Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 375 Chen Hua and Kong Xiu, the Chaos in the Underworld, the Defeated Ba Shang

March 1st, 132nd year of the Mo'ao calendar, during the day

Muyin Town, a house on the outskirts.

A middle-aged man clad in forged iron armor knocked on the door and then coughed three times.

creak...

The door was opened from the inside, and the middle-aged man quickly walked in. The door was then swiftly closed.

The owner of the house was also a middle-aged man, but he wasn't wearing armor; he was only dressed in casual clothes. After closing the door, he led the visitor into the house. After sitting down in the inner room, he turned to look at the visitor's iron armor, a look of disbelief on his face, and said:
"You actually infiltrated the Zhenyu Army? Is that even possible?"

Clang...

Seeing Chen Hua's expression, Kong Xiu patted his armor and couldn't help but laugh triumphantly, "Hahaha, I told you it was possible, but you didn't believe me. We've been here for less than half a year and we've managed to infiltrate the town. This shows that Muyin Town has long been infiltrated by spies. I estimate that many high-ranking officials have been bribed by outsiders. How strict do you expect the screening to be with the two hastily formed town defense forces? I just registered and showed my cultivation level, and they accepted me without even thinking about it."

Chen Hua was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, then shook his head repeatedly and said, "If the Zhenyu Army is acting so recklessly, then Muyin Town is probably doomed to perish."

He paused, a look of disbelief on his face, and continued:

"This Zhenyu Army is the town's greatest asset. Murong Chui must know that, right? If they can act so recklessly, are they really not planning to resist?"

"Knowing is useless. Murong Chui is just the town head. The position of military commander of Muyin Town is vacant, and Lord Murong Yan is acting in his place. Murong Yan is now leading all the members of the Murong family's eldest branch, who are eager to surrender to Jinshan Town. They see their second grandfather as a thorn in their side. How could they possibly cooperate with him to properly reorganize the army?"

Upon hearing Kong Xiu's words, Chen Hua's expression froze slightly. Thinking of the information he had gathered about the Murong family during his two months of infiltration into the town, he nodded gently, a look of excitement appearing on his face.

Both he and Kong Xiu were from Wuyuan Mountain, which was only incorporated into Daxia in April of the first year.

Kong Xiu is the leader of the East Peak camp, and he is the leader of the West Peak camp.

In the seven years since they joined the Great Xia Dynasty, both of them have successfully broken through to the Cold Resistance level, but to be honest, apart from each having a high-level hunting team, they have made almost no achievements in other aspects.

A level of cold resistance cultivation is certainly remarkable for an individual, but in the context of the Great Xia Dynasty today, it's nothing special. At most, it can guarantee you the captainship of a mid-level hunting team; don't even think about anything else.

Both of them had been leaders, and naturally they were unwilling to live ordinary lives. Seven years after joining the Great Xia Dynasty, they hadn't even managed to become middle-level managers. Naturally, they were both very frustrated and eager to find an opportunity to rise in the ranks.

The problem is, the chances of making a name for yourself at Daxiabo are extremely slim.

A quick calculation reveals that Xia City currently has 28 external outposts. Among them, only Wuyuan, Dongling, and Longshan have large outposts with subordinate offices. If we include the nine districts of Xia City headquarters, there are a total of 12 large outposts and 25 small outposts.

Based on the number of outposts, a large outpost has eight subordinate offices, totaling sixteen positions. A small outpost only has two positions: the commander and the deputy commander. In other words, there are only 242 positions in total for outposts.

Of course, this does not mean that Daxia only has 242 positions.

The remaining positions include the heads and staff of the eight ministries, the commanders, captains, and city gatekeepers of the military department... But even if these are included, the number of official positions that can be ranked in the Great Xia Dynasty is at most less than four hundred.

However, the current cold-weather protection level of the Great Xia Dynasty has already exceeded 6,000.

With too many monks and too little porridge, getting into the ranks is naturally not so simple.

Moreover, being ranked is at most the first step to standing out from the crowd. There are even more difficult things to come, such as being granted a noble title and establishing a clan. That is the ultimate pursuit of the people of Great Xia.

