Chapter 355: Severing of Heaven and Earth Mortal Battle (Part 2)

As soon as he entered Wind Witch City, Zhao Xing felt his bones go numb, his heartbeat accelerated sharply, and his entire body swelled involuntarily.

The pure element soil in his dantian changed accordingly, spiritual energy filled his body, and his bones turned golden.

The Three God Fate Palace reappeared, and the long-lost sense of power lingered in his heart.

"Big Brother." Zhao Chuanzong's eyes lit up; before entering the city, he was a head taller than his Big Brother, but the moment he entered, his Big Brother was a head taller than him.

What made him even more excited was that the aura his Big Brother emitted was like a prehistoric giant beast waking up.

"Worthy of being Big Brother, Wind Witch City is only a seventh-rank city, but Big Brother's momentum is as if he has recovered to a high rank." In Zhao Chuanzong's heart, Big Brother was the myth of the family; he had worshipped him since he was a child, and it was the same now.

"Hmm?"

In the Wind Witch City Lord's Mansion, in the council hall, Xia Jing, who was looking down at the map, suddenly looked up, a trace of doubt flashing in his eyes.

"Where did this expert aura come from? Is Long Xiao back? No, this aura, although familiar, is not the same as Long Xiao's." Xia Jing immediately called for the guards.

"Zhao Zheng, go see what's going on at the East City Gate, never mind... I'll go personally."

Xia Jing quickly put on his armor and ran towards the East City Gate with his personal guards.

Wind Witch City was not big; the vertical distance between the inner and outer cities was only six thousand meters, and the main road was very wide, with eight lanes.

Xia Jing came on horseback; the horse's mane was fiery red, as if fire was burning.

When he rushed to the main road of the East City, he immediately saw Zhao Chuanzong's cavalry team returning, and saw Zhao Xing beside him at a glance.

"F*ck?!" Xia Jing was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed; he didn't care about consuming vital energy anymore and immediately took off from the fiery horse.

"Swish~"

The figure flew over and landed in front of Zhao Xing. Xia Jing reached out, his hands trembling slightly. "Brother Zhao, is, is it you?"

"It's me." Zhao Xing smiled slightly: "Brother Xia, long time no see."

"Hahahaha." Xia Jing rushed over and held Zhao Xing's arms tightly, "It's really you, hahaha, I knew you couldn't die easily."

"The Witch Moon God wants to kill me, he's still too young; let him cultivate for another few billion years." Zhao Xing also laughed; being able to see Xia Jing here, he was also very happy in his heart.

"Big Brother?!" Another familiar voice came; Zhao Zheng drove a light chariot and came; before the chariot stopped, he jumped down from the chariot.

"Big Brother, is it really you? Big Brother..." Zhao Zheng's voice choked, and his hands holding Zhao Xing were trembling.

"You are a lieutenant general now, stand steady." Zhao Xing supported Zhao Zheng's hands, stabilizing his figure.

Today's Zhao Zheng had matured a lot; he had grown a beard, his facial lines were firm, and there was a majesty between his brows, completely lacking the appearance of the little brat back then.

"Yes." Feeling the temperature from the palm, Zhao Zheng nodded fiercely, quickly wiped away his tears, and stood straight.

"Brother Zhao, how did you find this place?" Xia Jing asked curiously.

"It's a long story." Zhao Xing said with some emotion: "I also just walked blindly in one direction, and then I happened to see Long Xiao's flag, and then Chuanzong; at first I couldn't believe it, and thought I had hallucinations."

"Big Brother, Fourth Brother is now a cavalry hundred general, with two columns of cavalry under his command." Zhao Zheng pulled Chuanzong and said: "Back then Big Brother sent Fourth Brother to the God Might Army, I didn't expect it to be Fourth Brother who found Big Brother."

Xia Jing smiled: "He won't be a hundred general for long; His Majesty once said that those with definite news of the Grand Minister of Agriculture will be promoted two ranks and granted a Marquis title. Those who bring back the Grand Minister of Agriculture will be promoted five ranks and granted a Commandery Duke title!"

Zhao Chuanzong scratched his head shyly: "General, I didn't think about these, I'm fine being a hundred general."

