Chapter Forty-Three: The Night Assault on the City

The urgent victory report was immediately dispatched, greatly boosting the soldiers’ morale after their first triumph.

After a brief rest to eat and drink their fill, the troops pressed on toward Xuzhou City. Liu Yuan’s art of Clairaudience proved quite effective—so much so that the Little Sword Demon no longer bothered to send cavalry ahead to scout the road.

At last, they reached Xuzhou City in the middle of the night.

“Liu Yuan, listen—how many soldiers are inside the city?” the Little Sword Demon demanded, his intent clear: he planned a night assault.

Liu Yuan crouched low, listening intently to the sounds within the city. After a moment, he stood and reported, “Commander, there are only a few hundred elite soldiers inside. The rest are civilians. Do you want to attack the city?”

“Commander, if we storm the city at night, the soldiers may not withstand the strain,” another man interjected. He was a practitioner of plant-controlling spells.

“No need for a full assault. We cultivators will break into Xuzhou City ourselves. As the saying goes, ‘capture the king to break the bandits.’ Let’s slay the general defending the city first!” The Little Sword Demon’s words dripped with murderous resolve.

“Commander, what a clever plan! General Lian Guang, what do you think?” Liu Yuan looked to the man who had just spoken.

“I have no objections! I will follow your orders!” Lian Guang had to agree, realizing that unless Xuzhou City housed a Nascent Soul master, their chances for success were nearly certain.

The cultivators gathered together. Xu Cheng signaled with his eyes to Yan Mengdie, instructing her to stay with the regular soldiers. Chrysanthemum, Cen Ningyue, and Niu Dazhuang followed him to attack the city.

“Charge!”

With a single command, the Little Sword Demon dashed forward, raising a cloud of dust. As he neared the city wall, he leapt onto the watchtower, his sword radiating a blood-red light. Before the soldiers atop the wall could react, he cut them all down.

Xu Cheng’s figure turned into a streak of black light—a Nether Escape technique of astonishing speed. Within the city, practitioners from the Grand Xia Dynasty rushed to respond; most of them were martial or sword cultivators.

The Little Sword Demon alone faced five opponents without faltering, a testament to his strength. Xu Cheng faced two, surprised by the number of cultivators within Xuzhou City.

Nine black chains blocked one man’s sword strike, then suddenly pierced through his throat. One down; next was the other, who proved more cautious. Layers of phantasmal images shimmered between his hands as he attacked Xu Cheng. His blows shattered the chains layer by layer, revealing his formidable power.

Xu Cheng retreated several steps, summoning the Underworld technique to form a black longsword in his hand. He was curious to see how his own skills would fare.

His opponent sneered, “A spell cultivator wielding a sword? You underestimate me!”

With a roar, the man shouted, “Raging Rivers Fist, Mighty Rivers Converge!” Waves of light surged around him, and his punch crashed forth with the force of a mighty tide.

Xu Cheng realized he had been overconfident; this foe was no weakling. Quickly, a spherical black shield formed around him, absorbing the brunt of the attack. Yet, the Great River Fist was truly powerful—cracks spread across the shield like shattered glass before it broke apart.

The man, winded but relentless, closed in. “Ride the Wind and Waves, All Rivers Flow to the Sea!” he intoned. His fist, now bearing the image and force of the boundless sea, swept toward Xu Cheng.

Xu Cheng flickered aside with the Netherworld Escape just in time. “You’re fast,” the man panted, his eyes turning a deep azure.

“Star Ocean Torrent, Return to Origin!”

As the words reached Xu Cheng’s ears, a blue fist was already upon him. The comet-like strike allowed no time to dodge or raise a shield. Xu Cheng could only gather the power of the Earth Creation Art between his hands to block the blow.

A thunderous crash. Xu Cheng’s vision went dark as he was hurled back, both arms obliterated, most of his protective earth energy shattered. The man, still vigorous after such a terrifying strike, saw Xu Cheng rise from the rubble, his head, eyebrows, and beard now tinged with blue.

“Fist that Breaks the Stars!”

A beam of blue light drove toward Xu Cheng. He cursed and summoned nine black chains and a shield of magical power for a sliver of protection. His heart pounded as the blue light struck, feeling as if a burning meteor had crashed into him. The force hurled him far across the battlefield, his bones shattered into tiny white fragments.

Such was the might of the martial cultivator: not relying on meditation on immortal mountains, but breaking fate itself with martial prowess.

Seeing Xu Cheng reduced to fragments, the enemy sneered and turned to assist his comrades in dispatching the rest.

“Rebirth of Ten Thousand Laws—Underworld Technique!”

A chilling voice rang out as the broken pieces of Xu Cheng’s body knit together, his spell restoring him. A white skeleton now stood before his stunned foe. While the man gaped, Xu Cheng’s iron chains snapped around his throat, and a black spike was driven into his chest.

As the spike was withdrawn, a spray of hot blood showered Xu Cheng. The blood of a martial cultivator—brimming with life force—brought Xu Cheng a surge of vitality and even a slight improvement in his cultivation.

These martial cultivators were practically divine supplements for him!

Instantly invigorated, Xu Cheng opened the Gates of the Underworld to seize the fleeing souls. Each demonic cultivator had their own deadly skills. By this time, aside from three dead among their own, they had wiped out over twenty defenders from Xuzhou City.

As they readied to celebrate, a powerful aura descended upon them.

“Nascent Soul master!” someone shouted.

The cultivator turned to flee, but his energy was too depleted; he was struck down by a punch from above before he could get far.

“Well done! Well done! You’ve killed more than twenty of these useless fools. Now, you can go to the Underworld to meet the King of Hell as well!”

Suddenly, an old man appeared. None had expected Xuzhou City to be guarded by a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Everyone left, Xu Cheng included, was robbed of the will to flee. To run was death; to stay was also death.

The Little Sword Demon readied himself for a desperate fight, his body surrounded by countless crimson sword auras.

“Blood-Slaughter Demon Sword!”

He unleashed a sword technique of nearly celestial caliber.

“Impressive,” the old man remarked, raising a finger that gathered countless silver sword lights.

Silver sword light met the blood-reeking demon sword in a clash of equals.

If the Little Sword Demon fell, the rest would die as well. Xu Cheng, out of options, had to play his final hand. He suddenly remembered the hundred thousand talismans he had learned from Yan Mengdie.

He activated them; golden runes danced around him, and his power soared—almost to the Nascent Soul realm. The spell, incomplete before, now granted him a sudden surge in power.

“Underworld Seal—Immortal Art of Yellow Springs!”

With the strength of a half-step Nascent Soul master and all the Underworld True Pills he had, Xu Cheng poured everything into a single strike of the Underworld Seal.

In an instant, the very sky was torn asunder.

The Little Sword Demon and the old man wrestled for a moment. Then, the old man found the space around him fracturing, glimpses of the Yellow Springs visible through the cracks. In that instant of distraction, the Little Sword Demon’s blood vessels burst, but his Blood-Slaughter Demon Sword erupted in power, crashing the old man into the Yellow Springs. The spatial rift sealed, and the old man plunged into the River of Forgetfulness, his flesh and bone dissolving into a foolish soul that drifted away into reincarnation.

Serene moonlight bathed the land. The Little Sword Demon lay unmoving on the ground, covered in blood—most of it his own.

Nearby, Xu Cheng fared little better. Had the old man’s death in the Yellow Springs not counted as his reward, his cultivation would have already dropped to the Seal Realm.