There are only so many positions available, and as soon as one becomes vacant, everyone is scrambling for it. He and Kong Xiu broke through to the Cold Resistance level in the third year of the Great Xia Dynasty, so their strength is not particularly strong and they do not have any special advantages, so it is naturally difficult for them to be noticed.

But thinking about other people, it's not actually that hard to accept.

Even Xiao Kangcheng, who joined the Great Xia at the same time as them, only became the Zhaoyang Garrison Commander last year by taking advantage of Shi Ping's promotion to the position of Wuyuan Garrison Commander.

Putting aside the fact that Xiao Kangcheng and Xia Chuan were father-in-law and son-in-law, Xia Chuan broke through to the Cold Resistance level in the second year of the Great Xia Dynasty, a year earlier than the two of them. Moreover, he made great contributions during the Great Xia's conquest of Longyou and was among the first batch of people to be granted the title of Ninth-Rank Xuanling Viscount.

Even Xiao Kangcheng endured five years before becoming a sixth-rank garrison commander. Neither of them had any connections or exceptional talent, so climbing the ranks was naturally as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Two equally frustrated individuals, upon learning in early October of last year that Si Cheng Xia Chuan was going to send someone to infiltrate Jiuzhen to gather intelligence, immediately signed up without hesitation.

Interestingly, there were actually many people who signed up at the time, and quite a few of them were stronger than them. The reason why the two of them were selected was precisely because they were old enough and not very strong.

Since they are infiltrating, they should not attract too much attention. Ordinary cold-resistant level people like them, who are nearly fifty years old, have no combat aptitude, and have average strength, are indeed the most suitable candidates.

In early October, the two of them, along with thirty other Cold-Resistant level spies, traveled through the Cold Jade Secret Passage to Dongling. As arranged by Lu Yang, each town had four spies: two responsible for gathering intelligence and two responsible for relaying messages back to Dongling. He and Kong Xiu were the ones responsible for gathering intelligence in Muyin Town.

When the two first arrived, they were extremely cautious. They went straight into a not-so-strong village camp and planned to slowly spy on Muyin's situation.

However, they had only been at that camp for less than two months when the town began to conscript those at the Cold Resistance level and the limit of the Earth Digging level from various villages. The two did not know the specific reason, but they were not willing to miss such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so they accepted the conscription and entered the town.

They have now been in the town for more than two months, and have not only figured out the reason for the conscription, but also gathered a lot of information about the town.

"Murong Yan is basically being led by the nose by his wife, Shangguan Hong. The conscription more than two months ago was most likely Shangguan Hong's idea. She summoned all the cold-resistant and earth-digging level experts from the village-level camps to the town. On the surface, it was to increase the town's strength and strengthen its defenses, but in reality, it was to enhance the strength of the Murong family's eldest branch so that they could compete with the second branch."

Hearing Kong Xiu's words, Chen Hua laughed and said, "This Murong Chui is too indecisive. His second branch clearly has the strength to take the lordship from Murong Yan, but he cherishes his reputation and keeps giving in to this little grandson. Now he's too powerful to be controlled, and it's difficult to deal with him. I estimate that Muyin Town will most likely end up benefiting Jinshan Town."

The Murong family only had two branches.

The eldest branch is the line of the former lord Murong Ding. The eldest branch is not large. None of Murong Ding's three sons lived past fifty. Only a dozen or so grandsons remain. The most talented grandson, Murong Yan, is the current lord of Muyin Town.

The second branch is the line of Murong Chui, the town's leader. Compared to his elder brother Murong Ding's branch, the second branch is much more prosperous. All five of Murong Chui's sons are still alive, and there are more than thirty grandsons.

The relationship between the brothers Murong Chui and Murong Ding was still excellent. During the years when Murong Ding was the lord, with his two brothers keeping him in check, there was basically no conflict between the two branches of the family. However, since Murong Ding passed away four years ago and the position of lord fell to his grandson Murong Yan, the conflict between the two branches of the family could no longer be contained.

