A Thousand-Year Journey Through the God of War

The Jian'an era was chaotic, and the autumn wind was chilly.

The wind blowing through Xinye was carrying a pungent black fog, making everyone in the city feel heavy-hearted.

For dozens of miles outside the city, the land had long been stained gray by the demonic energy emanating from the Floating Pagoda Island. Undead soldiers corrupted by the demonic energy roamed the mountains and fields. Former refugees and scattered soldiers, once entangled by the black mist, would have their eyes covered with dark lines, turning them into living puppets who only knew how to ram into the city walls.

At the crenellations of the city wall, the God of War kneels on one knee.

His azure flame armor was already soaked in demon blood, and a white bone spear with a ghostly green aura ran across his chest. The spearhead pierced his shoulder blade and was firmly nailed to the blue brick wall, constantly seeping out pale golden blood—the original essence blood unique to the Qilin Holy Body.

He carries the legacy of the ancient War God Temple and is the only War God in this land to awaken the Qilin Sacred Body. He has been stationed in Xinye for three years. During these three years, demonic energy occasionally leaked from the rift in the Floating Pagoda Island beyond the realm, and sporadic demons caused trouble, but he suppressed them all by himself, protecting the tens of thousands of people in the city and ensuring their peaceful lives. But today, everything is different.

The seal at the bottom of the Seven-Tier Floating Demon Tower loosened, and monstrous demonic energy poured into the human world through the spatial gap torn open by the chaos of war. Ordinary iron and common weapons corroded upon contact, and even the Qilin Holy Power that he relied on for protection was rapidly decaying under the continuous erosion of evil power.

"Lord War God! Hold on!"

A wounded young general stumbled to his side, pressing his hands tightly against the wound on the God of War's chest, his voice filled with despair: "The demonic soldiers outside the city are gathering in ever-increasing numbers, and the leading high-ranking demonic general has already breached three sections of the western city wall! Our lord has personally led Generals Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun to reinforce the city, but it's too late. There are less than three hundred survivors left inside the city, and the old, weak, women, and children are all crammed into the inner city's ancestral hall. There's nowhere to escape..."

The God of War struggled to raise his eyes, his gaze passing over the crumbling city walls and looking into the city.

The streets and alleys were filled with cries and screams. A woman holding a child collapsed to the ground, an elderly man trembled as he leaned against a doorframe, and the cries of children mingled with the painful groans brought on by the demonic energy, piercing his heart. He guarded Xinye not just to defend a city, but to protect the common people who had nowhere to go in this chaotic world.

"I promised the people that I would not let any demons set foot in the city."

The God of War spoke in a low voice, the remaining golden light of the Qilin within his body surging violently, forcefully pulling the demon bone spear piercing his shoulder blade inch by inch from his flesh. Excruciating pain swept through his entire body, veins bulging on his forehead, yet he didn't utter a single groan.

Golden blood flowed down the wound and landed on the blue bricks, spontaneously igniting a faint light that purified evil spirits and slightly dispelled the black mist that swirled around them.

The young general, his eyes red with tears, watched this scene: "My lord, your sacred body's essence is almost exhausted! If you forcefully push your power any further, your foundation will be destroyed, and your soul will be annihilated! The demonic energy of Floating Pagoda Island counters the Qilin bloodline; we simply cannot withstand it..."

"Even if we can't stop it, we have to."

The God of War slowly rose, his spear propelling him, the Qilin patterns on his Azure Flame Armor now dull and lifeless. He had been adopted by an elder of the War God Temple since childhood, and from the day he awakened his Holy Body, he had etched into his heart a vow to protect the world. The Han Dynasty was already ravaged by war, its people suffering immensely; now, with the addition of extraterrestrial demons, if even this small sanctuary of Xinye could not be defended, the people of the world would have nowhere to live.

From the distant black mist, a demonic figure several meters tall slowly stepped out.

That was a demon general sent down to the mortal realm by Floating Pagoda Island. He was surrounded by thick corpse energy and demonic energy. With a single swing of his giant axe, he sent more than a dozen city guards flying. The soldiers were covered in demonic energy, and their eyes went black in an instant. They gradually lost their minds and turned to walk towards the people in the city.

