Honghuang: My understanding is beyond belief. I am the first immortal of Jiejiao.

On the other side, a man dressed as a cook, who had previously been inconspicuous and squatting in the corner, suddenly jumped up.

What he held in his hand was a gleaming, gleaming, and chillingly sharp blade—a butcher's knife!

"I'm just a pig butcher, I can't stand seeing good things being wasted!"

The cook let out a muffled roar, his body spreading like a roc, swooping down from mid-air, his butcher knife drawing a simple yet incredibly fast arc of light that left only a blur!

"Sizzle—!!"

As the blade flashed, the hundred or so iron cavalrymen at the forefront froze in their tracks.

The next second, their heavy armor, the leather lining, and even their warhorses were thrown into an invisible shredder, instantly disintegrating into countless fingernail-sized pieces, mixed with thick blood and internal organ fragments, splashing all over the ground, forming a nauseating swamp of blood and flesh!
The cook landed, wiped the blood splattered on his face, looked at the blood-free butcher knife in his hand, and grinned憨厚ly.

"At least this knife wasn't wasted."

The 300,000 Indian cavalry were now in complete chaos! Their commander was killed instantly, and the "lambs" they thought they could slaughter at will had suddenly turned into ferocious beasts that would devour anyone they could!
A terrifying wolf king at the Void Returning Realm is rampaging through the army, each strike taking away countless lives; a seemingly old woman wields a thousand sword energies with a wave of her hand, beheading as easily as cutting grass; a simple-minded farmer smashes men and horses with three punches; a cook wields a butcher's knife, cutting people down like slicing tofu...

This is no ordinary city! This is clearly a den of dragons and tigers! A lair of demons disguised as mortals! These seemingly ordinary people all possess cultivation levels of at least the Golden Core stage?! Has the Tang Dynasty descended into such chaos? Instead of establishing sects and enjoying offerings, Golden Core experts are here working as farmers, cooks, and sweepers?!
"Devils! They are all devils!"

"Run! Run now!!"

"The city gate! Retreat through the breach in the city gate!!"

Extreme fear destroyed all fighting spirit and discipline. The charging formation of 300,000 cavalrymen completely collapsed. Everyone wished they had two more legs. They turned their horses around and rushed towards the huge breach in the city wall that they had blasted open, hoping to escape this terrifying "meat grinder" even if it meant losing half of their men!

However, just as they surged towards the breach like a frightened herd of beasts, seemingly on the verge of escaping this nightmarish city—

Outside the gap, the once empty wilderness and the city walls on both sides were now densely packed with people!
At a glance, there are at least a hundred people!

Some rode flying swords, some rode the gentle breeze, some stood in mid-air, and some sat steadily on the walls. There were men, women, young and old, dressed in various styles: there were wandering swordsmen, merchants, woodcutters, scholars, and even a few minor officials in their robes!
Without exception, each of them emanated varying degrees of spiritual energy fluctuations, the weakest being the Golden Core aura, while the strongest even faintly exuded the pressure of the Nascent Soul stage! Their expressions were cold and stern, their eyes sharp as knives, and their weapons and magical artifacts gleamed with a cold light. They had already formed a semi-circular encirclement, perfectly blocking the cavalry's only escape route!
More than a hundred powerful auras merged into one, forming an invisible, suffocating pressure that stood like an impregnable wall before the terrified Indian cavalry.

Escape? Where to escape to?
Ahead lay the ferocious wolf king and a group of cunning "neighbors" pretending to be weak, while behind them was an iron wall of over a hundred cultivators at least at the Golden Core stage! These 300,000 elite Indian troops, who had originally been full of momentum and eager to massacre the city and gain merit, were now trapped like turtles in a jar, in a desperate situation with no way out!

The hundred or so men blocking the breach in the city wall, their auras intertwined, exuded a prison-like pressure. Although their numbers were far fewer than the 300,000 cavalry, they instilled in these already terrified Indian elites a despair even deeper than when facing a thousand troops.

Upon closer inspection, the hundred or so people were strangely similar in their attire—most wore coarse cloth short jackets commonly seen in the marketplace, some stained with oil, some smelling of fish, and some covered in flour. Some had greasy aprons tied around their waists, some were unconsciously rubbing a few copper coins in their hands, and some had a towel draped over their shoulders...

They looked like a group of vendors and cooks who had just come from a bustling market, or even from the same vegetable market.

In fact, it is true.

One of the seemingly leading, ruddy-faced old men, who looked like a chef in a restaurant, stroked a non-existent beard on his chin. Looking at the terrified Indian cavalrymen huddled together in the gap like lambs to the slaughter, he sighed, his voice loud and straightforward, like a common street slang.

