“The southern gate of Human City has collapsed.”
On this fine morning, the sun did not cast its rays upon the Great King Village’s ancestral hall.
A gentle breeze coalesced into a peregrine falcon, landing deftly on the offering table, the voice of Feng Zhi escaping its beak.
Li Mo, with his head full of luxurious hair, had just offered a stick of incense to his ancestors, watching the flickering, dim candlelight dance with the wind in silence.
After a while, he finally spoke up:
“What about the Celestial Race and the warriors from the Underground City?”
“They’ve moved to the City within the City to preserve their strength. They won’t reclaim the southern gate until Jiang Di has fully recognized the Divine Sword. But by then, you won’t be around to see it.”
“Not necessarily,” Li Mo shook his head.
The voice on the breeze questioned, puzzled: “The sister has already left the town. Even she has given up, why do you insist on staying here?”
She could feel that Ying Bing was no longer in Great King Town.
Perhaps her fleeting interest had already dissipated, finding mortal life dreary after experiencing a taste of humanity and then floating away.
The Celestial Race, over the long years, inevitably experiences an urge to move; one thought arises, and another dissipates.
Just like how she felt prompted to remind Li Mo.
“Regardless, thank you.”
Li Mo cupped his hands toward the pale blue falcon.
Seeing his stubbornness, Feng Zhi ceased to speak further, her figure dissipating like a gentle breeze.
By midday, the villagers trickled into the ancestral hall, utterly unaware of what had transpired in Human City, yet urgently summoned. Some had an ominous feeling nagging at them.
In addition to the original villagers from Great King Village, folks from nearby villages and homeless people who had settled here also arrived.
Inside, all were seasoned martial artists, once bare-bottomed children who fished in the river and climbed trees to grab birds. Now, they had all grown old enough to be grandpas.
These days, if placed in the Underground City, they could stand on their own, especially Dong Er Niu, who had the most talent and would easily start his own sect.
“Little Li, why has everyone suddenly come over?” Dong Er Niu was the first to ask.
“The southern gate has fallen,” Li Mo said tersely.
An uproar erupted among the villagers. Some were incredulous, others sighed heavily, and some were visibly panicking.
Everyone counted the days; it was just days until the ten-year deadline.
This meant the collapse of the southern gate happened almost instantaneously.
And judging by Li Mo’s tone, the Celestial Race showed no intention of reclaiming it anytime soon.
It also meant that Great King Village was about to face a horde of rampaging demons.
“So what do we do now?”
“Aren’t the warriors from the Underground City expanding new cities between the Underground City and Human City? Shouldn’t we head over there?”
“I’m afraid that’s too late,” Li Mo shook his head.
“If we move at a good pace, taking women and children, we should be able to make it…” said the earnest Qi Tie Zhu.
He was a descendant of the old town chief, whose sister once admired Li Mo, and Li Mo had taught him many skills in blacksmithing.
Dong Er Niu pondered for a moment and said, “Little Li means that we might be able to outrun the demons but not the others.”
“Human City is vast, with too many people; so many are trying to hustle for a living. Even if the Underground City has opened a few new cities, only a small fraction can accommodate newcomers, and we have no value to them—if we show up, they’ll probably slam the door in our faces.”
“What Niu says is not wrong.”
“Have we not seen the faces of the people from the Underground City?”
“If they really cared about the common folk, they wouldn’t be hiding away.”
Many villagers had been to the Underground City. A lot, after becoming skilled in martial arts, preferred not to farm anymore and thought about mingling in the Underground City.
They came back with much to tell.
The reason was simple—like how some students cram their brains to get into prestigious universities, only to find out that their lofty ambitions were mere illusions; they were just a drop in the ocean, shoved into the gears of a machine.
Being more talented than you, being harder working than you, or being less talented but having a connection could all lead you nowhere.
You’d be a beast of burden in the fields and still a beast of burden in the city; why would I bother to go?
At this point, letting everyone’s emotions brew for a moment, Li Mo finally raised his hand, calling for quiet in the ancestral hall.
“Everyone has their own aspirations. If you want to go to the Underground City to find a way to live, I assure you, no one will stop you.”
“But those who stay today must weather the storm together; none may be a hindrance to the collective.”
His voice had grown much older, yet it still carried the same authoritative ring as in his youth.
Some bowed deeply toward the ancestral hall, deciding to leave, while more chose to stand their ground.
Dong Er Niu took a deep breath.
Under the gaze of the crowd, he walked to the entrance of the ancestral hall.
But he paused, just firmly closing the door and then smiling:
“Little Li, what do you think we should do?”
“Let go of fantasies.”
Li Mo glanced at him, exasperated, saying, “The Celestials sit high on clouds while the mortals are blinded by greed; we can rely on neither. We must depend on ourselves!”
“It’s time to put all those years of symbolic martial arts to good use!”
“Everyone, please go prepare!”
As the initiator of symbolic martial arts, Li Mo’s depth of skill was known by none.
Moreover, it was common knowledge that the town chief was a genius.
With this thought in mind, the villagers inexplicably felt a surge of confidence.
….
“What does Li Mo plan to do?”
“His symbolic martial arts are indeed intriguing, but against such a scale of demon rampage, he might be powerless, right?”
“A small number of demons are manageable, but this time there are some behind-the-scenes commanders. If we k*ll a few stragglers, we’ll only attract a big crowd.”
“Is he planning to face them head-on?”
Outside, the crowd watching the Jiangshan Yizhi Map had no clue about Li Mo’s intentions.
They didn’t know.
And those dwelling in the shadows knew even less.
“Look, they’ve already arrived!”
Someone pointed to the sky.
From the Jiangshan Yizhi Map, a horde of demons was less than a hundred miles from Great King Town, numbering at least in the hundreds.
They were massive, radiating malice.
Any single one was far from comparable to the batch Li Mo had faced.
And how ironic, the leading demon was also a snake-human, only its scales were a dark red, wielding a bl**d-soaked giant axe.
Hordes of demons were flooding in through the southern gate.
Among them, some belonged to the Hall of Beasts, heading towards the mortals, while others roamed throughout Human City.
“There’s a gathering place for humans ahead! Hahaha, I smell the scent of many living souls!”
The snake-human leader suddenly let out a gleeful roar:
“What a sizable catch we have here! We can feast to our heart’s content!”
Some demons pounded their chests, others raised their weapons, all filled with bloodthirsty excitement.
However, after being tamed by the Hall of Beasts, they had gained higher intelligence, able to momentarily suppress their savagery and wait for the leader’s command.
“Listen up, my children, follow me…”
“Wait!”
A deep voice interrupted.
All the demons froze, looking towards the nearby forest, where another snake-human emerged, equally robust, holding a scythe in one hand and a hammer in the other.
Snake-human leader: “?”
Is there another who can outpace them?
“Who are you as a demon?”
“I’m a local demon; it’s quite normal that you’ve never seen me before.”
“???”
