Chapter 497: This World is Man-Eating

Until a long time later, Xu Qing turned his gaze to the human defense line where he was.

A golden giant net connecting heaven and earth, like a giant screen, cut across the battlefield.

Whether it was the sky or the earth, all the means of the Sheng Lan clan were blocked outside the fourth line of defense of the human race.

This golden giant screen was vast and boundless, not only connecting heaven and earth up and down, but also spreading to an endless range left and right.

If there were a pair of eyes that could see the entire border of Fenghai County, then one could see that its range was so large that it connected the northern battlefield while also covering all the places where Fenghai County bordered the Sheng Lan clan. And here, within the golden giant net, the fourth line of defense gully opened by the human race early on had countless defensive positions built, and numerous marching tents spread out here.

Countless human cultivators, each carrying thick fatigue, were continuously building and maintaining here.

Rows of war magic tools like sharp thorns stood up boundlessly at the edge of the gully, pointing toward the Sheng Lan clan direction. The number was as many as hundreds of thousands, and now they were all shining, causing the void in front of them to distort, and even appearing with streaks of space cracks, and there were deafening booming sounds, continuously echoing.

This was not the sound of eruption, but the sound of accumulating momentum.

Their eruption was not the kind of magic art visible to the naked eye, but specifically against the sound wave power formed by black snow.

Once fully activated, it could to the greatest extent make those Sheng Lan clan black snow lose the ability to combine together, melting in advance.

And this omnipresent booming sound was already the norm of the front line. Even more, within the golden giant screen, hundreds of Void Returning cultivators sat cross-legged. They were the controllers of forbidden magic treasures, and would borrow the power of the forbidden items to form interference against the Sheng Lan clan diamond magic tools, carrying out targeted confrontation.

At the same time, they also had the task of marking out the harvesters and dispatching cultivators to focus on beheading them.

Besides this, one could also see giant war puppets on the earth.

These puppets carried the characteristics of the human race. Any one of them was like a mountain, and the driving of each one required a large number of cultivators to unfold together, and the power was naturally not bad.

And the most heart-shaking were the nine giant imperial swords!

Nine giant swords as high as the sky, standing between heaven and earth.

While radiating supreme majesty, they also erupted with heart-shaking deterrence, and looking carefully, one could see that these nine imperial swords were actually gathered from countless imperial swords.

They could deter as a whole, or could be dispersed, and were the heavy spears of the human race in this war. Even more, in the sky, there was also a giant Dao bell.

This bell was bestowed by the imperial capital Sword-Holding headquarters the moment the Fenghai County Sword-Holding Palace was built.

Originally it was hung in the Sword-Holding Palace, but now it was placed on the battlefield, because it itself... was the supreme treasure of the Fenghai County Sword-Holding Palace, and was the foundation power of the Sword-Holding Palace along with the Criminal Prison Division at that time.

Its role could not only be outward, but even more so inward.

Outward bell ringing could bombard all directions, while inward it was for awakening.

Looking from afar, one could see that around this giant Dao bell, there actually existed hundreds of thousands of bronze coffins, and on each coffin, layers of seals were drawn.

Lying inside were not dead people.

They were living people!

Among them were men and women, old and young. They were the sword-raising people specially prepared for the war by the Sword-Holding Palace for too many years!

Most of them had lived for a long time in relatively peaceful times, so they hadn't cut down their own swords when they were at the end of their lives, so they were *** in deep sleep with secret methods, integrating the imperial sword into their lives.

Only waiting for the moment of awakening, to cut down the last sword transformed by their own lives.

There were also those who knew their cultivation had reached the end, so they were willing to sleep for Fenghai County, integrating into their lives to raise the sword.

Each of them knew that the moment they woke up, it must be the most critical moment for Fenghai County.

And now, among these hundreds of thousands of coffins, three-tenths were already empty.

The sword-holding people within had already been awakened in the previous battles, without any hesitation, cutting down the last sword transformed by their own lives.

At this moment, all of this reflected in Xu Qing's eyes, and dozens of figures flew out from the fourth wave of defense of Fenghai County, heading straight for the army where Xu Qing and his group were.