"Eh, generals are trained." Xia Jing patted Zhao Chuanzong on the shoulder, "From today on, you will be a five-hundred general first."

"Yes." Zhao Chuanzong straightened his body.

"Brother Xia, why are you here?" Zhao Xing asked.

"It's a long story, come, let's go to the City Lord's Mansion first."

Xia Jing pulled Zhao Xing towards the City Lord's Mansion, and Zhao Xing discovered that the horse Xia Jing was riding was a seventh-rank fiery horse, and in front of Zhao Zheng's chariot was also an eighth-rank purple-horned horse.

When Zhao Xing glanced at the city gate, he found that these horses would immediately turn into ordinary horse forms once they left the city, but would immediately restore their divine appearance once they entered the city gate.

Arriving at the City Lord's Mansion, Zhao Xing saw another acquaintance training on the drill ground, who was Liao Rulong.

"Old Liao is also here; it's right, he is the God Might Marquis. Zhao Zheng is here, so he should be too."

However, Liao Rulong was training very seriously at this time, and Zhao Xing walked past the corridor fifty meters behind him without him noticing.

Xia Jing led Zhao Xing into the main hall, ordered people to change Zhao Xing into a set of clean clothes, and served some meat, letting Zhao Xing eat to his heart's content.

"You still understand me." Zhao Xing tore off a large piece of trotter meat, "I haven't eaten meat for a long time."

His luck was too good; he hadn't encountered a single beast all the way here, so he could only eat vegetarian food, and his mouth was bland.

"Eh? Why is there fish? Wait, what exactly did you experience, how did you become a navy general?" Zhao Xing noticed the general flag behind Xia Jing, which was actually the navy's logo.

"Don't mention it." Xia Jing said melancholically, "It was all forced. In the 16th year of Yuan Ding, when the dog-day Witch Moon God performed the Severing of Heaven and Earth, we had just finished fighting the Qingyan Battlefield. At that time, we were returning on warships, but the warships suddenly lost balance and fell."

"Because the effect of the Severing of Heaven and Earth spreads incrementally, we were at the seventh-rank realm at that time."

"We weren't flying high at the time, and below was a large lake; the ship belonged to the Sea-Suppressing Marquis, and we performed an emergency landing when we fell, and ultimately didn't suffer any serious injuries."

"However, a quarter of an hour after falling, we were completely mortals."

"The sea ships also began to sink."

"We worked together to push down a few sea ship flying boats and relied on manpower to row them to the shore." Xia Jing recounted.

"Because we were on the edge of the Severing of Heaven and Earth, we got out of this range not long after."

"But not everyone had our luck."

"The Witch Moon God launched it too suddenly, and many of our armies fell to their deaths at that time!"

"Either they were crushed to death by the collapse inside the warship, or they fell to their deaths..."

"Afterward, I counted the armies that walked out of the forbidden zone, and the one that kept the most complete establishment was actually just the Sea-Suppressing Army."

"No way, in the end, I could only rebuild after the war with the Sea-Suppressing Army as the main force. It just so happened that our war zone had many rivers at that time, so I became a navy joint-camp general."

Zhao Xing stopped eating when he heard this; he could fully imagine that kind of scene.

Huge warships weighing over ten thousand tons falling from the sky was a nightmare scene.

Even if they were parked on the ground, it wasn't safe.

The structure of the warship changed at that moment, and it was bound to collapse; those who couldn't escape in time would be crushed to death alive.

Warships, flying boats, tower ships, and chariots are common flying tools for large armies to move out.

The Severing of Heaven and Earth launched suddenly, which was absolutely a large-scale air disaster.

It was the same if they weren't on the ship and were flying themselves.

Suddenly losing the ability to fly and weakening into a mortal, even falling from a dozen meters had a high possibility of falling to death.

"The Witch Moon God is truly ruthless." Zhao Xing stuck the cutting knife into the case, "To kill me, he must have launched it suddenly, which means the Southern Barbarians didn't notify their side, and they didn't have time to make any preparations."

