C11 The Figure Under the Bloodcolored Sunset!

Everyone was left speechless, both the Thvelond disciples and the pack of wolf monsters.

Amidst the wild wind, a colossal Immortal Cauldron, stomped upon by a man, crashed into the midst of the wolf monsters. In a flash, blood and flesh splattered, and vicious wolf heads tumbled across the ground.

Inside the massive Immortal Cauldron, a woman in tattered clothing was frozen in shock. She gazed at the man standing atop the Immortal Cauldron.

Amidst the howling gale, the man stood proudly on the Immortal Cauldron; his arms were folded, and his thick black hair whipped about in the wind.

Though his frame was lean, a chilling and terrifying aura of murder swirled around him, sending shivers down the spine.

For a moment, the Thvelond disciples thought they were beholding the mythical Lord of Heaven. He stood at the pinnacle of the world, gazing down upon the vast mortal realm, bold enough to bellow a roar that could shake the heavens and topple the celestial bodies.

Behind him, a long ancient sword was strapped to his back. The sword shone with a crystalline clarity, emitting a dazzling blue light, resembling a flawless, top-tier sapphire.

"The Azure Smoke Blade, it's Senior Brother Clayton!" All were taken aback. The lead Thvelond disciple shouted, his expression brimming with elation.

Life and death had passed in a mere instant; the figure stood there as if a Great Emperor had descended, silencing the wolf monsters, as numerous as the ocean tides, into a hushed awe. None dared to utter a sound.

"That's not Senior Brother Clayton!" A keen-eyed disciple recognized Zopyrus's true face.

"Yes, it's the Chief Elder's disciple, Ratty!" A woman's voice suddenly pierced the air in astonishment, her hand covering her small mouth, her face a mask of disbelief.

Zopyrus, once deemed a waste for only reaching the Fourth Heaven of Qi Condensation after three years; the most scorned presence in the Thvelond Sect, the so-called Ratty, who had endured three years of ridicule from his peers—how could he possibly exhibit such valor?

"Junior Brothers, fear not!" Atop the Immortal Cauldron, Ratty slowly turned, revealing a face with a mischievous grin.

"Should the heavens fall, your Senior Brother will be here to uphold them!" Ratty offered a smile to his fellow Thvelond disciples, but despite his grin, his visage was hardly one to inspire admiration.

Under normal circumstances, the disciples of the Thvelond Sect would have erupted with raucous laughter at such a sight. But now, the sight of that grotesque, comical grin was unexpectedly endearing.

"Senior Brother!" The woman's scream from within the vast Immortal Cauldron, calling out "Senior Brother," caused Ratty, perched atop the cauldron, to tremble uncontrollably.

Three years had passed. Ratty had waited for three long years. What was he waiting for?

He was waiting for this moment, for this call of "Senior Brother," for the moment that would ignite his fury.

"Mm!" On top of the Immortal Cauldron, Ratty gazed at the woman inside, his eyes brimming with tears, and he nodded emphatically.

"Senior Brother!" "Senior Brother!" "Senior Brother!"

At that moment, the disciples of the Thvelond Sect on the Waste Land seemed to lose their minds, flocking to the Immortal Cauldron. They looked at Ratty, each one calling him "Senior Brother" with such warmth and sincerity.

"Mm!" Ratty was overcome with emotion, unable to speak. The sourness in his heart swelled; the anger, hatred, and resentment that had built up over the past three years dissolved with each heartfelt call of "Senior Brother."

At this moment, he was so moved that he felt an urge to roar to the heavens. After three years, he had finally reached this day.

The familiar faces of his family, the blood-stained but warm smiles, shone like beams of sunlight, piercing through Ratty's heart without any resistance, dispelling the dense, hellish gloom that had lingered for three years.

"Senior Brother!"

In the Immortal Cauldron, the female disciple whom Ratty had rescued, her clothes in tatters, suddenly flung herself into his arms at that moment, clutching his slender frame tightly and sobbing uncontrollably.

She had nearly been violated by the wolf monster and had thought her life was over. Humiliated by the horde of demons, her purity defiled, she was to be killed and then devoured by the wolf monster.

