The army is gathering, blood is coming!

"Harold, is something the matter?"

Hearing Cao Xing's voice, the blacksmith immediately looked up.

His eyes were filled with guilt, self-reproach, and other such emotions.

"My Lord—My Lady—I have failed to live up to your expectations."

"Last night, while attempting to break through to the Legendary Blacksmith rank, I failed halfway through due to a lack of experience."

"Please punish me!"

After saying this, he bowed deeply to Cao Xing and Liu Muxue.

Cao Xing didn't speak; he first glanced at Harold's secondary profession panel.

[Master-grade Forging Mastery: 100,000 / 200,000]

Just as Francesca had said, a single failure would cost a full 100,000 proficiency points.

However, this failure was within Cao Xing's expectations.

He checked his backpack; there were 10 Expert-grade Emblems remaining, which amounted to 50,000 proficiency points. In other words, he only needed to redeem one more [Master-grade Emblem] to give Harold another chance to attempt the Legendary Blacksmith breakthrough.

With that, Cao Xing immediately clicked to redeem.

[Redemption successful, War Merit -3,000,000.]

The 18 million-plus War Merit he had gained yesterday was now down to just over one million after only one night.

But it didn't matter; with his territory's strength, he could earn it back quickly.

Cao Xing patted the dwarf blacksmith on the shoulder.

"It's fine, Harold. You have already done very well."

Beside him, Liu Muxue also said softly, "Yes, you have worked very hard."

"Just a few months ago, you were only an intermediate blacksmith."

"Other blacksmiths spend decades and still might not reach Master rank. You have been pushing toward Legendary in just a few months; that is already very impressive."

Hearing the comfort from Cao Xing and Liu Muxue, the dwarf blacksmith gradually straightened up, his eyes filled with immense emotion.

Cao Xing didn't say much else and directly said, "Now, take these emblems and continue your push for Legendary."

Harold saw his Lord conjure up so many emblems as if by magic, and he was deeply moved.

He took all the emblems and said solemnly,

"Thank you, kind My Lord! Thank you, beautiful My Lady!"

"I stake the glory of the Iceberg family on this; this time, I will not fail again!"

After saying this, he turned around resolutely and returned to his residence.

He continued his attempt to break through to the Legendary Blacksmith rank.

After the dwarf blacksmith left, Cao Xing took Liu Muxue to the central square area of the territory and shouted,

"All combat personnel, assemble!"

It took two minutes for the entire territory's several thousand combat personnel to assemble.

In one day yesterday, these two thousand-plus people had wiped out two to three million of the Blood Legion.

On average, each person had slain over a thousand Blood Legion soldiers!

The terror of this number went without saying.

Everyone radiated an aura of grim slaughter!

Cao Xing continued, "Starting now, except for those with Legendary or higher combat power, everyone else will follow yesterday's squads and head to the Brisbane Wilds to clear out more of the Blood Legion."

"Your goal today is to clear out the vast majority of the Blood Legion in the Brisbane Wilds."

"Then, head north, fight your way through the Central River Basin, proceed to the Broken Woodlands, and then detour to another area ravaged by the Blood Legion."

"If you encounter danger or powerful enemies, remember to call for reinforcements immediately."

"Now, move out!"

The soldiers immediately responded respectfully,

"Yes! Respected My Lord!"

"Whoosh～!"

Wind Wings appeared out of thin air behind everyone. The sound of flapping wings rang out in succession as a large number of soldiers flew into the sky. It is worth mentioning that under the buffs of various statuses, the movement speed of these soldiers could now be maintained at three to four hundred meters per second, which is about 1,200 kilometers per hour.

Even crossing the entire Gale Snowfield to support other maps would not take much time.

When all the warriors had flown away from the territory,

only the top powerhouses of the territory remained.

Among them were Bing Lan, who had just broken through to the Legendary rank last night, Malenia, and others.

