Demon-Suppressing City of Wu Kingdom.
A man sat on the city lord's throne, crafted entirely from skulls.
Clad in dark iron-blue armor, the man was burly and broad-shouldered, towering at a height of nearly 15 feet, like a small giant. A scar ran across his face, giving him an intimidating appearance.
Grabbing a wine jar, he gulped it down in one go, the sound of "glug-glug-glug" filling the room.
Wiping his mouth, the man turned his gaze to an imperial decree lying on the table. The more he read, the more troubled he seemed, scratching his head with his calloused hand, a look of confusion written all over his face.
His puzzled expression was a stark contrast to his fearsome appearance and massive frame.
In front of the man stood a young girl.
She was about four feet tall, appearing no older than eight or nine. Her small, pointed face was exquisitely delicate, as if crafted with the utmost care by the heavens.
But she was not like ordinary children.
Her skin was unnaturally pale—not the creamy whiteness of snow, but the kind of translucence found in the thinnest layer of white marble, dusted with a fragile coating of snow and sealed in frost. It seemed as if even a slight touch could pierce her unnervingly delicate, paper-thin complexion.
Beyond her skin, her hair and even her eyelashes were stark white.
She wore a simple outfit stitched from plain white cloth. It resembled a cross between a cheongsam and a long robe, with slits at the thighs. Her bare, snow-white feet rested lightly on the ground.
The only color on her body came from her crimson eyes, shining like flawless rubies.
"What does it say?" the man asked, lowering his head.
"Chen Nan, you idiot! You've been studying for so long—how many words can you even read?" The girl, named Chen Suier, lifted her tiny foot and gave the man's iron boot a light kick.
"Uh... 'Emperor,' 'battle,' 'charge,' 'kill'..." Chen Nan pointed at the decree, listing the words he could recognize.
"Alright, alright, stop reading. You're hopeless." Chen Suier cut him off.
"Oh..." The massive man lowered his head, looking somewhat aggrieved.
Chen Suier glanced at the decree. "The old emperor's house got pissed on by a dog. That dog came from the Southern Realm's Wanxiang Demon Kingdom. The emperor feels humiliated, so he's ordering us to mobilize and teach them a lesson."
"Teach them a lesson?" Chen Nan froze for a moment, then his massive eyes lit up with excitement. "War?"
Chen Suier folded the decree and sighed. "Yes, war."
"That's... that's great! I... I love war!" Just as Chen Nan was about to leap to his feet in excitement, he caught sight of the little girl's crimson eyes staring up at him.
Chen Nan immediately deflated, lowering his head in submission.
"War, war! All you know is war! People die in wars, don't you know that?"
Clearly, Chen Suier wasn't about to let him off the hook. She raised her small foot and kicked him repeatedly.
The giant man clasped his hands together and hung his head, not daring to utter a single word.
"That old emperor only knows how to drag us into trouble." Chen Suier spat a tiny, glistening drop of saliva. "Get out of here. Those two women from the Wanjian Sect should've arrived by now. Just great, a few quiet days ruined."
"Oh..."
Chen Nan extended a massive hand in front of Chen Suier.
She leaped gracefully onto his enormous palm.
Chen Nan carefully placed her on his shoulder, stood up, and began walking toward the city lord's residence gates.
At nearly 15 feet tall, his enormous physique, combined with the clanking of his iron armor, made each of his steps echo thunderously, as if the ground itself trembled beneath him.
On the towering walls of Demon-Suppressing City, Chen Suier sat on Chen Nan's massive shoulder, one leg crossed over the other, yawning in boredom.
Below the city, the ground was littered with the mangled corpses of demons and humans. The crimson soil was soaked in blood, and clusters of manjusaka flowers bloomed from the remains.
"Right on time, huh," Chen Suier remarked.
About half an hour later, she yawned again, her gaze shifting toward two streaks of sword light piercing the clouds.
Flicking the necklace around her neck, the barrier of Demon-Suppressing City opened, allowing the sword light to land atop the city wall.
"Master Jiang, it's been a while," Chen Suier greeted with a smile. Her gaze then shifted to the young girl beside Jiang Luoyu. "This must be the renowned Xu Xuenuo—the one who surpassed five realms in a single leap to reach Cave Mansion Realm, right?"
Xu Xuenuo stared at the little girl perched on the giant's shoulder.
The girl appeared shorter and younger than Xu Xuenuo, but her demeanor was sharp and cunning, giving off a sense of maturity that belied her age.
"Likewise, Miss Suier," Jiang Luoyu replied with a slight nod. "I'll have to trouble Demon-Suppressing City with forging my disciple's sword."
"No trouble at all," Chen Suier said, raising one delicate, white finger. "But since it's for a disciple of the Wanjian Sect, the price will be a bit steeper this time—one Jade Purity Realm demon Core."