Time was short, and the arrivals approached. The person leading was the Vice Palace Master of the Sword-Holding Palace. He came to welcome them personally to explain his attitude.

His tired expression carried excitement. This kind of emotional fluctuation was rare for a great cultivator of his level.

Kong Xianglong was also in the crowd. He had injuries on his body, his mood was very low, and only when seeing Xu Qing did he barely reveal some smiles.

Xu Qing saw this scene, his heart sank, and a bad premonition rose.

But this was not the time for inquiry. After the Vice Palace Master of the Sword-Holding Palace approached rapidly, his voice echoed.

"Mingyi brother, Gongze brother!"

The two Great Elders of the Sword-Holding Court of Yinghuang Province and Quzhao Province also walked out rapidly and bowed to the Vice Palace Master.

"You came in time, very in time!" The Vice Palace Master took a deep breath, suppressed the agitation in his heart, and immediately spoke: "The Palace Master has a decree!"

"All Void Returning cultivators and persons in charge of each sect of Quzhao Province and Yinghuang Province, immediately head to the main tent, the Palace Master summons!"

"The rest of the people, camp on the spot, waiting for the next arrangement."

"Please!"

The Vice Palace Master bowed heavily to the human race of the two provinces, and then his gaze fell on Xu Qing, revealing a strange glint, his expression appearing with thick appreciation.

"Book Order Xu, you also follow me."

Xu Qing spoke solemnly.

The group of people didn't waste time and immediately followed the Vice Palace Master away, soon arriving at the defense line of Fenghai County.

Walking into this place all the way, Xu Qing saw countless injured human cultivators.

The soldiers on the front line clearly already knew of the arrival of the reinforcements from the two provinces, so almost the moment Xu Qing and his group stepped into the defense line area, countless human cultivators walked out from their respective tents, carrying excitement in their eyes, looking at Xu Qing and others.

Within it were disciples of various sects, loose cultivators, and Sword-Holders. The injuries were light or heavy, but they all bowed to Xu Qing and them the moment they saw them.

Since the war, their misery, their bitterness, their fatigue had been incomparably thick, but they still didn't have despair, they just longed to see hope.

At this moment, hope, appeared!

From the eyes of these human cultivators, Xu Qing felt their emotions, and in the continuous moving forward, he saw more front-line soldiers.

These people, at first, some were silent, some were cold, some were bitter, some had red eyes with killing intent, but they all turned into excitement and agitation after noticing them.

There were also some who were Sword-Holders of the Sword-Holding Palace, and Chen Tinghao and his Daoist partner were also among them.

Their injuries were not light. Seeing Xu Qing, Chen Tinghao revealed a smile, and his Daoist partner was gently bandaging his wounds. After noticing Xu Qing, she smiled slightly.

But they had no words transmitted, because the closer they got to the defense line, the more huge the booming sound here became. The sound wave power formed by those countless sharp thorn magic tools filled all directions, deafening.

Xu Qing nodded. He saw that although Chen Tinghao's injuries were heavy, they were also in the process of recovery, and his heart relaxed slightly.

For these two, Xu Qing felt good, because when he first came to the capital, they not only told him a lot of information enthusiastically, but also stood on his side in the Si-Law Palace.

So Xu Qing looked a few more times, and only then withdrew his gaze.

In this moving forward, soon they were led by the Vice Palace Master to the main tent located at the edge of the gully.

Here, it was the command post of the front line.

While hundreds of personal guards were guarding, there were even more civil Sword-Holders waiting solemnly. Whenever the main tent transmitted a decree, they would immediately listen to the order, arrange recording, and supervise execution.

"Let the Seventh Army immediately head to

the front line, keep an eye on any movement and changes of the Sheng Lan clan!"

"Arrange the Ninth Army, break into pieces, try to enter the battlefield area, collect data on the changes of black snow!"

"Also let the Criminal Prison Division arrange a small team to go out and strangle the Black-Clothed Guards who sneaked into the rear. The construction of the fifth line of defense must not be destroyed!"

The Palace Master's serious voice continuously came from the main tent, and the people outside the tent, after receiving the order, immediately began to execute.

Xu Qing had a look of scrutiny, instinctively sweeping over these civil Sword-Holders.

