A pillar of white light descended from the heavens, enveloping the two hundred righteous souls standing before the city gates.
In the blink of an eye.
The group found themselves in a strange place.
The sound of whistling wind and gurgling water reached their ears, along with what sounded like the roars of wild beasts.
Beneath their feet was hard rock, crisscrossed with fissures like a riverbed that had been dry for ten thousand years.
There was no sky above, only a churning, ink-like mass of foul energy. It writhed and twisted like a living creature, occasionally forming hideous faces before dissolving back into a mass.
The air was thick with a sweet, cloying scent of decay.
“Have we entered the body of the evil dragon?” Zhou Bai’s voice rang out behind Shen Jue, carrying an irrepressible tremor.
Even though they had prepared themselves mentally, fear remained a primal instinct when facing the unspeakable.
No one answered him.
This was because the foul energy in the sky was beginning to coalesce.
Suddenly.
A monster stepped out from the foul energy.
It was about twice the height of a man, walking on all fours with its back covered in dense, writhing tentacles.
It had no eyes or nose; in place of a face was a horizontal, gaping maw filled with row upon row of serrated teeth. It was an exceptionally chilling sight.
The hair on everyone’s neck stood on end.
The monster gave them no time to react, lunging toward the person closest to it with its jaws wide open.
Shen Jue moved to save him, but he was a step too late.
The man pinned to the ground was paralyzed with terror, unable to even think of resisting.
It wasn't until he saw the monster’s maw opening toward him that he finally let out a terrified scream. “Ah!”
However, a long moment passed.
He did not feel the expected pain. Instead, a flash of golden light erupted from his body. The monster recoiled, baring its teeth as if it had been burned by something.
Shen Jue took the opportunity to pull the man up.
“Thank you, General Shen,” the man thanked him, his face pale.
Shen Jue stared at the monster, saying nothing.
Just as the crowd was at a loss for what to do, a voice rang out, ethereal and clear.
“Fear is the nourishment for foul energy.”
It was the voice of the Divine Lady.
“The more you fear, the stronger they become. If you are fearless, they are nothing more than flickering candles in the wind.” She paused, as if waiting for them to digest her words.
“The golden light upon you is the protection of the Mountains and Rivers Map, as well as the manifestation of your own righteous spirit. Only by overcoming the fear in your hearts can you defeat the foul energy.”
Hearing this, Shen Jue gripped the hilt of his sword.
He took the lead, charging toward the monster.
As if sensing his approach, the horizontal slit on the monster’s head snapped open, its rows of serrated teeth grinding frantically as it lunged at him.
The stench of decay was strong enough to induce nausea.
The monster was far faster and more agile than its massive size suggested.
With single-minded focus, Shen Jue swung his sword at the beast.
Golden light exploded from the blade, like a bolt of golden lightning cleaving through the foul darkness.
The monster let out a piercing, miserable shriek before being burned to ash by the golden light.
Seeing that the monsters formed from foul energy were not invincible, the fear in the hearts of the crowd began to recede, and their morale soared.
More monsters began to take shape from the foul energy.
But this time, no one retreated in terror. Instead, they raised their weapons one after another to meet the monsters.
After slaying a monster, a young city guard grinned and laughed. “They’re not so scary after all!”
Feng Chunya, wielding a butcher knife, nimbly hacked off a monster’s head. “Aye,” she said bashfully. “They don't even have as much strength as the pigs I usually slaughter.”
The people around her: “...”
This woman was hacking through monsters like she was chopping vegetables, killing them with a single easy stroke. She was utterly ferocious.
Seeing her wear such a shy expression now was actually a bit terrifying.
The monsters seemed endless, growing in number, and the group had little time for idle chatter or wandering thoughts.
An unknown amount of time passed.
The group’s movements gradually slowed. It wasn't that they were getting weaker, but that the monsters were getting stronger.
Furthermore, their physical strength was beginning to fail them.
Their arms ached, the skin between their thumbs and forefingers was cracking, and some had sustained wounds that were now seeping blood.
Meanwhile, in a place invisible to the crowd.
Yun Shu held the snowy-white spirit fox, taking in everything happening within the Spirit of the Demon Dragon Secret Realm.
The Nine Heavens Daoist Robe skill from the Sword Sovereign of the Nine Heavens Set could only summon one Spirit of the Demon Dragon. She had hurriedly created this Secret Realm with the help of the system and the Dream-Entering Bell.
The spirit fox looked up and said to Yun Shu, “Host, the monster intensity we’ve set is likely their limit. We shouldn't raise it any further.”
Yun Shu watched the group as they continued to battle the monsters.
This group had been assembled on the fly; they relied entirely on brute force to kill enemies and had almost no coordination.
Furthermore, aside from Shen Jue and the man named Lu Sui, who had practiced martial arts since childhood, the others were ordinary people. They had never had the chance to systematically learn combat, and their fighting styles were chaotic.
However.
In this era, they could certainly be called an elite force that any power would covet.
Facing a hundred enemies alone would not be a problem for them.
But she wanted more than just individuals who could fight a hundred; she wanted an Ever-Victorious Army with excellent conduct that could win any war.
Invincible and all-conquering.
After a moment of reflection, she said, “System, implant the instructional PPT I made into their minds.”
She could not go down and teach them personally.
She could only use this simple and crude method to teach them modern military training and army discipline.
“Understood.”
The spirit fox clicked on the system panel and performed a series of operations.
Before long.
Images suddenly appeared in everyone’s minds.
They seemed to be combat movements.
These movements were unlike any sword or saber techniques they had ever learned. They were completely foreign, with strange postures—rolls, uppercuts, elbow strikes, knee strikes...
There were even various pieces of tactical knowledge.
“Why did so many things suddenly appear in my head?”
“Me too!”
“Same here!”
“A miracle! A divine sign!” someone cried out. “It must be the Divine Lady helping us in secret.”
“Could the things in our minds be the immortal skills passed down to us by the Divine Lady?”
“It’s highly likely!”
“The Divine Lady is truly merciful!”
For a moment, the group felt their fatigue lessen. They began to try using the tactics in their minds, working in groups of three or five to cooperate in killing the monsters.
Seeing this, Yun Shu reached out to stroke the fluffy spirit fox in her arms, a hint of a smile appearing in her eyes. “System, activate the Sky Curtain over Xindu City.”
“Eh? Host, didn't we create this Spirit of the Demon Dragon Trial Grounds just to train these two hundred people? Why go through the extra trouble of the Sky Curtain?”
The system was full of confusion.
“They are heroes,” Yun Shu replied. “History should forever remember the glorious moment they assisted the deity in slaying the evil dragon.”
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