Put away your magical powers now!.

Chapter 224 [Re-entering Snow Cliff Pass] (6300 words)
Chapter 218 [Re-entering Snow Cliff Pass] (6300 words)
Fireworks filled the sky, and hundreds of miles of forest were burned to the ground!

It was several days later that Chen Yan learned the final outcome of the battle.

·
After the day when fiery meteors fell from the building and flames raged in the direction of the forest, Chen Yan wandered for several days in the snowy wilderness below Xueya Pass.

It wasn't until several days after the fire started that Xueya Pass finally opened its defenses.

The dispatched garrison troops went out in batches to sweep across the snowfield, clear the surrounding area, and check for any remaining ferocious beastmen.

Chen Yan initially remained hidden in the snowfield until several days later, when the city's defenses were finally lifted and the gates of Xueya Pass were opened. In addition to the garrison troops, there were also wandering cultivators and hunters from the city entering and leaving. Only then did he attempt to enter Xueya Pass.

Chen Yan had just entered the city and was walking through the tunnels in the mountainside. He did not intend to linger in Xueya Pass this time, so he did not plan to go to the Brotherhood's headquarters.

I had only walked a short distance when I was suddenly stopped by a familiar voice.

"One hundred and thirty-fifth brother!!"

As soon as Chen Yan turned his head, a pair of strong arms warmly embraced his shoulders, giving him a big hug, and then a large hand patted his back several times.

"Brother 135! It really is you! We were worried that you hadn't returned since you went hunting last time, and then the Beast Clan attacked the city. We were worried that you might encounter some danger in the wild!"

Chen Yan looked at the bald man in front of him. Although he was a little surprised, the man's genuine concern and sincere eyes touched him and made him feel grateful, even though he was somewhat embarrassed and surprised.

He paused for a moment, then quickly put on a smile and replied warmly, "Brother Thirty-Nine!"

The bald man stared at Chen Yan for a while, looking him up and down, before laughing loudly, "Good, good! Seeing that you are unharmed and have not lost any parts, I am relieved!"

Many brothers have been worried about you these days, and I've been telling them that they don't know how capable our 135th brother is! Last time you went hunting outside the city, you came back all by yourself, beheading more than eighty ferocious beast tribes and subduing the white beast that so many people coveted! Our 135th brother is incredibly capable!

Haha! Seeing you back today puts my mind at ease!

As he spoke, he grabbed Chen Yan's arm and pulled him away, saying, "Come on, come on! Let's go back to the Brotherhood! There are many brothers in the Brotherhood. They will be very happy to see you return safely!"
And Brother Golden Armor, ever since the day the ferocious beast army besieged the city, we've been worried about your safety, mentioning it two or three times a day! Now that you're back, everyone is finally relieved!

Chen Yan couldn't refuse, so he had no choice but to let him drag him away.

Along the way, the bald man, who was known for his forthright and uninhibited manner, began to tell Chen Yan about the ferocious beast tribe's army's attack on the city.

Chen Yan happened to arrive in the realm during this war, but he was a few days late. After the Beast Clan of Change City infiltrated the enemy camp, he did witness some of the battle, such as the eight hundred Thunder Riders fighting out of the city until they were completely wiped out...

But he didn't know how the battle had unfolded before that. He learned quite a bit from the generous, bald-headed Brother Thirty-Nine.

As the bald man, Brother Thirty-Nine, got into the conversation, he recounted many battles fought during the siege, and even mentioned that some of his brothers in the Brotherhood had been assigned to the reserve force, ready to go to the city gates to fight should any major crisis arise...

Seeing that he was talking so enthusiastically, Chen Yan simply didn't interrupt and listened to his story as they walked.

However, after speaking for a while, Bald Thirty-Nine Brother suddenly changed his tone and lowered his voice, saying, "In this great battle, something else happened that is somewhat related to our Brotherhood."

"What's the matter?" Chen Yan asked casually.

"Do you still remember that guy Luo Shang?" The bald man sneered, "That traitorous bastard."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yan nodded with a cold laugh: "Of course I remember. He even tried to take advantage of my White Beast back then."