According to the unspoken rules of the Nine Towns over the years, the positions of Army Chief and Town Chief can be held by those at the Yuhan level, but the position of Lord must be held by a Xianyang level expert. It is unknown how Murong Ding arranged things when he passed away, but he did not pass the Lordship to Murong Chui, but instead passed it to his grandson Murong Yan, skipping a generation.

Murong Chui had no objections, but the younger members of the second branch of the family were making a huge fuss.

The eldest branch of the family was already small, and with no one at the Xianyang level, Murong Yan received virtually no real benefits except for the title of lord. The real power in the town was still controlled by his uncle, Murong Chui. How could he be content with that?
No matter how unwilling he was, Murong Yan had no choice. After all, Murong Chui was the only Xianyang-level lord in the town. He was already doing well to become the lord. What else could he do?
Three years ago, Shangguan Lie, the town chief of Jinshan Town, suddenly came to our door with a marriage contract personally signed by Murong Ding before his death. The two names recorded on the contract were Murong Yan and his granddaughter Shangguan Hong.

At this time, when they came to him with a marriage proposal, and even wanted to marry the lord, how could Murong Chui, who was already old, not see through Jinshan Town's sinister intentions? He repeatedly declined, even at the cost of offending Shangguan Lie, and was willing to pay an exorbitant amount of silver as compensation in order to break off the engagement.

Unfortunately, Murong Yan agreed!
Since all the parties involved agreed, what could Murong Chui, the second grandfather, possibly say?
So, three years ago, Shangguan Hong successfully married into Muyin Town.

This is where all the conflicts began.

With Lady Shangguan Hong in charge, Jinshan Town has been recklessly sending a large number of people into Muyin Town. On the surface, there are two or three hundred people at the Cold Resistance level, and there are countless others in secret.

Meanwhile, with her father-in-law and the entire Jinshan Town as her backers, and her wife offering advice, Murong Yan began to try to reclaim her lordly rights and started leading people to challenge her second grandfather, Murong Chui.

Chen Hua and Kong Xiu had been in the town for more than two months, so they had a good grasp of the situation. At first, Jinshan Town was relatively restrained in its actions, and the people they planted were done secretly, with only three to five people at a time. But later they went too far, and three days ago they actually sent more than thirty people of the Cold Resistance level.

"The reason they came up with was flawless. They formed a personal guard for the lord and claimed that they were recruited from outside. They also summoned the cold-resistant troops from all the village camps in the territory as a cover for their people to come in. Who doesn't know that they are all people from Jinshan Town?"
In the entire Muyin Town, there are only a little over three thousand people at the Cold Resistance level. Jinshan Town has already sent more than five hundred people openly, and who knows how many more have secretly infiltrated.

If Murong Chui had tried to find a solution from the beginning, it wouldn't have been a problem; he could have just put in more effort. But now it's probably much more difficult. At least a third of the more than three thousand Cold-Resistant level soldiers in Zhencheng are loyal to Murong Yan. Add to that the people from Jinshan Town, and the two sides are basically evenly matched. Moreover, Jinshan Town has been keeping a close eye on this situation. Even if Murong Chui wanted to intervene now, he couldn't.

Hearing Kong Xiu's words, Chen Hua frowned and replied, "The defenses of Muyin Town have been too lax lately. If two of us who are not from the Nine Towns can easily sneak in, then it goes without saying that people from the Nine Towns can do it. I dare not say about the other five towns in the central and southern regions, but there must be people from Beishuo and Wuchuan who have also sneaked in."

Kong Xiu was slightly taken aback upon hearing this. After a moment of thought, a solemn expression immediately appeared on his face. He nodded and said, "That's for sure. Wuchuan Town was the first to want to take action against Muyin. It was only after the other seven towns joined forces to put pressure on Wuchuan that it finally gave up."

Now Jinshan also wants to annex Muyin. Bashang is struggling to survive, Jiangxia is severely weakened, and the other three towns in Zhongnan are all wary of Dajue Temple, so they probably don't have the time or energy to deal with this area. But Beishuo and Wuchuan are different. They have both the strength and the fear of Jinshan growing too powerful, so they certainly won't sit idly by.

