The eastern horizon reveals a hint of the pale white belly of a fish.
The dawn has yet to break, yet the sky is already bright.
The world's scenery gradually becomes clear.
In the city, the sound of crowing chickens has been ongoing since early morning, and it's still loud and clear.
By this time, the evil spirits have all receded, and the demons have fled into the jungles.
"This night has finally passed."
Lin Yan, carrying his long saber, slowly walks atop the city wall.
Wherever he passes, with a gentle pat, he turns the paper men into fragments that drift away with the wind.
The three hundred and sixty steps of the city defense position under the jurisdiction of Linjiang Station were not breached by evil.
But beyond these three hundred and sixty steps, the smell of blood is extremely pungent.
Because on both sides, a gap of six hundred steps had been torn open.
If it weren't for him taking up his saber to seal it, reigniting the Night Lamp with willow branches, and guarding with paper men to deter the evil, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
At this moment, Lin Yan looks at the corpses on the ground, his eyes slightly heavy.
This was a young man, who had been viciously torn apart, his intestines spilled across the ground, his blood thick and coagulated, his limbs and flesh gruesomely separated.
Not far away, that fierce and bloodstained head lay on its side, its eyes filled with ferocity and blood tears.
The six hundred-step gap signifies that at least twenty soldiers defending the city died in the darkness of the night.
And the patrol team responsible for support also suffered many deaths at this segment of the wall's defense position.
The soldier before Lin Yan was just one of them.
"..."
Lin Yan offered a salute, then immediately dispersed the paper man he had left on the city wall the night before.
Continuing forward, he saw not far away, a headless corpse lying on the ground.
Its head had been cleanly severed by a blade.
Upon closer inspection, the wound indicated that the person had been sneak-attacked while defending the city, beheaded from behind.
The chaos of the previous night came not only from the dark evil.
Lin Yan recalled the person who had swung a blade at him from behind.
The assailant wore iron armor and must have been a high-ranking member of the City Defense Army.
But what truly weighed on Lin Yan's mind was that this person was holding a genuine Night Lamp.
"The lamp in his hand was a real Night Lamp with its oil unchanged."
"He was not a guise of an evil spirit, nor possessed by one. He was indeed one of the Human Clan."
"Why would a high-ranking Inner Strength Realm expert from the City Defense Army betray us, open the breach, and let the evil into the city?"
Thinking this, he quickened his pace, arriving at where he had slain that person the day before.
The lower half of the body still lay upon the city wall, devoid of life.
Lin Yan peered out over the wall, gazing down at the city below.
He saw only the corpses of birds, beasts, assorted monsters, and lesser demons butchered beneath.
These corpses were already rotting and decaying, having been devoured by other demons in the darkness.
The upper half of the body that he had cut down the previous night was nowhere to be seen.
This was to be expected; to the demons, the body of someone from the Human Clan was like Great Medicine, even more delicious than ordinary Blood Food.
Surely the half-corpse from last night had been completely devoured, not even a shred of flesh or bone left behind.
Just as Lin Yan was thinking this, he suddenly froze.
The city wall was sixty feet high.
Looking down from the top, it was quite a distance.
Yet with the sight afforded by his Refining Essence Realm, he could see extremely clearly.
On the ground were several characters written in blood.
The writing was not large, appearing as tiny as grains of sand from high above.
The handwriting was chaotic, as if the person writing it was enduring great pain, trembling continuously.
"For the injustice of being cut in half, I shall claim vengeance in the days to come!"
"..."
Lin Yan's brows knit together in an instant.
In a low voice he said, "Half a body, falling into darkness, still able to live?"
Under normal circumstances, even someone in the Refining Essence Realm, if cut in half at the waist, with only the upper body remaining, wouldn't survive.
Moreover, the upper half of that person's body fell from a sixty-foot city wall, which should have smashed him into a pulp.
Yet could he still leave behind such a line of blood writing?
