"If your nation truly enjoyed peace and prosperity, why would we, the Heavenly Empire of Nanyun, meddle in your internal affairs? Yet, every year, people in your country starve, freeze, and perish from various disasters. We, the Nanyun Empire, as the Heavenly Empire, have overcome countless obstacles, traversed mountains and rivers, and endured untold hardships just to rescue you from this abyss of suffering. It is one thing for you to be ungrateful and obstruct us, but to accuse us of intentionally provoking conflict between our nations—what is your true intent?" Before Ye Jingyu could speak, Liang Xiaoke leaped out, pointing directly at the man and unleashing a torrent of abuse.

His voice carried the subtle resonance of the Heaven Demon's Sound, silently disrupting the minds of the ordinary soldiers, making them believe his words.

Upon hearing Liang Xiaoke's tirade, the man was so enraged he nearly spat blood. What kind of talk was that? What did he mean, if the nation were prosperous? Was his empire supposedly in chaos? As for starvation and freezing—how could a nation with hundreds of millions of people manage to ensure not a single person starved or froze? And as for natural and man-made disasters, they were impossible to entirely prevent. Did the Nanyun Empire have no one who froze or starved? Weren't his words utterly shameless?

The man cursed inwardly, but the ordinary soldiers, their minds clouded by the Heaven Demon's Sound, found Liang Xiaoke’s accusations utterly correct, and in that instant, they began to feel that the Nanyun Empire wasn't so malicious after all.

"General, do not waste words on him; just kill him outright!" At this moment, a man wearing a steel helmet approached the general and spoke softly.

The general cast a slightly fearful glance at the man and nodded faintly.

This man was Mu, who stood beside Yuan. They wished nothing more than for these humans to fight harder and die in greater numbers. Seeing that both sides were currently engaged in a war of words, Mu could hardly stand the delay.

Following Mu's silent direction, the Great General of the Fanlong Empire launched the attack. Of course, before the assault, he uttered some superficially righteous words, but ultimately, victory on the battlefield is always decided by overwhelming strength.

Seeing the Fanlong Empire initiate the assault, Ye Jingyu and his company were momentarily stunned. They held a superior strategic position; defending with their million-plus troops should have been effortless based on that terrain. There was truly no need for them to attack first.

"Big Brother, did you notice that man just now? He seemed to whisper something in the enemy Marshal's ear? I suspect he is also a demon," Ye Jingyu said, having already deployed the Twelve Heaven Witch Annihilation Formation, so he wasn't afraid of the incoming attack. That formation had once contained the demon race’s army of millions; he certainly wouldn't worry about this meager force.

"You mean that fellow who looks neither human nor ghost?" Liang Xiaoke’s eyes immediately fixed on the man standing next to the general, and he spoke in a low tone.

Ye Jingyu glanced at the scales still visible on Liang Xiaoke’s face from his recent evolution into a Sky-Soaring Night-Ghoul, and the faint outline of fleshy wings protruding from his back, and rolled his eyes. He himself was calling the other guy neither human nor ghost? Did he look particularly human?

Nevertheless, he nodded slightly.

"My Heaven Demon's Sound didn't have much effect just now; these bastards must have tampered with the ordinary soldiers. I'll go capture him right now!" Liang Xiaoke roared with fierce laughter, his wings suddenly spreading wide. With a powerful beat, he transformed into a streak of light, hurtling toward the enemy formation.

His speed was terrifying; he arrived almost instantly before the enemy commander's seat. He pulled out a massive iron hammer from somewhere—or perhaps nowhere—and brought it crashing down upon the man, sweeping toward the general as well. If he could kill both enemy leaders in one fell swoop, wouldn't victory come much easier?

"Heh heh, welcome..." Mu sneered, reaching out one hand into the void. A scythe, pitch black, materialized in his grip, and he swung it directly to cleave at Liang Xiaoke’s hammer.

With a sharp hiss, the scythe sliced through Liang Xiaoke’s hammer as easily as cutting tofu. If Liang Xiaoke hadn't dodged swiftly, his own body would have been halved.

"Damn it, what kind of weapon is that? So sharp?" Liang Xiaoke cursed, but his body shot rapidly skyward, his face a mask of terror, feigning extreme fear.

"Since you’ve come, why not stay?" Mu had shattered Liang Xiaoke’s hammer with one blow, and he paused slightly, clearly not expecting this fellow's speed or the shocking fragility of his weapon. Had humanity truly degenerated to such a low state?

Without a moment's hesitation, Mu launched himself upward, soaring toward Liang Xiaoke in pursuit.

In the blink of an eye, the two were battling high in the sky. Seeing Mu closing in too fast, Liang Xiaoke pulled out a Coiling Dragon Staff from some unknown location and swung it violently at Mu. But Mu simply sneered, brought his scythe down in a single slash, and the seemingly solid Coiling Dragon Staff shattered.

Liang Xiaoke, undeterred, produced a Square Halberd, which was similarly cleaved apart by one swing of the scythe. Persistently, he kept pulling out weapon after weapon—swords, blades, rods—bringing out nearly all eighteen legendary weapons. Yet, just like the first attempt, none of these weapons could withstand a single blow from Mu’s scythe. Each time a weapon broke, Liang Xiaoke narrowly avoided being struck by Mu’s responding strike.

Seeing the miserable quality of the weapons Liang Xiaoke wielded, Mu felt a surge of smugness and his guard dropped further. Without a single decent weapon, what could this man use against him? Rely only on speed?

Just as Mu prepared to accelerate for the final killing blow, Liang Xiaoke produced one last weapon: a black ancient sword. His expression remained one of stubborn resolve, as if he would not stop until his goal was achieved.

Mu faintly sensed a fierce, violent aura emanating from the ancient sword. But having just shattered countless weapons successively, he never considered this one any different from the others.

His confidence swelled to an extreme; he didn't even bother raising his scythe to block. He decided he would wait for Liang Xiaoke's weapon to strike his body, and then he would deliver the final, annihilating strike.

At the moment Liang Xiaoke's body was about to collide with Mu's, and Mu's scythe was poised to strike down, the black ancient sword suddenly slipped from Liang Xiaoke’s grasp. It transformed into a streak of light, flashing like lightning straight toward Mu's heart...