Chapter 1 The Extreme Cold

The heavy snow and wind of the great northern cold season were so extreme that even the moisture from one’s breath and the heat rising from one's head would condense into ice on beards and hair.

At this moment, almost everyone in the Taibai Mountain fortress stood on the city walls, prepared to defend the stronghold by relying on the strategic pass.

The martial artists defending the pass were roughly divided into three groups. Thirty-five of them followed Li Daoran, wearing swords at their waists and holding a round, black iron ball in their hands. The ball was covered with exquisite mechanisms and cloud patterns, exuding a burning spiritual energy.

Twenty-four martial artists closely followed Wei Lie. Most of these warriors had long sabers hanging from their waists and longbows in their hands. They were now on high alert, choosing their appropriate shooting positions at the city wall's breaches or on the surrounding hills' vantage points.

The remaining individuals were mostly artisans and physicians. The vast majority were maintaining the stability of the 'Qi Forged Divine Weapon' on its final day of forging, while a small portion was transporting a steady stream of defensive weapons to the front lines.

The round, black iron ball was the 'Magma Bomb,' crafted by the artisan Mo Ganxiu. It essentially preserved magma using a secret method, and when enemies approached, it could be detonated with internal force, showering them with lava. Fortunately, a volcano was nearby, otherwise, just the raw materials would have been a major problem.

This was his area of expertise, and why the Hundred Schools' rebel army had sent Mo Ganxiu here.

Most of the other defensive weapons were also related to the volcano, such as poisonous boiling water, and several cauldrons of uncooled magma. There were also four more conventional weapons, such as ballistae, all positioned on the left and right sides of the city wall, waiting for the enemy to arrive.

Su Zhou didn't stand on ceremony. He took the lead, standing at the very front of the city wall's center. He raised his hand to his eyes, gazing towards the foot of the mountain.

With his spirit vision, he could clearly see the demonic army advancing rapidly up the mountain.

"So fast—faster than the Crimson Lands invasion!"

Su Zhou murmured in a low voice. Aside from the National Teacher's excessively large spiritual energy mass, he also keenly sensed that these demonic soldiers were extraordinary: "Everyone be careful, they're elites!"

"Woo—woo—"

Just then, a long horn sounded from the distant mountainside.

The desolate sound was torn apart by the northern wind, but the powerful internal energy cultivation contained within still reached the ears of every martial artist present through various subtle details, causing them to slightly change their expressions.

Immediately afterward, the heavy marching footsteps of the demonic army resounded, like a surging tide, rapidly approaching with a booming sound.

Su Zhou and Wei Lie, with their superior eyesight, could now see the unit. It was a giant troop, entirely greenish-brown, with bodies encased in what appeared to be armor. Their body surfaces were covered with a special mountain-patterned armor, and green wooden roots extended from the pre-prepared armor seams, completely enveloping the armor in layers of composite defense strong enough to withstand heavy arrows!

They averaged two and a half meters in height and weighed at least three hundred kilograms. Including weapons and armor, they were even heavier, practically like upright brown bears—and the footsteps of these monsters kicked up snow dust, cleaving through the vast wind.

Unlike Wei Lie, who frowned deeply, Su Zhou couldn't help but slightly widen his eyes when he saw these greenish-brown little giants, revealing a hint of surprise.

Because these were the scaled-down versions of the Banyan Wood Giants that he had seen in the game Shao Shuangyue played.

"Divine Wood Guards!"

Nearby, Zhou Buyi's expression changed, and he drew his sword, gritting his teeth: "The Demon Emperor's guards—did the National Teacher even bring the Divine Wood Guards along for this raid?! Why didn't the front lines know about this?!"

"That means the Demon Emperor can't be guarded..." He originally wanted to say, what if the Demon Emperor didn't have guard troops and was ambushed and beheaded by experts drawn from the Hundred Schools' rebel army? But then he thought, even the Divine Weapon forging plan had been leaked, so how could this sort of ambush and beheading go unnoticed?

And Zhou Buyi's guess was spot on. He really couldn't blame the Hundred Schools' rebel army for reacting too slowly, because right before the National Teacher left, it mobilized all the spies lurking within the Hundred Schools' rebel army to launch a riot, greatly diverting the energy of the Hundred Schools' rebel army headquarters, delaying their reaction time by two days—and two days was long enough.

