Origin Paradise!

With a single thrust, the iron spear pierced the head of the leading barbarian, penetrated his chest and abdomen, and flew out from his groin. It then struck the second man below, cutting across the path, and more than a dozen barbarians plummeted from the sky.

Merit +14

Not far away, a centurion was struggling to push the ladder in front of him. His thick arm muscles were taut, and he was trying to push it up a little by resisting the weight of more than a dozen people pressing on it. But even with his arms fully extended, it was still not enough to lift the ladder. He could only push it to the side with all his might. Unfortunately, the length of his arms was not enough to make the ladder lose its balance.

"Lord!" the centurion shouted.

Jiang He glanced sideways, lifted a stone weighing over a hundred pounds with both hands, bent his waist backward, and then suddenly lunged forward. With the strength of a tiger, the boulder pierced through the air and smashed the middle section of the ladder in front of the Hundred-Household Commander.

The ladder broke, and more than a dozen people fell to the ground with a thud. The surviving barbarians cried out in agony, but their voices were completely drowned out by the shouts of battle. Smoke rose, soldiers withered, and people were dying continuously on the north wall of the city.

Merit +9

Jiang He moved around carrying a bundle of iron spears, occasionally throwing them downwards, earning about 10 merit points each time.

Historically, the attacking force had to outnumber the defending soldiers by five or six times to have a chance of breaking through the city head-on.

"What a powerful warrior this is!"

On the open field, two barbarian commanders kept a close eye on the city wall. The young general seemed tireless, throwing spears and boulders again and again. The attack was already at a disadvantage, and now it was like being lined up to be killed.

The commander of ten thousand men, who came from the Lan clan, had a cold, murderous look in his eyes. Unlike his colleagues, he volunteered to attack the mountain city. The Duke who quelled the rebellion burned down the Lan clan's tribe, and all his family members and descendants died in that fire. This was an irreconcilable hatred.

"I need not say more about your contributions in taking the lead and killing the Earl. This battle is entirely due to the two of you." Commander Lanwan clasped his hands in a fist and a fist. In order to take the head of his enemy, he had specially invited the Tantric protector and the Great Snow Mountain shaman.

"a piece of cake."

The burly man leaped up, naked and bald, his feet stomping on the ground like a ferocious beast. He charged straight into the battlefield, stepping on the ladders as if they were flat ground, and climbing up over the bodies of the barbarians.

On the spot, the shaman, who was of the same rank as the strong man, shook his leather drum and muttered incoherently. The 20,000 elite troops and tens of thousands of barbarians gave rise to an extremely strong military formation of bloodlust. Nine blood apes, each seven meters tall, appeared, each with the killing power of a weaker grandmaster. The shaman and the Qi cultivators cooperated with the army, and the effect was terrifying. The Northern Barbarian Royal Court and the Great Qian Dynasty used this to suppress the martial arts practitioners of the Jianghu.

The nine blood apes emerged simultaneously, each rushing up a cloud ladder with exceptionally smooth and rapid ascents.

Even from a distance of a thousand meters, the shaman maintained precise control. The blood apes would occasionally lift up the barbarians and throw them out, knocking away the falling logs. They did not flinch at the scalding molten iron and gold, as if they felt no pain, and climbed up at high speed.

Chapter 151, The 1051 Wilderness Hunter

The sky was overcast.

A loud, powerful roar approached.

Jiang He handed over an iron spear from above, with swirling currents of wind swirling around the spear shaft, exuding immense power.

The bald, burly man's expression changed slightly. The power of this single spear thrust was comparable to the secret techniques of an ordinary grandmaster. He instinctively sensed that his opponent might be ridiculously strong, so he immediately unleashed his secret sect technique, the Great Stele-Shattering Hand, which consumed nearly half of his true essence.

A two-meter-tall phantom stone tablet appeared, covered with dense text. Each inscription seemed to reinforce the hardness of the tablet's image. The two Northern Dusk Camp soldiers blocking its way were instantly shattered, their remains slid sideways, and even their iron spears were knocked away.

