A gleaming sword was almost pressed against Siren’s face. Siren’s fingers twitched slightly, and he nearly drew the Fated Sword.

Guohua and Mohe stood aside, unconcerned. They smiled obsequiously at the formidable female warriors, adopting the posture of law-abiding citizens with no connection to Siren, practically inviting a slap on the backside from the warriors.

Gu Xichen, however, widened his eyes, waving his hands vigorously and shouting, “A misunderstanding! It’s all a misunderstanding! Our young master is just timid, excessively so. General, our young master is still a virgin; please do not be too rough!” Siren was so enraged he nearly fainted. What kind of words were these coming from Gu Wuchen?

Qing Dao had already stood up. Siren’s punch was heavy, yet she seemed unaffected. She twisted her neck, and Qing Dao clapped her hands with delight, laughing, “So the young master is still an untouched boy? Wonderful, wonderful! Why wait for a better day when today is auspicious? Perhaps, young master?”

Qing Dao let out a few chuckles, grinning as she licked her thick tongue across her lips, murmuring excitedly, “An untouched boy? Marvelous!”

Siren’s face flushed crimson. He glared at Qing Dao through gritted teeth, feeling an overwhelming urge to destroy everything before him.

Gu Xichen merely smiled. He glanced sideways at the female cavalry of the Ten Barbarian Tribes charging in conflict outside the city walls, and his divine sense suddenly enveloped them. Following the calls of their leader, hundreds of female knights suddenly drew caltrops the size of human heads from their leather belts and hurled them with force toward the city walls.

These so-called iron caltrops were iron spheres as large as a head, covered entirely in sharp spikes as thick as a child’s finger. The tips of the dark, gleaming spikes were smeared with a pea-sized dollop of dark green gel, carrying a pungent, sweet, and fishy odor—clearly some form of unknown, potent poison.

The female knights galloped at extreme speed. Using the momentum of their mounts, they hurled the caltrops. Their immense physical strength propelled the hundreds of iron balls forward, slicing through the air with a shrill sound. In the blink of an eye, they traversed nearly a thousand zhang of space, arcing over the city walls.

Qing Dao, who had been staring intently at Siren and hoping to grope Siren’s vital areas again, turned back sharply. She roared, “Enemy attack! Defend!”

The female warriors on the ramparts swiftly raised thick, three-inch-deep metal shields, firmly covering their heads.

The female warriors near Gu Xichen and the other three were also diligent. Fearing harm might come to Gu Wuchen and the others, they hastily raised their shields, completely enveloping the four. Siren, particularly the most handsome among them, was covered entirely by seven large shields, each spanning about a zhang square. Gu Xichen offered a faint smile, a shard of cold light flashing deep within his eyes.

Among the incoming iron caltrops, several suddenly shifted subtly, altering their trajectory. Just as they were about to sweep past Qing Dao, they abruptly veered toward her instead.

Qing Dao had already calculated the path of the projectiles, so she stood fearlessly by the crenelations of the wall, coldly observing the charging female knights of the Ten Barbarian Tribes below. She provocatively raised her longsword, pointing it at the leader of the charging knights.

The sudden change in the caltrops’ path caught Qing Dao completely off guard. Her robust, bear-like body managed to shift just enough to narrowly dodge four balls aimed at her torso. However, the one flying straight for her head—that one she could not avoid.

With a deafening crash, Qing Dao was flung back over ten zhang, slamming into a heavy ballista mounted behind her, nearly knocked clear off the rampart.

The sharp spikes pierced Qing Dao’s skin, and the gel-like toxin quickly permeated her blood. Gu Xichen’s divine sense locked onto Qing Dao’s body, instantly scanning her entire being.

She was truly a terrifying woman. Her vitality was exceptionally vigorous, and her physical strength incredibly potent. The hardness of her flesh was comparable to a specialized, forged Second-Grade Celestial Immortal. The density of her muscles was over ten thousand times greater than the toughest alloyed copper in the previous universe’s human realm. Her bones were extremely dense and flexible, their strength exceeding that of carbon fiber alloy steel by more than thirteen thousand times.

