Whether it was bewilderment or fear.
At this moment, for the surviving Yang soldiers on the battlefield.
As long as Yang Jiande was still willing to give them a reason, they could only believe.
When a person was drowning, they would clutch even a single straw—even knowing it could not save them!
On the battlefield, the crumbling situation of the Yang army had slightly stabilized. All eyes, consciously or not, were drawn to the clash at the center of the battle.
They watched as Yang Jiande absorbed all the blood fire, wreathed in crimson light, charging forward with a roar straight toward Chongxuan Chuliang.
Chongxuan Chuliang's expression turned more solemn than ever before.
"Quenching thirst with poison," he said, but did not act rashly. Instead, he retreated into the formation, directly rallying the kill-aura of ten thousand soldiers, and met Yang Jiande head-on.
As Chongxuan Chuliang's military formation took shape, the kill-aura surged like dragons and serpents, intertwining and tearing at one another, until finally under Chongxuan Chuliang's control, it coalesced into an enormous fist that smashed down upon Yang Jiande.
And Yang Jiande, wreathed in crimson light, answered with a single punch.
BOOM!
The two fists were strikingly mismatched in appearance, seeming worlds apart in power, yet upon collision, both sides froze for a heartbeat.
Then the kill-aura in the formation surged violently, Yang Jiande's wild hair whipping about, and they were dead even.
"The Lord's divine might!" a Yang army general screamed hoarsely.
One man, standing against ten thousand!
Yang Jiande soared through the air and threw another punch crashing down upon the formation.
"Chongxuan Chuliang! Step out and face me in a duel to the death—do not drag innocent soldiers into this!"
The only response was a cold military command—"Form the Autumn Kill Array!"
One voice became ten thousand, echoing across the field.
"Autumn Kill!"
"Autumn Kill!"
"Autumn Kill!"
Across the entire battlefield, beyond the ten thousand soldiers personally led by Chongxuan Chuliang, there were eighteen more Autumn Kill Army formations.
The most devastating was Chongxuan Sheng's division, with only seven hundred men remaining. This was because his unit had directly punched through the enemy host, charging into the Yang army's center, undertaking the most perilous task—and naturally, earning the greatest merit of slaying generals and capturing banners.
The other divisions, for the most part, remained intact.
The Autumn Kill Army was no idle reputation. The gap in strength between them and the Yang army was vast. Ji Cheng was exerting all his effort merely to hold the line, barely preventing collapse, and could hardly inflict much effective damage upon the Autumn Kill Army.
At Chongxuan Chuliang's command, the various Autumn Kill divisions active across the battlefield abruptly condensed their kill-aura!
Here, there, and there...
Tian Antai's division... Chongxuan Sheng's division...
Eighteen formations' kill-aura rose in unison, echoing one another across the distance.
Eighteen autumn winds rose, sweeping across the battlefield like falling leaves.
The kill-aura shared the same root and origin, interlinked with one another.
And the kill-aura of Chongxuan Chuliang's formation soared skyward, coalescing into a round mirror, like an autumn moon hanging in the sky.
The autumn wind was clear, the autumn moon bright.
Fallen leaves gathered only to scatter, cold crows perched only to be startled!
Upon this autumn moon, a blade of light suddenly cleaved downward.
It was Chongxuan Chuliang, who in an instant had concentrated the full power of the entire Autumn Kill Army, and then swung the Life-Severing Blade.
This blade bore the strength of three armies, condensing the slaughter of ten thousand killers. The moment it appeared, it had already fallen before Yang Jiande.
"Sever Emotion!"
Yang Jiande spread one hand open, then clenched it into a fist and held it before his brow.
His eyes instantly turned utterly devoid of emotion—even the faintest trace of feeling vanished, becoming as blank as the White Bone Divine Venerable.
Or rather, it was precisely because he knew the power of this state that he had placed great hopes in the White Bone Divine Venerable, hoping to borrow its strength to stop Chongxuan Chuliang's blade. He had not expected that this supposed deity could not even stabilize its own sect, unable to unleash its proper power at all, and was cut down and forced to retreat by Chongxuan Chuliang.
After severing emotion, Yang Jiande's other hand shot forward in a claw shape and seized the blade of light!
A low growl: "Eradicate Desire!"
Blood red blazed brilliantly, and the blade of light shattered!
He crushed the blade of light in his grip.
He had slaughtered his own blood relatives, killed his own children with his own hands, and on the eve of battle, upon the battlefield itself, absorbed killing intent and ignited ten thousand lives in blood. The Blood Demon Art was nearing its great completion.
