On the city wall, a young general clenched his weapon.
The general was of great stature, as tall and straight as a pine tree, and his bravery from having fought in many battles was etched into his heroic face.
"You are all old men who have followed me for many years," the general inspected the soldiers lined up in front of him, "Every time I went to war, what I thought in my heart was to lead you to fight for a future on the battlefield. Even if I can't say that you will be promoted to a higher position, or become a noble or a prime minister, at least you can come back alive and add a few acres of land to your family and build a few houses."
"But this time." His eyes swept across those familiar faces, and his voice was a little hoarse, "I, Gu Yan, am afraid that what I want is for you to follow me to death."
Everyone in front of him was a comrade who had been with him through life and death. Some of the faces here were still so young and immature. Some of them had wives, children, and parents at home, and countless ties. But he wanted to lead them to death.
"It's not that we are incompetent." Gu Yan pointed at the monsters flying in the sky outside the city. "Whether they are monsters or gods, they are far beyond the reach of ordinary people like us. Now, we are just exchanging our own lives for the lives of the people outside the city. The county governor can't bear to see his men die in vain, so if you don't want to go, don't worry."
"Now, those who are willing to follow me out of the city to rescue, please step forward."
Just under the wall that Gu Yan pointed at, a young boy finally ran to the wall and stretched out his hand to the figure standing on the wall, shouting for help. But the next moment, the young body was quickly snatched away by the monster that swooped down from the sky and flew away.
The boy's terrified and desperate cry echoed on the city wall for a long time.
All the people on the city wall watched this scene with red eyes. They had seen too many tragedies like this.
Accompanied by screams and bloody scenes one after another.
One warrior took a step forward, then another, and more and more people stood up.
"I would rather follow General Gu!"
A small hole was opened in the defensive formation in front of the city gate, and more than twenty light cavalrymen galloped out from it.
The world outside the city walls is completely different from what you see from within the safety of the magic circle.
The sky above was obscured by the huge wings of the monsters, and the ground was full of fast-running monsters. The flying gravel and dust hit my body from time to time, and I couldn't see the road ahead clearly. I couldn't tell the direction.
The demon's cries made it difficult to control even the blindfolded horses.
No matter how brave a soldier is, his face will turn pale when facing such a powerful enemy.
They actually knew that their mission was not to fight, but to use their flesh and blood to lure away the monsters so that the fleeing people would have a chance to enter the city.
Commonly known as sending oneself to death.
The demons that were chasing the people were attracted by the loud and collective movements of the cavalry and swooped down towards them.
The leader, General Gu, drew his sword and swung it at the oncoming claws.
The sword was a precious sword that had been tempered by thousands of times, and the man was a brave warrior who could fight against hundreds of enemies on the battlefield. However, even so, he could not survive more than two rounds under the claws of the demon.
"Oh, it still hurts a little. It turns out that ants also want to resist." The demon with a human face and an eagle body grabbed the prey in his hand and lifted him upside down in the air, "I'll play with you well, and then eat you."
Gu Yan was grabbed by the demon's ankle and hung upside down in the air.
In his distorted vision, he saw the terrified faces of his comrades and the bloody ground strewn with corpses.
The only thing that comforted him slightly was that some of the people who had fled here took advantage of their momentum to escape into the entrance under the city wall.
Can we, such weak humans, really survive under the clutches of such a terrifying demon
Gu Yan felt a tearing pain under his feet, and just when he was about to close his eyes and die, a colorful jade gate tower appeared in the inverted world.
A woman in red poked her head out of the colorful door. As soon as she appeared from the door, she rushed towards the demon in the air.
At the moment when the demon passed by him, Gu Yan clearly saw a bloody mark on the young woman's face caused by the demon's sharp claws, but she remained calm and swung her sword to kill.
As a silver sword light flashed, Gu Yan's world began to spin and he was thrown back to the ground.
When he managed to get up from the smoke and dust, the chopped pieces of the demon's body had already fallen around him.
The woman in red descended from the sky, stood in front of him, and stretched out her hand.
"Are you alright, General? You evacuate the civilians, and we'll take care of the demons."
Gu Yan caught the hand that was extended to him and was pulled up. The hand was steady and strong, with rough calluses and new wounds.
The battle-hardened general was stunned for a moment as countless iron puppets of all sizes, waving swords and guns, ran past him shouting and rushing towards the demons in front.
A man in black armor appeared beside the girl in red and reached out to gently touch her face.
"Injured again?"
"It's just a minor injury, it's nothing serious."
The red-dressed lady and the black-dressed knight suddenly appeared, holding cold swords and snow swords, and joined hands to defeat the devil.
The three-headed and six-armed Mahakala, the clever iron puppet, the blizzard-like rain of swords, the mysterious magic, and the extraordinary appearance of the immortal. The situation of the battle was quickly and completely reversed in a short period of time.
All the fleeing civilians successfully entered the city. Those who had survived the disaster could hardly hold back their tears as they squatted under the city walls that were defended by magic arrays.
The warriors who were lucky enough to survive also supported each other and returned to the safe magic circle.
The wounded General Gu looked up at the two figures, one black and one red, outside the city.
The Ghost Festival celebration held every three years in Biyun City was something he had been familiar with since he was a child.
Those high-ranking immortals only know how to practice seclusion. Apart from releasing a few butterflies and taking away a few children once every three years, they have never shown any sympathy for the sufferings of the common people.
In his mind, these immortals living in the clouds were out of reach. He even respected them less than the county magistrate who loved his people like his own children.
Until this day, I saw two figures fighting among the monsters in the sky.
Only then did I realize that they, like me, could get hurt and bleed.
After wiping the blood off his face, he would fight the monsters regardless of his own safety and extend a helping hand to ordinary people like himself.
