Martial Cultivator

Along the entire line of the Northern Frontier Great Wall, the demons were attacking everywhere.

Such an outcome was not unexpected. In other words, even though the General's Office had previously calculated that the demons were unlikely to do this, preparations had already been made. So when beacon smoke truly rose from every pass, there was no scene of panic or confusion.

Between the important passes, messages continued to be relayed as usual. At the General's Office, the fierce battle atop the city wall never ceased, while inside the main hall, figures still moved about constantly, their footsteps hurried.

After leaving the city wall, Xie Nandu took command from the main hall. Although she had now stepped into the Nepenthe Realm, becoming a female sword immortal, and possessed nine flying swords, giving her formidable combat strength, compared to fighting on the city wall, this female general was still best suited to this place.

She had to serve as the central brain, analyzing the movements of the demons so that everything remained under control. Only by doing so could the correct decisions be made throughout this great war.

But in reality, such a task was by no means something just anyone could accomplish. Commanding an army of hundreds of thousands had never been easy. That was why it was said that while a thousand soldiers were easy to find, a capable general was hard to come by.

Even so, compared to capable generals, truly outstanding commanders were even rarer.

Looking at the reports continuously arriving from the various passes, Xie Nandu stood before the map in silence for a moment before turning to a staff officer of the General's Office beside her.

After noticing Xie Nandu's gaze, the staff officer asked, "General, is there something..."

Before he could finish speaking, hurried footsteps sounded from outside as a messenger delivered the latest reports from the various passes.

Xie Nandu said, "The previous report reached the General's Office in only half a quarter of an hour. This time it took almost a full quarter of an hour. It shouldn't be like this."

The messages were being relayed from within the Great Wall itself and should not have been affected by anything outside. There was no reason for them to be taking longer and longer to arrive.

The staff officer frowned and said in disbelief, "The demons have already infiltrated the city?"

Xie Nandu shook her head. "If they had already entered the city, then it wouldn't be that our reports are taking longer to arrive, we simply wouldn't receive any reports at all."

"But the demons have some means of cutting off... or interfering with our communications. We have to find out what it is, otherwise it will become a major problem."

After thinking for a moment, Xie Nandu ordered a cultivator in the Great Beyond Realm to personally deliver a battle report from the General's Office to one of the passes. Less than half a quarter of an hour later, when the Great Beyond cultivator returned to the General's Office, he brought back the answer.

The demons' iron eagles were circling above the city wall, greatly hindering the transmission of messages.

Xie Nandu glanced at the staff officer.

The staff officer shook his head with a bitter smile. "At present, it'll be difficult for us to spare a group of cultivators to deal with those iron eagles."

This was an unprecedented great war. The demons had committed the greater part of their strength here against the city wall. The frontier army was now relying solely on the towering walls to hold its ground, leaving them in an extremely passive position. It was difficult to spare any additional forces for other tasks.

Xie Nandu frowned and shook her head. "No matter what, we must keep communications flowing. If there are problems with transmitting information, there'll be serious consequences."

Now that the great war had begun, if communications failed, it would be like a person losing their eyes. The effects might not be obvious at first, but over time, it would inevitably lead to enormous problems.

"Send the General's Office's guard cultivators to patrol along the city wall. They must drive away those iron eagles."

Xie Nandu glanced at the staff officer. After saying that, she shook her head, making her meaning perfectly clear.

There would be no further discussion.

The staff officer could only cup his fists before turning and leaving the main hall.

Xie Nandu took a deep breath and lowered her head over the map once more.

In truth, she was not particularly worried that the Northern Frontier Great Wall would be breached at this point, nor was she worried that the General's Office would immediately fall. The demons' offensive was fierce, but that did not mean it could be sustained indefinitely. Even if it could, the Northern Frontier Great Wall's foundation, built up over more than two hundred years, was not so easily broken.

She simply understood that this was not a one-time deal. They might endure it once or twice, but if nothing changed, the city would eventually fall.

Some situations could be recognized as dead ends at a glance, yet one simply could not abandon them.

When two supreme masters played a game of Go, one side might eventually resign by laying down their stones. But in a war between nations like this, no matter how desperate things became, no one was ever destined to surrender.

Because the outcome was different.

Xie Nandu reached out and gently stroked the map, the look in her eyes remaining complicated.

......

......

On the city wall, the great demons had entered the battle, and the demon lords had also made their move. Yu Xiyi fought three opponents by himself, but in the end, he could not keep it up forever. Only after Liu Banbi joined the battlefield did the situation begin to improve.

That swordsman, who had first been a scholar and was now a great sword immortal, had spent many years in the Northern Frontier. He had not entered this realm particularly late, but compared to the other younger generation, it truly had not been early.

Now that he was a great sword immortal, however, Liu Banbi had become even more frightening in the Northern Frontier. After all, this was someone who had long been renowned as the best at killing.

