11: Chapter 11 Departure from Baidi City Amidst Colorful Clouds

"Let's head into the city and take a look. Be careful."

He said in a deep voice.

They had already come this far.

With him there to back her up anyway, nothing would happen to Zhuge Jinyu.

Zhuge Jinyu gritted her teeth and urged her Snow Dragon Steed forward, entering the fortress city through a collapsed gap.

The scene before them could only be described as a living hell.

Amidst the broken walls and ruins, fallen corpses lay everywhere.

Most were soldiers of Great Qian, but there was also a small portion of enemy troops wearing Great Hao attire.

Blood soaked the soil; broken weapons and shields riddled with arrows could be seen everywhere.

They silently told the tale of just how tragic and fierce the battle here had been.

"A mighty pass... was actually breached just like this?"

"The garrison was completely wiped out?"

Zhuge Jinyu walked forward, trembling.

Seeing such a gruesome battlefield for the first time, she suppressed the urge to vomit, her eyes anxiously scanning the area in hopes of finding a survivor.

"Xiao Yu, look over there."

Su Chen spoke up, and her gaze was quickly drawn to the sight in the central plaza of the fortress city.

In the middle of the plaza sat a massive figure.

It was a dragon.

A five-clawed giant dragon, its entire body a dull earthy yellow and covered in scars.

Its enormous draconic body was coiled there, head lowered and eyes tightly shut, giving off a sense of loneliness and desolation.

The dragon's body was covered in gashes deep enough to see bone, its scales were shattered, and it had long since lost any trace of life.

"Legends say the Human Emperors of the Nine Provinces are those who possess Dragon Qi and can transform into dragons to fight. It seems those legends are true..."

Su Chen said thoughtfully.

"However, for this Great Qian Emperor, a dignified Integration Realm expert, to die in battle so easily... Great Qian's fortune..."

"Imperial Father!"

Zhuge Jinyu let out a heart-wrenching cry of grief and stumbled toward the massive dragon corpse.

Although Liu Xuan was not her biological father, the fact that Zhuge Jinyu held such a high status in court was inseparable from the Old Emperor's appreciation and full support.

She knelt beside the cold dragon scales, tears streaming down her face.

Su Chen also felt that things were looking grim.

The Old Emperor was dead, White Emperor City had fallen, and Great Qian's most elite border army lay scattered across the ground here.

Then what about the Zhuge Family Head? Or her eldest sister?

They were likely also in grave danger.

"Xiao Yu, calm down, calm down! Now is not the time for crying."

He hadn't even finished speaking.

In her overwhelming grief, Zhuge Jinyu's foot accidentally kicked a loose piece of rubble.

The rubble rolled away and struck a half-destroyed ballista nearby.

*Creeak... Creeak...*

The sudden sound of heavy mechanical grinding rang out abruptly in the deathly silent ruins.

"Damn, this sound..."

Just as Su Chen was about to wrap her in his Divine Sense and quickly leave the battlefield, a massive, cold, and bloodthirsty Divine Sense filled with the aura of iron and slaughter...

...instantly swept out from the depths of White Emperor City and locked firmly onto her.

This Divine Sense was so strong it far surpassed those two Soul Transformation Shadow Guard from before.

Su Chen wasn't discovered because his Divine Sense was too powerful, but Zhuge Jinyu, who was only in the Nascent Soul Realm, couldn't manage that.

"Heh... To think there's still a fish that escaped the net?"

The man's voice was indifferent, laced with a hint of cruelty. Su Chen quickly guessed the other party's identity and hurriedly spoke to warn her.

"Be careful, Jinyu! It's Great Hao's God of War!"

"His cultivation is at least at the middle stage of Soul Transformation, and there's a high probability he's an Integration Realm powerhouse!"

Zhuge Jinyu's face turned pale, and she was instantly jolted awake from her immense grief.

She subconsciously gripped the mirror in her robes tightly, hiding Su Chen against her chest.

Her other hand pressed directly onto the vermilion bird feather fan.

Su Chen's heart also leaped into his throat.

Damn it, this luck is really something else.

The Great Hao God of War, an Integration Realm powerhouse—they'd run into the final boss as soon as they arrived.

He was going to have to log into his main account again.

"System-bro, please don't suppress my combat power this time and make me sleep for several months after finishing a single fight."

["Rest assured, Host-Father."]

["But the System must still remind you that the spiritual energy in this mirror is limited. Once it's used up, you will still..."]

"I know, I know. Resolve the battle quickly, efficiently, and economically."

Before his words finished, a tall figure clad in armor...

...appeared alone atop the mountain of corpses and sea of blood.

It was indeed the legendary God of War of Great Hao.

He swept a disdainful glance over Zhuge Jinyu below the ruins, his face full of contempt.

He made an extremely insulting gesture.

"Another piece of trash from the Zhuge Family?"

"What 'Divine Calculations'? You're nothing more than my defeated foes."

"I, Sun Zhao, only needed one small feint to bait out all of Great Qian's trump cards."

"And then, right in front of that dog emperor's face, I peeled the flesh off his favorite soldiers and subjects bit by bit."

"It felt so good! Hahahaha!"

"Little Nascent Soul trash, you should join your father and sister on the road to the afterlife!"

As he spoke, a massive golden-armored giant actually manifested behind him!

The giant was a hundred meters tall, holding a long saber, and it slashed down toward Zhuge Jinyu.

This was the purest manifestation of military aura and killing intent—condensed battle will.

"Resplendent Heavenly Might!"

Zhuge Jinyu held her feather fan, but even after firing several blasts of Vermilion Bird flames, they didn't slow the saber light for even a moment.

She could only watch helplessly as the saber light grew larger and larger in her eyes.

"Let your Teacher handle this high-level match!"

A reassuring, hearty laugh reached her ears. Zhuge Jinyu's legs went weak, and she slumped onto the ground.

A figure materialized out of thin air, blocking the path between her and that world-destroying saber beam.

It was not a physical body of flesh and blood.

Rather, like Sun Zhao's golden-armored giant, it was a hundred-meter-tall, slightly transparent soul projection.

The form Su Chen took this time was still that of the tall, upright Sword Immortal image from the Zhuge Family ceremony.

"Phew... Holding a sword still suits me best."

"What... what is this thing?"

The cruel grin on Sun Zhao's face instantly froze.

He had led armies and traveled across the lands for many years, yet he had never seen such a peculiar 'person.'

The golden-armored giant behind him was the manifestation of the battle will he had forged over years of conquest.

One could say that even in Great Wei, almost no one could survive under this giant's hand.

But this little girl from the Zhuge Family—how old was she?

Sixteen?

How did she conjure up something so large, with an aura that made even him feel fear and palpitations?

"Playing tricks!"

"Resplendent Heavenly Might!"

The golden-armored giant swung its saber again, and countless bolts of yellow lightning began to gather in the sky.

They locked onto Su Chen and the girl like a divine punishment.

Su Chen merely gave a faint smile.

He didn't even spare a glance at the thunder in the sky.

Instead, he looked down at the great river winding eastward, dyed orange by the setting sun and the lightning.

Back on Earth, he had just been a poor student who could barely afford food and shelter, let alone travel to see the beautiful mountains and rivers.

But seeing the scenery before him, a line of ancient poetry escaped his lips.

"Leaving White Emperor City amidst rosy clouds at dawn!"