The great city had fallen.
The entire fortress was left in utter ruin, strewn with crumbled walls and shattered battlements.
Only a scattered horde of over a thousand demonic monstrosities wandered through the streets.
Bleached bones littered the earth, unburied, with no one left to raise a grave mound for them.
Who knew whose sons and brothers they had once been in dreams?
A month later, another human army marched upon the great city. After a bloody battle, they recaptured the fortress.
The commander at their head bore a gruesome, blood-dripping scar across his face. He shared wine with his generals.
Five days later, the demonic army struck again.
The great city fell once more.
Flames raged for two months before yet another human army arrived.
Unfortunately, the fate awaiting them was the same—total annihilation.
Later still, another human host came, only to perish here as well.
Even later, Qi Yuan dropped down onto the ramparts. For over a decade now, no human army had set foot in this city.
He looked out over the bones filling the streets.
"The moment a soldier sets foot in this city to stand guard, the countdown on his lifespan begins. No one survives past ten days.
"Is my quest now... to defend this solitary city?"
Qi Yuan stood alone in the desolate fortress. He looked up at the towering ramparts, pitted and scarred all over with blade marks.
A vast, desolate aura washed over him.
Carved into the battlements were three characters: "City of No Return."
Qi Yuan checked his status. "Level 45?"
Upon entering the game this time, his level was remarkably set at 45.
Unlike his first playthrough, where he had started at Level 1.
Qi Yuan deduced that Level 45 corresponded roughly to late Foundation Establishment.
Whatever the strength of his divine soul was in the Canglan Realm, that was the level he held upon entering the game.
"Level 45 isn't bad. At least I can farm mobs now."
A smile reached Qi Yuan's eyes.
Killing monsters would level him up in the game.
And a portion of that cultivation would feed back into reality.
His cultivation in the real world would advance rapidly as well.
He loved this feeling.
"A pity I don't have a suitable weapon," Qi Yuan murmured, glancing at himself.
It seemed he had entered alone.
Yet in the next instant, he froze.
"Xiao Jia?"
To his astonishment, he found Xiao Jia's imprint still resting against his chest.
Xiao Jia had followed him into the game?
"Xiao Jia!" Qi Yuan called out.
Instantly, Xiao Jia's figure materialized beside him.
Clad in a blood-red bridal robe, she looked breathtakingly enchanting.
Timid and shy, Xiao Jia peered at her surroundings in utter bewilderment.
Yet the moment she saw Qi Yuan, she seemed at ease again, clutching tightly to his arm.
Qi Yuan smiled. "In ancient times, scholars had beauties adding incense to their night studies.
"Today, I, Qi Yuan, guard a lonely city, accompanied by a bridal robe."
Thinking this, he felt the game had become rather interesting.
Just then, the demonic monstrosities wandering the city caught scent of Qi Yuan and rushed toward him with frenzied roars.
To these demonic creatures, tearing every human to shreds was pure instinct.
Hundreds of monstrosities with hideous visages, resembling all manner of terrifying beasts, charged toward Qi Yuan with their massive frames.
"Xiao Jia!" Qi Yuan shouted.
Share the Same Robe!
Instantly, blood-red fireflies merged into Qi Yuan's body, enveloping him in an unbroken suit of crimson armor.
Slender, sharp barbs on his shoulders gleamed with an alluring red sheen.
His height surged to ten meters, transforming him into a formidable, blood-colored juggernaut.
Qi Yuan waved his hand, and a broken sword dropped into his grip.
The broken blade instantly lengthened and broadened, coated in blood-red radiance.
Now, the broken sword resembled a massive crimson ruler.
He bared sharp teeth in a grin. "Little mobs, hunting hour has begun once more!"
Like a heavy mech crashing into a dinosaur park, he slammed into the pack.
How could flesh-and-blood demonic monstrosities stand against him?
"Die!"
With a single swing of the blade, dozens of demonic monstrosities fell.
+40.
+20.
+10.
+35.
Countless experience points flooded into him. Qi Yuan fought like a fiend god, cutting them down without pause.
Every place he passed turned into a purgatory; every demonic monstrosity that crossed his path met only one end: death.
For ten days, Qi Yuan purged the entire isolated city alone.
Now, Qi Yuan leaned against a half-collapsed wall, panting heavily.
"Finally, not a single demonic monstrosity remains in the City of No Return."
Every last one had been slaughtered by his hand.
His level had also climbed to Level 49.
Four levels in ten days was remarkably fast.
Just then, a notification sounded in Qi Yuan's ear.
[Demonic monstrosities eradicated. Key Fragment x1 acquired.]
[Guarding of the City of No Return has commenced. The longer you hold it, the richer the rewards.]
[If a demonic monstrosity enters the City of No Return, the guard state will fail.]
Hearing these prompts, Qi Yuan looked relaxed.
"Who says this world isn't a game?
"It is a game!
"A game is exactly what I'm playing!"
Carrying his broken sword and holding Xiao Jia close, Qi Yuan sat atop the ramparts with her.
Looking out, yellow sand stretched across the horizon. Gusts of wind swept dust through the sky from time to time, occasionally uncovering rust-eaten broken swords in the dirt.
Qi Yuan held Xiao Jia, gazing out over the desert landscape with her.
When violent winds whipped up, he stood in front of Xiao Jia to shield her.
