War Erupts Across the Central Plains

War erupted, and it was so sudden that its impact was incalculable.

The vast Central Plains stretched endlessly, teeming with countless races and hundreds of kingdoms, spanning from immense territories of millions of square li down to single cities. But the vast majority of nations existed in the cracks between the five hegemonic kingdoms.

Those five hegemonic kingdoms were Great Xia, Great Shang, Great Zhou, Van, and the Roman Empire. These five colossal empires occupied eighty percent of the boundless Central Plains. To take Great Xia as an example, its north-south border stretched over fifty thousand li, and its east-west border over forty thousand li.

Any single hegemonic kingdom was already far larger than the Mortal World.

Three of them—the Roman Empire, the Great Shang Empire, and Van—occupied nearly half of the entire Central Plains. When war erupted between these three empires, it meant half the Central Plains would be engulfed in the smoke and fire of battle.

After years of peace, the continent was about to be plunged into catastrophe. One could imagine the terrifying scenes of chaos.

"Join the army! The time has come for a real man to make his mark in the world!"

"Any true son who hasn't walked on the battlefield is not worthy of being called a man of hot blood."

"Defend our rivers and mountains! Protect our people! For our country, for our nation, brothers, go to the battlefield! Guard our homes! Guard our motherland!"

All three empires were conscripting soldiers. The Great Shang Empire and the Roman Empire had already sent eight million troops to the front, and follow-up forces were being urgently deployed.

"Dispatch... Victory!"

News filled the air. Official victory dispatches arrived.

"The combined forces of our Great Shang Empire and the Roman Empire have breached Van's fourth strategic pass—Mountain Pass!"

Mountain Pass—named after the phrase 'swallowing mountains and rivers'—was hailed as Van's fourth greatest fortress. To fall within three days of fighting was truly inspiring. Yin Capital buzzed with excitement from top to bottom.

Historically, Van had often warred against the Great Shang Empire, even breaking through deep into its territory twice, slaughtering countless people. Though the hatred between the two nations had faded somewhat over time, it remained a thorn deeply embedded in the hearts of the empire's rulers.

A century's worth of pent-up resentment finally found an outlet.

"Dispatch... Victory!"

Good news kept coming.

"Our Great Shang and Roman Empire combined forces have taken twenty cities in a row. Eight million troops have poured through Mountain Pass and advanced deep into Van's territory."

Yin Capital celebrated.

"Excellent! A century of humiliation avenged at last!"

"Join the army! We must join the army! The age of glory for true men, with golden spears and iron horses, has come!"

Commoners and nobles alike were stirred. Not only young men but even some elderly citizens wished to charge toward the battlefield to avenge the shame of bygone years.

Many cultivators had already enlisted. This was a rare trial; the killing aura of the battlefield was the harshest tempering. Surviving the charge through millions of troops would surely elevate their cultivation to a higher level.

In less than half a month, the Great Shang Empire and the Roman Empire had taken twenty of Van's cities. The results were brilliant and immensely uplifting.

But on the twentieth day, bad news arrived.

After advancing a thousand li and taking twenty cities, the eight-million-strong army finally met fierce resistance on Van's Devil Plain. Six million Van troops, using the terrain to their advantage, laid an ambush that heavily damaged the allied vanguard and stalled their advance.

At the same time, even worse news came.

Six million troops from Great Zhou, another hegemonic kingdom, had massed at Mountain Pass.

The allied forces of Great Shang and the Roman Empire had pushed forward aggressively, leaving few defenders in the captured cities. With Van's residual forces cooperating from within, Mountain Pass fell in a single day.

With Mountain Pass changing hands, Great Zhou's six million troops cut off the allied forces' retreat. The news sent shockwaves through Yin Capital and the Roman Empire.

By now, many realized this was definitely a conspiracy!

Van had been prepared all along. They had already allied with Great Zhou. They deliberately let Great Shang and the Roman Empire breach Mountain Pass—how else could the fourth strategic fortress have fallen so easily? Then they lured the allies deep into the pre-ambushed Devil Plain, and Great Zhou's six million troops severed their escape route, creating a pincer attack meant to completely annihilate Great Shang and the Roman Empire's eight hundred thousand elite soldiers.