"So, the three northern towns are all keeping an eye on Muyin now. Should we send this message back tonight?"

"Of course!"

The two discussed it for a while, put together all the intelligence they had gathered in the past two days, and then waited for night to fall.

The Great Xia Dynasty placed four spies in each of its eight towns. Two of them were responsible for gathering intelligence, while the other two were responsible for relaying it. The two relaying spies were located one in the south and one in the north, connecting the eight towns in a straight line. The intelligence was then collected and passed through Lu Yang of Dongling before finally reaching Xia City.

The communication method was set up before setting off from Dongling last year. Unless there are special circumstances, even-numbered days are for receiving intelligence to the south and odd-numbered days are for sending intelligence to the north. The specific meeting method is to meet at the agreed location in the first hour after nightfall, so as to ensure that the intelligence is delivered to Xia City as soon as possible.

Today is the first day of the lunar month, which happens to be the day to send intelligence north.

Kong Xiu had already infiltrated the Zhenyu Army, so he could no longer leave the city at will.

So after nightfall, Chen Hua immediately took his weapons and bow and arrows, pretending to be going hunting, and left the town.

After leaving the town and heading east towards Mo'ao Mountain for three to five kilometers, and confirming that no one was following him, Chen Hua changed course and sped northwest. He traveled more than twenty kilometers and soon arrived at the agreed meeting point.

The meeting time is one hour after nightfall. If it takes less than one hour, it means the other party cannot come, and he doesn't need to wait any longer; he can come again next time.

There had been many such special cases in the past, so Chen Hua was very patient, sitting by the big tree, waiting patiently and keeping track of the time.

However, today, he didn't have to wait long; someone from the north arrived within ten minutes.

But when he looked up to the north, his expression changed instantly. He leaped up a tree and quickly hid.

Because there were more than twenty people coming from the north.

"Zheng Qing has been arrested? How come there are so many people here!"

Zhang Fan and Zheng Qing were in charge of transmitting intelligence in the Muyin area. Zheng Qing was the one in the north. The two had been working together for about half a year and were very familiar with each other.

In the past, meetings were always one-on-one. The sudden appearance of so many people naturally aroused Chen Hua's suspicion, who assumed that Zheng Qing had been arrested.

If they get caught, that would be a big problem.

Chen Hua's expression instantly turned serious. He wanted to turn around and run away, but he gritted his teeth and stayed. He slowly drew the large knife from behind him and looked at the twenty-odd people, trying to see if Zheng Qing was among them.

Fortunately, Zheng Qing was there.

He was the first one, and he was clearly leading the way for the twenty people behind him, constantly pointing to his own location.

"traitor!"

Chen Hua cursed these two words in his heart, his eyes filled with intense killing intent as he watched Zheng Qing approach.

But soon, as he saw the faces of the people behind Zheng Qing, the murderous intent in his eyes vanished instantly, replaced by astonishment and delight.

He quickly sheathed his broadsword, then jumped down from the tree without hesitation and charged directly towards Zheng Qing and the others.

"Your subordinate Chen Hua greets the Chief Justice!"

Among the twenty men behind Zheng Qing, the leader was none other than Yuwen Tao, the Director of the Ministry of War. Moreover, Chen Hua also recognized the two men behind Yuwen Tao: Hou Quan, the Deputy Commander of the Longwu Army, and Yuwen Yong, the Captain of the Longwu Army's Scout Battalion.

Although Yuwen Tao and the nineteen people behind him were all dressed in ordinary clothes, each of them carried a large package on their backs. Judging from the shape of the package, it was easy to tell that it was armor.

The Dragon Martial Army has taken action?

Countless thoughts flashed through Chen Hua's mind in an instant, but in the end he could only come to this conclusion, and his heart was still full of confusion.

"No need for formalities, Chen Hua. I heard you've already infiltrated Muyin Town. You've done a good job. Tell me about the situation there."

Yuwen Tao's praise was not without reason; he had seen Chen Hua from a great distance, including the series of changes in his expression afterward.