"Ha!" The bald man sneered with a hint of satisfaction, "This traitorous bastard tricked the brothers into dying back then, using their blood and lives as stepping stones for his own merits! Now, he's finally getting his comeuppance!"

He paused for a moment, then slowly said, "That bastard, he... he's crippled!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yan slowed his pace: "Crippled?"

"That's right! He's completely ruined this time! He lost an arm, and that's not all, his dantian was also shattered, making him a cripple from now on!"
Ha! Heaven has finally opened its eyes! This shameless scoundrel deserves his just deserts!

Without further ado, Bald Thirty-Nine Brother briefly recounted the events.

It turns out that when the ferocious beast tribe's army first besieged the city, the city's garrison had already been mobilized. It was said that the garrison commander's office had given the order to take advantage of the enemy's arrival and their instability to launch a surprise attack and give them a warning.

So in the first battle, the garrison was sent out, mainly consisting of the Thunder Cavalry, to charge out of the city and fight.

Luo Shang's team was part of the order of battle in that fight.

I heard from the bald guy about that battle; he said the results were quite good, but the fighting was also very fierce.

Luo Shang was seriously injured in that battle. Luckily, he did not die on the battlefield, but was carried back by his colleagues when the troops were retreating.

However, the severed arm and the ruptured dantian left him completely crippled, with no hope of recovery in this lifetime.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yan couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

If it were just a severed arm, there might be no cure in the real world—at most, one could get a prosthetic limb, which would be better than nothing.

But this is a realm, a world of cultivation. In this realm, there are quite a few miraculous elixirs or immortal techniques that can achieve the regeneration of severed limbs.

Even if all else fails, the physical cultivation path within the realms also employs rare and precious treasures to replace parts of one's body, thereby enhancing physical strength and increasing physical cultivation levels—this is one such method…

However, whether it's using immortal magic and supernatural powers to regenerate severed limbs, or replacing parts of limbs with other materials, or taking the path of body cultivation... everyone is very powerful, beyond the reach of ordinary low-level rogue cultivators.

Moreover, there might be ways to resolve the amputation.

However, if the dantian is shattered by an attack, such an injury can only be healed by the intervention of a top-tier expert.

Aside from that, it's already incredibly fortunate to survive such an injury.

As he spoke, Bald Thirty-Nine couldn't help but burst into laughter: "When I heard the news that day, I drank three cups with my brothers at the camp that night!"

However, he then looked at the silent Chen Yan, as if he had thought of something, and lowered his voice to say, "But Brother Jinjia scolded us a few times for this matter, and ordered us not to mention it when we were out of the Brotherhood in the city."

If you accidentally bring it up, you must never show any smugness or say anything that he deserved it…

Chen Yan sighed: "Thirty-ninth Brother, Brother Jinjia is right about this matter. You'd better do as he says."

"Why? That bastard deserved to die!"

“It’s different.” Chen Yan looked around and found that there were no guards from Xueya Pass nearby. He then grabbed the bald Thirty-Nine Brother and said seriously, “No matter what evil deeds this Luo Shang has committed before, he has harmed people in our Brotherhood.”

However, he was fighting alongside the army against the ferocious beast tribe, and was wounded in the line of duty. Moreover, he was a member of the defending Thunder Cavalry.

If word gets out, our brothers will say this behind our backs about a garrison commander who was wounded in the line of duty while fighting to protect Xueya Pass—no one else knows what he did wrong, and we can't possibly explain it to everyone one by one.

If those gloating remarks were overheard, they would only bring trouble to the Brotherhood.

Moreover, he was a general in the Thunder Cavalry. He was seriously injured this time, and everyone in the Thunder Cavalry considered him one of their own, a hero! If we say anything unpleasant behind his back, and it gets back to the garrison, especially the Thunder Cavalry camp, it might incite dissatisfaction and hostility towards our Brotherhood from the Snow Cliff Pass military!

Upon hearing Chen Yan's words, Bald Thirty-Nine was first taken aback, then his expression turned serious, and he lowered his head thoughtfully.

Chen Yan patted his shoulder and said slowly, "Brother Jinjia did the right thing in this matter. He sees things most clearly, and the brothers should listen to him."

