Whiz!
Another ripple-like golden sword light pierced out, vanishing into the void, but Ye Zhen’s tightly closed eyes suddenly opened, filled with wonder.
"So that’s how it is, no wonder the power of the Heart Sword could be terrifying to such an extent..."
Ever since half a month ago when Ye Zhen’s Sword Vein Divine Power and Heart Sword had shown tremendous might, the terrifying power of Heart Sword had constantly puzzled him.
Since then, whenever he had free time, Ye Zhen would practice the Heart Sword, exploring its mysteries.
After dozens of attempts, Ye Zhen finally discovered the reason for the immense power of Heart Sword.
It seemed to be connected with the Purple Sword Light from the Sword Heart Enlightenment, immersed in the Sword Vein Divine Power. Every time he activated the Heart Sword, the Purple Spirit would gently tremble, and the sword light of the Heart Sword would then produce an inexplicable and mysterious change.
This made Ye Zhen even more curious about the Purple Spirit.
What grade of treasure exactly was this Purple Spirit?
A Mid-grade Spiritual Artifact?
Or could it possibly be an extremely rare High Grade Spiritual Artifact?
Regardless of the grade of the Spiritual Artifact, Ye Zhen was very fond of it. Within the Black Dragon Domain, High-Grade Treasures were quite rare, let alone Spiritual Artifacts.
The few existing Spiritual Artifacts were all either Sect or noble family heirlooms passed down by the Great Sects and Martial Arts Families.
Having acquired a Spiritual Artifact, Ye Zhen was already very content.
What Ye Zhen found troubling now was how to make it his own.
Suddenly, a streak of light swiftly swept across from the sky, almost instantly before it was seen, landing in Ye Zhen’s hand. It was a Talisman Communication.
It was a Talisman Communication personally written by Gu Zhaoge, Grand Marshal of the Eastern Expedition Army.
The message in the talisman was simple, the main force of the Eastern Expedition Army had encountered tremendous resistance, requesting Ye Zhen’s assistance.
After reading the talisman, Ye Zhen sighed lightly, casually summoning the Cloud Winged Tiger King Kitten playing in the clouds, and flew towards the direction indicated by the talisman.
The full-scale attack of the Eastern Expedition Army of the Black Water Kingdom had also been half a month now. Apart from the Right Army in the rear handling city receptions and stabilizing the results, both the main force of the Eastern Expedition and Ye Zhen’s Left Army had been advancing formidably in this half-month.
The two armies had successively conquered over a hundred cities of the Sword Origin Empire, advancing more than 5000 miles into the Sword Origin Empire, almost entering the heartland of the empire.
Such aggressive records greatly excited the people of Black Water Kingdom, while completely worrying the Sword Origin Empire.
Within half a month, the empire organized two large-scale counter-attacks, hindering the advance of the Black Water Kingdom’s armies.
As the saying goes, it is in times of grave danger that the valor of men comes to the fore!
Five days ago, the increasingly desperate Sword Origin Empire issued a Blood Conscript Order, conscripting all martially trained adult males into the army and forcibly conscripting disciples from the various Martial Arts Families and Martial Arts Sects to stop the advance of the Black Water Kingdom.
According to intelligence, the Sect Master of Sword Origin Sect, Yu Ruhai, even stamped the seal on the Blood Conscript Order.
A single Blood Conscript Order mobilized four hundred thousand new troops for the Sword Origin Empire.
Although these new troops had not undergone systematic military training, all had martial foundations and could quickly form a formidable combat force, posing an obstacle to the Eastern Expedition Army of Black Water Kingdom.
Luckily, the Blood Conscript Order was issued in haste, so the newly formed four hundred thousand martial trainees were not concentrated but dispersed across various counties of the Sword Origin Empire. Most were still en route to assembly, with nearby counties’ new troops supporting the local garrisons.
Yet even so, Ye Zhen still became a firefighting team member.
Wherever there was resistance, be it the main force of the Eastern Expedition or the Left Army, Ye Zhen would instantly rush over and activate the War Soul Blood Banner to enhance the army’s combat power by double.
