My Cultivation Has a Progress Bar

Outside Shuanghe City, at noon.

After the earth-shaking war drums and resounding horns echoed across the land, dozens of boulders trailing thick smoke whistled through the sky, smashing down upon the once-prosperous city.

"BOOM"

The earth trembled.

Some of the boulders crashed into the river, churning up sludge. Others struck the city walls, sending sparks flying in all directions, but the walls themselves remained unshaken. Still others rolled through the city, toppling one building after another.

Several Foundation Establishment Stage Fire Spirit Cultivators flew back and forth over the city. Using the Fire Veins within their bodies, they drew in the spreading infernos, extinguishing the flames and saving the city from being engulfed by fire.

「Half an hour later.」

After being ravaged by boulders, Shuanghe City now faced a baptism of countless crossbow bolts raining from the sky. The Qi Cultivation Disciples of the True Yang Sect within the city cast Magic, blocking most of the arrows, but the defending army still suffered casualties.

The rain of arrows lasted for three volleys before stopping, as the ammunition was too expensive. The sound of bolts tearing through the air dissipated, replaced by the thundering of war drums.

A quarter of an hour later, the Vanguard Army advanced. Three thousand armored soldiers, formed into five square formations, pushed five Siege Towers toward the Southwest wall of Shuanghe City. They were armed with warhammers and round shields, ideal for an assault. Whenever they encountered water traps, Qi Cultivators within the Military Array cast Earth Magic to create bridges and clear a path.

When the troops were about five hundred zhang from the walls, the city’s defenders began setting up the crossbows and catapults that had not been destroyed earlier.

Now it was the besieging army’s turn to face a baptism of boulders and crossbow bolts.

The war drums from the rear grew louder and more rapid, attempting to drown out the whistling of the endless volleys of bolts and boulders tearing through the air.

As the sky full of arrows descended, the war banners within the Military Array pulsed with streams of earthy yellow light, forming a series of energy shields. Although the shields could not completely negate the force of the crossbow bolts and boulders, they did reduce their speed and lethality.

By the time the crossbow bolts and boulders reached the Siege Towers, the bolts could not even pierce the leather hides covering them, and the boulders only made them shudder slightly.

After three such volleys, the three-thousand-strong attacking force had only lost a dozen or so unlucky souls. This infuriated the defending commander on the walls, who began to curse loudly, while the sound of war drums from the attackers’ rear encampment seemed to grow even louder.

When the attacking force advanced into bow range, the city’s defenders couldn’t be bothered to waste resources, so there was no large-scale rain of arrows. Instead, they cleverly positioned a few Qi Cultivators in spots with good lines of sight to take shots.

Though most of the arrows were blocked, casualties were still unavoidable.

However, this was within an acceptable range. The Chu Country’s rear commander immediately ordered another three thousand elite soldiers to assemble. They were also divided into five square formations and continued to advance toward the wall along the same route.

A quarter of an hour later, as the Siege Towers were about to reach the wall, the defenders dispatched some leather-armored Qi Cultivators who leaped down from the ramparts to try and halt the assault. However, they were immediately met with an attack from the personal crossbows carried by the attacking soldiers.

Although Qi Cultivators had mastered certain Cultivation Techniques, they were still flesh and blood. They suffered heavy losses under the first volley, and next, they had to face soldiers clad in sturdy Battle Armor.

No one had expected that the first to spill their blood at the foot of the wall would be the Qi Cultivators, who were usually so high and mighty.

There is no mercy on the battlefield, and the brutal fighting would not end over such an insignificant little victory. As the Siege Towers drew near the wall, battle cries echoed over the city.

The defenders on the wall began to pour Tung Oil, combined with wood shavings from the Fire Candle Tree, attempting to use a fire attack to stop the besieging army from scaling the wall.

But the Chu Army was prepared. The Qi Cultivators in the Military Array who could use Earth Spirit Magic immediately summoned sand and dirt to smother the flames. Other Qi Cultivators used Water Spirits to neutralize the Spiritual Qi ignited by the True Yang Sect disciples.

Both sides used their own methods in the narrow area around the city wall, and for a time, they were locked in a stalemate.

It seemed like a long time had passed, yet it also felt like an instant. The walls of Shuanghe City, normally used for hanging brocade banners, were now stained with dark black marks. Some were the result of scorching flames, others were the traces of baked-on blood.

The war of attrition at the base of the wall was brutal. The Chu Army fought until the next three thousand men arrived, but not a single soldier managed to get on top of the wall. The remaining two thousand or so soldiers from the initial wave had no choice but to cede the battlefield in an orderly fashion and slowly retreat. At that moment, another three thousand men had already finished assembling outside the rear encampment and were now advancing toward the wall.

This kind of fighting continued until nightfall. Not one member of the Chu Army managed to get on the wall. The two sides left behind three thousand corpses from both attackers and defenders near the wall. The outcome of the battle did not surprise the commanders on either side; after all, it was only the first day.

Aside from the heavy losses in the first wave, the Chu Army’s casualties in each subsequent assault were kept under a hundred men. The defenders, fighting desperately to hold the wall, also paid a heavy price. Because the Chu Army was better equipped, their casualty ratio with the defenders was nearly 1:1, which was extremely deadly for the defending side.

Night fell without anyone noticing. Both the attacking and defending sides sent out several hundred scouts to probe for intelligence in the buffer zone between them, while also setting up military stoves to cook their meals.

「The night passed quickly.」

Aside from the scouts, the soldiers on both sides who were meant to rest got ample time to do so.

At 7:30 AM, in the July of Ningzhou Road, the sky was already bright.

As the sound of earth-shaking war drums echoed once more, a new round of attacks was about to begin. Moreover, today’s assault was the real one; yesterday had been merely an appetizer.

Looking out, one could see that the Vanguard Army’s camp from yesterday had more than doubled in size overnight!

Wang Ping also awoke from his meditative state when the war drums sounded. He first controlled his Primordial Spirit to fly a lap around his temporary Dao Field, then, as usual, checked on Yu Lian’s condition.

As the great besieging army once again clashed with the True Yang Sect’s defenders in close combat, Hu Qianqian’s figure landed on the summit of Laishan, and she walked respectfully to Wang Ping’s side.

"Master."

Hu Qianqian bowed as she always did, then took a gray crystal from her storage bag. "The Lizard Demon’s soul you wanted," she said. "He was a wanted criminal with Second Realm strength, surrounded and killed by members of the Daoist Palace near the South Sea!"

Wang Ping’s eyes lit up slightly. With a flick of his finger, the crystal was swept up by a strand of Wood Spirit Qi and landed in his hand.

Hu Qianqian then took out a wooden box and said, "Inside is the ’Fake Pill’ he formed. If you intend to cultivate his Elemental Poison, Master, this ’Fake Pill’ is the best reference material."

Wang Ping’s gaze fell upon the Fake Pill in Hu Qianqian’s hand. He then looked up at her and smiled. "You’re quite thoughtful. You must have been ostracized by your clan for doing this, weren’t you?"

"Replying to Master, in this disciple’s eyes, there is no difference between demons and humans. All are just living beings among the myriad creatures. If a demon does wrong, it must be punished. If a human does wrong, they must also be punished."

Hu Qianqian’s tone was gentle, but her expression was extremely serious.

Wang Ping nodded, looking at the Fake Pill and crystal in his hands. He didn’t know who this Lizard Demon was, much less what he had done. But a single thought from him had turned the demon’s centuries of cultivation into nothing.

He looked down again at the vast land below. At this moment, centered on him, for hundreds of miles in every direction, millions of people were fighting to the death under his will on every inch of land touched by the flames of war.

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