The Immortal Clan begins with deductive intelligence.

Chapter 100 Blood Qi

Since all these demonic beasts were easy military merits to obtain, Xu Changqing had no reason to let them slip through his fingers.

He focused his mind and drew his bow to its fullest extent, aiming for an arrow like a shooting star.

The movements were fluid and seamless, without the slightest hesitation.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sound of the bowstring vibrating was incessant, and one after another, the demonic birds fell to the ground.

Xu Changqing felt a slight warmth in his right arm, and when he reached for his waist, his fingertips touched nothing.

The quiver is empty.

Xu Changqing frowned slightly, about to call for his auxiliary soldiers to bring arrows.

"then!"

A rough, low shout came from the side.

The wind howled, and a bulging animal skin quiver flew through the air.

Xu Changqing reached out and caught it steadily.

He turned his head and saw a centurion, clad in heavy black iron armor and with a hideous scar on his cheek, leaning against the parapet, holding a jug of strong liquor, looking at him with amusement.

"Impressive arm strength."

The centurion tilted his head back and took a swig of liquor; the pungent smell of the liquor was particularly pungent amidst the stench of blood.

"Whose child are you? Did you practice archery in the army before joining the camp?"

Xu Changqing hung the quiver back on his waist, casually drew a quiver and nocked it, saying in a flat tone, "I've never trained. I just do some hunting for a living at home. I'm naturally strong and have some accuracy."

"Born with great strength?"

The centurion chuckled, a glint of disdain flashing in his eyes.

This standard-issue horn bow used in the military is called "Cloud Piercer".

An ordinary cultivator in the mid-stage of Qi Refining would experience fluctuating Qi and blood, and numbness in their arms, after firing more than ten arrows with this bow.

The young man in the green robe in front of me, without even breaking a sweat, fired arrows in rapid succession, at least twenty in total, and every single one was fully drawn.

Such endurance and control over the body cannot be simply explained away by saying "naturally strong".

However, Black Wind Pass is a mixed bag, and everyone has their secrets.

The centurion didn't delve into it, merely scoffing, "I thought this time the conscripts were all cowards who would only cower behind the formations, but I didn't expect to find a guy with guts in here."

Xu Changqing was not swayed by the praise and fired another arrow.

While the surrounding cultivators were frantically casting spells and shooting arrows, the centurion who was in charge nearby was drinking as if nothing had happened.

"Sir, as the commander-in-chief, with the demonic tide besieging the gates, your leisurely demeanor is surely not a violation of military law?"

Xu Changqing shot an arrow, piercing a fire crow, and asked without turning his head.

"Military law? Of course not."

The centurion wiped the wine stains from his beard, his cloudy eyes looking over the city wall at the battlefield below, which was churning like boiling porridge.

"Now is not the time for me to draw my sword."

"Boy, stop and take a look. Don't you find it strange?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Changqing paused slightly in his movements.

"Those charging ahead are all low-grade, first-tier water beasts, and many of them are even wild beasts that have not yet awakened their intelligence."

"Not all demons are fools. Why are they rushing headlong into the city walls like moths to a flame, only wasting our arrows and talismans?"

"Could it be that they're deliberately sending us military merits and supplies?"

Xu Changqing narrowed his eyes slightly and, following the centurion's direction, focused his gaze downwards.

Beneath the clear glow of the mirage pearl, the area beneath the Demon-Slaying Embankment was already piled high with corpses.

Countless demonic beasts rushed forward, only to be blasted to pieces by the magic and arrows raining down from the city walls. Their severed limbs, mixed with mud and blood, piled up layer upon layer at the base of the city walls.

At first glance, it only seemed horrific, without anything unusual.

The corpses of those monsters did not flow away with the river. Instead, because of their sheer number, they became entangled and piled up, forming a slope at the base of the fifty-zhang-high city wall!

The mountains of corpses and seas of blood are rising at a visible rate.

The Demon-Slaying Dike, which was originally towering and seemingly insurmountable, is now being gradually leveled by the ever-rising "corpse ladder," which has an overwhelming "momentum" that once dominated it.

