Bronze, Herds, Elves, Godmaking

“You haven’t finished speaking yet!”

Xu Feng clenched her fists and pounded on Zhu’s body, but the only response she received was a wave of sharp pain in her knuckles.

Zhu was truly dead, transformed into a mass of cold, hard bronze.

Realizing the reality of the situation, Xu Feng felt a surge of disappointment.

She looked down at the heart in her hands; now this was all that remained, and she was supposed to deliver it to some Master of the Bronze Palace.

‘But I don’t even know where that person lives, let alone which way to go. I’m a total stranger in a strange land…’

Just as Xu Feng was pondering her next move, she felt a swelling sensation in her forehead.

“Huh?”

Xu Feng blinked. Her vision had become blurry, as if she had suddenly developed nearsightedness.

She rubbed her eyes and shook her head, but instead of fading, the symptoms worsened.

She began to see chaotic images flying past—blades, spears, dark battlefields, commoners, and black, roaring monsters.

The scenes were like reels of film being spliced together, slowly reconstructing fragments of history.

‘Is what I wanted to know finally coming?’

Xu Feng became like a spectator at a play, her current spot serving as her seat.

The flames died out, plunging the room into darkness following Zhu’s passing.

Hum— Wooo—

Like a horn sounding before a war, Xu Feng suddenly found herself in the middle of a desolate grassland.

Countless soldiers holding long halberds stood in long ranks.

Some were trembling with fear, while others had eyes filled with intense focus.

Standing opposite them was a swarm of red eyes shrouded in black mist—a herd of beasts with grotesque, distorted bodies.

“All troops, hear my command! Charge!!”

The war was ignited by the shout of a general.

Regardless of what they felt, the soldiers were pushed forward by the momentum.

Their weapons clashed with the roars emerging from the black mist.

Fear and courage alike were swallowed by the black tide of beasts.

In an instant, screams and the sound of claws scraping against metal echoed across the entire grassland!

Xu Feng’s perspective suddenly shifted to that of the general.

He had white hair and golden eyes, appearing divinely brave.

He alternated between his halberd and short sword, literally tearing a massive gap in the black tide of beasts.

The war gradually reached a fever pitch.

The piles of soldiers’ corpses grew higher, yet the scale of the beast tide did not diminish in the slightest.

‘The humans are going to lose.’

Xu Feng thought as she blinked.

The general was already kneeling on the ground, heavily wounded.

He was surrounded by heaps of black beast carcasses, but he stubbornly leaned on his halberd.

His eyelids, however, were heavy with exhaustion and began to close.

Hum— Hum—

Another type of horn sounded from the human rear.

The long, melodious tone sounded like a ballad sung by nomads.

Thump-thump! Thump-thump!

An earthquake-like rumbling followed the horn.

Massive white creatures suddenly appeared on the desolate land.

They looked like sheep but had the size of yaks, with crimson flames swirling around their enormous hooves.

On their backs were nomads dressed in crimson cotton clothes, holding long whips.

They drove the giant white beasts to charge across the grassland battlefield!

The black beast herd was forcibly split apart by thick lines of fire as the white nomad herd charged through.

The giant white beasts moved as if no one could stand in their way, their iron hooves trampling and crushing the beasts’ claws.

The humans had gained reinforcements, but it only served to create a stalemate.

‘There should be one more surprise force, right?’

Xu Feng looked toward the human rear with great interest.

As expected, another long horn blast sounded.

Wooo— Wooo—

Compared to the previous two, this one sounded solemn, like a musical movement—a movement proclaiming wisdom.

A massive shadow was projected from the human side toward the black beast tide.

Xu Feng’s eyes widened instantly.

Enormous bronze war chariots were pushed onto the battlefield.

Ranks of soldiers carried heavy crossbows and cannons to the rear.

A group of small spirits with golden wings circled the chariots, their hands busy reloading the weapons with cannonballs and heavy bolts.

From one of the chariots stepped a woman in cyan robes with matching hair.

