Hearing someone mocking Merlot for his perfect performance, having single-handedly killed five puppets, Du Boshi couldn't stand it any longer. He stepped forward, about to rebuke the middle-aged man in dark green leather armor carrying two swords.

"Who are you..." He hadn't finished speaking when his voice abruptly stopped.

He saw the identity token hanging from the man's waist, an item unique to core members of the Black Hand!

The man didn't even turn his head, treating Mellorian, Du Boshi, and the others as if they were nothing.

Du Boshi felt a chill run through his body and wished he could just disappear on the spot.

"Who is he?" Chen Jing asked Dao Nan, who was wiping his knife, in a low voice.

“Huang Yuanlong, Blackhand’s lieutenant,” Dao Nan replied. “He was already famous before you joined the hunting party, before Blackhand invited him. Back then, people called him Ash City’s number one hunter.”

The number one hunter of Ash City... Chen Jing pondered this title, feeling a little regretful that he hadn't seen such a person make a move.

“There’s another interesting story about him,” Dao Nan said in a low voice. “It is said that when he was still a lone hunter, he encountered a terrifying glass monster while hunting alone. When his sword pierced the monster’s throat, the monster’s venom paralyzed his face, making him unable to make any expression.”

Is this what's called physiological facial paralysis? Chen Jing wondered to himself.

...

The team's subsequent operations went very smoothly, and they arrived in Meijing City relatively safely.

In the distance, the broken walls of Meijing City were shrouded in a deathly gray mist, giving it an unreal, dreamlike quality.

Figures stood either along the city wall or by the roadside.

The clearest figures held weapons and wore armor, their eyes devoid of pupils, while the blurry ones were reduced to human shapes with translucent skin that seemed to glow with a pale light.

They are wandering spirits.

They were fighting each other, roaring, wailing, and howling. Their hushed voices echoed through the mist.

As the crowd approached, most of the wandering spirits dissipated, leaving only a few condensed spirits lingering and even approaching them.

Chen Jing witnessed this scene and felt inexplicably moved, as if he saw himself in those figures when he first became a Blood Realm cultivator.

"It's so noisy," said a hunter nearby.

Wandering spirits possess strength and speed exceeding that of ordinary people, but they are no more difficult to deal with than puppets, because they lack intelligence.

The hunters skillfully hunted down the approaching wandering spirits, who caused almost no trouble.

Individual humans may be vulnerable, but organized humans are a terrifying force in the Misty Lands, in this land called the Ancient Song!

According to the plan, the Black Hand team will advance from the outer city to the inner city, where they will set up hunting grounds and begin their hunt.

To ensure that their strength was not greatly reduced, Huang Yuanlong had moved to the front of the team to support the hunters and scouts in their battle.

Dao Nan had never seen such a fighting style before.

The man named Huang Yuanlong, when still, seemed like an old man reminiscing about his youth looking at a young man, or a lion about to die patrolling its territory. When he moved, it was like a sudden storm, or an eagle circling high above swooping down.

Without making any unnecessary movements or displaying his strength by advancing rashly, he would wield his sword in one hand, each charge securing a victory before retreating without hesitation to the protection of the crowd, leaving the hunters to entangle with the enemy.

Dao Nan didn't have time to look around much. The entire team was now tightly entwined, and the sounds of marching and fighting inevitably attracted the wandering spirits.

Mellorian had little fighting ability and had to retreat to the crowd to rest, where he could only watch with burning eyes as the hunters fought alongside Huang Yuanlong.

After Chen Jing ambushed and killed a nearby wandering soul with a single sword strike, Dao Nan realized that Chen Jing was actually not far away.

He had been wondering where Chen Jing had gone, thinking that the fog was too thick and he had been separated during the battle, but now he was certain of his guess.

This is the most common occurrence in battles in the Misty Lands, where visibility is extremely low.

Only Chen Jing looked at his hands, lost in thought.

He just inadvertently entered a state of "noise invisibility"!

"See that?" Dao Nan said to Chen Jing, "That's Ash City's number one hunter. His fighting style is completely different from the one in the story!"

"What style does he have in the story?" Chen Jing asked.

"High-level swordsmanship, quick reflexes, immense strength... uh, how would I know what kind of fighting style that is? I've only heard them talk about it when they're bragging," Dao Nan said.

Chen Jing didn't have time to continue chatting and began to focus on scouting the outside world and regulating his own emotions.

Meijing City is a city with a rich history. Even Chen Jing, who knows nothing about history, has heard people talk about how glorious this city was in the past.

Two things are most noteworthy. First, the Lan Dynasty's army crossed the mountains to reach the capital. At that time, almost all of the Song Dynasty's army was in the north resisting the Xia Dynasty and also had to reserve troops to guard against a surprise attack from the Celestial Dynasty. The resilient people of Meijing held out until winter arrived with the help of very few reinforcements. Rain and snow blocked the mountains, forcing the Lan Dynasty's army to retreat.

Even within the entire history of war, a history filled with miracles and ruins, this is an experience that can truly be called legendary.

Mekong is a heroic city. It is not only a city of heroes and a symbol of resilience, but also a symbol of unity, determination and courage.

The second major event that occurred in Meijing was left by Princess Zhao Wenjun, the only emperor of the Song Dynasty without a posthumous title. Her father, brother, and younger brother had all died in battle, and when she ascended the throne as the most suitable member of the royal family, almost all the princes, nobles, ministers, and generals felt despair.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!