Put away your magical powers now!.

Chapter 182 [Snowy Cliff Pass] (7000)

Chapter 177 [Snow Cliff Pass] (7000 words)

A ferocious beast-like monster stood on a sled, then suddenly bent its legs and leaped into the air.

A human knight riding on a Thunder Beast was tackled by him. The two landed on the ground. The beast-like monster was tall and strong. It pinned the human warrior down and plunged its blade into the knight's neck, spraying blood all over its face.

But then, a Thunder Beast galloped past from behind, and the rider on horseback brandished his long sword, spinning its head off!

The cavalry finally crashed into the sled caravan!
Everywhere there were shouts, yells, screams, and bloody battles!

·
Jin Jia grew excited, suddenly roared, dropped his recurve bow, grabbed the huge iron hook, and ran towards the battle, shouting to Chen Yan as he ran, "Brothers! Let's go! Let's grab the credit!"

Chen Yan knelt on one knee, watching the golden-armored figure excitedly walk away. He couldn't help but roll his eyes, but silently raised his gun, aimed, and steadily pulled the trigger.

boom!
A beastman wielding a knife lunged at another fallen human knight, only to have his head explode and fall to the ground.

Chen Yan spat.

Pooh!
With a gun in hand, of course you should stay back and shoot from a distance! Why bother rushing in with a knife for hand-to-hand combat?!

If I get hurt, will Sendai cover my medical expenses?
That guy with the golden armor, what's with the ignition?!

·
The fighting subsided after a few minutes.

As more and more ferocious beastmen were killed on the ground, the advantage of human cavalry became increasingly obvious.

As the last beastman was dragged off the sled by his leg onto the snow, the two human knights plunged their swords into each other...

There wasn't a single ferocious beastman left on the battlefield, still breathing.

Soon, a human cavalryman roared, took off his leather hat and waved it around. More and more human cavalrymen joined in the shouting, and some even brandished their long swords.

Jin Jia stood among these people, holding a large iron hook in his hand, and was also laughing loudly.

He also gained something; after rushing into the battle, he personally smashed a monster to death with an iron hook.

Chen Yan then stood up from the ground and quietly looked at the battlefield in the distance.

·
On the ground, the corpses of the ferocious beastmen were moved together one by one.

There were also cavalrymen patrolling the battlefield, and if they encountered any still alive but seriously wounded, they would finish them off.

The carcasses of the hunted animals were also moved together and gathered up.

After searching, there were still seven or eight uninjured hunting animals, but they were tied up with reins and were struggling and restless.

Chen Yan slowly walked over. He had already seen the man in golden armor exchange a few words with one of the leaders of the cavalry, and then wave his arm at him.

The cavalry also suffered significant losses.

There were more than a dozen human corpses left on the battlefield, and four or five of those six-hoofed "Thunder Beasts" were also dead.

As Chen Yan approached, a human cavalryman gave him a few cold and wary looks, but as the golden-armored soldier shouted, he ignored Chen Yan and went back to his work.

Standing beside the golden-armored man was a human knight, dressed in leather armor with a leather coat over it. His leather hat was stained with blood, and he reeked of blood.

This guy was burly, half a head taller than Jin Jia, and his unshaven face made it impossible to see his true features.

After glancing at Chen Yan, he said in a deep voice to the man in golden armor, "We can give you a sled and you can come with our team."

After saying that, he turned and left, directing his men to continue cleaning up the battlefield.

Jin Jia laughed and walked towards Chen Yan, patting him hard on the shoulder: "Let's go, brother, let's go check the corpses together and pick out the ones we killed so we can record our merits—according to the bounty order, the head of a beastman is worth two hundred coins."

The battle results were not difficult to tally; the guys Chen Yan killed were killed by bullets.

The arrows used to kill the man in golden armor were different from those used by these cavalrymen, making them very easy to distinguish.

After the cavalrymen took out small notebooks to write it down, they began to cut off the heads of the corpses.

After the heads of the ferocious beastmen were cut off one by one, their corpses were piled up and then set on fire.

Chen Yan watched as the cavalrymen hung the heads of the ferocious beastmen under the saddles of the Thunder Beasts, and couldn't help but twitch his lips.

This scene... is indeed somewhat cruel.

However, he was cold-hearted, and since he had killed quite a few members of the ferocious beast tribe, he didn't have any so-called saintly compassion for this scene. He just felt a little physically uncomfortable watching people being beheaded.

Golden Armor, however, was already busy choosing a sled.

He selected a good sled and brought two strong hunting animals.