Perhaps these people are the hope for humanity to survive in the hands of demons, Gu Yan thought.
After clearing out the demons, Mu Xue and Cen Qianshan entered Biyun City.
The county magistrate, who came in a hurry, knelt down and bowed his head to Mu Xue regardless of his status.
When Mu Xue was six years old, it was this county governor who led the sedan chair and sent her to Senior Brother Ye. Now, ten years have passed, and the county governor of a city has gray hair and looks old.
Mu Xue moved sideways and asked the old man to stand up.
The elderly county magistrate wiped his face hastily and took a map of the suburbs of Biyun City from the servant beside him.
"All the places circled in red here are villages and towns." The gray-haired county magistrate pointed at the red dots that he had circled one by one. "Zhangjia Town, 560 households, 1,823 registered people. Yuanjia Village, 226 households, 615 registered people..."
With bloodshot eyes, he looked at Mu Xue and Cen Qianshan with shaking hands, "Little Immortal, each of these towns has thousands of people and thousands of lives."
These were the people under his jurisdiction, and he knew every number by heart. Now that the monsters were rampaging, these people were the cause of his anxiety and torment.
Thousands of lives.
If I hadn't seen these living people and families with my own eyes.
Whether it is one thousand or ten thousand, it is just a set of insignificant data on paper in a book.
At this moment, Mu Xue vaguely felt that she had heard the same words before.
She was slightly dazed, looking at Shan Xiaojin who was sitting on her shoulder holding a lotus leaf. Shan Xiaojin, who had just come into the world, blinked and looked at her in confusion.
Mu Xue was still very young back then. He didn't care about worldly affairs and just liked to lock himself in the workshop. His only interest was to indulge in the ultimate pursuit of puppet making.
The table in front of her, the floor, and every corner of the room were filled with her puppets.
There is only machines in the world, without any human disturbance, it is her enclosed space.
"Master, it seems like there are a lot of monsters attacking outside." Xiao Qianji, who was still very dazed at the time, sat on her shoulder and spoke slowly.
Mu Xue was concentrating on the task of assembling the puppet at hand and didn't listen carefully. She just said "hmm" casually.
"It's okay, Qianji, they can't get in." In the corner, the tall and thin puppet named Yibai answered in a shrill voice, "In our yard, there are the most powerful defensive weapons, no demon can break through."
"But it seems like a lot of humans have died outside the yard." Xiao Qianji stared blankly with his round little eyes.
"Who cares? What do those humans have to do with us?"
"That's right, the master and we are friends. Those humans are just insignificant things."
"Yes, we just need to live happily with our master in a safe home and not worry about what's happening outside."
The puppets named Two Hundred, Three Hundred, and Four Hundred started talking and clamoring in the closed room.
A warm house, isolated from the world, lively and safe.
By the time Mu Xuewan looked at the exquisite work in her hands and came back to her senses from the joy of success.
The newest, somewhat strange little Qianji was holding its little notebook, busy writing something.
"What are you doing, Qianji?" Mu Xue stretched her head to look at its notebook.
"I'm recording their appearance, the humans who used to live nearby," the little puppet raised its stiff neck, "even though they're all dead, but I like these humans, the toys and food they make. I like their noisy appearance."
That day, when Mu Xue walked out of the house and opened the gate, she saw a world as dead silent as hell.
Outside the door, not far away were the noodle shops, food stores, blacksmith shops, and herbal medicine stores... That remote street that she once disliked for being too busy had completely disappeared from her world.
Except for the small courtyard behind him which was still pale, the world outside the yard was a deep red that even the snow could not cover.
Mu Xue stared blankly at Xiao Qianji on her shoulder.
Qianji closed the notebook in his hand and said, "I counted. There are a thousand people and a thousand lives."
Mu Xue slowly took a step forward and stepped into the blood-stained snow.
From then on, she moved into the bustling Shimiao Street and learned to walk back into the human world.
Mu Xue came back to her senses and looked at the map in the county magistrate's hand, and then looked at the colorful jade gate in her hand. The spiritual power required to open the gate once was huge. Even if she had formed a pill, there was no way to open so many doors in a short time.
"I'll be responsible for opening the door, you go and save people." Someone next to her reached out and took the colorful jade token from her.
On that day, all the people in Biyun City witnessed a scene that they would never forget.
Even many years later, countless families in Biyun City still worshipped a painting of the Pudu Gate depicting the scene at that moment.
The handsome man in black sat in the air, forming a seal with his hands, and opened the huge jade gate again and again. Every time the gate opened, the girl in red would ride on a cloud through the gate and quickly bring back a large number of survivors.
Mu Xue passed through the gate again and again, trying to search for all the living people as quickly as possible and bring them back to Biyun City.
She and Cen Qianshan are in tune with each other and can understand each other's whereabouts and return direction in the shortest time, and they cooperate with each other very well.
Every time Mu Xue came back from outside, she could see the black figure sitting inside the door at first sight.
He frowned slightly, and sweat ran down his cheeks, wetting his temples.
Even if there are other powerful people in this world who can open twenty-eight doors in a row, that person probably would not be willing to expend such divine power to rescue these ordinary people.
And this Nascent Soul cultivator who was sweating and opening the door again and again was his man.
Mu Xue, who had just returned from the land of death, suddenly couldn't help herself and leaned over to kiss him on the forehead. As she wished, she saw him open his eyes instantly, look around blankly, and blush in front of everyone.
Because of this ill-considered action. After the rescue was over, Mu Xue, who had just taken a breath, was hurriedly pulled aside by her elder brother and mother.
"Axue, who is that young man? Why didn't you tell your family?"
"Ah. He is..."
Mu Xue turned around and looked at Cen Qianshan, and this time, she was the one who felt embarrassed.