He could immediately guess Chen Hua's thoughts, which is why he gave such a good evaluation. However, he was naturally cold-hearted, so it was quite an achievement for him to say those four words. After saying that, he immediately began to inquire about military intelligence.

Chen Hua's slightly excited reaction upon hearing the praise revealed just how difficult it was to earn Yuwen Tao's praise. Chen Hua quickly recounted the latest developments in Muyin Town, focusing naturally on the internal strife within the Murong clan and Kong Xiu's recent infiltration of the town's defense forces.

Yuwen Tao didn't react much to the internal strife within the Murong clan, since it had already been mentioned in previous intelligence reports. However, when he heard Chen Hua say that a large number of Cold-resistant level warriors were infiltrating Muyin Town every day, and that his partner Kong Xiu had become a member of the town's defense force, a look of great joy immediately appeared on his face.

"...Recently, the Cold-resistant level infiltrates the city mainly from Jinshan Town, with quite a few from Beishuo and Wuchuan as well. I'm not sure about the nearby towns of Longgu, Yangqu, and Chuishan. In short, the towns are currently divided into two factions: one led by Lord Murong Yan, who has the support of Jinshan Town, and the other led by Town Chief Murong Chui. The number of Cold-resistant level in both sides is roughly equal."

Murong Chui has not yet surrendered to Bei Shuo!
Upon hearing Chen Hua's words, Yuwen Tao immediately thought of this sentence.

Chen Hua's intelligence gathering in Muyin was limited, so he knew less than he did in Xia City.

Bei Shuo has already extended an olive branch to Murong Chui. If Murong Chui had sided with Bei Shuo, the situation in Zhencheng would not be what it is now.

"Hou Quan, you return to Dongling immediately and arrange for soldiers to come over in batches, twenty men at a time. Yuwen Yong, you stay with Zheng Qing and are responsible for providing support. Tonight, I will go to Muyin Town with Chen Hua to investigate the situation first. If the town's defenses are indeed so lax..."

Upon hearing these words, Chen Hua looked up abruptly, his pupils filled with astonishment.

The soldiers came in batches, twenty men at a time.

Yuwen Tao's meaning was quite clear: he wanted to lead the Dragon Martial Army into the city.

The Great Xia Dynasty is also planning to establish Muyin Town!

"Twenty people a day, all of the Dragon Martial Army will arrive here in at least 50 days. A small number of them haven't broken through yet, but in these last 50 days, they should be almost done. If we can really sneak into the town without anyone noticing..."

Yuwen Tao pondered for a moment, recalling the orders Xia Hong had personally given him before he set off, and a glint of light flashed in his eyes.

"Chen Hua, take me to the town first."

"Yes, my lord!"

Chen Hua also became excited. After speaking, he immediately led Yuwen Tao towards the southeast direction of Muyin Town.

"Gentlemen, I shall take my leave now!"

Seeing Yuwen Tao leave, Hou Quan also turned around and headed back towards Dongling.

Zheng Qing bowed to Yuwen Yong and the others and said, "Gentlemen, the Chief Justice shouldn't be back so soon. Shall we go to Yumen Village to rest for the time being?"

He had been here for about half a year, so he naturally had a fixed hiding place. Yumen Village was not strong, and even he could hide there, let alone Yuwen Yong and his eighteen Longwu soldiers.

"it is good!"

Yuwen Yong cupped his hands in agreement and led eighteen soldiers to follow him toward Yumen Village, which was not far to the north.

........................

March 20th, 132nd year of the Moo calendar, late at night

In Ba Shang Town, a massive crowd of people was surging toward the city gate.

Everyone rushed towards the city gate, afraid of being even a little too slow.

"Get out of here, all of you, get out of here!"

"Stop pushing! Stop pushing! Everyone, stop!"

"Jiuqu has fallen, the enemy is about to attack. Let me into the city, let me into the city quickly."

"Stop it, all of you! Stop it!"

"Calm down, everyone calm down. The enemy hasn't caught up yet, don't panic."

………………

Although many soldiers and generals were shouting and trying to maintain order on the city walls and on both sides, the crowd outside the city gate was simply too large, estimated to be at least 100,000. The soldiers around the city gate could not make any difference at all.