Cao Xing looked around and said, "Well then, Isabelle, Sarah, Bing Lan, Zevelin, Malenia."

"Today, except for Isabelle and Bing Lan, the other three will continue to stay in my necromancers bag."

Hearing this, everyone seemed somewhat surprised.

They had originally thought that Cao Xing would hide all Legendary combatants except for Isabelle.

Yet now, he was actively revealing Bing Lan's combat power.

Wouldn't this make the Blood Legion even more alert?

However, this was the Lord's decision, so they did not ask further and simply executed the order.

Then, with a wave of his hand, Cao Xing collected the Legendary Assassin Sarah, the Legendary Thunder Mage Zevelin, and the Valkyrie Malenia into the necromancers bag.

Only he, Liu Muxue, the Saint Light Sage, and the Dragon Speaker with her dragon remained.

"Alright, everyone, get on Seraphis's back first."

"Then we will head to the Brisbane Wilds together."

Everyone nodded slightly and quickly leaped onto Seraphis's broad back.

When everyone was in position, Seraphis spread its huge wings.

With one flap, it carried everyone forward two or three kilometers, its speed so fast it was jaw-dropping.

The destination was none other than the Brisbane Wilds, two or three hundred kilometers away.

Those warriors had already set off a step earlier to clear the monsters in that area.

Of course, their speed was certainly incomparable to Cao Xing's group; even if they set off early, they would soon be left behind by Seraphis.

However, since Cao Xing's objective was to destroy the Blood Teleportation Pillars and the warriors' mission was to clear the Blood Legion,

the two sides' actions did not conflict.

Cao Xing and the others stood on the dragon's back as the surrounding scenery flew backward rapidly.

After a few minutes of travel, they had arrived at that familiar place—the Taigen Mountains.

It was also the place where they had previously met the Dragon Speaker.

Due to the ravages of the Blood Legion, some of the intelligent beasts in these mountains had become much more low-key.

They traveled unimpeded all the way and soon passed through the continuous mountain range.

Crossing the high mountains, the view in front of them suddenly opened up.

A system notification appeared.

[You have arrived at: Brisbane Wilds]

A vast plain appeared ahead, where one could see large lakes covered in ice.

Cao Xing flew at an altitude of several thousand meters, overlooking the land before him.

Compared to the first time he came to the Brisbane Wilds, it no longer had the lively atmosphere it once did.

A blood-red color spread across the land.

The frenzied Blood Legion had launched a fierce attack on the human settlements and the territories of the Survivors in this area at dawn.

The Brisbane Wilds were already shrouded in the flames of war, with traces of battle everywhere.

Cao Xing's gaze swept across the plain, then he selected an area and flew straight ahead.

Meanwhile,

in a vast plain, a massive army of Survivors was gathering.

The number of people was close to 800,000; the dense crowd of figures almost covered the entire land.

These people were the Survivor army that Yao Yiming had brought from the Gale Snowfield.

Since 10 o'clock last night, they had been traveling day and night.

Braving the howling wind and extreme low temperatures, they finally arrived at the target point successfully before dawn.

Everyone's faces bore traces of exhaustion.

However, after so many days of development, the combat personnel present had at least Tier 4 strength.

The power possessed by a Tier 4 powerhouse was even at a Superman level on Blue Star.

Relying on their formidable physical constitution, going ten or fifteen days without sleep was not a problem.

The Survivors took various dry rations from their backpacks, replenished their energy, and talked in low voices.

"We finally arrived—it really wasn't easy."

"Yeah, we traveled all night, cold and tired, but we finally made it through."

"Brothers, do you think this counts as a Long March of the new era?"

"Haha! That makes sense!"

At this time, a Survivor asked, "Right, although we've reached the destination, what's the next step? Do we go head-to-head with the Blood Legion?"

Hearing this, everyone looked at each other in dismay.

Then they all turned their gaze toward the three figures in front.

They were Yao Yiming, Ji Xinyue, and Tian Jing.

