Chongxuan Sheng, Jiang Chen, and Shi Si cooperated with perfect synergy, instantly forming a formation of absolute slaughter.
And facing this situation, Ji Cheng's eyes held not a ripple of disturbance.
How many heroes of the present day, making one sigh with emotion.
However, this old general was once young as well!
Such high spirits, such unstoppable valor—naturally, he had possessed them too.
The three young men before him were all powerhouses in the Soaring Dragon realm. Especially this fatty from the Chongxuan family—his combat strength was in no way inferior to an ordinary Inner Fane realm cultivator.
And he, Ji Cheng, was already old and withered. Countless old wounds ravaged his body, and he had expended enormous mental energy on the battlefield, almost single-handedly commanding the Yang Army to pin down the Autumn Slaughter Army—an elite force of the realm.
His mind and spirit were both wounded.
After that, he had single-handedly repelled the enemy, overturned an entire Autumn Slaughter Army battle formation, and broken through the assaults of these three young heroes in succession. He already felt a sense of his strength waning.
But after all, he was Ji Cheng.
After all, he was a powerhouse of the military school in the Outer Tower realm!
The so-called Outer Tower realm was the pinnacle of the middle three ranks.
The "Outer" of Outer Tower did not merely stand in contrast to the Inner Fane realm's "inside." It was not just about the "physical body"—it was also beyond the "heavens"!
In the cultivation world, there is a saying: "Build towering halls upon the Four Sacred Spirits."
This refers to how Outer Tower realm powerhouses, through mysterious connections, project their power across the infinite starry skies into the Four Spirits Star Domain, condensing the Starlight Towers.
These four towers are the Azure Dragon Tower of the East, the White Tiger Tower of the West, the Vermilion Bird Tower of the South, and the Black Tortoise Tower of the North.
Just as the Inner Fane realm is also known as the Five Fanes realm, the Outer Tower realm has the alias of the Four Towers realm.
These four Starlight Sacred Towers possessed boundless and wondrous uses—too many to recount in a few words.
Speaking only of the Four Spirits Star Domain projected by Outer Tower cultivators, each school of thought had its own interpretation, each aligning with its own "Dao."
Take the Dao school for example. Though it comprised three branches, all three shared the same origin.
All took the majesty of the Azure Dragon, the fiery sincerity of the Vermilion Bird, the magnanimity of the Black Tortoise, and the solemn lethality of the White Tiger.
They took the four words: "Majesty, Sincerity, Benevolence, Slaughter."
Other schools took their own: the Confucian school took "Integrity, Virtue, Benevolence, Slaughter"; the Legalist school took "Majesty, Ferocity, Uprightness, Punishment"; the Buddhist school took "Majesty, Virtue, Tolerance, Annihilation"; the Mohist school took "Majesty, Purity, Tolerance, Martial Prowess"... and so on, each taking a different combination.
Of course, this was not a fixed rule, and individual cultivators might differ.
But generally speaking, whichever school one sought the Dao from, one had to embrace that school's moral code—at least on the surface.
And Ji Cheng's lineage in the military school took, in this realm, the words: "Momentum, Ferocity, Mastery, Slaughter."
Every word was about conquest!
A figure like Ji Cheng, at his peak, naturally was not merely a one-tower or two-tower cultivator. He was a genuine four-tower realm powerhouse—one who had erected the Four Sacred Towers in the Four Spirits Star Domain.
It was a pity he had not entered the Divine Descent realm, making it impossible to seek immortality.
In the end, he could not outlast the recurrence of old wounds and the ravages of time. To make matters worse, he was burdened by worries over national affairs and heartache over family matters. His heart was like a candle flame in the wind, his body a drifting duckweed.
Now, of his four Starlight Sacred Towers, only one remained usable, still shining with light.
That single tower was the White Tiger Sacred Tower.
It commanded the military school's aspect of "Slaughter"!
At this moment, Jiang Chen attacked from above with his sword, Shi Si wielded his twin greatswords in the middle, and Chongxuan Sheng unleashed the full force of his arts from below.
The white-haired old general Ji Cheng was surrounded in their midst.
And then, under the clear blue sky, a flash of starlight suddenly blazed from the west!
Ji Cheng's full head of white hair whipped upward, and his hands—already somewhat weakened—once again gripped the Qiushan Bow tightly!
Boom!
The restraining arts could no longer hold him. Chongxuan Sheng suffered a backlash instead. His entire body was slammed flat against the ground by the rebounding force, coughing up blood uncontrollably.
Two Autumn Slaughter Army soldiers nearby rushed over, jointly dragging him away to escape. The other soldiers quickly filled the gaps, leaping one after another to strike at Ji Cheng.
Channeling the starlight of the White Tiger Sacred Tower into his body, Ji Cheng gripped the bow and shattered Chongxuan Sheng's restraining arts with a single tremor. He drew the empty string and loosed—an arrow of frost-white starlight shot forth like lightning.
Clang!
