Chapter 520 - 451: Bone-Eroding Wind (2)

Chapter 520: Chapter 451: Bone-Eroding Wind (2)

Ah Du Mu’s pupils widened.

"What is this power?!"

He finally panicked.

Humans always fear the unknown most, and that was true even for a Mingxin Grandmaster.

Ah Du Mu couldn’t fathom what kind of technique that phantom palace was.

But Bai Yuan gave him no chance to think.

He slammed Ah Du Mu to the ground, wrapping his legs around his body like venomous snakes and gripping Ah Du Mu’s right palm with both hands.

CRACK!

A sharp snap rang out.

Bai Yuan had ripped Ah Du Mu’s right hand clean off.

"Aargh!"

The intense pain nearly drove Ah Du Mu mad.

The move Bai Yuan had just used was a ground-based killing technique from Ximo’s own martial arts.

However, this was only the beginning.

...

「A quarter of an hour later.」

There was no trace of Ah Du Mu left in the yellow sand, only pools of flesh and blood.

Bai Yuan had utterly obliterated Ah Du Mu.

He rose slowly to his feet and glanced coldly at the sand dunes.

That last strike had been a technique of the Divine Palace Profound Soldiers.

It was a version with its power weakened a hundredfold. Although its killing power wasn’t great, the backlash was also minimal. With his physical arts perfected, Bai Yuan’s body was already absurdly strong; he would recover from such a minor backlash in just three days.

This was a technique Bai Yuan had only recently developed.

Using the Divine Palace Profound Soldiers and the Sun-Shooting Divine Bow, he could kill ninety percent of the Mingxin Grandmasters in the world at will.

If the Mingxin Grandmasters of Xuan Yang ever found out, they would likely lose sleep over it.

With Ah Du Mu slain...

...the Ximo Alliance Army had completely lost contact with his unit.

Mission accomplished.

Bai Yuan’s figure flickered.

He vanished, and when he reappeared, he was already back at Lu Wu’s side.

Lu Wu watched Bai Yuan’s return without saying a word.

As a soldier, he knew to remain silent about things that were not his concern. Curiosity only kills the cat.

Bai Yuan said, "Let’s go."

Lu Wu nodded and resolutely followed Bai Yuan deeper into the yellow sands.

...

「About the time it takes an incense stick to burn,」

Lu Wu saw a familiar army unit.

The Tiger and Leopard Camp!

He hadn’t expected the Tiger and Leopard Camp to appear deep in the Great Desert, especially with a major battle underway.

When the officers and soldiers of the Tiger and Leopard Camp saw Lu Wu, their faces lit up with joy.

Commander Li Xiu strode forward.

"General Lu, the brothers were all worried something had happened to you."

As he spoke, his gaze fell on Lu Wu’s empty left sleeve. "As long as you’re not dead, that’s what matters."

Once on the battlefield, life and death were no longer one’s own to control.

Losing only an arm was far better than losing one’s life.

Lu Wu grinned. "I am the vanguard of the Zhenxi Army. I’ll never die—at least not at the hands of some Ximo bastards."

Hearing Lu Wu’s words, the soldiers of the Tiger and Leopard Camp were all visibly stirred.

’General Lu really is the toughest son of a bitch in the Zhenxi Army, just like they say.’

Lu Wu finally voiced the question on his mind. "Why are you all here?"

It wasn’t appropriate to ask Bai Yuan some questions, but asking Li Xiu was perfectly fine.

Li Xiu’s expression turned serious. "We’re heading to Wunan Country."

"Wunan Country?"

Lu Wu’s brow furrowed sharply.

Li Xiu nodded. "It was Lord Bai’s decision."

Lu Wu grew even more confused.

Though he wasn’t skilled in strategy and formations, he knew that marching a lone army deep into enemy territory at a time like this was not a good idea.

Besides, Ximo was vast and filled with countless ferocious beasts and the bizarre Bone-Eroding Wind.

By the time they reached Wunan Country, the war might already be over.

Their conversation naturally reached Bai Yuan’s ears.

He offered no explanation, simply saying coolly, "Move out!"

Speed is paramount in war.

By his calculations, the Zhenxi Army and the Ximo Alliance Army should have already clashed. There wasn’t much time left for him.

If the person he had encountered hadn’t been Lu Wu...

...he might not have intervened at all. The battlefield allowed no room for mercy, whether toward the enemy or his own side.

Lu Wu was of great use to him.

...

「Three days later.」

On the endless sand dunes, the thousand-man troop of the Tiger and Leopard Camp seemed incredibly small.

After three days and three nights of forced marching...

...even these elite troops were struggling to cope. By a rough estimate, they had marched a full five thousand li in three days. Such a terrifying pace was taking its toll, even on soldiers who were all Martial Artists.