The high-ranking demon general locked his gaze on the God of War atop the city wall, letting out a hoarse, piercing laugh: "A mere human Qilin Saint Body dares to obstruct the great cause of Futu? Once I have razed Xinye, devoured the souls of every living being in the city, opened the spatial passage, and sent a million demons to descend upon the Central Plains, this Han Dynasty will be entirely under the control of my demon race! The bloodshed at Changban Slope will be the end for all of you!"

The moment the words "Changbanpo" entered his ears, the God of War's mind jolted.

Lately, he's been having recurring nightmares of devastation. In his dreams, he's in Changban, a place of endless bloodshed, where space collapses layer by layer, leaving only destruction and despair—a catastrophic illusion of the future. It turns out that all of this was caused by the Floating Demon.

The demon general's giant axe, enveloped in black mist, cleaved towards the city wall, unleashing a devastating evil force.

Without further hesitation, the God of War poured out the last trace of Qilin essence within his body, wielding his spear horizontally. Golden holy power transformed into a phantom of a Qilin, colliding violently with the Demon Axe.

"Boom—"

The violent impact kicked up clouds of dust, and the bricks and stones on the city wall crumbled. The God of War's meridians were torn apart inch by inch, his old chest wound exploded again, and the foundation supporting his holy body was directly shattered by the evil power of the demon general.

The phantom of the Qilin dissipated inch by inch, and he fell heavily inside the city wall like a kite with a broken string.

His internal organs shifted rapidly, his vision blurred quickly, and the cries of the people, the roars of demons, and the shouts of soldiers all became distant. His life force drained away at an alarming rate, the golden light of the Qilin Sacred Body faded little by little, and he could clearly feel his soul disintegrating.

Are we to just stand by and watch Xinye fall today, with tens of thousands of people perishing in the jaws of demons?

A surge of resentment welled up within him, and a powerful obsession to protect him tightly bound his fading consciousness. Just as his soul was about to be completely annihilated, deep within his dantian, an ancient and dormant soul imprint suddenly lit up.

That was the soul of the Heavenly Martial God of War, passed down through generations in the Temple of War. It had been dormant until now, and could only awaken when facing life-or-death situations and possessing an unwavering determination.

A dazzling golden light swept across his entire body from his dantian, his shattered physical body was forcibly stabilized by the power of his soul, and his dying and dissipating consciousness was reassembled.

The moment the Heavenly Martial God of War's soul awakened, countless fragmented images flooded into his mind.

The devastation at Changban became clearer, the spacetime rifts collapsed continuously, and the seven-level floating demon tower shrouded in black mist... At the end of all the scenes of destruction, the figure of a woman in white stood quietly, her features blurred, yet she carried a gentleness that transcended eternity, as if she had come specifically for him.

The figure was too ethereal and was about to vanish in an instant.

The God of War instinctively reached out to touch it, when a faint tearing sound suddenly rang out between heaven and earth.

Above their heads, a narrow rift in spacetime slowly opened, with shimmering light and shadows swirling within it. A faint medicinal fragrance, not belonging to this era, drifted gently into the besieged city on the wind.

A soft, delicate woman's whisper, across a thousand years, drifted lightly into his ears, faint yet clear:

"Qilin Battle God, I have come looking for you."

The God of War's eyelids were heavy, and he barely managed to stay awake with the support of the Heavenly Martial God of War's soul. He looked up at the space-time rift.

Through the crack in the light, a figure in white lost its support and plummeted straight down.

He couldn't see the woman's face clearly, only that she was wearing a white coat and tightly clutching an exquisite medicine box in her arms. As she fell, her body curled up slightly, and faint crimson lines appeared all over her body, as if she was enduring unbearable pain.

The black mist was still raging outside the city, the roars of the demon generals drew closer once more, and the cries of the people in the inner city never ceased.

On one side is Xinye, on the verge of collapse, facing imminent destruction; on the other is a strange woman who appears out of nowhere, a thousand years later, and the lingering apocalyptic visions in his mind.

The God of War gripped the broken spear in his hand, his soul glowing with golden light as he barely suppressed the surging pain within his body, his gaze fixed on the white-clad woman descending from the sky.

Amidst chaos and calamity, we meet across time and space.

He vaguely understood that the deadlock in Xinye today might have taken a different turn from the moment this spacetime rift appeared.