Late Night.
Out on the grasslands, Li Dao and his group had no idea how long they had been walking before they finally came to a stop.
“We’re here.”
At those words, the group of death row prisoners followed Captain Liu’s gaze.
In the distance across the grassland, a bonfire was visible.
Surrounding the bonfire were many people dressed in strange, exotic clothing.
Many instantly recognized that these were not people of the Great Qian Dynasty—but rather the nomadic barbarians of the Northern Steppe.
Captain Liu turned back to the group of prisoners and said, “Soon, you’ll sneak up with us. Your task is to storm the camp and set it on fire—cause a disturbance and draw the barbarians’ attention, so we can circle behind and launch a surprise attack.”
Hearing this, the prisoners’ expressions changed drastically.
They were to charge a Northern barbarian encampment—even if it was just a small one—this was no different than being sent to die.
After all, one side was a trained army, the other a ragtag group of death row inmates.
Captain Liu seemed to anticipate their thoughts and reassured them, “Don’t worry, you won’t be sent to die in vain.”
“All you have to do is set some fires and cause chaos. Once we regroup with you, you’ll be safe. At that point, you can just hide—we’re not expecting you to actually kill anyone.”
Hearing his serious tone, some of the prisoners felt a bit reassured.
They glanced at the hundred soldiers with Captain Liu, then at the relatively small barbarian camp up ahead, and gradually nodded in agreement.
Seeing this, Captain Liu waved his hand, and the soldiers of the Great Qian Dynasty quietly dispersed into the night.
Not long after, Li Dao and the others arrived just a few dozen meters from the Northern barbarian camp.
Captain Liu stayed nearby with two soldiers.
“Take out the sentries.”
At his order, the two soldiers dashed into the darkness.
Soon after, the sound of a partridge’s cry echoed in the night.
At the signal, Captain Liu nodded and looked back at the prisoners. “The sentries are taken care of. It’s all up to you now.”
“Wait for my whistle. Once you hear it—move!”
The death row inmates exchanged looks, then began creeping toward the barbarian camp, weapons in hand.
Li Dao stayed quietly in the middle of the group—neither leading nor lagging behind. His right hand gripped the rusty blade tightly, as if it were the only source of comfort in this nightmare.
Just as the group neared the camp, a sharp whistle pierced the night.
“Let’s go!”
“Even if I’m a prisoner, I still look down on these barbarian scum!”
“If you want to live, don’t hesitate!”
With a chorus of war cries, the death row prisoners had no choice but to commit. There was no turning back now.
Scattering across the area, they rushed the barbarian camp.
The Northern barbarians responded quickly. As soon as they heard the commotion, they grabbed their weapons and began to assemble.
“We’re under attack! Grab your weapons!”
“It’s the Great Qian army—kill every last one of them!”
“For the Bear God—kill them all!”
Shouts echoed across the once-quiet camp, now erupting into chaos.
In one corner of the Northern barbarian camp, Li Dao moved cautiously, his rusted blade in hand.
Whenever he came across a tent, he’d drag its edge into a nearby fire, setting it ablaze to create more confusion.
“Don’t kill me! Please don’t kill me!”
Suddenly, a panicked scream rang out.
Li Dao turned and saw, about ten meters away, another prisoner running headlong into a barbarian soldier.
In just one exchange, the scrawny prisoner was knocked to the ground.
Facing death, he began to beg for his life.
But the barbarian soldier showed no mercy. With a single slash, he cut the prisoner’s head clean off. Blood sprayed across the ground.
The barbarian then looked up—and locked eyes with Li Dao.
Having just taken a life, the soldier seemed fired up. Seeing Li Dao, another ‘weakling,’ he charged straight toward him without calling for backup.
“Great Qian scum—die!”
As he closed in, the barbarian raised his blade and slashed heavily.
Li Dao didn’t hesitate. He raised his own sword to block.
Clang!
A sharp metallic crash rang out as sparks flew. The two blades locked mid-air.
The barbarian’s expression turned to disbelief—how could this frail-looking man stop his strike?
While the barbarian was stunned, Li Dao had no time to think.
Realizing he was stronger, he put all his strength into his next move and knocked the barbarian’s weapon aside.
Whoosh!
He gripped his rusty blade tightly and slashed it heavily toward the Northern barbarian soldier’s neck.
Squelch!
With a wet slicing sound, a spray of blood splattered across Li Dao’s face.
But something unexpected happened.
He didn’t manage to kill the barbarian with one strike—the blade was too dull and got stuck halfway in the soldier’s neck, making Li Dao’s scalp tingle at the sight.
“Argh!”
In agony, the barbarian soldier collapsed to the ground, howling in pain, blood gushing from his neck as he struggled.
Seeing this, Li Dao muttered under his breath, “Sorry.”
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to finish the job cleanly—the weapon was just too awful.
Still, he was lucky to have considerable strength. Anyone else swinging this blunt blade probably wouldn’t have even broken the skin.
With the rusted sword still lodged in the barbarian’s neck, Li Dao had no choice but to grab the sharper longsword the soldier had dropped.
He weighed it in his hand.
No doubt about it—this kind of weapon felt right.
Looking at the still-screaming barbarian on the ground, he didn’t hesitate. He brought the sword down swiftly to end it, then cut off the man’s left ear.
If he had to kill, he was going to collect the battle merit too.
A second later, a system prompt rang in his mind:
[Enemy killed: 1 — Attribute gained: 0.15]
Seeing the message, Li Dao felt an odd sense of comfort.
Attributes… gave him a sense of security.
Without hesitation, before more enemies could arrive, he immediately allocated all the newly earned attribute points to Physique.
