It doesn't matter what the lord is.

Charge, charge, charge endlessly!

As long as the body can move, run forward desperately. People around are doing the same thing, adrenaline is constantly secreted, and even the fear of death is reduced a lot.

For many people who had just joined the journey north, this was the first war against a foreign race they had seen, and this war also taught them the best lesson.

Everyone wants to survive, but war is never kind.

37. The tip of the iceberg

Lingwu's army opened a bloody road outside the gate where the giants gathered. Countless lives paved a smooth road for the beginning of this expedition. No one knew how many corpses were left outside. The giants' huge bodies stood like hills, and human flesh and blood turned into gurgling streams. The unmelted snow was dyed bright red, and the ice edges were covered with blood threads, like bushes.

After the army passed, the towering gate of the iron wall defense line slowly closed. The giants naturally did not want to miss this last chance. To them, the other side of the gate was heaven. The warm environment, abundant food, and livestock running around all tempted them to launch a crazy attack here.

Thousands of artillery batteries on the iron wall defense line lit up at the same time, like dazzling stars. Rays of light cut through the snowy sky and exploded on the giants' burly bodies, like an invisible wall, blocking their way forward and extinguishing their inner desires.

A giant desperately reached his hand into the last gap of the closed iron gate, trying to pry it open again, but this time the strength they were so proud of was useless. After a short blockage, the gate slammed shut, squeezing the giant's broad and strong hand into a meat paste, and blood gushed out from the broken wrist.

The giant's roar that resounded throughout the heavens and earth was filled with deep resentment and anger. He used his remaining hand to pound the door like crazy, making a series of terrifying bombardments.

The Lingwu Lord never looked back at those rude creatures from beginning to end.

She rode a snow-white horse, her bright red sleeves fluttering in the cold wind like burning flames. People within a radius of hundreds of meters could clearly see her position. Where she was was where Lingwu was, and the route she was on was the route Lingwu was on. Tens of thousands of troops followed her, even the great swordsman Garberd and the great general Zhan Gui beside her were eclipsed.

The red of flame, the red of blood, the red of cinnabar, the red of aged wine.

Combined with the bright gold on the crown, it adds up to the color of the Lingwu Lord.

Following behind her, chasing her back, is a symbol of honor in itself. Lid and Alayya rode on the same horse, galloping forward with the crowd, while Shiloh rode a horse alone, carrying a box containing small slimes, and followed them. Lid could vaguely see the elegant and bright clothes of the Lingwu Lord from the gaps in the army, and the resolute faces of the soldiers in heavy armor.

After marching forward for dozens of miles, Lord Lingwu reined in his horse and stopped, and the tens of thousands of troops behind him also slowly slowed down their pace.

"Right now, there are three roads ahead. Anyone who has walked them knows which one is difficult and which one is easy."

"And now, I have brought 30,000 cavalry and 60,000 infantry. Lingwu will take the most difficult route, but the troops I brought can be divided equally among you."

"Although I have asserted that most of you will not be able to return safely, I think you are at least qualified to live to see the Golden Giant and fight alongside me again."

Lingwu said, raising one arm high.

A total of 90,000 soldiers shouted together, and then the huge army moved quickly, naturally divided into three arrays, each array with 10,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry. The Lingwu Lord did not drag his feet at all, and even when he distributed the proud army of Lingwu to others, there was no ripple on his face. It was not until this time that Lid initially felt Xiao Hei's evaluation of the Lingwu Lord: she always did the right thing at the right time without any hesitation.

The reason for dividing the troops this time is, first, to effectively strike the giants in all directions, and second, because the Golden Giants also have their own range of activities. If the troops are divided into three groups, there is a greater probability of encountering the Golden Giants in advance, and then the special signal flares made by Lingwu will be used to summon other teams. After all, this is a battle outside the Great Wall. In addition to facing the tyrannical giants, the burden of supplies is also very heavy. If you can win the battle quickly, try not to delay it into a protracted war.

After the division of troops was completed, Lord Lingwu took the lead and led his troops northward.

