Baxi Commandery.
Blood ran ankle-deep along the long streets.
Severed limbs and corpses lay everywhere one looked.
The once-prosperous city now had shattered gates.
The heavy, iron-bound wooden gates had broken into several pieces, slumped in the mud.
Half a tattered Crimson Cloud Black Banner stood planted at an angle amid the ruins.
A young lieutenant with one arm severed leaned against a ruined gatepost.
Behind him, several hundred civilians huddled in the shadows.
An old man clutched his grandson, while a woman covered her child's mouth.
Their eyes were vacant, their expressions numb.
When fear reached its utmost extreme, even the sound of crying vanished.
Outside the city.
Countless indifferent eyes flickered in and out of sight within the black mist.
An old soldier leaned on a broken spear, swaying on the verge of collapse. He glanced back at the young lieutenant, then at the civilians behind him.
He opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something.
But with things having come to this...
He did not even believe those words himself. How could they possibly comfort anyone?
Overnight, demons had suddenly appeared in the heartland of Jiannan, and more than half its commanderies and counties had already fallen.
No matter how swiftly the court moved, how could it send reinforcements within a single day?
Trembling, he reached into his robes and took out a dry flatbread.
He bit into it and chewed slowly.
Then he raised the broken spear across his chest.
Boom—!!!
The entire commandery city shuddered violently.
The black mist was smashed apart by a brutal force.
A colossal creature stepped over the shattered city walls and entered the city.
"Kill!!!"
The young lieutenant roared, raising his sword as he sprang forward.
The old soldier charged with his spear.
The remaining dozens of Demon-Suppression Guards and