[Remaining Dao Cultivation: 11,395 years]
Looking at the significantly shrunken numbers on the system panel,
Jiang Yuechu exhaled a soft breath of turbid air.
Though it pained her slightly,
looking at the towering Yin Mountain within her Qi Sea, shrouded in clouds and mist with lightning and fire intertwined,
this small price was well worth it.
However... as the Yin Mountain condensed, her originally scattered Divine Abilities were unified.
On the system panel,
[Water Control], [Fire Control], [Mirage Breath], and the extremely convenient [Fish Belly Storage]... had all disappeared at this moment.
Jiang Yuechu's brow furrowed slightly.
She felt the changes within her body for a moment.
That trace of displeasure soon dissipated for the most part.
The Yin Mountain was complete.
With the power of [Three Flood Dragons Incarnation], although she had lost the domineering nature of [Mirage Breath] that used to forcibly pull people into a duel to the death,
she could now replicate a similar effect with just a thought. It was even better because it could be activated and deactivated at will, so she no longer had to worry about an opponent being too strong and trapping herself in a desperate situation like a turtle in a jar.
Only the disappearance of [Fish Belly Storage]... was indeed a bit of a headache.
Without the portable storage space, her future actions would likely be a bit more cumbersome.
Jiang Yuechu looked down.
Because the Divine Ability had vanished,
the items stored within had naturally fallen out.
She bent down to pick up the cold moon long saber and hung it casually at her waist.
With another thought,
the great desolation star-shattering halberd rapidly shrank in a flash of golden light.
In the blink of an eye,
it turned into an inch-long object, like a hairpin.
Jiang Yuechu casually tucked it into her hair.
As for the several demon corpses that had been stuffed inside... she had already packed them up and brought them to her cheap imperial brother back in Chang'an.
Having dealt with these trivial matters,
Jiang Yuechu closed her eyes and inspected her Qi Sea.
Her brow furrowed slightly again.
Empty.
Far too empty.
It seemed... the path for this Yin Mountain would have to be walked once more, just like the Yang Mountain.
In peaceful times, this might be a headache.
But in the current Jiannan Circuit,
the thing least lacking was demons.
Perhaps before long,
both the Yin Mountain and Yang Mountain would reach Perfection... The broken wooden door was pushed open.
Jiang Yuechu stepped out.
The once deathly silent long street now had a bit more life to it.
The surviving Demon Suppression Guards and soldiers were busy collecting the remains of their comrades and settling the frightened commoners.
Though everyone was injured, their spirits were vastly different from before.
Under a broken wall not far away,
the young commandant who had lost an arm was biting a strip of cloth, clumsily bandaging his own wound.
Seeing Jiang Yuechu come out,
his eyes lit up, and he instinctively struggled to stand up.
"Don't move."
A hand reached out from beside him and pressed him back down.
"Injured like this, don't try to be brave."
The speaker was a middle-aged man.
After comforting the young commandant,
the middle-aged man straightened his clothes and quickly walked to Jiang Yuechu.
"Jiannan Dusi Brigade Commander, Meng Shan, greets Your Highness!"
Jiang Yuechu nodded slightly.
Meng Shan straightened up, his gaze sweeping over the busy scene around them, and said in a heavy voice:
"Reporting to Your Highness."
"The remnants in the city have been fully reorganized. Aside from over thirty people who are too heavily injured to move, there are seventy-two people remaining who still have the strength to fight."
After finishing his report,
Meng Shan paused for a moment.
He looked up, his gaze somewhat hesitant.
Recalling what the young commandant had said earlier, he finally couldn't help but ask:
"Your Highness... although Baxi Commandery is now liberated, the commanderies to the south have all fallen, and the demons are powerful... do you truly intend to..."
It wasn't that he insisted on throwing cold water at this time.
It was just that... this amount of manpower was truly insufficient for a crisis involving an entire Circuit.
Meng Shan took a deep breath: "Your Highness, forgive This subordinate for speaking bluntly, but the situation in Jiannan Circuit has long since rotted. Even if we go to gather the Demon Suppression Guards from the few surrounding commanderies and counties that haven't fallen yet, even by the most optimistic estimates, we won't be able to muster many people..."
Furthermore, the young girl before him already possessed such strength at this age; in time, she would surely be the sovereign who restores the Great Tang.
How could they let her take such a risk?!
Jiang Yuechu turned her head and said softly: "No need to worry. I said it before—stay here and wait, and do not wander about."
Having said that,
she paid no more attention to the crowd behind her.
The black-clad figure stepped forward, walking out of the shattered city gate.
She casually absorbed the demon essence she hadn't taken earlier.
In the next instant.
Boom—!!!
The ground suddenly cracked open.
A golden rainbow shot violently toward the sky.
Her crimson cloak was like fire, pulling a blood-colored afterimage several miles long above the sea of clouds... Jiang Yuechu stood high in the air, looking down at the shattered city below.
The scent of blood accompanied by the smell of scorched earth poured into her nostrils with the wind.
Looking as far as the eye could see,
there weren't many large-scale swarms of demons in the city.
The ones she had encountered in Baxi Commandery earlier must have been the main force in the vicinity.
In these commanderies and counties that had already been occupied, only a few Great Demons were left to preside.
Jiang Yuechu indifferently raised her hand.
Within the Yin Mountain, lightning and fire surged.
Boom—
The sky suddenly tore open, and several bolts of purple lightning precisely pierced through the residences where the Demonic Qi was strongest.
Crimson fire ignited from the void.
[Killed a Seed Lotus Realm creature, gained 3,277 years of cultivation]
[Killed an Ink Dot Realm creature, gained 1,544 years of cultivation]
The numbers on the system panel began to jump.
She then drove her Divine Ability and rushed toward the next area.
The commoners in the city waiting for death stared blankly at the golden rainbow in the sky.
It wasn't until the demons beside them fell that they suddenly snapped back to their senses.
Trembling, they touched the demon blood on their faces.
And suddenly burst into loud weeping.
As time progressed,
commandery by commandery, county by county.
Wherever Demonic Qi was entrenched, lightning and fire descended.
Jiang Yuechu needed no words; slaughter was her response to this land.
The mountains and rivers once occupied by demons were forcibly torn through the layers of gloom by this single golden light.
Until.
A grand, fortified city appeared at the end of her vision.
Yizhou Prefecture... the junction of Shannan East Circuit and Jiannan Circuit.
On the official road, the sound of horse hooves was like thunder.
A troop of several thousand people was disregarding their horses' stamina, galloping south like madmen.
The general in the lead had his hair and beard bristling, his face ashen.
"Fast!"
"Faster!!"
His roars were torn apart by the gale.
The Demon Suppression Guards behind him were all silent.
"Commander Xu!"
The Deputy General behind him shouted in response, "Ahead... ahead is the territory of Baxi Commandery!"
A flash of sorrow passed through Xu Xiao's eyes.
In truth, he knew better than anyone.
The Jiannan Circuit Dusi Commander had died in battle, and Yizhou Prefecture had fallen.
As one of the last few commanderies that had not yet fallen, how long could Baxi Commandery hold out against the overwhelming swarm of demons?
The reason he was rushing so desperately
was merely for psychological comfort.
Even if it was to collect bodies... even if he could save a single commoner... "Report—!!!"
A shrill, long cry suddenly came from ahead.
A scout came galloping on his horse; the horse's hooves slipped, and he nearly fell to the ground along with his steed.
Xu Xiao's heart sank violently.
It was here.
It must be the disastrous news of the city's fall and everyone's death.