Vermillion Bird Battalion

The rising eastern dawn pierced the darkness.

Yet it could not disperse the dense stench of blood hanging in the air.

After a bitter night of fighting, aside from Chen Xian's mad slaughter amid the demons, more than half the Head Chef Army had been killed or wounded, and the Cook Soldiers had also suffered grievous casualties. Even Ding Chen, Wang Yan, Qin Fei, Xue Qishan, and the others had sustained severe injuries.

To the north and east of Blood River Forest, the Demon Slayer Soldiers had likewise suffered heavy casualties. The Black Tiger King had led the Demon Army to successfully seize Blood River Forest.

Pei Menglong and the other young generals led the Demon Slayer Soldiers to establish camp thirty miles north of Blood River Forest, preparing to hold out for another day.

Black Wind Valley.

Chen Xian was tending to Ding Chen and the others. Of the original one hundred and seven men, only thirty-nine remained alive; all the rest had died in battle.

More than thirteen hundred Head Chef Army soldiers had perished, their corpses laid out one after another. Liu Dingchun had initially been overbearing and hot-tempered, but now he was so exhausted that he squatted on the ground like a dead pig, without even the strength to curse anyone.

Ever since becoming a Head Chef Army major general, he had not set foot on a battlefield for three years.

It had nearly cost him his old life.

"Chen Xian, you damned bastard, why did you let so many demons through?"

After resting for a moment, Liu Dingchun straightened up and roared angrily.

Chen Xian could not be bothered to answer. Given last night's situation, with five thousand demons charging at them, how could one hundred and eight men possibly have held them back?

"You dog, you nearly got me killed!" Liu Dingchun cursed furiously.

Just then, furious demonic roars rang out from the northern side of Blood River Forest.

Liu Dingchun and the others instantly tensed. If another wave of attacks came, they would all die here.

"Get up, prepare for battle!" Liu Dingchun struggled to his feet and roared.

Yet fewer than half of the Head Chef Army soldiers could still stand.

The Cook Soldiers around Chen Xian could not rise at all.

Just as everyone was gripped by tension, a figure shot into the sky from the direction of the camp and came streaking toward them like lightning.

Chen Xian narrowed his eyes. It was a middle-aged man in dark golden armor, carrying a dark golden spear as he charged into Blood River Forest.

"It's General Sun!" Liu Dingchun cried out in delight after recognizing him.

General Sun was the strongest among the Ninth Battalion.

A moment later, more than ten thousand Demon Slayer Soldiers charged in from three directions.

Three thousand of them passed through Black Wind Valley. When everyone saw them clearly, they were all stunned.

That was because the three thousand Demon Slayer Soldiers were all women, and even the young general leading them was a woman, no older than twenty at most.

Clad in silver armor, she cut a heroic and extraordinary figure.

The young female general swept her cold almond eyes over Liu Dingchun and said, "Head Chef Army, return to camp."

As soon as the words fell, she led the three thousand female soldiers toward Blood River Forest.

"There are female soldiers too?" Chen Xian was slightly startled.

Ding Chen nodded. "They're the Vermillion Bird Battalion of the Third Battalion, all female soldiers."

The Demon-Slaying Ninth Army was divided into ten battalions, with ten thousand men in each.

Chen Xian nodded in surprise. He had thought everyone before Demon-Slaying Pass was a man.

Very soon, the young female general led her three thousand female soldiers away in a cloud of dust, their momentum imposing.

"Return to camp!"

After shouting, Liu Dingchun swung himself onto his horse.

Seeing that Chen Xian and the others had not moved, he snorted coldly. "I'll settle accounts with you after we get back!"

Mu Feng led his own men away behind him after glancing at Chen Xian and Ding Chen.

Once everyone had left.

Chen Xian and the others began to make preparations as well, bringing all their fallen brothers back to camp.

Ninth Battalion.

When the Demon Slayer Soldiers guarding the gate saw that some Cook Soldiers had survived, every one of them was immensely surprised.

The battle in Blood River Forest had been brutally fierce these past two days. More than half the Ninth Battalion's Demon Slayer Soldiers had died, yet thirty or forty of those three hundred Cook Soldiers were still alive?

Back at the Cook Soldier camp.

Chen Xian had Ding Chen and the others recuperate for half a day first. His own depletion was also immense, so he sat cross-legged in his tent and summoned the panel.

Martial arts: Ox Demon Body Refinement Technique (Mastery), Vajra Dragon Elephant Art (Not Yet Initiated)...

Experience: 386,110 points

Realm: Soaring Realm, Major Accomplishment

Lifespan: 280 years

Chen Xian was inwardly thrilled. Over a thousand demons had fallen beneath his blade in one night, along with two demon lords and nine Demon Men, earning him three hundred and ten thousand experience points.