The beasts seemed restless and uneasy, clearly not yet adapted to being livestock to humans. However, after Jin Jia kicked one of the beasts twice, the two animals quickly became obedient and were put on the reins of the sled.

Chen Yan glanced at it and saw that five heads of the ferocious beastmen had been thrown onto the sled.

There were also two carcasses of wild animals—the meat of these creatures is excellent food.

Jin Jia sat on the sled, stretching out his legs to rest. Looking at the cavalrymen around him who were still busy, he smiled at Chen Yan, raised his hand, and tossed something over: "Here, I just asked their captain for this."

Chen Yan took it and saw that it was something that looked like tobacco.

Well, not exactly cigarettes, but something similar.

It was wrapped in a brownish-yellow material—somewhat like a cigar, but with a slightly pungent odor.

The tobacco inside was some kind of chopped leaves, which looked like they had been roasted, but the processing was very rough.

Jin Jia, already carrying a stick, jumped off the sled, went to the pile of burning beastmen corpses, picked up a stick, lit it, and returned.

The two men lit the tobacco with the help of the fire.

Chen Yan took a shallow puff; the taste was somewhat like cigarette smoke, but not as fragrant.

In the real world, cigarettes are actually mixed with some kind of flavoring during the processing.

Furthermore, cigarette paper contains combustion enhancers.

Therefore, it will have a special smell when it burns.

The thick cigarette in my hand tasted very strange.

The first puff has a faint fur scent, mixed with a rich oak aroma.

Chen Yan sat on the sled, took a few puffs, and then felt his tense mind relax without him even realizing it.

Turning his head, he saw Jin Jia looking quite content, with his legs crossed high and a thick cigarette dangling from his mouth.

"It would be even more fitting to have another drink at this moment," Jin Jia sighed.

Chen Yan smiled, took two more puffs of his cigarette, and then gently pressed it to the snow to extinguish it—he didn't smoke; he was just curious about the tobacco in this world and wanted to try it out.

"What a waste." Jin Jia looked at Chen Yan as he extinguished the half-finished cigarette and said with a regretful expression, "This is the rations for scout cavalry; you can't buy it on the market."

Chen Yan didn't speak, but slowly slung the rifle behind his back.

Jin Jia watched Chen Yan's retreating figure, remained silent for a moment, and then said in a low voice, "They are a scout cavalry team from Xueya Pass. I've already spoken with their captain, and we'll go with them and they'll take us back to Xueya Pass."

"Okay." Chen Yan nodded.

Chen Yan was familiar with the name Xueya Pass.

This is one of the three platforms, eight passes, and sixteen towns in the domain.

During his previous visit to You Su Yi, You Su Yi had already introduced Chen Yan to many of the local customs and general conditions of the realm.

The so-called Three Platforms, Eight Passes, and Sixteen Towns refer to a series of passes built in the border regions of various areas, specifically to defend against the invasion of 'evil spirits'.

The Three Platforms are the most important and the most fiercely contested areas. They are on the front line and the most active areas for the [Spirit] invasion. They are the three most forward-deployed places outside the border of the domain.

If there are first-tier cities, there are naturally second-tier and third-tier cities as well.

The second tier consists of eight passes, and the third tier consists of sixteen towns.

As one of the eight passes, Snow Cliff Pass stands in this region specifically to deal with the Seven Fierce Tribes, those who betrayed the realm.

Only after crossing the Snow Cliff Pass can one officially enter the territory of the domain.

The previous times I was teleported to this world were all, in fact, in enemy-occupied territory.

Chen Yan's previous teleportations were like the blind men and the elephant; he only learned about these situations after visiting You Su Yi last time.

In his patrol office jade pendant, there was even a map of the territory drawn by Su Yi himself. Although it was a bit rough, Su Yi had drawn the general area and location for him, and the locations of the three platforms, eight passes, and sixteen towns were also drawn on it.

Therefore, before Chen Yan came here, he already knew that after leaving the Badlands Mountain and heading east, passing through the vast forest, the nearest pass was [Snow Cliff Pass].

·
"Whoa! Whoa!"

The cavalrymen shouted commands as they guided the Thunder Beast across the snowfield.

Besides the cavalry, the group also included four sleds. They were piled high with spoils of war—weapons and equipment of the Beastmen tribe, as well as the carcasses of hunted beasts.

The Thunder Beast walked slowly, and the heads of the ferocious beasts hanging under its saddle swayed gently.

