Demon Slaying, Gaining 60 Years of Cultivation From the Start

For the other provinces, Yan State's DaHuang Mansion symbolizes the border, or rather, many believe that DaHuang Mansion is synonymous with the border.

Even Gu Chen had always thought so before he arrived in Yan State.

However, the truth is different; Yan State is located in the western region of the Nine States, and to the extreme west, adjacent to the vast mountains, only past DaHuang Mansion lies the true border.

The closer one gets to the border, the more desolate the environment becomes, and the more barren mountains there are.

The name DaHuang Mansion derives from this reality.

The imperial court had established several military towns along the border, with six hundred thousand XuanTie troops stationed there. Well-equipped and strictly disciplined, they replaced Da Xia in guarding the border over generations.

No one ever imagined that the border would be breached one day, that the barbarian hordes would invade DaHuang Mansion, and that they would do so by surging directly in.

Now, the military towns that Da Xia had spent a fortune building have been completely destroyed under the barbarians' iron hooves.

Even the six hundred thousand indomitable XuanTie troops have been reduced to a mere few, losing the majority in this battle.

It could be said that even if Yan State were eventually defended successfully, Da Xia's national strength would have significantly declined because of this.

During this period, though the Governor of Yan State issued an order for the civilians to relocate swiftly away from the border upon hearing the news of a major defeat, DaHuang Mansion had over a dozen counties, with two proximate to the border, and the number of civilians was enormous.

They were all ordinary people, and despite the imperial court's swiftest response, countless civilians perished on the day the barbarians invaded the border.

Decades after their last invasion, the barbarians once again set foot on Da Xia's land. Each barbarian soldier, including their leaders, was overwhelmed with excitement. They left a trail of burning, killing, and looting behind them – their actions were utterly merciless.

As Gu Chen and his companions traveled towards the border, the closer they got, the more desolate the landscape became, and the more corpses and skeletons they encountered.

Ruined walls and broken bones, the stench of blood was pungent.

Not a single complete corpse remained; the men had been brutally slaughtered, while the women had suffered inhuman torture before death. Even the elderly and children had not been spared, subjected to cruel torment before being massacred by the barbarians.

Sometimes, death is not a fear but a form of release for them.

In troubled times, life is cheaper than grass, and this, Gu Chen and the others came to understand profoundly.

Among the group, Song Yu, Wang Yan, and many of the younger commanders had grim expressions, suppressing intense fury in their hearts, their hatred for the barbarians reaching an extreme.

"Help... help me..."

At that moment, Gu Chen and his party suddenly heard an extremely faint cry for help. Their expressions changed, and they quickly rushed over.

By the time they arrived, they found a woman, her body smeared with blood, clothes torn, her flesh twisted and streaked with wounds, her face so abused that her human form was indistinguishable.

In the arms of the woman was a little girl, whose injuries were not much better than the woman's, with blood ceaselessly flowing from her body.

"Help... help me... save us..."

The woman's voice was faint, at the very brink of death, her life's flame about to be extinguished, sustained only by sheer willpower. Fortunately, the cultivation of Gu Chen's group enabled them to find her.

Seeing this scene, Song Yu, Wang Yan, and the others quickly dismounted and hurried over.

"She's still breathing!"

Seeing this, Song Yu was shaken, channelling a continuous flow of his inner energy into the bodies of the mother and daughter.

But the woman's life had already reached its end, kept going only by sheer willpower. Upon seeing Song Yu and the others, she mustered her last bit of energy, trembling, she said, "Please... I beg you... take care of... her..."

After those words, the woman's head lolled, and no matter how Song Yu called out to her, she had completely stopped breathing.

"Damn it!"

Song Yu roared in anger, quickly lifting the girl who had only a weak breath, sending his inner energy into her body as if it cost nothing.

Gu Chen stood to the side, silently watching the scene unfold, because he knew that not only the woman, but the girl too was beyond saving.

Indeed, within moments, the girl followed her mother in death.

"Damn it all!"

Song Yu bellowed, holding the gradually cooling body of the girl, still pouring his inner energy into her.

"These beasts!"

Overwhelmed by what he had seen on the way and by this scene before him, Wang Yan too was enraged, unusually cursing loud and vividly.

The other Jing Tian Department commanders also had expressions of extreme disgust.

After twenty-three years of peace, many among them, like Song Yu, Wang Yan, and even Gu Chen, had never seen such horrors.

This is war, extremely cruel, especially when it involves race and survival, it is even more so.

"Damn barbarians!" Song Yu roared, fury contorting his features, his pupils riddled with bloodshot veins, his entire being filled with a violent hatred.

Song Yu and Wang Yan had spent many years in the Jing Tian Department, fighting demons, always on the edge of death's blade, and they were certainly no strangers to the sight of life and death, nor to war.