Together with the more than sixty thousand experience points from before, he had accumulated three hundred and eighty thousand points.

He spent one hundred and ten experience points to improve the Ox Demon Body Refinement Technique, restoring the depleted essence energy in his jade sea to its peak. In an instant, he was brimming with vigor, though his mind remained weary.

He closed his eyes and rested for an hour.

After lunch.

Chen Xian went to find Ding Chen and the others. Half of them were able to move again.

They buried the sixty-eight fallen Cook Soldiers at the foot of Wumeng Mountain and gathered their belongings to send back to their respective hometowns.

In the blink of an eye, three days passed.

Including Chen Xian, there were still only forty men in the Cook Soldier camp. No reinforcements had arrived.

During that time, Liu Dingchun had not sent anyone over either.

Even the entire Ninth Battalion was eerily quiet.

Ding Chen and the other thirty-nine had mostly recovered from their injuries and were drilling in the open ground before the camp.

That day, cheers arose from the front army.

Chen Xian's ears twitched. After a brief moment, he said, "Those female soldiers are quite formidable. They actually drove the Demon Army back to the northern bank of Blood River Forest!"

Ding Chen put away his spear. "The Vermillion Bird Iron Cavalry of the Third Battalion and the Black Dragon Iron Cavalry of the First Battalion are the two sharp swords of the Ninth Army. I heard their weakest members have opened and condensed over two hundred acupoints, and some captains are Soaring Realm experts."

Chen Xian was astonished. "They're that strong?"

Ding Chen nodded. "That female lieutenant general of the Third Battalion, Tang Can, is even more formidable. They say she can send General Sun flying with a single thrust of her spear."

Everyone was shocked.

That morning, when General Sun had made his move, they had watched from afar. He was undoubtedly incredibly strong.

If Tang Can could send General Sun flying with one spear thrust, she truly was terrifying!

"Then does that mean the Demon Army has absolutely no chance of passing Demon-Slaying Pass?" Chen Xian asked.

Ding Chen pondered before saying, "That... is hard to say!"

In battle against demons, generals were important, but soldiers were important too.

If the soldiers collapsed all along the line, no matter how powerful the generals were, there would eventually come a time when their strength ran dry. They would still die miserably on the battlefield.

Unless they retreated, retreating again and again.

Then Demon-Slaying Pass would fall.

Once Demon-Slaying Pass fell, the prestige of the Great Ning Dynasty would crumble like a mountain collapsing and the earth splitting apart. Being mocked by all four directions would be a small matter; the true disaster would be other powers taking advantage of the chaos to attack the Great Ning Dynasty.

The next day.

Early in the morning, Chen Xian was summoned away by Liu Dingchun.

He followed the Head Chef Army soldier alone to the Central Army Tent. Upon entering, he saw quite a few people seated inside.

At the very front sat Liu Dingchun.

One person sat on one side, while two sat on the other.

There were people standing behind each of them as well.

Chen Xian spotted Mu Feng at once. His gaze swept over the arrogant young captain standing before Mu Feng—it should be Li Sheng.

"This subordinate greets General Liu!"

"Kneel!"

Liu Dingchun shouted coldly.

Chen Xian raised his head slightly and looked straight at Liu Dingchun. "As far as I know, Great Ning has no kneeling rites!"

Other than kneeling in worship at an emperor's ascension ceremony, there were no kneeling rites at any other time.

Even if Emperor Ning stood before him, he would not need to kneel, much less for Liu Dingchun, a mere Head Chef Army major general. What right did he have to demand it?

"So you're defying your superior?"

Liu Dingchun abruptly rose to his feet, his eyes filled with rage. "In the Head Chef Army camp, I am the greatest. Forget making you kneel—even if I order you to die, you must obey. That is loyalty and righteousness!"

"You disloyal, unrighteous thing! I made you the vanguard and gave you a chance to earn merit, yet you led men and let the Demon Army through, getting over a thousand Head Chef Army soldiers killed! Damn it, do you know what backgrounds they all have?"

Those able to enter the Head Chef Army camp were all sons of local nobles and wealthy gentry. At the very least, they came from rich merchant lineages, with money and influence at home.

He and General Sun had taken money from others. Now that so many men had died, how could their lineages not hold a grudge against them?

"General, drag this brat out and chop him up!" A dark-faced captain, rage filling his chest, stood and pointed at Chen Xian as he shouted.

"Chop him up? Captain Zou, you want to chop up one of my men?" Li Sheng raised an eyebrow and spoke blandly.