And these civil Sword-Holders here also noticed Xu Qing, each was stunned, and then their eyes revealed respect. When they received the decree to execute, passing by Xu Qing's side, they would all bow slightly to him.

Their status and duties, as well as the efficiency, made them not need to be like this in most areas of the front line. However, when facing Xu Qing, they had to be like this.

Because they were all people of the Book Order Division, and were the first batch of subordinates recruited by Xu Qing after he established the Book Order Division during the war preparation stage.

At that time, although Xu Qing didn't come to the battlefield, most of his Book Order Division people followed the army.

Xu Qing nodded slightly, indicating them to go to work quickly. After these Book Order Division disciples left one after another, the Vice Palace Master stepped forward quickly and spoke respectfully outside the tent.

"Palace Master, all Void Returning cultivators and persons in charge of Yinghuang Province and Quzhao Province have arrived."

"Enter!" From the tent, came the Palace Master's majestic voice.

A group of Void Returning cultivators outside the tent all had solemn expressions, walked toward the tent, and entered successively.

Soon, outside the tent, besides those personal guards guarding here, only Xu Qing and Kong Xianglong and others remained.

In this waiting, Xu Qing looked at Kong Xianglong, who was haggard and somewhat distracted.

"Kong brother, what happened?" Xu Qing asked softly.

"Yeling... died." Kong Xianglong spoke in a low voice, his voice carrying sadness and even more bitterness, his haggard face lost its luster.

Xu Qing's mind shook. He knew Yeling liked Kong Xianglong.

"Before she died, she told me, she liked me..."

Kong Xianglong's body trembled a bit, grabbed Xu Qing's shoulder, his eyes red, his hands trembling.

"Xu Qing, I am so uncomfortable." Kong Xianglong said, his eyes even redder, and finally closed his eyes.

Xu Qing was silent, letting Kong Xianglong grab his shoulder.

Life and death separation, he had experienced more than once, so he could understand this feeling. It was an unreal feeling, unable to get used to it, and couldn't get used to it.

All he could do was stand by Kong Xianglong's side, and when Kong Xianglong trembled, hand him a pot of wine.

Kong Xianglong took the wine pot, drank a big mouthful, and murmured in a low voice.

"So, wine also has times when it has no taste."

Kong Xianglong let go of the shoulder he was grabbing, patted it gently, and turned to leave.

He came here because he was depressed in his heart, heard Xu Qing had arrived, so he came to see. Xu Qing was silent.

Before his eyes appeared the scene of the first time he saw Yeling in the Sword-Holding Palace.

That girl eating flesh and blood melon seeds, that girl who told him he could go to the Grand Void Transformation Demon Sect to learn the Transformation Demon Art, that girl who, at any time, in her eyes and heart, only had Kong Xianglong.

After a long time, Xu Qing sighed lightly.

"This world is man-eating." Xu Qing murmured, his mood complex.

After half a day, as Void Returning cultivators walked out of the tent one after another, when Xue Lianzi and the two Sword-Holding Court Great Elders also left after receiving orders, the Palace Master's voice came from the tent.

"Xu Qing, you come in."

Xu Qing cheered up and walked over, stepping into the main tent.

The moment he walked in, he saw the Palace Master sitting in the front, and also saw that in the tent, there was a giant sand table formed by magic arts.

This sand table map outlined the entire western front line extremely completely. From within, one could see that the Tianlan Mountain Range here was only a part of this defense line.

The direction of its left and right undulations spread across the entire west, connecting with the northern front line, with a huge range.

This was an inevitable matter; after all, this was a large-scale war.

And although this place was only a part of the overall defense line, the Palace Master chose the command post here, one could imagine that this place was the core of the defense line.

Xu Qing took a deep breath, moved his gaze away from the sand table, and looked at the

This was also inevitable; after all, this was a large-scale war.

And although this place was only a part of the overall defense line, the Palace Master's choice of command post here showed that this was the core of the defense line.

Xu Qing took a deep breath, moved his gaze away from the sand table, and looked at the Palace Master.

The Palace Master was clearly more haggard than before, his eyes were bloodshot, and he had injuries on his body. The armor he had helped him put on back then was still on him, as if it had never been taken off.