When the night grew enchanting, he dug a hollow beneath the city wall and slept there with her.
Whenever a demonic monstrosity set foot within range, he sensed it without fail and executed it with a single stroke.
"I wonder when the next wave of monsters will assault the city."
On this day, Qi Yuan sat on the ramparts with Xiao Jia, feeling both anticipation and reluctance.
If some clever creature managed to slip inside, his guard state would fail.
Yet if no demonic monstrosities came, he could not farm mobs for experience.
Right then, two ragged, armored figures appeared in the distant desert, catching Qi Yuan's eye.
In the distance...
"Cough, cough..." Zhang Sheng's eyes grew moist as he looked upon the towering city wall. "We're finally here."
Beside Zhang Sheng, Chen Jiao, whose arm was severed, looked deathly pale. He handed his waterskin to Zhang Sheng.
"Brother Sheng, finish the water. The two of us brothers will retake the City of No Return!"
That waterskin held every last drop of water they had left.
As part of the force sent to relieve the City of No Return, the Song Battalion had numbered 1,723 soldiers.
Their commanding general was named Li Huan, once a renowned general of Great Xia.
For over ten years, the City of No Return had not returned to Great Xia's domain.
It was one of the 108,000 lost cities.
Half a year ago, Great Xia's sovereign had exhausted the realm's resources to muster an army of grey-haired veterans and march them toward the City of No Return, all to reclaim it once more.
Unfortunately, they had run into a demonic host on the way.
A clash ensued, and only Zhang Sheng and Chen Jiao had managed to escape death, waking from beneath a mountain of corpses.
Though grievously wounded upon waking, the two pushed on toward the City of No Return, determined to plant the military banner of Great Xia upon its ramparts.
As long as the banner stood, it meant the City of No Return belonged to Great Xia for one more day.
The fortress would not count as completely lost.
Any city occupied by demonic monstrosities for more than a hundred years would cease to belong to humanity entirely—unless humanity retook it and held it for a full century.
How difficult was that?
Soldiers marching to the City of No Return had no path of retreat, nor any supplies.
In Great Xia, a saying had long circulated:
The moment one set foot on the road to the City of No Return, only a single month remained of one's life.
"A pity our banner cannot stay planted on the walls forever," Chen Jiao said, despondency written all over his face.
He had originally been a town butcher, coming from generations of butchers.
His cousin and his father had both died in the City of No Return.
He was the only one left in his family.
Zhang Sheng, on the other hand, had been a constable in town, and his father was the chief constable.
To Chen Jiao, Zhang Sheng had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
Ever since childhood, Zhang Sheng had longed to be a wandering knight-errant, riding proud horses in fine robes.
This time, ignoring his father's pleas, Zhang Sheng had secretly enlisted and come here.
Zhang Sheng looked at the City of No Return, filled with excitement. "The City of No Return hasn't returned to Great Xia for over a decade. As long as we plant the military banner on the wall, the soldiers and people of Great Xia will surely be roused to fervent pride!"
Zhang Sheng's grandfather had also died inside the City of No Return.
He was the youngest in his household, and his elder brother could look after their father, which was why he had come.
Both men were gravely injured; blood seeped from the corners of their mouths even as they spoke.
"To have my bones buried alongside our indomitable Great Xia forebears is enough to leave no regrets in this life." Though Chen Jiao was a butcher by trade, he had always liked using bookish words.
"The only regret is that we cannot raise grave mounds for our predecessors," Zhang Sheng said, drawing his broadsword as his gaze hardened.
Once they entered the City of No Return, they would face the siege of demonic monstrosities.
Death was certain. Even without the monsters, their injuries would not let them survive past ten days.
Just then, Zhang Sheng's eyes widened. "How is there someone on the wall?"
Chen Jiao froze as well, an expression of disbelief washing over him.
The City of No Return had been lost for over a decade. How could anyone be there?
Could it be an illusion?
Wasn't the City of No Return filled with demonic monstrosities?
Neither could understand it. They exchanged a bewildered look.
"Let's go over and see."
Zhang Sheng and Chen Jiao quickened their pace, gazing toward the City of No Return.
The closer they drew, the more astonished they became.
The interior of the City of No Return was dead quiet; not a single roar of a demonic monstrosity drifted out.
This was completely different from the reports they had received.
By all reason, shouldn't the fortress be swarming with demonic monstrosities right now?
Meanwhile, atop the ramparts, the figure of a slender young man in dark robes, cradling what looked like a broken sword, grew increasingly clear.
He sat calmly upon the wall, his build lean, yet he was unmistakably a living human.
"Who... who are you?" Chen Jiao plucked up the courage to ask.
The man on the wall shifted. Looking down at the two of them, he replied in a calm voice, "The Guardian of the City of No Return!"
Hearing this, Chen Jiao and Zhang Sheng were shaken to the core, overwhelmed by emotions beyond words.
Could it be that all these years, the City of No Return had never truly fallen?
That a son of Great Xia had remained here all along—one man, one broken sword—sitting alone on the ramparts to guard this place?
"I am Zhang Sheng, soldier of the Great Xia Song Battalion!"
"I am Chen Jiao, soldier of the Great Xia Song Battalion!"
Hearing their declarations, Qi Yuan's gaze swept over them. "Are they the NPCs who were supposed to guard this place?"
Chapter 98