Mountain and sea lantern

Chapter 673 I can’t help myself
In the past, he probably wouldn't have said such a thing.

Twenty years of imprisonment, twenty years of being a caged beast in that small space, his countless expectations, countless hopes, and countless moments of madness all ultimately turned into helplessness, leaving him a person whose life was worn down beyond words.

He emerged, and a group from the Mingshan Sect were still waiting for him. Regardless of the role that Young Master Nan played, he knew best what twenty years of waiting meant.

Faced with such a group of people, could he disregard their lives and deaths for his own selfish desires?

Wu Jinliang also thought this was a good idea and nodded, saying, "Yes, it's safest to see how things go."

He turned his head and glanced at the members of the numbered 3,000 squad again, then asked in a low voice, "What's the situation with these people? Are they tough enough?"

Who knows what happened? Only then did Shi Chun slowly calm down, take out the centurion's token, and cast a spell to check the personnel list inside.

You don't know until you see it. After seeing it, you think you've seen it wrong, so you look at it several times, and gradually you start to frown.

Seeing that he looked unwell, Wu Jinliang reached out to ask for it, wanting to see it too, and Shi Chun silently gave it to him.

After examining the token twice, Wu Jin's face slowly fell. Apart from Han Bao, it turned out that among the three thousand teams, their Mingshan Sect's forces were the strongest. At least three of them, who practiced fire-type techniques, were at the Earth Immortal realm.

Of the eighty or so new teammates, not a single one was at the Earth Immortal level; they were all at the Human Immortal level.

They weren't even ordinary Human Immortals; they were the lowest level, all at the Lesser Completion stage of Human Immortal cultivation.

The problem was that they were all a bunch of scum, not fake scum, but real scum. Most of them were prisoners who had been imprisoned for petty theft and robbery. Their familiar resumes made Wu Jinliang mistakenly think that he was seeing a group of vagrants from prison.

Wu Jinliang couldn't help but curse under his breath, "What the hell? Wasn't Mulan supposed to take special care of her daughter today? Why does it feel like she's dumping unwanted girls on us?"

He now understood why those eighty or so new recruits had eagerly gathered around; they were hoping to find refuge.

Shi Chun was also puzzled. He had just wanted to show off and be a glamorous person, but reality hit him hard, giving him a good slap in the face and waking him up.

He couldn't understand what Mulan was up to. Wasn't she supposed to get the Heavenly Court's team commander to take care of her? And this is all she got?

At this moment, Manxi was standing on the railing of the highest floor of the pavilion, looking out at the densely packed crowd, feeling both anticipation and pressure.

With departure imminent, personnel from the five teams were frequently seen entering and exiting the Xunmen central hub, as the team was conducting final communication before entering.

Mulan, who had just come upstairs, slowly walked to Manxi's side and looked around, her eyes trying to find her daughter's location.

Manyi understood his thoughts and pointed to the far corner, "Your daughters are in the far corner, numbered three thousandth."

"Three thousand..." Mulan muttered to herself, feeling that the other party valued her daughter and the others quite a bit, having arranged them in the final group. She was rather satisfied and asked, "Are the top ones all in that group?"

Manxi was taken aback, turned to look at him, and wanted to say, "Are you kidding me?"
He still tried to be tactful when he said it: "The top ones are the ones who need to fight and kill to make merits. They are also the key targets that all parties have been planning to target. They are also the key force that I need to use to confront all parties head-on. If they follow your daughter, your daughter will be less safe."

The implication is clear: your daughter doesn't need to fight or perform meritorious deeds.

Hearing this, Mulan Jin thought it made sense. Of course, as a father, she was also a little worried. Since the top talents were not around, she naturally became concerned about the general strength situation and couldn't help but ask, "How many people with the Earth Immortal level have been arranged?"

Manxi was quite frank, casually saying, "I wanted to use Han Bao, but since you recruited him, I didn't touch him. As for the three from Mingshan Sect, I didn't touch the ones Shi Chun brought. The whole team only has these four Earth Immortals."

Mulan was stunned. She slowly turned to look at him and said incredulously, "The troops you assigned there don't even have a single Earth Immortal?"

Manxi whispered, “Master, there’s no need. I’m keeping an eye on things here all the time. What they need isn’t strongmen. Strongmen want to make a name for themselves, but how can low-level cultivators manage them? What they need is a team that has no hope of making a name for themselves, that can keep people in check, that can be obedient and honest, and that can run away or hide when told to. That’s the best people for them.”

Hearing this, Mulan Jin roughly understood that this guy had probably swept away a pile of garbage at the bottom.

Although what the other person said made some sense, his gaze was still somewhat cold. Was this the promise he had been given?

Manxi knew she had offended the other party, so she quickly tried to persuade them earnestly: "My lord, there's really no need to worry. I'm keeping a close watch on things. Wherever it's safe, I'll have them hide there. They won't even encounter the enemy, so there won't be any danger. Even if there is a possibility of danger, I can mobilize troops to resolve it at any time. Don't worry, nothing will happen."

He was outwardly honest, but inwardly he had some doubts. He would definitely make sure that anyone who was useful and could be bribed played a real role. If all the experts were used to protect your daughter or to hide with her, then what was the point of this general amnesty campaign? He should think about how many heads he would have to report to his superiors later.

Moreover, too many people have been asking him to take care of things lately; can he possibly handle them all?

Of course, Mulan Jin's biological daughter is different from those with complicated relationships. In addition, given Mulan Jin's status and position, he would definitely take priority in taking good care of her, otherwise he couldn't afford to offend her.