There were about a hundred Divine Wood Guards in total, all with strengths at the first or second level of the Houtian realm, roughly the same level as the Hundred Schools' martial artists guarding the Divine Weapon, but they had undying power and natural wooden armor protection—at the same time, many spirit plant demon beasts could also be seen. Su Zhou saw at a glance four Wood Centipedes, and three cicada-shaped demonic creatures perched on the backs of the Wood Centipedes, with a circular crystal on the top of their backs that emitted light.

These demonic creatures were not numerous, but they were especially useful for attacking cities. For example, the Wood Centipedes did nothing but charge at the city walls, using their backs as siege bridges. Who among ordinary martial artists could stop them?

For a time, beasts danced wildly outside the city walls. The Wood Centipedes coiled in the snow, while the Yang Flame Light Cicadas flew into the sky with sharp chirps, their glowing crystals emitting strong light from time to time, disrupting the vision of the defending soldiers and making it difficult for archers to concentrate and aim. Meanwhile, nearly a hundred Divine Wood Guards stood silently in place, exerting immense psychological pressure on all the martial artists present, waiting for the commander to appear.

But how could Su Zhou give them this opportunity to silently show off?

"Flying around, are you—"

Casually grabbing a bow from a nearby martial artist, Su Zhou took a deep breath, channeled his spiritual energy, and roared: "Get down here!"

Boom! Like a thunderclap, a violent sound wave swept across the surrounding peaks. Several neighboring snow mountains began to rumble, as if an unstoppable avalanche was about to begin—vaguely, a hint of dragon's roar could be heard in this shout.

After speaking, Su Zhou had already fully drawn the great bow, channeling the power of the Gangshe technique, and shot it out violently!

Boom!

Swept by Su Zhou's sound wave, two of the three Yang Flame Light Cicadas flying in the sky immediately fell to the ground in response, as for the third one... it had already been blasted into scattered wooden ash fragments in the air by Su Zhou's powerful shot.

If the Yang Flame Light Cicadas were like this, how could the other demon beasts and demonic soldiers be exceptions? The several Wood Centipedes that were dancing wildly immediately froze in place, motionless, as if dead, and there was an uproar among the demonic soldiers. Although the military formation remained unmoved, compared to the oppressive feeling of silence like monsters before, it could be seen that they were ultimately just well-trained soldiers.

Similarly, although their ears were ringing uncomfortably, the defending martial artists had all broken free from their somewhat tense and flustered state of mind—there was nothing to be afraid of, they had made full preparations, it was just a desperate battle.

But compared to the defending martial artists who had regained their spirits, Su Zhou's expression was much heavier than it had been at the beginning.

In his spirit vision, a huge spiritual energy mass that had been advancing unhurriedly in the middle of the mountainside, immediately accelerated after hearing his voice, rushing towards the fortress like a shooting star dragging a long trail of black-green spiritual energy.

Taking out his spear from his back, gripping it tightly in his right hand, Su Zhou stood directly on the city wall, ignoring the gazes cast at him by martial artists or Divine Wood Guards. He simply stared at the huge spiritual energy mass that was rapidly approaching.

Taibai Volcano, strategic fortress.

Snow fell from the clouds like a torrential downpour, sealing all things in the world in ice and frost, but there was a figure wrapped in azure lightning, stepping on a Yang Flame Light Cicada, breaking through the atmosphere with incomparably deep internal energy cultivation, flying like an arrow!

Lightning flickered, and the electric current sweeping through the atmosphere stirred up loud crackling sounds. The figure was pulsating with surging spiritual power, as if walking on thunder. The powerful magnetic field even caused the surrounding static electricity to repel the flying snow, creating a huge snow-free area with a radius of twenty meters.

Upon closer inspection, it was a jade-green humanoid figure, more than four meters tall, like a statue. It was surrounded by a ring of lightning, like a shield, and its feet were rooted in wood, connected to the flying spirit plant demon beast. The thick internal energy was transmitted through the wooden roots into its body, giving it strength and speed far superior to other similar beings, allowing it to withstand the electric current, and even strengthening its muscles with microcurrent stimulation, allowing it to reach the battlefield at high speed.

The National Protector, the Grand National Teacher, has arrived!

