[Sect Resource Wars + Mythical Beasts of the Mountains and Seas + Eastern-Style Battle Armor + Blood-Pumping Power Fantasy]
In my past life, I guarded the nation's borders. In this life, I guard the Nine Provinces.
When Sang Jiu opened her eyes again, she was lying in a mass grave in the cultivation world.
Her meridians were useless, her cultivation ranked at the bottom, her sect had been defeated, and enemies all around her were waiting to finish her off.
Sang Jiu looked down at the knife in her hand.
Fine! This was right up her alley.
Others relied on talent to cultivate. She relied on stealing.
No weapons? Steal some.
No spirit crystals? Steal some.
No mines? Then she'd haul the opposing sect back, mines and equipment and all.
From then on, the entire Cangwu Sect watched as the disciple whose useless meridians were universally agreed upon went on an unstoppable rampage.
Others killed monsters for their bones. She smashed open their cages, and an ancient beast of great ferocity joined her ranks.
Others spent their entire fortunes forging battle armor. She took apart broken armor, altered beast patterns, and dug up darksteel, then turned around and armored the beasts of the mountains and seas, too.
Others seized one mine. She took an entire vein.
Others brought a few spirit beasts to a fight. She organized ten thousand beasts into an army.
By the time the Hundred Sects fought over territory, beast tides swept across the land, and the heavenly pass collapsed, the world finally realized that Sang Jiu hadn't raised a herd of beasts. She had raised an army clad in the battle armor of the mountains and seas.
And what she had brought back from the mass grave was more than just her own life.
It was a Cangwu Sect so poor it rattled when it walked.
It was a city after city that refused to be abandoned.
It was the ever-growing number of people behind her, willing to stand their ground and die alongside her.
Later, the Guixu opened, and war fires spread across the Nine Provinces.
Beneath the heavens, ten thousand suits of armor shone at once.
Ten thousand beasts trampled the endless night as Sang Jiu stood at the front in her armor.
Behind her stood the Nine Provinces, and her home.
Someone asked, "Why are all the beasts of the mountains and seas willing to follow her?"
Sang Jiu lowered her visor as the beasts behind her roared in unison.
"Who says they're following me? They're my comrades in arms."
