Chapter 453: One General

(PS: Thank you all for your well wishes, the marriage proposal was a complete success~)

"Every time the Northern Barbarians raid the border, their goal is never to fight the Northern Border Army, but to bypass the border defense lines and enter the provinces in the rear to plunder wantonly."

"The North is bitterly cold and resources are scarce. Many tribes go hungry year-round, and when famine strikes, people starve to death. Whenever this happens, the Northern Barbarians would rather let their warriors die on the road to plunder than starve to death in the wilderness for nothing."

"Every time the Northern Barbarians raid, besides grain, cloth, ironware, weapons, and various cultivation resources, they also snatch people."

"When they cannot snatch enough grain, the Central Plains people they drag back become their rations! They don't just eat them themselves; they also feed them to the exotic beasts they keep!"

"."

Before coming to the Northern Border, Li Fei had researched detailed information on the Northern Barbarians, and this passage was among it.

Cannibalism, and even feeding people to exotic beasts!

Such brutal conduct made Li Fei have a very poor impression of the Northern Barbarians from the start, but when Bai Yan ordered the slaughter of all fifty thousand-plus Fire Red Qilin tribespeople, he still felt a sense of reluctance in his heart.

That was until he saw the white bone beneath his feet, and on that bone were rows of tooth marks clearly left by humans.

If it were a Fire Red Qilin tribesperson, the remains would not be disposed of so casually.

Although the seventeen Northern Barbarian tribes hate each other, they have not yet reached the point of eating one another.

Therefore, this white bone was in all likelihood a Central Plains person who had been snatched away.

Half-buried in the mud, it silently recounted the irreconcilable blood feud between the two races!

For hundreds of years, such plundering had never ceased!

To the Northern Barbarians, Li Fei now belonged to the invading side.

But the white bone beneath his feet made him put away his compassion.

The weak are prey to the strong; this is the fundamental principle of heaven and earth!

Everyone is just struggling to survive.

Li Fei silently swept toward the valley below. Sword State: Shadowless and Formless made him like a shadow that no one noticed, perfectly merging with the pitch-black night.

Along with him, sweeping toward the valley below, were five others, four of whom were Martial Arts Masters, and the President of Changping University, the Grandmaster Qiu Qiu Zian!

In the Barbarian-Slaying Army, counting Li Fei, there were a total of eight Martial Arts Masters. Three of them were responsible for commanding the three thousand-man Imperial Camp armies, and the remaining five had all taken action tonight.

Li Fei landed on a wooden house. With a loud boom, the entire wooden house was trampled under his foot!

Inside the wooden house, a figure rushed out before the building collapsed.

This was a Northern Barbarian warrior, nearly two meters tall, bare-chested, covered in tattoos, with various animal bones hanging from his neck—a typical Northern Barbarian warrior.

He let out a roar, completely shattering the quiet night.

The entire branch suddenly became lively.

Li Fei looked calmly at the Northern Barbarian warrior before him, not rushing to strike.

After the opponent roared, the aura on his body began to rise.

First, a phantom of an exotic beast shaped like an ape appeared behind him, then the phantom of a single-horned tiger, and finally, the phantom of a black-scaled python.

Of these three phantoms, the smallest, the ape, was over five meters tall, and the largest, the black-scaled python, stood upright with its upper body, reaching over ten meters in height!

As these three phantoms appeared, the body of the Northern Barbarian warrior before Li Fei immediately expanded by a circle, and a blood-red force erupted from his body.

This blood-red force did not belong to any of the Five Elements; it carried a primitive, bloody flavor.

"The Northern Barbarians do not focus on Five Elements Dao foundations; their attributes mostly lie outside the Five Elements."

Li Fei recalled the relevant information he had read.

The next second, the Northern Barbarian warrior before him charged at him.

The opponent left a series of afterimages, crossing the dozen-meter distance in an instant, and threw a simple straight punch toward Li Fei's face.

