At the Nishi-no, beyond Tiger and Wolf Pass, the intense battle was underway.
Both enemy and ally, a million-strong army were locked in combat, the fields a sea of corpses and blood, staining miles of valleys and rivers red.
Inside the command center of the Tiger and Wolf army.
Zhao Cangqiong, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Great Xia, the King of the Nishi-no, stood in front of a strategic sand table.
Standing at a height of 1.8 meters, his tailored dark military uniform emphasized his lofty stature and his youthful and handsome face.
He stood there, hands behind his back, eyebrows sharp as a sword, eyes bright as stars, a commanding aura surrounding him.
Around him were a dozen generals, looking at their young King, afraid to breathe, their eyes filled with nothing but respect.
On the sand table, a total of eighteen targets represented the eighteen cities of Nishi-no.
Half of the targets already had a small red flag inserted, indicating that they had been taken by the Tiger and Wolf army.
"Report!" Outside, a dark-skinned, robust general burst in, his voice resonating like thunder: "Report to the King, our army has taken down the tenth city!"
Zhao Cangqiong raised his sword-like eyebrows slightly, reached out his hand, and inserted a red flag into the tenth city.
"Li Hu, well done!" Zhao Cangqiong's cold face revealed a long-missing smile: "Order the troops to rest for a day. We'll flatten the last eight cities of Nishi-no tomorrow!"
"Yes, sir!" Li Hu's strong voice echoed.
"Report!" Just then, a subordinate rushed in, his expression anxious: "King, an incident happened at your home."
With trembling hands, the subordinate handed over a mobile phone with a video in front of Zhao Cangqiong.
"Whoosh!"
It was as if Zhao Cangqiong had a premonition of something, swiftly snatching the mobile phone.
"Boom!"
The moment he saw the video, a loud noise buzzed in Zhao Cangqiong's mind, like a thunderbolt out of the blue.
The video showed a bloody scene, filled with gore.
Xieno, the warlord commanding millions of troops, found his hand trembling at this moment.
His usually calm tiger eyes were now filled with bloodshot patterns, gradually turning ferocious, like a beast on the verge of eruption.
The next moment, a startling roar went off, shaking the void.
"Prepare the plane, return to Nanzhou! Now, immediately!"
...
"Warlord, calm down, you must not leave!"
"The eighteen cities of Xieno are about to be captured, if you leave now, all our previous efforts will be wasted."
"For this day, we have battled for fifteen years, countless courageous young men have bled on this land, turning into countless white bones. It was your emergence that turned the tides in our favor in these four years, launching a counterattack, today at the moment of victory, you want to depart, are you willing to give up the easily attainable fruit of success? Are your million soldiers willing? Are those sacrificed soldiers willing?"
One after another, sentence by sentence.
A deafening sound.
Zhao Cangqiong's eyes were as red as blood, watching the horrific video, as he grit his teeth.
"Your Majesty, you must reconsider! Whatever may have happened, let's discuss it after the battle. If you leave now, the enemy will undoubtedly strike back. Not only could our fifteen years of hard work be destroyed, but the enemy may break through the Tiger-Wolf Pass again. If that happens, the countless people we are tasked to protect will be under the enemy's blade; their families torn apart, homes destroyed, people killed…"
"Enough!" A roar of fury echoed, as if the world was shattering.
"Boom!"
An enormous palm struck down in anger, smashing the sand table in the command room instantly, reducing it to rubble.
Soldiers in the command room felt a tremble in their hearts and fell silent, all noise abruptly ceased.
At this moment, no one dared to utter a word. All eyes were on their young King in fear.
For the first time in four years, they had seen him so furious.
What on earth happened?
"I'm defending the millions of people behind me, but who is going to protect my family? You all see for yourselves!"
With anger, Zhao Cangqiong threw his mobile phone at the general who had been trying to dissuade him most aggressively.
The mobile phone fell to the ground, but the video was still playing.
In the video, there were bodies bleeding universally, faces contorted in pain and wailing, eyes filled with utter despair, and dismal screams that chilled the soul...
Among them, there was a little girl around four to five years old.
The little girl looked somewhat similar to Zhao Cangqiong - she must be the daughter who their King Zhao often mentioned.
This...
