[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re":3,"chapter-the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-chapter-52":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Vegetable-Growing Skeleton's Foreign Land Reclamation",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2351533,4600,"Chapter 52: Strange Heavy Armor","the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-chapter-52",52,"\u003Cp>A few days ago, when Leonarde received the news of Mad’s death, he opened a bottle of his long-stored Moon Juice wine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was an elf specialty, brewed from Moon Juice fruits watered by moon springs, aged over fifty years, rich in flavor, tasting of moonlight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Over the years, Leonarde had turned the Saint Blade Army into an ironclad unit; from quartermasters to common soldiers, all had been brought to heel by him—those who resisted were either reassigned or “killed in action” during failed missions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason for “almost” was that one small circle, led by Mad, had always eluded his control.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mad had a violent temper and spoke without restraint, but he knew how to win loyalty; his knights were fiercely devoted to him, and he had a clever, handsome second-in-command.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Mad himself was only a Seventh-Rank Holy Knight, when his entire squad fought together, even a Sword Saint might not be able to defeat them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he learned that a Sword Saint resided in the realm producing Essence Fluid, Leonarde knew his opportunity had come.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By withholding key intelligence and issuing a few slightly contradictory orders, he could provoke Mad’s temper and arrogance, luring him to abandon the main force and lead his Holy Knights on a solo mission to certain death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leonarde wasn’t sure this setup would kill Mad—his Holy Knights were too strong, with warhorses and group combat techniques; even if they couldn’t beat the Sword Saint, they could easily escape. Killing them wouldn’t be easy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But it didn’t matter—if this attempt failed, there would be another. A leader never lacked opportunities to eliminate subordinates.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To his surprise, good news arrived quickly: Mad and his second-in-command were surrounded by a sea of skeletons; Mad fought to the death, his second died holding the rear, and only eight of the ten Holy Knights returned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leonarde was overjoyed—the death of the second-in-command was the perfect outcome.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to Mad, Leonarde feared his clever second-in-command more; the man was the most likely to see through his scheme, and because of him, Leonarde had dared not use more aggressive tactics against Mad. Now it was perfect—both were dead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The insolent fool was gone. Now he needed to firmly seize control of this Abyssal Realm, firmly hold onto this source of wealth, so he pulled out his last trump cards.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The glow of the teleportation faded, revealing Leonarde and his towering warhorse, followed by twenty armored warriors like iron cans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing this force, the people who had eagerly awaited reinforcements froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This… is the first batch? Who are they?” someone muttered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The number was too small. The Saint Blade Army’s dimensional teleportation array could deploy around a hundred men at once, or about 150 tons of supplies. Only twenty-one men had arrived—a massive waste of capacity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, among those who arrived, aside from Leonarde, none of the armored warriors were known to anyone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Saint Blade Army already had a Heavy Shield Infantry unit, but these armored warriors wore armor that was thick, worn, and covered in battle scars, like secondhand gear scavenged from some forgotten corner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet their quality looked excellent. Unlike the Heavy Shield Infantry, whose so-called “heavy” armor was lighter than Mad’s cavalry armor, with only their shields offering any real defense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mad had once strongly suspected someone had embezzled the Heavy Shield Infantry’s equipment budget, supplying them with these inferior “heavy” armors, which led to several being cut down in a single clash with Lu Se.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But these new iron cans had superb armor—thickened where needed, lightened where possible, riveted securely, articulated properly; every detail was thought through, highly practical.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In addition, each armored warrior carried a small round shield on their arm and wielded a two-handed greatsword.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This full gear weighed at least sixty to seventy jin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But none of that was the main point—the main point was that no one recognized these men. The armored warriors pulled down their visors, leaving only narrow slits, hiding their eyes entirely, yet they gave the priests an uneasy feeling, along with a faint, lingering stench.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leonarde smiled faintly, lowered his visor, mounted his horse, and waved his hand lightly. Behind him, the armored warriors stepped forward, then broke into a run, heading toward the open entrance of the camp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Led by Lu Se, the soldiers of Ice City surged forward and collided directly with the armored warriors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Se, confident in his skill, stayed at the front. Seeing these iron cans, he swung his sword without hesitation—not to slash, but to strike.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yes, he struck with the flat of the blade, not the edge. This was the best way to deal with iron-plated armor; with Lu Se’s strength, the impact could cause internal bleeding or concussion inside the armor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first armored warrior took the blow squarely—*BANG~~~*—the armor vibrated and sank under the force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man inside was completely unaffected; he swung his two-handed sword downward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Se felt the discomfort of misjudging his force. Such blunt impact should have been unbearable—unless the enemy had Eighth-Rank power and resisted with aura, the opponent should have been incapacitated, if not bleeding internally. But this man clearly didn’t reach that level.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Misjudging the force meant he’d just hit himself. It was deeply unsettling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pulled his sword back, parried the enemy’s two-handed blade, then kicked out hard—straight into the man’s chest. The iron can flew backward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This kick confirmed Lu Se’s suspicion: the enemy lacked Eighth-Rank power. Surely this kick would at least cause internal bleeding?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But no. The armored warrior rose without hesitation, ran toward him just as before, identical to his earlier charge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Se, a low-rank Sword Saint, couldn’t defeat even one enemy in a single strike. Others were even less effective—they felt as if they’d collided with armored war chariots.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The armored warriors swung their two-handed greatswords in diagonal slashes and horizontal sweeps. Their techniques were crude, broad, and reckless—they ignored all attacks landing on them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But anyone standing in their path was either flung away, split in two, or knocked down and trampled into the mud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like iron war chariots, all nineteen of them—except the one Lu Se held back—rolled through the thousands of Ice City soldiers, carving a bloody path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mounted on his horse, Leonarde exuded triumph, drawing his longsword and pointing far ahead: “I’ve come! Crush this world, my warriors!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the end of his sword’s point, a skeleton was smearing holy light onto another skeleton.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One more chapter—I’ll try to update by midnight.\u003C\u002Fp>",1082,"2026-06-21T03:18:43.177Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","4663c3831453b6b98c9a09a88039f817c2ab65f11bb0b3475a706672b52ee9e4","the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-chapter-53","the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-chapter-51",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-cover.jpg"]