Chapter 157 Iron Blood

The person flying up from the valley was a burly man with a goatee, looking rather rough. However, with one step, he soared into the air, indicating his extraordinary strength. At the very least, he was a Nascent Soul stage cultivator.

"Who goes there, daring to trespass into our military camp?" the burly man roared as soon as he flew up.

"General, you misunderstand. We are just passing through," the elder immediately replied.

"Misunderstanding? Humph, we'll talk after I beat you," the burly man exclaimed excitedly, as if he was not here to stop Zhongshan and the others, but rather to find a sparring partner.

Before the elder with the sword could say anything else, the burly man fiercely slashed down with his large blade.

Although the burly man and the elder with the sword were fifty zhang apart, the large blade he swung down suddenly turned into an eighty-zhang-long giant blade qi.

The sky-blue giant blade qi, as it descended, suddenly split into huge waves from the edge of the blade qi, splitting into towering waves on both sides.

For a moment, the area around the blade qi was filled with energy resembling ocean waves.

The immense blade qi carried an infinite momentum. Even though they were separated by a great distance, Zhongshan felt a powerful pressure descending upon him, a pressure so immense that it made it difficult to breathe.

Was this burly man a general? A powerful general?

From this one slash, Zhongshan could only sense its power, its unparalleled power, its vast power, but he couldn't comprehend just how strong it was. However, from the blade qi, Zhongshan could vaguely analyze that this general's cultivation level was probably in the Unity stage. It was a Unity stage cultivation level, which was a realm stronger than the Nascent Soul stage.

This was true power. A truly powerful blade qi. Generally, forming some sword qi around the blade qi was already very powerful. If the sword qi could transform into the shape of animals or beasts, it would be even more powerful. But with this one slash from the burly man, it created surging ocean waves. That entire area was completely submerged in the turbulent waves, fiercely slashing towards the elder with the sword.

There was no way to avoid it. The elder with the sword immediately faced the burly man head-on with his own sword.

As the sword thrust forward, it seemed to turn into a shooting star. Even though it was a clear and sunny day with the sun shining brightly, Zhongshan suddenly felt the sky and earth darken, and what rushed towards the ocean-like blade qi was a shooting star, a giant shooting star streaking across the sky, directly crashing into the blade qi.

The shooting star collided with the ocean.

"Boom~~~" A vast and magnificent sound echoed out. Zhongshan only felt the air around him tremble for a moment, then his ears began to ache, and everything around him turned red and blue, chaotic and disorderly.

"Boom~~ Boom~~ Boom~~ Boom~~ Boom~~~" In the sky, there were increasingly urgent booms.

In just a moment, Zhongshan could already see clearly around him.

The original elder with the sword and the burly man had already flown into the sky, engaged in a fierce battle in the distant high altitude. The burly man was afraid of injuring the soldiers, while the elder with the sword was afraid of hurting Zhongshan, Nan Batian, and the others, so they only radiated dazzling red and blue light in the high altitude.

Zhongshan looked up, only able to hear the bursts of loud noises coming from above. He couldn't see anything in the blue and red lights above, but he knew that the battle in the sky was extremely intense. The two powerful individuals seemed to be evenly matched, fighting fiercely without giving an inch, constantly clashing in the high altitude.

Elder Zixun and another elder looked up, obviously having much better eyesight than Zhongshan.

Unable to see what was happening above, Zhongshan immediately looked around, analyzing the current environment.

n the distance, atop the peaks, the number of archers had not decreased but had increased during this short period. Now, there were at least three thousand archers aiming in their direction, their longbows drawn and their Pogang arrows ready. As long as the commanding officer gave the order, the three thousand Pogang arrows would surely rain down upon them.

Zhongshan and Nan Batian exchanged a glance, then looked at Shui Wuren. All three of them wore expressions of solemnity, because the other two elders were completely focused on the battle in the sky. If the commanding officer ordered the archers to fire at this moment, and the two elders were negligent, wouldn't they be doomed?

Fortunately, the archers were well-trained and didn't shoot without orders.

As the battle continued in the sky, some of the large tents in the valley slowly opened, and more generals like the previous burly man walked out. These generals all looked up at the sky together.

For those watching, witnessing the battle between powerful individuals allowed them to continuously hone their own skills and seek breakthroughs. The soldiers in the valley had stopped their training, as if they were all waiting for the battle in the sky to end.

Zhongshan also waited quietly while analyzing the strength of the army.

From the actions of the elder with the sword, this army should not be from the Great Luo Heavenly Dynasty. Moreover, as Shui Wuren had mentioned earlier, this was the border between the Great Luo Heavenly Dynasty and the Great Yu Emperor Dynasty.

So, this army should belong to the Great Yu Emperor Dynasty.

Such a powerful army? Just a random general who walked out, perhaps even if he was a martial fanatic, a martial fanatic general was still at the Unity stage? This was too powerful.

Just one! Because Zhongshan understood that if it were the commander, the generals below would not have this attitude.