Jiang Luoyu nodded. "Agreed."
"Then it's settled. You two can rest for now. Tomorrow, we'll head to the Wanxiang Demon Kingdom for a little... harvest," Chen Suier said with a grin.
Jiang Luoyu's expression darkened. "Since when did Demon-Suppressing City start picking fights with the Southern Demon Kingdom unprovoked?"
Chen Suier shrugged. "It's not like we want to. Those beasts from the South haven't caused any trouble for two months now. Look down there—the corpses are already blooming with manjusaka (red spider lily).
"But recently, the emperor lost face. A demon from the Southern Kingdom—a dog—sneaked into the Wu capital to assassinate that child prodigy scholar from Qi Kingdom. The attempt failed, but the dog escaped. The emperor was humiliated and wants to regain his dignity. Naturally, we at Demon-Suppressing City have to clean up the mess.
"Oh, by the way," Chen Suier added, her crimson eyes glinting as she turned to Xu Xuenuo, "speaking of the Qi scholar prodigy, the one who saved her is someone from Xu Kingdom—a boy named Xu Ming. You know him, right little girl?"
Xu Xuenuo bristled slightly at being called "little girl," but her attention was caught at the mention of Xu Ming.
"Xu Ming saved someone from the Qi Kingdom?"
"Yup," Chen Suier nodded. "Apparently, he was escorting a girl named Zhu Cici around Wu Capital when they were ambushed."
"Was he hurt?" Xu Xuenuo's heartbeat quickened.
"He was injured, but nothing serious. He fainted from exhaustion afterward," Chen Suier replied with a casual shrug.
Xu Xuenuo's hand tightened around the hilt of her sword.
"Alright, you two rest well. We're leaving at dawn tomorrow," Chen Suier said, patting Chen Nan's head. The giant man turned and carried her down from the wall.
Jiang Luoyu brought Xu Xuenuo to a courtyard within Demon-Suppressing City.
The courtyard was spotless and tidy, clearly well-maintained.
"This is where disciples from the Wanjian Sect stay during their training. Pick a room and rest. Tomorrow morning, you'll begin the sword-forging process," Jiang Luoyu instructed.
"Although you've reached the Cave Mansion Realm, demons at the Sea Observation Realm may target you. I will not intervene. On the battlefield, life and death are your responsibility. Be cautious."
"Understood, Master," Xu Xuenuo nodded.
"Rest well. This is the final step in tempering your life-bound sword. Don't let your focus slip," Jiang Luoyu reminded before leaving without another word.
Xu Xuenuo, long accustomed to her master's cold demeanor, returned to her room.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, she placed her life-bound sword, Qingming, on her lap and began channeling her energy to attune to it.
Yet, no matter how hard she tried, her focus kept wavering.
Her thoughts, time and again, returned to a single name—Xu Ming.
"If you ever get bullied, come to the Wanjian Sect and find me."
"Alright, but what if I can't make it to the Wanjian Sect?"
"Then I'll come find you."
These words, spoken during their parting, echoed endlessly in Xu Xuenuo's mind.
"He seems to have been injured, but not seriously. He fainted from exhaustion in the end."
As the voice of the little girl named Chen Suier replayed in Xu Xuenuo's ears, she slowly opened her eyes.
The long sword, Qingming, resting on her lap, began to hum and vibrate incessantly.
Xu Xuenuo reached out her hand, placing it firmly on the hilt. With her brows furrowing, she muttered, "I haven't been gone that long, and you've already gotten bullied? Useless!"
---
Early the next morning, two quarters before dawn, the blaring of horns resounded throughout Demon-Suppressing City.
Xu Xuenuo opened her eyes, climbed out of bed, and grasped her sword as she followed her master out of the courtyard and up to the city walls.
Focusing her spiritual energy in her eyes, she peered down from the hundred-zhang-tall walls. Below, the Demon-Suppressing Army had formed several massive, impeccably orderly formations.
Clad in dark red armor and wielding long sabers, they stood motionless, like stones embedded in the blood-soaked soil, exuding an overwhelming aura of killing intent that reverberated in the cold air.
This was the 300,000-strong Dragon-Leopard Cavalry, a force as renowned as Wu Kingdom's Blood Butchers and Iron Tiger Army. For generations, they had stood as the guardians of Demon-Suppressing City.
[T/N: I'll use Blood Butchers instead of Blood Pagoda from now on.]
As the city walls trembled, Chen Suier—seated atop Chen Nan's shoulder—ascended to the top. She held a skewer of candied hawthorn, leisurely eating each piece one by one.
When she reached the last one, she tossed the empty bamboo skewer from the wall, yawned, patted Chen Nan on the head, and said casually, "Let's move."
"ROAR!!!"