"That's right." Xia Jing nodded: "The Southern Barbarian side also suffered many casualties; that large-scale air disaster caused countless experts to fall or be crushed to death. The highest death record was a Rule Realm expert of the Holy Spirit Royal Court, called something like 'Tris'."

"I heard he was inspecting the refining situation in an underground lava cave at the time, and as a result, when the Severing of Heaven and Earth came, he was crushed to death by the collapsing volcano."

"It is said that he had obtained 【Heaven and Earth Protection】 at the time, and had fifth-rank strength when it was launched. However, he was too unlucky; the place he stayed was a dangerous place itself."

Zhao Xing nodded; releasing the Severing of Heaven and Earth is a move that kills a thousand enemies and damages eight hundred of one's own.

Because of the existence of Purple Bone Heavenly Venerable, this double-agent, if the Witch Moon God had notified the people below before Purple Bone defected, then Purple Bone would definitely have received this news.

If the Witch Moon God had launched it after the Purple Bone Heavenly Venerable defection incident, then Zhao Xing would have been rescued by someone at that time.

Therefore, in order to successfully kill Zhao Xing, the Witch Moon God could only choose to launch it while the Purple Bone Heavenly Venerable def

"Such an elaborate trap, just to kill me. I'm truly honored," Zhao Xing scoffed.

"Perhaps in the eyes of the Moon Witch God, as long as you die, even if we win the Great Pacification War, we have still lost," Xia Jing said.

Zhao Xing nodded. If he died, the hope of an early spiritual energy resurgence would become a pipe dream.

An early spiritual energy resurgence was already an extreme operation; if he died, it would be even more precarious.

Even if the Great Zhou won the Great Pacification War, they would ultimately be unable to ascend and would be trapped to death in the Profound Yellow World.

Once the Martial Emperor reached the end of his lifespan, the Great Zhou would collapse rapidly from within over the next thousand years, without the Southern Barbarians needing to do anything.

War itself is costly, and the Great Zhou was also exhausting its national strength. If a total war did not yield the benefits of 'spiritual energy resurgence' and 'ascension,' it would fall apart due to the war itself.

Though a nation may be vast, it will perish if it is bellicose. Once the Martial Emperor dies and hope is extinguished, no one will be able to suppress those Super-Grade vassal kings (Super-Grade destiny cannot be reclaimed just by saying so).

Even powerhouses like the North Star Prince Qin Feng have had their ambitions swell. With the Emperor dead and the hope of ascension gone, countless powerhouses more ambitious than Qin Feng would emerge to devour the Great Zhou's destiny.

That was how the Great Zhou was in his previous life; once the Martial Emperor died, the Great Zhou was essentially a state of weak sovereign and strong subjects.

Of course, the Martial Emperor of this life would have more time than in the previous one; for instance, he could kill all the Super-Grade vassal kings before he died, leaving only First-Grade ones, but doing so would also cause the Great Zhou to decline.

Therefore, the Martial Emperor had no way out either.

"If I die, the spiritual energy stored in my body will degrade in a very short time, transforming from a spiritual state into primordial energy and diffusing throughout the entire Profound Yellow World."

"Even if the Great Zhou has a primordial energy reversal device, it would be too late to collect it. Without ascension, the Great Zhou will automatically perish," Zhao Xing seemed to see through the Moon Witch God's calculations. "The Moon Witch God considers itself the guardian of the Profound Yellow World. No matter how many Southern Barbarians die, after a thousand years, once the Central Plains dynasty collapses, there will be enough energy to recover, and people will be born again."

"As long as the matter and spiritual energy of the Profound Yellow World are not taken away, no matter how many people die, they will rot within the Profound Yellow World, so the Moon Witch God does not care about casualties."

"This is a god—a cold and ruthless god."

The poor fear the aggressive, and the aggressive fear the desperate. Clearly, in this war, the Moon Witch God was the one who was desperate.

"Xia Jing, tell me about the situation with the Witch City and the 'Heaven and Earth Protection'," Zhao Xing said, calming his emotions after eating and drinking his fill.

"Witch Cities are divided into grades nine through five. As you can see, within the territory of a Witch City, everyone's strength can be restored to the corresponding grade," Xia Jing explained.

