When the soldiers looked up and saw the end of the stone steps, for some reason, their breath caught in their throats.
But then the middle-aged man carrying the kerosene lamp shoved it into the boy's hand, then turned to the deaf and mute people and gestured in sign language: "Kill them all."
In an instant, dozens of soldiers turned their purple sleeves inside out, revealing that the back of the sleeves was pure black and embroidered with a white ginkgo leaf.
Somehow, when they turned their sleeves black, the color suddenly took on a somber hue, as if they were bidding farewell to someone.
The white ginkgo leaves against the black background looked particularly somber.
The next moment, dozens of skilled fighters hidden among the soldiers began their slaughter.
One by one, the deaf-mute people on the mountain leaped down into the mountains and disappeared. Several experts behind the soldiers saw something was wrong and immediately tried to run, but before they could run far, they saw that the deaf-mute people dressed in white linen clothes had already arrived at the foot of the mountain and blocked their way.
The deaf-mute people had blank expressions, and some even had red eyes, as if they had just been crying.
Among the nine escaped masters, three of them rolled up their sleeves, revealing black silk cloth and white ginkgo leaves on the back.
The middle-aged man at the end of the mountain road saw this scene and knew that the outcome was already decided.
Perhaps even those who started this bloody incident never imagined that they would have so many family heads under their command.
The old man had stayed in the house for more than ten years. He seemed to be indifferent to the world, but it was as if he knew everything and had not missed anything.
He whispered to the boy beside him, "Boring."
After saying that, the middle-aged man took the kerosene lamp from the boy and turned to slowly walk up the mountain.
Right behind him, the lights of thousands of homes in City 5 lit up again, shining like a galaxy.
It seems that the power system here has never been destroyed.
The middle-aged man, leading the boy and Xinghui, walked to the outside of the small house: "Patriarch, they are too weak. I did not make a move."
The old man inside said, “Come in. How smart can people be to sell off their ancestral property? If the Qing family were given to them, their empire would collapse in less than ten years. They’re all people who think they’re so clever.”
The middle-aged man pushed open the wooden door and looked at the old man's back, which had become even more hunched overnight: "If we had found Lee Byung-hee's wife sooner, we might have been able to kill Lee Byung-hee sooner, and Xiao-jun might not have had to... I'm sorry."
“No need to apologize,” the old man said calmly. “This was the ending he chose, and he has no regrets.”
The middle-aged man fell silent.
The old man slowly stood up and smiled and waved to the boy next to the middle-aged man: "You must be Qing Wu. Xiao Zhunti has mentioned you many times."
The dark-skinned youth took two steps forward, only to see the old man scrutinize him closely: "Your father has served me for thirty years, and now it's your turn to serve the next head of the family. Once you take this step, there's no turning back. Are you willing?"
Qing Wu nodded: "I'm willing. I've met him, and he is indeed better than the others."
The old man said, "Xiao Zhun mentioned it to me. He said you wanted to see if Qing Chen was qualified, which is why you asked to be a shadow candidate. So, have you observed enough?"
Qing Wu shook his head: "He didn't participate much in the Shadow Wars, so I haven't observed him much."
"Then why are you willing to be with him?" the old man asked.
“His ability to transcend the Shadow Conflict is a skill in itself,” Qing Wu said calmly. The young man showed no humility in front of the Qing Clan Head. “However, he is not the Clan Head yet. Before that, I still need to continue my cultivation. Only when he truly becomes the Clan Head will I go and follow him.”
The old man sighed and said, "Your entire lineage is obsessed with martial arts. Your grandfather was, your father was, and you are too."
The middle-aged man suddenly said, "Being a martial arts fanatic is great. You don't have to think about so many worries. If someone tells you what to do, you do it. In your whole life, it's enough to do one thing well."
“They’re happier than us,” the old man said softly, taking a silver necklace from his pocket and placing it in the middle-aged man’s hand. “From now on, it’s yours. No regrets?”
The middle-aged man shook his head: "I don't regret it. I already have Qingwu. After his mother passed away, I gave up on the idea."
"It's up to you. Xiao Zhun is going to give it to you anyway, and perhaps he knows you won't refuse," the old man said.
"The battle is still ongoing at Forbidden Land 002," the middle-aged man said, putting the Shadow Gate necklace around his neck. "I've been to Forbidden Land 002 before, I can go and help."
"No need," the old man shook his head.
"Let them fend for themselves?" the middle-aged man asked.
“If he is to die, then that is his fate,” the old man said. “The Qing family spoils their children too much, which makes them forget the spirit of their ancestors. The people of the Qing family should be like wolves, but now they have all become sheep. They are willing to sell even the most important things. What else can’t they sell? I want a true member of the Qing family bloodline, not a useless person.”
"What if he dies?" the middle-aged man asked rhetorically.
“Then let the Qing family vanish with him,” the old man waved his hand. “If you’re tired, go collect the bodies of the people down the mountain.”
"Those who want to kill you, should we kill them or not? I mean..."
“No need,” the old man smiled. “Those are all top-quality whetstones. Keep them for Qingchen to use.”
The middle-aged man nodded: "Understood."
With that, he turned and left with Qingwu, carefully closing the wooden door behind him.
The middle-aged man glanced at the bloodstains below the mountain, then looked back at the wooden house.
Perhaps many people have forgotten that the old man was once a shadow, and the one who fought his way to victory from among a group of shadows.
If Qing Zhun can suppress people, then the old man can certainly suppress them too.
Thinking you can sneak into Ginkgo Manor unnoticed? That's a ridiculous idea.
...
...
Upstream of the Chunlei River, a unit from Kashima Prefecture is heading towards the area.