She waved her sleeves and commanded everyone ahead!

“Citizens of the Bronze City and the Sunflame Territory! All troops, retreat!”

That woman seemed to be the backbone of everyone there.

Even amidst the chaos of the battlefield, her voice carried clearly, providing highly effective command.

The white nomad herd retreated from the front lines of the black beast tide.

The soldiers also pulled their brothers-in-arms back.

Seeing that the people had retreated to a safe distance, the cyan-haired woman waved her sleeves and gave the order to the spirits in the rear!

“All engines! Fire!”

Whoosh! Swish!

Flintstones fell like meteors toward the earth swallowed by darkness.

Arrows shot through the black encirclement like a storm.

Caught off guard, the black beast tide took the full force of the dense, widespread attack with their bodies.

Wails of agony soon dominated the black beast herd.

Their sheer density became their greatest weakness.

The special liquid on the flints ignited into roaring flames; they were huddled so close that they burned together in the towering fire.

The war turned into a one-sided slaughter.

The beast herds fled back to the desolate lands from whence they came, pathetically leaving behind the corpses of their companions.

The humans had secured victory.

Sunlight broke through the gloom shrouding the battlefield.

Xu Feng raised her hand to shield her eyes.

The moment the sky cleared completely, the soldiers and the nomads let out a cheer.

They raised their blood-stained weapons high, embracing their surviving comrades and weeping with joy.

However, not everyone was happy.

Xu Feng saw the cyan-haired woman say nothing.

She walked silently onto the battlefield, unbothered as her elegant dress trailed across the filthy ground.

She passed through the celebrating soldiers until she reached the general with closed eyes, where she knelt down.

‘That’s right, this general already…’

Xu Feng looked at the cyan-haired woman just inches away.

She wore an ancient Hanfu, primarily in shades of cyan.

Beneath her jade-like features, a hint of aggrieved red appeared.

She gazed longingly at the general’s face, her emerald eyes blinking as two trails of clear tears fell.

“Zhu, I’m sorry. I came too late.”

Her voice was whispered, as if she were terrified of being heard by anyone other than the general.

“Wake up, my general.”

She reached out to wipe the general’s face, likely feeling his rough skin.

Xu Feng felt truly saddened seeing the cyan-haired woman cry, but she couldn’t intervene; she could only watch silently.

A name surfaced in Xu Feng’s mind.

Master of the Bronze Palace, Si Ying.

So, she was the person she needed to find.

Xu Feng let out a sigh of lament. The next question was how to get to the Bronze City.

The vision ended with the Bronze Palace Master’s weeping.

Everything around her faded into blackness like a curtain call, before a warm red firelight flickered to life.

Several shadows were gathered around a table, discussing something.

A slender woman was the first to strike the table and speak.

“I want to save him, no matter the cost. I am willing to offer the most ingenious mechanical tools of the Bronze Palace, as well as an Urban Governance Core. What about you?”

A tiny spirit immediately followed the woman’s proposal.

“I can provide the Blood of the Tree King! To repair his body!”

A burly male silhouette nodded, then clapped his hands generously.

“Brother Zhu is my ally. I will certainly bring forth the most precious thing in the Sunflame Territory—the Divine Fire. I want him to always have the ability to hold the position of general, or even higher. How about we make him a god?”

Both the woman and the spirit stopped in surprise at the man’s suggestion, but they soon agreed and praised the idea.

“Good! We’ll do as you say!”

“This is truly an incredible undertaking. We are going to create a god!”

The shadows conspired together, finalizing the plan.

‘Creating a god? So Zhu was originally just an ordinary general.’

Just as Xu Feng was reflecting on this, the vision was suddenly wiped away.

She returned to the reality of the manor and heard a woman’s voice behind her.

[Bronze for bones and skin, the Sacred Tree for the protective bloodline, and Divine Fire as the means for counterattack. Truly a formidable opponent, Green Flame Tree God. A pity, though~ you still died at my hands.]