Jiang He's hand gleamed with iron light as he thrust his spear straight forward.

Degraded version of the gun skill - Destroy the City.

A dark red streak, about the thickness of a tree branch, shot out, piercing through the center of the monument's shadow. Dense cracks spread like a spider web. Although the marksmanship was lacking, its power was already considerable.

As the monument collapsed with a crash, the dark red light continued forward. The bald, burly man desperately twisted his body. The armor-shattering gem embedded in the Long Hatred Spear shattered the defense, and the intermediate tear severed the target's right arm. The corrosive power melted half of his chest cavity. Withering and blood poison entered his body, causing the surrounding meridians to shrink and become brittle, his blood to become turbid, and his organs to turn black, instantly weakening him by more than half.

After the attack, the bald, burly man's face was dry. The power contained in that spear light was simply unimaginable. He tried to suppress his injuries with his true energy, but he couldn't find a way to do so. The severe injuries had taken away his strength, and the poison had made him dizzy and confused.

Jiang He closed in, his palm pointing directly at the target's heart.

Just then, two blood apes climbed onto the city wall, leaped up, and swooped down from mid-air, determined to force the enemy back.

Jiang He completely ignored the attacking shamanic beasts, his entire body covered in sword-scale snail dragon armor.

As his core ability, the Sword Scale Snail Dragon Armor not only increases the base stats by 40% in all aspects, but also has many attributes including extremely durable, high-level cut resistance, high-level corrosion resistance, high-level shock absorption, and medium-level water repellency, making its effect configuration luxurious.

The two blood apes landed, each gripping their hammers tightly, and struck with a cloud of dust, but failed to cause any actual damage.

Jiang He stopped, then swept his gun diagonally upwards, delivering a serious shot that cleaved the two blood apes in half at the waist.

The bald, muscular man fell backward and died.

The blood poisoning progress has reached 90%.

The remaining seven blood apes charged forward, advancing towards their target.

Jiang He pulled out the Crimson Baptism, loaded bullets with two fingers, and crouched down to quickly aim at the shaman in front of the enemy lines. He had seen similar attire before.

Boom!

Two dark red streaks of light flew out from the muzzle of the gun one after the other. The alchemical piercing bullets swept across the battlefield. This rare-grade sniper rifle gave the bullets a 25% speed boost. Jiang He activated two abilities at the same time: Heartless Death Curse and Beast Eye. The former, when fully stacked, reduced the target's defense by 16%, while the latter allowed him to see into the target's field of vision.

The bullets of a normal sniper rifle usually travel at around 900 m/s, but the base stats and special effects of rare-grade sniper rifles make alchemical bullets undoubtedly faster.

The Northern Barbarian army formation outside the city.

The shaman sensed a deadly threat. As a being similar to a Qi cultivator, his physique was no different from that of an ordinary person.

In the critical moment, he instinctively turned his head to avoid the danger.

The first bullet exploded suddenly as it grazed past his ear. The energy stored in the Little Withered Sword Finger splashed out in liquid form, and the withered energy landed on his cheek. The relatively weak attack caused an unexpected result. Most of the shaman's face was instantly cracked and split open. The intense pain made him instinctively stop and dodge to the other side.

The second bullet pierced the skull, which then exploded.

The Northern Barbarian soldiers in the army formation were all dumbfounded when they saw this scene. The young general not only had outstanding combat skills, but also had unparalleled skills in using hidden weapons, and could kill the enemy from a thousand meters away.

The Lan clan leader and another commander of ten thousand immediately changed color and, disregarding the formation of their troops, reined in their horses and retreated. After all, no one knew if there would be another round of hidden weapon attacks. As their commanders retreated, the two ten-thousand-strong armies immediately began to tremble.

On the city wall, the seven blood apes scattered.

Jiang He continued to hurl his iron spear.

The rapid increase in merit points is equivalent to cheating for a normal LV7 player, and their actual combat power clearly exceeds the difficulty of the mission.

The siege lasted for a full two hours.