More importantly, with the Cloud Winged Tiger King as his mount, as long as Ye Zhen wished, he could cover a distance of two to three thousand li, even in as short as 15 minutes.
In such a situation, the War Soul Blood Banner seemed omnipresent, blessing wherever needed.
Even though the Sword Origin Empire issued the Blood Conscript Order, it still failed to stop the advance of the Black Water Kingdom’s Eastern Expedition Army.
Of course, the main reason for this situation was that the Sword Origin Empire’s high-end martial force.,T had suffered heavy losses during this half-month.
Soul Sea Realm powers from the Sword Origin Empire’s Imperial Court, with over seven recorded as slain, half of which were directly or indirectly by Ye Zhen’s actions.
Other Soul Sea Realm Martial Artists from various Great Sects of the Sword Origin Empire had also suffered over five casualties, only two of which came from the Sword Origin Sect.
Regrettably, in the Sword Origin Empire, the Sword Origin Sect overwhelmingly dominated to an extreme, with other sects, even the second-ranking Heavenly Saber Sect within the Sword Origin Empire, not even comparable to the second-rate sects within Black Water Kingdom.
Meanwhile, the Soul Sea Realm Martial Artists of Black Water Kingdom suffered only two serious and several minor injuries, with no further losses.
It could be said that when over half of the Sword Origin Sect’s powerful elites perished at Spirit Sword Grave Mountain, the Sword Origin Empire’s defeat in this battle was sealed!
In the sky, Ye Zhen looked down at the Black Water Kingdom’s army below, once again overpowering the enemy camp under the blessing of the War Soul Blood Banner, breathing a sigh of relief, yet his brow furrowed with some hidden worries.
Ye Zhen’s frown stemmed from concerns about the War Soul Blood Banner.
Before the Eastern Expedition, Ye Zhen had frequently used the War Soul Blood Banner, but in most cases, the banner blessed only him and the kitten. Occasionally assisting a dozen or so people with the War Soul Blood Banner was already the limit.
Under that scale of blessing, the War Soul Blood Banner suffered virtually no wear!
But over the past half-month, each time the War Soul Blood Banner was activated to bestow blessings, the number of individuals blessed ranged from a minimum of twenty to thirty thousand to a maximum of fifty to sixty thousand—an extremely large scale.
Under such large-scale blessings, the War Soul Blood Light accumulated within the War Soul Blood Banner was rapidly depleting. Within half a month, the once brilliantly illuminated War Soul Blood Banner had already become dim and lightless.
The depletion of the War Soul Blood Light inside had already exceeded sixty percent.
As Ye Zhen’s cultivation increased, his knowledge also rapidly expanded. By now, Ye Zhen had understood some of the mysteries behind the blessings of the War Soul Blood Banner.
It seemed to be related to the Demon Soul or what was known as the Military Soul.
It was a type of energy similar to Divine Soul Power, mysterious in its conversion through the War Soul Blood Banner.
Every blessing by the War Soul Blood Banner consumed a certain amount of Demon Souls that had initially been absorbed by the banner. Now, after several large-scale blessings, the Demon Souls accumulated within the banner had significantly reduced.
Ye Zhen did not know if the War Soul Blood Banner could last until the end of the great war.
In war, time flies swiftly and, in the blink of an eye, three months had passed.
Throughout these three months, the Eastern Expedition Army of the Black Water Kingdom had fought one victory after another. Moreover, five days earlier, they had achieved an unprecedented grand victory, completely defeating the main force of the Sword Origin Empire.
After nearly two months of adjusting and gathering troops, the Sword Origin Empire had reestablished their defensive line at the perilous area of Lin Yangjiang within their country, assembling an army of six hundred thousand, of which more than fifty thousand were martial artists in the True Essence Realm.
Even a long-unseen Vein Forging Realm powerhouse from the Sword Origin Empire’s palace made an appearance there, leading nearly ten Soul Sea Realm martial artists, which severely halted the momentum of the Black Water Kingdom’s Eastern Expedition Army!