The air was blasted, and the biting wind blew away the surrounding wood chips.

This straight punch was like a small mountain, crashing head-on into Li Fei!

This Northern Barbarian warrior was a Dao Foundation stage warrior and possessed at least 5th-tier combat power; among the Northern Barbarians, he belonged to the high-level Tudu warriors.

Bang!!!

The opponent's fist ultimately stopped an inch in front of Li Fei's face, the bloody, savage, blood-colored force crashing into a faint layer of golden light.

It could not advance even a fraction.

The Northern Barbarian warrior who attacked Li Fei had his expression change drastically; the skin on the surface of his right fist suddenly cracked inch by inch, and blood spurted out.

Not only that, the bones inside were also broken!

Because of the different Dao foundations they cultivated, the physiques of Northern Barbarian warriors were stronger than Central Plains warriors of the same realm.

Yet, after one punch landed on the enemy, his own arm was fractured?

This made this high-level Tudu warrior realize that Li Fei must be a powerful Badu expert!

He quickly lifted his right foot to kick Li Fei, using the force to retreat, while simultaneously letting out another shout.

Following his shout, some ordinary soldiers who were rushing toward this side stopped in their tracks.

More warriors rushed toward Li Fei's side.

Li Fei still did not strike.

This battle was originally a "warm-up battle" specifically arranged for them by Bai Yan, intended to let them witness the differences between Northern Barbarian warriors and Central Plains warriors.

Therefore, Li Fei had chosen a Tudu warrior from the start and let the opponent perform.

"Ah—"

The Tudu warrior with the fractured right arm suddenly let out a beast-like wail.

Immediately after, the three exotic beast phantoms behind him shattered one after another!

Li Fei clearly felt three types of special power merging into the opponent's body from the shattered exotic beast phantoms.

The opponent's body underwent mutations at an extremely fast speed:

The skin cracked inch by inch, growing black scales.

A single horn split out from his forehead.

His hands grew thick hair, turning into two huge beast claws.

A scarlet eyeball split out from each side of his cheeks.

His body surged from just over two meters to over three meters!

A powerful and bloody aura erupted from within the opponent, and the blood-colored force on his body surface turned into blood flames that shot into the sky!

"Beastification?"

Li Fei frowned slightly.

Beastification refers to the implants within a warrior's body completely losing control, with beast nature overpowering humanity, thus turning into a half-human, half-beast monster.

Outside the Northern Barbarian lands, once a warrior falls into beastification, it is completely over; they can only be killed immediately, and there is absolutely no second outcome.

But among the Northern Barbarians, the warriors here possess controllable beastification!

In terms of the refinement of martial arts and the development and application of the extraordinary abilities of implants, the Northern Barbarians are far inferior to the Central Plains.

But their physiques are stronger, and they possess controllable beastification, which gives them the opportunity to catch up to or even surpass Central Plains warriors.

"Before and after beastification, the combat power of Northern Barbarian warriors is on two different levels!"

This sentence surfaced in Li Fei's mind.

Swish—

The air was torn apart. The beastified Tudu warrior rushed to his front for the second time, his two furry beast claws turning into afterimages, shrouding his entire body.

A pungent bloody smell permeated the air.

Bang bang bang bang bang!

A series of sounds like hammers striking an anvil rang out continuously, as the beastified Tudu warrior circled Li Fei, attacking incessantly.

The blood-red force turned into a blood-colored whirlwind, wrapping Li Fei within it.

The huge recoil force caused the ground beneath the two to sink continuously, and the surrounding ruins of the houses were blasted apart, turning into sky-filling wood chips mixed with flying dust.

The violent wind whistled, even blowing away the nearby stone tables and stone stools!

Hearing the warning signal, the warriors rushing toward this side all looked at this battlefield with astonishing movement with respect.

Although the beastification of Northern Barbarian warriors is controllable, it also requires paying a heavy price.

Warriors below the Dao Foundation stage, after using beastification once, are completely crippled and reduced to ordinary people from then on.