"At the beginning, the Witch Cities were almost impregnable. A group of mortals simply could not break through them."

Zhao Xing nodded. Take the lowest-grade Ninth-Grade Witch City, for example; everyone inside is at the Ninth-Grade Qi Gathering Realm.

Furthermore, they can build magic arrays and use Ninth-Grade divine weapons. Attacking such a city is hellish difficulty.

Not to mention the higher ones; for a Fifth-Grade Witch City, the city-protecting barrier alone is unbreakable.

Of course, people inside the Witch City can only defend. If an arrow flies out of the Witch City, it becomes an ordinary arrow unless the person themselves has obtained 【Heaven and Earth Protection】.

"Then how long did it take the Great Zhou to take the first city?" Zhao Xing asked.

"The first day," Xia Jing said.

"Huh?" Zhao Xing was stunned. "The first day?"

"Yes, the first day. The Great Zhou acquired one Fifth-Grade city, three Sixth-Grade cities, and four Seventh-Grade cities," Xia Jing said. "Eighty percent of these cities were contributed by sect members led by the Profound Heaven Sect, such as the Green Wood Sect and the Hundred Flowers Sect."

"Among them, the strongest Fifth-Grade city, called Mist City, was contributed by a defector named Mist Walker."

"Of course, I didn't know this news at first. It wasn't until half a year later that I received accurate information that the masters of these cities had long since defected to our Great Zhou."

"Mist Walker?" Zhao Xing realized. "So it was him."

Unlike the mole Purple Bone Heavenly Venerable, the Profound Heaven Sect led by Mist Walker had done nothing from the beginning until the Great Pacification War.

Purple Bone left behind many secret doors and did many things in the shadows, but the sect led by Mist Walker stayed honestly in the Southern Barbarian lands and did nothing to harm them.

Once the 'Severing of Heaven and Earth' was cast, Mist Walker, who had endured for many years, launched the most ruthless strike, directly opening the city to surrender and quickly killing the nearby cities to open a path to the Great Zhou.

"Hahahaha, Mist Walker has made a great contribution this time," Zhao Xing slapped his thigh.

"No," Xia Jing shook his head. "Not only was he not rewarded, but he was also thrown into prison."

"Huh?" Zhao Xing was stunned again. "What happened?"

"Mist Walker was very angry when he heard that your life or death was uncertain. He believed that the Great Zhou had not protected you, the Sect Master, well. When he entered the palace for an audience and received this news, he took off his official hat on the spot and cursed His Majesty," Xia Jing said. "I won't repeat exactly what he cursed, but in short, it was very dirty language that cannot be put into official documents."

Zhao Xing: "..."

Thinking about it carefully, it really seemed like something Mist Walker would do.

In the eyes of sect people, the Emperor doesn't count for much. They have no awe of imperial power.

Yet Zhao Xing, as their Sect Master, was their faith! He was a saint-like existence!

Mist Walker pointed at Ji Che's nose and cursed. Even if Ji Che could tolerate it, the ministers could not, so they had to place him under house arrest to let him cool off.

"What about the Dragon Clan?" Zhao Xing asked hurriedly. "The Dragon Clan wouldn't also..."

"The Dragon Clan has been quite stable," Xia Jing recalled. "Yin Xiu immediately pacified the Dragon Clan's powerhouses. He said he could feel that you were not dead. Considering that there might be some bloodline connection among the dragons, Yin Xiu's words also stabilized the others."

Zhao Xing breathed a sigh of relief. As expected, Yin Xiu is a dragon with great wisdom!

"Mist Walker's rebellion gave the Great Zhou a very good start," Xia Jing said, "but pushing forward remains fraught with difficulties."

"Excluding the cities brought by the defectors."

"In the first half-year, the Great Zhou did not capture a single Ninth-Grade Witch City."

"The area of the 'Severing of Heaven and Earth' is still too large. In most war zones, we can only use the most stupid methods to fight," Xia Jing said in a deep voice. "That is to use people as bait to lure the enemy out to kill us."

Zhao Xing nodded. Having a Witch City is just having a supply station. To move freely in the wild and push forward, the 【Heaven and Earth Protection】 authority must be transferred, so that the number of our own cultivators within the restricted area increases.