However, the involvement of this Vein Forging Realm palace worshipper from the Sword Origin Empire set a bad precedent.
Actually, within the Black Dragon Domain, there were some unwritten rules between the two warring states.
For example, in a war between two states, powerhouses at the level of the Vein Forging Realm generally do not act, serving only as a deterrent force.
But once one side breaks the rules, the other is sure to respond in kind.
Originally, with the participation of a Vein Forging Realm powerhouse, the Sword Origin Empire would definitely have an advantage, provided the Sect Master of Sword Origin Sect, Yu Ruhai, was not severely injured.
However, with Yu Ruhai’s severe injury, the top-level power dynamics shifted from an advantage for the Sword Origin Sect to a disadvantage.
Just the day after the Black Water Kingdom’s Eastern Expedition Army suffered a major setback, Qiyun Sect Leader Guo Qijing, Master of Lishui Sect, Chu Taiping, and Qiyun Sect Elder, Liao Feibai, simultaneously appeared in the skies above the Lin Yangjiang defense line of the Sword Origin Empire!
The Vein Forging Realm powerhouse Guo Qijing, along with Chu Taiping and Liao Feibai who were close in strength or even already possessed the combat power of Vein Forging Realm powerhouses, together challenged the palace worshipper of the Sword Origin Empire.
In less than 15 minutes, that Vein Forging Realm Third Stage palace worshipper from the Sword Origin Empire, using a secret technique that greatly drained his vital energy, had teleported thousands of miles away.
Thus, another great defeat for the Sword Origin Empire occurred.
And this defeat was even more thorough than the last!
The previous time, it could be considered a localized defeat.
But this time, the entire main force of the Sword Origin Empire was routed! For the coming months, or even several months, the Sword Origin Empire would struggle to organize a decent defensive line.
The Eastern Expedition Army of Black Water Kingdom almost chased the fleeing troops like herding sheep, traveling hundreds of miles each day.
Wherever the army passed, they took control!
This massive defeat also eased Ye Zhen’s burden; he was no longer needed everywhere to extinguish fires, and with Deputy Marshal Zhou Zhen commanding the left flank army, Ye Zhen had time to leisurely inspect the areas.
One day, while on inspection, Ye Zhen’s brows suddenly furrowed.
In a county town below, there were fires and screams everywhere; the soldiers of Black Water Kingdom were actually slaughtering civilians, and what enraged him most was that those soldiers were beheading civilians and tying their heads around their waists.
Killing innocents to claim their achievements!
Ye Zhen’s anger surged immediately!
With a sharp turn, Ye Zhen dived towards the county town, roaring in the low skies, his roar instantly reverberated through the city, "Scoundrels, stop, they are all civilians, stop!"
The looting earth soldiers glanced up at Ye Zhen in the sky, barely lifting their eyelids, and continued with their business.
Those looting continued to loot, those killing continued to kill.
Even the dark-faced general seemed lazy as he swept a glance at Ye Zhen and said, "Brother, you perhaps don’t understand? For this Eastern Expedition, brothers have risked their lives, so it’s only natural to make a small fortune on the side; just let it be. If nothing’s pressing, come drink with me; there’re some girls to accompany us too!"
"Three breaths to cease your actions; otherwise, martial law will be enforced!" Ye Zhen sternly commanded.
Ye Zhen’s words ’martial law will be enforced’ immediately caused the dark-faced general to become hostile, "Humph, don’t get arrogant, who do you think you are? Enforcing military law?
An Imperial Order has long since been in place, not even those Soul Sea Realm powers can interfere with military affairs..."
Suddenly, a sword light flashed, and the dark-faced general felt the world spinning before abruptly seeing a headless corpse spurting blood from its neck.
"Huh, that kind of looks like me..." Those were the general’s last thoughts in life!
"If you don’t cease immediately, your general’s fate will befall on you too!"
In the next instant, Ye Zhen, holding the dark-faced general’s head, soared above the center of the county town and roared furiously!
(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com), and your support will be my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)

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