An hour passed, and the two powerful individuals battled in the sky for an hour without stopping, their battle cries sounding like thunder, relentless and unceasing.

"Boom~~~" The sky once again rang out with a sound three times louder than before.

After that sound, the red and blue lights in the original location in the sky burst forth in all directions, and at the same time, a figure fell like a shooting star from the sky, straight into a valley where the generals below were located.

"Boom~~~" A loud noise echoed, and a huge black pit with a diameter of five meters appeared on the ground. It was clear that one of the two had been knocked into the ground.

Zhongshan saw that the elder with the sword had a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth and slowly descended from the sky.

"Hoo~~~ Hoo~~~ Hoo~~~ Hoo~~~ Hoo~~~" Nearly ten generals flew up into the sky, heading straight towards the group on the white cloud.

The elder with the sword bowed respectfully to Elder Zixun and slowly retreated behind him.

In an instant, ten generals surrounded Zhongshan and the others, each wielding their own weapons, glaring fiercely at the intruders who had suddenly entered their forbidden area. A powerful aura pressed down upon them, reaching the white cloud above, creating an atmosphere as if the swords were drawn and the bows were strung taut.

The immense pressure overwhelmed Zhongshan slightly, making his face feel a bit congested and slightly flushed from the pressure. Perhaps it was time for Elder Zixun to intervene, or perhaps it was to ease the pressure on Zhongshan. Elder Zixun took two steps forward, and with these two steps, it seemed as if an overwhelming aura swept over, greatly reducing the pressure by Zhongshan's side.

One person's aura overshadowed ten powerful individuals.

The ten generals all looked at Elder Zixun with solemn expressions, as they could all feel Elder Zixun's immense strength and dominance. Just the release of his aura alone had suppressed all ten of them.

"Cough, cough, that was refreshing, truly refreshing!" A hearty laughter echoed from the deep pit where the burly man had been thrown. Although severely injured, his tone was more relaxed than anything else.

At the same time, Zhongshan witnessed a peculiar sight below.

From the central tent, a sturdy man clad in red armor slowly emerged. He wore a red cape draped over his shoulders, accentuating his flamboyance and aura.

As the man stepped out of the tent, almost all the soldiers who caught sight of him bowed slightly, indicating the high status of this general.

Even from afar, Zhongshan felt a powerful momentum surging toward him. It was as if the entire army were stars, and the man in the blood-red armor was the sun, the soul of this army.

"Clap, clap" The burly man crawled out of the deep pit, his face swollen and bruised, whether from battle wounds or from smashing his face into the ground, no one could tell.

"General, I have embarrassed the First Legion." The burly man crawled out, feeling somewhat ashamed.

"Rest for a while," the general in blood-red armor said indifferently, clearly not blaming the burly man.

"Yes, General," the burly man responded immediately, quickly climbing out of the pit and sitting down to meditate, closing his eyes to recover.

The General in blood-red armor, having given his instructions to the burly man, suddenly looked up at the sky.

His gaze pierced the heavens, causing Zhongshan to feel a sudden tightening in his chest. Powerful, extremely powerful! With just one glance, Zhongshan saw a formidable will, a superlative will.

"Iron Blood? Commander of the First Legion of the Great Yu Emperor Dynasty, General Iron Blood?" Shui Wuren exclaimed in astonishment.

Just as Shui Wuren was astonished, General Iron Blood took a step forward, leaving behind only an afterimage, and suddenly appeared in front of everyone.

Ten generals swiftly flew behind General Iron Blood, displaying an extremely respectful attitude. It was evident that General Iron Blood was immensely powerful, not just in terms of his cultivation, but also in terms of his authority within the army.

In this legion, General Iron Blood was like a god.

"Seven Stars Hall, Kaiyang, Zixun," Elder Zixun said immediately.

Facing a powerful figure, Elder Zixun was able to show enough respect and identify themselves.

Hearing Elder Zixun's introduction, General Iron Blood frowned slightly, then scanned the six of them, especially Zhongshan, Nan Batian, and Shui Wuren.

As his gaze swept over them, Zhongshan suddenly felt as if he had been seen through. Zhongshan disliked this feeling. His brows furrowed slightly, but he didn't explode. Zhongshan knew what kind of existence General Iron Blood was. Such an existence, even if placed anywhere in the Divine Land, would be an extremely powerful figure.

"Oh? So, this is the new official recommended by the Kaiyang Sect Elder to the Great Luo Heavenly Dynasty?" General Iron Blood suddenly chuckled. His gaze lingered on Zhongshan for a moment, assessing his talents and cultivation. Would someone with such talent and cultivation really be recommended as a fifth-ranked official to the Great Luo Heavenly Dynasty?

Elder Zixun wasn't surprised that General Iron Blood was aware of the agreement between the Seven Stars Hall and the Great Luo Heavenly Dynasty. After all, it wasn't a big secret, and the two major dynasties had been at war for many years. Such information was clear to anyone, especially someone as well-informed as General Iron Blood.