In order to become a Heroic Spirit, I had no choice but to cause trouble in history.

The spear was thrown from a distance, and with great force, it pierced directly into Zhujian's large eye, which was attached to his human body, splattering a spray of blood.

What followed was a high leap.

A glint flashed in Zero's eyes. He punched Zhujian in the jaw, spun around, and placed his spear upright below Zhujian's throat.

"Drink up—!"

puff--

With immense force, the spear, which Zero had placed beforehand, pierced right through Zhujian's head.

Zhujian died on the ground before he could even roar.

"Isshiki! Are you alright?" Zero grabbed Isshiki's arm and pulled him down.

"It's okay, my legs are a little numb... This thing's head is really hard!" Ichishi said, grimacing.

"It's good that you're alright." Zero smiled.

Ji Chao nodded as he stood at a distance.

------------

Chapter 767 Still Inhuman

"Hey, Wenju, wake up." Ji Chao patted Wenju's face, a little helpless.

"Huh?...Ah!?" Wen Ju opened her eyes in a daze, then suddenly realized something, sat up abruptly, and looked around in horror.

Then he saw Ji Chao and Zero-Type 1, both covered in blood.

"I—" he said, about to roll his eyes again.

"Don't sleep! We have to go out." Ji Chao shook Wen Ju abruptly, waking her up completely.

"No, sir, what's going on? I, you, you all..." Wen Ju stammered, on the verge of tears.

"We'll talk about the specifics later. Zero and First Type have already cleared out the alien races gathered outside this formation. Let's hurry over while we have this opportunity." Ji Chao had already carried his sleeping mat and other things on his back and looked towards the border. "If we don't hurry over now, a lot of alien monsters will gather on this edge again in a few hours, and we'll have to clear them out again."

"Huh? Again!?" Wen Ju also quickly got up, hurriedly gathered his sleeping mat and belongings, and followed behind the three of them.

Zhujian's enormous corpse still lay at the foot of the mountain, and Wenju felt a chill run down his spine as he passed by.

"Lord Xiang, what... what exactly is this?"

"This creature is called Zhujian, one of the many spirits, and one of the more powerful ones." Ji Chao had already crossed the boundary and truly arrived outside the great formation. Looking at Wen Ju, who was still inside the formation, he said, "Before the end of the Shang Dynasty, when the gods had not yet disappeared, these spirits were often active in the Central Plains. But now, they can only wreak havoc in this foreign land."

Type-0 and Type-1 also crossed the border, leaving only Wen Ju. After glancing at Zhu Jian's corpse a couple more times, he finally crossed the border.

"Lord Xiang... although it's a bit late to ask this now, who exactly are you people?" Wen Ju looked at Ji Chao with a pained expression. This situation, where only he didn't understand the current situation, was too frustrating.

Ji Chao smiled and answered irrelevantly, "Wen Ju, what do you think will happen to the Central Plains if the Zhujian re-enter, now that they have forgotten how to deal with it?"

"Huh?" Wen Ju scratched his head, unsure how to answer.

"The gods have disappeared, but the spirits remain. In order to protect the Central Plains, the gods have set up a great formation to leave a glimmer of hope for the people of the Central Plains."

"Furthermore, due to the wear and tear of time and the Great Source, the Great Formation gradually lost its effectiveness. As a backup plan, the immortals naturally arranged for hundreds of years in advance."

"I am the one who responded to the Lord and the gods to take that final step."

Ji Chao smiled at Wen Ju, and his hands once again formed a magic seal, causing the great formation to slowly close.

Wen Ju was still somewhat confused, but Ji Chao turned and left, saying, "Let's go. It's a long journey, and you'll find out everything sooner or later."

......

Along the way, we encountered many demons and earth wolves, and occasionally even met Ao Yin and Tu Lou, but with Zero and First Style around, there was nothing to be afraid of.

"Haa...haa...don't you guys feel like it's getting a little hard to breathe?" More than a month had passed since they entered the country. It was December, and the weather was already cold, but it got even colder because of the increased altitude.

Ji Chao and Wen Ju were both wrapped in thick furs to keep warm, while Zero and I were still wearing thin clothes.

Wen Ju felt a little out of breath and stopped to rest for a while.

"You seem to be experiencing some altitude sickness. Take a rest for a bit." Ji Chao smiled, spread his sleeping mat on the bluestone next to him, and sat down on the ground.

"Ahhh, I'm saved, I'm saved..." Wen Ju immediately did as she was told, and despite the cold, she still lay on her sleeping mat.

"Would you like some of the water I boiled earlier?" Ji Chao handed Wen Ju the kettle, and Wen Ju took it and gulped down two or three mouthfuls.

Type-0 and Type-1 stood not far away, like two iron towers. Type-1 would often look around, while Type-0 would only nod occasionally.

"Lord Xiang, who exactly are Zero and Ishiki? I remember you said they were your sons, but I always feel something's off about them." Wen Ju looked at the taciturn Zero and Ishiki with a puzzled expression and asked Ji Chao.

“They are indeed my sons, but they are not my biological children with the woman. They are artificial humans that I created using the remains of an immortal,” Ji Chao replied casually, without hiding anything.

"Huh? Huh? I see..." After spending so much time with the three of them, Wen Ju was able to stop being so surprised when she heard unexpected news.

Artificial humans, humans created by humans?

"It sounds like some kind of mechanism or something." Wen Ju spoke frankly, truthfully expressing her feelings.

“It is indeed a machine.” Ji Chao nodded. “Right now, they have not yet developed true humanity. Although they are called people, they are not real people. They are just self-disciplined machines. If they do not receive orders, they will not even act.”