"Chief, it won't work, we can't stop it, we simply can't stop it!"

"This is why Dajue Temple deliberately drove people here. There must be many enemy spies mixed in. Letting them all into the city will cause endless trouble!"

"Close the city gates, we have no choice but to close the city gates!"

"Chief, give the order quickly!"

"How can I close the city gates? The defeated troops from the Nine Curves Camp are all here, all of them at the Earth Digging Realm. If I close the city gates, will they all die at dawn?"

Unlike his composed demeanor when he spoke eloquently in the main hall last month, Xiang Tianlin, the town chief of Ba Shang, was now filled with panic. Looking at the remnants of the army pouring into the city gates below, he roared at those around him who wanted him to close the city gates.

Ba Shang not only lost this time, but lost utterly!
On February 14th, before he returned from seeking reinforcements in the Eight Towns, Zou Yang's camp had already been breached by Dajue Temple.

[The ambitions of Dajue Temple are treacherous; such indulgence will surely lead to disaster. The Eight Towns surely know the difference between what is more serious and what is less serious.]

Recalling the words he had said to his uncle Xiang Fanyun in the main hall in front of everyone on the tenth day of last month, Xiang Tianlin now only wanted to slap himself a few times.

He went to the eight towns to ask for help, but Jiangxia, Yangqu, and Longgu towns wouldn't even let him in the door; Chuishan and Muyin towns refused outright; the three northern towns made some polite gestures, but as soon as aid was mentioned, they immediately became vague and changed the subject.

When Jiangxia was attacked by Dajue Temple, it still had the help of Yangqu and Longgu towns, but no town in Bashang was willing to lend a hand, and its situation was even worse than theirs.

On February 23, after the fall of Qinggu Camp, Uncle Xiang Fanyun went to Dajue Temple to seek peace the very next day. He first proposed ceding Baisong Camp, which was rejected. Then he proposed ceding Jiuqu Camp as well as many mineral resources and people within its territory, but Dajue Temple... still refused.

The moment Xiang Fanyun brought the news back, everyone realized that Dajue Temple was truly aiming to destroy Ba Shang this time.

At that moment, no one in Bashang Town harbored any illusions.

Xiang Tianlin personally presided over the gathering of all the remaining 21 village-level camps' Earth-Digging Realm members, and also transferred 80,000 people from the town, bringing the total to 160,000 Earth-Digging Realm members. In addition, the 9,000 town guards from Ba Shang were all concentrated in the Jiuqu Camp to fight a decisive battle against Dajue Temple.

With the threat of annihilation looming, the 170,000-strong army, united as one, demonstrated astonishing willpower. From the 25th of last month, when Dajue Temple launched its first attack, Ba Shang managed to withstand seven waves of attacks.

When the seventh round of attacks ended on March 12th, and Dajue Temple withdrew its army back to the Qinggu camp, more than half of the 8,000 garrison troops in Ba Shang had been lost, and only about 100,000 of the 160,000 Digdi troops remained.

Of course, Dajue Temple also suffered significant losses. Of its three hundred formal monks, only half remained; of the six thousand monks in the Zen monastery before the war, less than two thousand survived; and the number of monks in the Digdi Realm was even less than that in Ba Shang, with only over ninety thousand.

For the first seventeen days, Dajue Temple launched an attack almost every other day, with a maximum of no more than two days.

Since Dajue Temple has chosen to withdraw its troops, it must have given up.

At that time, a group of high-ranking officials, including Xiang Tianlin, felt that Ba Shang had held firm, and that Dajue Temple had suffered such heavy losses that it was impossible to continue the attack.

Who knew they were so wrong!

Yesterday, March 19th.

Dajue Temple unexpectedly transferred another 5,000 monks from the Chan Monastery and 200 formal monks from the rear. They set off from the Qinggu Camp in the middle of the night and launched another fierce attack on the Jiuqu Camp during the day.

The Ba Shang army was able to withstand the first seven rounds of attacks because of a single-minded determination, a fierce determination to fight to the death. But by the time they held out for the seventh round and Dajue Temple withdrew to the Qinggu camp, that determination had already dissipated.