Chen Yan sat on the sled, tightening his winter coat. He also wore a leather hat on his head—a spoil of war he had obtained from the cavalry, which probably originally belonged to some ferocious beast tribe.

It smells awful, but in this freezing place, staying warm is the most important thing.

Having not showered for over twenty days, Chen Yan no longer cared about the smell.

He carefully examined the human cavalrymen riding the Thunder Beasts.

They were fierce and brave, with murderous intent in their eyes, and each of them exuded a strong aura of bloodlust.

Jin Jia told Chen Yan that these "scouts" were the fiercest group of people in Xueya Pass—they might not be the strongest in combat, but they were the most ferocious.

They spent most of their time traveling outside the passes, far from them, fighting against the scouts of the ferocious beast tribes in the wild.

They had the highest casualty rate, but also the most combat achievements.

This is a group of desperate people who risk their lives to earn war merits!

The captain among them had the strongest murderous aura!
Even without using his aura-gazing technique, Chen Yan could feel the menacing aura emanating from this guy simply by standing in front of him.

The captain had three red feathers stuck in his leather hat.

Jin Jia told Chen Yan that the custom at Xueya Pass was that killing one hundred ferocious beastmen would allow one to insert a long feather, soaked in blood, into their hat.

And this guy had three sticks stuck in his hat.

This man gave off a "keep away" vibe, and even the other cavalrymen in his unit rarely spoke to him.

But his attitude towards Jin Jia was relatively kind.

At least when he was facing the golden-armored man, although his words were cold, his eyes did not have that kind of cold and ruthless look.

Aside from the golden armor, the captain always kept his eyes downcast when speaking to everyone else, as if a fierce, cold light was hidden in the slits of his eyes.

"He cultivates combat techniques, honing himself with killing intent, and should be considered to have achieved minor success," Jin Jia secretly told Chen Yan.

Battle tactics are honed through the killing intent...

Chen Yan couldn't help but think of Gu Qingyi. Was Gu Qingyi's five years on the Prison Suppression Platform like this too?

·
Xueya Pass... is not actually a "pass" in the traditional sense!
When Chen Yan finally arrived at Xueya Pass, standing at the foot of the pass—one of the famous "Three Platforms, Eight Passes, and Sixteen Towns" in this region—he stared at it for a full half minute before he came to his senses.

Xueya Pass is not a single pass.

Instead... it's a mountain!

·
What appears as long, “city walls” on both sides are not city walls, but rather continuous mountain ridges!
It was as if two mountain ridges suddenly rose up on the vast land, stretching out to the left and right, almost without end.

Along the mountain ridge, there are beacon towers at regular intervals—Jin Jia said that there are troops stationed inside, and beacon fires will be lit if the enemy invades.

The mountain ridge was nearly fifty meters high! Chen Yan knew that these mountain ridges, which existed like city walls on both sides, were not naturally formed.

Instead, after the domain established its territory here, several powerful beings at the saint level took action and used extraordinary magic to cause an earthquake, forming the mountain ridges on both sides to serve as city walls.

Chen Yan was standing at the entrance to Xueya Pass.

There's a mountain in front of me!

This mountain was moved from elsewhere by a great cultivator of saintly level using his supreme magical power and placed here as a pass.

The top of this mountain, which is 100 meters high, has been flattened by powerful magic! The platform at the top is the size of a small city, and city walls and gate towers have been built there.

Down below, the mountain wall had been excavated, revealing a huge passage that ran directly through the mountain!
Inside the mountain's belly are the celestial army and residents stationed in the pass, as well as various logistical support personnel.

This is a completely military town.

There are no trade routes to the outside world—outside the pass are the fierce races who have betrayed the realm, so how could the realm possibly trade with the fierce races?

The residents inside the pass are merely logistical support personnel for the celestial army stationed there.

Chen Yan followed the group into the passage inside the mountain. After the thick iron gate outside the passage closed, runes faintly shimmered on the arched stone walls that were more than ten meters high inside the passage...

Chen Yan let out a soft breath, feeling the familiar fluctuations of vital energy in the air.

·
Inside the mountain, it was as if it were an underground city built inside the mountain.

The air was a little stuffy, but warm as springtime, much better than the freezing cold outside.

The runes in the caves on the mountainside provide illumination here.

As Chen Yan walked along the way, the arched tunnel forked, and Chen Yan followed the golden-armored man to the left, then turned and circled around until he finally arrived at a cave.

There are no "houses" inside the mountain, but rather caves carved out of the mountainside.

It exists like a cave dwelling.