Chen Nan tilted his head back and let out a deafening bellow, a sound that seemed to combine the ferocity of a tiger's roar and the majesty of a dragon's cry.
The 300,000 soldiers mounted their steeds in unison, turned, and charged in the same direction, raising clouds of dust several zhang high.
"ROAR!"
Chen Nan leapt off the city wall, landing heavily on the ground with the impact of a meteor, creating a massive crater.
Without pause, he charged forward at a speed that rivaled the Dragon-Leopard Cavalry's mounts, which carried the bloodline of the mythical lushu deer.
Perched on Chen Nan's shoulder, Chen Suier crossed her legs, her dainty white feet swinging idly as her gaze fixed on the distant outline of Fangya City, a border town of the Wanxiang Demon Kingdom, a hundred li away.
---
Meanwhile, in the border cities of several neighboring demon kingdoms adjacent to Wu Kingdom's Demon-Suppressing City, reports from scouts poured in.
Upon hearing that Demon-Suppressing City's 300,000 Dragon-Leopard Cavalry had been deployed, the rulers of these cities were struck with shock and fear. They hurried to their city walls, using magical artifacts to gaze into the desolate no-man's land where countless humans and demons had perished.
Before long, the rulers collectively sighed in relief.
The good news was that the cavalry wasn't heading for them.
The bad news was that all fifteen border cities of the fifteen demon kingdoms had previously signed an alliance pact: if any one city was attacked, the other fourteen were obligated to send reinforcements.
Failure to do so would mean risking Demon-Suppressing City breaking through one city and unraveling the entire defensive line connecting the fifteen border cities of the Southern Demon Kingdoms.
But judging by the direction of the cavalry…
It seemed their target was Fangya City of the Wanxiang Demon Kingdom.
The rulers couldn't help but wonder, What on earth did Fangya City do to provoke Chen Suier?
---
In Fangya City, the city lord stood atop the walls, his gaze fixed on the Dragon-Leopard Cavalry thundering toward him.
Unlike the other rulers, he knew exactly what was going on.
After all, the decision to attempt the assassination of Qi Kingdom's prodigious scholar in Wu's capital had come straight from the demon court.
Now, they were about to reap the consequences.
If it had succeeded, there'd be no more to say. But it failed.
Wu Kingdom is a nation built on martial prowess—they won't just let this slide with a few curses.
For the loss of face that Wu Kingdom has suffered, they'll demand repayment in blood.
"Pass my orders! Open the gates! Prepare for battle!"
The city lord of Fangya City chose not to employ a defensive strategy.
He had little faith in the city's protective formations. If the defenses were breached, Fangya City would inevitably face a massacre.
The only chance was to take the fight to the enemy, holding them off beyond the city walls while waiting for reinforcements from the other fourteen cities. Only by combining forces could they push the invaders back, minimizing his own losses.
Even so, the damage to Fangya City would still be immense! Those fourteen cities were unlikely to commit too many troops, leaving Fangya City to bear the brunt of the enemy's initial and most devastating charge.
"Those bastards in the court are all damned fools!"
The city lord cursed loudly.
The gates of Fangya City swung open, and its 100,000-strong demon army marched out to meet the enemy.
---
As the two armies clashed, Chen Nan pulled the Heaven-Shaking Hammer from his storage pouch. With each swing, his massive weapon turned foes into little more than piles of mangled flesh.
The Dragon-Leopard Cavalry rampaged through the army of the Wanxiang Demon Kingdom, their spears piercing through demon warriors like skewers threading candied hawthorn.
When the lushu-blooded warhorses beneath the cavalry were felled, the riders immediately abandoned their mounts, drawing dual blades from their belts to continue their assault on foot.
Fangya City's forces managed to endure the first wave of Demon-Suppressing City's attack, but just as their lines were about to collapse, reinforcements—420,000 troops from the fourteen allied cities—arrived on the battlefield!
---
Xu Xuenuo stood amidst the chaos, her sword gripped tightly in her hand.
The sight of mangled flesh and the heavy stench of blood overwhelmed her senses, making her stomach churn.
When Xu Xuenuo finally drove her blade into the heart of a demon warrior, the sickening sensation transmitted through the hilt made her want to vomit.
But she forced herself to steady her mind.
The brutal reality of the battlefield was teaching Xu Xuenuo, in the harshest way possible, to accept the carnage of blood and steel.
With each demon she slew, their blood stained her Qingming Sword, and the blade's edge grew sharper, its aura more menacing.
---
"Awoooo!"
A pack of hundreds of dog demons reverted to their original forms and charged into the fray, their howls piercing the cacophony of battle.
Xu Xuenuo turned, her gaze locking onto the area where the dog demons had entered the fight.
If she remembered correctly, hadn't that girl Chen Suier said yesterday…
The demon that injured Xu Ming… was a dog?