"Sigh, I was hoping to find a quiet stall in this great place of the Tang Dynasty, where doors are left unlocked at night and lost items are not picked up, to sell breakfast and braised dishes, teach the neighbors a few of their signature dishes, and live out my old body peacefully until retirement, which would be a good end."

Who would have thought... those bald monks in the west are so dishonest! They treated the agreed-upon agreement like a fart, daring to send troops to launch a sneak attack, and even wanting to massacre the city? Do they really think our Great Tang is a pushover, that we old folks can't lift a sword anymore?

An old woman selling fish nearby, who was holding a scaler, spat and cursed upon hearing this.

"Exactly! I've spent half my life fighting with fish and shrimp on the East China Sea coast. I finally managed to get ashore and settle down in this snowy city in the western border of the Tang Dynasty. All I want is peace and quiet, and friendly neighbors."

This weather may be a bit cold, but people's hearts are warm! Anyone who dares to disrupt this peace, no matter what kind of Buddhist or heavenly soldiers they are, I'll be the first to object!

A man carrying a straw target made of candied hawthorns, yet with muscles bulging like an iron tower, echoed in a buzzing voice.

"That's what I love about the Tang Dynasty—it's fair! People earn their living based on their skills, not their background! I fled from the north, all I had was my brute strength. It was the Tang Dynasty that took me in, gave me a way to survive, and allowed me to support my mother with these candied hawthorns! Anyone who attacks the Tang Dynasty is taking away my livelihood! They're destroying my way of life!"

These hundred-odd people, speaking one after another, used rough language, but their emotions were genuine.

They came from all corners of the country, with diverse backgrounds, and gathered in the Tang Dynasty for various reasons, hiding among the common people of this snow-covered city. Perhaps they had glorious or shameful pasts, but here, they found peace and belonging.

This "heart of returning to Tang" might have been just the satisfaction of daily life, but when the Buddhist kingdom of India tore up the agreement and launched a surprise attack, trying to completely destroy the peace they cherished, that deep-seated emotion turned into a raging fire and an unquestionable will to protect it!

They admire the peace and inclusiveness of the Tang Dynasty and despise the treachery and bloody atrocities of India. This is the simplest and most resolute reason why they stand up without hesitation at this moment!
The 300,000 surviving cavalrymen, listening to the words of these "commoners," seeing the undisguised killing intent and the determination to defend their homeland in their eyes, and feeling the overwhelming, almost tangible, powerful pressure, had their last shred of hope completely shattered.

They knew that the situation was hopeless, and that they were likely to be completely wiped out today!
"Fight them! Charge out!!"

Even in dire straits, some fierce individuals let out desperate roars, trying to muster their last bit of courage for a final gamble. However, what responded to them was the almost perfectly synchronized movements of the hundred or so people.

There were no complex formations or dazzling spell intros.

Those hundred or so seemingly ordinary "vendors" simply raised their various "weapons" in unison—kitchen knives, rolling pins, scales, iron pots, carrying poles, and even a straw target with candied hawthorns stuck in it!
Then, he simply swung his sword down at the dark torrent of cavalry crowding inside and outside the gap below!

"Buzz—!!!"

The instant they swung their "weapons," a sudden change occurred! Over a hundred streams of spiritual energy, varying in strength and attribute, resonated and converged in a mysterious way! They did not merge into one, but rather, like hundreds of rivers flowing into the sea, they condensed in the void above the gap into a gigantic phantom "blade" whose size was beyond description!
This giant blade is neither a knife nor a sword, and it is about ten thousand feet long. Its entire body is composed of countless mixed yet extremely condensed spiritual energy, blood energy, the atmosphere of the marketplace, and even the faint sounds of reading aloud and hawking!

It has no fixed form, as if it carries the individual life fragments of these hundred-odd people and their shared will at this moment, with a tyrannical, direct, and unquestionable destructive power!

The giant blade took shape almost without pause, and slashed down towards the area where the cavalry was most concentrated below!

There was no earth-shattering roar, only a dull hum as if space itself were being forcibly sliced ​​and crushed. Wherever the giant blade passed, light distorted, air was annihilated, and a brief vacuum was created!
Below, those elite cavalrymen, clad in heavy armor and even imbued with protective Buddhist light, appeared as insignificant as dust before this colossal blade.

"No--!!"

The desperate cries had barely begun when they were mercilessly drowned out.

The giant blade fell like a hot knife cutting into solidified butter.

