[Note : blue: speech, red: thoughts, green: item/skills]
A platoon of soldiers can be seen riding toward a fortified village filled with barricades from a distance.
A soldier from the village ran towards the incoming platoon to greet Xiao Jie, the grand commandant of Luo Yang.
“General, the [Fire Spears] and the parameter defense are complete,
now all we have to do is wait for Nian.”
Even though Xiao Jie looked hot-headed, he listened to the advice from Peng Xian, his long-time buddy, and found Nian’s behavior strange.
“Do not let your guard down, soldiers!”
“Equip [Fire Spears] to every squad leader and double the guard on every station!”
“Yes, General!”
The soldier then quickly ran off to give out Xiao Jie’s command and Xiao Jie headed inside a house acting as their temporary war room.
About an hour later, the ground started to tremble.
“Hmm…why would there be a tremor in this village…?”
Xiao Jie wondered as this place hadn’t had an earthquake before.
“Ah…again…”
“When did this tremor first start?”
Xiao Jie asked the soldiers after he overheard them complaining about this tremor not being the first time.
“General, this tremor happened since a month ago, and it happens two to five times daily.”
“Why wasn’t this reported during the court meeting?!”
Xiao Jie shouted and slammed his table in anger.
“General, the Magistrate of this town said this was of low importance, as the tremor did not affect the village much, hence it was not reported to the court.”
“Who is the magistrate of this village?!”
“General, it is Magistrate Liang Wei!”
“Bring me this person and all the information about him right now!”
“Yes, General!”
“What fool, the significance of this tremor might be huge, it might be related to the abnormal behavior of Nian.”
“This person is either incompetent or has a motive, I must look into it as soon as possible.
Either way, I will not let this person go unpunished!”
About two hours later, in the evening, two soldiers dragged a man dressed in an official robe into a house and made him kneel while still restraining him.
“Eek! G-greetings, G-grand Commandant, M-magistrate Liang Wei at y-your service!”
“Do you know the reason you are summoned?!”
“Grand Commandant, I d-do not k-know!”
“Why did you not report the tremors happening in this village?!”
“Grand Commandant, I f-f-figure that this i-is a s-small matter and”
“Enough! Soldiers, remove his official robe and hat, and give him 50 lashes!”
Xiao Jie interrupted before the magistrate could complete his sentence.
He asked the soldiers to remove Liang Wei’s robe because the official’s robe and hat symbolized the king, hence if an official is to be punished, his robe and hat must be removed.
“Yes, General!”
The soldier then removed Liang Wei’s robe and hat, pushed him onto the floor, and prepared a large wooden stick for lashing to beat his buttocks.
“P-please have mercy, Grand Commandant!”
“Tell me the truth or there will be worse punishment.”
“I-I-I don’t know a-anything, Grand Commandant!”
“Start the punishment now!”
“Argh!”
Liang Wei screamed as the soldier lashed at him with a huge wooden stick.
“Have Mercy, Grand Commandant! Argh!”
Liang Wei continued to scream and begged for mercy as his buttocks were lashed.
Xiao Jie thought to himself, either reason, incompetent, or has a motive, this punishment would fit both ways, hence he did not stop the punishment.
“General, 50 lashes have been completed!”
“Tell me again, why did you not report about the tremors during the court meeting?”
“P-please have m-mercy…”
Liang Wei still tried to beg for mercy as his buttocks were bleeding and swollen from the lashes.
“Soldiers! Prepare finger clamp!”
“Yes, General!”
The soldiers then bought out a tool with many small wooden boards tied together, with gaps between each board for fingers to be inserted.
As the soldiers prepare to insert Liang Wei’s fingers into the finger clamp, he confessed.
“W-wait, Grand Commandant! It was t-the R-right…ugh…”
Before Liang Wei could finish his sentence, an arrow pierced his heart, killing him in one blow.
“Intruder alert!”
The soldiers shouted and the whole village was on high alert searching for the assassin who killed Liang Wei.
“Right…? He must mean the Right Minister Gilles! Unforgivable!”
Xiao Jie slammed the table in anger at the mistake of letting the witness get killed.
The soldiers searched the whole village throughout the night but found no intruders.
“Apologies, General, we could not find the intruders!”
“Forget it! Just focus on the incoming attack from Nian, I shall leave this matter to another day.”
“Yes, General!”
The soldiers then went back to their post.
“Damned Gilles, just you wait, I will not let this matter slide!”
Xiao Jie clenched his fist tight as he swore to expose Gilles’s evil deeds.
“General, Nian spotted in the forest three kilometers away!”
“Very well! Get into crane formation!”