"...Brother, you really understand Brother Golden Armor's thoughts! Now that you say it, I understand perfectly!"

As they spoke, the two had already reached the entrance of the Brotherhood's hideout cave. Bald Thirty-Nine took the lead, pushing open the door and pulling Chen Yan inside, shouting, "Brothers! Look who's back!"

As Chen Yan stepped into the familiar shop, he saw that almost all the tables were full, with no less than a hundred people, all of whom were "brothers" from the Brotherhood.

At the very head table sat Gu Jinjia!
Gu Jinjia, dressed in military uniform and wearing leather armor, was holding a wine bowl in his hand. When he saw Chen Yan walk in with the bald-headed Thirty-Nine Brother, Gu Jinjia was first stunned, then his face lit up with surprise. He slammed the wine bowl down on the table and said, "Brother Chu Yi!"

As Chen Yan walked in, a thunderous cheer erupted in the shop, with many people immediately shouting, "Our brotherhood's youngest member is back!"

"That's right! Little brother! Is everything alright?"

"Hahaha! Come on, let's drink!!"

Chen Yan strode in, bowed and greeted everyone, and walked all the way to Gu Jinjia's side.

Beside Gu Jinjia, the proprietress Ruyi, who had been sitting to the side, stood up with a slight smile as she saw Chen Yan approaching, making way for him and saying, "Little brother Chuyi, come sit here with me."

She then came up, looked at Chen Yan, and after sizing him up, a sincere smile appeared on her face: "It seems you are all well. It's good to be back! Sit down and have a drink with your brothers. I'll go to the back and get you some good food."

After saying that, she reached out and pinched Chen Yan's cheek hard, and said in a low voice, "Jin Jia told me about the things you said to him that day... Thank you, little brother Chu Yi. If it weren't for your words of advice, this coward would probably still be unable to accept what happened between him and me."

Ruyi then swayed her hips and walked away gracefully. Chen Yan stood beside Gu Jinjia and felt that Gu Jinjia's expression was calm and solemn, and he vaguely sensed that he had become more dignified than before.

Gu Jinjia scrutinized Chen Yan, looking him up and down carefully several times, before finally letting out a breath, nodding to Chen Yan, and saying in a deep voice, "It's good that you're back!"

As he spoke, he reached out and grabbed Chen Yan's arm, then nodded vigorously: "It's good that you're back!"

Although Chen Yan did not intend to disturb the Brotherhood during his trip to the Realm, he had his own purpose in coming. However, since he was already there, he did not hesitate to be polite—besides, the people in the Brotherhood had always been very kind to him, and he was grateful for their kindness.

After staring at Gu Jinjia for a couple of seconds, Chen Yan suddenly smiled and said, "Brother Jinjia, it's been a long time. Your demeanor is different now—you seem to have more of the aura of a great man than before, hmm... it seems to have a bit more of an official air about you."

Gu Jinjia laughed and cursed, "What nonsense about officialdom! I was just recruited by the garrison commander's office during the siege and given some temporary tasks to help out." After a pause, Gu Jinjia waved to Chen Yan, "We can talk about other things later, let's drink first! Today is a feast for the brothers to celebrate the defeat of the ferocious beast tribe. The victory was extremely fruitful, and our brotherhood also contributed a lot to it."

Today's feast is a celebration for our brothers.

If you don't drink at least a hundred cups later, you won't pass!

Chen Yan had been a member of the Brotherhood for a long time and knew that when faced with such a scene of "drinking from large bowls and eating large chunks of meat," he would inevitably get drunk.

Thinking that since they were already there, they might as well relax and sit down next to Gu Jinjia. They casually tossed the big white cat, which had turned into a cat, onto the ground and let it crawl away on its own. Then they picked up the wine jar on the table and started drinking with their brothers.

This naturally ended with him getting extremely drunk and having to be carried back to his room.

·
When Chen Yan woke up, he found himself not in a regular guest room at the Brotherhood’s headquarters.

The large bed beneath me was wide and firm, and when I opened my eyes, I saw that the room was also quite spacious, unlike the cramped feeling of a typical small guest room.