The situation was dire. This vicious, brutal blow caught Great Shang and the Roman Empire completely off guard. They had been secretly preparing for a sudden strike, thinking they held the initiative, never expecting it had all been predicted long ago.

The front was in crisis. Though the eight million troops had taken more than twenty cities, those cities held no provisions—Van had already moved them away. Now, with supplies cut off, the situation was extremely critical.

"Reinforcements must move at top speed!"

"Damn those pig-headed fools! Rush reinforcements now! Break through at full speed!"

The high councils of Yin Capital and Rome were furious. Emergency deployment orders were issued, commanding reserve forces to move out immediately.

Great Shang bordered the southwestern frontier to its west and the coast to its east, lying in the southern part of the Central Plains. Rome was adjacent to the Million Bronze Mountains of the Western Extremity, in the western part of the Central Plains. Van occupied the central region. Great Zhou was in the north.

These four hegemonic kingdoms met in the west-central region. Outside Van's Mountain Pass lay the junction of the four nations, so when war erupted, it naturally became the focal point for all four armies.

Before the reinforcements from Great Shang and the Roman Empire could arrive, bad news continued to pour in.

With their escape route cut off, the morale of the allied forward forces wavered. They suffered a crushing ambush on the Devil Plain, losing heavily. The defeated allies tried to break out of the encirclement through Mountain Pass, but were repeatedly intercepted by Great Zhou's six million elite troops among the more than twenty cities along the way, abandoning their armor and suffering untold casualties.

Van and Great Zhou executed a perfect 'dumpling' tactic, inflicting devastating losses on Great Shang and Rome, destroying both their armies and their generals.

In the end, the first great battle, lasting over a month, drew to a close. Only one million eight hundred thousand of the eight million Great Shang and Roman troops escaped through the primitive mountain range beside Mountain Pass, leaving behind endless bones.

Fortunately, reinforcements arrived at that moment, preventing the one million eight hundred thousand defeated soldiers from completely scattering.

Six hundred thousand corpses lay in the field—a disastrous defeat!

The entire Great Shang and Roman empires were shaken. High officials deliberated day and night on countermeasures.

The bodies of over six million Great Shang and Roman soldiers stained Van's land red. The fierce, tragic killing aura shot straight into the heavens.

Killing a thousand enemies costs eight hundred of your own—war cannot avoid casualties. Van and Great Zhou also paid a great price, with three million seven hundred thousand soldiers dying on the battlefield, blood soaking a thousand li.

Four of the five hegemonic kingdoms were at war, shocking the entire world!

The brutal reports spread across the continent, shaking even the reclusive experts.

Ten million souls perished on the battlefield. Blood flowed like rivers. Corpses stretched a thousand li. Wailing vengeful spirits and a sinister, chilling aura made heaven and earth mourn and tremble.

This was the bloodiest battle in the history of the Eternal Continent. Never before had ten million people died so violently on a battlefield in such a short time!

For a thousand li around Van, the sky was filled with ghostly qi. Dark winds howled, blood rain fell, and black mist shrouded the land day and night.

In the following month, the entire Eternal Continent was swept by periodic dark winds, with blood rain appearing from time to time. Ghosts wailed, gods howled, and heaven and earth turned monstrous.

It was as if the end of the world had come—the scene was terrifying and sinister beyond anything the continent had ever seen, as though the domain of hell itself were about to descend upon the world.

Ten million soldier souls roared in fury, terrifying everyone. Many cultivators were horrified.

Evil cultivators swarmed out, rushing to the mist-shrouded battlefield to collect souls, hoping to refine the spirits of the dead to advance their own cultivation. Even more demonic practitioners emerged, intending to use the myriad souls to forge demonic treasures.

Ghosts emerged, fiends ran rampant—the region became a holy land for dark and邪 cultivators.

But few reaped any reward. The ten million soldier souls had coalesced into a destructive force. Van's Devil Plain had become a true Death Plain, so dangerous that even cultivators could barely approach.

It was as if countless evil ghosts were roaring, as if endless gods were wailing. From a distance, black clouds churned, and ghostly shadows piled upon each other. Many evil cultivators and fiends who entered were instantly annihilated in both body and spirit.

