The roaring sounds continued, like thunder echoing between heaven and earth, or like the rushing of mighty rivers.
Seated cross-legged on the bed, Shen Changqing’s skin was alarmingly swollen and red.
In front of him, the bottles that had contained elixirs lay discarded all over the ground.
After a long while, the fluctuations subsided.
Shen Changqing opened his eyes, and the already bright room seemed to illuminate a few shades more.
He calmed his mind and looked at his status panel.
Affiliation: Great Qin’s Demon Suppression Division
Title: Yellow Rank Demon Hunter
Martial Arts: Invincible Golden Body (Level 15, can be enhanced), Heavenly Martial Gang Qi (Level 16, can be enhanced), Hundred Battles Blade Technique (Level 3), Iron Sand Palm (Level 5, can be merged), Snare Trampling Gang Step (Level 5, can be merged), Mountain Splitting Palm Technique (Not yet mastered, can be merged), Willow Catkin Body Technique (Not yet mastered, can be merged)
At last, the Invincible Golden Body has reached Perfection!
Shen Changqing looked at the attributes on the panel and felt the robust strength in his flesh, a faint smile appearing on his face.
Even with the Slaughter Value to aid advancement, subsequent breakthroughs still required a significant amount of time.
In one night, the Invincible Golden Body had advanced from level ten to level fifteen.
During the breakthrough, Shen Changqing could also hear the sky-piercing battle cries, but he did not take action.
Even ordinary Grandmaster Martial Artists are largely ineffective when faced with an army of 120,000, let alone those in the Innate Outer Gang Realm—that’s a one-way ticket to death!
Now that the Barbarian Clan has surrounded the city, relying on the Black Tiger Army can only hold them off for a while. If I want to carve out a bloody path, I can only rely on myself—yes, on myself!
Shen Changqing’s objective was very clear.
The Black Tiger Army was indeed strong, true, but even at its strongest, it only consisted of twelve thousand men and could not compete with the Barbarian Clan’s army of one hundred and twenty thousand.
Therefore, only by comprehensively enhancing his own strength was there a possibility of breaking the siege.
Now—the Invincible Golden Body has reached level fifteen. After merging this martial art, I have reached a state of Perfection for the first time.
Outer Techniques perfected. My whole body is as solid as metal.
Shen Changqing tried attacking himself with the Lengyue Blade, but it had no effect.
With my current defensive strength, nobody in the Innate Realm can break through my defense. As for whether I can withstand a Grandmaster’s attack, that remains unknown!
His current state could truly be described as unparalleled in defense.
However, Shen Changqing also understood that while his physical defense had reached a formidable level, it didn’t mean he could rampage unchallenged amidst a great army.
A strong defense still had very clear weaknesses.
First, every attack endured would consume some vital energy. Once that vital energy was severely depleted, the defensive strength of his flesh would decrease.
Second, some attacks might not break through his physical defense, but if their power was too great, they could still penetrate his flesh and vibrate his internal organs.
Although his organs had been tempered and were quite powerful due to the strengthening of his flesh, they were still much weaker compared to his flesh.
As for the third weakness, it wasn’t truly a weakness. It was simply that an overwhelmingly powerful expert could directly shatter the limits of his physical defense.
Rumor has it that Mairba is a mid-phase Grandmaster-level fighter. With my current strength, I might not necessarily be able to contend with him. It’s not enough, still not enough—
Shen Changqing thought of Mairba. He had never crossed hands with a Grandmaster-level fighter, but that didn’t stop him from imagining Grandmasters to be even more formidable.
Most importantly, he still had fifty-one Slaughter Value points left. Fifty-one points of Slaughter Value could still greatly enhance his strength.
Now that the Invincible Golden Body is at Perfection, the problem of my Dantian overflowing with True Qi has also been completely resolved. At this point, I can once again enhance my Heavenly Martial Gang Qi. Sadly, up to now, I have yet to grasp Martial Dao True Intent!
Thinking of Martial Dao True Intent, Shen Changqing couldn’t help shaking his head in resignation.
To tell the truth, I’m not even clear about which Realm I belong to at this point. Am I a Martial Arts Grandmaster? But I haven’t comprehended Martial Dao True Intent. Yet, if I’m in the Innate Realm, I feel like I could dispatch an Innate with a single punch.
Let it be. There’s no need to think so much; what Realm I am in is not important. What is important is how much my strength has improved!
Taking a deep breath, Shen Changqing calmed his mind once more, ready to embark on another round of improvement.
The Invincible Golden Body was at Perfection. But this didn’t mean there was no room for enhancement of this martial art.
However—with the expansion of his Dantian, he was in no hurry to further improve the Invincible Golden Body. He could first advance a level in Heavenly Martial Gang Qi. Once his True Qi overflowed again, he would then enhance his Outer Techniques.
Calming his mind, Shen Changqing didn’t swallow any elixirs; the fifteen-layer Invincible Golden Body had made his vital energy robust to a terrifying extent.
In his view, this improvement had no need for consuming elixirs; relying on his own foundation was enough to offset the consumption.
Quickly, sixteen points of Slaughter Value vanished.
