Hai Wan squinted for a moment, regaining some strength.

The more dangerous the situation, the more important it is to seize the opportunity to rest, as generations of sailors have learned.

“Captain.”

Hai Yuan, who returned from reconnaissance, said in a low voice, “The enemy is mobilizing, it looks like they’re not planning to continue probing, and they’ve locked down the area where we are.”

He looked at the off-road rabbit in his arms and said, “It’s a good thing we brought this guy, otherwise we would have suffered a lot in reconnaissance. Their scouts are quite skilled.”

Hai Wan nodded and looked at Hunt Chen, who was wiping his bow and arrows and long sword. “How much consumables do we have left?”

“We still have two cans of anesthetic, which can produce a local anesthetic effect, but it’s difficult to truly stop them.”

Hunt Chen sheathed his long sword. “The stink butterfly’s stink pellets can also be ignited for use, but they won’t last long.”

“We have 32 arrows left.”

“Nothing else.”

Hai Wan said, “Listen to me. You guys take the off-road rabbit and escape to the north, give me half of the arrows, and I’ll lead them to the south.”

“Give me the stink pellets and anesthetic.”

“We’ll meet back on the northern continent.”

Both young men couldn’t help but protest.

“This is an order!”

Hai Wan interrupted their speech. “Tell Yao City and Salt City’s prophets everything you’ve seen here. They will give further arrangements.”

“I can get out of the Dragon’s Nest unscathed, these people are nothing to me.” He said confidently.

Hai Yuan hesitated for a moment. “Captain, of course we trust you. Look, you holding the stink pellets and anesthetic won’t be of much use, so why not give them to us…”

Hunt Chen also chimed in, “Indeed. With your negotiation skills, even if the other party doesn’t understand the language, they can still understand. We don’t need weapons, we need them to save our lives.”

Hai Wan was taken aback, then jokingly hit the two young men on the head. “You two bastards, do you want me to die? Have I ever withheld your wages? Have I ever sent you to your death? Ah! You want to pull this on me at a critical moment!”

The three of them couldn’t help but laugh.

Hunt Chen and Hai Yuan picked up their bags.

“Well then, Captain, see you on the northern continent. We’ll wait for you to treat us to honey wine, of course, your treat.”

“Get lost.”

Hai Wan waved his hand.

After sending the two young men away, he finally opened his pants. The arrow wound on his right knee had festered, and even bandages and herbs could no longer alleviate the injury.

Unfortunately, being shot in the knee meant he couldn’t walk fast, and would only drag down the other two.

Hai Wan sighed, all he could say was, luck wasn’t very good.

He suddenly remembered the days when he was studying at the theological academy.

At that time, he listened to scholars lecturing every day, discussed the hard and rough bread at the theological academy, and set out on a pilgrimage with a few good friends. Memories from many years ago inexplicably surged to his mind.

At this moment, Hunt Chen and Hai Yuan ran back.

Hai Wan felt a warm feeling in his heart, these little rascals were still loyal.

He kept a serious expression on his face. “Hurry up and get lost!”

“It’s not that we don’t want to leave.”

“It’s that we can’t leave, Captain, we’re already surrounded outside.”

The two young men looked bitter.

Hai Wan gritted his teeth. “Then let’s fight them!”

Just then, the enemy forces surrounded them from all sides.

They were all wearing chain mail, carrying shields and long spears, and some even had sand lizards with heavy crossbows on their backs, completely encircling the hill.

There were two to three hundred enemy soldiers, with scouts and light cavalry on the flanks, and their formation made it impossible to break through.

Hai Wan and the others held their bows and arrows, actively shooting at the enemy.

Unfortunately, the arrows couldn’t penetrate the armor and didn’t cause effective damage, so the Imperial soldiers’ advance was not affected.

Seeing the enemy’s spears getting closer, Hai Wan drew his long sword with a metallic ring. “North Sea Adventure Team, follow me in the attack!”

Just as the three of them were about to charge, a raging fire suddenly broke out in the enemy camp, causing chaos. The fire spread all the way, tearing a path through the enemy formation.

A thin, sparse-haired old man stood in front of the Imperial army.

He was wearing a thin linen robe, and his right hand, wrapped in bandages, was held out in front of him, palm up, with white energy rising from it.

The old man gazed ahead and said slowly, “Salt Long of Salt City, please advise.”

The soldiers were stunned, then the archers and crossbowmen opened fire on the strange old man.