Qing Dao’s skeletal structure was broadly similar to that of humans Gu Xichen was familiar with, differing only in certain fine details. For instance, the gaps between Qing Dao’s ribs were far smaller than a human’s; the ribs were almost fused into a single bone plate.

She possessed thirty percent more muscle mass than a human, and more than double the number of muscle fibers. This indicated a formidable skeleton underpinning a powerful yet agile muscular system. One should not assume her movements were clumsy just by observing her robust physique.

Furthermore, Qing Dao’s internal organs were generally similar to human structures, but she possessed two hearts. The heart on the left performed the primary function, while the heart on the right pulsed intermittently—clearly some form of backup organ, confirming Qing Dao’s immense and tenacious life force. If one heart suffered fatal injury, the other would immediately take over.

The convolutions of her brain were far more complex than a human’s. While the overall brain volume was similar to a human’s, her cerebellum was exceptionally developed, indicating outstanding motor skills and balance. Due to the complexity of her cerebral gyri, her cortical surface area was larger than a human’s, suggesting excellent memory and a massive storage capacity.

However, the number of nerve ganglia in her brain was slightly lower, possibly indicating a small deficit in raw IQ compared to humans, though the difference was limited.

The poison from the iron caltrop had integrated into Qing Dao’s system. It was a large protein molecule biological toxin that immediately began interacting with the red blood cells in her bloodstream upon entry. Every red blood cell touched by the toxin instantly began to rot and shrink. Eventually, the necrotic red blood cells were converted into new toxin, rapidly spreading deep into her body via the bloodstream.

Qing Dao’s body began to convulse. Both her hearts beat violently, pumping large amounts of blood stored in her viscera into her vessels to compensate for the loss of blood cells corroded by the poison.

Vast amounts of hormones were secreted from her internal organs, causing Qing Dao’s body temperature to rapidly soar, furiously destroying the activity of the invading toxin’s protein molecules. In the blink of an eye, Qing Dao’s temperature rose to around three hundred degrees Celsius. In the original universe, this temperature would be sufficient to slowly bake a person alive, yet this appeared to be within the normal range her body could withstand.

In just a few breaths, a large volume of thick, black blood began flowing from the wounds on Qing Dao’s head. The fetid blood sprayed out steaming heavily. Qing Dao’s complexion flickered pale, but all the toxin within her body had been expelled.

A mournful groan echoed nearby. Although Qing Dao was powerful and her body automatically purged the poison, nearly a hundred female warriors on the rampart had been struck by the caltrops in that wave of attack. Some had broken bones; others had fractured skulls. All lay groaning and wailing miserably.

In the time it took Qing Dao to clear the poison from her system, over thirty female soldiers had already succumbed, their bodies rapidly dissolving into pools of black pus.

Cursing in fury, Qing Dao—still reeling from the heavy blow to her head and having lost a third of her blood to the toxin—staggered to her feet. Muttering continuously, she scrambled onto the heavy ballista beside her, gritted her teeth, pulled the mechanism, and fired the trigger.

Dong! A roar like a heavy cannon blast erupted. Forty-nine beast sinews, as thick as an adult thumb, launched from the ballista, propelling ninety-eight pure metal, featherless crossbow bolts—each as thick as an infant's wrist and twelve zhang long—which shot out as streaks of black light toward the charging female knights below.

The female knights below shouted frantically, cursing their mounts which spun in panicked dashes to evade the whistling bolts. Only one knight stumbled; a bolt grazed her body, pulverizing a human-head-sized section of muscle on her left arm. The others sustained no injury, continuing their roar toward the city.

The wounded knight merely threw her head back and roared with laughter a few times, then charged forward, her eyes bloodshot. She stared fixedly at the four people—Gu Xichen and the others—on the city wall and shouted, “I am the first to be wounded today! I have the right to enjoy them first!”

Pointing ferociously at Mohe, the injured knight shrieked, “I want him! I want him! I will be the first to drain this little boy’s vitality dry!” Thousands of female knights roared with laughter and exerted every ounce of strength toward the city.

Gu Xichen smiled faintly and asked Qing Dao with fake concern, “General, are you… alright?”

