The beast was enjoying its bait, and the vanguard army entering the city was nothing but living sacrifices in this hunting ground.

Just by looking at the scattered corpses, Xiang Rong understood that the inhuman monster must have already realized the beauty of the blood feast it brought—as they were not just any ordinary plainsmen, but the elite vanguard of the Desert North Royal Court he had brought in.

These armored warriors, clad in solid armor and with unwavering fighting spirits, might be considered a nightmare for the enemy forces, but for the monster lurking in the shadows, they were prime prey far superior to ordinary creatures.

Moreover, he had brought a considerable number of charge-breaking warriors.

"Even you couldn’t hold on..."

The warhorse walked along the path strewn with corpses, and Xiang Rong recognized the fourth body of a charge-breaking warrior—these were men with wills as strong as iron, each having reached the level of emitting Evil Qi. Such formidable strength made them heroes everywhere.

If the description of the elite armored warriors was like wolves and tigers, then these charge-breaking warriors were truly man-eating wolves and tigers.

But now, these ferocious wolves and tigers of the battlefield were all lying on the ground, their heads nowhere to be found.

The intelligence from the Qingyang Tribe was incorrect. The person wielding the fire-blade was no young tiger.

It was a more dangerous monster capable of feeding on wolves and tigers.

"So, I say..."

The warhorse continued forward as Xiang Rong finally saw some surviving remnants of the plains.

Upon seeing the esteemed State Preceptor, these surviving plains armored warriors were naturally overjoyed. After all, having escaped alive from the fiery blade, they knew they couldn’t possibly fight such a monster—but the State Preceptor was different. The esteemed State Preceptor was a top-tier strong person, capable of handling even that level of monster.

Moreover, their State Preceptor was wielding an exceptionally fierce halberd in his hand, which seemed extraordinary at first glance.

"State Preceptor, is this halberd a seizure?"

A steppe general couldn’t help but express amazement.

"It looks quite impressive, the aesthetics of these southerners are... huh?"

Before he could finish speaking, the voice of the steppe general was suddenly cut off in his throat.

Then, with a light sweep of the halberd blade, a huge head fell to the ground.

"...State Preceptor?"

Glancing at the headless corpse in front of them and the fierce halberd still dripping with blood, the other surviving plains armored warriors couldn’t comprehend what had just happened.

They simply couldn’t defeat it, not that they were fleeing from battle, so why enforce such severe military law?

"So, I say..."

With puzzled eyes on him, Xiang Rong raised the Overlord Halberd once again.

"Rather than letting him eat them all, I might as well eat them myself."

Buzz—

The Overlord Halberd swept across, sending over ten heads soaring into the sky.

The surviving plains armored warriors fell into chaos at once.

Having narrowly escaped death, they could never have expected their esteemed State Preceptor to turn on them, and their State Preceptor clearly had no desire to waste words with them—Xiang Rong had become a complete predator by then, how could he engage in conversation with his food?

The fastest way to kill them was the greatest mercy he could offer to his food.

Thus, under the sweeping of the halberd blade, more than three hundred remaining plains armored soldiers hidden there were swiftly slain.

"Not enough yet..."

Randomly picking up a few bloody pieces of military rations from the pile of corpses on the ground, Xiang Rong ate the bloodstained dry hard biscuits as he got back onto his horse.

It wasn’t enough; just three hundred lives were still not enough. Although these plains soldiers, as elite forces, were fairly decent bait for the Overlord Halberd, they were still far from restoring the former prestige of the Overlord Halberd.

"I need to hurry."

Hearing the sounds of battle cries in the distance again, Xiang Rong realized that the monster had already started hunting once more.

Clearly, the monster had no intention of engaging him head-on, and Xiang Rong could guess the reason—it was likely because it had seen Ruan Shantao’s mangled corpse—the brief exchange in front of the mountain gate was short, but Xiang Rong had observed that the monster also had a meticulous mind. If the other had returned to the mountain and examined Ruan Shantao’s broken corpse, they would have noticed that Xiang Rong wielded an extremely powerful force.

Moreover, that monster was certainly not someone as forthright and even pedantic as Ruan Shantao.

Compared to people, the monster’s thinking was more akin to that of a large beast.

People might fight to the death for ideals, beliefs, or various reasons. However, large beasts, even fiercer than humans, never choose a dead-end battle—whenever they sense possible danger, they instead turn and run, avoiding conflict.

This wasn’t an expression of cowardice but rather an instinctual survival tactic; they instinctively chose to conserve their strength and wait for the next chance to attack.

So, we must not let this monster devour all twenty thousand War Soldiers; we must not let it continue to grow.

If not, when those twenty thousand War Soldiers are devoured, the monster that emerges will come to consume him.

"Let’s see then... see who ends up devouring whom."

Tightly gripping the halberd in hand, Xiang Rong revealed a bloodthirsty smile.

Indeed, if the monster managed to devour all twenty thousand provincial vanguard armies in and around Yan Province, he, with just a battered Overlord Halberd, would be left helpless—but a monster of this level would provide just the gory feast needed for the Overlord Halberd to restore its former power!

"This is fate! Fate is with my great Chu!"

At this moment, Xiang Rong even felt a divine intervention aiding him; otherwise, why, at such a time when he was about to raise the Overlord Halberd and revive the Chu Dynasty, did suitable materials for repairing the Overlord Halberd appear right in front of him?

This murderous aura, this barbaric manner... perfectly matched the nature of the Overlord Halberd! 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

But before that, there was one more thing to do.

First, he still needed to feed his Overlord Halberd more blood before he could proceed.

"State Preceptor! Why, why!"

Seeing their State Preceptor return to the ranks only to suddenly raise an unfamiliar halberd and begin slaughtering his own soldiers, the plains vanguard forces were all terror-stricken.

"Why on earth! We all fought for the great Khan... "

"Who said anything about fighting for the great Khan?"

With a swing of the halberd, another dozen heads flew into the air.

"Since the beginning, I’ve fought for the great Chu!"

"What..."

Seeing their companions lying all over the place, the remaining plains armored warriors hurriedly turned to flee.

But after only a few steps, they suddenly discovered a rider wielding a fiery blade waiting far away at a street corner.

They had seen this fire-blade-wielding rider before, as many of their comrades had been burned to death by that very blade—yet they now had no choice to retreat, because their State Preceptor, with the raised halberd, was charging towards them.

Trapped between wolves in the front and tigers in the back, would they really perish here?

"Follow me!"

At this critical juncture, these plains armored warriors suddenly heard a call.

When they looked up, they saw the rider with a fiery blade beckoning them over.

"..."

The plains armored warriors couldn’t help but glance back at the State Preceptor wielding the tall halberd.

Should the State Preceptor catch them, regardless of his reasons for enforcing this military law, they knew they would surely die—but if they surrendered to the fire-blade rider, even though he had slaughtered many, he was after all the enemy.

If they surrendered to the enemy and became prisoners, perhaps they might survive?

"Let’s go for it!"

Facing life and death, one unknown plains armored warrior spurred his warhorse forward. Consequently, the other plains armored warriors followed suit, whipping their horses into a gallop, charging towards the direction of the fire-blade rider.