And the malevolent Qi was even more intense than before.

Sitting there at this moment, he gave Xu Qing the feeling of a peerless ferocious beast, gathering the momentum of the entire army upon himself, ready to devour people at any moment, making one instinctively feel heart-pounding fear.

"Greetings, Palace Master." Xu Qing's expression was solemn as he cupped his fists in a bow.

"Xu Qing, I have received the supplies you sent earlier."

The Palace Master gazed at Xu Qing. The malevolent Qi on his body seemed to want to subside, but the gathering of the army's fortune prevented him from easily dissipating this blood-malevolence, so he tried hard to make his expression gentler, and his eyes revealed deep appreciation.

"I also know the reason for the gathering of the two provinces' forces. This time, you have rendered a great service!" Xu Qing lowered his head and spoke calmly.

"This is what I, your subordinate, should do. Besides, regarding Zhaoxia Mountain, I..."

Just as Xu Qing said this, before he could finish, the sky outside suddenly changed color, as if stars were shifting and the earth was trembling violently, as if dragons and snakes were rising from the land.

There were even bursts of roaring sounds from the Shenglan Clan cultivators, echoing through heaven and earth.

The war, after a brief respite, broke out again!

The killing intent was like a gale, blowing from the direction of the Tianlan Mountain Range, crashing into the forbidden net of Fenghai County.

This golden net trembled instantly, erupting with dazzling brilliance. The fury contained in this wind swept across the gully defense line, whistling past the tents of the Fenghai County human race, causing countless military tents to shake violently.

It also landed outside the Palace Master's tent, causing the tent fabric to flap loudly. The door flap lifted rapidly inward, revealing the black cloud-filled sky outside and countless lightning bolts tearing across the horizon.

The earth and the sky emitted loud noises simultaneously.

Xu Qing's long hair rose with the wind, his heart and his hair in sync, both carrying violent waves.

The roaring sounds, like countless giant beasts howling, surpassed the heavenly thunder on the battlefield, resounding in all directions like a great bell.

The Palace Master was expressionless, but the malevolent Qi on his body was even more intense at this moment. As he caused the heaven and earth to change color, he stood up, threw a jade slip to Xu Qing, and walked out of the tent.

"This jade slip records some information about the Shenglan Clan battlefield. Xu Qing, you should withdraw and study it first. I'll give you one day to familiarize yourself with the battlefield as soon as possible."

"This is just a conventional battle, far from the level of a major war. How to familiarize yourself and the sense of proportion involved, you must grasp it yourself. In any case, starting tomorrow, you will return to your original post and take over the duties of the Book Order!"

Hearing the Palace Master's words, Xu Qing immediately shouted his assent.

The Palace Master nodded and walked out of the tent. Outside the tent, all the disciples of the Book Order Division had returned, standing solemnly and waiting to be summoned.

Xu Qing stood behind the Palace Master, gazing at the distant battlefield. Besides the countless strange changes in the sky, he saw the Shenglan Clan cultivators rushing over like a sea between heaven and earth.

Some of these cultivators were flying in the sky, while others were galloping on the ground. All of them were wearing armor, and the killing intent on their bodies was intense.

Their formation was centered on giant severed hands that had been activated, divided into several formations, covering the sky and earth. Soon, decrees were transmitted from the Palace Master's mouth, and the human army of Fenghai County, like a ferocious beast waking from a light sleep, opened its eyes at this moment and began its counterattack.

Xu Qing also cupped his fists and left at this moment. He knew very well that for himself, having just arrived at the battlefield, he did not understand the rhythm of the war or the strengths and weaknesses of each legion.

And the position of Book Order was not so simple that it could be handled casually. After all, besides transmitting orders, it also required monitoring the degree of completion and analyzing and summarizing in advance.

This required a detailed grasp of the battlefield's details.

One day was actually not enough.

Even with the jade slip given by the Palace Master recording the information of the Shenglan Clan battlefield, it was still not enough.

Therefore, in order to familiarize himself as quickly as possible, he needed to find a position that could overlook the battlefield to macroscopically view this war, while also being able to step directly into the battlefield at any time to microscopically experience the details of both the human race and the Shenglan Clan.

