Chapter 577: The East Wind Like Stars

At the side of the city gate.

Zhang Yan led the newly replenished cavalry, waiting for the order to leave the city.

He gripped the reins tightly in his hand.

Beside him stood Zhang Tie, who shared the same mission.

The warhorses, wrapped in armor, snorted nervously.

Had the warhorses not been meticulously chosen and trained since childhood,

The continual blasts of the fire thunder alone would startle the horses into running amok.

Hearing the sudden uproar, he, who had been watching Lord Lin An, felt his heart clench.

What's going on?

Did Lord Lin An and the Ascetic Practitioners come into conflict?

It was rare for Ascetic Practitioners to quarrel among themselves, and for a moment it drew many soldiers preparing to leave the city to glance over.

"Zhang Yan, the Ascetic Practitioner surrounded over there, is he from your unit, right?"

A half-smile.

An officer wearing a silver helmet glanced at Zhang Yan and noticed his tension.

"I heard you newly recruited an Ascetic Practitioner? It's made the original Ascetic Practitioner unwilling to fight with you."

As fellow regiment members, the speaking officer was well acquainted with Zhang Yan's unit.

After looking for a while, he still didn't see the Ascetic Practitioner who had originally been in Zhang Yan's squad.

Having heard many rumors, he only knew that Zhang Yan had specially applied to the military headquarters for a new Ascetic Practitioner to join them.

His expression turned stern.

Zhang Yan coldly looked at the silver-helmeted officer:

"It's not recruitment; we voluntarily placed ourselves under that lord's name!"

Having witnessed Lord Lin An's performance, he was not worried about Lord Lin An's strength.

Therefore, when the other party deliberately spoke that way, he instinctively corrected them, lest it affect Lord Lin An's impression of him.

Although, most Ascetic Practitioners don't care about this.

But having already regarded Lord Lin An as his unit's, his brothers' 'backing,' Zhang Yan naturally paid close attention to these details.

He snorted derisively.

The silver-helmeted officer glanced at the situation near the Ascending Heaven Mechanism, then listened in for a few sentences.

"Yo, still the No. 99 Ascetic Practitioner?"

"But it seems this lord isn't willing to make a move..."

"I've heard many in the military say that the Ascetic Practitioners with low numbers have all changed completely."

"Brother, I think you didn't invite a Buddha, but a burden..."

"He's taken up your Ascetic Practitioner quota—what are you going to do about it..."

He drew out his tone.

He knew Zhang Yan had brought in an Ascetic Practitioner with an extremely low number.

To be honest, at first he actually felt a bit jealous, even shocked.

For a unit like theirs, logically they lacked the qualifications and appeal to have such a high-ranking Ascetic Practitioner join the battle.

He originally thought Zhang Yan had just gotten incredibly lucky.

But seeing the current situation, he couldn't help but feel schadenfreude.

Tsk, the original Ascetic Practitioner may not be strong, but at least he wasn't afraid to die.

Is that enough?

Having driven him away, you invited an Ascetic Practitioner who won't lift a finger...

Let's see how you die!

Feeling smug inside, he even started wondering whether, when they sortie later to fight, he should recruit a few soldiers from Zhang Yan's unit that he had long eyed.

Under Zhang Yan's command, there are indeed many elite troops...

The two have been at odds since their days as low-ranking soldiers in the army; even though they're in the same regiment, it doesn't stop him from suppressing Zhang Yan whenever he gets the chance.

After all, if he wants to advance, Zhang Yan is his biggest threatening rival.

"Don't worry about it; Lord Lin An isn't someone you can question!"

His face grim, Zhang Yan caught the officer's meaning.

Although he didn't know why Lord Lin An inexplicably refused to join the battle, he wasn't the slightest bit worried.

While on the march, the bald strongman named Zhang Tie behind him showed strength not inferior to most Ascetic Practitioners.

His only current worry is whether Lord Lin An has been provoked by someone.

Given the lord's number, aren't many newly promoted Ascetic Practitioners deliberately causing trouble?

It must be said, Zhang Yan appears rough but his mind is exceedingly meticulous.

A rough guess would be close to the mark.