After the barbarians left behind nearly ten thousand corpses, the Northern Barbarian army retreated to their camp. No one felt sorry for the barbarians. For many tribes, these were just byproducts of plundering small kingdoms in the Western Regions. Keeping them for the winter would be a waste of food.

Jiang He pulled up a chair and sat down in front of the pavilion on the north city wall. The pavilion had been severely damaged by a flaming stone.

Deputy General Du Chang came to report on the casualties, his tone filled with respect.

"My lord, our casualties were only a little over three hundred. Fortunately, you held the line, otherwise there would have been a close-quarters battle on the city wall. However, we have lost nearly forty percent of our defensive equipment. The Northern Barbarians are using barbarians as their vanguard and do not care about losses at all."

"Is there a water source in the city?" Jiang He asked.

Deputy General Du Chang gestured to the terrain and replied, "The surrounding area is the Jianchi Mountain Range, which is also the source of the Jianjiang River. There are twelve wells in the city. Even if the soldiers starve to death, they will not be thirsty. You can rest assured."

"What I mean is to dig a large pit to store water, and then inject corrosive true essence into the pit, diluting it to a level that the iron bucket can withstand, to serve as a defensive tool for the city," Jiang He said. The energy recovery speed is related to his physical attributes. His current base recovery is 1.8/second, and he can recover more than 2,500 energy points a day. The excellent-grade corrosive power is very strong, and the dilution effect has been tested at the border.

"I will give the order immediately." Du Chang clasped his hands and left, showing a clear willingness to obey. Facing a seventeen-year-old military earl, who was also a top expert, he was determined to cling to the other party's coattails. After all, he had no wife, children, or elderly parents. It was for this reason that he came from the capital to the front line of Yizhou to seek wealth and status.

After the deputy general left, Zhuang Ya recited the Snake Sword Technique, coiled around someone's legs, and used her tail to examine it. Since she was illiterate, she could only look at the meridian pathways and human body diagrams first.

Jiang He began to exchange merit points. After using up his iron spear and boulder, his merit points reached 1,600, at least a fraction of which were from deaths caused by falling from great heights.

First, there's the advanced technology armor.

[Name: Wilderness Hunter]

[Category: Weapons]

[Quality: Excellent]

[Effect ①: Loading and Combining. Target technology modules are loaded by crushing them into powder and applying them to the armor surface. The number of modules is 0/10. Lower-level modules can be combined as needed to upgrade to mid- to high-level modules.]

[Effect ②: Automatic Repair. If not completely destroyed, the Wilderness Hunter can absorb energy for automatic repair. The repair speed depends on the energy quality.]

[Note: Ten major modules—energy system, transmission system, skeleton system, armor system, weapon system, plug-in system, perception system, central control system, control system, life support system—the hunter's way of survival is all contained within.]

A silver necklace pendant fell into his palm, with the character "Hunter" engraved on its surface. Once activated, the initial armor would cover his entire body.

"Good heavens, it's completely useless now."

Jiang He glanced up at the Northern Barbarian army heading back to their camp. He could probably search the grassland in front of him and still not find any technological items. The art style was just not right. The armor was currently in a blank state and would need to be developed in the future.

Chapter 152 Rubik's Cube Doll

In front of the pavilion on the city wall.

Jiang He stuffed the technological armor into his inventory and then started the second round of merit point exchange.

The two rare hunter-specific skill scrolls have suffixes, and the single-item exchange limit is three. He first chose the shooting category, spending 450 merit points.

The three scrolls fell into Jiang He's palm, and he used them immediately.

[Name: Concussive Shot]

[Category: Active Skill]

[Quality: Rare]

[Effect: Increases concussion damage by 25%, significantly reduces weapon recoil, consumes 10 energy points per activation]

[Note: One of the hunter's shooting abilities]

Jiang He browsed the other two skills, Rapid Fire and Deadly Shot. The former provides 25% bullet velocity, and the latter provides 25% armor-piercing damage. Both consume 10 energy points per shot.

Although the three skills greatly increase the hunter's shooting damage, they do not provide a transformative boost to the current situation.