Even with Mist Walker's rebellion, his people didn't really affect the overall situation; it only boosted morale. Ninety-nine percent of the battlefield was still ordinary people.

Xia Jing sighed: "A Qi Gathering Realm cultivator, logically, could be killed by ten well-trained soldiers, but in actual combat, to lure the enemy into a trap, we often have to pay a greater price."

"Because Southern Barbarian soldiers who possess 【Heaven and Earth Protection】, after being killed, do not transfer to our people immediately, but prioritize transferring to those who already possess 【Heaven and Earth Protection】."

"Within a certain range, if there are no 'cultivators', it will transfer randomly."

"It could be someone from the Great Zhou camp, or it could be born within the enemy army."

"Hiss~" Zhao Xing couldn't help but gasp.

Imagine, the Great Zhou's military formation spent huge efforts to kill a Ninth-Grade enemy, but this power did not transfer to their own camp, but merged with another Ninth-Grade enemy, and the enemy became an Eighth-Grade...

If it's a battle of military formations, the Southern Barbarians are getting stronger the more they are killed!

How desperate is that?

The evolved Moon Witch God is too perverted.

In the previous life, there was no such thing as merging! After killing an enemy and obtaining the token on them, one could recover their strength.

But in this life, the Moon Witch God came up with this 'power transfer' trick, and the difficulty has risen straight up.

"If it weren't for the sect world holding them back, the evolved 'Severing of Heaven and Earth' would truly be impossible to break," Zhao Xing thought silently. The sect alliance in the Sleeping Realm also possesses authority within the 'Severing of Heaven and Earth', and this authority is not something the Moon Witch God can strip away.

Because the 'Severing of Heaven and Earth' is not cast by the Moon Witch God alone; he is only the guide. Perhaps he could make some changes in this life, but he cannot strip away the portion of authority belonging to the sect world.

That is why the Moon Witch God also sent people to the Sleeping Realm to negotiate cooperation, rather than giving orders.

The sect world once ruled the Central Plains and also dominated the Southern Barbarians, bringing about a revival of spells and martial arts. This is the foundation of the sects and their capital for cooperating with the Moon Witch God.

"Although attacking cities is extremely difficult, we still have opportunities in the wild," Xia Jing said. "After all, even if they evolve to the Seventh Grade, they are not invincible."

"In the wild, even at the Seventh Grade, without supplies, it is very difficult to fight continuously."

"If they want to run away, it depends on their profession. Except for the escape techniques of mages, which are hard for us to block, martial artists basically cannot escape the concentrated fire of bed crossbows, catapults, and heavy arrows. That's why in the early stages, we mostly killed martial artists, ritualists, and musicians."

"When all the enemies are dead, we will obtain the qualification of 'cultivator'."

"And as long as there are cultivators among our people, the chance of transfer becomes equal."

"For example, when encountering a lone opportunity."

"Like small groups of messengers or scouts. The Southern Barbarians have such an advantage; they can't just rely on walking."

Please... you.... bookmark_()

Zhao Xing nodded. No wonder that Squad Leader under Zhao Chuanzong was so excited when he saw him.

It turns out they saw him as a big fish.

Once they killed him, and there was no one else around, a Qi Gathering Realm cultivator would be born within their team.

"At first, this situation was uncontrollable, but once there were more people, it became controllable," Xia Jing suddenly remembered something. "Brother Zhao, you seem to still be in the Qi Gathering Realm, right?"

"Yes," Zhao Xing nodded. In the wild, he hadn't even reached the Qi Gathering Realm yet, but his situation was special and could not be measured simply.

"Perfect," Xia Jing smiled. "I still have two Eighth-Grade and twenty Ninth-Grade prisoners here. They can help you further restore your strength. Let's go."

"Good." Zhao Xing also wanted to see what the restoration of strength was like in this life.

He followed Xia Jing to a dungeon.

In the dungeon were twenty Ninth-Grade Southern Barbarian soldiers and two Eighth-Grade ones.

"This dungeon is actually outside the coverage of Wind Witch City, so the two of them only show Ninth-Grade and Eighth-Grade realms now."

