By the Protector's Order, Seize Them All!

"Bleurgh!" A young patrolman bent over and dry-heaved uncontrollably.

The others were equally pale-faced, their scalps prickling.

With such a sea of corpses and blood, how many living beings had to be slaughtered?

Centurion Zhao said in a dry, trembling voice, "Lord Wei... all along the way, we haven't seen a single living person..."

"Could it be that the city's ten thousand-plus residents, along with the livestock... are all here?"

A terrifying conclusion surfaced in everyone's minds.

A city of ten thousand, not even chickens or dogs spared, all reduced to offerings of flesh and blood?

What kind of utterly deranged demonic deed was this!

Wei Qing's face was frosty, fury and gravity intertwined in her eyes as she stared fixedly at the Star Gazing Platform continuously drawing in the blood and filth. She said coldly:

"So a great demon is indeed about to emerge into the world. Someone actually carried out such a heaven-defying blood sacrifice!"

She recalled what Vice Commander Gu had said: beneath Black Stone City, there seemed to be something of extreme yin and vile evil about to break its seal...

Wasn't the scene before her precisely the precursor to using the qi and blood of countless living beings as a catalyst, setting up an evil formation to batter the seal?

She had simply never heard of any demon sealed beneath Black Stone City in Yuan Province.

She had guessed one corner of the truth.

Wei Qing's sharp gaze swept over the deathly silent plaza and elevated platform as she swiftly weighed the situation.

The demon was nowhere to be seen, yet it had slaughtered the entire city. Its strength and depth of planning were absolutely not something they could contend with in haste.

The enemy was hidden while they stood exposed; the disparity in strength was immense.

She made her decision at once. "The situation is clear. The enemy has yet to reveal itself, and the danger is impossible to gauge."

"Everyone, heed my order. Withdraw immediately by the way we came! We'll join up with more forces before making long-term plans!"

Hearing this, everyone settled somewhat and prepared to return.

Yet at that very instant!

"Hehehe... only now do you wish to leave?"

"Since you have come knocking after traveling a thousand miles, why... be in such a hurry to leave?"

The voice was drifting and hoarse, seeming to come from nowhere as it instantly rang in everyone's ears!

Everyone's expressions changed in horror, and they hurriedly looked back!

At the mouth of the alley they had come through, at some unknown time, countless writhing masses had completely blocked the way.

They were formed from withered bones, shredded flesh, and black mist fused together!

Thud... thud... thud...

All of a sudden, a series of dull vibrations came from directly ahead.

"What's that sound?" A young patrolman instinctively gripped his saber tighter, his voice dry.

Before they could think further, the truth behind the vibrations burst into view.

A colossal figure appeared with savage force.

It was a monster over two zhang tall, its entire body haphazardly piled together from flesh and tissue, barely maintaining a human shape.

In its hand, it dragged a terrifying cleaver as thick as the mouth of a sea bowl.

Even more scalp-numbing, behind this towering creature of flesh stood over twenty skeletons in solemn formation.

They were not scattered piles of bones. Each wore tattered yet uniform regulation leather armor.

Holding sabers and shields or bone bows, their formation faintly carried the bearing of a military array.

"Wh-what the hell are these things?!" Zhou Xuantong sucked in a cold breath.

He had never heard of such creations, so bizarrely combining flesh and the undead.

Xiong Yue stepped forward, and the surging qi and blood of the ninth level of the Body Tempering Realm exploded outward.

It formed a scorching wave of air. "Who cares what they are? Since they've come, smash them to pieces!"

Meanwhile, Patrolman Li quietly shifted two steps closer to Wang Lang's side.

He just felt much safer around Young Master Wang!

This was probably the instinct for surviving in the workplace.

"By the Protector's order, seize them all!" the creature of flesh roared.

The exaggerated cleaver in its hand rose sharply, then came crashing down toward the most densely packed group amid a stench-laden gale!

The green flames in the skeleton soldiers' eye sockets flared as they surged forward.

Several skeletal archers even drew their bows without warning as they charged, and several grayish-white bone arrows ripped through the air toward them.

No fewer than three of them came at Zhou Xuantong from incredibly tricky angles, aimed straight at his vital points!

Zhou Xuantong had just been about to dodge...

When a vast, heavy beastly roar suddenly exploded!

Wei Qing's Black Tortoise Dharma Idol had already struck!

The roar was not merely a wave of sound; it also contained the Black Tortoise's power to suppress Baleful Intent and banish evil.

The incoming bone arrows were struck by the sound wave and instantly flew back the way they had come.

They shot into the skeletons at even greater speed, blasting apart the frames of two bow-wielding skeletons on the spot.

The green flames in the other charging skeleton soldiers' eye sockets swayed violently, and their charge faltered.

Yet the towering creature of flesh merely swayed slightly before letting out an even angrier roar.

Its cleaver's momentum not only remained undiminished but increased, clearly having suffered little effect.

After blocking the blow with her Black Tortoise Dharma Idol, Wei Qing shouted:

"This monster's aura is strange, mixed with deathly qi and violent life force. It is at least mid-second rank!"

"Young Master Wang, we cannot remain here. You and I will join forces, kill it swiftly, and break out!"

Wang Lang's gaze sharpened. "All right!"

As his words fell, golden light suddenly burst around him.

"Vajra Subdues Demons!"

Wang Lang's body abruptly expanded, transforming in the blink of an eye into a three-zhang-tall giant with three heads and six arms!

It was precisely his Vajra Dharma Idol!

At the same time, the Vajra Qi and Grand Righteous Qi within him surged wildly into the khakkhara in his hands.

The khakkhara hummed and trembled, extending and transforming along with him.

Wei Qing caught sight of it from the corner of her eye and was secretly astonished.

This Dharma Idol was solid and weighty, suffused with Buddhist light yet brimming with upright righteousness.

In terms of rank and might alone, it was not inferior in the slightest to the Black Tortoise Dharma Idol she had inherited.

This Young Master Wang truly was extraordinary.

Among Wang Lang's six arms, the two gripping the khakkhara bulged with knotted muscle as he swung it in a full arc and savagely smashed it down at the creature's head!

The staff wind howled, and the air detonated.

The creature of flesh neither dodged nor evaded, instead raising its grotesque arm and cleaver crosswise to block.

Its other arm writhed wildly as its flesh thickened, forming a shield over its head.

Clang!!!

The explosive crash of metal against metal was deafening!

The stone slabs beneath the monster's feet crumbled into powder, and its entire body was smashed shorter by a full measure.

A huge gap split open in the cleaver, while the arm serving as a flesh shield was reduced to a bloody mess, black blood splattering everywhere.

Yet it had truly endured that mountain-splitting, rock-rending blow, merely releasing a howl of pain and fury.

"What tough hide and flesh!"

"Young Master Wang, attack its joints!" Wei Qing cried out as she controlled the Black Tortoise Dharma Idol and pounced forward.

The Black Tortoise's enormous claw smashed viciously into the monster's relatively vulnerable knee hollow.

Its snake head bit toward an area on the monster's chest where a dim crimson glow faintly circulated.

That seemed to be the source of its chaotic life force.

Wang Lang understood. The Dharma Idol's other four arms restrained the monster's movements.

Meanwhile, the two primary attacking arms danced the khakkhara in coordination with Wei Qing, targeting only the openings exposed whenever it blocked their attacks.