NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 129:
Chapter 129: Thunder-Shaking Dao Technqiue:
[You lead the starving people through the wind and snow, scavenging for survival.]
[While slaying demons and harvesting edible flesh, you also absorb other desperate souls along the border, expanding your team.]
[Your actions prove highly effective, and the group grows at an astonishing pace.]
[Wu Yingxue is amazed by the transformation.]
[Perhaps this is no longer just a band of hungry refugees. With the fool’s skills you have passed on, they are beginning to resemble an army.]
[Yet, you have not decided on a name for this group. Suggestions arise from the crowd—some elegant, others crude.]
[After much thought, you smile and abandon the idea of naming them.]
[No matter the name, everyone who joins your team has only one purpose: to live in peace and have enough to eat.]
[That is enough for you.]
[If you must choose a name, you think “Army of Living” or “Army of Eating” would suit them well.]
[Aniu, however, voices his preference for the name “Army of Sustenance.”]
…
[After two months of wandering through the harsh winter, your team has grown to tens of thousands—tens of thousands of souls who are desperate to live.]
[They are souls who have already faced death once.]
[For such people, death no longer inspires fear. They are willing to face it head-on, risking everything for the chance to survive.]
[Through practicing your fool’s skill, nearly everyone in the group has reached the first level of physical training. Those with greater strength and spirit have even progressed to the second or third level.]
[Meanwhile, Wu Yingxue, after consuming the Qi Pill, breaks into the innate realm during a fierce battle with a demon.]
“Sir, let me tell you something—I’m an innate warrior now!” she declares with pride.
“Well done, Yingxue,” you reply with a warm smile, brushing snowflakes from her hair.
[Her face lights up with joy at your praise.]
[On that day, Wu Yingxue stands with her fists on her hips, exuding an air of triumph. Modesty seems foreign to her, but she only shows this side of herself around you.]
[To everyone else, she is the dependable “Ms. Wu.” Anyone facing trouble seeks her help.]
[You watch silently as she transitions from clumsy beginnings to confident leadership, and you feel proud of her growth.]
[At the same time, you cannot help but worry about this world—a world that forces everyone to change. Deep in your heart, you yearn to reverse this tide.]
[Through your long practice of martial arts, your “Qi and Blood Hegemony Fist” transforms. Congratulations, you have mastered “Dominion True Fist.”]
[Likewise, your “Nine Thunder Sword” evolves, merging with innate Gang Qi to become the “True Thunder Sword Qi.”]
[Your strength now wields the force of thunder, each strike carrying the weight of a blade and the roar of rolling storms.]
[Wu Yingxue’s progress is equally astounding. Her newly awakened Azure Dragon Qi possesses power far beyond others at her level, leaving you astonished when tested.]
…
[Time passes, and you sense the melting snow of spring is approaching. For the tattered army seeking survival, this marks the beginning of a countdown to death.]
[Realizing this, you abandon all subtlety.]
[Leading tens of thousands of desperate souls, you attack a weakly defended pass that you scouted earlier.]
[The military commanders at the pass are two martial arts masters in the Dominion Realm—one for you, one for Wu Yingxue.]
“Look at my spear!!”
A fierce cry echoes through the air, drawing all eyes skyward.
Wu Yingxue, clad in red and white robes, moves like a flame. Her spear dances in her hands, releasing a massive, ferocious dragon-shaped aura.
Its scales glisten, its claws rake, its horns curve sharply, and its tail lashes with power. It is as though a real green dragon is charging across the sky.
“Azure Dragon Qi?!”
The stationed Daqian general was stunned. The Azure Dragon Qi was an ability exclusive to the Daqian royal family—how could it appear here, wielded by rebels?
As realization dawns, his expression turns icy.
“How dare the remnants of Dingyuan Mansion show their faces here!” he growls. “When I capture you, I’ll bring you before the Holy King myself!”
The innate general strides into the air, but his advance was abruptly halted by a sword gleaming like lightning.
“You’ve been forced back—injured, perhaps?”
“I’m still not proficient enough with the ‘True Thunder Sword Aura,’” Xu Xi admits calmly.
“Humans and monsters are different. I lack experience fighting warriors.”
In the swirling snow, Xu Xi appeared, cutting through the wind with raw power. His strikes were like knives, tearing apart the air, each movement accompanied by a thunderous roar that shook iron tools miles away.
Without wasting words, Xu Xi and Wu Yingxue each engage a Daqian general. Their battles, fierce and unyielding, were a testament to their innate strength and mastery of martial arts.
On the ground below, the survival army—a wave of desperate humanity—crashed against the pass’s defenses like an unrelenting tide.
“Kill!”
Farmers once tied to the soil now wield hoes as weapons. Cooks accustomed to their fires swing cleavers with newfound purpose.
Rusty tools and makeshift weapons glint under the snowy light, striking with a power that defies their humble origins.
“A mere rabble of criminals!”
A group of cavalry charges out from the pass, seeking to scatter the refugees.
But the soldiers soon discover, to their horror, that these “lowly” people were unafraid.
The refugees charge headlong toward the cavalry. Some wield manure forks or ropes, while others use their own bodies to halt the horses’ advance.
Even when knocked down and coughing blood, they rose again with crazed determination.
“Get out of my way!”
One cavalryman was thrown from his horse.
He was Hu Zi, a general from the imperial capital, destined for greatness since birth. Yet here he lied, lower than the “mud-legged” people he once despised, looking up at them in terror.
The battle raged until the sun sets.
As the sky was dyed red by the setting sun, the conflict reached its conclusion.
The survival army emerges victorious. It was a hard-earned victory, achieved at great cost. As the battlefield lies bathed in fading light, countless blood-soaked corpses remain, while the living press onward.
In the face of a collective will forged by death, even the heavily armored border troops could not prevail.
In death, there was no distinction between high and low, noble and common. All were equal before its finality.