It slammed directly into the twin greatsword that Shi Si was sweeping horizontally. The great black sword, which looked immensely heavy and was forged of extraordinary material, actually fractured—snapped in two!
But this was not the end. The arrow formed of frost-white starlight had not spent its momentum. It struck through Shi Si's black armor, shattering the armor of extraordinary origin as well!
It pierced into Shi Si's body, embedding itself nearly halfway through.
Even as powerful as Shi Si was, the force of this single arrow sent him flying far away. He crashed heavily to the ground, his life or death uncertain for the moment.
After the starlight of the White Tiger Sacred Tower surged into his body, Ji Cheng's aura transformed once more. Gripping the bow, he injured Chongxuan Sheng; with an empty-string loosed arrow, he left Shi Si's fate unknown.
Then he slashed his bow horizontally, wielding it like a blade. An arc of blade-light radiated outward with his body as the center, cutting down the leaping Autumn Slaughter Army soldiers—they fell like rain, limbs scattered across the ground.
Ji Cheng seized the momentum to rise, inverted the Qiushan Bow, and slashed upward to intercept Jiang Chen!
All of this sounded complex, yet it happened almost simultaneously.
Jiang Chen's sword in the "Boundless Sea of Humanity" technique had not yet landed when he saw Chongxuan Shi fall to the ground, Shi Si sent flying by an arrow, Autumn Slaughter Army soldiers dead and wounded in droves—and Ji Cheng slashing back at him with his inverted bow!
Facing Ji Cheng, who bore the full might of the Outer Tower realm.
Life and death hung on a single instant.
In this moment, Jiang Chen's mind focused with supreme clarity. He had no time to think at all—only the instinct born of countless repetitions of training.
Flame Blossom. The Sea of Flame Blossoms.
Tiger Bind. The Five Qi Tiger Bind.
His sword shifted from "Boundless Sea of Humanity" to "Rivers and Mountains," transitioning from offense to defense. Mountains and rivers—the earth itself, the greatest of all bearers.
The Sea of Flame Blossoms had barely unfurled when it was sliced apart by the bowstring.
The Flame Blossoms withered before they could even make contact.
Tiger Bind. The Five Qi Tiger Bind shattered one after another.
The string of the Qiushan Bow seemed impossible to dodge at this moment. Its cold, gleaming light seemed to brush against his very throat.
Suddenly, from Jiang Chen's Celestial Palace, a phantom image of a black candle shot forth. Caught completely off guard, it slammed directly into the body of the old general, Ji Cheng.
It was Jiang Yan!
At this critical juncture between life and death, in order to preserve the lives he shared with Jiang Chen, he directly controlled the phantom image of the Nether Candle and launched himself into the most naked and direct clash of souls against Ji Cheng!
Ji Cheng's lunging figure froze in place.
The old general's soul fire had long been like a candle guttering in the wind—these years, he had endured only for the sake of the nation. Jiang Yan had precisely identified the man's greatest vulnerability. This demonstrated his insight, which far surpassed Jiang Chen, Chongxuan Sheng, and the others.
This was the only reason he could, with soul strength not much greater than Jiang Chen's at this stage, forcibly halt Ji Cheng's killing strike.
With this momentary block, Jiang Chen had freed a hand. He unleashed an Explosive Flame Sparrow that blanketed Ji Cheng.
Then, riding a Flame Meteor, he shot to Chongxuan Sheng's side.
"How are you?" he asked urgently.
Chongxuan Sheng was still being dragged away by soldiers. But after coughing up blood and catching his breath, he violently twisted upright, bellowing at the top of his lungs: "The Yang Army is on the verge of collapse!"
"Form a battle formation with me!"
Jiang Chen was the first to respond to the battle formation. All the combat-ready Autumn Slaughter Army soldiers near the command platform joined the formation.
A rough headcount revealed barely a thousand men.
Military bane coalesced.
Chongxuan Sheng could not worry about the details. He directly pooled the formation's power, whipping up a gale of autumn leaves that howled toward Ji Cheng.
By now, Ji Cheng had snapped out of the momentary daze caused by the soul clash. His body, infused with the starlight of the White Tiger Sacred Tower, had endured the Explosive Flame Sparrow head-on. But Chongxuan Sheng had already reorganized the battle formation, and once more the military bane took shape—engulfing him entirely!
To outside observers, there was only a raging gale sweeping across the area, autumn leaves spiraling through the air.
That was the external manifestation of the military bane's power.
And within that battle formation, three thunderous twangs rang out. The vast military bane surged violently three times before finally subsiding.
A moment later.
A dazzling streak of sword-light shot forth—it was Jiang Chen, sword and body as one, flying to the azure war banner that represented Ji Cheng.
His long sword slashed horizontally—
That azure war banner had been firmly planted on the command platform since the very beginning of the war.
Through uncountable years past, it had soared proudly beneath the sky of the Yang Kingdom.
Across the entire battlefield, friend and foe alike could not afford to ignore it.
This was the azure war spirit.
This was the last remnant glow of the Heavenly Hero Ji clan.
The banner fell!