Longzang

Chapter 176 It's been tough on you.
On the plain, Ji Liuli glanced at the glow of the feng shui array in his hand and said to the hundreds of people behind him, "There's a camp ahead. All you have to do is rush in, kill everyone you see, burn all the supplies, and run away when they realize what's happening. I'll be waiting for you here. Anyone who sees the smoke and comes back alive will be a full member of the Boundary Guard! Go!"

Although these hundreds of men weren't particularly skilled, they all had fierce expressions. Upon receiving the order, they immediately dispersed and used their respective abilities to stealthily make their way to the distant camp. Moments later, shouts of battle erupted, flames soared into the sky, and hundreds of men stormed into the camp, killing anyone they saw. They then carelessly threw their oil canisters everywhere, each throw igniting a fire.

The garrison in the camp reacted a moment too late, rushing out of their tents to counterattack. Well-trained and well-equipped, they quickly cut down the invading men. Seeing the unfavorable situation, the raiders whistled and turned to flee.

Wang Ziyan emerged from the central command tent, both shocked and furious, and immediately took to the sky. He saw that the men who had charged into the camp were being met with a fierce counterattack and were already fleeing in droves.

Wang Ziyan lunged down from mid-air, and with a single sweep of his hand, knocked out more than a dozen of the slower-moving men. By this time, more than half of the hundreds of men who had stormed into the camp had been killed, with only a hundred or so escaping.

Wang Ziyan ordered his men to gather all the survivors together for immediate interrogation. At this moment, he couldn't understand why the outer sentries hadn't reacted at all, allowing this rabble to attack the camp.

Although the men who raided the camp were ruthless, there weren't many tough guys among them, and they all confessed during the first interrogation.

They were originally bandits and thieves, but they were recruited by the Azure Netherworld a few days ago and transformed into the realm's regular army, even being given the designation of the Loyal and Brave Battalion.

They were assigned by the higher-ups of the realm to attack the camp today, and they would be rewarded upon their return if they succeeded. These bandits were already risking their lives, so they didn't care who was in the camp and just charged in.

Wang Ziyan then cursed the Taichu Palace for being treacherous, publicly challenging them to a duel while secretly sending people to raid their camp.

Fortunately, Xu Xinhui's arrangements were well-thought-out, leaving Wang Ziyan to guard the area, which prevented major losses. However, this Qingming Realm was indeed insignificant; even newly shed bandits were being used as regular troops. But thinking about it, it's obvious—a newly formed realm with its supply lines blocked, what strength could it possibly have?
At the very top of the mountain.

Xu Xinhui, covered in blood and his eyes blazing with fury, stared intently at Wei Yuan. The immortal sword Shao Hao hovered above his head, wailing incessantly; the flames on its blade had almost completely died down, leaving only a sliver of golden-red color.

Wei Yuan was also covered in wounds, many of which were charred, and he could barely hold his eight-foot-long sword.

After a long battle, both men were exhausted.

Wei Yuan had to admit that Xu Xinhui was indeed a tough opponent. Both were at the late-stage Dao Foundation realm, and even a group of Liao clan young masters tied together couldn't defeat Xu Xinhui. Although there's only a one-level difference between Immortal Foundation and Celestial Foundation, that one level can represent a world of difference.

Xu Xinhui possessed profound cultivation, masterful Taoist arts, unwavering will, and divine swordsmanship, leaving him with no weaknesses. Even with the immortal sword's power greatly diminished, he remained a formidable and respectable opponent. Wei Yuan had no chance to resort to trickery; he could only exchange blows, enduring the conflict head-on, trading injuries and Taoist strength, gradually building their strength to this point.

With only a tiny ember remaining, the Immortal Sword Shao Hao fell from the sky. Xu Xinhui caught the sword, exclaimed "Good!" several times, and said bitterly, "I've lost this time. Guard your lair! You won't be so lucky next time."

Xu Xinhui soared into the sky and then disappeared into the distance.

Wei Yuan did not chase after him, but watched him go. Only after his figure disappeared on the horizon did he move his body. All the blood in his body returned to its normal flow, and his wounds quickly closed up. In the blink of an eye, his injuries were almost completely healed.

Before Xu Xinhui even returned to the camp, he saw several plumes of smoke in the distance. He was startled and quickly flew back to the camp, where Wang Ziyan came out to greet him.

Upon seeing Xu Xinhui, Wang Ziyan was immediately enraged, cursing, "Those bastards from Taichu Palace knew you weren't here, so they actually raided our camp! But they're just a rabble, all bandits. We lost over twenty men, killed over a hundred of them, and captured over a hundred. I've already interrogated them; there are over three thousand soldiers in the realm now, but most of them are mortals who have never cultivated before. Let's just charge in and wipe them out!"

Xu Xinhui remained silent. Only then did Wang Ziyan notice his elder brother's unusual expression and asked, "What's wrong? Are they going to break their promise and start a group attack?"