Jiang He used all her remaining merit points to exchange for the Rubik's Cube Bionic Alchemy Doll in the Executive Officer's Shop, spending 150 merit points.

The next second, fifteen black cubes appeared, each the same size as a regular Rubik's Cube.

[Name: Rubik's Cube Doll]

[Type: Alchemy Item]

[Quality: Average]

[Effect: Activating the cube will extend into a bionic doll with a basic stat of 7 in Strength, Constitution, and Agility. It has no soul, possesses a bionic skin with low-level toughness, and basic combat abilities. It is consistently loyal to the user and can sustain daily and combat operations using solar and wind power. In extreme environments, it requires energy from the core furnace.]

[Note: Intelligence is roughly equivalent to that of a modern Border Collie]

Jiang He coiled up the little white snake, got up and went into the attic, and then activated the Rubik's Cube.

The Rubik's Cube lands and begins to decompose and recombine. Bones extend, blood vessels attach, and flesh covers, eventually forming a humanoid doll of normal human size with an unremarkable face. To conserve energy, the Rubik's Cube doll has no reproductive function or organs.

"Master, Cube No. 1 is at your service."

Next, the remaining fourteen puppets were activated in turn.

Jiang He looked at the puppet team in front of her. These guys all looked the same. Although they were easy to carry in the form of Rubik's Cubes, they were not suitable to be shown to the outside world before they were adjusted.

He took out the costume brooch and, based on the scanned data from the inventory, attempted to adjust the doll's bionic skin.

A moment later, the attempt was successful, and the face of Rubik's Cube No. 1 changed from ordinary to fierce and menacing, almost like a mountain demon.

Following the same method, the puppets were adjusted so that each had its own ferocious appearance, since the mountain spirit, which was the source of the data, did not have an appearance that conformed to ordinary people's aesthetics.

"From now on, you will be the leader of the Evil Army."

Cube Number One looked delighted upon hearing this, while the other Rubik's Cube figures appeared somewhat disappointed.

Jiang He led the Evil Fiend Army out and found the commander to equip them with armor and iron spears. The Rubik's Cube puppets were equivalent to ordinary elite soldiers in combat. Their iron-like bionic skin gave them relatively outstanding survivability, and most importantly, they were always loyal.

Upon arriving in the city, Deputy General Du Chang was slightly surprised to see the Earl's personal guards and entourage. However, apart from their appearance, there was nothing wrong with these elite soldiers. He couldn't even recognize all six thousand soldiers of the Northern Hun Camp.

The pit has been dug, and two teams of 100 households are taking turns drawing water from the well.

The project was completed by evening.

Jiang He plunged his hands into the pit and poured out his energy. The dark red color quickly spread across the water and gradually diluted, while wisps of white smoke rose. All the soldiers in the city watched from various places.

After achieving the desired effect, Jiang He stopped, with only about 200 energy points remaining. However, Zhuang Ya possessed the demon race's talent for restoring energy, which could restore the target's energy according to a percentage, equivalent to his second mana bar. There was no need to worry about any accidents during the recovery period.

Deputy General Du Chang carried an iron bucket to fetch water. The pale red pool water seemed unusually hot, constantly bubbling and hissing.

A wounded old horse was brought over by the centurion, and the deputy general Du Chang poured water from the pool over its head. The old horse immediately neighed and struggled wildly. After its skin was corroded, the poison entered its body, and less than half a minute later, the old horse collapsed and died.

"My lord, this is a powerful weapon for defending the city!"

Jiang He nodded and said, "Gather all the barbarian corpses outside the city walls and burn them on the spot."

The deputy general, Du Chang, was puzzled, but he still agreed.

……

That night, the city gates were opened.

A thousand-household squad went out of the north gate to collect the corpses of the barbarians.

Outside the city lies a vast grassland, and the soldiers on the city walls keep a close eye on the distance to prevent a sneak attack by the northern barbarian cavalry.

More than 7,000 relatively well-preserved Yi corpses were recovered, and Jiang He personally oversaw the transportation process.