It was a life of such sorrow. The female disciple wept loudly, ready to bite her tongue and commit suicide for the glory of the Thvelond ancestors. But in the final moment, this man descended like the God of War, rescuing her in her darkest hour.

Her gratitude toward Zopyrus was beyond words.

From life to death, from despair to hope, the journey seemed so close yet so unattainable.

Unable to grasp the sunlight, like a fish drowning, she was rescued by a mouse, cradled gently in its hands and returned to the sea.

"Don't be afraid, your Senior Brother is here!" The mouse soothed, patting the female disciple's shoulder. In the next instant, his eyes, previously narrowed, blazed with a fierce, cold ferocity.

"Hmph, mere One-Mountain human ants. Warriors of the Beast Tribe, the time to prove yourselves has come!" The leader of the ten One-Mountain wolf monsters, rallying his pack, howled at the Thvelond disciples encircling the mouse.

The wolf monster's declaration fell like a bucket of icy water over everyone, dousing the fiery blood that had just begun to surge.

Indeed, even with the mouse's arrival, he was but a One-Mountain mage. How could he possibly contend with ten One-Mountain Beast Soldiers?

The situation remained one of utter despair.

"What are you all doing?" The mouse, looking at the Thvelond disciples around him, their faces etched with fear, bellowed with eyes aflame.

"Can you hear that?" he demanded, gesturing to the boundless wilderness before them.

"What are we supposed to hear, Senior Brother?" asked a female disciple, her pretty face clouded with confusion.

"Is it just the wind?" echoed a male disciple, equally perplexed.

"No!" the mouse roared, his expression one of deep sorrow, "That is the indignant roar of our Thvelond ancestors!"

His proclamation stunned all the Thvelond disciples gathered there.

"Five hundred thousand years ago, from the very day Everett founded the Thvelond Sect, our illustrious forebears, one after another, have marched to the Guiltlands' frontier, standing against the demon beasts' onslaught!"

"The battles were fierce, rivers ran red with blood; the fields were strewn with unburied corpses!"

"Our ancestors clashed with demon beasts, their bones scattered across the earth, left unburied, and even in death, they could not return to the soil. For what purpose did they fight?" the mouse cried out, his eyes ablaze with passion.

Many disciples hung their heads in shame, for they were still young, with the eldest among them only in his twenties and at the Ninth Heaven of Qi Condensation.

"Born as men, we harbored great aspirations, refusing to let our fervent blood be offered to the chill wind. With swords in hand, we faced life and death with a smile, not for fame, but for the land we call home!"

"We were not born to exist eternally with the heavens and the earth, but to die with dignity. Our forebears laid down their lives, shedding their blood without regret, advancing into battle one after another!" The mouse fell silent, a trace of sorrow in his expression.

"For what did they do this? Tell me!" The mouse bellowed, his face etched with sorrow and fury.

The disciples remained silent, heads bowed, some blushing with embarrassment.

"For their hometowns, for their families! To protect those dearest to them, they willingly laid their bones in foreign lands. They died nameless, unknown and uncared for by anyone!" Zopyrus lamented.

"Yet they did it without a second thought, for the sake of family alone!" Ratty shouted, his expression ablaze with rage.

"Today, just today, given the chance, will we die on our feet or live on our knees? Shout it out to me!" Ratty's roar thundered across the heavens and earth.

"We'd rather die standing than live on our knees!" The Thvelond Sect disciples bellowed, their cries reverberating through the skies.

"Brothers, we have no retreat. Are you ready to strike the enemy with a blow as heavy as death itself? Will you defend the honor of our ancestors with your blood?" In that moment, Zopyrus unsheathed the Azure Smoke Blade from his back.

He raised his longsword towards the sky, his fierce visage and earth-shattering roar resonating throughout the Savage Lands.

"We are ready!" The Thvelond Sect disciples roared back, eyes aflame with resolve, their aura of lethal intent enveloping the heavens and earth, stirring the souls of all who heard.

Amidst a blood-red tableau, numerous mages clad in light blue robes gathered around a massive snow-white Immortal Cauldron. A man, sword in hand, pointed his Immortal Sword towards the heavens. In that instant, the Azure Smoke Blade seemed to come alive, emitting a resonant cry.

