Start with a red name

In the end, Geng Xuan did not kill anyone and did not make any noise. After confirming the number of Dong Guan's direct subordinates, he left quietly.

Once again, we crossed mountains and rivers and searched for the next "excavation section" according to the direction of the tunnel.

In this way, Geng Xuan spent about five hours and continued to travel west for more than 100 kilometers in the Chiwu Mountains, where deep valleys, steep cliffs and dangerous mountains were stacked together.

This is the straight-line distance. If the distance up and down the mountain is also counted, the absolute distance he has walked will be at least double this.

More importantly, Geng Xuan only had more than two hours to travel.

In such a complex environment that is extremely unfriendly to ordinary practitioners and full of dangers, he is still able to maintain such an amazing performance.

This was due to Geng Xuan's inhuman physical fitness and outstanding physical skills, as well as the bonus to his speed from the Grandmaster's "Horse Judging Technique", which allowed him to reach a higher level on the basis of the Grandmaster level.

——Just as Geng Xuan was crossing the mountains and hills at full speed, the wind was howling around him and the cold wind was biting.

The body felt like it had crashed into an infinitely thick invisible screen; the skin and superficial muscles began to move in a regular rhythm.

The feeling of resistance that had become increasingly greater as the speed reached a certain level suddenly became much smaller.

The body becomes more and more "slippery" little by little.

Not only was his body moving at a high speed relying on its own size and physique, but also like a sailboat in the sea, by adjusting the changes of the "sail" of his body, he could reduce the resistance force and even generate some additional assistance.

This series of hidden and subtle changes, reflected in Geng Xuan, meant that his physical energy consumption was reduced, and he could maintain the top speed state for a longer period of time.

On the other hand, the speed has increased instead of decreased.

In a trance, Geng Xuan felt like he had turned into a horse, a "wind horse".

Under this change, the "Horse Judging Art" that he had just reached the master level not long ago, all the experience and insights did not need him to actively digest, but were absorbed and mastered by his body, becoming an almost instinctive ability.

Geng Xuan did not hesitate and immediately consumed forty-eight points of luck to upgrade his "Horse Judging Art" to the next level, from the Master level to the Grandmaster level.

In addition to having more knowledge about "horses" in my mind, the rhythm of the skin and subcutaneous muscles has also become more refined, and the muscles involved are deeper.

Not only the skin and muscles, but also breathing, heartbeat, blood flow rate, etc. are naturally involved.

The effect of this is that it further reduces his own energy consumption while further increasing his maximum speed.

Especially when going downhill, it really feels like flying close to the ground.

Even for practitioners, this is actually a very dangerous behavior.

It is true that you can go faster when going downhill, but the consequence is that it is easy for your body to lose control.

This will only bring danger, not help.

But now, although the speed has obviously increased a lot, Geng Xuan has not lost the sense of control over his body.

Still agile, light and free.

Geng Xuan made a comprehensive assessment and concluded that after his horse-judging skills reached the Grandmaster level, his maximum speed could be maintained at around 120 to 130 kilometers per hour for a long time.

If it is downhill, the increase will vary depending on the slope and the characteristics of the mountain.

What’s interesting is that due to different speeds, different ground slopes, and different degrees of ruggedness and flatness, Geng Xuan’s body posture is no longer the same as that of an ordinary person running upright, but will naturally adjust dynamically.

In general, the faster the speed, the greater the forward lean of his body will be.

But this does not affect his body stability and vision. He doesn't even need to do anything deliberately. As the speed increases or decreases, his body posture will naturally adjust to the most stable state.

……

While on the road, Geng Xuan also had to find every tunnel excavation site based on the direction of the tunnel and the human traces he captured.

Observe the basic status of those diggers, and confirm the number of Dong Guan’s direct subordinates and their relationship with other tunnel diggers.

December 14th, around nine in the morning.

Geng Xuan stood on the top of a solitary peak. With the help of a rising sun behind him, he looked far into the distance to the west under the clear blue sky.

Starting from the peak below him, the steep scenery of Chiwu Mountain with its thousands of ravines and high cliffs quickly changed into another appearance.

The gently undulating hills become flatter as you go further away.

