surge forward.

But in the Northwestern Section, not a single Demonic Beast could cross the line where Li Zhengyang stood.

He stood outside the city wall, one man and one spear, killing for four full hours.

The corpses beneath his feet piled into a small mountain. Blood gathered into streams and flowed along the terrain toward the lower ground.

Only when the sky began to brighten did the tail end of the Beast Tide finally pass.

Li Zhengyang was soaked from head to toe in Demonic Beast blood. He stood atop the mountain of corpses, his spear planted against the ground.

He glanced back at the city wall.

The Northwestern Section's wall was completely intact, and the Bladebreaker Battalion had suffered zero casualties.

Then his gaze passed over the wall and settled on the fortress interior.

"Ask the broadcast for the casualty reports from the other sections."

With trembling hands, Hu Dahai picked up the communicator and contacted headquarters.

Two minutes later, his expression changed.

"The Southeastern Section... zero casualties. The Eastern Section and Southern Section have more than ten lightly wounded each."

"What about the Western Section?"

Hu Dahai swallowed.

"The Western Section has thirty-seven dead and twenty-one seriously wounded. All of them were recruits."

The Western Section.

The area adjacent to the Northwestern Section.

It was also the second location where Bladebreaker Battalion recruits had been assigned.

Thirty-seven recruits had died.

Li Zhengyang climbed back over the wall from outside.

"What was the defensive setup in the Western Section?"

Hu Dahai checked the records, his voice trembling.

"Three firing points, all malfunctioning. No backup weapons were issued. As for reinforcements... headquarters did not send any."

All malfunctioning. No backups. No reinforcements.

The exact same setup as the Northwestern Section.

The only difference was that the Western Section did not have Li Zhengyang.

Li Zhengyang slung the long spear across his back and strode toward the fortress interior.

Hu Dahai chased after him for two steps.

"Where are you going?"

"To kill someone."