After all, everyone thought they had already won.

This battle doesn't need to continue.

Who would have thought that Dajue Temple would make a comeback after only seven days.

Moreover, they brought even stronger troops with them.

The disastrous defeat at Ba Shang seemed to have begun the moment the troops withdrew from Dajue Temple.

Only then did everyone realize that seven days ago, Dajue Temple was not incapable of further attack, but rather had feigned a withdrawal to lull them into a false sense of security.

Fortunately, Lord Xiang Fuhai and Army Chief Xiang Fanyun led a group of high-ranking officials and four thousand garrison troops in a desperate resistance, preventing the army of Dajue Temple from attacking the Jiuqu camp during the day. Otherwise, not only would Jiuqu have fallen, but the entire Juedi Realm of Ba Shang would probably have been wiped out.

The trouble we are facing now is the result of that time.

By the time the lord led his troops to drag the battle into the night, the losses at Ba Shang were already countless. The Zhenyu Army had only a little over two thousand men left, with a little over a thousand of them at the Yuhan level. Even with the addition of the 100,000 Digging Realm warriors, they were no longer able to fight.

So as soon as it got dark, Lord Xiang Fuhai led his men to retreat, and ordered the Digging Realm troops of the Nine Curves Camp to retreat to the town.

And so, the scene before us came to be.

Those at the Cold-Resistant level could run fast and quickly return to the town, but those at the Earth-Digging level couldn't. They were numerous, slow-moving, and were being pursued by the enemy forces from the Great Awakening Temple. It took them until now to finally get back.

Normally, the speed at which 100,000 people from the Earth-Digging Realm escape back varies depending on the route, their cultivation level, and their familiarity with the road conditions.

But those who escaped at this moment arrived together in a group.

what does this mean?
Someone drove them together from all directions, deliberately creating this scene of a large-scale simultaneous entry into the city.

It's obvious without even thinking that it was Dajue Temple that did it!
The purpose was to create chaos so that their people could also infiltrate the city.

"They're all plotting to attack Ba Shang City, yet the Eight Garrisons remain completely indifferent..."

Xiang Tianlin gritted his teeth as he looked north, towards the direction of the Eight Towns.

"Let them out, let them out, let them all into the city. It'll be dawn soon. After all, the vast majority of them are people from Ba Shang. We need to give them a way to survive!"

Suddenly, a voice came from mid-air. Xiang Tianlin and the others immediately looked up and saw the golden figure in mid-air. They all bowed deeply in unison:
"Meet the lord!"

Xiang Fuhai and Xiang Fanyun are brothers, so they look very similar, but his hair is gray and his face is full of wrinkles, so he is obviously much older than Xiang Fanyun.

The key point is that he was covered in fresh bloodstains, which were clearly left from his battle with the two masters of Dajue Temple during the day. Whether it was Xiang Tianlin and other high-ranking officials on the city wall or the tens of thousands of people squeezing into the city below the city gate, everyone who saw it was moved.

The crowd at the city gate came to an abrupt halt. After a long while, someone bowed to the sky and spoke in a deep voice:
“If it weren’t for the lord leading everyone in a desperate fight during the day, we wouldn’t have had a chance to survive. I’m returning to Ba Shang tonight only to defend the city.”

"Our lord's kindness and virtue will never be forgotten in this lifetime. That's right, brothers, stop pushing. We're not fleeing for our lives. Dajue Temple will attack again. We're going in to defend the city."

"If Dajue Temple dares to attack, I will fight to the death."

"I am a native of Ba Shang, and Ba Shang City cannot be lost."

“What kind of mess is this? Brothers, go in one by one. We can’t let those scoundrels from Dajue Temple laugh at us.”

…………

The chaotic scene at the city gate was completely transformed by Xiang Fuhai's words. As more and more people spoke up, the people entering the city became orderly, and even the dejection caused by the rout was suddenly boosted.

Everyone knew in their hearts that a fierce battle awaited them.

Dajue Temple is aiming to destroy Ba Shang this time!

(End of this chapter)