This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable

Great Capital City.

One of the prefecture cities under the jurisdiction of Zhenjiang.

This month, the duty to guard the northern district fell to Qin Tianhan, a cultivator at the Perfection of Foundation Establishment.

He commanded a City Guard Army squad consisting of twenty men.

Every city established by Great Xia was protected by the presence of the City Guard Army.

The City Guard Army recruited from all cultivators of good standing, regardless of whether they were loose cultivators or came from family backgrounds. All were eligible to join the City Guard Army.

After joining the City Guard Army, as long as one fulfilled their responsibilities and took turns on duty, they could enjoy a fixed quota of cultivation resources such as Spirit Stones and Pills distributed by Great Xia.

The duty of the City Guard Army was to protect the humans within the city.

They had to guard against demon beast attacks from the wilderness outside the city as well as oversee the disputes among cultivators within the city.

As on any other day, Qin Tianhan stood atop the city wall, gazing into the dark wilderness beyond.

All was calm and quiet.

To such circumstances, Qin Tianhan had grown accustomed.

He had been part of the Great Capital City Guard Army for sixty years and had yet to encounter any major chaos. He'd never even seen a demon beast attack the city.

At most, he encountered cultivators taking action within the city, requiring his intervention for discipline.

If not for specific reasons, Great Xia strictly forbade cultivators from engaging in magical combat within the city.

But cultivators, as a group, were known to be unrestrained by rules.

Thus, incidences of cultivators fighting within the city occurred every couple of days.

As long as no ordinary people were accidentally harmed, a stern reprimand from them and a fine of some Spirit Stones would usually settle the matter.

The job was much easier than one might imagine.

Involuntarily, Qin Tianhan's gaze wandered as he began to calculate in his mind.

After his fortuitous advance to Foundation Establishment as a loose cultivator, the resources required for a Foundation Establishment cultivator's practice were beyond what he, as a loose cultivator, could afford.

Feeling the difficulty of cultivation for loose cultivators, he pondered deeply before ultimately deciding to enlist in the Great Capital City Guard Army.

Although the rules of the City Guard Army were strict and did not allow for the same freedom as a loose cultivator, the benefits were good.

Not to mention the fixed supply of resources, only four months out of the year required active duty, leaving the remaining time for him to allocate freely.

Under these conditions, he had steadily cultivated to the realm of Perfection in Foundation Establishment.

He was now just over a hundred thirty years old. With careful planning for another decade or two, there was a chance to attempt the breakthrough to Golden Core.

Once one became a Golden Core cultivator, that was like leaping over the Dragon Gate, making one a significant figure within the Great Capital City.

For a loose cultivator to achieve this was exceedingly rare.

Thinking of this future prospect, Qin Tianhan's face couldn't help but reveal a bit of smugness.

"Hm? What's this? Has something gone bad?" the absent-minded Qin Tianhan's nose twitched subconsciously.

A faint stench of decay and putrescence mixed into the air, and he caught its scent.

Humans possess six senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and Divine Sense.

Each sense has its wonder, but the most important, the Divine Sense, requires exceedingly precious Spells to practice, beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Aside from Divine Sense, practicing the other five senses takes an inordinate amount of time and does not provide as direct a boost to combat power as Spells do.

Generally, cultivators would prefer to spend their time practicing Cultivation Techniques to accumulate Spiritual Power or learning Spells to increase their combat abilities.

Very few people would choose to cultivate the Five Senses Technique.

However, Qin Tianhan was an exception.

The reason he was able to break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage as a loose cultivator was due to the fact that he had practiced a supplemental Technique that strengthened his sense of smell.

After practicing this Technique, although his combat power did not increase, his sense of smell was far superior to that of ordinary cultivators. In the wilderness, he frequently could detect the scents of demon beasts, allowing him to avoid danger.

He could even locate deeply hidden Spiritual Medicine through their unique scents.

This was how he managed to gather enough resources on his own to break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Realizing the extraordinary use of his sense of smell, he continued to cultivate it even after becoming a Foundation Establishment cultivator and gaining the ability to project his Divine Sense.

This choice proved to be correct.

Because the reach of Divine Sense was limited, often things that his Divine Sense could not detect, his sense of smell could.

Like now.

"This isn't right!" Qin Tianhan's expression darkened.

Because this scent of decay wasn't like the usual smell of things rotting—it was more like... the stench of a corpse!

Qin Tianhan's background as a loose cultivator made him exceedingly cautious in his actions.

Perhaps others would not take this scent seriously, as in a vast city, the emergence of the smell of corpses was not particularly strange, right?

But Qin Tianhan would not let it go.

"Follow me," Qin Tianhan said with a stern face, leading his subordinates in the direction from which the stench of decay was emanating.