From dozens of miles away, Geng Xuan could already vaguely see a scene that was completely different from the natural wilderness.

"That should be farmland, right?... So this really is the territory of Haozhou." Geng Xuan thought to himself.

——Because of the true vision that comes with the "Flint Pearl", Geng Xuan has sharp eyesight far beyond that of ordinary people, but this is mainly reflected in the "clarity".

The "blurry vision" that ordinary people have due to long distances or dim light is not a problem for him.

But his vision does not really have the ability of a telescope, and still follows the natural law that things are larger when they are near and smaller when they are far.

Because the distance is too far and the object he sees is too small, even smaller than the tip of a needle, he still cannot see it clearly.

When the distance is tens or hundreds of miles away, he can barely capture objects with large areas and regular shapes, such as the undulations of the earth, the contours of the mountains, and tracts of farmland.

As for the people, trees and houses, they are completely blended into the background of the vast earth and cannot be distinguished at all.

……

Geng Xuan stood on the top of the mountain, stopped and looked towards Haozhou for a while, and took the opportunity to swallow a few Essence Pills, drink some water, and restore his physical strength.

The straight-line distance of this journey is only over 100 kilometers, but the actual journey is nearly 300 kilometers.

Even though the speed has been greatly improved with the bonus of the Grandmaster's "Horse Judging Technique", the physical energy consumption has also been greatly reduced.

After such a long journey, Geng Xuan was exhausted.

——The route is not actually tortuous. Although it is not a straight line, if it is extended to dozens or hundreds of miles, it can basically be regarded as a nearly straight line. The main reason for the increase in mileage is that there are too many mountains, too steep slopes, and too many gullies.

Half an hour later, when his strength had almost recovered and he had seen everything he needed to see, Geng Xuan did not stay any longer. He turned to face the direction of the rising sun, went down the mountain from the east side, and started his return journey.

The ninety direct cavalrymen of Dong Guan who were not found in the "Ochre Red Eye" basin have all been found by Geng Xuan in fifteen construction sites.

Yes, from here to the west side of the "Ochre-Red Eye" basin, there are fifteen construction sites hidden deep in the Chiwu Mountain, which is more than 100 kilometers (220 to 230 miles) in a straight line.

The number of people at each construction site varies depending on the length and difficulty of the tunnel being excavated.

These ninety people were dispersed to various construction sites according to their specific conditions.

In addition to this group of direct core members that Dong Guan trusts the most, there are also a larger number of "deputy core members" who were discovered, recommended, or self-recommended from the "special envoy" system of Chen Zhan and others, with a total number of about 300 people.

It seems unfair to equate them with the "Er Gouzi" in Qingyuanji.

After all, theoretically speaking, they are also under Dong Guan's command.

They have just been on official business in Yuanzhou for a long time, and many of them were born and raised in Yuanzhou, and their way of thinking is purely Yuanzhou-style, but they did start working for Dong Guan a long time ago, and they are different from those "second dogs" who only submit under life-and-death threats.

But the role they play in this group is the same as that of "Er Gouzi".

It is a key link in ensuring that more than 600 "diggers" can be managed in an orderly and obedient manner.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to organize such a "tunnel corps" with more than a thousand people with only ninety direct subordinates of Dong Guan.

Each of them may have only mastered the "Earth Walking Technique" very superficially, or perhaps just at the entry level.

But there are too many people.

According to Chen Zhan, digging this passage leading to Haozhou was carried out entirely according to the standard of fighting a "state-level battle."

Once the tunnel was dug, it would be firmly controlled by Dong Guan's men.

To put it mildly, Dong Guan's strategy will become completely clear.

The situation in Haozhou and Yuanzhou will change suddenly, and Minzhou, which borders Xuanzhou, will also be deeply affected.

The point is, this is a passage that is big enough to draw all nine provinces in the world!

According to the current progress, in a dozen days at most, by the end of this year or before the first day of the Lunar New Year next year, the tunnel divided into 16 sections will be fully connected!
——The straight-line distance is more than 100 kilometers (220 to 30 miles), and the terrain with high mountains and deep valleys is not all tunnels. Due to the reasonable line design, in this place where it looks like there are only mountains and valleys, the actual tunnels account for less than half of the total mileage.