"But... as their father, creator, and leader, I firmly believe that one day in the future they will be born with true humanity, thus breaking free from their machine identity and becoming true 'people'."

"After all, even an artificial human is still a human."

"As long as you are human, you will be changed by time and environment, thus losing your simplicity and becoming complex. This is something that every 'person' will experience, and I believe they will too."

"It seems you truly treat them like children, my lord. That's wonderful." Wen Ju sat up, cross-legged on the sleeping mat, her hands pressing against her ankles. "Speaking of which, my lord, why did you decide to escape from the great formation to save the Central Plains?"

"You can deduce how painful and torturous this journey has been; you already know, right?"

Wen Ju shivered as she spoke.

After emerging from the grand formation, their experience was indeed one of pain and torment.

He endured wind and rain, sometimes hungry and sometimes full, and had to face heavy snow and cold, as well as dealing with alien races and monsters that would occasionally jump out from the roadside. If Wen Ju hadn't already had nothing to worry about, he might have gone mad or died long ago.

"You're asking about this? Hmm..."

"It's probably something like motivation. I find it strange. Generally speaking, no one would be willing to do something so difficult, right?" Wen Ju shook his head, his eyes darkening slightly.

Ji Chao glanced at Wen Ju, exhaled a puff of white breath, and smiled.

"If I had to put it in a way, it would be that he was a talent scout and a future leader!"

That's all!

Seeing Ji Chao laughing loudly, Wen Ju was stunned for a moment, then smiled as well.

"When you saved me by the river, I wanted to say something, Lord Xiang..."

Wenju gave a thumbs up.

"You're such a great man!"

---Aside---

Tu Lou: There is a beast that looks like a sheep but has four horns. It is called Tu Lou and it eats people.

Ao Yin: In the western wilderness there is a creature, about the size of a human, dressed in tattered, patched clothes, with tiger claws in its hands, named Mo. It waits for a person to travel alone, then eats their brains, or its tongue protrudes more than ten feet from the ground. If a person first makes a sound, they should burn a large stone and throw it at its tongue, at which point it will die. Otherwise, it eats human brains.

------------

Chapter 768 A Body Lacking Intelligence

In 226 BC, in Xianyang, the Central Plains.

Qin general Li Xin knelt on one knee below, holding a plate in his hand, on which was placed a human head that was already somewhat rotten and smelly.

That head was none other than the severed head of Prince Dan of Yan.

A few days ago, Wang Jian and Xin Sheng defeated the Yan and Dai allied forces west of the Yi River, and led their troops straight to the Yan capital of Ji City, forcing King Xi of Yan to retreat eastward and hand over the head of Crown Prince Dan to ensure his own safety.

King Zheng of Qin looked at the severed head and sneered.

"Li Xin has rendered meritorious service in the campaign against Yan and should be rewarded!"

He gestured for the disgusting head to be taken away, after which the meritorious officials would be rewarded, and then new orders would be issued.

I wonder how Chao Di is doing now?

......

"Cough—drink it!"

The Type 0 and Type 1 fighters were having a great time, fighting their way in and out of the alien tribes.

This is a tribe of Aoin. Aoin look very much like humans, but are much stronger than humans, and among their favorite foods are humans. They are a very dangerous alien race.

“This number is truly terrifying.” Ji Chao stood to the side, his expression grave.

As far as the eye could see, there were at least a thousand Ao Yin, and mixed in with hundreds of demons, as well as countless earth wolves and earthworms tamed by them.

"The alien races have already learned to gather... No wonder, no wonder we need to prevent them. If these alien races were to enter the Central Plains, even just this one group would have unimaginable consequences."

Even an ordinary Ao Yin can fight against more than a dozen Meng Han, and there are more than a thousand of them here, not to mention the incredibly strong Earth Wolves and the Tu Lou with their incredibly hard horns.

Wen Ju stood expressionless to the side. I didn't know either, and I didn't dare to ask.

He no longer gets surprised so easily; he just feels that the "alien races" Ji Chao mentioned are really ugly.

The earth wolf and the earth ant are alright, after all, they look like wild beasts, and in some ways they're quite handsome. But the demon and the arrogant one... well, let's not even talk about them, they're all more bizarre than the other.

Ji Chao pinched his chin and pursed his lips.

The tribe of Aoyin in front of them was already quite threatening, and if nothing unexpected happened, there were at least dozens of similar foreign tribes in the territory of the Qiang people.

No wonder the Qiang people, who are inherently brave and fierce, were suppressed by these ghostly creatures and could hardly breathe.

Besides the Qiang tribes, there were also the Wusun and Yuezhi to the north, the Yelang, Ailao, and Dianyue to the south, the Xiongnu further north, and the Fuyu and Woju tribes to the northeast from the Central Plains.

There's not much to worry about with the Xiongnu; the Xiongnu are nomadic hunters and hunters, which actually helps them suppress other tribes. It's the other side that's more difficult to deal with.

Originally, the Central Plains could have steadily suppressed these alien races, but the Central Plains has suffered from internal strife for years. Even disregarding the factor of immortals, it is less than one-tenth of its most prosperous period. If it were the Central Plains of the past, what use would it be if there were many alien races?

"Ah, the monster has come out!" Wen Ju exclaimed in surprise.

"It's just a peephole. We can leave it to Zero Style 1." Ji Chao glanced up and then ignored it. It was just a monster. Even if it was strong individually, it posed no threat to the Central Plains if it didn't come in a group. Just kill it.

The only people he cared about were the groups of foreign tribes that posed a huge threat to the Central Plains.