Li Miaozhen, white horse and silver spear

"Splash!"

The Demon Race army in front retreated in unison, as if out of instinct. The Demon Race in the mountains and forests also made the same instinctive move; some retreated, some jumped back, and some subconsciously climbed trees.

A golden statue startled a large group of people.

The princess looked around in astonishment. She saw that the Demon Beast, which had been eager and greedy just a moment ago, was now like a stray dog, seemingly terrified.

Seeing this, the princess's heart gradually calmed down, and her pale face regained its color. She felt that being by Xu Qi'an's side gave her an immense sense of security.

This was not her hallucination. In fact, since she had traveled north, this man had always given her a sense of security, allowing her fear to gradually subside.

But he was equally hateful; he enjoyed teasing and targeting her, which inadvertently diminished that sense of peace she felt.

In addition, two words kept flashing through the princess's mind: Holy crap!

As is well known, this is an interjection expressing shock.

"Vajra Divine Skill, you belong to the Buddhist School, but which faction? Who is your master?"

The giant python raised its head, the fascia at the corners of its mouth stretched open, and its blood-red maw split open at a 180-degree angle.

It appears fierce and aggressive, but in reality, it is all bark and no bite, because the desire to eat in its eyes has turned into fear and hatred.

The demons reacted similarly; after the stress response to fear, they suddenly became enraged, charging forward in unison, baring their teeth and glaring at Xu Qi'an.

Their fierce eyes flashed with violence and hatred, as if Xu Qi'an had killed their people and stolen their mates.

"Huh? Are the northern Demon Race so afraid of Buddhist School?" Xu Qi'an was somewhat surprised. His sharp gaze swept over the surrounding demons, making him look like an angry Vajra, while inwardly screaming:

"Master Shenshu, come quickly, come out for dinner!"

"God, Master Shenshu?"

Holy crap, Shen Shu's internet's down again? That shouldn't be the case, I just bought him four VIP annual cards. Xu Qi'an was filled with complaints, but couldn't find anyone to vent to.

He suddenly became a little anxious. Having mastered the Vajra Invincible Technique to a minor degree, he was not afraid of being surrounded by these Demon Race. He certainly couldn't win in a fight, but breaking out wouldn't be a problem.

But what about the princess?

Protecting a vulnerable woman from the midst of a massive army, keeping her unharmed and unaffected, is an ability that only destructive and vulgar warriors lack.

Using Confucian School scriptures might be able to get rid of these Demon Race, but Xu Qi'an didn't want to leave; he wanted to capture the demon soldiers' leader and interrogate him for information.

Master Shenshu just happened to lose internet access at this crucial moment.

"Hiss"

At this moment, the giant python roared and spoke in human language, "Eat him!"

In an instant, the white beast roared, the rats squeaked and bared their powerful teeth. The foxes bared their fangs, their sharp teeth gleaming.

The black horse lowered its head, snorted, and kicked its hooves in place.

In the mountains and forests, all the demons moved in unison. Monkeys leaped among the treetops, ibex charged forward with their heads down, and medium to large-sized Demon Beast such as tigers, cheetahs, and lynxes were even faster, bursting out of the forest with a quick stretch and contraction of their waists.

The princess closed her eyes in fear and tightly gripped the hand that Xu Qi'an was holding.

At the same time, the voice of the monk Shenshu echoed in Xu Qi'an's mind, "I was thinking about something just now."

"My head is so empty, these memories are so fierce?" Xu Qi'an complained, then breathed a sigh of relief, relinquishing control of his body. He thought to himself:

"Don't kill them yet. I need to extract information from them. This group of Demon Race is very likely from the northern Demon Race. I want to know their target."

The next moment, he lost control of his limbs.

"Killing and hunting are prohibited."

A faint sigh echoed through the valley, sounding like thunder in the ears of the ferocious demons who were attacking fiercely. They all lost control of their bodies and collapsed to the ground.

The momentum from running caused them to tumble forward, rolling down the hillside and falling from the treetops, creating chaos in an instant.

"A bunch of rabble," Xu Qi'an said.

"." Shen Shu.

Hiss.

The giant python was pressed to the ground by an invisible force, unable to move, until fear took hold of its mind and the urge to kill dissipated, at which point it regained control of its body.