Just who is this merciless monster that disregards all that's human? Even children are not spared from such vicious acts.
The video continues to play.
The scenario in footage grows increasingly gruesome and bloody.
A young man is impaled on the wall by gigantic iron nails driven through his limbs, emitting agonizing cries of suffering.
A burly man with a fierce and brutal mien stands shirtless—his arms wields a wildly rotating electric saw. His laughter mirrors that of a demonic entity, taking steps inching closer to the young man.
That young man happens to be the younger brother of Zhao Cangqiong.
"No, please... spare me, spare me... Ah..."
The younger brother stares at the approaching electric saw, with fear etched into his face, tears and mucus freely streaming down his cheeks. His facial features contort in sheer terror as his heart-wrenching wails resonates, shredding any listener's heart to pieces...
Yet, his pleadings and cries are all in vain.
Instead, it seems to fuel the burly man's wicked excitement. With a malicious grin, the man brought down the electric saw forcefully.
"Ahh—"
The camera is blocked by the splatter of flesh and blood that sprays into the air, painting the entire phone screen red with a vague mix of blood and carnage...
"My younger brother…" Zhao Cangqiong crashes onto his knees, filled with overwhelming despair. His gaze is wild with fury as his fingers dig into the soil, his massive frame trembling uncontrollably—an aura of terrifying murderous intent spilling out unreservedly.
The soldiers around, one by one, grit their steel teeth in anger, filling the air with an overwhelming murderous intent.
The horrific scene has not yet come to an end.
The scene shifts, and atop a high-rise building stands a woman, disheveled, her clothing barely covering her body.
The woman's gaze is dull and listless as blood continually flows from her lower body.
No one knows what kind of monstrous atrocity she has endured.
"Big brother...if you're still alive, you must avenge me...avenge me..."
In her hysterical crying, streams of bloody tears of despair flow from her eyes.
"Sis, no…" Zhao Cangqiong, looking at the woman in the video, shakes his head in fear at the thought of her jumping off.
"Boom..."
With a loud noise, the woman leapt down from the high-rise building.
The scene is once again littered with gore.
"Sis…" Zhao Cangqiong cries.
At this moment, this iron-blooded man, who commands an army of millions, weeps like rainfall. His heart bleeds.
The scene shifts again.
A seriously wounded elderly couple is dragged out and thrown into a muddy, water-filled pit. Their blood turns the water red.
"Break the limbs of these two old fools, then bury them," comes the command.
In the video, a beast-like roar echoed.
A few young men with tattooed arms wielding batons rushed forward, swinging their weapons all at once.
"Crack... Crack..."
The sound of bones breaking snapped like popcorn.
"Ahh... Ahh..."
Screams after screams, sharp and harrowing, sent chills to one's heart.
"Dad, Mom!" Zhao Cangqiong knelt on the ground, crying out with all his might. Staring at the violent thugs in the video, his resolute face twisted into something horrifying. Those beasts must die!
After a while, both the old couple had their limbs crushed, blood flowing into a river.
Puddles turned into blood pools.
Both elderly were barely alive, soaking in the pool of blood.
Their eyes stared blankly at the sky, filled with nothing but despair.
"Beg...beg for your mercy..."
But, in the end, the mother, with all her remaining strength, let out a feeble plea from her blood-soaked lips.
"Spare... spare my granddaughter... She... She's still a child, don't extract... extract her bone marrow..."
Her last word was so faint that even she herself could hardly hear it.
No one bothered to intervene.
"Rumble... rumble..."
A bulldozer thundered past, drowning out the desperate cries of the mother.
The large bucket was filled to the brim with dirt.
"Whoosh..."
The sand dramatically poured down...
The video abruptly ended here.
Li Hu, one of the Five Tiger Generals, had a dark face that turned blood-red. The veins on his hands bulged visibly, his expression of rage grew intense, "Sky King, I'll accompany you to Nanzhou, to kill those beasts! Anyone who dares to prattle will be chopped by me!"
"We will also go! Slaughter the beasts! Blood cleanse Nanzhou!"
Roaring louder than thunder, shaking the heavens and the earth.
At that moment, none of the generals dared to try and dissuade them.
What reigned was an overwhelming intent to kill.
Each one of them had bloodshot eyes, their anger reaching their peak, all pledging to fight!