A few breaths later, the allocation was complete.
He gripped the longsword again. With the stat boost, the weapon felt even easier to handle.
Hearing the chaos around him, Li Dao decisively continued moving, carefully scanning his surroundings.
Soon, he reached another Northern barbarian tent.
Just as he was about to set it on fire, he heard movement from inside.
His eyes lit up as he crept up to the entrance, waiting.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, someone stepped out of the tent.
Swish!
In an instant, blood sprayed everywhere.
[Enemy killed: 1 — Attribute gained: 0.12]
This strike didn’t fail—the system notification rang clearly.
“What’s going on, Ada?” a voice called from inside, alarmed by the noise outside the tent.
Hearing this, Li Dao took a deep breath, then charged into the tent with his blade raised.
“You… a Great Qian soldier… Why—”
Before the sentence could be finished, a splash of blood painted the tent wall red. Silence fell.
Inside the tent.
Glancing at the mess around him and the strange odor in the air, Li Dao frowned and kicked the fallen barbarian soldier with disgust.
He muttered, “Damn pervert.”
As the barbarian exhaled his final breath, the system alert came as expected:
[Enemy killed: 1 — Attribute gained: 0.13]
“Status panel,” Li Dao commanded mentally.
[User: Li Dao]
[Physique: 2.15]
[Available Attribute Points: 0.25]
He barely glanced at it before immediately allocating all points to Physique.
Until he figured out whether attribute points had any other uses, boosting his Physique was the safest choice.
A wave of heat surged through his body, reinforcing his muscles and endurance.
A few breaths later:
[User: Li Dao]
[Physique: 2.4]
[Available Attribute Points: 0]
His Physique was now nearly 2.5 times that of an average person. He finally had some means of protecting himself.
But it still wasn’t enough. In Li Dao’s mind, true safety meant pushing his attributes to at least ten.
Hearing the increasing commotion outside the tent, Li Dao didn’t choose to hide. Instead, he used his longsword to cut off the left ears of the two Northern barbarian soldiers, wrapped them in a cloth, tucked them into his chest, and decisively walked out, blade in hand.
Elsewhere—
Now that the death-row prisoners had thoroughly stirred up chaos in the Northern barbarian camp, Commander Liu didn’t hesitate any longer. He blew his whistle, signaling his troops to launch an assault on the barbarian camp.
In an instant, the camp plunged into even greater disarray.
The Northern barbarian soldiers, who moments ago had been full of murderous energy, lost their edge the moment they saw the elite troops of the Great Qian Dynasty. Instead of attacking, they switched to defensive formations.
Within the camp,
Li Dao roamed with his sword, striking down any isolated barbarian soldier he encountered.
Thanks to his extraordinary physique, he didn’t need any advanced combat techniques—against regular soldiers, he could end fights quickly and efficiently.
And so, he advanced while killing, each encounter making him more adept. Killing became easier, and his technique grew sharper and more brutal.
Eventually, the barbarian soldiers took notice of this ruthless killer and began grouping up to defend themselves. At the same time, the Great Qian regulars also noticed Li Dao’s prowess and began rallying around him to mop up the enemy forces.
With a swift block, Li Dao deflected a strike aimed at a Qian soldier and, in the same motion, cut down the attacking barbarian.
“Thanks!” the Qian soldier said gratefully, recognizing the lifesaving assist.
But Li Dao didn’t respond—his focus was on the system prompt:
[Enemy killed: 1 — Attribute gained: 0.2]
It was an elite unit—almost worth twice that of a normal soldier.
But just as Li Dao was feeling pleased, a shout rang out:
“Drop your weapons! Surrender and you won’t be killed!”
It was Commander Liu’s voice.
Surrender and not be killed?
Li Dao panicked at the sudden call.
Taking a man’s money is like killing his father!
If they surrendered, he’d lose out on kills—and that meant lost attributes.
Before the barbarians could react, Li Dao made up his mind. He grabbed a second sword with his left hand and charged forward alongside the Qian soldiers, dual-wielding his blades as he cut through the enemy.
Maybe it was because of his overwhelming and almost crazed performance, but the already-shaken resolve of the barbarian soldiers completely crumbled.
“I surrender! Don’t kill me!”
“We’re surrendering, we give up!”
“…”
Facing the unstoppable force that was Li Dao, the barbarian soldiers threw down their weapons one after another.
Li Dao’s sword came to a halt, its blade hovering at a barbarian’s neck.
Seeing that Li Dao hadn’t moved, the barbarian exhaled in relief.
But perhaps sensing the resentment in Li Dao’s eyes, he actually had the gall to flash a taunting expression.
The next second…
Squelch!
A head fell to the ground.
“What are you doing?!”
“Why did you kill him? He already surrendered!”
“That’s a war crime! He was a prisoner!”
“You’re not following the rules!”
One after another, the barbarian soldiers shouted accusations at Li Dao.
But Li Dao only shrugged and said calmly, “Sorry. My hand slipped.”
At that, the shouting immediately ceased.
But only for a moment—then they all exploded with curses, each one more vulgar than the last.
After all, what kind of person “slips” and decapitates someone?!
Squelch!
Amidst the cursing, another head rolled to the ground.
The shouting stopped again.
Everyone stared at Li Dao in disbelief—even the soldiers of the Great Qian Dynasty were stunned.
One time might’ve been a mistake. But twice? That looked intentional.
Li Dao looked toward the barbarians and said coldly, “Oops. Slipped again.”
This time, no one dared say a word.
They could only look at Li Dao with terror in their eyes, silently cursing him in their hearts.
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