Even faster were the weaker Demon Beast, who were more cowardly and abandoned their killing intent earlier, thus regaining control of their bodies sooner.

Just as the giant python, having regained control of its body, was about to signal its escape, the golden figure reflected in its vertical pupils mysteriously vanished. When it was recaptured, the powerful, possibly Buddhist School master was already upon it.

A tremendous fear exploded in the python's heart, making it impossible to even entertain the thought of mutual destruction. When the opponent possesses godlike or demonic power, and you are merely an ant, even fighting to the death becomes a luxury.

This Buddhist School master was both a martial monk and a practitioner of Zen Buddhism; he practiced both paths of Buddhist School.

Xu Qi'an slowly spoke, "I have a question for you. Answer truthfully."

Under terrifying pressure, the giant python, its lower body trembling, uttered in a human voice. "Master, please ask."

Xu Qi'an, having already taken over from Shen Shu and regained control of his body, asked, "What are you Northern Demon Race planning to do with this large-scale invasion of the Great Feng territory?"

He had already guessed the answer.

"We... we are not the northern Demon Race," the giant python replied in a low voice.

A question mark flashed through Xu Qi'an's mind, followed by the giant python's explanation. "We are citizens of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons."

The remnants of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons, whose ruler is a nine-tailed Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons fox? Xu Qi'an almost blurted it out.

Information about the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons instantly surfaced in my mind.

The Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons was once the demon kingdom that ruled over the Hundred Thousand Mountains of the Southern Frontier, and it was also the Southern Demon lineage among the Demon Race of the North and South on the Nine Provinces Continent.

The king is a nine-tailed celestial fox.

The information, which suggests the person is a half-step Martial God, comes from Lina, the fifth member of the Heaven and Earth Society. She once said that during the Jiazi Sixty-Year Demon Purge, the half-step Martial God of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons required the Buddha to personally intervene in order to kill him.

Then the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons collapsed, and the orphan of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox, the Nine-Tailed Princess, fled with the remnants of her forces, beginning a five-hundred-year-long struggle.

The appearance of the remnants of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons here is definitely not accidental. Does this mean that the Demon Race princess also intends to get involved in this quagmire of Chuzhou? A third-rank martial artist advancing to the second rank has actually implicated so many important figures... well, that seems reasonable enough. Xu Qi'an's gaze was cold and sharp as he said:

You haven't answered my question yet.

"Secretly infiltrate Chuzhou, and once the princess finds the location of the massacre by the Prince of Zhenbei, we will launch a full-scale attack." The giant python hurriedly replied, lowering its head tremblingly.

She also wants to steal his Essence Blood? If we add the leader of the Qingyan tribe of the barbarians to that list, the waters in Chuzhou will get really muddy.

When things are going well, I can take advantage of the chaos; I'm no longer fighting alone.

The downsides are also obvious: these people are all bad news, and it's not a good thing for any of them to obtain the Essence Blood.

Hmm, I really want to get the contact information of that demon princess and ask her if she has any clues. Xu Qi'an, Xu Qi'an, you're playing with fire, you won't even know how you died.

A thought flashed through his mind, Xu Qi'an frowned, saying, "You haven't found the location of the Zhenbei King's massacre that covered three thousand miles either?"

The giant python shook its head.

Xu Qi'an communicated with Master Shenshu in his heart, handing over the initiative to him. Shenshu said calmly, "The snake demon does not lie."

Xu Qi'an asked the question again and received the same answer as before.

The Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons is searching for the location of the massacre that lasted three thousand miles, and the Northern Barbarians are also searching for the location of the massacre that lasted three thousand miles. Xu Qi'an was astonished. Where exactly did the King of Zhenbei kill the people?

Chu Prefecture spans eight thousand miles, naturally a vast territory, but it's impossible for it to be hidden to this extent.

"Master, I have asked all my questions. Now you may proceed." Xu Qi'an communicated with the monk Shenshu in his mind.

"Let them go!"

Unexpectedly, Monk Shenshu did not kill the Demon Race or seize their Essence Blood.

"Why? With a major battle imminent, why don't you focus on repairing your arm?" Xu Qi'an asked in astonishment.