Xiong Hanzi, standing in the ranks, listened to the two's conversation with utter shamelessness, and couldn't help but glance at the silver-helmeted commander.

Tsk tsk, really, this kind of person shows up everywhere, damn it.

Regardless of ancient or modern, damn it, they all love scheming and infighting.

Clicking his tongue, Xiong Hanzi had made up his mind: when they sortie later, he'd seize the chance to choke this guy to death.

He most despises this kind of nagging, gossiping waste.

All this yin-yang weirdness—are you trying to curse me?

The silver-helmeted commander saw Zhang Yan looking as if he were forcing himself to answer, and couldn't help but sneer.

Still pretending?

After we leave the city later, let's see how you handle it!

He laughed heartily, feigning regret as he walked past Zhang Yan, his gaze falling on the somewhat nervous other cavalry.

"Brothers, if you truly can't hold off the blood corpses, you can come find me!"

"Our unit has just added Ascetic Practitioners No. 1001, who can protect us completely!"

He clasped his fists in a salute, appearing quite sunny and forthright.

After speaking, he subconsciously turned his head to look at his own Ascetic Practitioner, discovering that the other was gazing at Lin An on the Sky-Ascending Machine.

The newly added Ascetic Practitioners are novice Ascetic Practitioners.

Upon hearing that Lin An was actually No. 99, and catching sight of his strange-looking Equipment, jealousy suddenly welled up in his heart.

Especially Lin An's unwillingness to fight made him look down on him.

New-era Ascetic Practitioners naturally dislike those with low numbers, for no other reason.

Those Ascetic Practitioners with low numbers occupy the slots of the initial land, yet in recent years they hardly take action.

To them, this is like squatting in a latrine without defecating! It hinders them, and even indirectly kills them!

"Coward..."

"I don't know why this person's belief hasn't shattered yet..."

"Could it be that the belief he cultivates is just to scrape by and survive? How does he not die?"

After Ascetic Practitioners No. 1001 contemptuously spat out a sentence, he completely failed to notice that a pair of bear eyes behind him had suddenly turned cold.

Before the Sky-Ascending Machine.

Listening to the curses at his ears, and the resentful, dissatisfied gazes.

Lin An, who had been motionless, suddenly smiled.

Really a bunch of mad dogs.

A bunch of fools who've gotten high on their own drugs,

Forget it; I originally planned to handle it alone.

In that case...

He had long felt that these new-era Ascetic Practitioners were truly annoying.

His gaze cold, he drew his sword with a backhand.

"Not afraid of death?"

"Then I'll just send you up!"

The Cain's Blade, drawn backhand, exhaled sword light.

Never having seen an Ascetic Practitioner use a weapon, these novice Ascetic Practitioners were stunned.

The instantly spreading pressure enveloped the whole field.

In an instant, the novice Ascetic Practitioner rushing to the front, trying to grab the number badge with his hand, felt every cell in his body wailing.

I will...

Really die?!

Mental power spread out, like an invisible giant hand gripping all the novice Ascetic Practitioners in midair.

Bones creaked, emitting a sour, cracking sound.

"Bang!!"

Under the sudden outbreak of mental power oppression, patches of Ascetic Practitioners instantly died and revived.

His frail body, before Lin An, was as fragile as glass that shatters at a pinch.

"Destruction!"

An evil aura burst forth from the Cain's Blade instantly, coming from the weapon skill's instant activation.

Only see hundreds of Ascetic Practitioners, under mental power control, directly shooting up into the sky along a blood shadow.

You love playing self-destruction so much; then I'll fulfill your wish!

At the moment of ascent, Lin An simply stuffed all the 'fire thunder' from inside the Sky-Ascending Machine violently into every Ascetic Practitioner's mouth, filling their bodies.

A flash of white light, and a large amount of explosives from the Apocalypse Ring were also covertly stuffed in.

In an instant.

Flames shot up to the sky, like a missile launching.

Also like a hundred meteors rising, shooting toward the horizon.

"Boom!!"

The violent explosion in high altitude generated a mushroom cloud, and the violent ring-shaped Shockwave destroyed the entire sky.

On that day, War Fortress No. 7.

People, for the first time in their lives, witnessed the most spectacular fireworks rain.