An immortal sapphire Divine Light pierced the heavens and earth with a thunderous roar, becoming the sole spectacle under the sky.

This vision, amidst the desolate wild grass, solidified into eternity.

A tragic wave of combat spirit, like the tumultuous sea, surged toward the whole universe, instilling a thread of fear in the three hundred wolf monsters.

"Kill!"

A long howl reversed the wind and clouds; there stood a mouse, wielding the Azure Smoke Blade, with a white cauldron floating above his head, and a white mist cascading down, shrouding his entire form.

He grasped the Killing Sword and charged into the midst of the wolf monsters.

In that instant, he became the embodiment of a God of War, his sword aura scattering, his killing intent shining cold and bright. Blood and flesh flew in all directions, waves crashed down, and he reveled in the slaughter, devoid of any mercy.

"Kill!"

Following the mouse, over three hundred Thvelond Sect disciples bellowed, charging like an iron torrent, plunging into the wolf monster horde.

The battle was horrific, a frenzied slaughter; limbs and blood were scattered everywhere, accompanied by the sounds of agony.

"Boom!"

A jarring sonic boom erupted as a One-Mountain wolf monster launched a punch at the mouse's head, the air slicing through like a knife.

"Go to hell!"

The mouse scoffed, his longsword poised before him, sweeping it effortlessly across the wolf monster's burly fist.

"Puchi!"

A spray of dark green, foul-smelling blood burst forth like a tragic firework, splattering across the landscape.

"Awoo!"

The wolf monster's entire arm was cleaved in two by the Azure Smoke Blade, effortlessly as if cutting through air.

Such was the divine might of the Holy Weapon; even though the mouse could barely unleash a fraction of the Azure Smoke Blade's power, its sheer sharpness was unparalleled by any Divine Weapon in the world.

This was the mouse's reliance; with a Holy Weapon in hand, he aimed to claim a flawless victory in this war.

"Kill!"

With a mighty cry, the mouse bisected the wolf monster, scattering its remains across the field.

"Damn it, it's a Holy Weapon! Run!" The remaining nine wolf monsters, intent on overwhelming the mouse, were struck with terror at the sight of the Azure Smoke Blade's divine power. They let out a retreat howl and scrambled toward the direction of the Fell Lands.

"Chase!" The Rat's terrifying cry reverberated through the heavens as he harnessed spiritual energy, transforming into a blood-red streak in pursuit of the wolf monster.

Trailing behind him were the blood-soaked disciples of the Thvelond Sect, roaring as they surged forward like a pale blue flood, diving towards the wolf monster.

The slaughter continued unabated; blood still floated on the air; the piles of bones grew ever higher, and the stench of blood rose to the heavens, tinting the sky a pale crimson.

Time passed, and eventually, a blood-red sun hung low on the horizon, ready to dip below the line.

On a bloodstained wilderness, a slender figure stood atop a mound of wolf monster carcasses, gazing at the setting sun.

Behind him, the Thvelond disciples looked on with eyes gleaming with admiration.

"Senior Brother is invincible!"

In the midst of thunderous cheers, the disciples swarmed the Rat. They climbed atop the wolf monster corpses and joyously tossed him into the air, again and again.

Numerous female mages gathered around, their faces flushed with excitement. They had once looked down on the Rat, but today, they witnessed his unparalleled elegance for the first time.

"Hahaha!"

Feeling the horizon undulate around him, the Rat looked up at the azure sky, his heart swelling with joy, and he let out a hearty laugh.

Three years had passed, and today, he had finally reclaimed the dignity that had been cruelly stripped from him with undeniable strength.

He was so overwhelmed with emotion that he was nearly in tears; he had not felt this elated in over a thousand days.

"I want to be this happy every single day!" Gazing down at his junior brothers and sisters, their faces beaming like blossoms, Zopyrus silently vowed to himself, offering a prayer in his heart.

"Woo!"

Suddenly, a somber and desolate horn call echoed from the edge of the wilderness, and at the same time, an intense flash of blade light appeared on the horizon.

In the Waste Land, the Rat's gaze fixed on the sinking sun, his expression shifting dramatically as his pupils contracted to the size of pinpoints.

"Whoosh!"

That was...