The rest of the places are either gullies filled with tunnel slag or naturally formed areas that can be easily repaired to allow large troops to pass smoothly.

On the way back, Geng Xuan deliberately avoided those construction areas.

But there was one time when it was almost exposed.

After all, Geng Xuan was still a little careless, thinking that he could pass through without any worries as long as he avoided the construction area.

As a result, he almost ran into several hunters.

Fortunately, his eyesight was much better than the other party, and his reaction was also much better than the other party. Before the other party discovered him, he dodged.

These hunters are not hunters from Haozhou, but daily hunting teams organized by these fifteen construction sites.

Although there is now abundant supplies looted from the entire Yuanzhou in the "Zhehongyan" basin, the fifteen construction sites are too scattered and the roads are difficult to travel, making it too difficult to transport large amounts of supplies across the mountains and hills.

The supplies provided to various construction sites in the "Ochre Red Eye" basin were replaced with light and easy-to-carry items such as blood-replenishing pills, essence pills, various medicines, and salt.

The purpose of supply can be achieved by making a round trip every three or four days. It is also a means of maintaining contact with various construction sites and retaining people's hearts.

The astonishing daily food consumption of thousands of "diggers" at fifteen construction sites was left to be solved by each team.

This may be difficult for ordinary people.

But for these people, the depths of Chiwu Mountain is a natural granary with fresh food all year round.

Hunting is not a hard job, but a good job that everyone is vying for.

Only the best performing "diggers" can get such special rewards.

A hunting team consisting of several people can harvest enough food in a day to meet the needs of a construction site with dozens of people for one or two days.

After this little incident, Geng Xuan became much more careful and no other accidents happened.

Speechless all the way.

Geng Xuan returned to his starting point, the westernmost end of "Zhehongyan", before twelve o'clock and met up with Chen Zhan, Xu Peng and others.

The messy scene where corpses were lying all over the ground when they left had now been cleaned up.

At the entrance of this tunnel, in addition to Dong Guan's direct forces, there are another seventy diggers.

They are now all concentrated in one place and the tunnel excavation work has been suspended.

When Xu Peng reported to Geng Xuan about the handling of these people, he asked how they should be resettled next.

Chen Zhan next to him also showed unusual concern.

Geng Xuan understood what he was concerned about.

Is suspending these people from tunnel digging just a temporary solution, or will it always be the case?
This is a channel of strategic value to Dong Guan. Is "Su Ruiliang" going to continue to complete it?
Or should we just stop here and let it die at the last minute, becoming a super unfinished project?
Geng Xuan himself was actually a little hesitant about this matter.

He did not respond immediately, seeing that everything was in good order by Xu Peng.

Geng Xuan said:

"You arrange for everyone to rest for three hours... uh, that is, an hour and a half later, and I will make arrangements."

He himself is in pretty good spirits now, but when he thinks about it carefully, from yesterday morning when the decisive battle of Qingyuanji started till now, so many things have happened in one day and one night.

From the bloody grinding wheel Qingyuanji to the depths of Chiwu Mountain thousands of miles away, they have never had a proper rest.

He is still in good condition now. In addition to his high level of cultivation, which makes his physical qualities far superior to ordinary people, the continuous fresh information also provides continuous stimulation to his brain.

Simply put, a little excited.

If you hold on, there will be no problem.

If you really can't hold on, there are still tranquilizers.

Not sleeping for ten days and ten nights is a bit exaggerated, but there is absolutely no problem in keeping him energetic within five days.

But unless it is absolutely necessary, Geng Xuan is still willing to respect the laws of nature and not force himself to do anything that goes against the instincts of life.

So, he gave himself three hours of rest.

Moreover, he is not the only one in this team, and their "tolerance" in this regard is much worse than his.

Perhaps they had already taken some time to rest this morning, but Geng Xuan was still willing to give them some more time.

But the reason why only three hours were given was because time was tight.

Originally, Geng Xuan didn't think that time was so tight that he couldn't even spare an hour or two.

But just after meeting up with Xu Peng, Chen Zhan and others, Geng Xuan suddenly realized that this overly steep and dangerous mountain was of no hindrance to him and he could walk on it as if it were flat ground day or night.

