Start with a red name

After this "minor incident," Geng Xuan continued to focus his attention on his personal cultivation.

On a grand scale, regardless of whether they were friend or foe, everyone was immersed in a strange atmosphere of busyness, fulfillment, and tranquility.

Dong Guan, who had led his army in hot pursuit, did not immediately march west at the last moment. Instead, he deliberately widened the distance between himself and his own forces and built a city along the river.

Yes, it's not about building a camp, but about building the framework of a great city.

The fleeing wave, which Liu Mu personally led his cavalry to disperse and which continued to grow, did not achieve the effect that Liu Mu and others had expected, thanks to Dong Guan's proactive relief efforts.

It is said that many of the laborers who participated in the construction of the city were conscripted from among the refugees.

In addition, a steady stream of boats travel swiftly back and forth on the Canglan River every day.

Ship after ship of supplies were transported to the yet-to-be-built "new city" dock.

They seemed very busy, without the slightest sign of slacking off or taking a break, yet they showed no intention of actively heading west.

Since Dong Guan did not take the initiative to attack, the "Black Wind Army" naturally would not take the initiative to provoke them either.

On the one hand, the construction of the camp did not stop.

Moreover, seemingly inspired or stimulated by Dong Guan, Song Mingzhu, who was in charge of the camp's construction, also quietly raised the construction standards, and the "camp" gradually took on the layout of a "city".

But the real excitement was happening in the rear.

The forceful suppression of the apparent chaos, the implementation of the "meat-for-grain" plan, and the gradual return and resettlement of the tribal people...

For Geng Xuan, the only thing that occasionally required him to spare time and energy was dealing with the sand tribe soldiers who were being brought over one after another, as well as the tribal militia who took turns coming to pay homage.

On February 30th, the largest group of men, led by Iron Wolf and Monto, entered the camp.

Thus, the first phase of the operation targeting the "base" was successfully concluded.

The first phase of the operation focused on "violent suppression," using the fastest speed and the most resolute force to forcefully suppress all overt disturbances.

After incorporating all these sand tribe soldiers and tribal militia into the system, the results of this phase were clearly laid out before Geng Xuan.

The number of tribal militia members who came to perform the pilgrimage was just over 20,000.

In addition, more than 13,400 sand people soldiers were recruited and became members of the "Black Wind Army".

Because of their arrival, the "Black Wind Army," which initially numbered only over 110,000, expanded by more than 30,000, bringing its total strength to over 144,000.

However, Geng Xuan regarded this growth as ordinary, while Liu Mu regarded it as a burden.

Song Mingzhu, who was also concerned about feeding the additional 30,000 people, also viewed it as a burden.

This is because the average quality of the more than 30,000 new recruits is too low, with more than 17,000 at the Skin Refining Realm and nearly 12,000 at the Flesh Refining Realm.

There are only a little over two thousand people in the Blood Refining Realm, and only a little over twelve hundred in the Bone Refining Realm.

From the perspective of Liu Mu, Song Mingzhu, and others, it was like swallowing a mouthful of mud that was both hard to chew and had no nutritional value.

With the addition of these newcomers, the total size of the "Black Wind Army" appears to have increased to over 144,000 people, but the number of soldiers at the Skin Refining and Flesh Refining levels alone exceeds 110,000.

For Geng Xuan, there was another gain from this phase of the operation: good fortune.

More than 8,000 of the sand tribe soldiers and more than 1,300 of the tribal militia died.

However, the deaths of nearly 10,000 people did not bring him many lucky points, totaling only a little over 175,000.

On average, each person contributes less than twenty points of good fortune.

This time, Geng Xuan did not immediately bestow good fortune upon him.

Compared to the benefits of good fortune, Geng Xuan is more concerned about the changes in bad fortune.

Since the "Black Wind Army" settled here, more than 20,000 tribal militiamen have come to pay homage, bringing a total of 3,200 white coins to Geng Xuan.

"This is equivalent to 3,200 points of dark luck and calamity, such a huge calamity is being released."

Logically speaking, the only force most likely to "digest" this calamity is Dong Guan's army.

...But he remained inactive; where exactly did this calamity lie?

