Monsters, stand your ground Perish now

[Year 67, 85 years old.]

[After Zhenpin died, you spoke much less.]

[After all, there was no one your age in the army.]

[Because of the 'Old Ginger is Spicier' trait, you didn't feel any decline in your vitality, but a familiar sense of emptiness gradually welled up within you.]

[You knew that this was the feeling of approaching the end of your lifespan.]

[The effect of the trait could not prolong your life; when your lifespan was exhausted, you still had to go.]

[As the Demon Extermination Army put out fires everywhere, the demon race within the Five Domains was forced to gather together from their scattered state and act collectively.]

[Among the Five Domains, the Central Plains had the densest population and the most abundant resources.]

[After the demons gathered, they mainly operated in the Central Plains.]

[Therefore, during the campaigns of the past few years, your Cloud Summit Flying Skiff basically never flew out of the Central Plains, constantly flying back and forth in the skies above the two capitals and eighteen provinces of the Great Qian Dynasty.]

[Of course, at this time, there was no point in arguing over who rightfully owned the provinces that the Central Plains had lost to the North and South during the previous dispute over the orthodox lineage between the northern, central, and southern factions.]

["Marshal, the demons' slaughter of the village near Tangshan City was just a feint. Just as we were about to arrive, they scattered and fled. They actually concentrated their elite forces to attack the Nushan crystal mine three hundred miles away, plundering a large amount of crystals!"]

[You sat on the Cloud Summit Flying Skiff, reading a military strategy book while listening to your subordinate report the military situation.]

[Crystals played an important role in this war.]

[Just like the oil that powered tanks during World War II.]

[Even the Cloud Summit Flying Skiff you were sitting on now could not fly around without a massive supply of crystals.]

[The frontline at Cangqiong Ridge was burning through crystals every day, as it needed to maintain the operation of a large number of formations.]

[Securing the supply lines for crystals, rations, and equipment to the frontline was also an important task for your Demon Extermination Army.]

["How come the demon race is using military strategy? Haven't they always preferred to rely on brute force? I'm afraid there is an expert guiding them from behind..."]

[Not long after, you discovered this expert.]

[If the demons could use military strategy, so could you.]

[You were even a cut above them.]

[You used three crystal veins as bait, playing hard to get and constantly feigning defeat to lure the enemy's main force into assembling.]

[When the demons realized they had a chance to sever the frontline's crystal supply line, they launched a frantic attack, pushing deeper and deeper until they finally fell into your encirclement.]

[Qian Province, Changhen Slope. When you began to close the net in this place, you saw an old acquaintance on the battlefield.]

["Feng Yucheng, I should have guessed it was you, because it's not surprising at all that you defected to the demon race."]

[Feng Yucheng, the former Chief Commander of the Demon Slaying Division in Baiyun County, had colluded with the demons in the Baiyun County area, as well as the local magistrate, to forge demon murder cases into ordinary homicides.]

[By deceiving his superiors and hiding the truth from his subordinates, he allowed the demons in Baiyun County to obtain a stable and long-term source of humans to eat.]

[At the same time, that group of demons also refined the wicked Blood Demon Pills for Feng Yucheng, allowing someone with his low-grade bone structure to possess a decent level of martial arts cultivation.]

[It was indeed no surprise that such a person would stand on the side of the demons after the war between the two races broke out.]

[Feng Yucheng glanced at you; he didn't know you.]

[In this simulation, the two of you might have met once, but you didn't join the Demon Slaying Division to become a Demon Slayer, nor did you speak more than a few words to Feng Yucheng, so of course he didn't know who you were.]

["I didn't expect the famous Grand Marshal of the Demon Extermination Army to actually know a nobody like me, heh..."]

[Feng Yucheng should be in a role similar to a military advisor in the Five Domains Demon Army now, providing tactical strategies for the remaining demons.]

[What puzzled you was...]

[When you were eighteen, Feng Yucheng was already a middle-aged man.]

[At a conservative estimate, he should be over twenty years older than you.]

[You were already eighty-five, so Feng Yucheng should be over a hundred, right?]

[It wasn't impossible for a person to live to a hundred, but why did Feng Yucheng's appearance and physical fitness not look like that of a centenarian?]

[He looked just like he did back then.]

[Even if he took Face Retaining Pills to maintain his appearance, it couldn't prevent his physique from aging, could it?]

[He didn't have the 'Old Ginger is Spicier' trait either.]

["General Wang Ping, help me check this person's cultivation."]

[Wang Ping was one of the generals under your command. He was the head of a martial arts family in the Central Plains and possessed the cultivation of the Spirit Condensation Realm, so he had divine sense.]

["Yes!"]

[Your sharpness in killing demons on the battlefield and the sheer number of demons you slaughtered made you the bravest in the entire army.]

[However, the fact that you were only at the Golden Body Realm truly baffled Wang Ping and others with divine sense.]

[At first, they thought you were hiding your cultivation.]

[Later, they discovered that you truly didn't have divine sense and seemed to really just be in the Golden Body Realm.]

[They respected you even more.]

[At such an old age, with a cultivation of only the Golden Body Realm, you were incredibly fierce.]

[If you were younger and had a higher realm...]

[Wouldn't you be absolutely unstoppable?]

["Marshal, he should be at the third level of the Golden Body Realm."]

[You smiled.]

["Oh, he's two levels higher than me. Kill him."]

["Understood!"]

[Wang Ping and other high-realm generals began to besiege Feng Yucheng on the chaotic battlefield.]

[On the demon side, they desperately protected Feng Yucheng.]

[It wasn't hard to understand. With Feng Yucheng helping them, their recent operations had actually been successful.]

[You didn't plan to attack Feng Yucheng yourself, because Feng Yucheng was human, and your 'True Father of Alien Races' trait could not take effect.]

[Even though your mastery of various cultivation methods was extremely high due to the 'Proficiency' trait, and you had the immortal artifact, the Myriad Soul Banner, your actual combat power wasn't weak.]

[But since there were people with higher realms than Feng Yucheng to deal with him, why should you, the Grand Marshal, take the risk?]

[That was until you noticed something wrong with Feng Yucheng.]

[He transformed!]

[A pair of sharp, lightning-shaped horns grew on his head, and a long tail covered in barbs and scales sprouted from his back. His entire face elongated, looking like he had grown a bird's beak. His body surface was covered in a layer of black scales, and a pair of fleshy wings even grew from his back!]

["A little dragon man?"]

[Only, he was black.]

[After transforming, Feng Yucheng's combat power exploded. Together with a group of Spirit Condensation Realm demons, he beat Wang Ping and the other generals into a steady retreat.]

[Seeing that Wang Ping and the others were in mortal danger, you began to crack your knuckles.]

["You see, instead of being a proper human, you chose to be some kind of monster. Then don't blame my fists for being hard."]

[You charged into the battlefield, fighting with grand and sweeping moves. The Myriad Soul Banner released tens of thousands of demon souls, launching an overwhelming strike and ravaging the group of demons!]

[When Feng Yucheng saw your posture, he thought, what the hell is there left to fight?]

["Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!!"]

["Demons, don't you flee!! Die for me!!!"]

[Your appearance was too terrifying for the demons.]

[When you were young, you were the red-haired Demon Slayer; when you grew old, you became Demon's Bane; and now, as your lifespan neared its end, you were the Grand Marshal of the Demon Extermination Army!]

[When the demons saw you, it was as if they were looking at the Grim Reaper himself!]

[The number of demons you had slaughtered in your life was uncountable, and their resentment formed a tangible aura around you.]

[We usually call this kind of aura—killing intent!]