But for others, the difference is huge.

Even with him leading the way, if hundreds or thousands of people were traveling at night, it would still be very easy for someone to fall off a cliff.

In order to avoid such a situation, all actions at night will inevitably be seriously affected.

In this case, wouldn't the three-day return date that he promised Feng Yu suddenly become tense?

……

Three hours flew by.

After a simple selection, Geng Xuan left behind one hundred people.

Firstly, it was to guard the seventy tunnel diggers, and secondly, these people either had low cultivation or poor physical skills and were not good at crossing mountains and rivers.

Bringing them along will not only fail to be a help, but will become a burden instead.

After a short rest of three hours, Geng Xuan finally figured it out.

Digging this tunnel has turned the natural barrier into a thoroughfare.

He naturally supported it in his heart, and even felt that the significance of this matter, in the long river of history, was more valuable than Dong Guan's grand ambitions.

But now is not the time to continue this project.

He was not sure when Dong Guan would learn about the great changes that had taken place here, nor did he know how he would react when he knew that this strategic location had fallen into the hands of others.

For him now, the safest option is to temporarily stop the excavation of this tunnel which will be completed in just over ten days.

Otherwise, the day when this tunnel is dug will most likely be the day when this place and myself will attract the attention of the whole world.

Now, if we take the initiative to leave this project unfinished, it is very likely that Dong Guan will have some fantasies.

He guessed that as a "Yuanzhou bumpkin", he underestimated the extraordinary value of this road and thus underestimated his firm determination to take back this place.

In this case, even if Dong Guan found out that the place had changed hands, he would most likely not make it public, but would try to find a way to take it back.

Even if he made it public, or the news accidentally leaked from him, facing such an unfinished project, the reaction of Haozhou and Yuanzhou would be much smaller.

It will not rise to the level of disturbing other states.

What's more, although this project is said to be unfinished, it only takes a thousand excavators a dozen days to complete the entire line.

Well, as long as he has these people in his hands, when the work will be done will just be a matter of a word from him, right?

Therefore, he doesn't need to rush to push this matter forward at this moment.

What's more, now that the "Red Ochre Eye" has changed hands, it is not something he can do with just a few words to bring these thousand "diggers" under his control.

It will take some trouble.

Under such circumstances, it would not be wise to let them continue to be scattered across fifteen construction sites deep in the mountains.

Therefore, what Geng Xuan has to do now is to bring them all back to the "Ochre Red Eye" basin.

If he just wanted to defeat and subdue them, he would only need to act alone.

Not at all sloppy, quick and neat.

But bringing them all back without exception is not something he can do alone.

Not to mention thousands of people with their own thoughts, even if it was thousands of pigs, it would be incredibly difficult to drive them over hundreds of miles of mountain roads and ensure that all of them reached their destination.

This is also the reason why Geng Xuan still wanted to take two hundred people with him even though he knew it would be a burden.

Being able to become Xuanyou Riders proves that these people have good cultivation levels, and the worst of them have reached the blood refining level.

After the selection just now, those with poor cultivation and bad physical skills were deliberately left behind. Now these two hundred people are all good at crossing mountains and rivers.

But compared with Geng Xuan's standards, it is naturally far from enough.

He could only slow down and be patient as he led the two hundred people through the undulating cliffs and deep ravines.

Fortunately, Geng Xuan also had his own set of methods. After crossing one or several high cliffs and deep ravines, Geng Xuan would leave behind at least a few people and at most a dozen people.

Let them lurk quietly in some secret place, do nothing else, and then call them out when he returns.

Each batch of personnel is selected from professionals who have been working together for a long time and are trustworthy.

This ensures that even if a few people have different ideas, the teams he leaves behind will still strictly follow his orders in the short term.

After all, no one knows when he will return.

And without 100% certainty, the Xuanyou riders who have successfully "reached the shore" can be said to have no desire to experience the terror of being stared at by "Su Ruiliang" again, no matter what their past identities were or what their inner thoughts were.

As the number of people continues to decrease, the team's movement speed continues to increase.

Although this improvement was very slow and far from satisfying Geng Xuan, it was indeed getting faster and faster.

