ryethenovel Chapter 1115 Since things have come to this point, let's die a respectable death.
Chapter 1115 Since things have come to this point, let's die a respectable death.
Beneath the clouds, a faint wisp of purplish-black energy was rising, exactly the same as the demonic energy vortex he had seen on the ninth floor of the Demon Suppression Tower.
This hunt is probably no ordinary hunt.
The group walked for another half a day.
As it was getting dark, Amu, who had been scouting ahead, suddenly ran back.
Behind him followed a group of about two or three hundred people, all covered in blood, their armor tattered, as if they had just crawled out of a pile of corpses.
The leader was an old man with completely white hair, whose armor bore the same clan emblem as Tuoba Shan's—a snow-covered mountain peak.
They are descendants of the White Frost clan.
Zhang Yuan reined in his horse, and Tuoba Shan had already jumped off the ox's back to meet him.
When the old man saw Tuoba Shan and the three thousand soldiers behind him, he was stunned for a moment, and then grabbed Tuoba Shan's arm.
His fingers were trembling, the blood on his knuckles had dried and turned black, and every crevice between his fingers was filled with mud and blood.
He said something happened at Jiuling Mountain.
The monsters are gathering on a scale never seen before.
Iron-spine bulls, gray-maned wolves, purple-eyed pythons, and many other magical beasts whose names he couldn't recall gathered at Jiuling Mountain from all directions.
The main force of Liuyun Village was surrounded in the valley, the reinforcements from Shilei Fort were intercepted halfway, and the light cavalry of Jifeng Camp charged three times but failed to break in.
The White Frost Clan originally camped outside the mountain, but last night their camp was overrun by a beast tide, and the clan leader's army is now trapped in the valley.
These hundreds of people were brought out by the clan chief himself covering their retreat; they came to deliver a message.
“He told me to tell you—” the old man’s voice was hoarse, like sand grinding against each other, each word forced out from his throat, “Don’t worry about us.”
"Preserve your strength, take reinforcements and retreat north to Shilei Fort to find help, and then come back—to collect the corpses."
Yuan Mu stepped forward, clasped his hands in greeting to Zhang Yuan, and said, "Senior Zhang, the main branch of the Bai Shuang clan is trapped. This is no small matter."
"Although these three thousand people are elite, the number of magical beasts they have gathered is probably far more than three thousand."
"If we rush over rashly, we may be wiped out."
He paused, his voice lowering slightly.
"This force under your command is the strongest of the White Frost Clan. If they are lost here, the White Frost Clan will never have the chance to rise again. We should preserve our strength and plan for the long term."
Zhang Yuan remained silent.
He turned to look at Tuoba Shan.
All eyes turned to Tuoba Shan.
Everyone present was a descendant of the White Frost Clan.
The one trapped is the patriarch of the Bai Shuang clan, a member of the main branch of the Tuoba tribe.
Whether to save him or not, Zhang Yuan couldn't make that decision.
This is their people, their blood, their lives, and they decide for themselves.
Tuoba Shan stood still, looking down at the hand that held the spear.
His fingers were bulging with veins from the effort.
He paused for a few breaths before looking up at Zhang Yuan.
His eyes were a little red, but there was no hesitation in his gaze.
"Senior, we used to be unable to even defeat a Demon-Patterned Leopard."
"Uncle Ayan almost had his ribs ripped through by claws, Uncle Amu almost had his neck broken by a pounce, and Uncle Tie couldn't even pull his axe back after swinging it out."
"Three months ago, we were a group of prey hiding in this forest."
"It was you, senior, who taught us how to fight, how to defend, and how to use our strength effectively."
“In three months, we went from being chased and bitten by the Demon-Patterned Leopards to being able to hunt twenty-three Black-Maned Beasts, and then just now we easily slaughtered five hundred Demon Wolves.” He took a deep breath and said, “The White Frost Clan never abandons their own people. Senior, I will listen to you. If you tell us to fight, we will fight.”
Behind him, Tuoba Tie remained silent.
He slammed the heavy axe into the ground, the blade sinking three inches into the earth.
Amu slung the sandalwood bow over his back and stood behind Tuoba Shan.
Ayan led the line, and everyone clasped their hands in a fist salute at the same time.
Hundreds of fists pounded on the breastplate, the sound as dull as a drum.
Zhang Yuan looked into the eyes of these men.
Every pair of eyes was red, but not a single one was looking back.
He nodded, turned his horse around, and faced the direction of Jiuling Mountain.
"Set off."
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Jiuling Mountain.
The wind in the valley stopped. When there's no wind, the smell of blood lingers at the bottom of the valley.
The smell was so strong it was almost overwhelming.
Taking a breath into my lungs felt like drinking a mouthful of rusty water.
The people of Liuyun Village have been guarding this valley for a day and a night.
The tent had long since burned down.
Food supplies have also run out.
The arrows destroyed most of them.
The groans of the wounded soldiers have been constant since last night.
By daybreak, several of them had fallen silent.
The living dragged their bodies aside and covered them with charred tent cloth.
No one cried.
I don't have the strength to cry.
A sentry ran back from the front.
His face was covered in mud and blood.
A claw mark ran diagonally from his forehead to his chin, and his left eye was so swollen that it was only a slit.
He ran to the village chief Yan He, panting so hard he couldn't speak a complete sentence, only pointing trembling fingers at the entrance of the valley.
Yan He did not ask.
He has already seen it.
Outside the valley entrance, the hillside was covered with a dense swarm of wolves, like a gray tide.
The number is at least double that of yesterday.
They didn't howl, they didn't charge, they just lay there quietly.
Hundreds of wolf eyes glowed with an eerie green light in the dim light, like will-o'-the-wisps covering the mountains and fields.
Further away, the back of the Iron-Spine Bull could be seen intermittently in the bushes.
Those bulls were a size larger than usual.
Dried bloodstains clung to the cow's horns.
It's unclear whether it's human blood or blood from something else.
Several purple-eyed demonic apes sat on the back of an ox, sharpening their claws with stones.
The sound of the stone scraping against the tip of the claw was very soft.
But in the deathly silent valley, the sound reached everyone's ears clearly.
Like a knife tip slicing through bone.
Yan He stared at it for a long time.
Then he turned and walked back into the formation.
His steps were steady, just as steady as when he was patrolling the camp.
He walked to the tattered banner of the Flowing Clouds and bent down to pick up his long sword.
There were three cuts on the blade, and there were also congealed blood clots on the edge.
He wiped the blade with his sleeve, unsheathed the scabbard, and threw it on the ground.
The scabbard struck the gravel with a soft thud.
"The young men of Liuyun Village."
His voice wasn't loud, but everyone around him heard it.
His voice was so hoarse it was unbearable.
He has been shouting from yesterday to today.
They shouted for troops to form ranks, for the enemy to hold their ground, and for the enemy to block the breaches, repeating these commands over and over again.
As I shout, every word I utter feels like sandpaper scraping my throat.
"I, Yan He, have guarded Liuyun Village for forty years."
He paused, held the knife horizontally, and looked at his reflection on the blade.
A blood-stained face was reflected on the blade, the gray beard stuck together in clumps of blood, and an old scar on the brow bone throbbed slightly.
"I never thought I'd die in this wretched valley. But since I've come this far, I might as well die gracefully."
"Chieftain—"
A young hunter's eyes reddened. (End of Chapter)