# 1090
Chapter 1091: Bloodbath of the Heavens
The moment he saw this Coat of Arms, a strange sense of calling surged through Lin Qiye's heart.
It was an inexplicable feeling, as if everything had been predestined. When the Coat of Arms lying in the snow reflected his charred, rotting face, countless images flashed through his mind like a film.
Zhao Kongcheng, drawing his blade to slay demons in the rainy night; Zhou Ping, slicing through gods with his sword beyond the mist; Lu Qiu, risking his life to deliver a message at Sunken Dragon Pass; the Gods of Great Xia, transforming themselves into monuments at the border...
The radiance emanating from them—this moment, Lin Qiye saw it too.
It was there, on that Coat of Arms.
It had always been within himself, closer than close, yet seeming so impossibly far away.
The浑身焦黑 burned Lin Qiye extended his trembling hands, cradling this gleam of light from the snow as if it were a priceless treasure, holding it in his palm.
What had fallen into the snow was not merely a Coat of Arms—it was the missing piece of Lin Qiye's heart: that unique conviction and sense of duty belonging to the Night Watch.
It was what he had lost over the past few years, the root cause of his confusion and self-doubt.
The moment he gripped this Coat of Arms, all the confusion and doubt in his heart seemed to find their answers.
Lin Qiye smiled.
He smiled happily. Even though it caused another ferocious gash to split open at his carbonized, charred mouth, his eyes shone brighter than they ever had before.
"The ancient Chinese poetry, the foreign verses—I've exhausted them all... This time, I want to try something different."
He rose slowly, lifting his head to gaze up at the towering Monument to the Nation in the blizzard, his right hand clutching the Coat of Arms tightening into a fist, raised beside his temple.
His smile faded from his face, replaced by an unprecedented solemnity.
He stood tall and straight there, his lips parting slightly as his voice carried across the wind and snow, threaded with a mysterious rhythm:
"I, Lin Qiye, swear before all beings of Great Xia.
—If the night must fall..."
...
The wailing blizzard echoed between the mountain peaks.
Countless recruits stared in frozen silence at the battlefield before the Monument to the Nation.
They had witnessed with their own eyes that figure draped in the Crimson Cloak, a mere mortal standing before the gods, time and again beaten back, grievously wounded, yet stubbornly and steadfastly clawing back to his feet, defending the monument once more.
When he was first slain by the god of the sky, every recruit's heart seemed to stop, endless despair and grief flooding through them.
When he was struck into a deep pit by the goddess of life, their hearts turned to ash.
When they saw Lin Qiye, consumed by flames and completely charred, crawl out from the pit's depths, they could finally no longer contain their emotions, roaring with desperate force, pounding their fists against the frozen ground, their bloodshot eyes—sclerae about to burst from their sockets—already brimming with tears.
"Commander Lin!!!"
"COMMANDER LIN!!!"
"COMMANDER LIN!!! KILL THESE BASTARD FOREIGN GODS!!!"
...
It was the first time they had witnessed such a brutal battle with their own eyes.
It was also the first time they had felt so clearly, what it meant to be a Night Watch...
Beside the recruits, Shen Qingzhu stared fixedly at that charred figure, his body trembling beneath the deep red cloak, his ten fingers digging deep into his palms, nails piercing flesh, drops of blood falling onto the snow.
Countless times he had wanted to charge forward, to fight shoulder to shoulder with Lin Qiye and the others, but reason restrained him again and again, keeping him in place.
He didn't possess Lin Qiye's monstrous talent, nor did he have the terrifying entity within Cao Yuan. Shen Qingzhu was just an ordinary person—even if he rushed to the monument and forcibly elevated his realm using Ghost God Induction, he would pose absolutely no threat before the gods.
Lin Qiye had left them behind hoping that if anything happened to him, they could protect these recruits.
These recruits... were the future of Great Xia.
Shen Qingzhu's chest heaved violently. He gazed at the distant battlefield and, for the first time, felt how utterly powerless he was—so weak that he didn't even qualify to fight alongside his brothers, to stake his life in battle.
Rage, self-reproach,不甘—these emotions surged through him like a flood.
He... could do nothing.
Just as Shen Qingzhu sank into deep self-blame, he saw it: beneath the Monument to the Nation, that charred figure slowly raised his fist beside his temple.
A voice echoed across heaven and earth.
"I, Lin Qiye, swear before all beings of Great Xia.
—If the night must fall..."
Hearing that voice, every recruit present froze in place. Only Shen Qingzhu seemed to realize something and reacted swiftly.
He recalled the conversation he'd had with Lin Qiye not long ago and guessed what Lin Qiye was about to do.
Damn it... DAMN IT!!
A flicker of light flashed through Shen Qingzhu's mind. He turned sharply and bellowed to all the recruits beside him:
"What are you waiting for?! Commander Lin's final lesson isn't over!!
EVERYONE!! Recite the oath with Commander Lin!!!"
Shen Qingzhu's roar snapped the recruits from their daze. They straightened immediately, fists raised to their temples, eyes fixed on that charred figure standing tall and proud before the monument:
"I, Fang Mo, swear before all beings of Great Xia!"
"I, Lu Baoyou, swear before all beings of Great Xia!"
"I, Li Zhenzhen, swear before all beings of Great Xia!"
"I, Su Zhe, swear before all beings of..."
...
Finally, everyone's voice merged into one:
"—IF THE NIGHT MUST FALL!!!"
...
In the distance, the oaths of hundreds of recruits rolled like thunder, echoing through the wind and snow.
Aisis stood beneath the monument, glanced toward the direction of the voices, his brow furrowing slightly, then turned to look at the charred figure climbing out from the deep pit, walking toward him.
As the voices spread, it seemed as though some immensely powerful force was continuously surging forth within that figure.
It was [Skyward Bard].
"Always haunting me..."
Aisis coldly snorted, his blue robe billowing as he walked toward Lin Qiye.
Lin Qiye's expression was calm beyond words. He opened his mouth, and his voice rang out once more:
"—I SHALL STAND BEFORE TEN THOUSAND!!"
"—I SHALL STAND BEFORE TEN THOUSAND!!!" From the distant mountain peaks, hundreds of recruits roared in unison.
"—AND DRAW MY BLADE AGAINST THE ABYSS!!!"
"—AND DRAW MY BLADE AGAINST THE ABYSS!!!"
Watching Aisis's form approach closer and closer, Lin Qiye took a deep breath. In his clenched palm, the Coat of Arms flipped over, and a silver short needle automatically ejected.
Lin Qiye's eyes blazed with unprecedented brightness!
Lightning-fast, he drove this needle into his own flesh, straining every ounce of strength in his body as he howled:
"—BLOODBATH OF THE HEAVENS!!!"
"—BLOODBATH OF THE HEAVENS!!!"