But the window period for such a "good thing" is very short.

Four hours after the team set out from the west side of the "Ochre Eye" basin, it was completely dark.

Fortunately, the light of the stars and the moon was very bright tonight. Even if we walked without a torch, as long as we kept our eyes open, were careful, and followed Geng Xuan's guidance, we would not make any mistakes and fall off the cliff.

Although the team behind him had dozens fewer people, Geng Xuan, who was leading the way, had to slow down again for safety reasons.

Also for the sake of safety, you should deliberately avoid some routes that are closer but steeper, and instead choose to take a detour from farther away.

——Although the cultivation level of these people is much higher than that of Luo Qing and others who were led by Geng Xuan to cross the remnants of Chiwu Mountain, the terrain here is much more complex and dangerous than that of the remnants of Chiwu Mountain.

In this way, Geng Xuan led two hundred people to set off, "laying eggs" along the way, and the team continued to "reduce the burden".

When he led the last ten people to the last place, which was also the tunnel construction site at the foot of the high mountain where Geng Xuan had stopped to overlook the territory of Haozhou, it was already around three o'clock in the morning of December 15th.

In other words, Geng Xuan could have completed the 250-60km journey in two hours by himself, but it took him twelve hours to complete it with the two hundred people.

The only thing that made Geng Xuan feel relatively satisfied was that under his nanny-level care along the way, there had not been a single accident of falling off a cliff.

……

At this moment, among the ten people following Geng Xuan, Chen Zhan and Xu Peng were among them.

This time, Geng Xuan did not hide anything and took them to the simple residence where the "diggers" were resting nearby.

"Oh!"

He kicked away the door panel that was casually pulled up to block the cold wind outside.

Geng Xuan didn't use much force when he kicked.

At least, the door panel was not kicked into powder with just one kick.

But this sudden loud noise was enough to scare dozens of people who were sleeping soundly, and wake them up straight from their beds.

——It’s not that these people sleep day and night, but the tunnel is dug in shifts. There are always people digging with high consumption while another group is resting.

The instinctive reaction of practitioners caused many of them to subconsciously reach out for weapons before they could figure out what was happening and were still in a daze.

But when their hands touched the hard bed board, they suddenly realized that the environment they were in was completely different from what they were accustomed to in the past.

This discovery did not make them feel at ease. Instead, a chill came over them, and they instantly sobered up and turned their heads to look at the door. They could not see Geng Xuan's face, but only saw him standing at the door, with the moonlight illuminating his shoulders. When they looked at his facial features in the room, the moonlight could not reach them, and there was only darkness.

"Everyone come out."

Geng Xuan didn't waste time talking to these people and gave orders directly.

After saying that, he turned around and walked a few steps outside.

Inside the house, everyone who had just woken up from their deep sleep looked at each other, not knowing what was going on.

While they were still lingering on the bed and didn't move immediately.

"Crash-"

There was a sound like flowing water, and everyone was shocked to find that the wall in front of them, which was built with rough stones and seemed simple but extremely strong, was quietly turned into fine stone powder.

The entire wall turned into stone powder, which spread in all directions like running water.

An entire wall disappeared, and the frosty moonlight and chilly wind entered the house unhindered.

"What are you still hesitating about? Do you still want me to treat you?" The figure from before sounded again.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the figure who had just been standing at the door, with only a vague outline visible, was now standing in the open space in front of the residence illuminated by the moonlight.

The man's face was much clearer than before.

It doesn't feel hideous.

At this moment, just watch them quietly.

But the people sitting on the bed did not have the illusion that this man was gentle and harmless at all.

"Hmm?" The man snorted again.

Everyone on the bed felt a chill in their hearts.

Then, one by one, they nimbly jumped up from the bed, rushed out of the collapsed wall, and stood in the open space in front of Geng Xuan.

"Boom——"

Shortly after everyone in the house came out, a loud noise was heard behind them.

However, their hastily built crude residence finally collapsed after losing the support of an entire wall.

Although everyone was shocked, no one turned back to look.

With awe in their hearts, they stood even straighter.

Geng Xuan glanced at these people and was very satisfied with their ability to "know the current situation".