Above the Dao Foundation stage, they can sacrifice one type of implant within their body as the price to perform beastification.

But using it once is equivalent to dropping a realm.

Originally having incorporated three types of implants, using it once means they are left with only two, and it is almost impossible to improve their strength and realm in the future!

This is the heavy price of using beastification.

To Northern Barbarian warriors, unless it is a life-or-death moment, they will never use this method.

This Tudu warrior fighting Li Fei had already incorporated four types of implants and had triggered three core-level extraordinary abilities.

Just now, this person decisively disintegrated the four types of implants in his body to exchange for the power of beastification!

The price for doing this is that he will not only turn from a Tudu warrior into a cripple, but it is even possible that his life will not be preserved!

But only such decisiveness could possibly win a glimmer of a chance at victory when facing a powerful Badu expert.

The Northern Barbarian warriors rushing in from the surroundings all had the resolve in their hearts; they were also prepared to perform beastification, using their own martial arts future and even their lives to exchange for Li Fei being injured!

But just as these people intended to perform beastification, the astonishing movement before their eyes suddenly stopped.

The sky-filling flying dust was blown away by a gust of wind, allowing the surrounding warriors to see the situation in the center of the battlefield clearly:

At the bottom of a large pit, the beastified Tudu warrior stood with his arms hanging down beside Li Fei.

His two beast claws had four fingers bent backward, and the other fingers were also clearly twisted.

Under the gaze of the crowd of warriors, Li Fei raised his arm, and everyone only saw a flash of golden light.

The beastified Tudu warrior's head, which had a single horn, exploded like a watermelon!

"Ah ah ah—"

The warriors surrounding the large pit shouted one after another, preparing to perform beastification.

The next instant, Li Fei disappeared from the bottom of the pit.

Swish swish swish swish—

The shrill sound of breaking air was continuous. Around the large pit, several golden lights crisscrossed like sword light.

When everything calmed down, all twenty-plus warriors on the scene had been dismembered!

Almost everyone had been split in half vertically from head to toe.

Blood and internal organs were scattered all over the ground.

Li Fei's figure reappeared. He stood amidst this flesh and blood, his whole body flashing with golden light, not stained with even a trace of blood.

"Chi Ha!!!"

More roars came from the surroundings.

Such terrifying slaughter not only did not scare away the Fire Red Qilin tribe warriors, but instead ignited more anger and killing intent in them!

Beast shadows shattered one after another, and the warriors rushing toward this side entered the beastification state one after another!

Li Fei stepped forward, pulling out a golden "Sword Dao."

Sword State: Heaven and Earth Without Restraint made his movement speed astonishingly fast. When he moved at full speed, those below the Tudu warrior level could not see his movement trajectory at all.

Even the Tudu warriors on the scene could mostly only rely on beast-like intuition to guess.

The ground was "plowed" into a straight deep groove. Li Fei rushed to the front of another beastified Tudu warrior; the opponent's force was also blood-red, like a cluster of burning flames.

This person subconsciously lifted his arm to punch forward. Li Fei did not dodge or evade, meeting fist with fist.

The two fists collided. After the opponent beastified, his right arm, covered in white hair and clearly expanded by a circle, fractured inch by inch; flesh and blood, along with bones, turned into a puddle of meat paste!

Immediately after, half of this person's body was sliced open by an invisible sharpness, and the remaining half of his body flew out.

Li Fei first picked out the several Tudu warriors in the crowd, blasting them apart one by one!

Then he chopped the remaining warriors into two halves.

He did not use other moves; he just used Sword State: Heaven and Earth Without Restraint to charge through the crowd, using the Hunyuan Vajra Force fused with True Power as a "ram."

Whether it was people or houses, everything shattered upon impact!

Soon, the sixty-plus warriors rushing toward this side were all killed by Li Fei.

He stood amidst a patch of flesh, blood, and ruins, lost in thought.