In this state, Yang Jiande was like a god and a demon.
He drew the Blazing Sun War Spear and gripped it in his palm.
The brilliant golden war spear met the blood light, erupting in a dense hissing sound.
Even in this state, Yang Jiande could not help but twitch his brow, finding it difficult to endure the pain.
And amid this dense contact where blood red and gold seemed locked in combat, the entire brilliant golden Blazing Sun War Spear, starting from its tip, was rapidly being consumed by a spreading stain of crimson that crept along the shaft.
This was Yang Jiande refining his weapon on the battlefield, seeking to transform the supremely yang and blazing Blazing Sun War Spear into a weapon compatible with the Blood Demon Art of Severing Emotions and Eradicating Desires, so as to unleash his combat power to its fullest.
Chongxuan Chuliang was no ordinary figure, and he would naturally not sit idle and let Yang Jiande complete this process unopposed.
No sooner had the crimson hue begun to gleam on Yang Jiande's Blazing Sun War Spear than Chongxuan Chuliang erupted.
Every last drop of kill-aura belonging to the Autumn Kill Army across the entire battlefield converged as one, and he commanded the formation, rising into the air.
The vast military formation, under Chongxuan Chuliang's command, drifted as lightly as a leaf.
It was as if a gentle breeze had risen, softly blowing toward Yang Jiande.
Yet this seemingly weightless strike made Yang Jiande's expression change abruptly. Gripping his not-yet-completed war spear, he thrust directly into the void!
The mighty formation churned the kill-aura, and under military strategy, transformed it into a withered yellow wind.
It blew straight toward him.
A touch of crimson stained the spear tip. Yang Jiande activated the Blood Demon Art of Severing Emotions and Eradicating Desires and thrust his spear at the wind.
But the war spear was swept aside with ease, and the wind bore down upon his face.
Green turns to yellow, leaves leave the branches.
Vitality departs, withering silence arrives.
Boundless fallen leaves descend in rustling cascade—this was the killing of decay!
Yang Jiande suddenly opened his mouth and spat, and plume after plume of blood fire shot from his throat, crashing forward one after another.
The blood fire collided with the withering wind.
They struck each other and annihilated each other.
Yet eerily, not a sound was produced.
It was as if a still painting hung in the sky, the entire firmament serving as its backdrop—half withered yellow, half crimson.
Only within this silence did occasional sounds arise.
At first one had to listen closely to catch them, but gradually... they became deafening!
It was the tramp of military boots upon the ground, the clash of armor scales, the beat of war drums, the roar of battle cries, the sound of every charge.
The withered yellow wind unfurled in midair, and in an instant, it manifested countless soldiers charging forward.
Looking closely, beneath every withered yellow suit of armor in that vision, there was not a single human form—under each helmet was nothing but a wisp of withered yellow autumn wind!
The autumn wind sweeping the fallen leaves—truly merciless.
As the saying goes, "breaking the rotten and rending the decayed"—what is withered, what is decrepit, shall be decided in a single battle and swept clean.
This transformation was unstoppable, its edge impossible to withstand.
This was the killing of withering!
Facing this killing, Yang Jiande did not dodge, did not evade. He even leveled his spear and charged head-on.
Both hands gripping the spear, his body soaring through the air, his feet crossing as he strode forward in a rush.
Alone, charging against the military formation and kill-aura commanded by Chongxuan Chuliang!
Unstoppable, and I shall stop it! Unstoppable, and I shall block it!
Alone he barred the way against a thousand armies and ten thousand cavalry, one spear facing the strongest soldiers under heaven!
This great battle had already raged for a long time.
It was a war whose outcome perhaps had long been decided.
Yet for those caught within it... who would be willing to believe?
The Blood Demon Art of Severing Emotions and Eradicating Desires—at its core lay the word "blood."
Since ancient times, blood was thicker than water, and thus to sever emotion and eradicate desire, one must slay one's own blood kin.
Yang Jiande, alone with his spear, charging against the Autumn Kill Army—this scene looked both tragic and heroic.
His footsteps striding through the air grew heavier and heavier with each step.
Every step, as if trampling upon the heart.
Then in the vision of the killing of withering, a sudden pillar of blood qi surged skyward!
At first glance, it looked very much like the Beacon of Vital Blood of a Military cultivator.
Yet only the Autumn Kill Army soldiers who were inside it knew the truth—that was their own blood qi, suddenly torn from their bodies and "wrenched" skyward!