"Kill! Kill! Kill!!"
A thunderous roar erupted as two hundred thousand soldiers of the Vermilion Bird Legion shouted in unison. Their killing intent soared to the heavens, and their battle spirit burned wildly. Flames danced in their eyes with fervent anticipation.
"Go forth! This king awaits your triumphant return."
Yi Tianxing nodded firmly as he looked at his soldiers and gave the command.
With a wave of his hand, a massive spatial gate opened on the training grounds.
"Vermilion Bird Legion, march forth!!"Yang Ye swept his long spear through the air and shouted resolutely.
"Battle! Battle! Battle!!"
"Heaven's thunder beats the war drum,The earth is our tomb,A thousand miles of blood-clouds light the road to war.
Wild lands fierce, alien races mad,But the human race shall never be shamed.
Heads may fall, blood may spill,But our iron bones and loyal souls shall battle across the Nine Provinces!
With steel blades—ninety-nine strong—We vow never to rest until the alien races are crushed!"
...
The war song echoed throughout the Vermilion Bird Legion. As the first lines were sung, not only the entire legion but also the surrounding citizens and bounty hunters raised their voices. They were sending off the army with the dignity of song and spirit.
War!
War—there was no such thing as luck in the rise of the human race. Only iron and blood.
One by one, soldiers formed into orderly ranks and stepped into the spatial gate.
Jiang Ni saluted Yi Tianxing before following into the gate.
This campaign of expansion would be led by him—driving the Immortal City forward. Wherever the city reached would become territory of the Great Yi. Any resistance encountered would fall to the Vermilion Bird Legion. Their mission: crush opposition, and secure stability and safety wherever the Immortal City settled.
The Great Yi Dynasty was making its move—expansion had officially begun.
"Quick, spread the word. Great Yi is ruthless—they're using Immortal Cities to suppress a thousand miles of wilderness. The tribes within those areas are suffering. These cities can hold over a million humans, are well-defended, and nearly impossible to conquer. They're like massive nails driven into the wild!"
"Damn it. The humans are creeping forward step by step, planning to consume the wilderness as their own. We'll all become their prey. We must stop this!"
While Immortal Cities signified order and civilization to humans, they were nothing less than threatening behemoths to the many fierce beasts and alien tribes in the wilderness.
In the Great Yi territories, a stark contrast had emerged:
The wilderness was perilous for humans.
The Immortal Cities were forbidden zones for beasts and alien races.
With each city established, the freedom of these tribes shrank, and their way of life—hunting and feeding on humans—became a relic of the past.
They hated it, deeply. What once was prey now stood as their conqueror. This reversal was unacceptable to many tribes. Plots to overturn human dominance were already in motion.
Before long, new developments arrived.
A wandering Immortal City named Goldsilver City had appeared. Famous for its honeysuckle flowers, it was governed by Gold Not Silver—a cultivator whose family had cultivated honeysuckle for generations. Their specialty was a powerful detoxifying herbal brew: Goldsilver Detox Soup.
Upon reaching the Eternal Continent, Gold Not Silver had studied foundational alchemy and refined the family recipe into a pill—the Goldsilver Detox Pill. It was potent against all kinds of poisons: one pill could neutralize even the venom of poisonous snakes. Crushed and burned, its fragrance could even repel insects and venomous creatures.
Thanks to this, Goldsilver City remained prosperous, attracting many travelers.
That day, outside Goldsilver City, a spatial gate opened.
The neatly ordered Vermilion Bird Legion stepped forth.
Jiang Ni emerged and gazed at Goldsilver City, holding his Mountain-Driving Whip.
"City Lord Gold, are you ready? If so, I shall begin."
On the city wall, Gold Not Silver stood, surrounded by citizens. The news had already reached the city via communication wristbands, allowing near-instant updates.
"Lord Jiang, please proceed. We have long awaited this moment."
His voice was filled with eager anticipation—no pretense, no disguise.
Until now, all other Immortal Cities had received their own domains, with territories to govern and resources to exploit. Goldsilver City had nothing.
This lack of land meant their bounty hunter guild couldn't receive the high-tier missions tied to controlling a region. Without territory, they had no official jurisdiction—and couldn't benefit from the rewards of Great Yi's bounty system. Cross-city interference was forbidden to avoid competition and conflict between hunter guilds.
So Gold Not Silver had been growing anxious—desperate for expansion to begin.
Now that Jiang Ni and the entire Vermilion Bird Legion had arrived, he was overjoyed. This marked the beginning of Goldsilver City's dominion.
"Very well!"
Jiang Ni nodded and swung the Mountain-Driving Whip toward the ground.
Crack!!
A crisp crack rang out. The earth rumbled. The entire Goldsilver City began to shift, like a boat riding waves, surging forward across the land.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Vermilion Bird Legion moved in formation, surrounding the mobile city as it headed eastward—toward the frontier.
But as Goldsilver City moved, the surrounding alien tribes stirred uneasily. No one wanted to see the humans expand. An Immortal City was a permanent anchor, slowly absorbing and assimilating surrounding lands into human rule.
In the east, several alien tribes gathered in alarm. Even those with past enmities united in the face of a common threat.
In a remote valley, a tribal settlement lay hidden.
Crude fences built from massive tree trunks ringed the area. Inside were tents and stone houses, with bonfires burning through the night.
From the trees, huge cages hung like fruit—but they held not birds, but humans. Emaciated, ragged, and listless—they were clearly refugees, imprisoned like livestock.
It was a disturbing sight.
Each cage held several people, like miniature prisons.
The style of the camp was unmistakable—an ogre tribe.
Indeed, this was the Ogre Tribe.
Many ogres sat around the fires, but none were in the mood to feast or roast humans, their favorite pastime. Instead, they stared in silence toward the largest tent—grim, uneasy.
Inside, a gathering of powerful figures had assembled.
At the head was a two-headed ogre, exuding cold menace. His twin heads bore feral gazes, and his tusks were still slick with fresh blood.
Within the tent were mousefolk, serpent demons, werewolves, and even beautiful but deadly dark elves—all with grim expressions.
"Everyone, what should we do?" the two-headed ogre rumbled. "The humans are heading our way—with an Immortal City. If they plant that thing here, we're finished."
"What can we do?" sighed the mousefolk leader. "The Great Yi isn't weak. Even our beastman alliance failed to break through their Ironblood Great Wall and storm Xuánhuáng City. We had to retreat. Now it's just our scattered tribes? Against two hundred thousand elite soldiers of the Vermilion Bird Legion? That's a death sentence."