The north wind brought tidings, and the severe winter arrived silently.
White frost clung to the scarlet earth, slowly approaching with the footsteps of extreme winter.
On the far border of Taizhou, the magnificent Great Wall stretching for thousands of miles separated the blizzard from the city walls. This towering structure, fully three thousand yards high, stood as a loyal guardian, unwavering for tens of thousands of years on the northern border of Daqian.
The wall's surface was eight hundred meters wide, with countless layers of thickness. The outer side was covered in various pits and scratches, like the most honorable marks of warriors. The surface of the entire wall was relatively smooth, but it was engraved with various indescribable Dao patterns. Over the millennia, countless cultivators had modified it, and it had long become unrecognizable.
Every ten miles, there was a market settlement protruding from the outer side of the wall, surrounded by ten-meter-large crossbows. These ballistae were loaded with crossbow bolts as thick as thighs, and their penetrating power was terrifying.
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From west to east, a winding river flowed along the edge of the wall, with fragrant rice paddies on both sides and a constant stream of people working.
This was Daqian's impregnable pass, the Great Wall of Desperation that defended against enemies from the far north. The world called it the Natural Barrier Great Wall, and it had never been breached since its construction.
Walking along the wall, one could always see armored soldiers patrolling on spiritual beasts.
In Tianqian City, the most prosperous core of the Natural Barrier Great Wall, a city covering an area of thousands of square kilometers, lived a million border residents.
The bustling streets were still lively, and the crowds still bustled about for life. However, there were now more beggars, begging in the corners of the streets with their families.
Occasionally, a kind-hearted person would throw a couple of copper coins, and the beggars would be grateful. Some beggars even spoke politely, showing no signs of being born poor.
Not all those who fled here were beggars; many were refugees from the Ming and Cang provinces. Among them were some scholars who might have lived comfortably in the past, but in Tianqian City, studying was not necessarily useful.
Tianqian City only believed in heroes.
The statues erected on both sides of the city's main street, Divine Martial Street, were the heroes of Tianqian City for ten thousand years.
Strength of force and honor in battle were what Tianqian City valued most. As long as you were strong enough, you could have everything in Tianqian City. You could even challenge the Divine Generals of Tianqian City and become the Celestial General, who controlled the lives and deaths of billions on the Natural Barrier Great Wall.
But the prerequisite was that you had enough force; otherwise, you would have to accept the challenger's anger.
Following the bluestone road forward, the tallest building stood out.
The building was like a mountain, and even from the farthest corner of the city, one could see it clearly by looking up. The top of the building was like two sharp swords, with a huge disc in the center constantly rotating.
This was the Divine Strategy Manor of Tianqian City, the residence of the Tianqian Divine General. It was also the core of maintaining the entire Great Array of the Natural Barrier Great Wall. The people of Tianqian City could proudly declare that as long as the Divine Strategy Manor did not fall, the Natural Barrier Great Wall would never fall.
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Inside the Divine Strategy Manor, a man sitting on the throne propped his face with one hand, quietly watching the hundreds of armored generals below.
His face was strong and powerful, his eyebrows were like knife blades, and his nose was as straight as an axe cut, making him appear extraordinarily majestic.
He wore armor, with a dragon and tiger coiled on his chest, and he was imposing even without moving.
His eyes swept around, and after a long time, he slowly opened his mouth and said, "So, the imperial court is still unable to make a decision?"
"Yes, Lord."
"The Ming, Tai, and Cang provinces are in such a state, with corpses strewn across the fields and people living in misery. Even the Natural Barrier Great Wall has been affected. What exactly are those people in the court doing?" The man straightened his body, his tiger eyes looking around. Although his voice did not have a stern tone, it was already like thunder, startling everyone to lower their heads and dare not speak.
"What are they waiting for? Do they really want to wait for this Great Wall to fall? Waiting for those foreign races outside the border to sweep across the Divine Land again? It's truly laughable."
The man scolded for a while, gradually calming his anger. He knew that condemnation alone was of no use; now he needed to find a way to eradicate the disasters in the three provinces.
However, the disasters in the three provinces were too strange. Apart from the Natural Barrier Great Wall, which could rely on ancient arrays to resist the erosion of the scarlet, other methods were ineffective. Even those with high cultivation realms would be corrupted sooner or later if they walked on the scarlet land for a long time.
Tianqian City had not been idle. At the moment when the Light Tree landed, it sent out a ten-thousand-strong cavalry to crusade. But those cavalry went and never returned, and in the end, only the commanding general, relying on his high cultivation, fled back in a panic.
He brought back the news of the Light Tree and told it to the people of Tianqian City.
In the center of that Light Tree, the crusade army encountered a terrifying creature. That creature, with just one blow, eroded and corrupted the entire ten-thousand-strong cavalry. The general's expression was still terrified as he spoke. On the same day he finished speaking, he burned himself to death at home.
The Divine General sealed off the news. He knew that the Natural Barrier Great Wall could not be in chaos, and the morale of the army could not be shaken. Although there was such a terrifying creature in the Light Tree, the Natural Barrier Great Wall could still keep it out.
After all, this was no ordinary place. This was the birthplace of Jiang Wenji, the Martial Emperor of the Taicang Saint Dynasty tens of thousands of years ago. It was the Heavenly Abyss City that stood in the desolate era and deterred all races.
If the Taicang royal family had not been corrupt and decadent, abandoning the Heavenly Abyss City and fleeing in a panic, the Great Qian Emperor might not have been able to easily take this magnificent city.
Being able to stand in the desolate and turbulent era for hundreds of thousands of years was enough to prove how powerful this great city was.
The Divine General withdrew his thoughts and summoned the generals.
He looked at the map of the three provinces, his eyes fixed on Cang Province.
"If the imperial court does not come to support us, the Natural Barrier Great Wall can only sustain itself for three years. We cannot sit idly by and wait for things to get worse; we must take the initiative to attack before things get further out of hand." The Divine General said calmly. He pointed to the map and drew a passage between the Natural Barrier Great Wall and Cang Province. "Cang Province connects to Bing Province. I need to open a safe passage to Ding Province here. But this happens to pass through that evil place, and we will inevitably have a fierce battle."
"Now that the matter is urgent, who is willing to lead troops to help me open this path to life?"
As soon as the Divine General's words fell, dozens of people stood up from the crowd. They all saluted the Divine General and shouted loudly, "This subordinate is willing to be the vanguard for the general!!"
"Good!" The Divine General's expression softened slightly, and he looked at the crowd and said sternly. "All generals, listen to my orders! Pass on my order to Tianqian City to prepare for war..."
