Chapter 4: Never Surrender

Time flowed like water, carrying Lin Jiufeng's consciousness into its currents.

Boom!!!

In an instant, light and shadows flickered before his eyes, layer upon layer, like a hundred thousand worlds passing by, like the march of time across countless millennia.

Amidst the swirling visions, Lin Jiufeng heard the echoes of battle—the clash of weapons, the roars of warriors…

Just as before, when he had glimpsed fragments of time, he was once again drawn into the past.

He opened his eyes and saw a new world.

It was a solitary city.

Before the city stood an army of tens of thousands, towering figures, each three to five meters tall, mounted on mighty warbeasts—dragons, celestial horses, and iron-clad rhinos.

At that moment, the earth trembled beneath their march. The deafening cries of men and beasts filled the air, the gleam of their iron armor like the glint of a tidal wave under the sun. The sheer killing intent surged forward like a flood, suffocating and oppressive.

Their target was not Lin Jiufeng.

Their target was the city behind him.

Lin Jiufeng turned around.

Night had begun to fall.

The solitary city stood alone, surrounded by an ominous, churning mist. A foreboding air of death and slaughter gathered like dark clouds, pressing down on the fortress walls.

At this moment, heaven and earth were black as ink, the caws of crows echoing ominously. The city stood like a lamb before the slaughter, its walls lined with human warriors—yet each face was pale with dread.

The scene was overwhelming.

Tens of thousands of troops, a rolling sea of soldiers, their war cries shaking the heavens, their charge making the very earth quake.

From the city walls, the defenders could only look out at a massive tide of darkness, an iron torrent stretching to the horizon, an unstoppable force that would crush everything in its path.

"Humans! Come out and face your fate!"

A voice, commanding and tyrannical, thundered across the battlefield, carrying the weight of a divine decree.

"Weak in body, lacking in talent, slow to cultivate—you are unworthy of standing among the Hundred Clans!"

"Tonight, the last stronghold of the Human Clan shall fall!"

"From this day forth, your kind will be erased from history, no longer favored by the heavens!"

A massive figure loomed over the battlefield—a Giant King.

Towering over thirty meters tall, clad in gleaming armor, his eyes radiated cruelty. In his hand, he wielded a colossal spear, thick as an ancient tree, its tip gleaming with cold menace.

With a single gesture, he pointed at the human city.

Boom!

A suffocating, primal aura swept forward like a raging storm.

The warriors on the walls staggered back, their breath caught in their throats, faces flushed as their blood churned in distress.

"The Giant King... he's here!"

Panic spread like wildfire among the defenders.

"They say he can rip apart a true dragon with his bare hands—what hope do we have?"

"Why would such a terrifying figure descend upon us?"

"The heavens have abandoned us!"

Despair gripped the hearts of the human warriors.

Even the elders, once proud and seasoned, now stood frozen with grim expressions, their gazes locked onto the Giant King.

None dared to make a move.

The Giant King sneered.

"Humans," he scoffed. "Weakness is a sin. I need no reason to crush you."

His words ignited roars of laughter from his vast army, their jeers filling the night.

On the city walls, rage burned in the eyes of the human warriors, yet it was mixed with helplessness.

They could not win.

Boom!!!

At that moment—

A single streak of crimson light tore through the sky.

Like a divine flame descending from the heavens, it streaked across the battlefield, morphing into the shape of a phoenix.

Blazing, resplendent, it dived toward the Giant King with unstoppable momentum.

Sensing danger, the Giant King dodged aside.

But his army was not so fortunate.

Boom!

A single piercing cry from the phoenix, and 365 warriors were instantly obliterated.

A single strike, infused with an immortal essence, left a perfect, round hole through each of their brows.

Silence fell.

The battlefield trembled under the weight of an overwhelming power.

The Giant King's expression darkened. His gaze locked onto the walls of the human city.

There, stepping forward with effortless grace, was a man clad in white.

Hair streaked with silver, his face bore the traces of time, yet his posture remained straight, his presence commanding.

Unfazed, he stood before the vast army, a lone figure against the tide.

The Giant King narrowed his eyes.

"A human with some spine. What's your name?"

The man in white smiled faintly.

"Gu Baili."

A ripple of shock ran through Lin Jiufeng's heart.

The legendary Gu Baili… One of the Ten Kings from five thousand years ago?

Even here, in this foreign battlefield, he stood undaunted against the most feared warrior of the Giant Clan.

The Giant King smirked.

"Never heard of you."

Gu Baili remained calm.

"You will," he said, "if you survive."

The Giant King laughed—a deep, mocking laughter, echoed by the tens of thousands behind him.

A single human dared to threaten him?

Ridiculous.

Yet Gu Baili paid no heed to the derision.

He raised his hands.

The world trembled.

Boom!!!

The sky flipped.

A colossal seal, radiating boundless energy, descended with unstoppable force.

The Heaven-Flipping Seal.

A divine technique that could turn the world upside down.

The Giant King's eyes widened.

He roared, brandishing his spear, clashing against the divine seal in a battle that shook heaven and earth.

The duel raged.

The battlefield turned into a wasteland. The very fabric of space trembled under their blows.

The human city barely withstood the aftershocks, shielded only by a shimmering barrier.

The clash lasted for a quarter-hour.

Lin Jiufeng could no longer see the core of the battle, only hear the thunderous impacts and furious shouts.

Then—

The dust settled.

Moonlight shone upon the ruins.

Gu Baili stood, half his body shattered, his soul's flame flickering weakly.

Before him, the Giant King lay dead.

Silence.

Gu Baili turned to the human city, smiling bitterly.

"The heavens do not favor us," he murmured. "From now on, our fate is in the hands of those who come after."

Lin Jiufeng watched in silence.

Gu Baili refused aid.

Instead, he dragged the Giant King's corpse away, disappearing into the night.

He carried it across mountains and rivers, until he reached another fortress, where he planted the Giant King's body in its heart without a word.

Then, he continued south.

His journey led him to a valley filled with mists and poison.

There, he sighed.

"This place will do," he murmured.

He dug his own grave.

Set his own tombstone.

And as he lay down for the last time, he gazed into the distance, as if looking at Lin Jiufeng.

In a whisper, he spoke his final words.

"The Human Clan… will never surrender."