The City Guard Army cultivators, although somewhat perplexed, would not defy orders and hurriedly followed along.

As he searched for the source of the putrid smell, Qin Tianhan was taken aback.

The decay he was tracking had become increasingly intense, indicating he was nearing its origin.

But, Qin Tianhan sniffed lightly.

At this moment, the air was permeated with the same noxious odor of decay coming from all directions.

In just a short while, it seemed the entire city was engulfed with this pungent stench of rot.

What rattled him even more was the faint scent of blood mingling with the heavy odor of decay.

A foreboding feeling surfaced in his heart.

They didn't stop their pace, continuing to rush toward the initial source of the rot,

What kind of evil spirit was causing this mischief!

"What is...that?!" A cultivator, his teeth chattering, pointed to something not far off and said.

In the darkness of the night.

A monstrous, human-shaped figure stood in the distance, its face smeared with blood, the complexion a ghastly pale and twisted.

The eyes atop its head were emitting an incredibly ferocious, blood-red light, its mouth full of sharp fangs gleaming with a metallic luster.

Its skin resembled a layer of pure black carapace, looking exceptionally tough.

Even from a distance, not just Qin Tianhan, but other cultivators could smell the thick stench of rot and the foul odor of blood emanating from it.

This colossus was clutching a mortal, its fangs pierced into the mortal's throat, guzzling and sucking the blood within.

The mortal withered at a visible rate, turning into a dried-up corpse.

"Blood...Blood Stiff!" A City Guard Army cultivator, who came from a family skilled in cultivation and with a broader view, answered with a trembling voice.

One Blood Stiff naturally wouldn't frighten him so much.

—Behind the Blood Stiff, there were countless shadows, which although smaller in size compared to the leading Blood Stiff,

the number was simply too great.

The houses in this area had already collapsed, shattered, turning the place into ruins, the ground littered with desiccated corpses of mortals.

The reason there had been no noise before was that, at some unknown time, a rough soundproof barrier had been cast over the area.

The scene before him was like hell on earth, chilling and shocking Qin Tianhan to the core.

Even Foundation Establishment Cultivators seemed rather insignificant in front of such a multitude of Corpse Puppets.

At that moment, when the Corpse Puppets saw the squad of the City Guard Army led by Qin Tianhan, they instantly swarmed over in a frenzied tide.

Their instincts drove them towards the cultivators, drawn by the stronger and more enticing blood that flowed through their bodies.

The essence blood of the cultivators would have an even more pronounced effect on their evolution.

For Qin Tianhan, the sight of countless Corpse Puppets lunging at him was like being plunged into an ice cave, a moment he would never forget for the rest of his life.

"Light the beacon smoke!" Faced with the horrifying scene before him, Qin Tianhan's face contorted violently as he bellowed.

Immediately, Qin Tianhan quickly retreated, while pulling out a Spirit Talisman from his Storage Ring, channeling his Spiritual Power to toss it into the air.

The Spirit Talisman burst into light, transforming into a surge of red smoke shooting into the sky.

Despite the cloak of night, the brilliance of the red smoke could not be concealed.

Beacon Smoke Talisman!

A Talisman used to send warning signals.

Upon joining the City Guard Army, Qin Tianhan had received this Talisman.

It would only be used in grave situations like a massive demon beast attack on the city.

For many years, this Talisman had not been used, but tonight, for the first time, the Beacon Smoke Talisman was activated!

Reacting to Qin Tianhan's roar, the City Guard Army cultivators finally snapped to attention, also taking out their Beacon Smoke Talismans, sending out warning signals.

Before long, beacon smoke rose in all directions.

...

Corpse Puppet attack on the city!

An uncountable number of Corpse Puppets attacking the city!

This was chaos; this was a disaster!

Accompanying the night were thousands upon thousands of Corpse Puppets of unknown origin.

Among them were First Grade Corpse Puppets, equivalent to Qi Refining Cultivators: Iron Stiffs and White Stiffs, as well as Second Grade Corpse Puppets, equivalent to Foundation Establishment Cultivators: Roaming Corpses and Flying Stiffs, and there were even Third Grade Corpse Puppets—Blood Stiffs and Indestructible Bones—which could contend with Golden Core Cultivators!

While they varied in rank and kind, these Corpse Puppets all possessed pairs of red, ferocious eyes.

In the veil of night, they were like red stars, but the sight would send shivers down one's spine and make one's scalp tingle.

The Corpse Puppets swept over like a tide, covering the city and mortal dwellings.

Corpse Puppets drew strength from blood and could even evolve and increase their own strength by consuming a certain amount of it.

Ruthlessly, they rolled over each human being, heedless of their struggles and screams, biting through their throats and voraciously devouring the essence blood within their flesh.