#8 - Chapter 8 Bronze Wall

After bidding farewell to Er Hei, you returned to your residence that evening, silently wiping your wooden Xuan sword, knowing that you only needed to defend for another half-day.

The unease you felt before, you now believe was just excessive suspicion. The situation seems clear now; holding Jianqiu City for another half-day should be easy, and the anxiety in your heart lessened somewhat.

The team you led, your subordinates, new recruits and veterans combined, numbered two hundred when they arrived, but now only one hundred and thirty remain. Over seventy have died.

You hoped for the early arrival of reinforcements tomorrow, not wanting any more deaths.

“Going home alive…” Under the dim candlelight, a hunched figure, an old man in green robes with a full head of white hair, carefully wiped his wooden Xuan sword before returning to bed to rest.

The day's events had left you somewhat tired, and you returned to bed to rest, awaiting the arrival of tomorrow.

Perhaps tomorrow will be better, with reinforcements arriving in time.

Perhaps tomorrow…

Ultimately, you did not receive reinforcements.

On the morning of the tenth day, the red sun rose. The clouds were filled with rosy light, illuminating the bronze city walls, a beautiful and magnificent scene that should have represented hope. However, it was shattered by a series of terrified screams.

The city walls were stained with blood. A dense army of demonic cultivators breached the city gates.

On the tenth day, as the morning sun rose, at the moment the sun ascended into the sky, as the red light filled the clouds, everyone in Jianqiu City faced a scene of despair. The city gates had been breached!

“Old Captain, you must retreat quickly!”

“Old Captain, there's a traitor in the city! The city gates were secretly opened!”

Beneath the blood-stained city walls, the ground was covered in blood, corpses, and terrified heads. Er Hei fought his way out of the encirclement of the demonic cultivators, covered in wounds and blood. He had lost an arm and stumbled towards an old man in green robes.

A traitor in the city? You looked dazed, as if you hadn't heard Er Hei's words. Your eyes silently gazed at the corpses scattered across the city walls. In the brief span of the past quarter of an hour, over half of the one hundred and thirty team members had died in the blink of an eye, leaving only fifty or so.

You watched as your team members were surrounded and killed by enemies five or six times their number. Without a word, you directly began to kill with your sword, silently striking down demonic cultivators at the sixth or seventh level of Qi training, rescuing the besieged team members. But you couldn't kill them all; the city had already fallen, and more and more demonic cultivators were pouring in.

“Old Captain, you must escape quickly! Don't worry about us!”

Seeing you still fighting and rescuing people on the city walls, Er Hei was anxious. He urged you to escape, saying that the city couldn't be defended and that you, with your ninth level of Qi training, might be able to escape.

Some other team members also told you not to worry about them and to run quickly. They deeply respected you, their old captain. You were fair in your dealings and clearly defined rewards and punishments for your subordinates. They didn't want to see you, their old captain, die with them.

“Escape?”

The rosy light of the sun shone on the bronze city walls, illuminating an old man in green robes, wielding his sword, silently killing enemies one by one.

You answered the team members who urged you to escape with your actions. You had no intention of fleeing.

In these thirty years of life, you had killed people and been hunted. You had feared the old demons of the Foundation Establishment stage and had some anxieties about the future, but in these thirty years, you had never been a coward!

Escape? Escape my ass! In this life, I will only move forward, only kill, using my three-foot sword to slay demons and defend the Dao!

The red sun shone on the city walls, the cold sword gleamed amidst the corpses. You laughed loudly as you killed enemies. The surrounding team members understood their old captain's intentions, stopped trying to persuade you, and each began to focus on killing the demonic cultivators.

Some shouted to kill enough to make it worthwhile, to kill two and make a profit. Others seemed to be in a frenzy, shouting, 'Kill you! Kill you! Kill you demonic beasts!'

Er Hei used his only arm to kill a demonic cultivator leader at the sixth level of Qi training. He bathed in the blood of the sky, laughing and saying that killing demonic cultivators was so satisfying. However, he then said with regret that his little brat didn't have the fortune to become your disciple, Old Captain.

After hearing these words, your sword slowed for a moment, then you continued to kill enemies one by one.

After Jianqiu City is breached, how many days can Blackwater Outpost hold?

A quarter of an hour later, more and more demonic cultivators poured onto the city walls. Only thirty or so of the old team members who had fought alongside you remained.

Moreover, the situation was becoming increasingly unfavorable. Two demonic cultivator leaders at the ninth level of Qi training had ascended the city walls.

These two ninth-level leaders held you back, while the other demonic cultivators began to surround and kill your subordinates. You wanted to go and rescue them, but you were restrained and couldn't break free.

Two quarters of an hour later, you killed with madness, cleaving the head of one ninth-level leader with your sword and severely injuring the other. But when you looked back, you saw the city walls covered in corpses and bones.

Taking advantage of the time they had held you back, the other demonic cultivators swarmed in and surrounded your team members. Now, almost all of them were dead, leaving only Er Hei alive.

Of the two hundred people, only one remained alive. And Er Hei was also nearing his end, both arms severed, collapsing to the ground. Blood foamed from his mouth, and seeing you, he forced out a smile: 'W-worthy… of being the Old Captain… Slaying two… ninth-level… impressive…'

After saying these words, Er Hei died. His last words in life were praising you, his old captain.

You felt an indescribable sorrow in your heart, gazing at the corpses scattered across the ground. You looked up towards the inner city walls. Who was the traitor who opened the city gates?

You felt anger in your heart. If it weren't for this traitor opening the city gates, these corpses scattered across the ground wouldn't have had to die.

Lin Changqing's fingers brushed across the text on the panel, and his expression became silent.

The scene generated by the panel text was extremely realistic, like a person experiencing another life through VR simulation.

He seemed to truly see a day thirty years in the future when he would have a full head of white hair, fighting enemies alone, with the people around him dying one by one.

“Who is the traitor?” Lin Changqing wondered in his heart. He looked at the panel, already having a guess.

Another quarter of an hour passed, and you wielded your sword to kill enemies, killing them to the point where the surrounding demonic cultivators were terrified. Everyone looked at you with fear, not expecting your combat strength to be so astonishing, even in your old age, capable of consecutively slaying two cultivators of the same rank.

In these thirty years, you had been in constant battle. Thirty years of fighting had made your combat experience far surpass that of cultivators of the same rank.

After a while, the demonic cultivators sent over a figure at the peak of the tenth level of Qi training to deal with you. It was a middle-aged man in red robes.

“Although you are old and your Qi and blood are declining, you are still very strong. I admire you.”

“But that's all. I will let you know the difference between the peak of the tenth level of Qi training and the ninth level of Qi training.”

The middle-aged man in red robes slowly walked towards the city walls, confident that he could kill you.

Faced with the attack of a figure at the peak of the tenth level of Qi training, you had no time to pay attention, looking towards the horizon, because you saw…

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