Chapter 948

As one of the strategic support points originally used by the Sui Dynasty to oppose the southern Ghost State, the scale of the 108th City of Slaying Ghosts was quite magnificent.

The city wall was three li thick and two li high, stretching 3,600 li east–west and 180 li north–south; half the area inside the walls was occupied by large and small barracks and their supporting facilities.

At its peak, over ten million elite border troops of the old Sui were stationed in this city, and in the larger and smaller military cities behind it, there were more than a hundred times as many reserve legions ready for reinforcement.

With countless formations and restrictions arranged inside and outside the city, and myriad mechanisms and various large armaments within the walls, this is a city purely born for war—a slaughterhouse.

During the long years of opposing the Ghost State, even though Ghost Sovereign‑level experts launched multiple personal sneak attacks, the 108th City of Slaying Ghosts was breached only thirteen times, yet it never fell.

In the central square of this mighty city stands a war‑merit monument, on which are carved the titles of five Ghost Sovereigns.

In past years, five Ghost Sovereigns who personally led assaults on the city have perished here.

Xiahou Mingde wore a low‑rank officer's iron armor, his face grim, arms crossed over his chest, coldly watching Li Ergouzi, who stood on the southern wall waving his arms and legs at the demon army outside.

Xiahou Mingde has guarded the 108th City of Slaying Ghosts for 3,800 years.

He is a direct descendant of Xiahou Wuming and can be called the representative of the Xiahou clan's young‑and‑strong faction. In a Ghost State invasion eight hundred years ago, he even used the might of the Fire‑Inheritance Grand Formation to sever three fingers of the Yellow Springs Corpse Sovereign with a single slash, and his feat shook the world.

This city holds a special place in Xiahou Mingde's heart.

The city's commanders over the years have all been members of the Xiahou clan, elders of Xiahou Mingde.

The five Ghost Sovereigns who fell in this city were each personally beheaded by Xiahou Mingde's elders after they paid a heavy price.

This city is a monument representing the past glory and dignity of the Xiahou clan.

But now, Xiahou Mingde's position as city commander has been temporarily stripped away.

Born vulgar, with an equally vulgar bearing, his speech reeks of petty‑market rascality and slickness, making Xiahou Mingde deeply uncomfortable; Li Ergouzi has temporarily taken over his post as city commander.

Wearing the iron armor of a junior colonel, Xiahou Mingde leaned against the window on the third floor of the gate tower, grim‑faced, listening to Li Ergouzi shout toward the outside.

"Outsiders… heroes!"

Li Ergouzi had taken some strange medicine from somewhere; though he had cultivated to the Divine Clarity realm, his vital energy was now depleted, his face wan and sickly, his vulgar complexion turning bluish‑white, his eye sockets hollow, heavy dark bags under his eyes.

Coupled with his weak, hoarse, rasping howl, his current appearance is no different from that of a dissolute nobleman who has overindulged in drink and sex and has one foot in the coffin.

"Outsiders… heroes… speak nicely, and absolutely do not resort to violence!"

Li Ergouzi donned an extremely splendid suit of armor inlaid with thousands of large and small gems, its whole body flashing golden light, its auspicious radiance so bright it could blind eyes from three hundred li away; supported by two pretty maids who were basically soldiers, he roared toward the outside.

Outside the city, twenty‑seven demon troops formed twenty‑seven spear‑shaped attack formations.

Outside the city, twenty‑seven huge demon puppets stood silently a hundred li away.

Outside the city, Yinyu Shuang led thirty thousand personal guards, sitting oddly on his mount, eyes wide as he stared at the two "personal soldiers" beside Li Ergouzi.

Although wearing armor, anyone who isn't blind can see that the two "personal soldiers" beside Li Ergouzi are two flamboyant, rather charming young women.

On their fair faces they still wore rouge, their lips were stained with lipstick, and the jade earrings on their ears remained untouched… as if everyone were blind and couldn't tell they were women.

Although he didn't know the customs of Wuguo, Yinyu Shuang thought to himself that, generally speaking, armies of all nations have the same rule: womenfolk may not be brought on campaign, otherwise morale would waver, hearts would be confused, and losing a battle would merit decapitation.

Even he, Yinyu Shuang, a close paternal cousin of the First‑Rank Demon Marquis Yinyu Ying, despite the demons' wanton ways, dared only to sneakily flirt with Madame Peony, letting her run to his tent at midnight for a brief tryst before hastily sending her away.

Li Ergouzi dared openly to make two women his personal soldiers, appearing in broad daylight before many of the city's defenders.

Very good, very strong, this Wuguo's military discipline… Yinyu Shuang suddenly broke into a bright grin: "This kid, I like him."

