I raised stunning young ladies, but they all wanted to possess me.

"Two seniors."

Gu Yan took a deep breath and bowed deeply to them.

Thank you.

That afternoon, the Kuroshio attack began.

The siren ripped through the sky.

When Gu Yan rushed onto the city wall, the distant horizon had already turned black.

The familiar black tide was approaching, but this time, something was different in the tide.

The first thing that came into view was a dragon.

Not a skeleton dragon, but a real, living dragon.

Its scales are bluish-black, each as large as a millstone, gleaming with a cold, eerie light in the twilight.

Its horns are like two curved giant swords, piercing straight into the sky.

It rose into the air from the black tide, its roar shaking the entire defensive line.

The Xia soldiers on the city wall were all stunned.

Some people dropped their guns on the ground, while others knelt down, muttering to themselves.

"A dragon...it's a dragon..."

Next up is the phoenix.

A phoenix, entirely black, flew out from the black tide, its tail feathers trailing dark red flames.

It spread its wings, blotting out the sky and the heat wave generated by its flapping wings caused the soldiers on the city wall to retreat.

Then comes the Qilin.

A Qilin larger than a tank emerged from the black tide, its body covered in bluish-black scales, its four hooves treading on fire, leaving burning hoofprints on the ground with each step.

Its eyes were blood red, filled with savagery and madness.

"That's... a Qilin."

An old soldier slumped to the ground, his eyes wide open, his lips trembling so much he couldn't utter a complete sentence.

"That's our...our divine beast."

These creatures, which only existed in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and the totems that the people of Daxia had heard about since childhood, have now all emerged from the Black Tide.

Their bodies were covered in the aura of the Black Tide, and their eyes held no divinity, only savagery and destruction.

They were once the guardians of this land, a faith etched into our very bones.

Now they have become the henchmen of the Black Tide, launching an attack on their people.

Faith collapsed at that moment.

A soldier knelt on the city wall and kowtowed to the qilin, but was pulled up by an officer next to him.

"Don't kneel! Those are the enemy! Look closely, those are the enemy!"

"Fire!"

Xuan Yuancheng's voice boomed over the radio.

All the rune cannons, missiles, and tanks opened fire simultaneously, creating a dense web of fire in the sky and on the ground.

The dark blue dragon was hit by hundreds of cannonballs at the same time, its scales burst open, and black blood gushed from its wounds.

But it did not die.

It raised its head and spewed a dragon's breath towards the city wall.

Where the dragon's breath swept, the entire section of the city wall was burned into lava, and the soldiers on it turned to ashes before they even had a chance to scream.

Zhuge Yuntu has made his move.

He took a step forward, waved his feather fan in front of him, and a pale golden Bagua diagram unfolded beneath his feet.

The array rapidly expanded, enveloping the dragon within it.

The dragon's breath struck the array diagram, bounced back, and burned its own scales.

Zhuge Yuntu's beard and hair flew wildly as he waved his feather fan three times, tightening the Bagua formation and trapping the dragon tightly.

"Old Master Fu, leave that beast in the sky to me!"

Fu Yunshu had already rushed out.

Her movements were as swift as a ghost, her dark gray suit billowing in the wind like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

She leaped onto the city wall, used the momentum to push off, and soared towards the black phoenix in the sky.

The phoenix lunged at her with its claws, but she dodged to the side and struck the base of its wing with her palm.

The force of the palm strike exploded, severing one of the phoenix's wings, and its massive body plummeted to the ground.

But the phoenix launched a desperate counterattack, and the dark red flames spewed from its broken wings instantly engulfed Fu Yunshu.

"Old Master Fu!"

Gu Yan shouted from the city wall.

As the flames subsided, Fu Yunshu's figure reappeared.

Half of her formal attire was burned off, and her face was covered in charred soot, but her eyes still shone.

She fell from the sky, kneeling on one knee on the city wall, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

She looked up, glanced in Gu Yan's direction, and then smiled.

That smile was exactly the same as Fu Wanqing's, like a sun rising again from the ashes.

"Master Gu".

Tell my granddaughter that Grandma didn't retire.

She stood up and charged toward the phoenix again.

The phoenix's second wing was also broken, but its sharp claws pierced Fu Yunshu's chest.

At the last moment, Fu Yunshu concentrated all her spiritual power in her palm and struck the phoenix on the head.

The phoenix's head exploded, and black blood and feathers flew everywhere.

Fu Yunshu's body fell from the sky and landed in a ruin set ablaze by artillery fire.

Her eyes were still open, looking at the sky. There was regret and reluctance in her eyes, but more than anything, there was a sense of relief and peace.

Zhuge Yuntu was still locked in combat with the dragon.

His Bagua diagram was cracked, and the dragon's breath burned his robe to ashes.

He was coughing up blood, but the bleeding didn't subside.

He glanced back at Gu Yan on the city wall, then at the direction Fu Yunshu had fallen, and then chuckled very softly.

"In my life, I have risen to the highest position in the government and also fallen to the lowest point."

"To die on this land now is to put an end to this body."

"Gu Yan, I'm entrusting the Great Xia to you."

He turned around and tossed the feather fan into the air.

The feather fan exploded, transforming into countless golden runes that enveloped him and the dragon.

A brilliant golden light shone forth, drowning out the dragon's roar in the thunder.

After the golden light faded, only a scorched, empty space remained in front of the city wall.

Zhuge Yuntu is gone, and so is the dragon.

Only a shattered feather fan fragment and a few wisps of golden light remained on the open ground.

Gu Yan stood on the city wall, and a seven-colored light exploded from the depths of his pupils.

He controlled the Black Tide's vanguard of calamity to turn against him, and he controlled the Kirin to attack its own kind.

His mental power covered the entire defensive line, pinning the mythical creatures to their spots one by one.

He killed one after another until the sky brightened again and the black tide slowly receded.

The defense line held.

But Gu Yan knew that the price would be Fu Yunshu and Zhuge Yuntu.

These two elderly people gave their lives to buy the seventh line of defense some breathing room.

He stood on the city wall, looking in the direction where Fu Yunshu fell, and then at the empty space where Zhuge Yuntu disappeared.

He touched the Qilin badge in his pocket, then touched Han Jae-hee's armband.

Then he turned around and faced the soldiers who were still cheering below the city wall, his voice hoarse but firm.

"Reorganize the defenses."

Gu Yan's voice echoed on the city wall, and the soldiers stopped cheering.

Then they fell silent, like a sea whose sound had been drained away.

That victory was too brutal. The comrades who were eating together yesterday are now lying piled up under the city wall, and the last light of two old men floats in the open space.

Someone squatted down and buried their head in their arms.

Some people stood there, their guns hanging limply, their eyes fixed on the lingering smoke in the sky.

No one spoke, but everyone was thinking the same thing.

We won, but what did we win?