Lid walked at the end and looked back. Little Princess Lana waved to him desperately, but was hit on the head by Plant with a knife. She had to put her hands in front of her chest with a bitter face and waved to Lid secretly. Lid also smiled and waved to him, looked at Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai again, then turned her horse's head and caught up with the team.

The royal team went to the northwest, and the Western Qin and Southern Chu teams went to the northeast.

The three teams left and walked away.

On the wall of the Iron Wall, two soldiers who were supposed to be guarding there fell to the ground. The heavy snow quickly buried them, and no one noticed anything unusual here. Next to the two cold bodies stood two figures, one tall and one short. The tall one was the young man who had instigated the Ceylon Prince Mu Risheng to bet with Li De at the Jubei Inn, claiming to be the Prince of Huai. But now he was doing something terrifying - tearing off his own face.

The face pasted on the outside was casually thrown down the wall, and inside was a face that couldn't be more ordinary. It had similarities with everyone, but it also looked nothing like anyone. If you didn't deliberately remember it, you would forget it after you looked at it, and nothing would remain in your mind at all.

The other was a little girl with scales on her face, who was rubbing her red, frozen face with her hands.

The young man narrowed his eyes and looked at Lingwu's departing army, and said with a smile:

"The troublemakers have finally left. That woman thought she could stop us by sending troops to the border, but she didn't know that we are everywhere. Our shadows can be seen in every place where there is no light."

The little girl next to her blew a big snot bubble and was staring at a falling snowflake in a daze.

The young man rubbed her hair, and her snot bubbles burst. The little girl laughed foolishly and said:

"Brother, many people are going to die."

The young man half-knelt down and brushed the snow off her body, saying calmly:

"Living and dying, everyone is the same. The tragedy of life lies in its fragility. With a slight touch, nothing is left. But it doesn't matter. The era of the old gods has passed. What we believe in will give us infinite life, infinite fear and infinite joy."

The little girl was still smiling foolishly, with a black tinge around the scales on her cheeks and snow falling on her eyelashes. The little girl whispered:

"They will die. All of them. The giants are weapons made by the masters of Kungu. Breaking a weapon means becoming an enemy of its master."

The young man laughed, gently hugged the girl in front of him, and said in a very regretful tone:

"They don't realize it. To put it bluntly, humans are still inextricably linked to the old gods. Countless temples in the Kingdom of Eternal Heaven are praising the reputation of the gods in the sky. But they don't know that the real gods are not in the sky, but... in the sea."

38. Touch it for a while first

When they reached the Giants' territory, the soft falling snow gradually turned into sharp hailstones. Countless tiny ice crystals were extremely destructive to the fragile human body. Only then did the people from other territories understand why the soldiers of Lingwu were all wearing heavy armor. Perhaps only such airtight iron armor could withstand such a severe natural disaster.

There is a reason why giants and dragons are born with thick skin and flesh. Survival of the fittest. If it weren't for their strong physiques, the races living in this climate would have become extinct long ago.

In the first two days, the people from other territories did not take action, because the Lingwu army was indeed too good at fighting. They seemed to have figured out their own way of dealing with the giants, whether it was searching for prey, setting traps, pulling and holding, luring the enemy deep into their territory, or confronting them head-on, they fought in an orderly manner.

Especially the heavy cavalry of Lingwu, which is obviously a level stronger than the cavalry of other territories. Lide was a little skeptical when others said that Lingwu Iron Cavalry was the best in the world. Now seeing that they dared to launch a powerful charge against the giants who were more than ten or twenty meters tall, Lide began to doubt it.

Of course, the strength of the giants is unquestionable.

Lingwu's current tactics are to defeat them one by one, search for lone giants, and use a force several times greater than theirs to beat them to death. Or they can take the initiative to lure the giants living in groups to different places to kill them. In general, the pace is very fast, and they will hardly stay in the same place for too long. Lid has almost never dismounted since he left Lingwu.

But even with such a mature tactical system and terrible execution, casualties were still a number that could not be ignored. After each round of fighting, a large number of Lingwu soldiers died on the battlefield, most of them with no bones left, and many of them only had one hand or one leg left, and it was impossible to tell who was who.