Xu Xinhui sighed and said with a wry smile, "No, it was indeed a one-man battle. It's just that the Wu Clan altered the heavens and earth there and sealed the immortal sword."

Wang Ziyan was stunned for a moment.

Half a day later, Wei Yuan returned to the main peak of the realm and summoned everyone from the Tai Chu Palace for a meeting.

Upon seeing him, Ji Liuli immediately asked, "How badly are you injured? Do you need me to treat you again?" Wei Yuan quickly replied, "No need for Senior Sister, I'm already healed!"

Before even returning to the realm, Wei Yuan's injuries were already almost healed. Once inside the realm, with the blessing of Jia Mu Sheng Xuan, he would be fully recovered in just half an hour.

Ji Liuli laughed and said, "It must have been hard for you, fighting with him for so long."

Wei Yuan felt helpless thinking about this. He always fought with a bold and unrestrained style, taking the approach of overwhelming the opponent head-on, and usually couldn't last long. But Xu Xinhui was stubborn and unyielding, with no weaknesses, and refused to admit defeat, stubbornly holding his own against Wei Yuan for half a day.

To avoid alerting the enemy, Wei Yuan couldn't use any of his thousands of Dao foundations, firearms, the Moon Laurel Immortal Branch, his luck, Ji Liuli's Treasure Cloud, or even his master's. In the end, he resorted to Feng Tingyu's methods, enduring two sword strikes and then a slash in return, and fought Xu Xinhui for several hours before finally managing to kill the guy.

Xu Xinhui has a special identity; he is both a member of the Xu family and a high-ranking disciple of the Sword Palace. He cannot be killed. If Wei Yuan wants to kill him, he needs a suitable reason, which he has not yet thought of.

Xu Xinhui brought not only a thousand elite tribal soldiers with him on this westward journey, but also four thousand auxiliary soldiers. Bao Yun discovered all of this yesterday, and even found the location of the auxiliary soldiers' main camp.

Therefore, after discussing it yesterday, everyone agreed that Xu Xinhui was probably a vanguard sent by the Xu family to test the waters, and that a large force would surely follow behind.

Wei Yuan urgently obtained some information from Xu Jingfeng. Although it was not very detailed, it included key information such as age, background, cultivation level, and position, as well as some personality descriptions.

Combining all the intelligence, Wei Yuan searched through historical records and found quite a few templates for the new year. A disciple of the Immortal Sect like Xu Xinhui, who came from a good family and became famous at a young age, had only been leading troops in his family in recent years and had even commanded 5,000 men to test the waters. This indicated that his military leadership ability was average. Otherwise, he would have had no shortage of opportunities in his early years and would have become famous and commanded a large army long ago.

For example, Bao Yun commanded a major battle involving tens of thousands of people in the northern frontier, annihilating tens of thousands of Liao barbarian main forces in one fell swoop.

This person is also a sword cultivator, and tends to be stubborn and obstinate, easily focusing on details and taking pride in them.

Therefore, Wei Yuan pondered repeatedly and decided to feign weakness and intentionally reveal some of his trump cards to the enemy, such as sealing the Immortal Sword.

With Xu Xinhui's immortal sword sealed, he can't personally lead troops to attack the realm. If he can't take action, then Wang Ziyan leading troops alone is suicidal. As long as they don't invade the realm, they can't know its true strength.

However, Wei Yuan also wanted Xu Xinhui to know some information about the realm, all of which Wei Yuan wanted him to know. The specific method was to tell him through details.

Therefore, Wei Yuan sent a group of newly recruited bandits to raid Xu Xinhui's camp. As expected, they suffered a crushing defeat, with only about a hundred men escaping back.

The three thousand city garrison soldiers incorporated into these bandits were real, and the majority of them were indeed ordinary people, not particularly strong or robust among ordinary people. Everyone in this city garrison, from top to bottom, including everyone in Yong'an City, believed that apart from a few immortals, they were the only army in the realm.

All the bandits sent to raid the camp remembered was that the army was undisciplined, untrained, and its comrades were almost all mortals. They were poorly equipped, not even having enough wooden guns, and the several immortals who were in charge were practically never seen.

This is not surprising. Any realm that has been established for only a month is in a similar situation unless a family sends troops to support it. Other realms cannot afford to support three thousand troops.

Wei Yuan had Xu Xinhui extract this intelligence bit by bit, and then Xu Xinhui pieced together the picture Wei Yuan wanted him to see. This kind of intelligence, derived from detailed analysis, is often particularly fascinating and captivating.

At this time, the true main force of Qingming was actually eight thousand Body Forging cultivators. These people had been transferred separately to another military camp, isolated from Yong'an City. Yong'an City was now a restricted area in the east, west, and north, and ordinary people were not allowed to enter or leave, in order to prevent leaks.

With the blessing of all living beings, five thousand of the eight thousand cultivators could instantly reach the level of the Great Tang Nine Armies, and another thousand could cross the Dao Foundation Heavenly Barrier, only slightly weaker than the young masters and ladies when they first arrived in the Western Regions.

(End of this chapter)