Wang Wu's mouth also curled up. "We're lucky. If we had been half a day later and Sakura Country had reacted, this city wouldn't be ours."

Zhao Hu sheathed his bone-crushing greatsword at his waist and turned to walk out of the Council Hall.

In the open space outside the door, over three thousand figures appeared out of thin air, along with piles of supplies.

Zhao Hu didn't pay much attention to the supplies. His gaze swept over the soldiers and civilians in the open space, and he turned to Tie Dun. "Close the four city gates immediately. Have all three thousand County Soldiers get up on the city walls and enter a state of combat readiness."

Tie Dun acknowledged the order, shouldered his shield, and ran out of the Council Hall.

Zhao Hu called out to Tie Dun again. "Also, when you go back to Blue Star later, send a text message to Yu Rou. Tell her that Shenle County has been recaptured. Yu Rou has been finding time to return to Blue Star for a while every day lately; have her pass the message on to the Lord."

Tie Dun replied with a "You got it," and his figure disappeared outside the door.

Zhao Hu stood on the steps of the Council Hall, gazing at the soldiers and civilians on the open ground who were still looking around in confusion, and let out a long sigh of relief.

Shenle County, a strategic throat point guarded by four thousand orcs, had been taken without a drop of blood shed.

...

The city walls of Huian County were suffused with a grayish-black aura of death in the twilight. Lin Feng descended slowly from the air and landed in front of the city gate.

The moment he landed, a scent of decay rushed toward him. The trees on both sides of the street were all dead and withered.

The bare branches reached out toward the dark red sky like withered fingers. The bark had peeled away to reveal gray-white wood, which was covered in dark green patches of mold.

Withered leaves covered the ground. Stepping on them didn't produce a crisp sound; instead, it felt like stepping into mud, emitting an uncomfortable rustling noise.

Lin Feng frowned slightly and walked along the main street toward the Council Hall in the center of the city.

The street was deserted. The doors and windows of the houses on both sides were tightly shut, and the plaster on the walls had peeled off in large patches, revealing the blackened adobe underneath.

The roofs of some houses had partially collapsed, with broken wooden beams and tiles scattered everywhere.

The entire county was like an abandoned tomb, so quiet that one could hear the sobbing sound of the wind blowing into the alleyways.

The Council Hall was in the center of the city, a two-story stone building. The outer walls were covered in withered vines, and the lintel was carved with the lotus patterns of Annan Country, though they had been corroded beyond recognition.

As soon as Lin Feng approached the gate, over twenty Undead Warriors rushed out from inside the hall and the alleys on both sides.

They wore tattered black armor, the soulfire in their eye sockets was dark green, and they held rusted spears in their hands.

As they charged, the faint clinking of armor plates rubbing together mixed with the clicking of their bone joints, making them sound like a group of specters.

Lin Feng did not retreat. He drew the Wildfire Spear from his back, its dark red shaft carving a scorching arc through the twilight.

His first strike pierced the chest of the Undead Warrior charging at the very front, the spear tip protruding from its back.

A shockwave exploded outward, a pale cyan circle of light rippling outward and forcing the two Undead Warriors on either side to stumble back several steps.

-140, -135.

The second strike was a horizontal sweep; the shaft of the spear smashed into the skull of another Undead Warrior, shattering the bone and extinguishing its soulfire.

The third strike was a backhanded thrust, piercing the throat of an Undead Warrior attempting to sneak attack from the flank.

In less than a few breaths, all twenty-plus Undead Warriors had fallen, their shattered bones and fragments of black armor scattered across the ground.

Lin Feng stepped over the corpses and pushed open the doors to the Council Hall.

The hall was darker than the outside, with only a few wisps of twilight leaking in from the high windows, casting a dim yellow light on the floor.

In the very center, a territory core hovered in mid-air. It was neither dark red nor gold, but a strange, eerie black.

Lin Feng walked forward, aimed the Wildfire Spear at the core, and thrust.

After ten strikes, the core shattered with a boom.

A golden light surged from the fragments, re-condensing into a new, warm, jade-like golden core that hovered steadily in mid-air.

At the same time, a wave of warm energy spread outward from the core, surging like a tide through the streets, over the city walls, and across the land for ten miles outside the city.

The dead trees sprouted tender green branches from their roots, and the withered vines bloomed with new, pale green shoots from their cracked stems.

The damp, rotten scent in the air was swept away, replaced by the freshness of soil after a rain.

A commotion arose outside the Council Hall as over three thousand figures appeared out of thin air.

Lin Feng walked out of the doors, swept his gaze over the soldiers and civilians, then pushed off the ground and soared into the air.

He wanted to take advantage of the fact that the Undead Army hadn't yet reacted to also recapture My Tho County, five hundred miles to the north.

He rose to a high altitude and sped toward the north.

Below, the land within a ten-mile radius of Huian County had regained its vitality; withered trees were sprouting, and the vines were turning green.

Lin Feng withdrew his gaze and accelerated.

An hour later, the walls of My Tho County appeared in his field of vision.

The garrison on the walls was sparse; hundreds of Skeleton Soldiers stood scattered behind the battlements, their bone swords rusted.

A few Undead Warriors stood at the city gate.

Above the city wall, an Undead Knight sat atop a Skeleton Warhorse, its lance pointing diagonally toward the sky. The soulfire in its eye sockets was ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ dark red and much brighter than that of an ordinary Undead Warrior.

Lin Feng did not land on the walls. He hovered at an altitude of one hundred meters, raised his left hand, and condensed three Blazing Spear Lights at the tip of the Wildfire Spear before firing them simultaneously.

The scarlet spear lights trailed with flames as they tore through the sky, striking the Undead Knight's chest with precision. -500, -490, -495.

The Undead Knight's health bar instantly dropped to zero, its soulfire extinguished, and its body fell from the horse, crashing into the ground inside the city walls and kicking up a cloud of dust.

The Skeleton Warhorse stood blankly in place for a moment before turning into a wisp of black smoke and dissipating.

Lin Feng landed on the city wall and thrust the Wildfire Spear repeatedly.

The Skeleton Soldiers were like paper under his spear, falling one by one with each strike. Shockwaves exploded, and pale cyan rings of light shattered the surrounding Skeleton Soldiers.

In less than ten minutes, the hundreds of Skeleton Soldiers on the walls and the Undead Warriors at the city gate had been cleared out.

Lin Feng leaped down from the city wall and walked toward the Council Hall in the center of the city.

The Council Hall of My Tho County was smaller than that of Huian County, and the white plaster on its outer walls had peeled off even more severely.

In the center of the hall, a black territory core hovered in mid-air, rotating slowly.

Lin Feng walked forward and shattered it with ten strikes. The black light points dissipated, and golden light re-condensed.

【 My Tho County has been captured. This territory has been automatically converted into a subordinate territory of Beacon Fire Territory. 】

Lin Feng did not leave immediately. Instead, he stood in place, reached out to press the golden territory core, and pulled up the operation interface for the Great Wall.

A holographic map unfolded above his head, showing mountains, rivers, plains, and hills appearing one after another.

On the map, two blue dots appeared at the locations of Huian County and My Tho County, blinking quietly.

But Lin Feng's gaze was drawn to a third blue dot. It was not within the territory of Annan Country as he had expected, but further to the east, on the edge of the Sakura Country's territory—at a familiar location, a new blue dot had appeared.

Shenle County, the strategic throat point southeast of Osaka Castle, which had previously been heavily guarded by orcs, had now surprisingly turned blue as well.