The hot blood quickly froze into red ice cubes.

Lingwu's general Zhan Gui was a burly middle-aged man, about two and a half meters tall, far from a real giant, but he was considered a small giant among humans. He had a body of solid brown tendon meat covered with white scars, especially the pair of cross scars on his chest, which looked very ferocious.

The War Ghost himself has a strength of a little over the ninth level, which is of course a little bit less than that of the top fighters, but it is more than enough for a strategist. After every battle, he would use his calloused hands to forcibly dig up the frozen soil on the ground and bury all the remaining parts of the dead soldiers' bodies in it.

Then the War Ghost would put his hands together, bow 90 degrees towards that side, and silently thank them for their sacrifice.

If the death toll exceeded 300, the survivors would gather together spontaneously and sing the military songs in Lingwu dialect. Lide did not grow up in Lingwu, so he could not understand what they were singing, but he could feel the strong and passionate emotions in the voices. In this desolate land, the songs brought them together tightly.

It was not until the third day that the foreign aid from other territories came in handy.

Lingwu didn't particularly value the troops they brought. After all, each family could only send a few thousand people, and they fought on their own. Not only did they not have the habit of cooperating with each other, but they also occasionally had a lot of internal friction. Coupled with many factors such as acclimatization, most of the troops could not play a real role. Lingwu actually valued the masters sent by each territory. Those were the valuable combat power that Lingwu really needed.

Lingwu Lord once said that the Northbound Movement does not need weaklings. Because weaklings can only survive by sticking together, but people from different territories are destined to be unable to stick together tightly. Therefore, the ones who can really perform well in the Northbound Movement must be strong people who can stand on their own. Only the top strong people on the human side are qualified to leave the protection of the national defense formation and enter the territory of the giant tribe, one of the six tribes in the middle, to make achievements.

In the battles of the previous two days, Lingwu's army eliminated many densely populated giant tribes and gnawed on many tough bones. But they are also human beings, and humans have their own limits. When they reach their limits, they need to rest. For the army, fighting tiredly will cause the overall combat effectiveness to plummet. The Lingwu lord does not intend to let them continue to fight, so in the next one or two days, Lingwu's army will be stationed nearby, and the people in each territory will go out to hunt freely.

Depending on the number of giants killed, you can get a good reward from Lingwu. If you kill a lot of giants, you can also get a good ranking in the subsequent public announcement. Every year, a large number of top human geniuses die in battles with giants, but there are also many people who shine on this battlefield, and their value soars after returning triumphantly, becoming a core figure in a territory.

Of course, at the moment this has nothing to do with Yuxi City.

Most people didn't even consider Lid's side as any kind of fighting force. A useless city lord, a seventh-level perfect swordsman rookie, and an assassin in the middle of the eighth level. This configuration might be worth a look in a remote human territory, but it was not enough to fight against the giants whose average level was eighth or ninth level.

"Just don't hold back."

This is what most people think.

They may not say it publicly, but they really think this in their hearts and discuss it privately:

"I don't know why the Lingwu Lord wanted to bring these losers into the team. I hope she won't get so excited that she asks us to allocate troops to protect them. That would be really disgusting."

Not everyone was malicious, some people looked at Lid with sympathy. The more large-scale foreign wars were fought, the more the strength of each territory could be seen. Even Yunyang, which had always been unpopular, could produce several people above the ninth level to support Li Neng, but for Lid, one Alayya and one Shiloh seemed to be the limit.

To be honest, with the background of Yuxi City, it should not have come to the north.

Only Lid was still optimistic. He found a huge lake outside, and the surface of the lake was covered with a thick layer of ice. Lid planned to dig a hole in it to see if he could catch any fish. He had not had a hot meal for two days since he left the iron wall defense line. The hard biscuits were covered with a layer of frost, and he could clearly feel his teeth protesting when he took a bite.

Man is iron and rice is steel. Now I want to drink fish soup.

He was not in a hurry, and neither were Alayya and Shiloh.

Shiloh also used a small dagger to personally help Reed dig a round hole in the ice. When Reed began to use iron sheets to grind fish hooks, Shiloh dug in the surrounding frozen soil, trying to find some bait such as earthworms, but in the end he found nothing.