Without a sound, a "blank zone" hundreds of meters wide and several miles long appeared instantly in the crowded cavalry!
Within this "blank zone," everything—humans, horses, armor, weapons, and even the ground beneath their feet—was wiped away the instant they came into contact with the giant blade's phantom, as if erased by the finest eraser, turning into the finest dust without leaving a single drop of blood or a piece of flesh; it simply vaporized and dissipated!
A rough estimate suggests that at least tens of thousands of cavalrymen were instantly wiped out by this attack, leaving no trace of their bodies!

This isn't some kind of battle between cultivators; it's a real, highly efficient battlefield meat grinder! A ruthless crushing of power by rules and scale!
The cavalrymen who were lucky enough to be on the edge of the giant blade and not directly vaporized were also shaken by the terrifying aftershock, their internal organs dislocated, they spat out blood, collapsed to the ground, their eyes filled with boundless fear and blankness.

The combined power of the more than one hundred "vendors" completely shattered their last shred of courage to resist, and also caused their already terrified and specially trained warhorses to completely collapse!
"Hiss—!"

Countless warhorses let out mournful cries, no longer under the control of their riders. Some collapsed to their knees, throwing their riders off their backs; some foamed at the mouth, convulsed, and died on the spot; and many more went mad, spinning and charging in place, making the already chaotic formation even more disorganized.

"The Yellow River has breached its banks! Run!!"

Someone shouted this, and the remaining 200,000 cavalrymen were completely disorganized. Like ants in a swarm, or like the Yellow River bursting its banks, they surged and crashed in all directions, especially at the breach in the city wall that seemed to be their way out.
At that moment, only one thought occupied their minds—escape! Escape this city of demons! Escape those cunning "neighbors" who were pretending to be weak while actually being strong! Escape that terrifying wolf king! Escape that gigantic blade!

Military discipline, formation, comrades—all were thrown to the wind. People jostled each other, horses bumped into each other, and countless people trampled on one another!
Many cavalrymen didn't even die at the hands of the enemy, but were trampled to death by their comrades who surged forward from behind, their bones broken and their flesh turned into mincemeat! The scene was extremely chaotic and bloody, with screams, neighing horses, the sound of bones breaking, and the clanging of armor all blending together. A true rout had already taken place.

Only now did these arrogant Indian cavalry realize with absolute clarity that the breach in the city wall, which they had regarded as a breakthrough point and which had been smashed open, was not a gateway to victory at all.
That was clearly a gaping maw of abyss, waiting for its prey to walk right into its trap! The previous successful raid was simply a deliberate act by the enemy to lure them into a trap! These 300,000 so-called "surprise troops" were not tigers sent to slaughter the city, but rather fat sheep delivered to the tiger's teeth!
Inside the Snowstorm City, beside the ruins of the lecture hall, the schoolteacher, who had already reverted to his true form as a silver wolf, watched the Indian cavalry flee like headless flies, killing each other in disarray. A hint of human-like satisfaction flashed in his icy blue wolf eyes.

He turned to the eager "students" around him and spoke loudly.

"Dear students, did you see that? The last easy question on the final exam is here—pursue the defeated enemy and expand the victory! Be careful, act within your capabilities, but also strive for excellence. This is related to your practical course grade and whether you complete the bonus question!"

"Understood!!"

The crowd roared in agreement, their faces beaming with excitement. For these seemingly ordinary people, hidden among the common folk yet possessing extraordinary skills, this was indeed a rare opportunity for a "real-world test." Moreover, their opponents were terrified routs, greatly reducing the danger and making it the perfect time to rack up points!

The Snow Wolf King himself seemed to be under some "performance pressure" and appeared particularly "anxious".

He raised his huge wolf head and let out a long, desolate, and extremely penetrating wolf howl towards the vast wilderness outside the Snowstorm City and the distant, faintly visible mountain ranges!
"Awooo!!!"

The wolf howls spread out instantly like invisible ripples, penetrating the city walls, sweeping across the battlefield, and rolling towards the desolate mountains, wilderness, and snow-covered valleys beyond the border city!

That wolf howl seemed to be a signal, a call.

Almost instantly, before the echoes of the wolf's howl had even faded—

"Awooo—!!"

"Ouch——!!!"

"Roar--!!"

From all directions outside the Snowstorm City, amidst the seemingly silent and desolate mountains, snowfields, and dense forests, a terrifying ocean of wolf howls suddenly erupted, rising and falling in waves, numbering in the thousands! The sounds, some high-pitched, some low, some fierce, some distant, were filled with savage power and ferocious fighting spirit, as if ancient beasts, dormant for countless years, had awakened all at once! (End of Chapter)