"I have one thing to announce. The 'Ochre-Red-Eye' Basin is now mine.

This time, Dong Guan specially arranged 500 elite cavalrymen to march south, but most of them, including the 'giant bear', have died.

The rest have surrendered to me.

And Chen Zhan and other special envoys who worked for Dong Guan have now all joined my army and are working for me."

Having said this, Geng Xuan ignored the stunned and horrified expressions of the others, looked at the four of them, and said:
"Dong Guan arranged 500 cavalrymen to march south this time, but you few have slipped through the net and have not yet made a choice.

Now, you can tell me your choice.

If you are willing to be loyal to Dong Guan, I will send you off now.

If you don't want to die, just surrender."

When the four people heard this, their expressions changed.

They didn't know how the person in front of them could see through them at a glance.

But suddenly I was kicked awake from my sweet sleep and forced to answer this two-choice question.

They really don't know how to choose.

They fell silent.

Geng Xuan's eyes swept across these four people, looked at the other dozen people, and said:
"You are all spies arranged by Dong Guan in Yuanzhou. You should know what your actual status is in Dong Guan's eyes."

As he spoke, Geng Xuan turned his head and looked away.

There, Chen Zhan, who was standing in a position invisible to others, faced Geng Xuan's gaze. After a few moments of silence, he walked to Geng Xuan with heavy steps.

The dozen or so people who had remained silent under Geng Xuan's gaze could no longer bear it after seeing Chen Zhan, and a low buzzing sound immediately began to sound.

"Your Excellency, why are you here?"

“…You, really…”

"..."

Someone couldn't help but ask.

Some people didn't ask, but stared at him with thorny eyes.

Of course, this could just be Chen Zhan’s illusion.

The status of these people in the Yuanzhou spy system developed with Chen Zhan as the core varies. Many of them were originally local spies developed from certain special envoys.

I am not qualified to contact him, so naturally I don't know him.

But although it was difficult to introduce these people here this time, they could take the opportunity to practice a ninth-rate secret technique, which was also a rare opportunity for further study, and he gave it to them as a reward.

Therefore, before sending these people here, he met with them in person and gave them a lot of encouragement, intending to train them as core backbones in the future.

Therefore, these people were not strangers to him.

Because the good impression he once gave them has not faded, these people have a good impression of him.

But precisely because of this, being stared at by these people in such a situation made Chen Zhan feel even more as if he was being stabbed in the back.

However, no matter what he thinks in his heart, he has to face what he has to face.

After a moment of silence, Chen Zhan finally spoke:

“In order to save the lives of my other brothers, I have surrendered.

I have nothing more to say to you.

This time we came here, we didn't have much time to stay here.

You now have two choices: either surrender with me, or die for Dong Guan.

I'll give you ten seconds to make your own choice.

nineteen……"

Chen Zhan had just read out the second number when the men who were originally under his command immediately made their choice.

At first, only three people walked out of the crowd.

"Since you don't want to hang out with Dong Guan anymore, why should we stay with you? Of course, we want to hang out with you!"

"Boss Chen, don't think of abandoning me."

"Me too, wherever you go, I will definitely follow you!"

Looking at the looks of these three people, it seems that they chose to surrender not because of the imminent death, but entirely out of the friendship and ties with their old boss Chen Zhan.

Regardless of whether it was true or not, after hearing what they said, Chen Zhan's originally stiff expression suddenly softened a lot.

The reactions of the others were only slightly slower than those of these three clever guys.

Without even giving Chen Zhan a chance to continue counting, they all walked out, clearly demonstrating their determination to change their allegiance.

After seeing that all the backbone members had "surrendered", Geng Xuan turned his gaze to the other twenty or so people.

These people were neither Dong Guan's direct subordinates nor Chen Zhan's subordinates. They were just "black coolies" brought in by Chen Zhan's subordinates through various means of "cheating and deceiving".

Although other people make full promises and pat their chests, they always worry that they will be abandoned after completing their work.

The most famous example of this is probably the group of people who built the mausoleum for Emperor Yuan, none of whom returned alive.

There are many similar stories.

They were very clear about what the tunnel they were currently digging meant to Dong Guan.