Fortunately, the biscuit crumbs themselves can also be used as bait.

So when people from other territories, especially Prince Mu Risheng of Ceylon who had a bet with Lid, were risking their lives with their brothers to fight the giants, Lid was sitting on the lake leisurely fishing.

"No hurry, fill your stomach first."

39. Uninvited Guests

It's a happy thing to have a fish bite, but it's not a happy thing to be almost dragged into the water by a fish.

Lid had not expected that in such a harsh environment, not only would the giants be extremely large, but even the fish he had eaten before would be much larger. The fish caught was bigger than Lid himself, and the fisherman's goal was obviously not just to catch the crumbs hanging on the hook, but to break through the ice and swallow Lid, Alayya, and Shiloh.

After a grueling fight, Alaya controlled the sword [Scarlet Fire] to penetrate the ice and directly penetrate the fish's head, thus ending the battle that had devastated the surrounding ice. However, the bleeding of the fish quickly attracted many terrifying creatures under the lake, and for a moment, the translucent ice was filled with huge black shadows. Seeing that the situation was not good, Alaya immediately carried the fish on one shoulder and Lid on the other, and ran to the shore quickly.

Shiloh followed her and looked back. He saw that the ice in the middle of the lake was covered with spider-web-like cracks, and the sound of cracking was endless. The ice that was solid enough to dance on was now precarious. Who knew what kind of creatures lived under the lake?

Reed thinks that "The Old Man and the Sea" should have a sister volume, named "The Girl and the Lake", to record the story of the great guard Alayya who fought desperately with a giant fish as tall as a man in order to let his master have some fish soup.

Looking at the fish that Alayya caught with the scarlet fire, its entire body was dark blue, with sharp bone spurs on its head. Its pectoral fins were a bit like the claws of mammals, and its dorsal fin was long and pointed.

The texture is a bit like bluefin tuna, but its appearance is very strange. There is a strange light in its eyes.

It looked like it was dead, its head pierced through by the red sword. Alayya gently placed the fish on the snow by the lake, drew her sword, pounded it in the snow a few times, and wiped the fishy blood off the sword. After a commotion, the lake became calm again, and those scary shadows slowly sank back to the bottom of the lake after finding that there was no meat to eat.

Lid touched the fish twice and decided to cut it into pieces and stew it. Alaiya did bring a small pot in her luggage. Although the seasonings were not as complete as those in Yuxi City, fresh fish soup did not need too many ingredients. Xiluo handed Lid a sharp dagger on his waist. Lid skillfully cut the huge fish into pieces and neatly stacked them into a tall pile.

A pot of steaming fish soup soon filled the air with fragrance.

Lid first served a bowl of fish to Alaya and Shiloh, and then he took the pot and swallowed the rest. He thought the fish was very good, without any tiny bones, and the meat was firm and chewy. After eating the first pot, he felt warm all over. Lid immediately cooked the second pot. Anyway, there was plenty of fish meat, which should be enough to feed Alaya and feed Shiloh half full.

As for the little slime, it didn't have such a high demand for cooked food, so Lid threw the fish head and bones to the little slime, and the little slime swallowed them all in one gulp and slowly digested them. Then it quietly went back into the box, which was warm and its most cozy harbor.

The aroma of the fish soup drifted in the wind and snow, drifting farther and farther away.

"Thank you for the gift of the lake."

Lid clasped his hands together in a pretentious manner, gave a chuckle of praise, and then said:

"Let's just operate near this lake for the time being."

——In order to get fish to eat more often.

Alayya and Shiloh had no objection, and Shiloh even looked a little happy. There were basically no plants outside the Great Wall. Except for some extremely cold-resistant trees and shrubs, large areas were covered with white snowfields, no different from the desert. And those plants that barely grew were generally thick-skinned, needle-leafed, flowerless, and had few fruits. There was nothing edible on their bodies.

If there was any such reason, the giants probably wouldn't have risked their lives to move south.

