Seeing his colleague die a tragic death, Feng Shisan charged forward the moment he regained his senses.
"Old thief, I'll kill you!"
Min Zhan caught a cold glimpse from the corner of his eye and said disdainfully, "Overestimating your capabilities."
He didn't even move or look back, allowing the other to close in.
Just as Feng Shisan's sword tip drew near, Min Zhan’s white eyebrows lowered. He suddenly drew his saber, infused it with nascent soul power, and flicked the blade upward.
Feng Shisan's chest was ripped wide open.
His physical body was pinned by the nascent soul power, leaving him suspended in mid-air on Min Zhan's blade. Blood gurgled along the edge, splashing onto the ground...
Feng Shisan's face was contorted in agony as he glared at him.
"Old thief... you won't..."
Min Zhan's wrist turned slightly, and the blade embedded in Feng Shisan's chest rotated with it.
His internal organs and dantian were utterly crushed.
The intense pain caused Feng Shisan to instinctively throw his head back.
His mouth hung wide, his eyes bulged, and the veins in his blood-soaked neck stood out.
His voice cut off instantly as he breathed his last. His body went limp, and the spirit sword in his hand slipped from his grasp, clattering to the ground.
Min Zhan looked toward Ruan Zhong from a distance and provoked him:
"Heh... young people. Not much ability, but quite the mouth on them."
Having killed two Wendao Sword Sect members in quick succession, the morale of the Black Armor Cavalry soared.
The Grand Marshal's presence on the battlefield drove these soldiers into a frenzy.
That was the Grand Marshal.
The supreme leader of the Black Armor Cavalry.
Min Zhan.
To them, he was not just a general.
He was a spiritual leader, their faith, and the idol they spent their lives chasing. It was similar to the reverence the disciples of Wendao Sword Sect held for the Sword Ancestor.
At this moment, their eyes burned with fervor and high battle intent. They charged like madmen toward the remaining few, a suicidal assault that defied death.
In contrast, the fury of the Wendao Sword Sect disciples reached its peak, yet a sense of helplessness dominated most of their minds.
Gold core against nascent soul.
The gap was too wide.
Before this veteran general Min Zhan, they were like the ordinary soldiers before them—unable to survive even a single exchange.
To make matters worse, they didn't have the numerical advantage that the soldiers possessed.
How could they fight them?
Losing two people in an instant dealt a massive blow to their self-confidence.
They were already teetering on the edge of a desperate situation; now, it felt as if the sky had truly collapsed.
They saw not a single ray of hope in this death trap.
Ruan Zhong's face was dark. Ignoring everything else, he unleashed a sword strike, blowing away all enemies within a hundred-meter radius.
Amidst the surging sword intent, he set the bamboo raft down and gripped Zhuhun, charging toward Min Zhan.
"Old fossil, you've gone too far."
Min Zhan was unhurried. He cast the corpse off his blade and responded composedly, not forgetting to mock him:
"A defeated foe, yet still so arrogant. It's a pity you're all brawn and no brains. Your strength is lacking, though your voice is certainly loud enough."
Ruan Zhong was already fuming. He met him head-on, opening with a lethal move.
"Old thing, if not for your sneak attack from behind, how could you be my match? At your age, using such underhanded schemes—you aren't fit to be the commander of this city. Pui!"
Min Zhan responded with a cold laugh.
"What a joke. Since ancient times, the winner is king and the loser is the outlaw. The result matters more than the process. As long as you win, it's enough. Why all these grand principles? Do you really think everyone in the world is like your Wendao Sword Sect, hogging the best resources and looking down on all living beings while preaching about benevolence and morality? Ridiculous."
Ruan Zhong shouted back, "If not for my Wendao Sword Sect, how would Yecheng exist? Where would you be? You would have died twenty years ago; by now, the grass on your grave would be ten feet tall!"
Min Zhan laughed maniacally, his war saber whistling through the air.
"Hahaha! Hahaha! Ridiculous! I fought the battles! The blood shed was mine and my soldiers'! Yet in the end, all the credit goes to your Wendao Sword Sect! Is that fair? I am the general for three generations of kings, the lord of a city, yet I am constrained and hindered by a few gold core stage trash monitors? And all in the name of the 'common people'? How laughable! I refuse to accept it! I will trample you all under my feet!"
Ruan Zhong only found it absurd.
It was not unusual for the ignorant masses to misunderstand the Wendao Sword Sect, so what was there to say?
"Gibberish. Someone like you... is not worthy. A tiny Yecheng could be suppressed with a flick of a finger. If not for my Wendao Sword Sect, the Northern Borders would be a barren wasteland..."
"Death is at your door, yet you still spout sermons. I hate people like you the most."
The two nascent soul experts clashed, neither yielding, their mockery never-ending.
Though Ruan Zhong possessed a heart of courage, his cultivation was lower and his injuries were severe. From the start, he was at a disadvantage.
Min Zhan was a veteran of many battles, decisive and lethal.
He wielded a mountain-cleaving saber with ferocious power, his strikes wide and relentless. Already holding the advantage, he beat Ruan Zhong back step by step.
Though they were locked in combat, with sword shadows and blade light clashing incessantly, the outcome was already clear.
Xu Xian and the remaining three were forced to shrink their defensive line, fighting around the bamboo raft. The enemy's blades pressed in, every step fraught with lethal intent.
Fortunately, since Min Zhan's group was using the excuse of slaying demonic cultivators, the soldiers did not kill the infants while the disciples were occupied.
But the battlefield was heartless.
As of now, Xu Xian couldn't guarantee whether these children would survive after they died.
Perhaps they could.
Min Zhan could maintain a good reputation.
Wiping out demonic cultivators.
Saving the infants.
After all, these children were not even a month old and wouldn't be able to tell the truth. There was no absolute reason they had to die.
Or perhaps they couldn't.
Having gone to such great lengths to capture these infants, there was no guarantee Min Zhan wouldn't offer them to that great snake to allow it to devour them, increase its cultivation, and continue wreaking havoc in the Southern Borders to cause trouble for the Wendao Sword Sect.
Even if he released the great snake, at most he would just be seen as having lost a battle. It wouldn't affect him much.
He could simply tell the world he did his best.
What would he choose?
Xu Xian couldn't guess.
But none of that mattered; he only knew that they were highly unlikely to survive.
If they were at their wits' end before, they still had the strength for one last stand.
Now, they were truly at a dead end with no options left.
Break the stalemate?
With what?
They didn't even have the strength to flip the table anymore.
Ruan Zhong continued to retreat, repeatedly being slammed into the earth. His body was covered in saber wounds. His former spirit was gone, replaced by a wretchedness that words could not describe.
The other four, facing hundreds of soldiers, had exhausted themselves and fallen one by one into pools of blood.
Their swords flew away into the void, one after another.
In a single night, seven people had fallen, and seven swords had returned.
In the end, only Xu Xian remained, numbly brandishing the heavy sword, Wait. The corpses beneath him were piled like mountains. His entire body was covered in sword wounds, saber gashes, and spear stabs...
A general at the gold core stage suddenly struck from the shadows, his long spear piercing straight through Xu Xian's chest.
"Gah!"
A mouthful of turbid blood sprayed out, making his already gruesome face even more terrifying.
"Die!"
The young general's spear surged forward like a dragon.
Xu Xian was flung backward, crashing heavily onto the ground.
Seeing this, Ruan Zhong went mad. Without dodging or blocking, he allowed Min Zhan's saber to run through his chest.
He took the opportunity to tightly embrace Min Zhan, saying venomously:
"They're all dead."
"You won't live either. Let's die together..."
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