Geng Xuan pondered the matter, having some vague guesses, but not daring to be completely certain.

In the end, he took the initiative to put aside these distracting thoughts and continued to focus his mind on cultivation.

……

Just as Geng Xuan was pondering this question.

About 1,500 miles north of the camp, in the desolate northern wilderness, a massive force of nearly 30,000 men was slowly but steadily marching across this barren and impoverished land.

This team came from the east and headed west.

Everyone looked extremely disheveled, like a group of beggars.

However, upon closer inspection, one can discover that they are fundamentally different from beggars.

Although their clothes were tattered and they looked quite disheveled, their eyes were unusually bright.

If you focus your gaze on one person, you won't notice anything special. But if you take in all 30,000 people, you can clearly feel a powerful and awe-inspiring aura emanating from them.

Even Baima, who knew the person most well, would be stunned for a while before daring to recognize the person walking at the very front of this peculiar group.

This person was, of course, Hack.

Compared to Monto, the task Geng Xuan gave him was much more challenging.

He not only wanted to spread the name of "Divine Child" to every tribe and even every tribesman within Xuanzhou.

After completing other tasks, they must leave with the most essential parts of each department in Xuanzhou.

While trying to avoid being seen by Dong Guan, they rushed to Youzhou to meet up with Geng Xuan.

Doing so is tantamount to abandoning the tribesmen scattered and hiding in the wilderness, leaving them to become lambs to be slaughtered at will.

Without the support of Geng Xuan and the "Black Wind Army," there was no point in them staying behind with their less than 30,000 men.

As long as they are exposed to Dong Guan's view, they can be easily extinguished.

While the tribesmen left behind in Xuanzhou were certainly dangerous, finding and killing them all would be an almost impossible task.

—Those sand tribes that received Dong Guan's orders to organize troops to search and kill may have been able to go all out at first, but they could not continue to invest too much time and manpower in it.

So, although it was painful, Hack made these people understand that the real solution to this deadlock was not in Xuanzhou, but in Youzhou.

For no other reason than that the "Son of God" is there!

It wasn't that no one harbored resentment or even hatred towards the "jinx" Hack and the "divine child" they had never even seen.

But once Huck began to push things forward step by step without allowing them any resistance, they had no choice.

There is no other way but to follow this path to the bitter end.

Gradually, other emotions were naturally worn away, leaving only a very pure and genuine "faith".

For example, at this very moment, the concept of "the Son of God" has become the greatest consensus among these nearly 30,000 people as they grit their teeth and persevere on their westward journey, and has subsequently been purified into the sole belief.

They would travel 400 to 500 li every day.

The biggest challenge was resupply.

To avoid conflict with the northern tribes, they had no intention of exploiting these "tribes".

They eat horse meat.

Moreover, due to a lack of fuel and cooking utensils, they slaughtered live horses and ate them raw while they were still hot.

As a result, about 260 to 270 Azure Horses would disappear from the herd every day, degenerating into savages who ate raw meat and drank blood.

Fortunately, these nearly 30,000 "essences" are all at least at the Skin Refining Realm, and their physical constitutions are not bad. They can withstand eating raw meat for a few days.

Because of their enormous size and unusual behavior, they were a rare sight for these northern "tribes," something they had "never seen in their lifetime."

All the northern tribes that discovered them were terrified, fearing that they had come to seize their land or to murder them for their wealth.

In order to ensure unimpeded passage and avoid unnecessary disturbance, it is naturally necessary to appease and explain.

The name "God Child" spread uncontrollably among the northern tribes.

Moreover, the westward journey led by Haq was itself quite unusual.

To the northern tribesmen who only had a vague understanding of the situation, this group itself became part of a kind of "miracle".

As for everything that Hack and the others said, in their ears, who were extremely isolated from outside information, it was automatically imbued with a lot of mythical color without Hack and the others having to exaggerate it.

Whether it's the sudden rise of the "Black Wind Army".

Despite possessing the vast lands and rivers of Xuanyou and Youzhou, Dong Guan, as powerful as a lion and tiger, fell like a meteor.

...In just one or two months, the outside world has become completely unfamiliar.

All of this is beyond the comprehension of normal reason.