"If they were in the city, these would all be restored to the Seventh Grade."

"What is their actual cultivation?" Zhao Xing looked at these prisoners. They were quiet and didn't make a fuss. Even though they were imprisoned, they had the aura of powerhouses, and their eyes revealed resilience.

"They are all Third-Grade," Xia Jing said. "I interrogated them; these people were originally tribal leaders."

"As expected, even if high-grade powerhouses are reduced to low-grade, their aura is completely different. This cannot be faked," Zhao Xing nodded.

There are now three cultivation situations: first, the original cultivation, which is the cultivation realm before being affected by the 'Severing of Heaven and Earth'.

Second, the cultivation in the Witch City. Even those without the 'Heaven and Earth Protection' mark will be restored to the cultivation corresponding to the Witch City's grade. If a Third-Grade enters a Fifth-Grade Witch City, they will be restored to the Fifth-Grade realm.

Third, in the wild, if one has not obtained 【Heaven and Earth Protection】, even a Dao-Establishing Realm expert would be a mortal upon entering.

"Are you Zhao Xing?" Suddenly, a giant with dark purple skin, well-developed muscles, and a stature as burly as a small mountain approached with a stumbling gait.

His shoulder blades and abdomen had been pierced. To be safe, these prisoners still had needles inserted into them to seal their acupoints.

His blood and energy were severely insufficient, like a wilted purple sweet potato monster.

"You know me?" Zhao Xing looked at this Eighth-Grade powerhouse with interest.

"I didn't expect you to still be alive," the purple sweet potato man stared at Zhao Xing. "However, you are about to die."

"How so?" Zhao Xing asked.

"Hahahaha." The purple sweet potato man suddenly laughed loudly. "I didn't expect to see a big fish enter the net before I die. It's worth it to have me, King Tagu, buried with you!"

"Hahahaha, it's worth it!" The other prisoners in the dungeon also laughed loudly.

"Playing god and ghost, someone, make them shut up!" Xia Jing immediately ordered a Thunder-type warlock guarding the dungeon to come over.

"Zzzzz~" The magic dungeon was activated immediately, and thunder surged within, continuously electrocuting these prisoners.

Originally, these people were powerful, but they couldn't withstand the mid-level magic. One by one, they were electrocuted until they foamed at the mouth and twitched on the ground.

"You, you will definitely die."

"The, the great Nine Nether God is watching you, you filthy destroyers!" the purple man roared. "... he god will kill you!"

The Hundred-Man Commander of the warlock battalion guarding the dungeon couldn't keep his face straight. The boss told them to shut up, yet this person could still speak?

"Zzzzz!" Thunder light flared, and he immediately increased the intensity.

"Stop, let him speak." Zhao Xing frowned. He squatted down and stared at this tribal leader: "You mentioned the Nine Nether God just now. Are you from the Nine Nether Army?"

The man who was about to be electrocuted to death just a moment ago and still wanted to speak, now closed his mouth.

"What was his original status? I mean his position in Wind Witch City." Zhao Xing looked at Xia Jing.

"A Wandering Soul Commander," Xia Jing said. "His superior was killed, and the power was transferred to Old Chen. Long Xiao and Old Chen are not in the city; they are chasing down the remnants."

Zhao Xing pondered: "What about his personal belongings? Are they here?"

"Yes," the Hundred-Man Commander warlock in the dungeon replied.

"Bring everyone's belongings to me, quickly!" Zhao Xing said in a deep voice.

"Yes."

The Hundred-Man Commander warlock ran out immediately.

"Brother Zhao, what's wrong?" Xia Jing asked, seeing Zhao Xing so solemn. "What did you discover?"

"I'm not sure yet," Zhao Xing said. "Perhaps I am being overly suspicious."

The atmosphere in the dungeon suddenly fell silent.

Soon, the Hundred-Man Commander warlock returned with a large pile of things. The personal belongings of everyone, including King Tagu, were placed in front of Zhao Xing.

"My lord, they are all here."

Zhao Xing immediately rummaged through the miscellaneous items, and soon he found a black, round disk.

King Tagu's eyes twitched slightly when he saw this.