Lid swallowed the last mouthful of soup in the bowl, put the wooden bowl aside, and suddenly stood up on his knees, squinting his eyes and looking into the distance. Shiloh also immediately went on alert and drew his dagger from his waist. Then the ground began to tremble slightly. Alaiya was stunned for a moment and then realized that danger was approaching. She immediately drew out her two swords and protected Lid behind her.

"It seems that there are other guests who want to have a share of the pie."

Lid put his hands in his sleeves and said lazily:

"Unfortunately, the fish I caught should not be shared with the guy who got it for free."

After eating and drinking, it was time to hunt, but it seemed that Lid didn't need to go looking for the lone giants himself, as a huge figure was already walking towards the lake. The muscles of the giant, more than ten meters tall, were as hard as steel, and every step he took would cause a slight earthquake.

There is only one of them, and the realm is a little more than the eighth level.

Among the lower-level giants, he was also in the lower middle level. He must have smelled the delicious smell of the fish soup and was tempted by the food and rushed over immediately. Although he could use the remaining food as bait to retreat, from Lid's declaration just now, it was clear that he had no such intention.

When Lingwu's army was around, the momentum of tens of thousands of people could completely overshadow the deterrent power brought by the giants. However, when Lingwu's army camped to rest, other territories could feel the pressure from the giants, especially for Lid, who had three people in total. When facing the tall giants, the fear from the bottom of their hearts would naturally arise.

Alaya's palms were sweating as she held the sword. Her fear was deeper than that of Shiloh and Lid, because Shiloh and Lid could at least see the realm of the giant in front of them, but Alaya, who had reached the seventh level of perfection, could not detect this. Lid did not tell her directly, because there were many creatures stronger than her in this land, and Alaya had to get familiar with this atmosphere faster, otherwise she would never be able to take another step forward.

In Lid's opinion, the reason why one has to travel all over the world and go through thousands of dangers to reach the eighth level is because one has to constantly fight against opponents who are stronger than oneself. When facing a strong opponent, one needs to constantly hone one's mentality and approach to gain experience, and the courage to remain calm in the face of danger can only be truly developed after fighting many times.

So when the giant in front of him took another step forward, Reed turned around silently, picked up the box containing the little slimes, and walked to a safe place, leaving the battlefield to Alea and Shiloh.

He didn't look back, but simply said as usual:

"Do it."

40. Cooperation between Swordsman and Assassin

Alayya chose to attack.

This was her usual style. When she didn't know the strength of her opponent and couldn't retreat, she habitually chose to take the initiative. Moreover, once the giants took action, they would often collapse and destroy the earth and mountains. Alayya didn't have enough confidence to avoid the opponent's attack.

As soon as she stepped on the ground with her toes, the snow around her instantly exploded. She flew to the feet of the giant at an extremely fast speed, crossed her two swords and slashed forward. The red and white sword energy instantly exploded in the chest of the giant. The giant in front of her moved, as if it had suffered a great impact, and took a half step back. It has lived here for many years, and there is a lot of dust and snow on its brown and rough skin. When the two sword energies of Alayya passed, smoke suddenly filled the chest of the giant.

Alaya slowly fell to the ground, but at this moment, the giant who had retreated half a step had stabilized his body. Suddenly, a hole appeared in the smoke and dust, and a huge fist hit Alaya. At the critical moment, Shiloh suddenly appeared beside Alaya silently, pulling her collar and falling to the ground quickly. The giant's punch that disrupted the wind hit nothing.

The little slime crawled out of the box and slipped into Lid's clothes. It crawled from the hem of his clothes to his chest, and finally stuck half of its round body out of his collar, muttering softly:

"Biji, my servant! Didn't you make a bet with someone? These past two days, I secretly went to the box to look at your bet. The contest was about how many giants you could kill, Biji! Judging from your current strength, you can't beat them at all. The gap is so huge. I think you're going to lose this time!"

There was a hint of gloating in the little slime's tone, but the angle of his eyes showed that he was enjoying the warmth under Reed's clothes. Reed said mercilessly:

"It's okay. If I lose, I can sell you right away. Not only can you speak now, but your realm cultivation is also not weak. There will be more people buying you."

“Beji, I am not a commodity!!”