Then it can only be attributed to a miracle, and can only be attributed to the "son of God".

As a result, the name "Divine Child" spread like wildfire throughout the sparsely populated northern lands.

Hack and the others were astonished by how quickly and widely the "rumor" spread.

Every day, I would encounter some tribesmen from the North.

Some were simply curious and wanted to see for themselves.

Some, however, seemed to be there to witness a miracle, their faces filled with piety, as if on a pilgrimage.

They proactively brought them precious food.

It was as if they were treated as the retinue of a "divine child" and were devoutly fed.

The most outrageous thing is that some people even asked to join their pilgrimage group.

Yes, through constant "distortion," these northern tribes have come to regard their group as a pilgrimage.

After their attempts to refuse failed, in order to ensure that their journey to the west would not encounter any unexpected setbacks, Huck and his companions finally "gave in".

Now, several hundred people have joined their pilgrimage team after going through rigorous screening by Haq and others.

Despite the arduous journey of thousands of miles, the number of people in the team not only did not decrease, but actually increased.

This change, in turn, "infected" the entire group itself.

Even the least "devout" people have begun to subconsciously demand of themselves the attitude of "pilgrims".

Meanwhile, as Hack and his companions traveled westward, in the desolate wilderness further north, beyond their sight...

Not only has the land become more desolate and barren, but it has also become increasingly cold.

It's already late February, and March is just around the corner, yet snow and ice are still visible everywhere.

On this desolate land dotted with ice and snow, a figure glided swiftly along a winding road like a jade ribbon.

Upon closer inspection, this winding jade belt is actually a winding river.

However, this river was covered by a layer of solid ice.

As the weather gradually warms up, the ice is melting little by little, and water has begun to flow slowly beneath it, but it will still take time before it thaws completely.

This type of ice layer, which is currently thawing, is the most dangerous.

If you're not careful, the ice will break and you'll fall into the icy river.

The rivers in the northern wilderness are by no means as "gentle" as they appear.

But this figure completely ignored these dangers, and he moved swiftly across the ice, so fast that it was as if he were flying close to the ground.

Occasionally, when they reached areas where the ice was extremely thin, their movements were not hindered at all, and they could pass through without any obstacles.

Finally, this winding "jade belt" abruptly came to an end somewhere.

To be precise, the "jade belt" did not disappear, but rather suddenly changed from a horizontal direction to a vertical direction.

The frozen river connects with a frozen waterfall.

This waterfall originates from a steep and precipitous peak.

The figure stopped in front of the frozen waterfall, looked up at the towering mountains that filled the entire field of vision, yet whose full form was still not visible.

Unlike other high mountains, where you can occasionally see some exposed rocks, this mountain has a different color.

This high mountain is pure white.

It's all ice and snow.

Apart from that, there is nothing else.

After a brief look around, the figure found the gentlest slope of the ice and began to climb it using both hands and feet—this was the best climbing route he could find.

Half a day later, the figure had climbed about two-thirds of the way up the towering mountain.

Even with his cultivation level and physical condition, he felt the biting cold and had difficulty breathing.

Gasping for breath, he didn't continue uphill, but instead walked sideways for a distance.

Then, after turning around a blind spot, the area in front of me was suddenly filled with white mist.

"finally reached."

Upon seeing the white mist, the figure breathed a long sigh of relief and quickly headed towards the direction of the mist.

Only upon entering this misty area can one discover that the mist is actually fine, salt-like snowflakes, fluttering and scattering in the air.

As we continued forward, the snow turned into a light mist.

At first, the spray was very cold, but as you went deeper, the temperature of the spray rose rapidly.

Finally, a wave of water vapor hit us, making us feel somewhat humid and hot.

"Crash-"

The sound of running water could be heard.

Slightly hot water droplets splashed onto my skin like raindrops.

This person knew that this was a scorching hot spring gushing from deep within the rock crevices.

Turning another corner, the humid heat quickly disappeared, and the view instantly became open and refreshing.

A refreshing green expanse fills the field of vision.

There are also red, purple, yellow... as accents.

Then, a faint, fresh scent of grass, along with various floral fragrances, permeates the nose.

A vibrant, spring-like valley appeared before his eyes. (End of Chapter)