Monk Shenshu chuckled and said, "I recalled some past events. Before my cultivation was fully developed, the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons dominated the Southern Frontier and was incredibly powerful."

"That princess from the demon kingdom might know me, or have heard of me."

"That's right, it was the remnants of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons who destroyed Sangbo and stored Shen Shu's severed arm in my body. The Demon Kingdom princess definitely knows Shen Shu, and since Master Shen Shu's memories are incomplete, the best way for him to find his past and meet his old friends or contemporaries is to do so. "Xu Qi'an suddenly realized.

"Master, I understand your reluctance to offend the princess of the demon kingdom, but if we let these Demon Beast run rampant, they will prey on the people." He still did not want to let these Demon Beast go.

"The common people are lives, and so are the Demon Race. What's the difference?" Shen Shu asked calmly.

"Are you going to discuss philosophy with me?" Xu Qi'an was speechless and couldn't answer.

From a philosophical perspective, Shenshu's words are correct: all beings are equal, and life naturally has no distinction of high or low, noble or base; everyone has one life.

From a personal perspective, Xu Qi'an is a human being, so he stands unequivocally on the side of humanity, and he doesn't see anything wrong with that.

He respected other life forms, refraining from indiscriminate killing and cruelty, but he was also ruthless when necessary, such as when Demon Race slaughtered humans.

But Shen Shu was a Buddhist School, and his thoughts were different from ordinary people. Xu Qi'an did not believe that his ideas could influence a powerful figure with unparalleled cultivation.

He regained control of his body and pondered, "I need your princess's contact information."

"This"

The giant python looked troubled.

"Can't?"

Xu Qi'an's gaze was like a knife.

"The princess is elusive; she's the only one we can find. We can't locate her unless she contacts us first."

At this moment, the four-tailed white fox spoke up to explain the reason.

It sounded like a Kyushu version of a spymaster Xu Qi'an. Seeing that the monk Shenshu had no intention of speaking, Xu Qi'an coldly surveyed the demons, his face serious, his voice authoritative, and said:

"Heaven cherishes life, so I will not kill you. But you must remember this: while you are hiding in Chuzhou, you must not devour any human beings, or you will be wiped out."

I don't even know if such threats will work, honestly.

The giant python's cold, vertical pupils flashed with joy. It bowed and nodded repeatedly, saying, "Master, rest assured, we will not linger in Chu Prefecture for long. During our stay, we will only hunt wild beasts and will never harm any humans."

The demons adopted a submissive and meek posture.

The princess beside him gazed at Xu Qi'an's profile with a hint of admiration in her eyes.

After receiving the mysterious grandmaster's approval, the Demon Race army resumed its journey, bypassing Xu Qi'an and the princess, and marched swiftly in silence, resembling a rabble that had just suffered a defeat.

The people of Great Feng like to refer to the northern barbarians as "Northern Barbarians" and the southern barbarians as "Southern Frontier Barbarians." On the contrary, the northern Demon Race appears in the mouths of the people of Great Feng far less frequently than the "Northern Barbarians."

This is because most of the land bordering Chuzhou belongs to the northern barbarians. The territory of the northern Demon Race also borders a large area of the northeastern witch god religion.

This is why the Northeast Witchcraft Cult and the Northern Demon Race are mortal enemies, and they fight every now and then.

Against this historical and geographical backdrop, the northern Demon Race and the northern barbarians became the closest allies, and intermarriages between the two sides were frequent.

The northern barbarians consist of nine tribes, each with at least three fourth-rank experts. Compared to the hundreds of millions of people in the Great Feng, the northern barbarians' population is pitifully small.

However, as descendants of demon gods, they possess an absolute advantage in individual combat power, far surpassing that of ordinary humans.

If a barbarian cavalry force of one hundred men and a Fengtian Great Feng force of one thousand men were to meet in the wild, the Great Feng cavalry force, which lacked artillery and ballistae, would inevitably be wiped out.

After crossing the border of Chuzhou, the scenery in the north suddenly becomes rugged, with continuous mountain ranges in gray or dark black and barren land lacking green vegetation.

Desolation is the only dominant theme in the North.

