Chapter 390: Chapter 390: Blood-soaked Land
The Small Spirit Realm experts of the Great Xia Dragon Guard soon returned to the garrison.
When those who had been defending the four city walls were all gathered together,
bitter and sorrowful smiles appeared on everyone’s faces.
The Great Xia Dragon Guard of Lianshan County originally had nearly two thousand Small Spirit Realm Guard Generals. After Mu from the Martial Soul Hall led an ambush, only over nine hundred remained.
And now, after a brutal defensive battle against the Martial Soul Hall, of the more than nine hundred Small Spirit Realm experts who fought side by side, only a meager fifty-eight of them were left...
"Ahem, my lords, the Lord Chief Managers and Lord Military Commanders are waiting in the training grounds. We should hurry," a Captain Level expert whispered.
At this moment, the few Captain Level experts nearby looked at Chu Qingyun and the others with eyes full of reverence.
It was they who had risked their lives to protect the County City and the millions of lives within it!
Within the Great Xia Dragon Guard’s garrison, there were also several thousand at the Martial Master Realm.
However, in a battle between Martial Spirit Level experts, never mind Martial Artists, even Half-Step Martial Spirits were completely useless. So, they could only hide in the garrison, waiting in agony, placing all their hopes on Chu Qingyun and the others.
After the fifty-eight survivors entered the training grounds one by one,
the three Lord Chief Managers, the six Lord Military Commanders, and Lord Lan and Prince Duan who had come with them, all wore shocked expressions.
"Wh-what happened? Why are there only fifty-some of you?"
Grand Chief Steward Jingtai, in a rare display, was even stumbling over his words.
When they left, there were over nine hundred Small Spirit Realm experts. It had only been three days, yet only fifty-eight returned!
"Reporting to the Lord Chief Manager..."
A third-level Martial Spirit stepped forward and recounted, from beginning to end, everything about the Martial Soul Hall’s attack on the County City over the past day.
The name mentioned most often was, naturally, Chu Qingyun.
From breaking the siege on the South Wall, to rushing to crisis points all over, distributing Elixirs, helping to repel the attacks from those trash first-level Martial Spirits and the true Small Spirit Realm experts, all the way to the final battle against the Earth Spirit Realm experts, where he slayed two fourth-level Martial Spirits.
Almost the entire defense was related to Chu Qingyun.
Many times, he alone had turned the tide and defeated the Martial Soul Hall.
As they listened, the Lord Chief Managers and the others nodded frequently, their gazes constantly turning to Chu Qingyun, filled with approval and satisfaction.
Even Lord Lan and Prince Duan couldn’t help but give Chu Qingyun a couple more glances, their faces showing a pensive expression.
After the account of the city’s defense was finished,
Jingtai and the others sighed inwardly. ’To think that the most intense battle in this final confrontation with the Martial Soul Hall wasn’t at that abandoned small city, but right here in the County City!’
When members of the Martial Soul Hall die, they leave no trace; even their Martial Soul Power dissipates quickly.
But just by looking at these fifty-eight survivors, one could tell how brutal the fighting here had been!
In response, Grand Chief Steward Jingtai naturally offered them words of encouragement and praise, promised many rewards, and guaranteed a proper burial for all the Small Spirit Realm experts who had sacrificed themselves in the battle to defend the city.
After Jingtai finished speaking, he had Chu Qingyun and the others go back to rest.
As for the three Chief Stewards, the Six Great Army Commanders, Lord Lan, and Prince Duan, they left together for a meeting hall inside the garrison.
After leaving the training grounds, Chu Qingyun and the other fifty-seven survivors all went their separate ways.
Upon returning to his residence, Chu Qingyun greeted his parents and the village chief, letting them know he was safe, before going back to his room, collapsing onto his bed, and falling asleep.
In the past seven or eight days, he hadn’t had a single night of peaceful sleep.
Inside the Great Xia Dragon Guard’s meeting hall, everyone was seated in their respective places.
"Lord Lan, in the past, wasn’t sect recruitment always held in the imperial cities? Why were you and His Highness Prince Duan sent to pick people up everywhere on a Flying Ship this time?"
Now that they were in the garrison, Jingtai and the others could finally no longer hold back their questions and spoke up.
Before, on the Flying Ship, they hadn’t been in the mood to ask, because the Ninth Prince and his two companions were in the room, and their minds were preoccupied with the situation in the County City.
"The rules have changed this time."
"In previous sect recruitments, disciples would host assessments in the imperial cities of the various dynasties. Only those who passed could join the sect and follow those disciples back."
"But this time, the rules have been changed. To earn the right to join a sect, one must cross the Blood-soaked Land on their own to reach Celestial Martial City."
Lord Lan looked at Jingtai and said in a heavy voice.
"What? Cross the Blood-soaked Land on their own!?"
Aside from Lord Lan and Prince Duan, who already knew, everyone else was extremely surprised.
"Lord Lan, what about the registration requirements...?" another Chief Steward, who was at the Human King Realm, couldn’t help but ask.
"The registration requirements are the same: under twenty-five years of age and at or above the Martial Spirit Realm."
Hearing this, the expressions on Jingtai and the others’ faces grew even more astonished.
Crossing the Blood-soaked Land on their own, and under twenty-five years old!
Lord Lan and Prince Duan felt their reaction was perfectly normal; when the two of them first heard the news, their own reactions hadn’t been much better.
The Blood-soaked Land was the collective name for a vast region.
The Northern Domain contained over a hundred dynasties and more than a dozen sects, led by the Three Major Sects. The Blood-soaked Land was the region that lay between the territory of the Hundred Dynasties and the domains of the sects.
In the Land of Hundred Dynasties, the laws of the various dynasties held sway.
In the sect territories, there were also the rules of the sects.
But the Blood-soaked Land was a chaotic and bloody place in the Northern Domain. There were no laws, no rules—only the most naked law of the jungle.
Countless killings occurred in the Blood-soaked Land every day, and every day, many powerful experts entered it as well.
Most who entered the Blood-soaked Land were fugitives and exiles from the region of the Hundred Dynasties, or traitors from the sects. With nowhere else to turn, they could only flee into the Blood-soaked Land to escape their pursuers.
There,
the strong could do as they pleased and possess anything they desired.
As for the weak, they couldn’t even guarantee their own lives.
It was said that the Blood-soaked Land got its name because every inch of its soil was saturated with blood.
And for a region like this, during previous sect recruitments, specialized Sect Disciples would always escort the new recruits across the Blood-soaked Land to the sects.
But this time, they were being asked to cross it on their own.
A place like the Blood-soaked Land... even a Celestial Spirit Realm expert, or even a King Realm Expert, wouldn’t dare claim they could cross it with a one hundred percent guarantee of success!
Lord Lan paused for a moment, then looked at Jingtai and asked, "Well, Jingtai? Have you figured anything out?"
Jingtai pondered for a moment before shaking his head.
He seemed to have vaguely sensed something, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
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