"King Tagu, this is the Nine Nether Order, right?" Zhao Xing waved the token in front of King Tagu.

King Tagu sneered, said nothing, and just closed his eyes.

"With the Underworld King's seal on both sides, seeing the order is like seeing the Nine Nether."

"King Tagu, this is a death order. Why did the Nine Nether God order you to defend Wind Witch City to the death?"

"What conspiracy do you have? Speak!"

Zhao Xing extended spikes from his hands and inserted them into King Tagu's pain acupoints.

"Crack, crack~~"

The purple sweet potato monster was indeed tough; he bit his teeth until they shattered, yet he didn't make a sound.

Xia Jing's expression changed. When they interrogated him, King Tagu wasn't this tough; he had confessed everything.

Now he was acting so tough? There was only one explanation.

"Damn! He lied to us?!" Xia Jing shouted hurriedly: "Where is Judicial Officer Hong? How the hell did you interrogate him! Come over here and interrogate him for me again!"

"It's useless," Zhao Xing shook his head. "These people are all firm-minded. The highest grade here is only Seventh-Grade, and your methods are too crude to interrogate them."

"Xia Jing, you take people out first. I need to kill to recover," Zhao Xing said. "By the way, ask the Military Historian for a detailed combat record regarding your experience in breaking Wind Witch City."

"Good." Xia Jing immediately took people and ran out.

After Xia Jing and the others ran away, only the twenty-two prisoners and Zhao Xing remained in the dungeon.

"Pfft!"

Zhao Xing pointed a finger, immediately piercing another Eighth-Grade powerhouse to death.

"Hum~"

A touch of golden light transferred from the corpse to Zhao Xing.

King Tagu felt a bit strange.

There were twenty-three people present including Zhao Xing. He killed one, and the probability randomly fell on him?

King Tagu didn't know that Yan Jiu's destiny had taken effect.

Let alone a one-in-twenty-three probability, even if the probability were a hundred times smaller, it would still transfer to Zhao Xing upon killing, unless there was another existence with similar destiny in the dungeon.

"Realm restored," Zhao Xing stretched his body. "I have now recovered to the Eighth-Grade Earth Fiend Realm. The abnormality is lifted, and both the 'Heavenly Timing' and 'Earthly Advantage' methods can be used."

Originally, he relied on the Cloud-Touching Vine to support a piece of heaven and earth, but this authority was incomplete, and he couldn't use many of his spells.

But now that he had killed an enemy, he had truly obtained the authority.

The Cloud-Touching Vine could finally rest inside his body.

"Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft~"

Zhao Xing drove the gale, instantly killing all the enemies except King Tagu.

One Eighth-Grade and twenty Ninth-Grade powerhouses; Zhao Xing recovered from the early Eighth-Grade to the mid Eighth-Grade.

"It seems that for every major grade I rise, I need to kill about ten people of the same grade to level up," Zhao Xing thought to himself.

"King Tagu, look into my eyes." Zhao Xing's voice was like magic, and King Tagu couldn't help but meet his gaze.

Soul Detention!

A spell derived from the Soul-Detention Grass Man; Zhao Xing immediately sucked out King Tagu's soul and then opened his mouth wide.

"Crunch, crunch~" Zhao Xing bit and crushed King Tagu's soul as if he were chewing.

At the same time, a large number of memory fragments appeared in his mind.

Since they were memory fragments, they were incomplete, and the older the memory, the blurrier it was. Anything over a month old was basically impossible to know.

Zhao Xing closed his eyes and began to search through these memory fragments, organizing them into useful information.

When he opened his eyes again, Zhao Xing's expression changed.

"Damn it, Xia Jing and the others have entered the Nine Nether God's encirclement. This is the Nine Nether God's Great Sweep plan."

What is the Nine Nether Great Sweep? It refers to the Southern Barbarians' first large-scale troop mobilization, a siege operation against the war zones where the Great Zhou had entered the southern range of the 'Severing of Heaven and Earth'.

Xia Jing's side had a total of 30, 00 people, and among them, only the Hundred-Man Commander level were cultivators. There was only one cultivator for every hundred people, totaling about three hundred people.

