Several months had passed since Chu Bai issued his secret order to prepare for war.
Late autumn's murderous chill shrouded Qingzhou, yet Anping County was like an enormous furnace roaring amid the chaos, bursting with astonishing vitality and a terrifying potential for war.
Outside the city, along both banks of the Three-Bath River.
As far as the eye could see, ten thousand mu of supreme-grade spirit fields stretched out like a vast crimson ocean.
Half a man's height, the heavy ears of Bloodfang Rice drooped low. Rich plant spiritual energy mingled with tremendous blood and qi, becoming visible white mist in the autumn wind that drifted over the fields.
This was Anping County's first spectacular bumper harvest after it had spared no effort to transform its earth veins with the spiritual substance [mystic origin breath soil].
"Hurry! Move quicker! This is the life-saving Bloodfang Rice His Majesty gave us! Not a single grain is to fall into the mud!"
On the embankment, a veteran missing his left arm shouted in a voice like a cracked gong.
In the spirit fields, tens of thousands of commoners sweated profusely as they raced to gather the harvest.
Some were local farmers from Anping County, but far more were refugees who had fled Longwind County several months earlier.
After months of nourishment from Golden Jade Soup and peaceful living, these once-sallow, emaciated refugees now brimmed with blood and qi, working as though their strength were inexhaustible.
As cart after cart of mountain-high Bloodfang Rice, fragrant with enticing blood and qi, rolled steadily toward the county city's great granary, every face shone with heartfelt fervor and devotion.
In this chaotic age, when demons ran rampant and slaughtered whole cities without warning, a filling meal imbued with spiritual energy and a towering wall to shelter behind