The beastification of Northern Barbarian warriors could indeed be considered a "great killing weapon"!

After a high-level Tudu warrior beastifies, if a Martial Arts Master does not perform supernatural powers, it takes some effort to resolve it.

If there were dozens of Tudu warriors beastifying completely regardless of the cost, it would really be possible to seriously injure or even kill a single-supernatural-power Martial Arts Master!

"Tudu warrior beastification is already so powerful; what if it were replaced by a Badu expert, or even a Tiandu expert beastifying?"

Li Fei had a more intuitive understanding of the combat power of the seventeen Northern Barbarian tribes, and his heart could not help but have a few more worries.

This worry was not only because of the controllable beastification, but also because of the fierceness of these Northern Barbarian warriors.

From beginning to end, even knowing the huge gap in combat power, not a single one of these Northern Barbarian warriors chose to flee!

While Li Fei was efficiently slaughtering, the other several Martial Arts Masters were likewise like tigers entering a flock of sheep, easily slaughtering the warriors within the Fire Red Qilin branch.

The task of these people was to find the experts within the branch first and slaughter them all.

As for the remaining slaughter tasks, they did not need to execute them.

The Grandmaster Qiu Qiu Zian, who acted along with them, did not take action immediately, but floated in the air, overlooking everything below.

At this moment, over a hundred Fire Red Qilin tribespeople were running toward the outer perimeter in the southeast, seemingly intending to flee.

When these people ran a distance out of the branch building complex, a purple wall of fire appeared out of thin air.

The hundred-plus people, whether ordinary people or warriors, had no reaction at all, instantly turning into ashes!

In the air, the female Grandmaster Qiu Qiu Zian looked calmly toward the southeast, then withdrew her gaze.

Her task was to prevent anyone from escaping!

Subsequently, people fled toward the outer perimeter one after another, but they were all burned into ashes by the suddenly appearing purple wall of fire.

After over a thousand people died, no one in the branch dared to flee outward anymore.

At this time, Bai Yan had already brought a group of people to the top of the valley.

He looked indifferently at the slaughter below, waited for over ten minutes, and after confirming that the vast majority of the experts among the Northern Barbarian warriors had been killed by Li Fei and the others, he then ordered:

"You go; kill everyone who dares to resist!"

Thus, figures either jumped directly down the valley or climbed the cliff walls, leaping down bit by bit.

These people were all warriors of the Blue Patrol Pavilion.

With the vast majority of the experts resolved by Li Fei and the others, the task of the three thousand-plus Blue Patrol Pavilion warriors became relatively simple.

The slaughter continued under the night color.

Although the ordinary warriors of the Fire Red Qilin tribe were also very strong and skilled in combat, compared to warriors, their physical fitness was still far too inferior.

And these ordinary warriors basically used cold weapons; only a few people held firearms snatched from raids, posing even less of a threat to the Blue Patrol Pavilion warriors.

One hour later, after paying the price of over thirty casualties, the Blue Patrol Pavilion warriors completed the task.

Within the Fire Red Qilin tribe branch, everyone who dared to stand up and resist had been killed, falling into pools of blood.

A thick, pungent scent of blood soared into the sky!

"Ugh—"

Quite a few Blue Patrol Pavilion warriors were experiencing such large-scale slaughter for the first time, seeing so many corpses at once, and could not help but produce intense physiological discomfort.

"Pu Er Chi, Ha Xi Lu"

Bai Yan stood above the valley and suddenly spoke, his voice resounding through the entire branch.

He was speaking the language of the Fire Red Qilin tribe, meaning to let everyone walk out of the houses and gather on the river beach.

Ten minutes later, those still hiding in the houses would be killed directly!

After hearing Bai Yan's announcement, people walked out of the houses one after another, their faces carrying expressions of fear, walking toward the river beach not far away.

These people were mostly women and children, as well as some elderly people with physical disabilities.

Over seventy percent of the men in this branch had already died in battle.

Ten minutes later, over thirty thousand people had gathered on the river beach.