More importantly, having fallen into darkness where demon creatures and monsters converged below the city, and with evil spirits being endless, how did they not devour him in an instant?
He was someone who could hold a high-ranking position within the City Defense Army of High Willow City!
He was also a person unafraid of the Night Lamp's light!
And he was someone who, even amidst the darkness, could remain unharmed by evil forces?
Who exactly was this person?
Thinking thus, Lin Yan's gaze fell to the lower half of the body at his feet.
"You were in one piece last night, and I cut you down with a single stroke; do you think I would fear your half a corpse?"
——
The morning sun rose, and the first light of dawn appeared.
From the Observatory Tower within the inner city, it was determined that the night's calamity had passed, and that most threats to High Willow City within a hundred miles had already retreated beyond that distance.
In the outer city, all the major areas were carrying out post-battle clean-up according to the original plan.
Staff from various government offices, the day and night patrol envoys, the remaining guards, and all branches of the Observatory Branch participated in this effort.
And at this moment, on the south city wall.
Great Commander Zhao Zhou, having removed his helmet and armor, not having the time to change out of his soaking wet clothes, called together the persons in charge of various defensive positions in the south city.
"My division lost twelve men, but the patrolling squad has sealed all the breaches and cleaned up all the evil creatures that broke into the city."
"My division lost eight men, one breach could not be sealed in time, and two small demons broke into the city. We have slain one, and the other small demon is still fleeing. We have handed it over to the city's government office to send people to hunt down."
"My division has two seriously injured, one lightly injured, with no breaches."
The man appeared to be around thirty years old, his face smeared with soot, his armor covered with scars, and a hint of fatigue in his eyes.
Great Commander Zhao Zhou couldn't help but take another look.
This young man, named Meng Lu, was still at the Blood Refining level half a month ago, but today he had reached Bone Washing.
Clearly, he had used himself as bait to attract the evil creatures, thus relieving his soldiers of pressure and reducing casualties.
"Willing to risk himself to lighten the burden of his soldiers, he is indeed respectable talent."
Zhao Zhou thought to himself, "He has been transferred from the inner city for half a year; in the past, it was I who neglected this talent. From now on, he should be nurtured."
As he thought this to himself, he heard the ongoing reports of casualties from the various divisions.
Spoken out were numbers one after another.
What these symbolized were life after life.
The expression of Great Commander Zhao Zhou grew somber, his mood heavy.
But the next moment, he frowned and asked, "What about Linjiang Station? I ordered Zhao Jing to take people to provide support; why hasn't he returned to report by now?"
"Zhao Jing has not returned, and there is no news."
Just then, a chief clerk in charge of conveying messages in the City Defense Army spoke up, "There is also no word from the Flag Commander of Linjiang Station."
The expressions of everyone present changed slightly, and they looked at each other.
"Could it be that the position at Linjiang Station has been lost?"
A Colonel couldn't help but speak in a low voice, his tone somewhat incredulous.
This was not entirely unexpected.
Bearing in mind that an incident had occurred at Linjiang Station yesterday, resulting in the withdrawal of twelve small flags, and that Flag Commander, alone, had to hold a front of three hundred and sixty steps.
But surely, the Great Commander had already sent Zhao Jing with twenty personal guards to assist.
In theory, there shouldn't have been any oversights at Linjiang Station.
But why then was there no news?
Suddenly, among everyone present, there was a rising sense of unease.
"Report!"
At that moment, a soldier came up quickly from outside, his expression panicked, and said, "At the position of the sixtieth Night Lamp, a corpse has been discovered…"
Everyone's brows furrowed slightly as they all looked over.
With the evil creatures attacking the city last night, bodies were strewn all over the city walls; what was the cause of such alarm?
"The upper body is missing, only half a torso remains. From the skirt armor, the belt, and the military boots, we can preliminarily determine..."
The face of the soldier was pale, and he said with a trembling voice, "It's your personal guard captain, Zhao Jing!"