As the vice-commanders of the Starfire Legion, they were also the leaders of this army, and all actions were subject to their command.

And just at this moment, one of the Survivors seemed to have discovered something; looking at the scene ahead, a look of horror appeared in their eyes.

He pointed ahead and exclaimed, "Everyone, look! What is that up ahead!?"

Following the direction he pointed, the Survivors all looked up.

In the snow ahead, a blood-red line suddenly appeared, stretching for several kilometers like a scarlet giant dragon winding across the pristine snowfield.

But when they looked closely, they realized it wasn't a blood line at all, but a massive army composed of the Blood Legion!

The dense mass of Blood Legion soldiers surged forward like a tide, their armor stained with blood, their eyes filled with a craving for life!

The march of over a million people made the earth tremble with every step!

The Survivors were instantly shocked and furious, and chaotic shouts erupted among the crowd.

"Damn it! It's the Blood Legion, they're here!"

"Holy crap! There are even more of these guys than us, probably over a million!"

"We're in trouble. I saw several Chiliarchs in there; our army is no match for them."

"It's over, it's over—how did this Blood Legion suddenly find us? We're going to be wiped out!!"

In fact, as early as last night, scouts from the Blood Legion had discovered this massive group of Survivors.

The movement of hundreds of thousands of people was such a large target that it was bound to attract the attention of the Blood Legion.

For the Blood Legion, if they could completely annihilate this Survivor army.

They might be able to use their blood essence to summon another Blood Teleportation Pillar.

Therefore, upon seeing the Survivor army stop, they immediately launched their operation.

They were determined to use a lightning strike to annihilate this army of 800,000 Survivors!

The number of Blood Legion soldiers was so vast that they covered the entire horizon, like a sea of blood sweeping toward them!

Their steps were uniform, and the sound of their marching thundered through the world.

"Rumble—!"

All the Survivors felt a tremendous pressure bearing down on them!

A tense atmosphere spread across the snowfield, and the Survivors gripped their weapons tightly, their eyes fixed on the approaching wave of blood in the distance!

At this moment, Yao Yiming took a deep breath and shouted, "Everyone, form ranks!"

"Crossbowmen forward, Shield Guards cover, mages prepare to cast spells!"

The Survivors scrambled into action, despite being filled with fear.

But thanks to the rehearsal last night, they were able to react quickly!

"Clatter—!"

A large number of Shield Guards raised their shields high, preparing to meet the fierce charge of the Blood Legion.

The group of frenzied Blood Legion soldiers was extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, they had closed the distance to within a few hundred meters.

At this distance, they had even entered the attack range of those Master and Hero-tier powerhouses!

The eyes of the Blood Legion soldiers flashed with bloodlust, and they let out sinister laughter.

"Haha! These naive little things think they can stop us with numbers, but they don't know that the more of them gathered, the more delicious the fat meat looks to us!"

"Wipe out these little things, and we can summon even more Blood Legion troops over."

"Stop talking nonsense, go all out, and wipe these guys out!"

"Kill—!"

The massive Blood Legion army attacked, about to engulf the United Survivor Army!

A suffocating sense of pressure washed over them like a tidal wave, and fear appeared in the eyes of many Survivors!

Just then, a system notification appeared before everyone.

[You have automatically joined the faction of Survivor Lord: Cao Xing. Under his leadership, all Survivors in the faction gain a 50% increase in all attributes, and the additional effect 'Doomsday Return' is activated!]

[Doomsday Return: You and your subordinates will revive at full health once after death. This effect can be triggered once every 72 hours.]

At this moment, under the 50% increase in all attributes, all Survivors felt an unprecedented power surging within them.

For a moment, their eyes were filled with confusion.

But soon, some of them realized what was happening, and expressions of shock and ecstasy appeared on their faces!

"Holy crap! A 50% increase in all attributes and a full-health resurrection? What kind of insane buff is this?"