Even their strict military discipline was beginning to show signs of fraying.

If not for the small pills Bai Yuan had provided to rapidly restore their stamina, they likely would have collapsed long ago.

But the scorching heat of Ximo, combined with the high-intensity march, was still a tremendous test of their willpower.

Lu Wu roared, "Get your spirits up, you bastards!"

At Lu Wu’s words, the men were all jolted to attention.

Before becoming a General, Lu Wu had been the Commander of the Tiger and Leopard Camp. Many of the men still saw themselves as his soldiers, so his prestige within the camp was even higher than that of the current Commander, Li Xiu.

"When we get to Wunan Country, we’ll drink the finest wine and sleep with the big-assed women of Ximo!"

Lu Wu bellowed again.

A spark returned to the eyes of the Tiger and Leopard Camp soldiers, which had grown dull and listless.

It was as if they could really see those voluptuous foreign women waving at them.

Lu Wu added, "Just trust me. When have I ever lied to you?"

Watching this scene, Bai Yuan nodded in satisfaction.

Lu Wu’s left arm had been severed.

Although a Mingxin Grandmaster could still exert seventy percent of his combat strength, the reason Bai Yuan had gone out of his way to save Lu Wu was to boost morale.

In military campaigns, morale is crucial.

Otherwise, even if these men reached Wunan Country, they would be hard-pressed to exert much of their combat strength.

Therefore, Bai Yuan needed a strong medicine.

He had originally prepared a backup plan: using Fire Spirit Pills to stimulate their potential. But compared to exhausting their bodies and leaving hidden injuries, a mental stimulant was undoubtedly more effective.

In the Zhenxi Army, Lu Wu wasn’t just a General.

He was a symbol.

He had fearlessly served as the vanguard time and again. Even though he never boasted about his accomplishments, the soldiers and officers of the Zhenxi Army had long since etched his deeds into their hearts.

Lu Wu’s words were far more effective than Bai Yuan’s could ever be.

「Two hours later.」

Lu Wu’s gaze turned solemn as he looked at the great canyon not far ahead, which stretched between heaven and earth with cliffs a thousand zhang high on either side.

"Lord Bai, ahead is Fire Prison Canyon."

Bai Yuan also looked toward the great canyon.

The two words "Fire Prison" were the best possible description for this canyon.

It was a notoriously dangerous place in Ximo; even the powerhouses from the various Ximo nations didn’t dare to venture here lightly.

And now, the Tiger and Leopard Camp had to cross this very canyon.

Li Xiu added, "My lord, the Bone-Eroding Wind in Fire Prison Canyon blows constantly all year round. Getting through... will be difficult."

The Bone-Eroding Wind was a natural disaster unique to Ximo.

The people of Ximo feared it even more than they feared monsters.

No one knew how the Bone-Eroding Wind came to be; it had existed in Ximo for countless years.

The Bone-Eroding Wind was like an upgraded version of a sandstorm.

It could cause immense harm even to Martial Artists, and the most powerful Bone-Eroding Winds could overwhelm even a Sensing Powerhouse.

Most of the Tiger and Leopard Camp were only at the Blood Refining stage.

What Li Xiu left unsaid was that even if they could get through, the Tiger and Leopard Camp would suffer more than fifty percent casualties. After crossing the canyon, they would be almost certainly defeated if they encountered a strong enemy, making the crossing pointless.

’Passing through Fire Prison Canyon unscathed?’

’That was just a fool’s dream. For a thousand years, the Zhenxi Army had tried countless times, and every attempt had ended in failure.’

It was precisely this natural barrier that separated Ximo from Xuan Yang.

Whether it was the Zhenxi Army or the Ximo Alliance Army, any attack required a detour that added ten days to the journey.

But the current Tiger and Leopard Camp could not afford to wait.

That was why Bai Yuan had chosen to cross Fire Prison Canyon directly.

He had no other choice.

"Rest here. Eat everything you have on you. In half an hour, we enter the canyon!"

Bai Yuan issued the order.

The soldiers of the Tiger and Leopard Camp sat on the ground, their eyes filled with apprehension.

...

A howling gale, countless bleached bones—some human, some demonic.

The infamous Fire Prison Canyon.

Bai Yuan walked at the very front.

Crossing Fire Prison Canyon was not difficult for him. The real challenge was how to lead a thousand men through it safely.

The Bone-Eroding Wind was formless and intangible, impossible to defend against.

Even a Divinity Grandmaster could only rely on their own body to endure it; there was no other way, let alone helping others resist it.

The faces of the Tiger and Leopard Camp soldiers showed only grim determination.

They were already prepared to die.