The leaders of the twenty‑seven demon troops remained silent; these seasoned veterans, who had slaughtered who knows how many cities, stared at Li Ergouzi with eyes wide open.

With such an appearance and such conduct, to actually serve as commander of such a mighty military city…

These demon commanders licked their lips, feeling that this Wuguo, this big slab of meat, was becoming ever more flavorful.

"Absolutely no violence… a gentleman speaks, he does not act!" Li Ergouzi panted, a bead of white saliva hanging at the corner of his mouth; he suddenly coughed, and a pretty "personal soldier" beside him hastily produced a large red pill and shoved it into his mouth.

As the pill entered his mouth, a rich fragrance filled the air and a surge of heat rose; Li Ergouzi's face quickly turned flushed, his eyes faintly veined with blood.

This guy's hand unconsciously slid down along the waistlines of the two personal soldiers.

While moving his hands and feet, this guy bellowed at the demon army outside: "Gentlemen, have you taken enough advantage these days? It is this commander's order that when the troops below retreat, they may not take a single coin or item."

"Nine major cities, eighteen medium cities, seventy‑two small cities, and over a thousand towns and villages—inside them are hundreds of thousands of head of livestock, countless gold, silver, jewels, grain, and medicinal herbs! Gentlemen, isn't it time to eat your fill?"

Li Ergouzi protruded half his body from the wall and bellowed hoarsely at the demon army outside.

Yinyu Shuang gave a low shout.

A ten‑thousand‑strong demon unit immediately surged forward ten or so li, adopting a fierce posture ready to storm the city.

Li Ergouzi shrank back in fright.

Behind him, a few coarse‑looking fellows whose bearing had nothing to do with the military—more like burly market toughs—rushed forward, pointing at the demon army outside and unleashing a torrent of vulgar abuse.

Moreover, one man without breastplate, his battle robe half‑open to reveal a huge mass of chest hair, his whole body rolling with flab, his cultivation merely at the Embryonic Storage stage—more like a butcher—yet wearing all the insignia of a high‑rank officer, roared at the surrounding officers.

Thus, the city's great defensive formation sprang to life, thick streams of light shooting skyward and condensing above the city into dozens of layers, each a hundred zhang thick, firmly enveloping the entire city.

On each of the four gate towers, an astonishingly potent innate spiritual treasure rose into the air, releasing immense pressure in all directions.

On the walls, accompanied by the low rumble of mechanisms, a series of glittering light cannons slid out from within the walls, planted firmly on the ramparts; their barrels, ten‑plus zhang long, flashed with dazzling crystal light, locking onto the demon army outside.

Crowds upon crowds of soldiers wearing various armors, but obviously short, weak, and clumsy, were kicked, beaten, and shouted at by throngs of officers with fleshy faces; they poured out from the hidden barracks in the walls and stood thickly upon the ramparts.

Some soldiers hurriedly drew their longbows.

With a continuous series of dozens of "pak" sounds, among the mass of archers, dozens of bowstrings suddenly snapped and whipped back, striking these soldiers bloody across the face; each clutched a visage of flying flesh and blood as they rolled on the ground.

Outside the city, the demon troops poised to attack were dumbfounded.

Such "elite"—they had never seen or heard of anything like it; even the militias of the Fufeng Divine Dynasty seemed far more reliable than these "elite" troops!

Li Ergouzi stepped forward again, his voice hoarse as he bellowed: "What are you doing? What are you doing? Planning a revolt? Sir me… no, as commander I haven't spoken—who dares give the order to fight? What are you doing? What are you doing? Swords drawn and bows taut? Do you want to die?"

After taking a breath, Li Ergouzi lowered his voice and gave a fawning smile to the demon commanders outside: "Sirs, sirs, hey, don't fight, don't fight—breaking those jars would be a shame, wouldn't it? This, sirs, name your terms; we can discuss anything."

After a dry cough, Li Ergouzi shifted his gaze, then pointed east and west: "Sirs, how about this—whether you seek wealth or anything else, to the east and west, just twenty or thirty thousand li from here, there are other big cities."

Li Ergouzi said carefully: "Why not, sirs, put forward a condition—you bypass this commander's city… and go attack them instead?"

Yinyu Shuang couldn't help nodding repeatedly: "This kid, I like him; so shameless, I like him… if it weren't that his shamelessness had reached a certain level, turning him into a demon would disgrace our Supreme Demon State, I'd really like to take him under my wing."

After a sigh, Yinyu Shuang shook his head: "If the hard‑boned ones of the Fufeng Divine Dynasty were all like this kid, how much trouble we'd save."