Of course, there are also lakes and grasslands, thriving oases and green mountains. Most of these places were occupied and thrived by barbarian tribes and their branches.

The Qingyan tribe is located in the northwest, at the foot of a mountain called Tuotian. Legend has it that Tuotian Mountain is the transformation of the ancestors of the Qingyan tribe after their fall.

The mountains are rich in resources, including melons, fruits, herbs, birds, and beasts, making them a sacred mountain of the Qingyan tribe.

The architectural style of the Qingyan tribe blends the characteristics of the north and the Great Feng, with continuous stretches of tents interspersed with equally continuous stretches of earthen houses, wooden houses, and even palaces.

The latter was built by slaves that the Qingyan tribe had captured from Great Feng.

dusk.

"Huff, huff"

The muffled snores echoed throughout the Qingyan tribe. The tribespeople, all dressed in blue, were used to it, and went about their business, whether driving cattle and sheep, hunting in the mountains, or drinking and making merry.

Its snoring alone could travel for dozens of miles—what kind of monster was this?

The snoring came from Jilizhigu, the chief of the Qingyan tribe.

A peak third-rank expert, the strongest among the northern barbarians, he once fought a fierce battle with the King of Zhenbei. The outcome is unknown, but afterwards, scouts from both sides searched for the battle site and found that the battlefield stretched for hundreds of miles, and within those hundreds of miles, there was only devastation and no living beings.

A barbarian from the Qingyan tribe, carrying two swords on his back, rode his horse swiftly past tents and houses, heading along the main road that led straight to the foot of the mountain.

At the end of the road stands a palace with a strong Great Feng style.

The barbarian, carrying two swords, took out his token, passed through the checkpoint, entered the complex, and headed straight for the tallest and most magnificent palace.

"Leader, leader!"

The barbarians did not enter the palace; instead, they stood in the outer courtyard, shouting loudly in their barbarian language.

"Snoring, snoring."

The snoring stopped abruptly, and the two-zhang-high palace gates opened automatically.

The barbarian carrying two swords stepped inside. The interior decoration was quite rugged, with sixteen thick stone pillars supporting a huge dome ten feet high.

A scarlet carpet stretched from the depths of the hall to the entrance, flanked by life-sized torches that burned fiercely.

At the far end of the main hall stood a huge stone chair, upon which sat a blue giant who was two zhang tall.

His massive body was completely hairless, covered with layers of thick, bluish-green horn armor, and a single, curved horn pointing upwards grew from his forehead.

He didn't conceal his aura, nor did he release it outwards, but even so, the barbarian carrying two swords was already trembling with fear, his legs shaking uncontrollably.

Barbarian experts never deliberately conceal their aura; they do not hide their power. Therefore, only Jilizhigu was in the hall; there were no guards or maids.

Beside the stone chair leaned a giant sword wider than a door panel. The sword was dull in color, with mottled deep red marks left by the blood of the powerful figures that Jili Zhigu had slain.

The giant on the stone chair had his eyes half-closed, and his voice, like thunder, echoed throughout the hall, "Why have you disturbed my slumber?"

The barbarian carrying two swords lay prostrate, forehead to the ground, and said respectfully in his barbarian language, "Chief, we have captured a prisoner who says he knows the location where the King of Zhenbei slaughtered living beings and refined their Essence Blood."

The blue giant's half-closed eyes suddenly snapped open, and a majestic and terrifying aura spread, enveloping every corner of the hall.

Not far from the border, in Beishan County, a convoy slowly approached on the official road outside the city.

The leader was a woman dressed in light armor, with her hair tied in a high ponytail, and carrying a silver spear.

Her features were exquisite, yet she lacked the gentle grace of an ordinary woman. Her eyes were bright, and her features were handsome; rather than describing her as pretty, it would be more accurate to say she was dashing.

In this era, there are very few women as handsome and dashing as her.

Li Miaozhen, wielding a white horse and silver spear, returns to her old ways; the Flying Swallow Heroine reappears in the martial world.

PS: Thanks to "Night Hidden in Heavy Haze" for being the alliance leader.

Haha, I was typing away when I lay down on the bed and fell asleep. Okay, I'll finish updating and head to work. I can take this opportunity to sleep for another hour on the way.