Hearing that he wouldn't even let his daughter encounter the enemy, Mulan was finally relieved and nodded, saying, "Thank you for your trouble. When do we set off?" He wanted to go in personally this time.

Manxi: "Soon, once all the cross-supervisory personnel are in place, we can set off."

In the capital of Nanzhan, the central hub of Xunmen was also temporarily sealed off, and nearly 400,000 well-armored troops had already gathered.

Facing the towering pavilion, a man of medium height with three wisps of slightly yellowish long beard, with a handsome face but a slightly dark complexion, and a calm demeanor, was none other than Ming Chaofeng, the commander of the Nanzhan battle team.

He stood alone by the railing, hands clasped behind his back, waiting.

Before long, a commotion was heard coming upstairs. A general brought a soldier who had participated in the battle and then withdrew.

This soldier who participated in the battle was none other than Li Hongjiu.

Seemingly unaccustomed to wearing armor, Li Hongjiu shifted her body awkwardly from time to time, as if she were itchy.

Ming Chaofeng glanced back at him, a smile appearing on his composed expression. He then took out a jar of wine, placed it on the railing, and said, "This is a gift from the Holy King. Knowing you like this kind of wine, I saved it for you."

With no one else around, Li Hongjiu swaggered over, cheerfully saying, "Senior Brother is the best, thank you Senior Brother."

The commander of the Nanzhan team this time was none other than the eldest disciple of Qu Wuming, the sect leader of Yanbao Sect. He was also an orphan. Although he did not take his master's surname, he took a character from his master's name as his surname.

Li Hongjiu hugged the wine jar, ready to open it and drink freely.

Ming Chaofeng reached out and pressed down on the hand that was about to lift the lid of the jar, his tone slightly reprimanding: "Take it easy. What kind of person are you going back now, reeking of alcohol? Go inside and find a secluded place to drink slowly. Also, don't let drinking cause trouble."

Alright, Li Hongjiu had no choice but to put away the wine jar and sighed, "Senior Brother, just say it, what is it now?"

Ming Chaofeng looked his junior brother up and down with a slightly appreciative gaze and smiled, "I know you don't like this kind of thing, and I really forced you this time, but how should I put it, I might have benefited from your appointment as commander this time."

“Me?” Li Hongjiu pointed to his own nose, then waved his hand and laughed, “Stop joking, how could I have the right to influence the appointment of people of your rank?”

Ming Chaofeng gave a slight hint, "Only if I become the commander can you participate in the war."

Upon hearing this, Li Hongjiu fell silent, having roughly understood what was going on.

Ming Chaofeng turned his gaze to the thousands of troops ahead and sighed, "The matter of Jukuzhou can be kept from most people, but not from the higher-ups. You made a big fuss about that. When you were at the Human Immortal realm, a group of experts couldn't besiege you, but you killed several Heavenly Immortal realm experts instead. Moreover, with your current cultivation level, it would be difficult for the higher-ups not to consider you as a hope for this battle."

I've been pushed into this position. If I don't let you leave the mountain, there's no way to poach people from other sects. And naturally, the sect and my master also hope that I can rise to a higher position to benefit the sect. They don't want me to miss such an opportunity, so naturally they have to expose you."

He then turned to look at Li Hongjiu, "With your strength, I have high hopes for you in this battle. But you must be careful, the other four families have definitely been eyeing you for a long time and have made you a key target to eliminate."

Li Hongjiu clutched her stomach and sighed, "What did I do to deserve this? Why am I always so helpless?"

Ming Chaofeng smiled, then changed the subject, saying, "Shi Chun has joined the war, have you heard?"

Li Hongjiu chuckled upon hearing this, "I've heard about it. It's said that if it weren't for this general amnesty, that guy would never have been able to escape from the prison for the rest of his life. He actually turned misfortune into blessing."

Ming Chaofeng: "This battlefield is extremely dangerous, how can you talk about turning misfortune into blessing? It seems you have high hopes for him?"

Li Hongjiu: "I wouldn't say I'm optimistic about him, but I've dealt with him before and know he's not so easy to kill."

Ming Chaofeng gave an "oh," his gaze flickering with a peculiar meaning, and asked, "He saved your life. If you were to run into him, wouldn't you show him mercy?"

Li Hongjiu shrugged, "Then there's no need for me to fight him to the death, right? With over ten thousand tokens, I don't need to worry about winning with just one more from him, do I?"

He paused, then suddenly seemed to realize something and said, "Oh, so that's why you called me here to deliver the wine. Were you afraid I'd help him win? Don't worry about that. I know what's important. If I dared to help him, Master would skin me alive. Since I've already promised Master I'd come, I'll naturally do my best to compete. If Shi Chun really has so many tokens that they're hindering Senior Brother, I'll still snatch them without hesitation."

Ming Chaofeng laughed, "That's exactly the answer I wanted. Logically speaking, Mulan Jin used Shi Chun to protect her daughter, so she shouldn't be going after the token. However, seeing how much Mulan Jin takes that guy seriously, I also specifically collected information about his past and found that he is indeed capable. Even if you are strong in martial arts, you may not be able to suppress him. Better safe than sorry, if he really goes after the token, I'm afraid you will be fooled by him."

Just then, a general came to report: "Commander, everything is ready, we can set off."

Ming Chaofeng patted Li Hongjiu on the shoulder, "Return to the team. After this is done, at least I can ask the Holy King to help you get more of the finest wines."

(End of this chapter)