"Didn't you hear the system notification? We automatically joined Great Lord Cao Xing's faction; this seems to be his faction effect."

"Damn! Does that mean Great Lord Cao Xing is already here?"

With expressions of doubt and uncertainty, the Survivors looked up.

High in the sky, four figures stood in the air, like gods descending.

A four-winged archangel radiating pure white light, wings spread, exuding a heart-palpitating pressure.

A beautiful Saint Light Sage wearing a white robe, holding a staff, and bathed in holy light.

A Dragon Rider Queen riding a hundred-meter dragon; her aloof figure and cold temperament seemed capable of freezing everything!

And, that presence wearing a deep blue robe, with vast magical power!

Each of these four figures carried an incredibly terrifying aura!

Even the aggressive Blood Legion couldn't help but slow their pace.

Because they felt a fatal threat from these powerhouses, and expressions of fear appeared on their faces.

Compared to the Blood Legion, the Survivors were incredibly excited!

"Holy crap! It really is Great Lord Cao Xing, he really came!"

"And that woman riding the giant dragon I saw yesterday, so cool, so beautiful!"

"Damn, did you guys see that angel and that Saint Light Sage? Their auras are so terrifying!"

"Are these powerhouses all subordinates of Great Lord Cao Xing?"

Meanwhile.

Cao Xing spoke slowly, his voice not loud, but it could be clearly conveyed to the ears of everyone on the battlefield.

"Everyone, as you can see, under my faction, you will enjoy a special bonus."

"Not only will your attributes be greatly increased, but you will also have a chance to be reborn."

This was exactly the reason why Cao Xing wanted Yao Yiming to organize the Survivor army.

The [Doomsday Guide] title allowed all members of the faction he led to enjoy the attribute bonus.

In other words, it wasn't just the Survivors below, but Cao Xing and Liu Muxue would also receive the bonus.

They were already very strong, and with another 50% increase, they would truly reach the level of being invincible among their peers!

Even when fighting a mutated overlord like the Valkyrie remnant, they could easily defeat it.

However, the only regret was that his own subordinates could not enjoy the attribute bonus.

Otherwise, Isabelle, who had already become a Legendary powerhouse, could easily deal with two Legendaries simultaneously with a 50% attribute increase.

But that didn't matter; his subordinates could still enjoy the resurrection effect of 'Doomsday Return'.

Combined with [Saint Light Redemption], they could have two chances to revive—ask yourself if you're scared!

Cao Xing continued, "Under my faction effect, everyone, you don't need to worry about death; fight with peace of mind."

"Now, let these crazy guys see the power of us humans from Blue Star!"

Upon hearing this, the Survivors immediately felt a surge of hot blood!

They raised their weapons high and shouted in unison, "Charge—!"

"Kill all these disgusting guys!"

They swept away their previous fear, charging toward the enemy army like ferocious tigers.

They could revive once anyway, so what was there to be afraid of?

Moreover, the four powerful subordinates of Cao Xing were in the air to support them, which gave them even greater confidence!

The archers drew their bowstrings, and arrows poured down like a rainstorm.

And compared to before, the power of these arrows far exceeded the previous ones!

The mages also cast various spells.

Ice shards, lightning, and shadow balls wove a destructive magical web in the air, bombarding the Blood Legion.

A large number of Blood Legion soldiers were directly blasted into blood foam by this concentrated fire.

A large number of kill notifications also appeared before the Survivors, and looks of surprise and joy appeared in their eyes.

"Damn! The system just notified me that I killed a Decurion and gave me 600 merit points directly, so awesome!"

"What's that? I managed to snag the head of a Centurion and was rewarded with 7,000 merit points directly!"

"Hahaha! I just wiped out over a dozen Blood Legion soldiers with a single Chain Ice Blast; these guys have become so squishy!"

"It's not that they've become squishy; it's that we've become stronger!"

"Yeah, a 50% attribute increase means we all have attributes at the level of a same-tier leader!"