The cave dwelling in front of us had a large entrance, and inside it was brightly lit, with faint noises emanating from it.

Chen Yan noticed that a row of flags were hanging above the entrance of the cave dwelling.

"This is the only place in Snow Cliff Pass where 'commoners' can live," Jin Jia laughed. "What's wrong, brother? When you went to Badlands Mountain before, you didn't pass through Snow Cliff Pass and didn't come here?"

Chen Yan smiled, already prepared for this question: "I've never been here before. Last time I came from Jiechuan."

Jiechuan is another passage leading to Edo Mountain outside Xueya Pass, which is the boundary of this area.

However, it was a narrow path, not suitable for large-scale travel.

Jin Jia nodded and said, "Xueya Pass was originally a military town with no civilians. The people stationed here are either celestial warriors or logistics personnel."

However, after Sendai issued a bounty order decades ago, some independent cultivators went to the Badlands Mountains to hunt down the ferocious beast tribe. As more people came, Snow Cliff Pass became a place for these commoner cultivators to stay, with inns, shops, even a weapons catalog, and three years ago, an alchemy workshop opened.

Chen Yan didn't say much and followed Jin Jia into the cave.

·
Inside the cave was a large hall with a low ceiling, as it was a cave dwelling carved out of the mountains. The walls were also pitted and uneven, but runes shone on both sides.

The room was about 200 square meters, furnished with tables and chairs, and almost half of it was occupied. The air was filled with the aroma of food.

Behind the wooden counter, people were buying wine and settling their bills.

Chen Yan roughly deduced that this was a place similar to an inn.

Jin Jia walked over and slapped down a few jade coins on the counter. A seemingly thin young man behind the counter then placed two small jars of wine on the table with a smile.

Jin Jia took the jar, tossed one to Chen Yan, then unscrewed it and took a sip himself.

Chen Yan calmly imitated Jin Jia's manner, unscrewing the cap and taking a sip.

It's alright. It has a fruity aroma, low alcohol content, not sweet, and slightly sour, but not astringent.

Jin Jia had already pulled over a woman carrying a plate who was walking by. The woman was dressed in a deep red robe, which was not the kind of "ancient world" attire. She wore narrow-sleeved trousers and a short skirt that resembled an apron. She turned her head and smiled charmingly at Jin Jia with a rather pretty face.

Jin Jia pulled the woman aside, whispered a few words in her ear, and then pointed at Chen Yan. The woman smiled, took out a key from behind the counter, walked up to Chen Yan, and put it in his hand.

"Young man, come with me."

Jin Jia winked at Chen Yan: "Don't worry, let her go. We'll see you later."

Without asking any questions, Chen Yan followed the woman away. After passing through the cave dwelling, they entered a deeper tunnel inside the mountain and then arrived at the entrance of another cave dwelling.

This is clearly a guest room; the entrance is very small.

"This room is for you. That bastard paid for three days for you." The woman winked at Chen Yan. "You look good, young man. If you're looking for some fun, you can tell me in secret that I can recommend the best and gentlest bitch in this cliff pass."

Chen Yan was somewhat surprised by the other party's blunt words, but he just smiled and said, "I've been working so hard for so many days, I'm exhausted, I don't have the energy for that. Right now I just want to take a nice shower and have a good meal."

The woman laughed and said, "Taking a bath is not difficult. Just walk into the cave, and the entrance with the sign is only about fifty steps away. That's the bathhouse. There's hot water, and someone will even scrub your back."

As for food, later, when you return to your room, there's a magic circle there. You can activate it to call me, and I'll bring you whatever you want to eat.

After a pause, the woman looked closely into Chen Yan's eyes: "Is this your first time in Xueya Pass, young man? My place is the best in Xueya Pass, and I guarantee it's safe and there won't be any messy troubles. The town general is my cousin. As long as you don't cause trouble here, all your problems can stay out! Come here often in the future, and you'll see how good my place is."

Chen Yan remained calm and laughed heartily, "Alright! Thank you, boss lady!"

"Pah, what boss lady? That makes me sound old. Everyone here calls me Ruyi."

"Yes, please take good care of me in the future, Sister Ruyi." Chen Yan said with a beaming smile.

Ruyi gave Chen Yan another deep look, winked at him, and then swayed away.

Chen Yan used the key to open the cave door, went into his room, and closed the door behind him.

The cave dwelling is not large, only about ten square meters.

A wooden window, a wooden cabinet, and a wooden chair.

There was no other furniture besides that.

However, on the wall above the bed, there was a bronze Bagua plate hanging.

