Yellow Leaf City was a small city, it had a population of 7 million people, but it was conquered by an army of 10 thousand strong. The reason for this was simple, barely 6500 had cultivated within the city, and of those only 15000 who had not cultivated were armed and trained to protect the city. Not a single cultivator had protected Yellow Leaf City.

How much of the Azure Whale County's army had cultivated in contrast: all of them, save for the laborers. Simply the conquest branches of a county's army were enough to overwhelm a small city. After all, cultivation was an expensive matter. Even though one could slowly cultivate without using elixirs or herbs, one would first need to know a cultivation method.

Even the cheapest method would cost more than 200 golden taels, when one golden tael could feed a farmer and his family for the next 4 generations, with decent houses for each member.

Once a method was purchased, it could be used by multiple people, but few would ever teach a cultivation method to those outside of their closest family. Many of the Noble families had started this way after all, they passed down a few cultivation methods and treasures within their family to dominate a city or a rural region.

However, how could 7 million people fail against 10 thousand? The reason was clear, even the lowest realm of cultivation, the Skin Refinement Realm, allowed one's body to be impervious against arrows and knives at the hands of a non-trained man. Not to mention the stamina and strength it brought to the body that far surpassed most non-cultivating people.

Someone at the peak of the Skin Refinement Realm could be naked under a rain of arrows and thrown stones and remain unharmed. Not to mention that the soldiers of the Azure Whale County were mostly between the peak of the Skin Refinement Realm and the Flesh Refinement Realm.

Of course, the city may have had a chance if the Noble cultivators of the city fought, but not only them but even the Rogue and Demonic cultivators within the city had fled when they heard an army was coming. To a cultivator, life was a precious thing and to die for the sake of others was rare. Even the Azure Whale County's army had moved with the promise of great rewards for their conquest and better cultivation conditions and elixirs. Even a military cultivator thought of himself first and was only as loyal as his commander was powerful and threatening.

Tian Mingyun was unaware of the value of the book he had, not really. However, he was diligent in following its every word. He was currently shuffling through a wrecked smithy and collecting charcoal. The charcoal in the smithy of a small city like this was naturally poor. The heat of it could barely smelt iron, let alone forge proper steel. Regardless, even those iron tools were already scavenged by others in this time of need. Luckily for Tian Mingyun, nobody had taken the charcoal yet.

By the time Tian Mingyun was done, his hands and feet were covered in black, and he was using a cloth satchel to carry as much charcoal as he could. He was groaning from how heavy it was, which unfortunately attracted the other kids again.

"Woah, this idiot has really lost his mind. Of all things, he is lugging around coal."

"Did you get tired of living? Are you gonna try to eat coal now that you are done with trash?"

That kid called Zheng was among the kids mocking Tian Mingyun now. Zheng was now carrying a knife around his waist, it was clear to the other kids that Zheng was making good money by selling the tokens of the dead soldiers to the army man camping around the city. He was clearly making enough to eat well and buy shoes and even a knife.

"Trash like him only knows how to leech off of others. Now that most people are dead, he is probably mad! He has gone insane without inss to rob from."

Tian Mingyun did not mind them, he simply kept carrying the coal away while drenched in sweat. However, he made a mental note of that knife. Tian Mingyun would need it pretty soon after all.

Night came to the ruined city, and Zheng was inside a shabby but standing house with his mother and sister. He was sitting proudly, as he had easily kicked out the old woman living here up until earlier today. She ran away easily after he just slashed open her hand.

"You can sleep soundly now, mom! This son of yours, Huo Zheng, shall rebuild this family! You will neither go hungry nor cold so long as I live."

His mother was clearly proud, she was a woman who was too young to be called middle aged but too old to be called young. She had a healthy body and easily picked up her 12 year old son and hugged him.

"You are the spitting image of your father! He would be so proud to see you. You are a very filial son, Zheng! Not at all like your sister."

She looked at her daughter with scorn, that skinny girl had grown even skinnier now and was clearly too exhausted to even cry. The reason was made clear when the mother spoke.

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"She snuck out to eat berries when I was busy cleaning up this house and settling in! While one child houses his mother, the other dares to stop mourning for her fallen father. Who would be able to rest in the grave with a daughter like Lan?"

Huo Zheng was no fool. He knew that his sister needed food and mourning with something like this was fit for when times were good and one could do nothing but rest in the closed up house. He loved his mother a lot, but he still cared for his sister a little bit. He spoke in a clear tone, establishing himself as the man of the house.

"Mother, Huo Lan's hair will fall out and her beauty will fade if she starves any more than this. Let her eat one more bowl a day from now on."

His mother was not one to give up easily, but seeing her son trying to take charge of family matters, she yielded and placed a bowl of porridge in front of Huo Lan, which she ate like a hungry dog. She then hugged her big brother with her skinny arms to thank him.