At this time, Bai Yan had already let the three thousand-plus Imperial Camp soldiers descend into the valley, and then ordered everyone to search the houses.

If they saw anyone hiding, they were to kill them directly, while simultaneously searching for medicine and cultivation resources.

Over thirty minutes later, the Barbarian-Slaying Army had searched all the houses.

Bai Yan stepped into the air, as if there were an invisible staircase beneath his feet, and walked step by step in the air to above the river beach.

The thirty thousand-plus women, children, and elderly below all raised their heads, looking at him with expressions of terror.

Li Fei also looked at Bai Yan in the air. He knew that the opponent would not let go of the remaining thirty thousand-plus people, but he did not know in what way the subsequent slaughter would be carried out.

If Bai Yan ordered the Blue Patrol Pavilion warriors to complete it, Li Fei felt that many of them would probably not be able to bring themselves to do it.

"Everyone, withdraw from the scope of this branch."

Bai Yan issued the order to everyone in the Barbarian-Slaying Army.

Thus, the seven thousand-plus people quickly withdrew from this building complex and also arrived on the river beach, over a hundred meters away from the thirty thousand-plus Fire Red Qilin tribespeople.

Suddenly, a terrifying majesty descended from the sky!

The sky was dyed blood-red, and immediately after, a river of blood fell straight into the human world, shrouding all thirty thousand-plus people on the river beach!

The river of blood continued to sweep toward the building complex on the river beach, soon shrouding the entire branch within it.

"Martial Dao Domain!"

Li Fei's eyes tightened; he recognized that this was the Martial Dao Domain performed by Bai Yan.

He had witnessed Prince Cheng's Martial Dao Domain not long ago, which was like a world of ice and snow.

Bai Yan's Martial Dao Domain was like a battlefield piled up from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood!

Golden spears and iron horses, ten thousand people slaughtering, bones everywhere, blood light shooting into the sky...

Killing intent, anger, fear, resentment—various emotions erupted within that sea of blood!

Li Fei could only perceive the various auras of this sea of blood, but could not perceive the situation inside.

This sea of blood lasted for over thirty minutes before dissipating.

The scene that followed made many in the Barbarian-Slaying Army look horrified:

The thirty thousand-plus Fire Red Qilin tribespeople who were standing there perfectly fine just a moment ago had all turned into piles of white bones on the river beach!

Bai Yan did not order others to carry out the slaughter; he alone killed all thirty thousand-plus people!

Not only that, those corpses within the branch had also turned into white bones.

Looking at Bai Yan descending from the air, Li Fei could clearly feel the blazing aura on the opponent.

It gave people the feeling of being bitterly suppressed, yet still unable to be suppressed.

"One general's success is built on ten thousand bones; what a good Dao of the Soldier Lord."

Qi Zhou, standing not far away, suddenly said faintly.

For some reason, Li Fei always felt that there was a sense of irony in this sentence.

"Dao of the Soldier Lord?"

Li Fei repeated this title in his heart.

Several hundred meters away, Bai Yan looked toward this side.

He first looked at Qi Zhou, who had spoken, and then ordered:

"Everyone, fill the water containers with water, rest for one hour, and then set off!"

Fire Red Qilin tribe headquarters, inside the Holy Mountain.

This Holy Mountain was an active volcano, and magma existed within it.

Above magma of several thousand degrees Celsius, the Great Elder Nuomu Han, who was left alone to guard the headquarters, stood on a small boat.

This small boat was pitch-black all over, with fire-red patterns carved on it, and streams of magma flowed within these patterns.

The True Power within Nuomu Han merged with the small boat beneath his feet, continuously absorbing the heaven and earth origin energy from the magma below, used to refine the magic treasure beneath his feet.

On his left wrist, he wore a string of scarlet beads.

Suddenly, one of the beads exploded, turning into a cluster of powder!

Nuomu Han opened his eyes abruptly, his heart and mind shaken violently, and a mouthful of blood spurted out.