Heavenly Martial Gang Qi directly began its transformation from the sixteenth level towards the seventeenth.
A frenzied suction force emanated from his Dantian, and the flowing vital energy within his flesh produced a sound like rushing water.
The breakthrough had already begun.
The battle horn for the Barbarian Clan’s siege resounded again. After resting for more than two hours, the Barbarian Clan launched another attack on Jincheng.
"The Barbarian Clan is attacking! Everyone prepare for battle!"
Cries signaling the alert echoed, and the resting Black Tiger Army all grabbed their weapons, rushing towards the city walls in all directions.
The Black Tiger Army already stationed on the walls immediately counter-attacked.
Inside the tent, Chu Ding opened his tightly closed eyes, the sharp glint in them fading.
Donning his armor once again, he picked up the long spear beside him and strode out of the tent.
Outside the tent, everyone was rushing towards the city gates.
"Elder Fang, do you think there’s any chance for us to survive this?" Tang Hong asked, his expression complex as he listened to the Barbarian Clan’s horns. Traces of fatigue were discernible between his brows.
The battle from the previous night had left him mentally exhausted. Although he had sustained no physical injuries, the mental strain had been considerable.
Beside him was Fang Xue from the Golden Toad Sect.
Fang Xue wasn’t supposed to join the battle; after all, his main task was to develop a suitable potent poison to use against the Barbarian Clan.
But as it turned out, after one night, no breakthrough had been made with the poison, so there was no point wasting more time on it.
Now that the Barbarian Clan was besieging the city, one more martial artist at the Pulse Condensation Realm was preferable to one less.
Upon hearing Tang Hong, Fang Xue shook his head, his expression also melancholic. "In a battle between two armies, who can be completely certain they will survive? All we can do now is try our best to preserve ourselves!"
To die for one’s country! To be frank, he never entertained the thought.
But given the Black Tiger Army’s desperate situation and the pressure, Fang Xue had no way to refuse.
However, should Jincheng fall, he wouldn’t die alongside it; with his own means, attempting to escape amidst the chaos of battle still had a good chance of success.
"It seems Elder Fang is well-prepared!" Tang Hong said with a meaningful smile.
Fang Xue smiled slightly, "Steward Tang is no different."
Eventually, the two men shared a knowing smile, an unspoken understanding between them.
Outside the city, the Barbarian Clan’s siege commenced.
Compared to the previous night, the Barbarian Clan had rested for more than two hours. Although their morale wasn’t as high as at the beginning, the intensity of their attack was much stronger than before.
More than ten Great Strength Apes, braving a storm of arrows, led the charge at the very front.
In the rear, a multitude of Barbarian Clan soldiers carried ladders, placing them against the city walls and incessantly climbing upwards.
"Don’t let the Great Strength Apes reach the wall!"
Commanders shouted loudly.
At once, flaming arrows soared into the sky, arcing down towards the Great Strength Apes in front.
Though the arrows did not inflict significant damage when they landed, the spreading flames ignited their fur.
Nevertheless, even so, the Great Strength Apes did not retreat. Instead, it fully unleashed their innate ferocity, and they wielded their massive fists to pound the city walls.
Every strike from the Great Strength Apes contained a force exceeding a thousand pounds, causing violent tremors in the walls and showering down stone fragments.
In response, the Black Tiger Army continuously dropped flammable oil and torches, while hurling rocks down, attempting to slay those Great Strength Apes.
Due to the close proximity, ballistae were rendered ineffective.
The entire Barbarian Clan Army was advancing. Generals who had made military pledges before Mairba, in particular, frantically commanded their troops to launch a fierce attack on Jincheng.
Arrows filled the sky.
The aura of slaughter permeated the air.
One after another, bodies fell from the walls, becoming part of the countless corpses on the battlefield.
Some were barbarians, and some were from the Black Tiger Army. It was just that, relatively speaking, the number of barbarians who fell was greater.
Casualties in an assault are inherently higher than in a defense.
A spear lanced out, then retracted, bringing with it a spray of blood as a Barbarian Clan Warrior plummeted from the wall.
Chu Ding watched the relentlessly advancing Barbarian Clan Army, his expression heavy.
As expected, the Barbarian Clan’s attack has intensified after their rest. Our forces likely won’t be able to hold out for much longer!
Where his gaze fell, soldiers of the Black Tiger Army fell one after another before his eyes, a pained look appearing in his own.
Those men were all soldiers he had led personally.
Now, they had all fallen under the barbarians’ blades. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t heartbroken.
Yet—Chu Ding was heartbroken, but even more so, his heart was filled with an almost suffocating killing intent.
His spear vibrated, and in an instant, it struck down several barbarians who had reached the top of the wall.
Following that, the wall trembled, fissures faintly visible.
The wall is going to collapse!
The thought flashed through Chu Ding’s mind, and then he saw the Great Strength Apes below, shaking the foundations of the wall.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he leaped from the wall. As he landed, his vibrating spear unleashed a piercing Gang Qi that instantly penetrated the Great Strength Ape’s tough hide and entered its skull.
The spear tip emerged from the back of its head, red and white matter flowing out.