Although the Demon Dynasty's National Teacher had the title of National Teacher, he was powerfully built, and his face after the lightning carried a trace of otherworldly temperament of an immortal, and was awe-inspiring. He held a spirit steel magic sword that was slightly small relative to his height, four chi eight cun long. Five silver iron beads were embedded in the sword, and a series of dancing electric currents connected them.

"What are you waiting for? Attack!"

Laughing as he arrived, the National Teacher shouted, the momentum of his exuberant internal energy actually overwhelming Su Zhou's previous dragon's roar, and even urging the originally stiff, immobile spirit plant demon beasts to start moving again—without a word of nonsense, this Grandmaster directly raised his magic sword in the high sky, the dazzling azure lightning flashing on the sword, as if echoing the clouds in the sky.

Rumble!

Originally, Mount Changbai was covered in dark clouds, but now the sky was even darker, and the wind gathered—the hot air exhaled by the volcano mixed with the dry snow clouds, providing conditions for the birth of thunder, and thunder rumbled as the dark clouds surged!

For a time, wind and clouds surged, thunder roared and snow fell, and even the roar of a Qilin sounded, echoing the changes in the heavens!

【Heavenly Thunder Qilin Art】!

The Grand National Teacher, the former sect leader of the Celestial Four Symbols Sect in this world, abandoned his sect, joined the Demon Dynasty with the sect's treasure weapon 'Four Extremes Celestial Law Sword', and used the Undying Divine Wood Root as material to refine the blood and flesh of millions of people, obtaining thirty-six Undying Divine Pills and two Dragon Transformation Pills, one dedicated to the Demon Emperor, and one for himself!

If the Demon Emperor intended to be an immortal King of the world, the Master of the State, then he wanted to achieve an immortal terrestrial immortal body!

Boom!

With the power of a Grandmaster, coupled with unique secret techniques, the National Teacher unhesitatingly launched his strongest attack. The magic sword flashed with spiritual light, and he guided a bolt of lightning that meandered and fell, smashing towards the city wall—if no one blocked it, this strike would be enough to paralyze all the guards on the entire city wall!

But just then, another sharp arrow with a roar broke through the wind and roared towards him!

Su Zhou didn't care what the other party was doing at all. After seeing this enemy with obvious Boss qualities, he immediately shot a Gangshe arrow!

—Reality doesn't have cutscenes or transformation times, so of course, strike first!

Immediately afterward, Su Zhou originally wanted to gather his internal energy to block the falling thunderbolt with a Qi Blade, but he saw that Li Daoran had already let out a soft shout when the celestial phenomena began to change, and then all the swordsmen drew their swords and controlled their Qi, and a storm shield composed of internal energy rapidly rose, covering the city wall, blocking the thunder strike that fell from the sky like a thunder serpent!

Immediately, lightning flashed, and the smell of ozone appeared, but none of the martial artists present were injured.

"—Amazing! Experienced!"

Retracting his spear, Su Zhou blinked his eyes. He could see that in these layers of storm shields, there was not only wind, but also layers of thin copper sand, bound into a compact strip-shaped grid—it was these iron sands that were lifted up by the storm shield, forming a huge conductive cage, directly channeling the power of the entire thunderbolt into the earth!

That's right, if the Hundred Schools' rebel army couldn't deal with the National Teacher's thunderbolts, they would probably have been beaten into tree fertilizer decades ago—swordsmen such as Li Daoran who specialized in wind control techniques and Taoism were probably specifically used to deal with this situation.

At this time, the National Teacher's body was flashing with electric light, and he once again easily deflected the iron arrow to the side, allowing it to fly far away. He thoughtfully looked down at the city wall, meeting the gaze of Su Zhou, who was also looking up.

In mid-air, dark clouds gathered, lightning flashed in the clouds, and the jade-like Taoist held a sword, standing on the back of a demon beast, calmly looking down at the young martial artist with a look of eagerness.

On the city wall, the young demon hunter, holding a longbow, with his internal energy burning fiercely, and his spiritual energy driven to the extreme, looked up at the indifferent Taoist National Teacher.

"Are you the new Grandmaster of the Hundred Schools?"

With internal energy surging, the National Teacher said remotely: "You are truly young, making one jealous..."

"That's right, I'm the one who's going to let you die here."

Su Zhou laughed loudly, he drew a stone arrow, and drew his bow again: "Stop talking nonsense, get down here!"