The frontal war was over in less than an hour.

There was no thorough mountain search. Once the soldiers and martial artists retreated one or two kilometers away, five giant airships, each about seventy to eighty meters long, flew low at several hundred meters altitude, slowly approaching Yun Mountain and then dropped a large number of napalm bombs.

Currently, Hedong City has few heavy weapons left. The only dozen or so cannons were hastily assembled overnight from a plethora of scattered parts and barrels, but there was no shortage of shells.

The Great Xia Country's nearly twenty-year quasi-war-ready state, preparing for war at any moment, had piled up munitions like mountains in their arsenals.

Chen Shouyi noticed that the bombing accuracy of these airships was not high, with many napalm bombs landing at the foot of the mountain. One even fell on a building, engulfing its upper floors in flames. Fortunately, the surrounding buildings were already empty.

Chen Shouyi thought to himself, no wonder these airships stayed out of combat during the fight.

If they had suddenly dropped a few napalm bombs during the battle and hit the troops, the war might have been unmanageable, and morale would have collapsed.

Fortunately, most of them accurately hit Yun Mountain.

On Yun Mountain, flames and toxic smoke spread rapidly and rose to the sky. Occasionally, Barbarians, engulfed in flames, would scream and dart out of the forest where they were hiding, running in panic, only to collapse after a few hundred meters, rolling violently on the ground.

Clearly, not every Barbarian was a fanatical believer who let go of all secular ties and only kept gods in their hearts. Not all of them were truly fearless of death. Many Barbarians did not charge down with the others, instead opting to hide in the forest during their escape.

Half an hour later, the whole of Yun Mountain was ablaze, thick smoke rolling.

...

On the way back.

The atmosphere was somewhat oppressive.

There were originally eighteen martial artists in the vehicle on the way there, but only sixteen were left on the way back, with two martial artists having been killed in action.

Chen Shouyi sat in the car, pulling aside the curtain on one side and looked out sideways.

Though the war was won, the entire city was still desolate. There were no pedestrians on the streets, and the glass of many buildings on both sides was shattered. Several stray dogs with greenish eyes were fighting over a partially bloody, black-marked arm on the roadside, gnawing all the way down to the exposed bones.

Upon hearing the roar of the steam truck, these stray dogs whimpered, tucked their tails, and quickly fled.

"After this event, the whole of Hedong City is going to decline. There are probably not many people left in the urban area." Song Jieying sighed and said.

Chen Shouyi closed the curtain and said: "The city is too large, and the population is dense, which makes it hard to defend!"

"General Manager Chen is right, what's the point of living in the city? There're hardly any factories, no jobs to be found, and it's just about living off what you have." Xue Youcheng, now feeling comfortable talking in front of Chen Shouyi, interjected.

"The countryside isn't safe either. If anything happens, there is no one to call for help." Chen Shouyi replied.

"But that is for ordinary people. Given your strength, General Manager Chen, I am sure you would be fine," Xue Youcheng flattered.

"Why go to the countryside? I can't farm!" Chen Shouyi smiled, appreciating how pleasant Old Xue's words were.

"How could we let you do that? I come from the countryside. Just as long as you don't mind, I'll farm for you." Xue Youcheng patted his chest, paying no mind to the odd looks from others.

Song Jieying rolled her eyes internally at the shamelessness of this man who, though in his thirties, still acted this way.

After a few idle chats, Chen Shouyi ended the conversation and discreetly opened the attributes panel.

"Willpower has increased by 0.1 points, plus yesterday's increase of 0.3 points, totaling an increase of 0.4 points in two days, reaching 13.4 in willpower, which means an increase of two levels in quantity."

"Sure enough, a real life-or-death battle is the best way to forge willpower." He thought to himself thoughtfully.

He extended his hand, joined his index and middle fingers to form a sword shape, and concentrated his mind. Suddenly, it felt as though an invisible force burst out from his fingertips, causing his skin to itch slightly. Unable to resist, he drew a line on the curtain nearby.

Like a sharp blade, the curtain silently split open, leaving a long fine slit.

