After being demoted, my 300,000-strong army trampled the imperial city!

Chen Qun stared at the trail of blood-red light swirling in the sky above the small town, his soul trembling with fear. "What are you trying to do!"

"What for? Of course, it's to make you lowly people realize your full potential."

"How dare you! We are all subjects of the Great Ancient Dynasty!"

"Becoming food is your blessing."

Many men in black stood blocking the four gates, laughing. The people in the city finally understood what was happening. Cries and shouts shook the heavens and the earth. Some tried to break through the array patterns, but as soon as they got close, they were drained by the strange power within, and in an instant, they turned into a pile of flesh and blood.

"Chen Qun, didn't you say you were fine?"

"You've ruined us all, you've ruined us all!"

"You corrupt official, you'll die a horrible death!"

The whole town was in chaos, and even the officials' eyes were filled with anger.

Chen Qun opened his mouth but couldn't say anything.

He distributed his wealth and diligently governed the region, attracting many poor people to settle down there. He only wanted to protect the peace of the area and never thought of receiving praise from the imperial court. However, in the end, his achievements became the butcher's knife that beheaded the people.

Thinking of this, Chen Qun grabbed a knife and rushed to the edge of the array pattern, swinging his arms to slash at it.

He was just a weak scholar and couldn't possibly destroy this Blood Fiend Formation.

Looking at his ferocious appearance, Chen Futu sighed inwardly, "This is a lesson from life. The Great Ancient Dynasty was just a breeding ground for evil spirits."

"You bastards, I'll haunt you even in death!"

Chen Qun kept swinging his long sword, and the recoil made his tiger's mouth a bloody mess.

The man in black outside sneered, "Be angry, hate! Your anger is the best nourishment for your blood!"

"Heaven is unjust! Heaven is unjust!"

"How utterly alone are the people of this ancient city!"

Chen Qun could no longer hold the knife, and knelt down on the ground with a thud, crying out in anguish.

As if the old man had heard his cry, a storm quietly arrived, washing away the sins of the world.

"Hahaha! Magistrate, are you giving up already?" The man in black squatted outside the array and looked at Chen Qun with a mocking expression. "Take one more look back, and every look you take will be one less chance. Don't say I didn't give you a chance."

Chen Qun subconsciously turned around and saw the people screaming in agony, their life force surging, about to be stripped away.

The man in black said with a sinister smile, "Kneel down and kowtow."

Upon hearing this, Chen Qun knelt down without a word, crawling to the edge of the array like a dog and kowtowing repeatedly until his head was bleeding profusely. "Please, Your Excellency, have mercy! Please, Your Excellency, have mercy! The people of my ancient city are innocent!"

"Who isn't innocent in this world? So let's stop arguing."

The man in black was just playing a trick on them. How could he possibly break the great formation just because a county magistrate kowtowed? This was their mission; they had to return with the blood offerings.

"The vitality of the people in a city is roughly equivalent to that of a Martial Venerable, so it can be considered a small gain."

After speaking, the man in black ordered the formation to be accelerated.

With a crackling sound, the array patterns twisted and turned, and in an instant, some elderly people were sucked into dried corpses.

Chen Futu merely watched without making a move; this body was simply an incarnation of the Holy Emperor.

"I'll fight you!"

Knowing he had no way out, Chen Qun roared and lunged at the array patterns like a moth drawn to a flame.

Just then, the voice of the original body rang in Chen Futu's mind, "Save him."

"town!"

A silent, overwhelming pressure swept through the ancient city. The next second, sword light annihilated the outer area. The four men in black didn't even have time to react before they were obliterated by the overwhelming sword light. The array patterns vanished with a bang, and Chen Qun also missed his target.

"who!"

The sudden turn of events startled the government troops guarding the outer perimeter, who were on high alert.

Chen Futu arrived through the air, exuding supreme majesty. "I am the Great Sage Emperor, Chen Futu. Your acts of provocation and harm are unforgivable."

"It is the Holy Emperor!"

"It was His Majesty the Holy Emperor who saved us!"

"Long live the Holy Emperor!"

The people knelt in the rain, their cries echoing throughout the heavens and earth.

Chen Qun also knelt down with a thud, bursting into tears of joy, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Your Majesty the Holy Emperor—"

"Get up. This is all I can do to help you. Now, you lead them out of Dagu." Chen Futu looked at the county magistrate with complicated emotions. The magistrate didn't delay and told the people to quickly pack their things and arm themselves. Whether it was hoes or sickles, anything that could be used for fighting would do. He, the county magistrate, was going to rebel today and lead everyone out of Dagu to escape this sinful land!

Chen Futu glanced at the chaotic government troops, and without saying a word, he raised his hand to kill them, crushing them into a bloody mist with just a few palm strikes.

These government troops were mostly composed of bandits or rebel groups. Their hands were stained with the blood of ordinary people, and leaving them alive would only bring trouble.

Seeing that the road ahead was clear, the people once again shouted the name of the Holy Emperor.

Chen Futu did not linger and turned towards the Great Ancient Imperial City.

Along the way, Chen Futu personally witnessed many empty villages, some destroyed by war, and others bearing the marks of blood sacrifices.

Walking through the empty village and looking at the withered corpses on the ground, Chen Futu felt very depressed.

This is the work of the ancient palace; they only care about themselves, and the fate of the Central Plains is none of their concern.

If they were allowed to dominate the world, the Central Plains would have been reduced to scorched earth before trachoma even swept across most of the continent.

Three days later, a great battle took place in the ancient capital.

"Old demon, come out and face your death!"

Xuanyuan Nu's voice echoed over the capital, sending chills down the spines of all who heard it.

"That old geezer from the desert, instead of staying in the sand dunes, he came to the Central Plains, looking for death!"

Two ancient temple patriarchs arrived; they were also martial saints, and some imperial fortune even converged upon them. In other words, their combat power was amplified in the capital of the Great Ancient Dynasty.

Xuanyuan Nu chuckled and said, "We two old bones can't just sit here and die in trachoma. We should take two people down with us before we die."

"You old fool, you're talking big! You two can stay in Dadu today!"

The battle broke out, unseen by outsiders.

This level of combat is beyond the comprehension of those below the Martial Saint level. Even Chen Futu could only observe from a distance. He sensed the traces of martial arts laws, so he simply sat cross-legged to comprehend the rhythm of a Martial Saint. Some of his insights were gained by Bai Yujing's true form.

Surprisingly, the two old men of the Xuanyuan family were quite powerful, able to suppress the two ancestors even in the enemy's capital.

This was almost exactly what Chen Futu had guessed; the cultivation level at the top of the ancient hall was indeed somewhat inflated.

"All that baring its teeth and claws, and this is all it amounted to?"

Xuanyuan Nu kicked a certain ancient temple ancestor into the imperial city, and that kick almost destroyed one-fifth of the city.

"You get off too!"

Unlike Xuanyuan Nu, Xuanyuan Ning didn't talk much; he simply struck his opponent with a palm strike that made him vomit blood.

"Saint King! Xuanyuan Ning, you old bastard, you've actually reached the Saint King realm!"

The two patriarchs of the Xuanyuan family were astonished.

These two half-baked martial saints barely managed to make up for their lack of combat power by relying on the dynasty's fortune. Who would have thought that one of them would actually be a Saint King? It's simply outrageous.