He sat up in bed and saw that there was another person lying on the bed, Gu Jinjia, asleep fully clothed, snoring loudly.

Gu Jinjia wasn't the only one in the room.

On this large bed, besides himself and Gu Jinjia, two other brothers were also sleeping. All of them were from the same school. There was also a guy with one hand hanging off the edge of the bed, with a wine jar under his fingers.

The room was huge, and several people were lying haphazardly on the floor.

The room reeked of alcohol and was filled with deafening snoring.

Chen Yan got out of bed, feeling parched. He walked to the table in the room, where a jar of water was already placed—presumably prepared by Ruyi.

Chen Yan took a bowl, poured himself three bowls of water and drank them down in one go before finally letting out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, Gu Jinjia's voice came from behind: "Brother, pour me a bowl of water too, my throat is burning."

Chen Yan turned around and saw that Gu Jinjia had also woken up, sat up, and stared at him with wide eyes.

Chen Yan laughed and simply carried the whole jar of water over. Gu Jinjia quickly took it, and without even using a bowl, he gulped down several large mouthfuls from the jar's opening before wiping his mouth vigorously and letting out a comfortable sigh: "That feels good!"

As he spoke, Gu Jinjia pointed to the door and said to Chen Yan, "Let's talk outside."

The two men tiptoed out of the house, leaving behind a room full of brothers who were sleeping soundly, snoring loudly.

This was Gu Jinjia's residence in the Brotherhood, which Chen Yan had visited once before. After the two walked out of the room, Gu Jinjia turned around, slowly closed the door, and pointed into the distance, signaling Chen Yan to follow.

·
A moment later, the two were already in the fraternity's bathroom.

The two grown men soaked together in a large bathtub. The slightly hot water reached up to Chen Yan's chest, making his skin feel slightly red and hot. Along with the slight stinging sensation, he also felt a sense of comfort.

Because of the heavy drinking last night, most of the members of the Brotherhood were still drunk. At this moment, only Chen Yan and Gu Jinjia were taking a bath in the bathroom.

Besides them, the only other moving things in the bathhouse were two puppet figures who specialized in scrubbing people's backs.

Chen Yan vigorously wiped his face, feeling completely refreshed and invigorated after the bath, before letting out a long sigh of relief. He looked at Gu Jinjia, who was sitting in the bathtub with a towel covering his face, and asked, "Brother Jinjia, is there something you want to talk to me about?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Jinjia gently removed the towel from his face, stared at Chen Yan for several moments, and then slowly said, "Do you know how great our victory was in this battle?"

Chen Yan thought for a moment and slowly said, "Before I entered the city, I saw the sky in the direction of Bad Soil Mountain was burned red by fire."

After a pause, Chen Yan said in a low voice, "...Lin Hai?"

Gu Jinjia nodded and smiled, "That's right, it's Lin Hai!"

Chen Yan couldn't help but gasp: "You... burned down the forest? No! How did you do that? You crossed the snowfield, ran behind the ferocious beast tribe's army, ran to the forest, and even set it on fire?"

Gu Jinjia shook his head: "How can we talk about 'burning down' the forest? No matter how much we plan and scheme, it's impossible for us to completely 'burn down' that forest."

He paused for a moment before laughing, "It's just that we took advantage of this war to plan and scheme to dig out a large part of that evil spirit forest that was harming the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Although we couldn't destroy it completely, the large area we dug out will still inflict a lot of pain on the ferocious beast tribe, causing them to lose a large part of their territory. This will also reduce the suppression of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth outside the pass, and the safe zone where the spiritual energy of heaven and earth exists will be larger when our people leave the pass in the future."

Chen Yan nodded, but pressed on, "How exactly... did you do it?"

Gu Jinjia chuckled: "Of course, it was planned long ago."

As he spoke, he looked at Chen Yan: "Do you remember that before this great battle, our Thunder Cavalry from Xueya Pass fought a scouting war against the Beast Clan's sled caravan for several months on the snowy plains outside the pass?"

"Naturally remember."

"Yes, the plan had already begun at that time," Gu Jinjia said with a smile.

Chen Yan's heart stirred.