“Yes, General!”
The soldiers began to spread horizontally perpendicular to Nian, with both ends standing further toward the front, with the front row holding huge shields, and the 2nd row holding [Fire Spears].
"[Fire Spears] should be effective against Nian as its weakness is loud noise and fire.
These spears are specifically designed to counter Nian!"
A giant red beast three meters tall with many long, sharp, and jagged teeth stomped out from the forest and It resembled a flat-faced lion with the body of a dog with prominent incisors
“Incoming!”
The captain of the brigade shouted out.
As Nian got closer, it started to run faster toward the soldiers.
“Brace for impact! Do not let your guard down!”
Xiao Jie gave out the command.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!”
As Nian got closer, some of the soldiers started to run away.
"I have to end this fast before more soldiers get influenced by its skill."
A loud 'clang' can be heard as Nian clashes with the middle section of the formation.
Due to Nian’s [Panic Aura], more soldiers ran away.
“Fire!”
As Xiao Jie gave out the command, the second row’s soldier holding [Fire Spears] started to activate it, shooting fire pellets at Nian, which made Nian moved back.
“Surround Nian!”
Both sides of the formation started to surround Nian, trapping Nian inside the formation.
“Fire at will!”
The soldiers then activate [Fire Spears] to continuously shoot fire pellets at Nian.
Nian screamed and started to charge toward the front, as it clashed with the shield bearers, more soldiers ran away due to [Panic Aura].
A gap opened between the middle section, and Nian broke through, charging into the village, and stomping past the barricades.
Xiao Jie managed to stop Nian by holding it off and pushing it back. It became a contest of strength between Xiao Jie and Nian.
“Amazing…the general is matching Nian in strength…”
The soldiers were in awe, staring in disbelief.
Eventually, Xiao Jie managed to push Nian back due to its injury, and slammed it to the side, onto the ground.
Then Xiao Jie took out [Zhan Lu] from his back, and did an overhead strike towards Nian, killing it in one blow.
“Hooray! General defeated Nian!”
Cheers erupted from the soldiers.
“Huh? There’s more than one Nian?!”
Another smaller Nian emerged from the forest, as the soldiers were celebrating, which caught them in a blind spot.
Nian charged into the village past the barricades, while the soldiers were getting into formation.
“A second Nian?!”
As it ran toward Xiao Jie, it was cleaved in half from the side by Xiao Jie’s diagonal upward swing with [Zhan Lu].
“This smaller Nian must be the first Nian’s child…”
“I pray for your safe passage to heaven…”
Xiao Jie prayed for Nian in his mind, this was the first time a second Nian appeared.
“A-apologies, General, we failed to stop the second Nian due to our incompetencies!”
The soldiers ran towards Xiao Jie and began genuflecting with one palm covering a fist.
“Learn from your mistakes, a moment’s blunder can mean life or death,
I will let this matter go, there is no next time, you guys are dismissed for now.”
“Y-yes, General!”
The next day, Xiao Jie gathered the soldiers and told them to investigate the tremors in Zhou Village.
“Soldiers, this is not an ordinary tremor, Nian’s abnormal behavior and it must be linked!”
“I want you all to investigate every area around Zhou Village within five kilometers, leave no stones unturned!”
“Yes, General!”
As the soldiers searched the forest, they discovered an unknown cave and reported it to Xiao Jie.
“Hmm…the dirt around the cave entrance seemed to be worked on…”
Xiao Jie figured whichever monsters dug this cave might be related to Nian's abnormal behavior.
“Soldiers, be on high alert, there must be something in this underground cave.”
Xiao Jie then went inside the cave along with his soldiers.
There were rotten crops littered across the dark cave.
The tremors became louder when it happened as they traveled deeper into the cave.
At the end of the cave was a large wide room about 10 meters tall with a river streaming at the side of it.
“General, i-it’s a dragon!”
A soldier shouted out in surprise after spotting a sleeping dragon.
Its yellow scales looked dull, and it had no wings, its front limbs and shoulder were muscular and big, and the tip of its tail looked like a giant boulder. Near the dragon’s body lies two corpses of smaller Nians.
“Silence!”
Xiao Jie stopped his soldiers from making noise to not wake the dragon.
“Why would there be a dragon here?! Nian came early because it was encroaching on its territory!”
“And being this close to the capital, I need to defeat or chase it away before it can become a problem."
As Xiao Jie was thinking, the dragon woke up.
“First it was the dogs, and now it’s the humans. Can’t I sleep in peace?”
As the dragon stood up, the ground trembled from its tail slamming.
The dragon woke up as Xiao Jie was contemplating on how to deal with it.