"This is----"

Xu Changqing felt a chill run down his spine.

"Paving the way with corpses."

"That's roughly the idea."

The centurion, seeing that he had figured it out, looked at him with more admiration.

"The great demons of the demon race are using these low-level cannon fodder to fill our moat and build up our foundation."

"Once this mountain of corpses reaches a certain height, those truly powerful beasts, stepping on the bones of their own kind, can easily leap onto the city wall."

Before he could finish speaking...

"roar--!"

A violent roar suddenly erupted, drowning out the thunderous sound of war drums.

Amidst the mountains of corpses and seas of blood below the city, a massive black shadow suddenly leaped up, stepping on the corpses of its own kind, like a black cannonball, and actually managed to leap onto the fifty-zhang-high city wall!

That was an "Ironclad Berserker Bear" covered in iron armor and with blood-red eyes, a first-tier high-grade demonic beast!

"boom!"

The bear landed and smashed several early-stage Qi Refining cultivators who couldn't dodge in time into a bloody pulp.

It swung its millstone-sized bear paws, sweeping them out horizontally.

The protective spiritual light of the two cultivators shattered like eggshells, and they were sent flying like tattered sacks, their breaths fading in mid-air.

"Ah! It's a giant bear!"

"Retreat! Retreat quickly!"

Several young cultivators, who had never seen such a scene before, turned pale with fright and instinctively retreated.

"Those who disrupt the formation will be slain!"

A Qinghe Sword Sect disciple, who was overseeing the battle, shouted coldly, and with a flash of sword light, he became entangled with the raging bear.

But this is just the beginning.

"Gah!"

"6

In the sky, the flock of demonic birds that had been circling suddenly let out a piercing shriek.

Dozens of first-tier mid-to-high-grade demonic birds with wingspans exceeding ten feet folded their wings and swooped down, their target the panicked cultivators on the city wall.

Below, on that mountain of corpses, more and more powerful auras began to emerge, devouring those in their path.

"You can throw away those bows and arrows now, draw your swords!"

With a roar, the centurion charged into a pack of blue wolf demons who had just climbed the wall, his blade flashing and creating a bloody storm.

Xu Changqing did not rush forward. He slightly turned his body and, using the shadow of a stone arrow tower next to him, tucked his left hand into his sleeve and gently stroked the Blood Fiend Bead hidden close to his flesh with his fingertips.

The pearl trembled slightly, and a bloodthirsty aura surged forth.

The green and red hues mingled, and the originally clear and bright wood-elemental spiritual light suddenly became turbid and dark, clinging to the body's surface.

The three-headed, low-grade Tier 1 Ironclad Crab brandished its massive pincers, climbing up from a gap on its side and rear, attacking from both sides in a pincer formation.

Xu Changqing didn't even lift his eyelids, nor did he flinch or dodge.

"Clang! Clang!"

The enormous pincers, powerful enough to sever an ordinary early-stage Qi Refining cultivator in half, slammed heavily onto the dark protective aura surrounding him.

The surface of the light shield rippled slightly with a blood-red hue, creating fine, continuous waves. The three pairs of giant pincers were violently thrown back by an immense force, causing the crab claws to shatter, while the light shield remained completely undamaged.

Xu Changqing knew that if he were to unleash the Palm Thunder under the watchful eyes of so many people, the sheer scale of the attack would surely invite unwarranted trouble.

So he transformed his hands into heavy hammers, unleashing a hidden burst of lightning energy without any fancy moves.

After three muffled thuds, the three-headed armored crab exploded like a ripe berry.

"This Blood Fiend Pearl is truly mysterious."

Xu Changqing felt the spiritual energy within his body being depleted, and his heart calmed down slightly.

If one relies solely on their own spiritual power to withstand the attack, let alone the sixth level of Qi Refining, even the late stage of Qi Refining would not last long.

Now, the Blood Fiend Pearl is continuously devouring the blood energy of the cultivators and demonic beasts who died in battle around it, and replenishing its Blood Qi.

He was essentially wearing a defensive artifact that didn't require him to expend his own true essence.