“Hee hee hee…”

A ghoul-like, piercing laugh echoed across the battlefield.

Everyone present was one of the top martial experts under heaven, yet even they could not help but shiver when they heard that laughter.

Jiang Zirou frowned.

From that blood-red lump of flesh that kept squirming like a living thing, she could sense an evil, chilling aura.

Swish

She flicked her finger and the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow in her hand burst out with a brilliant arc of blade qi.

She knew all too well that you must never give a villain time to talk.

So before the mutation even began, she had already lopped off the old assassins’ withered head.

The Great Xia Dragon Sparrow was indeed one of the finest divine weapons in the world. Cutting through the head of a peak grandmaster was no harder than slicing through a rotten log.

Raksha’s head dropped to the ground and inky, foul-smelling blood splattered everywhere.

Yet that eerie laughter still clung to everyone’s hearts.

Boom!

Blazing lightning erupted from the old assassin’s chest.

Blood light shot into the sky, black smoke roiled upward and the scene that followed was something no human strength could produce, more like a volcanic eruption, a full-blown natural disaster.

The entire world seemed to rumble and tremble.

The rebel soldiers nearby had never seen anything so terrifying. Even though the princes and generals were screaming themselves hoarse trying to maintain order, the rebel ranks still fell into chaos.

Woooo...

Right at that moment, the deep, heavy blare of ox-horn trumpets and thunderous drumbeats rang out from atop the city walls at the same time.

Everyone looked up.

Blood-red banners snapped in the wind along the battlements. Emperor Heng stood there in golden armor, Jade Dragon ceremonial tablet in hand, radiating awe-inspiring majesty as he looked down on all below.

“This is bad!”

The Fourth Prince, who had once guarded the borders and experienced war, felt his heart sink when he saw this scene.

Crack, crack, crack!

The ancient city gates rumbled open and, with earth-shaking shouts, countless black-armored soldiers surged out from within the walls.

The old dean of the Great Xia Academy charged at the very front of the formation, his white hair and beard bristling. He was a Confucian scholar whose duty was to teach and nurture yet at this moment, he was like an enraged lion.

“Students of the Great Xia Academy, hear my command! Follow me and slay the traitors!”

““Kill!””

The young students, their faces flushed red, charged side by side with their beloved teacher, cutting into the rebel lines like the tip of a spear.

Especially the famed elder grandmaster Zhao Gou.

He wielded a green long halberd in one hand and the Heavenly Tome Divine Strategy in the other.

Lightning coiled around his body. He was unstoppable, like a god or demon descended to earth.

Whether it was heavily armoured hundred-man squads or bronze war chariots weighing thousands of jin, all of them were flipped aside by his boundless might, then torn to pieces by the furious imperial guards behind him.

“Phew...”

Seeing the tide of battle shift, Jiang Zirou finally let out a quiet breath and her picturesque face showed a faint smile.

‘Not bad.’

She did have the strength to change the course of the battle.

But shattering an army of more than three hundred thousand and countless martial experts by her strength alone was no easy task, especially since Jiang Zirou had no intention of exposing her true identity right now.

‘So, as long as I take care of this monster in front of me, this rebellion will be over.’

She lifted her head.

In less than a single minute, Raksha’s headless corpse had completely transformed into a massive, hideous monster.

His skin had completely sloughed off, revealing bulging crimson muscles. His once-skinny body swelled as if puffed full of air, his height stretching to nearly a zhang tall. Killing intent soared off him in waves. He looked like the legendary war god Xingtian.

The bones on his back thrust out and twisted, ripping through the flesh. Countless strands of bloody sinew grew over them and finally formed a pair of enormous wings that bore him slowly into the sky.

“Caw, caw, caw... So what if your talent is peerless, so what if you’re half-step Martial Great-Grandmaster, today you will die without a doubt!”

With that venomous curse a thick, clotted demonic qi rose from his severed neck and gathered over his head as a blood-red demonic cloud.

Raksha had already been a peak martial grandmaster in life and after this demonic transformation, he became even more terrifying.

As that bloody cloud spread, the rebel soldiers all around him were instantly corrupted. Their pupils turned completely red, their rationality vanished and they began madly attacking the comrades beside them.

“Demon!”

The Taixuan Sect’s old Daoist’s hair came loose, his face filled with shock.

The monk of the Hanging Temple let golden light flow over his body, pressed his palms together in a Buddhist seal and actually stepped in front of Jiang Zirou.

“What are you two doing?” Jiang Zirou blinked and asked, puzzled.

“That demon already has the cultivation of a Great-Grandmaster. If you die, there will be no one left in the world who can subdue it. Go. We will buy you some time.”

“...”

Jiang Zirou was speechless for a moment, unsure whether she ought to thank them.

She said nothing more.

The demon had completely lost its mind. It thrust out a massive palm toward the three of them.

That palm was like the sky turning over and the earth collapsing, like a falling star smashing into the ground. The entire battlefield shook as if it would crumble.

The old Daoist closed his eyes, reversed the flow of yin and yang qi and steeled himself to die. He was ready to unleash the sum of his life’s cultivation, if only to delay the demon for a short time.

But the death he was waiting for never came.

He opened his eyes and saw that somehow, the girl was already standing in front of the two of them.

“Why are you not—”

He began to scold her.

But halfway through his sentence, his eyes bulged wide and he choked like a drake with its throat seized, unable to make a sound.

Clang!

An ancient, majestic bell-tone rang out from the void.

The girl, long saber in hand, walked slowly toward the gigantic demon, her back turned to the Great Xia Imperial Capital and countless soldiers.

The battlefield’s howling winds whipped her spotless white robe so it snapped and cracked and behind her, countless blade and sword shadows gathered into a golden sea.

As a deep, ancient chant echoed, a vast and awe-inspiring figure of light stepped forth from that sea of blades and swords and strode onto the battlefield, ruling over all.

“Dharmic Aspect: True Martial Body!”