But this time, the Nine Nether God mobilized a total of 400, 00 people, and almost all of them were cultivators!

"Damn, damn, damn, damn!"

As soon as Zhao Xing thought that the strongest dungeon in the 'Severing of Heaven and Earth' was about to descend, his scalp went numb, and he immediately rushed out of the dungeon.

"Xia Jing!"

"Zhao Xing!"

Xia Jing ran over with a gloomy expression.

Seeing that both sides had something to say, Zhao Xing calmed down instead: "You speak first."

"Old Chen and Long Xiao just came back and reported bad news. Large-scale armies of ten thousand have appeared on the east, west, and north sides of Wind Witch City. It is said that the closest one appeared at Pangge Peak, three hundred and fifty miles away," Xia Jing said in a deep voice. "We must break out."

"Where did the intelligence come from?" Zhao Xing asked.

"It was transmitted back by Wang Ji," Long Xiao and Chen Shijie walked in. Seeing Zhao Xing, they had no time for small talk. "The mechanical engineers of the Mohist school can communicate remotely through the Boundless Mohist Device. He reported this news."

With a rustle, Zhao Xing activated the miniature sand table. Clouds, mountain peaks, rivers, and many red dots symbolizing enemy troops quickly spread across three sides of Wind Witch City.

The four of them felt their breath hitch. Red dots meant cultivators; at least several thousand cultivators were forming an encirclement around them!

Even if ninety percent of these several thousand cultivators had just reached the Qi Gathering Realm, they were still cultivators!

"How could there be so many..." Long Xiao muttered to himself.

"The map shows fewer than there actually are; there are at least 50, 00 people in the actual encirclement."

"What? That's impossible, right?" Xia Jing was stunned. "50, 00 people, all cultivators? Are you kidding me?"

"This time it is a Great Sweep personally commanded by the Nine Nether God."

"A total of over 400, 00 people, all of them cultivators! They are going to conduct a large-scale cleanup of the entire southern war zone," Zhao Xing sighed.

"You ate Wind Witch City, so you became one of the targets. You have a Prince of Valor, a top-tier Sword Immortal, and a Minister of Agriculture, and these 30, 00 people are all well-trained elites of the Great Zhou. You are already qualified to be on the Nine Nether God's dinner table."

"400, 00?! All cultivators?!" Long Xiao, Chen Shijie, and Xia Jing were completely dumbfounded. This number was enough to scare people to death.

"There is no time for you to be shocked," Zhao Xing said quickly. "We must take people to break out now. We don't have much time left."

"Where to break out?" Long Xiao asked subconsciously. "Break out to the north and join Dong Ze's main army?"

"It's impossible to go north. Since it's a Great Sweep, our small number of people cannot possibly break through successfully," Xia Jing said. "The Great Sweep only left the south open. It will be very difficult for us to break out in any of the east, west, or north directions."

"We can only go south," Chen Shijie nodded. "Go south to find Li Hao's Wu Yao Army? Which route should we take?"

Zhao Xing said nothing. His head was spinning wildly, the official documents and battle reports in front of him rustling as he quickly screened and integrated the military and terrain situation in his mind.

After a while, Zhao Xing nodded: "Yes, we can only go south."

"There are also three directions to the south. Should we take the Nanping Road due south, the Wuying Ridge to the southwest, or the Tian Shui River to the southeast?" Xia Jing asked.

"Brother Xia, you are a naval general with many ships. Of course, we will take the nearest Tian Shui River," Zhao Xing said.

Xia Jing was also in a panic and had forgotten that there weren't three choices at all, but only one.

"We must act quickly. Xia Jing, order the whole army immediately; we are crossing the Tian Shui River," Zhao Xing said.

"Discard as much baggage as you can. Throw away all heavy weapons. Keep only horses, ships, and mountain vehicles. Don't even keep the war chariots."

"If we discard so much baggage, what will we do if we encounter the enemy?" Long Xiao asked.

"Don't panic, the enemy will deliver them to us," Zhao Xing said. "As long as the green hills remain, there's no need to worry about firewood."

"We have to compete with the enemy's army in speed and flexibility, so we must travel light... No time to explain, hurry up and order the crossing of the river!"