“I am Earth Dragon, Terrathorn, since you have found me, you will not leave this place alive.”
"Spikes? Is it going to use a long-range attack?"
“Turtle Formation!”
Xiao Jie gave the command as he saw spikes growing on the Dragon’s body.
The soldiers started to brace together, raising their shields.
Terrathorn smirked and used [Earth Spears] by slamming the ground, causing spikes to shoot up, piercing the soldiers at the front row from below.
“Tsk, those spikes appearing on the body were a feint, what dirty trickery!”
"They can't defend against this dragon's attacks, they will just get killed easily."
“Fall back!”
Xiao Jie gave the command in response to the surprise attack.
As the spike was about to hit Xiao Jie, he punched at the incoming spike and crushed it.
“Fall back, get out of the cave, I will handle this dragon alone!”
Xiao Jie figured the soldiers would just die in vain if they stayed.
“Y-yes, General!”
The soldiers quickly ran out of the cave in an orderly fashion. It wasn’t that the soldiers abandoned him, but the soldiers had complete faith in the strength of their general.
Xiao Jie stopped the Terrathorn’s [Tail Strike] aimed at the escaping soldiers by parrying it with [Zhan Lu].
“Such arrogance coming from a tiny species, do you think you alone can stop me?”
“I am the Grand Commandant of Luo Yang, Wang Xiao Jie, I shall defeat you here at all cost!”
Both of them then charged toward each other, but before they could make contact, Xiao Jie used his arm to block the incoming body spike from Terrathorn, then used the other arm which held [Zhan Lu] to slash the dragon.
Terrathorn felt pain, he looked at his arm and saw the sword cut into it, which shouldn’t be possible.
“How could this puny human cut into my scales which is as tough as steel?!”
Terrathorn jumped backward and used [Tail Strike] to attack Xiao Jie.
Xiao Jie leaped toward Terrathorn to avoid his [Tail Strike] and attacked the dragon.
“I will not give you an opening!”
[Two Fold Slash], [Three Fold Slash], Xiao Jie did not stop his attacks.
“What annoying pest!”
Terrathorn slammed his hand on Xiao Jie, wanting to flatten him.
Xiao Jie swung [Zhan Lu] upward to slash Terrathorn’s attacking arm before evading to the side.
The cave trembled when Terrathorn’s arm slammed onto the ground.
As Terrathorn’s arm touched the ground, he used [Earth Spears] to attack Xiao Jie and create distance between them.
Xiao Jie had no choice but to jump back, one of the spikes managed to pierce his lower leg when he jumped.
“I must kill these humans or Lord Shinal will have my head…”
Terrathorn roared and used [Earth Spears] and the cave trembled again, this time, countless spikes rained down from the cave ceiling.
As Xiao Jie parried the spikes from above, Terrathorn charged toward Xiao Jie, ignoring the spikes since the spikes wouldn’t damage him because of his dragon scales.
“Kah!”
Xiao Jie was slammed onto the wall, breaking a few of his ribs, the pain from the charge and Terrathorn’s body spikes almost caused him to faint, he gritted his teeth and punched Terrathorn in the face with his injured arm, causing Terrathorn to let go of him.
“I commend you, human. Not many humans could fight us dragons on equal footing.”
Terrathorn spoke while it was panting.
“For my kingdom, Luo Yang, I will defeat you!”
Xiao Jie was also tired and panting, with his body full of holes and bleeding heavily.
“I have to end this quickly before I succumb to my injuries…”
“Terrathorn, I will put my everything into this final strike of mine!”
“Let us end this then!”
Terrathorn replied and started to grow new spikes from his body, replacing the ones damaged by Xiao Jie.
Xiao Jie focused all his remaining energy on [Zhan Lu], making an aura appear, surrounding the sword.
Terrathorn charged towards Xiao Jie intending to skewer him to death.
“[Four fold slash]!”
The dragon fell instantly before it could pierce Xiao Jie with its body spike.
“Lord Shinal…”
Terrathorn fell and remained motionless.
Seeing Terrathorn not getting up anymore, Xiao Jie breathed a sigh of relief.
“What a troublesome opponent…”
“I pray for your safe passage to heaven…”
When Xiao Jie appeared from within the cave, the soldiers cheered loudly.
“Hooray! General defeated the dragon! Hooray!”
“Enough. We still have a job left undone at the capital.”
“Casulties?”
“Twenty-five injured, three dead, General!”
“Carry the injured back to base, today, we shall rest.”
“Yes, General!”
Xiao Jie and his soldiers headed back to Zhou Village, having averted a crisis for now.