The magma beneath his feet immediately boiled, as if it were about to erupt at any moment!

His expression changed, and with a thought, a powerful force surged from the small boat beneath his feet, spreading toward the surroundings, quickly smoothing out the boiling magma.

"Dao of the Soldier Lord? Bai Yan!!!"

Nuomu Han, who had always presented himself to others with a calm and wise image, now had eyes that were scarlet, his beard and hair all standing on end.

It could be said that he was furious to the extreme!

In this world, the person Nuomu Han hated most was Bai Yan, the Vice Pavilion Master of the Great Lan Dynasty's Zhige Pavilion—there was no one else!

Years ago, when Bai Yan was still in the Northern Border Army, he had once ventured deep into the Northern Barbarian lands alone, and by a stroke of luck, saved Nuomu Han's daughter.

Afterward, the two fell in love.

No, in Nuomu Han's cognition, it was Bai Yan who had deliberately approached his daughter with calculated intent, using despicable means to make his daughter fall in love with him.

Afterward, Bai Yan used Nuomu Han's daughter to obtain a large amount of secrets from the Fire Red Qilin tribe and the seventeen Northern Barbarian tribes.

It was precisely by relying on these secrets that the subsequent battle that shook the Northern Border Army occurred!

That battle caused the Fire Red Qilin tribe to have a branch destroyed, over thirty thousand people died, and there was also a powerful Badu expert!

For hundreds of years, except for the Taizu era, as one of the four great powerful tribes, the Fire Red Qilin tribe had never suffered such painful casualties!

After that battle, in order to give the tribespeople an explanation, Nuomu Han personally executed his own daughter on the altar of the Holy Mountain in front of everyone.

Therefore, Nuomu Han's hatred for Bai Yan could not be washed away even if all the magma in the Holy Mountain were exhausted!

In that battle years ago, Bai Yan slaughtered a branch of the Fire Red Qilin tribe, and the white bones left behind allowed Nuomu Han to discover the opponent's secret:

Bai Yan possessed the 【Soldier Lord】 supernatural power, and the Dao he pursued was the Dao of the Soldier Lord.

The 【Soldier Lord】 supernatural power could absorb the killing intent, anger, fear, and other emotions of others, and could also absorb the blood, life, and even the souls of others!

In short, on the battlefield, the winner takes all and wins everything.

This is a supernatural power that needs to be forged with massive slaughter and life.

One general's success is built on ten thousand bones is the best portrayal of the 【Soldier Lord】 supernatural power.

If the 【Soldier Lord】 supernatural power could be refined to the extreme, and then coordinated with the Martial Dao Domain, one could achieve the Dao of the Soldier Lord.

At that time, Bai Yan would infinitely approach the realm of a Martial Saint; one person would be an army!

Bai Yan at that time, even if placed among the Prince-level experts of the Western Continent, would be in the top tier.

If he were to lead an army in battle again, commanding a powerful army like the Imperial Camp army...

He would not need a ten-thousand-man army formation; he would also have the opportunity to lead troops to surround and kill a Martial Saint!

This was Bai Yan's ambition, an ambition he had possessed since breaking through to become a Martial Arts Master.

Nuomu Han had seen through Bai Yan's planning decades ago.

The opponent was using the lives of Fire Red Qilin tribespeople to "sharpen the blade" for the 【Soldier Lord】 supernatural power for the first time, and in the future, it was highly likely he would continue to use the lives of Fire Red Qilin tribespeople to "achieve the Dao."

Therefore, Nuomu Han had long been prepared.

He had been waiting for this day for decades!

"Bai Yan!!"

A huge roar came from inside the Holy Mountain.

A moment later, a small boat flowing with magma flew out from inside the Holy Mountain and quickly disappeared into the horizon.

Fire Red Qilin tribe Great Elder, a top-tier True Person of the "Tiangang Earth Fiend Great Perfection."

Joining the battle!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 454 =====