Demonic light flickered in his eyes; Yinyu Shuang shouted, and his skeleton mount instantly took off on a gust of wind, covering over a hundred li in a few breaths and arriving at the foot of the city wall.

The distance to the city wall where Li Ergouzi was, in a straight line, was only a dozen or so li; Yin Wushuang dismounted his mount and pointed at Li Ergouzi.

"You, listen well, this general Yin Wushuang is not the bandit you imagine."

He pursed his lips, Yin Wushuang said solemnly and sternly: "Your subordinates should have reported to you, right? In the deep southern mountains there is a huge teleportation array; we are not from this continent, we come from the Supreme Demon State. This general, as the Southeastern Expeditionary Commander of the Supreme Demon State, am the Vanguard General Yin Wushuang."

"This is a war between states. And your Wuguo is doomed to perish."

Yin Wushuang grinned ferociously, looking at Li Ergouzi whose complexion had flushed then turned pallid again, he said coldly: "You are destined to be destroyed; if you resist, you will all die. So, this general gives you a chance."

Pointing at his own skeletal mount, Yin Wushuang said arrogantly: "This general lacks a groom... I find you rather pleasing; if you are willing, this general will graciously accept you."

Li Ergouzi stared, then suddenly shouted: "My father, sir, is a noble first-rank duke of Wuguo... you want me to lead your horse? Do you know how many elite soldiers and strong generals I have in this city? Say it, and I'll scare you to death!"

"Elite soldiers and strong generals?" Yin Wushuang gave a sideways glance at the trembling, weak 'elite soldiers and strong generals' on the city wall, then said coldly: "How about we test our strength? But once I order an attack on the city, if my troops suffer casualties, it won't end well."

Twenty-seven divisions of ten-thousand-strong demon armies roared in unison, then stepped forward three paces.

Demonic clouds roiled; above the twenty-seven demon army formations, a black demonic apparition with three heads and six arms, wielding a strange long blade, simultaneously condensed.

The black demonic apparition, towering a thousand zhang, brandished its long blade, and instantly the sky filled with shrill wails that drifted down. Those wails reached the utmost of shrill and mournful, as if they were born directly from a person's soul.

Even with dozens of layers of defensive formations protecting it, and even with innate spiritual treasures suppressing the four sides of the city wall, among those 'elite soldiers and strong generals' on the wall, a large group of thin and weak soldiers still cried out in unison, each spitting blood and collapsing to the ground.

Yin Wushuang was visibly stunned.

The defensive formation of the Hundred and Eighth Slaughter-Ghost City, in his view, was also quite solid; at least Yin Wushuang felt that his twenty-seven demon armies would not find it easy to breach this defensive formation.

With such a defensive formation protecting them, Li Ergouzi's troops were surprisingly... inept?

"How exactly did this Wuguo establish itself?" Yin Wushuang shook his head, baffled, and gave a sneering glance at the dumbstruck Li Ergouzi, whose face had turned bluish then pallid again, and said coldly: "This general is about to order an assault on the city!"

Twenty-seven towering thousand-zhang demon puppets, step by step, each stride covering three to five li, advanced toward the city wall.

Li Ergouzi's lips turned bluish-white, beads of cold sweat poured from his forehead, and he pointed at Yin Wushuang outside the city, shouting hoarsely: "Wait, wait, we can talk about anything... Are you after elixirs, or spirit crystals? Or perhaps beauties? Hey, hey, take a look at the two beside this general... what do you think?"

The two 'personal guards' beside Li Ergouzi instantly turned pallid with fear, screamed, and collapsed to the ground.

Indeed, Yin Wushuang's appearance was simply too ferocious, completely unsuitable for the aesthetic tastes of those two 'personal guards'.

Yin Wushuang pondered for a moment, then slowly shook his head: "Once the city is broken, everything will be mine... if I take it, I'll take it all; why leave you anything?"

Yin Wushuang waved his right hand forward and softly commanded: "Assault the city—except for this brat, the beauties, and the handsome men, slaughter every chicken and dog; leave none alive."

The twenty-seven demon armies marched forward in large strides toward the city wall.

Li Ergouzi's face twisted, and he screamed hoarsely: "Children, hold the line, hold the line... if we can hold out for just one day, reinforcements will arrive at the capital... hold, hold, come on, come on... pay the back wages owed these past few years to the brothers!"

Upon hearing Li Ergouzi's words, Yin Wushuang nearly fell from his mount.

"Back pay?"

What the hell are you pulling?

Even the Supreme Demon State would never delay military pay!

This brat is more shameless and more vicious than those demons!