Tian Mingyun was watching this happen from the window and decided once again that he could not steal from this family. Odd or not, they seemed to need that knife and care for each other in their weird way.

Tian Mingyun roamed around the ruined and desolate city hopelessly. He would need something to draw blood from a horse, as well as a metal needle. After having nearly lost hope, his eyes caught an armored man taking a piss on the broken border wall of the city. It was very dark outside and only Tian Mingyun's naturally dark adept eyes could see, while the armored man was clueless that he was being watched in his intimate moment.

Tian Mingyun did not care about the man's armor, nor did he have an affinity for watching others empty their bladders. He was instead focused on his socks that stuck out from his boots. They were patched up. Tian Mingyun may have been a young kid unable to tell bulls apart from cows, but he knew well that one needed a needle to sew. He followed the soldier of the Dark Mountain County back to his camp and listened in on him speaking with the only other soldier at the camp.

"Ahhh... It is more fun to watch a sapling grow than to be posted here."

"You speak the truth, brother Fen, but at least we got to see a fun kid!"

"Yeah! We just get to sit by while that kid collects all the tokens in our stead. He is happy with just a few iron coins."

"Hey, not like we are scamming the kid. I intend to take him back with us! His mother is already widowed, so he would work the hardest."

"You think a kid will do that?"

"Tsk tsk... You never learn, brother. You need to sign up useful men under yourself once you are at least a guard post lieutenant. You meet me in rank but you don't have half the ambition!"

"Heh, as if being responsible for 3 men each is a real rank. If anything, it is just so that the captain has to deal with less stuff. Look at us now, they sent both of us here while our men are with the captain."

Tian Mingyun was enjoying overhearing these two soldiers, while he was rummaging in their tent. He not only found a needle, but even a small shiv. It was nowhere near as good as even an iron knife, but it was still useful to him so he took it.

Unfortunately for him, these two soldiers were cultivators. They were at the beginning of the Skin Refinement Realm, but their senses were still much sharper than a normal person and they noticed him just as he was about to leave.

One of them quickly grabbed a half singed twig out of the campfire and threw it into the tent with great force, the twig itself hitting the back of Tian Mingyun so hard, that he fell over. Tian Mingyun was quick witted, he knew that the best thing to do was to avoid being caught. He started running out of the tent and into the woods.

"Stop there, you little thief!"

"As if a brat like you can run away from me!"

Not only were these two men adults with longer legs, but they moved much faster than any adult Tian Mingyun had ever seen. The ten steps of distance between him and them at the start closed to four steps of distance within a few breaths' time. Tian Mingyun quickly looked around for a way out, only seeing a muddy hill behind the bushes.

Knowing that getting caught meant a severe beating at the very least, Tian Mingyun leapt over the bushes and blindly dove onto the muddy hill, while showing what was in his hands under the bright moonlight, hoping the soldiers would let him go thinking it was not worth their time.

Thankfully for Tian Mingyun, the soldiers did actually think it was not worth their time and stopped chasing. Unfortunately for Tian Mingyun, it was not for the reason he guessed.

"Ah, what a dumb kid! He went ahead and leaped off! Does he have a life to spare or something?"

"All that for a stupid shiv... I would have just given him the damn thing if he asked."

"Well, let's hope it keeps him alive down there."

"Well if he comes alive from such a place, I want nothing to do with him. Nothing but the dead and the dying down there."

During every war, after each battle, there was much to clean up, regardless of which side won. The dead outside the walls could be left to the animals to pick clean and eat. The dead within the city walls would need to be carried over to the cemetery to be buried, usually in large mass graves if they were poor. However, those who were certainly dying but were yet to die were difficult to deal with.

The dying were bound to get ill. And those who were ill would certainly spread it. For this purpose, it was tradition for a county to send a couple of soldiers to each city that got razed during a battle to gather the tokens of the dead soldiers and the dying together. This was not even a difficult task, since a razed city would have a lot of people willing to toil away for mere iron coins.

However, the difficult part began after that. It differed from location to location, but in a hilly and forested place like the Yellow Leaf City, the dying would be gathered in a tree covered decline and the climb back up oiled with the cheapest oil by the two soldiers. They would then guard this spot until all the dying were gathered and then burn it after pouring barrels of water on the surrounding trees to contain the fire.

The militaries of every nation had thought of methods for such common problems since war was a constant of the world. This was not seen as cruelty, but mercy. Since sickness spreading through the city would doom everyone. The livestock and other dying animals that got injured during the war were no exception, thus this kind of "Early Burial" was often stacked so high with bodies that the bottom was uncertain, and the dead and dying flesh of man and beast filled one's sight.