Chen Yan went over and took a look. He roughly determined that it was a control switch for a magic array. He turned it, and the runes on the walls of the room immediately lit up, greatly increasing the brightness of the room.

Chen Yan fumbled around and adjusted the room's brightness to his liking. Then, looking at a button on the Bagua compass, he roughly deduced that it was something like a pager.

"It's alright, it looks a bit like a hotel." Chen Yan sighed.

After twenty days of enduring wind and rain, and sleeping in the open, and enduring twenty days of lying on ice and climbing snow, he was truly exhausted both physically and mentally.

Although she really wanted to lie down and sleep, she was itchy all over. She threw her deflated backpack on the ground, rummaged through it and took out the last set of clean underwear and jacket. She then turned and went out to find the "bathhouse" that Ruyi had mentioned.

·
The bathhouse Ruyi mentioned sounds a lot like the old-fashioned public bathhouses Chen Yan used to visit in his hometown when he was a child.

It's just that the area isn't very large.

There's a counter in a cave dwelling outside the bathhouse; you can go in by simply showing the key to your room.

You can throw your clothes into a bamboo basket—the person behind the bathhouse counter said that if you write down the key number on the bamboo tower, someone will collect your clothes, clean them, and then bring them back to your room—of course, this will cost extra.

Inside the cave dwelling, there was a large stone platform pool, which could probably accommodate more than ten people for bathing.

When Chen Yan walked in, the air was filled with mist, and there were only two people half-lying in the pool.

There were two stone platforms nearby, and someone was lying on one of them, scrubbing himself.

There were naked bathhouse attendants wearing only shorts vigorously scrubbing people's backs—this surprised Chen Yan. However, after taking a few steps closer, he realized that these bathhouse attendants were not real people, but puppets!
"What are you staring at? Come down for a dip in the water!"

A figure lying half-reclined in the pool spoke, removing the towel covering his face—it was actually golden armor.

Chen Yan smiled and said, "You came quickly. Why didn't you book a room?"

Jin Jia laughed heartily: "Why would I stay in a guest room here? Of course I'll stay in Ruyi's room."

Chen Yan was somewhat surprised by how unrestrained this guy was.

He didn't care about any of that and walked naked into the pool and sat down.

Soaking his body in hot water, he couldn't help but let out a comfortable sigh, as if the fatigue from more than twenty days of wind and rain was finally leaving his body little by little under the soaking of hot water.

"Isn't this place nice?" Jin Jia laughed. "I've added some medicine to the water to relax muscles and improve blood circulation. Soak in it for a while, and I guarantee you'll sleep soundly all night!"

Chen Yan exhaled, splashed water on his face, and then looked at the pool.

Several copper pipes were installed on the wall and submerged in the pool; these were probably water supply devices.

Jin Jia noticed Chen Yan's gaze and laughed, "Ruyi's business is quite large. She even employs four or five puppet mechanics. The water here is made by melting snow outside, filtering it, heating it, and then transporting it in."

"That's quite a generous gesture." Chen Yan nodded.

Chen Yan sighed and looked at Jin Jia again: "I haven't asked you anything along the way... but now it seems that the proprietress of this place is running such a big business because of your woman? Brother, you must have quite a background, right?"

Jin Jia chuckled twice, then sighed, "It's not that I'm keeping it from you, brother. We weren't close before, so I couldn't tell you. We even had a little conflict later on... But luckily, we fought side by side and went through this ordeal together, so we've become friends through thick and thin. If I didn't tell you, it would seem like I'm not a good friend."

As he spoke, Jin Jia sat up straight in the water: "Brother, I'm not happy with you. I told you before that my name is Jin Jia, but that was actually a lie."

"You're not called Golden Armor?"

“My name is Jin Jia, but Jin Jia is just my name. Actually, my surname is Gu, and my real name is Gu Jin Jia.”

"........."

After a two-second pause, Chen Yan's expression became quite strange and interesting, and he swallowed hard.

"You...your surname is Gu?" Chen Yan said slowly, "You wouldn't be...a member of the Gu family, would you?"

"Exactly."

"Is it... 'that' Gu family?"

Gu Jinjia smiled and said, "That's right, it's 'that' Gu family."

As he spoke, he cupped his hands in a respectful gesture to Chen Yan: "Gu Jinjia, the eldest son of the seventeenth generation of the Gu family!"

Chen Yan: "..."

"Damn it..." Chen Yan stared at Gu Jinjia in front of him and blinked.

·
(End of this chapter)