In order to prevent the news from spreading, it is easy to think of killing these people after the completion of the work.

Just now, Geng Xuan did not give them a chance to speak.

Now, when Geng Xuan looked at them, they really did not hesitate and reacted immediately.

"We surrender!"

"We surrender!"

"..."

In the end, only the four people that Geng Xuan had initially looked at were left on the field.

After everyone except them expressed their opinions, Geng Xuan looked at them again and asked:
"Now, what is your attitude?"

In such a situation, the four still did not speak or give a clear answer.

From their unusually active "ripple" changes, Geng Xuan could feel the entanglement and struggle of their inner thoughts.

Geng Xuan could also understand their dilemma.

In addition to being more loyal to Dong Guan, they also have the strongest fear of Dong Guan.

As they came from the two states of Xuan and You, they knew best how huge the gap in power was between this "grass-roots king" who came out of nowhere and Dong Guan.

From a rational point of view, if I surrender to him now, I might be able to survive for a while.

But they didn't believe at all that Geng Xuan, who had destroyed Dong Guan's core strategy, could escape his retaliation!

Therefore, if you serve under such a person, not only will you still die, but you may even die miserably because of your betrayal and surrender.

It will also affect the family.

Yes, and family.

They are not alone and helpless, they have family ties in Xuan and You states.

Because of these reasons, even if they had no loyalty to Dong Guan, getting them to say the word "surrender" would be much more difficult than for others.

If it were a different time, Geng Xuan might have given them more time to hesitate and suffer.

But now, Geng Xuan doesn't have the time.

He didn't intend to say more.

His eyes swept over the four people, observing the changes in the "ripples" they emitted, and grasping their emotional changes with the grandmaster's "mind-reading technique".

In Geng Xuan's mind, he ranked the "surrender tendencies" of the four people.

His mind was most shaken, he was already between speaking and not speaking, and now it was only because of the persistence of his companions around him that he had the courage to continue;

There are also those who are more determined, either because they are too deeply bound by the two states of Xuanyou, or because they firmly believe that he will fail under Dong Guan's attack...

In my mind, I made a clear "ranking" of the four people.

Geng Xuan looked at the person with the strongest will and the least likely to surrender.

Without saying anything, he just stretched out his hand and pointed.

A wisp of marrow-refining energy that was as condensed as substance flew out from the fingertips.

Before this person could react, it passed through the void and disappeared into his forehead.

"Oh!"

The man's head exploded into a ball of blood mist.

The loud explosion made the three people who were close to the scene and had some of their companions' parts on their bodies shiver at the same time.

"Now, what do you three say?"

"Surrender...surrender!"

The one with the weakest will immediately spoke with a trembling voice.

The death of a companion directly helped him make the final decision.

Better to die than live.

It's that simple.

Geng Xuan nodded slightly, his eyes passing over him.

This person breathed a sigh of relief.

No matter what the future holds, at least I'm alive now.

After him, another person spoke.

"surrender."

This person said in a somewhat low voice.

The death of a companion and the betrayal of another companion both served as a driving force in pushing him to utter these two words.

There is only one person left.

Geng Xuan looked at him. The man's lips were bleeding from biting.

When he saw Geng Xuan looking at him, his body began to tremble uncontrollably.

It can be seen that he is not ready to die, he is really afraid of death.

Geng Xuan could even think that there must be a story behind the fact that he couldn't even utter the word "surrender" so easily at this point.

But Geng Xuan didn't want to know his story.

In his opinion, his difficulty in speaking was simply because he had not witnessed enough deaths of his companions.

If he were put on the Qingyuanji battlefield and witnessed the cheap deaths of hundreds of his companions including the "Giant Bear", he would definitely not be as stubborn as he is now.

However, in this environment, there are obviously not so many companions who would die for him.

Geng Xuan raised his hand, intending to finish off the man, when he suddenly heard the sound of dense footsteps coming from the tunnel entrance not far away.

Geng Xuan turned his head and saw a group of figures covered in rock dust walking out of the tunnel one after another under the coercion of Xu Peng and another person he arranged.

Among the twenty or so people in this group, the task of persuading the others to surrender was easily accomplished.

Geng Xuan didn't even bother to speak himself.