Their mission was to take over the anti-gravity laboratory upstream, a deal between the Kei family and Kashima.
From a distance, the fortress-like laboratory stood quietly in the wilderness, as if everyone inside had already been evacuated.
Kashima's forces launched a drone to conduct reconnaissance, but before the drone could get close, a unit quickly attacked.
In the night sky, some people heard the roar of huge engines. They looked up and were shocked to see the Qing Clan's Scepter Sky Fortress suddenly descending from the sky.
The sight of that colossal flying object, resembling a city, sent chills down the spines of the Kashima soldiers.
"An aerial fortress! How could there be an aerial fortress here!"
With a deafening roar, the main cannon of the Scepter immediately fired, blasting the Kashima unit to smithereens.
In the blink of an eye, the Kashima unit was blasted to pieces by the irresistible air fortress, leaving only a dozen or so men out of the original five hundred.
The Scepter did not stop. The commander on the bridge glanced at it briefly and said coldly, "Continue to advance north. Have the escort fleet advance north and blow up the Kashima F119 and F121 forward bases before leaving."
At this moment, the Scepter sailed away, and the Kashima commander, who had survived, looked into the distance and saw the figures of the ground troops attacking him.
As those people approached, he was astonished to recognize Qingqu!
This ground force turned out to be the elite unit under Shadow's command!
"How did you get here?" the commander gasped, a huge shrapnel lodged in his abdomen; he was already dead.
Qingqu chuckled and said, "If we're not here, where else could we be?"
"Your shadow is dead, aren't you going to provide support?" the commander asked.
Qingqu fired a shot into the commander's head: "Shadow needs our support to kill Lee Byung-hee? Are you underestimating Shadow, or overestimating Lee Byung-hee?"
When Chen Yu first made his move, he created the effect of being invisible by using six suns, with the aim of preventing Li Shutong and the Shadow Army from appearing on the battlefield through the Shadow Gate.
In fact, the Shadow Forces never had any plans to provide support from the beginning.
Because the shadow knew that in that one minute, killing a demigod was as easy as killing a dog, and he didn't need any support.
...
...
On the battlefield outside Forbidden Land No. 002.
One by one, the swifts collided with the shells. Some swifts' wings brushed past the sides of the shells, actually cutting a huge gash in them with the force of paper, and changing the direction of the shells.
Some swifts crashed directly into the shells and exploded with a bang.
All of Xiaoyu's painstakingly folded swiftlets turned into fireworks. Shrapnel rained down, and Zard used an earthen wall to protect everyone from being injured by the shrapnel.
Qing Chen said, "Charge straight into their formation, don't stay in one place."
“No,” Zard suddenly said, “My older brother hasn’t slept for three days and three nights. He’s at his limit. We can’t leave him here alone.”
Qing Chen was taken aback: "What do you mean?"
“He didn’t dare let Xiaoyu face this war, nor did he want Xiaoyu to get blood on her hands. In fact, they should have switched identities three days ago, but he forced himself not to sleep, determined to hold on until the battle was over,” Zard said, praising, “That’s amazing!”
Qing Chen thought for a moment and said, "Then let's go and meet him!"
At this moment, a green dragon suddenly appeared in the night sky and rushed straight towards Huan Yu. It was a dragon painted by the Chen family painter, which means that there are still experts in the Chen family present!
Qing Chen immediately conjured a black sniper rifle and aimed it at its head. However, although he hit it, the bullet only got stuck in the Azure Dragon's skull, just like when he failed to penetrate the Golden Guard's breastplate.
Ordinary bullets seem unlikely to pose a fatal threat to A-rank divine shikigami or Chen's paintings.
In an instant, Qing Chen used the power of thunder to generate a powerful electromagnetic field inside the black sniper rifle barrel. With a loud bang, the metal bullet inside the barrel burst out at an unparalleled speed.
The initial velocity of a regular bullet is about 850 meters per second, but this 22.5-gram bullet, under electromagnetic acceleration, reached an astonishing 3,700 meters per second!
This is no longer a sniper rifle.
This is a miniature electromagnetic railgun!
To everyone's eyes, the black sniper's tungsten-core armor-piercing round actually pierced through the Azure Dragon's head, and the Azure Dragon drifted away in the night sky.
The creation of this miniature electromagnetic cannon means that the black sniper rifle will no longer be useless in his hands, and he will have the confidence to kill A-level enemies!
Moreover, modern snipers can deliver bullets in an instant within a 3700-meter range, with a straighter trajectory, so they no longer need such a massive amount of calculation!
Black Sniper, under the power of Thunder, has once again ascended to the extraordinary stage.
Suddenly, an earthen wall on the ground transformed into a hand and then raised its thumb towards the sky.
Qing Chen: "..."
Zard actually gave him a thumbs up in such a high-profile way on the battlefield?
"Take Huanyu away quickly," Qingchen said.
"Alright!" Zard exclaimed excitedly, "Boss, can I learn to use a sniper rifle from you? I think it's so cool!"
"Yes! As long as we survive, you can learn whatever you want!" Qingchen said.
But just as they were talking, a middle-aged man in Chen's army simultaneously twisted and broke eight scrolls, and eight Vajra Bodhisattvas, each two meters tall, materialized out of thin air and rushed straight towards Huan Yu!
The Blue Calamity-Clearing Vajra, the Poison-Dispelling Vajra, the Yellow Fulfilling Vajra, the White Pure Water Vajra, the Red Sound Vajra, the Calamity-Clearing Vajra, the Purple Wise Vajra, and the Great God Vajra.
The painting depicts the eight Vajra warriors, each wielding a Vajra pestle, with red silk ribbons fluttering on their backs. They are all red-haired and red-faced, with ferocious and terrifying appearances.