Panting, Qing Dao climbed down from the ballista and roared, “Are you all dead? Ballistae, fire! Where are the heavy archers? Heavy bows! Shoot those savage bitches outside the city! Damn it, these wretches who are less than beasts, thinking they can snatch our men—what a clever plan!”

The female warriors on the wall rapidly fired the ballistae. Furthermore, a contingent of over three hundred female archers, wielding heavy bows as tall as a person, lined up shoulder to shoulder. They drew their bowstrings and loosed terrifyingly large arrows. Instantly, rain of arrows poured from the wall, momentarily halting the ferocious charge of the Ten Barbarian Tribes’ female cavalry, forcing them to slow their advance and dodge left and right.

Only then did Qing Dao have a moment to smile at Gu Wuchen, reaching out to him affectionately, “Esteemed Young Master, the battlefield is perilous. The young masters should retreat inside the city for safety. With Qing Dao here, these concubines won’t lay a single finger on you.”

As she spoke, Qing Dao reached out to grope Gu Wuchen’s backside.

Gu Xichen smiled at Qing Dao, subtly stepping back one pace and revealing Siren behind him.

Qing Dao’s eyebrows lifted in excitement. She swiftly seized the opportunity, grabbing Siren’s backside with one hand. Her fingers curled slightly, giving his bottom a gentle squeeze. Having successfully ambushed him, Qing Dao quickly withdrew her hand, shamelessly sniffing her fingers and sighing ecstatically, “Tender, smooth, and fragrant! Truly exquisite flesh! Young Master, Qing Dao’s feelings for you are genuine!”

Siren’s expression truly changed; his eyes instantly became utterly black, like the deepest night. He stiffly raised his right hand, intending to press it against Qing Dao’s chest, but Gu Wuchen caught his arm.

Laughing lightly, Gu Xichen patted Siren’s shoulder and said with a strange drawl, “There, there, General Qing Dao only harbors admiration! We shouldn’t disturb the General while she fights the enemy here.”

Smiling and nodding to Qing Dao, Gu Xichen led Siren down from the ramparts. Escorted by a few female soldiers, they arrived at a lavish residence in the city center. According to the female soldiers, this was Qing Dao’s private manor.

Because the female cavalry of the Ten Barbarian Tribes were attacking the city, the streets were deserted. However, at the entrance to Qing Dao’s private residence stood a neat line of men dressed in short blue tunics. Regardless of whether they were handsome and fair or tall and imposing, every man appeared meek and submissive, like gentle little rabbits.

When the few female soldiers escorting Gu Xichen and the others approached, the assembled men revealed strange expressions—a mixture of envy and jealousy. Several of the younger men, particularly the exquisitely handsome ones, shot looks as sharp as throwing knives toward Siren.

Gu Xichen shook his head helplessly. What did these men mean? Were they afraid of competing for favor and diminishing their standing in Qing Dao’s eyes?

He watched as the men collectively bowed to the female soldiers, greeting them with flattering smiles and swaying hips. They eagerly clustered around the female soldiers, inquiring solicitously about the battle situation and whether the city faced danger.

The young men who were delicate and enchantingly beautiful pointed at Gu Wuchen and the others, whispering to ask about their identity and origins. A thick scent of jealousy wafted from their conversation, causing Gu Xichen to suppress a chuckle.

Sweeping his divine sense over these men, Gu Wuchen immediately understood why women held such a superior position to men on this planet. These men’s physiological structures were similar to ordinary humans, possessing only one heart. In terms of physical stamina, they were less than one-twentieth as strong as these women.

However, these men possessed over thirty percent more nerve ganglia in their brains than the women, indicating a slight intellectual advantage. But the general level of productivity here was low; in an era of cold weapons, high intelligence offered little advantage, perhaps only qualifying them to be despised artisans. Consequently, the women, who controlled martial force, held absolute leadership, leaving the men as mere vassals to the women.

It was no wonder the heavy ballistae and great bows on the wall were exquisitely crafted, superior weaponry, not something these crude and dull female soldiers could manufacture. It seemed the creators of these war machines were these very men.