Gu Jinjia continued, "At that time, every day, Thunder Cavalry would enter and leave Snow Cliff Pass. The garrison in the pass would send out a large number of Thunder Cavalry to search for enemies on the snowfield and fight countless battles with the sled caravans of the Fierce Beast Tribe."

In fact, Zhenjiang Prefecture had already issued the order at that time.

Every day, three or four teams of the Thunder Cavalry would leave the pass, but only one or two teams would actually return.

There were people coming and going every day, so no one in the city knew that before the great battle began, three thousand Thunder Cavalrymen had secretly flowed out of the city in this way and were quietly deployed outside.

These swift cavalrymen, after leaving the city and crossing the snowfield, headed straight for the forest.

Anyway, at that time, the snowfield was full of fighting. Our Thunder Cavalry squad and the Beast Tribe's sled caravan were fighting fiercely. In the chaos, we cut off a lot of their scouts and finally managed to get the three thousand Thunder Cavalry across the snowfield and into the forest. Then we lay in ambush on the edge of the forest, avoiding the Beast Tribe's army's route after the war started.

Until the war began, the army of the ferocious beast tribe crossed the canyon in the middle of the evil earth mountain, passed through the forest, crossed the snowfield, and invaded my Snow Cliff Pass.

Meanwhile, the three thousand lurking Thunder Cavalry had already quietly hidden behind them.

Chen Yan looked at Gu Jinjia: "You knew about this plan a long time ago?"

Gu Jinjia laughed heartily: "I know more than I do. I also participated in the planning process."

As he spoke, he patted Chen Yan on the shoulder: "Brother, do you still remember when we first met, on the other side of Badlands Mountain?"
I told you back then that I had a secret intelligence identity as a military intelligence agent for the Sendai War Department.

Besides the tasks I've already told you about, another purpose of my trip to Badlands was to survey the forest terrain in preparation for developing a battle plan.

"Then... stealing the sap from the sacred tree..."

"Naturally, it's to incite war and provoke the ferocious beast tribe—to enrage them and then lure them into gathering an army to attack, we have to do something that will truly hurt and anger them."

Upon hearing these words, Chen Yan's heart sank!
This Gu Jinjia is really good at hiding his true abilities!

"Brother, please don't be offended, but this matter involves important military intelligence, which is why I haven't been able to tell you."

Chen Yan nodded: "That's how it should be. I have no reason to blame Brother Golden Armor."

Gu Jinjia smiled and said, "I know you're a reasonable person. I've asked you to come here to talk about something."

"whats the matter?"

"I intend to recommend you to the new town magistrate."

"...Huh?" Chen Yan was taken aback: "Why would you recommend me?"

Gu Jinjia said calmly, "Brother, we hit it off immediately and are practically brothers in arms. I know you are exceptionally skilled, and from your usual actions, it seems your ambitions don't lie with our brotherhood. You don't seem like an ordinary rogue cultivator."

The great battle has begun, and this is naturally an opportunity for valiant men to make their mark. I will recommend you to the garrison commander, and you will gain a legitimate status. From now on, when you achieve great things at Snow Cliff Pass, you will no longer be a mere rogue cultivator, and you will no longer have to struggle like countless other rogue cultivators. Is that alright?”

That was a well-intentioned gesture.

However, Chen Yan always felt that this guy wasn't telling the truth.

·
[Important Notice]

Just wanted to update you on something. Summer vacation has started, and the kids in my family are on holiday too. I wanted to spend some time with them during the first few days of the vacation (because they'll be starting extra classes later).

However, I don't want to take leave and stop updating. So, after thinking it over, I came up with a solution that satisfies both parties.

I changed my daily update time from midnight to daytime. The advantage of doing this is that I can adjust my sleep schedule to match that of a normal person, trying to keep it consistent with my child's schedule. This gives me time to write during the day instead of writing at night as before.

I don't want to stop updating, but I also want to spend more time with my child (because if I want to spend time with my child, my own schedule has to become normal, otherwise I'll be sleeping all day and night, so how can I spend time with my child?).

So, for the next few days, or about a week, the daily updates changed to daytime afternoons.

Please understand~

·
(End of this chapter)