Salt Long was engulfed in flames, leaving behind a fiery figure. He wreaked havoc among the enemy troops, sending soldiers flying in all directions, flames enveloping him.

Seeing this, the enemy forces drove sand lizards towards him.

The huge sand lizards were directly held back by the old man, who pressed its throat with his metal right arm and pinned it to the ground. The sand lizard struggled desperately, its limbs and body thrashing wildly, kicking up a storm of rubble and sand.

Before long, the sand lizard lay motionless.

The old man looked coldly at the other sand lizards.

The remaining sand lizards were so frightened that they turned and ran, knocking over soldiers along the way, and quickly disappeared from view.Soldiers behind were shooting arrows frantically, but as they landed on the old man, they were devoured by flames, completely unable to harm even a single hair on his head.

The old man was like a fire god descending to earth, unmatched wherever he went. Those who dared to brandish swords and sabers at him were burnt to cinders.

Witnessing this scene, Hai Wan was stunned for a moment, then immediately burst into ecstasy: “Reinforcements have arrived! The great cultivator Salt Long himself has come! We’re safe, we’re safe!”

The other two young men gazed at Salt Long, who was like a tiger among sheep, with their lips slightly parted and faces full of admiration.

“The power of a martial cultivator can actually reach this extent, using flames as a weapon.”

“Salt Long alone can take on these hundreds of men… He might not be far off from the Apostles.”

“I shouldn’t have become an adventurer; I should have pursued cultivation.”

“I also think it’s time to change careers…”

Just then, a Fighting Beetle descended from the sky, using its hard shell to block two arrows flying towards the three adventurers.

Iron Se carrying a drawing board and the ghostly physician Yao Pu also ran over.

Yao Pu took off her coat, revealing the brass ghost armor underneath, and with one punch took down a spear soldier. Her punches and kicks were powerful and wide-ranging, clearly displaying the demeanor of a combat medic.

After the pilgrimage to the Dragon Nest, Iron Se and Hai Wan, classmates from many years ago, reunited and both felt a wave of nostalgia.

Hai Wan’s smile was a bit awkward: “After so many years, the first thing you see is my disgrace.”

“It’s fine as long as you’re okay. Time to go home,” Iron Se smiled, then looked to the side.

From under the lifted helmet of the ghost armor, a valiant and refreshing female face appeared, her smile clean and pure. Yao Pu was truly enjoying the battle.

Iron Se was momentarily captivated.

Innocence and ferocity, delicacy and strength, purity and rage, beauty and wildness.

All these peculiar elements converged on this ghostly miss, deeply fascinating him.

…

The battle ended quickly.

Salt Long single-handedly crushed the army, causing more than half of the enemy forces to perish. He also captured a sand lizard, a Transcendent creature that was quite docile, showing submission in the face of powerful humans.

In addition, he captured several living prisoners.

Iron Se and the others gestured and drew, finally extracting some information from their mouths.

The three corpses were hung on newly erected spikes to showcase the empire’s military might. The location remained unchanged, right at the previous campsite.

Knowing that this group of terrifying humans actually wanted to take back the bodies, the captive soldiers couldn’t understand.

They thought, a corpse is just a corpse, merely rotting flesh; is it worth attacking an army over corpses? It wouldn’t be surprising if they ate corpses when short of food.

This reason left them puzzled.

It wasn’t until they saw the terrifying old man who could ignite fire charge into the camp and carry back the bodies that they were sure these people were serious.

After being released, the soldiers ran back to their army and told their superiors about this strange and peculiar event. An army was actually defeated and annihilated over three corpses…

The commander listened silently, then gave a signal to the guards beside him.

Then this group of deserters was arrested, and on the spot, they were executed for treason and spreading rumors to disturb the military’s morale.

…

Lu Yao was closely monitoring the battlefield.

Suddenly, a notification popped up in the simulator.

[Iron Se has created “Dawn of the Kingdom”]

[Iron Se has invented a new profession: Painter]

Lu Yao clicked on the entry.

…

[Dawn of the Kingdom]: Morale +2, Knowledge +1, the scenes in the painting will reappear before the eyes of the viewers.

A series of sketches created by Iron Se during the defense of the Wuzi Kingdom, possessing the power to uplift spirits.

…

—Great deity, a believer has performed a feat far surpassing his peers, would you like to transform him into a hero?

[Yes] [No]