Gu Xichen nodded to himself and transmitted via divine sense to Siren and the others, “Observe every plant and stone here closely. Memorize every characteristic of this place. Better yet, try to gather intelligence on this city’s history and the origins of the major clans… If we are to integrate into this universe plausibly, our fate rests within this city.”

He stated coldly, “Once this city falls, every resident inside will be massacred by the Ten Barbarian Tribes. We will be the only four survivors.”

Siren, still dizzy from Qing Dao’s harassment, asked a rather foolish question: “This city looks quite sturdy. Can it really be breached?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Siren lightly slapped his own face and managed an awkward smile. Even if this city were a hundred times sturdier, if four Saints willed it to fall, it would fall! Siren nodded inwardly; he understood Gu Wuchen’s plan.

While the four were conferring via divine sense, a female soldier approached and invited them inside to rest. Gu Xichen seized the opportunity to request access to the city’s various historical records to broaden his knowledge and experience. The female soldier readily agreed, informing Gu Xichen that all the history and archives of this ‘Black Smoke City’ were stored in the City Guardian’s Mansion, and Qing Dao had the authority to loan them for reading. Upon hearing this, the four’s divine senses immediately zoomed toward the mansion at the city’s center. In the underground library of that mansion, they indeed found mountains of scrolls and pages, meticulously recording every major and minor event since the city’s construction. Even the relationships and membership details of the various great families within Black Flame City, along with the files of ordinary citizens, were all present. Gu Xichen was overjoyed. He swiftly located identities suitable for their use within the archives.

The rest was simply orchestrating the breach of the city so that the female cavalry of the Ten Barbarian Tribes could pour in and slaughter the populace. Everything would then proceed naturally.

With the combined power of four Saints manipulating events, the city defenses of Black Candle City effortlessly dispatched the leader of the Ten Barbarian Tribes’ female cavalry, enraging all the remaining warriors.

Mysteriously, the city’s drawbridge and main gates were taken by the Barbarian Tribe clan, and thousands of frantic cavalry swarmed inside.

The Ten Barbarian Tribes might be inferior to the Female Gong Nation in production, but in terms of destruction and combat power, a single warrior of the Ten Barbarian Tribes was equivalent to two warriors of the Female Gong Nation. Black Flame City instantly descended into bloodshed and chaos. Under the direction of Gu Xichen’s four Saints’ divine senses, the female cavalry of the Ten Barbarian Tribes slaughtered every resident in the city, leaving only Gu Xichen and the trio.

After the female cavalry of the Ten Barbarian Tribes had looted the entire city and galloped away triumphantly, Gu Wuchen and the other three changed into local attire, subtly altering their appearances. They stood amidst the raging inferno engulfing the city. They had transformed into male members of a sparsely populated minor family within Black Flame City.

The four gazed upon the city engulfed in flames and corpses without expression or reaction. Though not entirely devoid of emotion, they felt no compassion or pity for the humanoid creatures of this unfamiliar universe.

As Gu Xichen was calculating their next move—whether to report the massacre of Black Flame City to a neighboring city or otherwise—several beams of light flashed across the sky. In an instant, several body cultivators whose cultivation realm was merely Gold Core stage, yet whose physical bodies were as sturdy as the peak of Celestial Immortals, and male/female cultivators whose magical power rivaled that of Golden Immortals, descended directly upon sword light.

With a single glance over the four, the male cultivators showed signs of joy and strode toward them.

Gu Xichen sensed the divine senses of several male cultivators surge toward him, scrutinizing his body from top to bottom. He quickly suppressed his aura entirely, striving to disguise himself as an utterly ordinary person. However, he was still the body of a Saint; his immortal bones were visible to anyone with even minor cultivation.

The other female cultivators glared at Gu Wuchen and the others with unfriendly eyes. One tall, fair-skinned woman, nearly twelve zhang high and reasonably attractive, pointed sharply at Gu Xichen and demanded, “What is going on here? Where are the city’s inhabitants?” Gu Xichen glared at the woman, then turned his head away, ignoring her completely.