He discreetly made another swipe toward a corner of the seat, instantly slicing off a small piece of hard plastic along with a screw as thin as a chopstick.

"It seems sharper, and the consumption of mental energy is also reduced." Chen Shouyi carefully perceived.

He pinched the small piece of cut plastic in his hand, pulled open the curtain, and secretly tossed it out the window.

At this moment, a cold breeze blew by, bringing a few fallen leaves through the gap and into the compartment, one of which headed straight for Chen Shouyi's face, making him frown.

In an instant, the blowing cold wind stilled, yet the leaf that had been blown hung before his eyes, not falling for a long time.

A trace of surprise flashed across his face, and with a mental shift, the leaf then wobbled and fell to the ground.

He glanced around, noticing that nobody witnessed this miraculous scene nor was anyone attempting to prank him.

"What is going on? I only used the Wind Control ability to stop the wind; the leaf shouldn't have stayed suspended. Since acquiring the Wind Control ability, I've never encountered such a phenomenon."

Could he try again?

His curiosity piqued; he picked a less noticeable target—a fragment of paper about the size of a mung bean at his feet.

He covertly used his Wind Control ability.

With a wisp of a breeze blowing by, the fragment soon lifted, wobbling into the air. To avoid detection, once the fragment rose about a foot, he immediately calmed the breeze.

Watching the paper fragment slowly descend under gravity, his heart grew more perplexed.

Not the Wind Control ability?

What, then, was the cause? Could it have been a fluke, or was it a matter of insufficient height?

At this moment, a thought stirred within him as he carefully reflected on his earlier actions:

"Could it have been related to concentrating my mind while testing the Sword Qi?"

The more he contemplated, the more plausible it seemed, and gazing at the small paper piece, he immediately focused his mind, and in the next instant, an unbelievable event occurred.

No sooner had he formed the thought than the piece of paper floated up, not wobbling like before; this time, it rose smoothly, as though his mind was guiding its movement.

Was it willpower or telekinesis?

Or were the two inherently one?

A flicker of excitement passed through Chen Shouyi's mind, but as his thoughts wavered, the paper lost control and began to drift downwards.

Before it hit the ground, he swiftly regained control, and the paper floated back up.

Chen Shouyi seemed to have found a new toy, playing enthusiastically, sometimes guiding the paper in an S-shape between his feet, other times sending it skimming quickly along the ground. He even mischievously directed it into Song Jieying's pant leg, unbeknownst to her.

However, to his slight disappointment, the paper could only be controlled within his perception range, losing its influence beyond two meters. Additionally, the power was pitiably weak, quickly exhausting his mental energy after just a few seconds of controlling a stone the size of a common glass bead.

What use did such a weak ability have?

It was no more than a tiny trick.

After playing for a while, Chen Shouyi grew bored, leaning back in his seat to rest with his eyes closed.

At this moment, one of the martial artists in the vehicle suddenly broached a sensitive topic: "What do you think will happen to those who didn't respond to the draft in two days?"

"Indeed, there weren't many martial artists who showed up this time. I reckon less than 60% of the martial artists in the Safe Zone turned up. Many people I know didn't come."

"I knew General Manager Cui didn't come!"

Bringing up General Manager Cui, everyone fell silent, hesitating to discuss someone so respected, even somewhat fearful, for being a renowned martial artist. After a few seconds, finally, someone spoke up.

"Who knows how they'll handle it. At most, I think they'll deduct the martial artist subsidy."

"If that's all, I wouldn't have come in the first place, nor would I go in the future. Money's nothing compared to one's life."

...

Everyone chattered on, their voices echoing in the vehicle, even though Chen Shouyi felt somewhat distressed.

The saying goes that one shouldn't worry about scarcity but about inequality. He could understand martial artists from other districts not coming due to strained circumstances, being spread out, making timely notifications or arrivals challenging.

But those martial artists from the Safe Zone who did not respond to the draft truly agitated him. If the provincial or city government failed to penalize them correspondingly, the entire martial artist community's morale might collapse.

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