Thus, after the three demon lords, another one entered the battlefield. This time, Yu Xiyi and Liu Banbi each took on two demon lords.

For a time, both sides remained deadlocked, with vast expanses of sword qi and demonic qi intertwining. Such a sight was anything but ordinary.

But while it was truly immortals that battled in the skies in front of the city walls, after the powerful demons at the front had carved out a path, waves upon waves of ordinary demon soldiers began climbing the city wall.

Even so, the outcome was not particularly encouraging for the demons. The casualty ratio between the two sides seemed far too lopsided.

Although the demons held the advantage in numbers, such a situation had scarcely occurred over all those past years.

There were indeed many things in this world that seemed unchanged on the surface, yet were quietly changing all the same.

Demon Lord Redsleeve remained seated inside her royal carriage, occasionally listening to the reports of the demon generals, yet she always appeared somewhat listless.

Only when a figure in white appeared beside the carriage did Demon Lord Redsleeve finally perk up and glance at him.

The man in white looked at the beautiful Demon Lord Redsleeve. There was no reverence in his eyes, and his gaze lingered on her chest for rather a long time. Demon Lord Redsleeve did not become angry, merely allowing him to look.

Only after half a quarter of an hour had passed did the man in white withdraw his gaze and ask indifferently, "Can you open a gap?"

Demon Lord Redsleeve smiled. "Why don't you go up and try? Carve out a path all by yourself?"

The man in white smiled. "It's not impossible."

Demon Lord Redsleeve clicked her tongue. "As expected of White Jing, who once walked through human territory as though crossing flat ground. Your confidence truly is something."

Demon Lord White Jing was now unquestionably one of the top three demon lords of the demon race, infinitely close to the realm above Nepenthe.

Coupled with his godlike status in the northern Demon Sea, it was precisely why he could remain so composed even in the presence of Demon Lord Redsleeve.

White Jing was even confident that if he truly fought Demon Lord Redsleeve, he could kill this ruler of the Southern Frontier.

White Jing said calmly, "I'm not as good as you at commanding armies, but when it comes to this sort of thing, ten of you wouldn't compare to one of me."

Demon Lord Redsleeve smiled. "Well, men do have a bit more brute strength. It's perfectly normal for women not to match them."

White Jing glanced toward the city wall and said indifferently, "I once promised Jing Zhu that I would kill that woman for him, but I failed to accomplish it in the end. Today, I'll make up for that."

Demon Lord Redsleeve smiled without quite smiling. "White Jing, don't blame me for not warning you. At this point, someone merely at the end of Nepenthe isn't enough to change the course of the battlefield."

White Jing smiled. "Who do you think they have that can stop me?"

Demon Lord Redsleeve said nothing. Just hearing that question was enough to give her a headache.

White Jing spoke no further. Having appeared here at this crucial moment, he naturally had his own plans. If he established great merit in battle now, he would accumulate considerable prestige among the demon race. Then, so long as he broke through to the next realm, it would not be impossible for him to contend for that royal throne.

Exhaling a stream of white mist, White Jing directly revealed his true form as a white flood dragon and lunged toward the city wall.

When an enormous white flood dragon several thousand feet long suddenly appeared before the Northern Frontier Great Wall, the shock it inspired was difficult to put into words.

The divine crossbows atop the city wall reacted first, firing bolt after bolt at the enormous white flood dragon in an instant.

But as soon as those bolts were fired, they were driven back by a single dragon roar.

The overwhelming sound waves instantly swept countless soldiers from the city wall off their feet.

White Jing might have been arrogant, but his cultivation realm was indeed not low.

There were genuinely very few people in the world who could compare with him.

Ning Ping looked up at the enormous white flood dragon. This peerless martial artist, who had not fought for many years, took a deep breath and threw a punch. A terrifying shockwave surged toward the sky!

Even now, Ning Ping could still be regarded as the world's number one martial artist after Chen Chao. Every step of his martial path had been built upon an exceptionally solid foundation.

Among those three back then, Ning Ping had been the youngest, but now, he was the only one of the three who remained.

The white flood dragon swung one of its claws, shattering the punch directly, then reached out with another claw toward Ning Ping.

He had no interest in this martial artist's cultivation realm, but he knew full well that Ning Ping was the human race's Great General.

Killing him would earn considerable military merit.

Ning Ping's hair whipped wildly in the wind. This martial artist's expression remained unchanged. Compared to White Jing who had been famous for many years, his cultivation realm might have been somewhat inferior, but he would never retreat.

But before he could throw another punch...

A boot suddenly fell from the sky, landing squarely and without the slightest courtesy on the enormous head of the white flood dragon!

A thunderous boom echoed across the battlefield.

Demon Lord Redsleeve rose to her feet, watching the scene atop the city wall with great interest.