Guohua and the other two were stunned by the bizarre power and realms of these cultivators, rendering them speechless for a time.

These cultivators, truly only at the Gold Core stage, possessed a Golden Core in their Dantian that was astonishingly large. A Golden Core cultivated by Earthly cultivators, if it reached the size of a hen’s egg, indicated profound mastery. Yet, the Golden Cores within these cultivators were the size of rice bushels, and their refinement level was at least ten thousand times that of Earthly cultivators’ Cores. A single Core here contained the energy equivalent of the Cores of one hundred thousand ordinary Earthly cultivators.

Their physical bodies were undeniably immensely powerful, thousands of times stronger than Qing Dao or the female cavalry of the Ten Barbarian Tribes—this was the expected gap between cultivators and mortals. With a mere Gold Core cultivation, possessing the robust physique of a peak Celestial Immortal-level Body Cultivator—how terrifying were the cultivators of this universe?

Even more horrifying was the purity and density of their magical power, both approaching the level of initial Golden Immortals in Gu Wuchen’s home universe. Yet, their actual realm was squarely Gold Core stage! Their divine senses were also those expected of Gold Core cultivators, not significantly stronger than those of Earthly cultivators.

If cultivators at only the Gold Core stage exhibited such profound deviations, how powerful would their Nascent Soul, Soul Transformation, Void Realm cultivators, and even their Immortals be?

The Immortals here were one thing; judging by the strength of figures like the Dark Cloud Immortal, they were merely at the Primordial Chaos level, having merely cleaved off the Three Corpses of the primordial spirit. But the Saints who had immersed themselves in this universe for countless aeons—if their power also underwent certain adaptations in accordance with the local norms, how strong would they become?

The moment Gu Xichen considered the quasi-saint Zhunti, who, three aeons ago, had forced him into immobility by merely extending one hand, his expression subtly shifted.

The change in Gu Xichen’s expression was noticed by the leading male cultivator, who immediately turned and glared at the female cultivators. He shouted fiercely, “What is the meaning of this? Are you trying to threaten the talented disciples the male cultivation lineage has worked hard to recruit?”

A few female cultivators merely sneered repeatedly. The fair-skinned female cultivator spoke in a strange, singsong voice, “You useless lot of men, even if you cultivate Immortal Arts and Divine Techniques, you are destined to be crushed beneath us forever. What good does it do if you have a few more sect members?

Glaring coldly at the male cultivators, that female cultivator berated them, “If the Empress hadn’t issued an edict forbidding us from troubling you these past few years, our lineage of female cultivators would have eradicated you long ago. You were born as slaves; you should obediently remain slaves in this life!” The male cultivators trembled with rage, each one staring fiercely at the female cultivator. But those few female cultivators were clearly confident and paid them no mind.

The fair-skinned female cultivator looked coldly at Gu Xichen and sternly barked, “Bitch, I’m asking you a question—what happened to Black Flame City?” Gu Xichen glanced at the female cultivator, then suddenly convulsed and collapsed onto the ground. Guo Hua and the other two followed suit, convulsing. Guo Hua shrieked bizarrely a few times—"Kill!

So many dead people!"—then, after spouting nonsense, rolled his eyes back and went limp on the ground. The male cultivators shot the female cultivators a glare, hastily picked up Gu Xichen and the others, and swiftly flew away on beams of light. A few female cultivators sneered a couple of times and quickly followed behind on their swords.

Sorry, the excuse is just being too tired. I ran off to sleep while writing, and I only managed to get up and write this much. This messy December of 2310.

Thankfully, Pig Head worked hard to write some word count at the beginning of the month. By today, December 22nd, Pig Head has already uploaded a manuscript of ten thousand characters. This messy December, too many matters are weighing heavily on my mind.

Pig Head truly hasn't been eating or sleeping well these past few days, constantly preoccupied with many things. Alas. I went to visit the grave again today; that’s no easy task either.

I woke up at 7 a.m., completely throwing off Pig Head’s already chaotic biological clock. I am truly a bit exhausted. I will strive for a normal update tomorrow, get through this December, and start working hard on writing again starting in January next year.