Although staying by the Palace Master's side met the first condition, the Palace Master's location was the core area, which was not suitable for immediately entering the battlefield. Even if he wanted to go, he would need to ask for instructions, which was too passive.

Thus, amidst the roaring of heaven and earth and the earth-shattering outbreak of war, Xu Qing gazed in all directions, looking for a position that met the conditions, and finally, his gaze fell on a mountain of huge abandoned puppets piled up near the front line.

Each of Fenghai County's war puppets was driven by a large number of cultivators and usually existed on arrays laid out on the ground, keeping them in a peak state at all times.

But many had already been scrapped and could not be repaired, so they could only be piled together to be used as accessories for repairing other puppets, while also serving as part of a cover.

In addition, at critical moments, they could also be used as a source of pollution, thrown out to explode. Looking at the mountain formed by the piled-up abandoned puppets, Xu Qing flew over rapidly.

At this moment of battle, there were not many people guarding here, only a lame old man sitting there, looking at the battlefield with a numb expression.

Xu Qing's arrival, although it attracted his attention, he just looked at him listlessly and ignored him.

Xu Qing didn't say much either. After arriving, he leaped up, stepped on those scrapped items, and went straight to the top.

Standing there, he took out the jade slip given by the Palace Master and looked at the battlefield while checking it.

This position belonged to a relative commanding height, which could allow Xu Qing to see the entire battlefield more clearly.

Outside the golden net, the battlefield was roaring thunderously at this moment.

In the sky, the giant rhombic magic artifacts from the Shenglan Clan continuously emitted deafening buzzing sounds, echoing in all directions. As the void distorted, lightning bolts wandered within, occasionally falling to the earth, roaring over everything.

There was even pressure emanating from the blood-colored eyes of those rhombic magic artifacts, descending onto the battlefield, blessing the Shenglan Clan cultivators while forming an invasion against the human army.

Through the jade slip, Xu Qing knew what these rhombic magic artifacts were. At this moment, looking at them, many human cultivators were covered in blood, some from the enemy, and others from the pollution reaction after their own foreign matter became intense.

These rhombic magic artifacts from the Black Heaven Clan had strange power and shocked all directions.

But the human race also had ways to deal with them. As the golden net formed by the capital's taboo shone, Xu Qing saw hundreds of Void Returning experts sitting cross-legged on it, responsible for the operation of the array, as if they had turned into source points, emitting all their cultivation power into the golden net.

Suddenly, huge golden faces protruded from the golden net, emitting silent roars, rushing out fiercely towards the rhombic magic artifacts in the sky, colliding with them.

Under the loud noises of heaven and earth, those rhombic magic artifacts were finally affected and checked each other.

But the black snow permeating the battlefield was pervasive and difficult to contain. At this moment, it was falling continuously. They occasionally turned into spells to attack human cultivators, and occasionally gathered in large patches, transforming into human or beast shapes, rushing into the army amidst roars.

There were also some that landed in front of the Shenglan Clan cultivators, forming weapons that they controlled with incantations, greatly increasing their power. There was even black snow landing on human cultivators. Even though the Fenghai County cultivators tried their best to avoid it, there was too much black snow here, and it was too dense, so there were inevitably some who were not careful.

Those contaminated cultivators instantly trembled, the black snow turned into deadly poison, and their internal foreign matter directly exceeded the critical point. For a time, miserable wails spread in all directions, and many even directly mutated, roaring madly, unable to distinguish friend from foe.

It was extremely tragic.

But the human race and the Shenglan Clan had been fighting until now, and naturally, they had ways to deal with it.

Soon, amidst Xu Qing's heart-shaking, a huge roaring sound came from the defense line gully. Rows of astonishing magic spikes rose, their tips pointing to the battlefield, and amidst deafening sounds, they emitted violent sound waves towards the battlefield.

Wherever these sound waves passed, the black snow between heaven and earth trembled and melted rapidly, turning into black water before it could land, and then evaporated rapidly, finally turning into black mist and being dispersed.

Taking advantage of this opportunity,

the Fenghai County human race on the battlefield had a moment to breathe. The legions that had been fighting retreated rapidly, and other legions that had been preparing for a long time quickly took their place.