Chen Zhan, who was familiar with the task, took care of everything by himself.

There were only three direct descendants of Dong Guan from Xuan and You states, and Geng Xuan spoke personally.

He didn't say much, just a few words to express his attitude, and then asked them to make a choice immediately.

After killing the one with the strongest will and the most stubborn attitude, the remaining two surrendered one after another.

Perhaps it was the surrender of more companions, or perhaps it was the death of two companions, that made the person who was about to be chosen by Geng Xuan's "Hand of Death" finally say the word "surrender".

From then on, this construction site, which was closest to Haozhou and farthest from the "Ochre Red Eye" basin, surrendered to Geng Xuan after paying the price of only two deaths.

Geng Xuan asked these people to do a simple cleanup, mainly to block the entrance of the tunnel. It was not required to cover it completely, just make it impossible for people to distinguish it from a distance.

When the team officially started to head back, Geng Xuan handed over the task of escorting these dozens of people to Xu Peng and eight other people.

"If anyone tries to escape, just kill them."

When saying this, Geng Xuan did not evade and said this to Xu Peng in front of everyone.

"No problem." Xu Peng replied.

With his level of cultivation, hundreds or even thousands of people might not be able to take care of such a complex environment.

But if these few dozen people were allowed to escape even with the cooperation of another eight people, then he would have lived in vain for decades.

Geng Xuan nodded in satisfaction, and took Chen Zhan on the return journey at a faster pace.

Because Xu Peng and others' route back to the city was also determined, which was to go back along the route he had just led the team to "lay eggs".

What Geng Xuan had to do was to try his best to persuade the construction sites nearby to surrender before the large force led by Xu Peng arrived near the next "egg".

——Geng Xuan led the team here, and the teams left along the way were all near various tunnel construction sites.

It turns out that his efficiency is still very good.

When Xu Peng brought a team of dozens of people and connected with the people he arranged along the route they came from, and met him at the tunnel construction site, Geng Xuan, with the help of the increasingly skilled Chen Zhan, had not only completed the work of persuading the surrender, but also completed the simple cover-up of the tunnel entrance.

You can set off at any time.

The price of all this was that only one person fell in a pool of blood, becoming the only person who was loyal to Dong Guan and died for him.

When Xu Peng escorted the surrendered people, who had increased in number to more than a hundred, on their return journey, the number of his companions also increased from less than ten at the beginning to more than twenty people.

The number of surrendered prisoners and the number of prisoners escorted by our side both increased.

The overall movement speed of the team also slowed down significantly.

When he led the more than one hundred people to the third tunnel construction site, he saw only dozens of dejected prisoners who behaved very well, a dozen of their companions who were guarding them, and three headless corpses crawling on the ground.

"Where's Boss Su?"

Xu Peng looked around and did not see "Su Ruiliang" and Chen Zhan. He could not help but ask a member from the Giant Bear Gang.

The man replied: "After the gang leader finished dealing with the matters here, he took Chen Zhan and left first."

"This...he just left like that? Isn't he afraid that there will be trouble here again after they leave?" Xu Peng asked in surprise.

"The gang leader said, don't worry, they are all very well behaved now, and they won't cause any trouble in the short term."

Xu Peng didn't know why "Su Ruiliang" was so confident.

However, he thought that "Su Ruiliang" and Chen Zhan were in front, and he was leading the others behind, and they were not far apart. Even if these people really caused any trouble, they would not be able to escape from his control.

Perhaps, this is also the reason why "Su Ruiliang" dares to say this.

……

Geng Xuan looked up at the sky and said to Chen Zhan, "We need to 'reclaim' all fifteen construction sites today. It's a heavy task."

So far, we have only completed the "recycling" of three construction sites, and it is already dawn.

Time also entered the daytime of the fifteenth.

This will certainly improve the efficiency of Xu Peng and others' travel, but due to the continuous expansion of the team, it will in turn slow down the overall travel speed. This increase and decrease is equivalent to no increase at all.

On the other hand, once daylight has begun, there may be people out hunting at every construction site.

Geng Xuan would not let these people slip through the net, and he would definitely catch them all. His workload had really increased. (End of this chapter)