Moreover, every three days, a torrential downpour of blood fell from the sky, a shared mourning of heaven and earth. Where the blood rain passed, everything dissolved. Terrifying crimson became the only color on the Devil Plain. Rotting flesh and blood were stripped away, leaving only snow-white bones.

When word spread, it shook the Eternal Continent. Was the realm of ghosts truly about to descend upon the world?

Among men, Lü Bu; among horses, Red Hare. Lü Bu, who had disappeared for many days, reappeared. He was originally an unparalleled war soul, returned from the underworld with heaven-defying soul power. Hearing that ten million soldier souls had gathered on Van's Devil Plain, he immediately urged Red Hare forward.

And the legendary God of Slaughter, Bai Qi—also returned from the underworld, leading hundreds of thousands of nether soldiers. In terms of killing intent, almost no one in this world could match him. Hearing the news, he too charged ahead, intending to nourish his soul with souls.

On the dark, chaotic Devil Plain, a cold voice echoed: "Powerful soul force indeed... condensed and unyielding, drawing in souls from all directions. Could someone be setting up a formation? Could they be trying to repair the damaged Heaven-Earth Furnace? Interesting. I haven't been to the Eternal Continent for a long time, and quite a few unexpected things are about to happen..."

"Heh heh... The Eternal Continent is a fine place. I imagine many great sects will send disciples to this world..."

The voice faded into nothing, and a shadow scattered with the wind.

By the time the legendary Lü Bu and the God of Slaughter Bai Qi reached the Devil Plain, the ten million souls had vanished completely. The sky and earth were clear, without a trace of harsh winds or misery. The bright sun shone, and everything seemed normal.

Only the faint ripples of dissipating soul energy gently trembled.

The two legendary experts with heaven-defying soul power frowned deeply, then each retreated far away.

No one knew what had happened. The ten million soldier souls on Van's Devil Plain had disappeared overnight. The howling dark winds and drizzling blood rain were gone, as if nothing unusual had ever occurred.

But the endless white bones, like snowdrifts scattered across the Devil Plain, bore witness to the terrible battle that had taken place.

Every powerful cultivator on the Eternal Continent was astonished. Clearly, an unimaginable event had occurred on the Devil Plain. Ten million souls were beyond the word 'terror' to describe. Who could have taken them all in a single night? Even Tongtian, Laozi, Primordial, or the Buddha could not have acted so silently.

Could it be that the Ancestral Gods had not truly perished? Was someone still alive in this world? Otherwise, how could they have collected ten million souls in a single night!

The top experts speculated, their hearts filled with doubt and unease.

After wavering, the hegemonic kingdoms once again stood opposed. Tensions rose once more as the four kingdoms continuously reinforced their borders.

Each nation now had millions of troops stationed. The area outside Mountain Pass became a land of constant warfare. Though the second great battle had not yet erupted, skirmishes involving thousands or tens of thousands of soldiers occurred every moment, with over a thousand casualties each day.

With each passing day, the situation grew more tense, the smell of gunpowder increasingly thick. Many cultivators were ordered to the borders where the four hegemonic kingdoms met.

Under the leadership of Third Princess Ying Ying, the ten great young experts of Great Shang headed for the battlefield. The princess went to supervise the war, while the ten experts went to gain experience, entering actual combat.

Qilao, Yuwen Feng, Huo Niao, Ah Shui, and others had all been won over by Ying Ying through various means and followed her. Yan Qingcheng and Ah Bing also journeyed with Ying Ying.

The various religions of the Roman Empire also dispatched experts. Among them, the ten great young experts were tasked with eliminating Van's young Supreme Buddha—the Golden Lion King.

Xiao Chen had long since left the Great Shang Empire and traveled on foot into Van's Devil Plain. The millions of white bones seemed to tell of past tragedy and sorrow. He felt an indescribable unease, and for some reason, his very soul trembled, as if something was calling to him.

The Heavenly Stele Diagram cultivation method spun wildly in his mind. Then, inexplicably, he seemed to see the ancient stele that eternally settles the Yellow River, and the stele that eternally settles Dragon Island... A vast stele shadow appeared in his heart.