Put away your magical powers now!.

Chapter 225 [It's Time to Go]

(Sorry, it's the first day of the kids' holiday today, and I had a lot of fun playing with my daughters, so the update is a bit late.)

I'll update earlier tomorrow~)

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Chapter 219 [It's Time to Go]

"It's not possible to see the garrison commander today. We'll have to wait a while, at least ten days or half a month, or at most a month before he can return to the pass."

Hearing Gu Jinjia's words, Chen Yan was slightly curious: "Isn't the garrison commander... in Guanzhong?"

"Ha! Who do you think led the three thousand Thunder Riders who infiltrated the forest to carry out such an important mission?"

You also think that those fiery meteors that burned down vast forests, whose handiwork was that?

From the moment the Thunder Cavalry were dispatched in succession, using deceptive tactics to sneak out beyond the pass, the garrison commander had already quietly left the pass with the last batch of Thunder Cavalry who had infiltrated.

Chen Yan was silent for a while, then suddenly remembered something: "So, when the ferocious beast tribe's army besieged the city, during the several major battles, the garrison commander was actually not in the city at all?"

"Nature is not there."

Chen Yan pondered—Gu Jinjia's intentions were undoubtedly good. If he were truly just a low-level rogue cultivator, without background or connections, but possessing considerable skill, and Gu Jinjia held him in high regard, then a simple recommendation to the garrison commander of Xueya Pass would provide him with a stable future.
In that case, there would be no need to struggle like a rogue cultivator at the bottom of society.

If we think about it a step further, what is Gu Jinjia's identity?
That was the eldest son of the Gu family, a powerful and influential family in the realm.

Although the position of head of the Gu family will most likely be given to Gu Xiaoniang in the future, as the eldest son of a prestigious family, he will not just be a figurehead in the Gu family in the future, but will also have to shoulder many important responsibilities for the family.

This can be seen from the great battle with the ferocious beast tribe.

Gu Jinjia was involved in the entire war planning process, and even in the pre-war preparations, he personally went to Bad Soil Mountain to survey the terrain. In order to provoke the war, he risked everything to steal the sap of the sacred tree...

Even though Gu Jinjia, the young master of the family, has lost his position as the future head of the family, he still holds a very important position in the family!

The methods of powerful and wealthy families are to recruit and cultivate valuable talents. If they achieve something, they can be considered as the wings of the Gu family in the future. Isn't this how powerful and wealthy families have always operated?

For example, the existence of the Brotherhood! That was also created by Gu Jinjia.

Therefore, Chen Yan was not surprised by Gu Jinjia's intentions in extending an olive branch.

but……

I'm not some low-level rogue cultivator!
With two grown men soaking in the bathhouse, Chen Yan felt awkward standing up to bow to the leader of the Brotherhood. After a moment's thought, Chen Yan slowly said, "I am truly grateful for Brother Jinjia's guidance!"

Upon hearing this, Gu Jinjia raised an eyebrow slightly. He sensed a hidden meaning in Chen Yan's tone, so he sighed softly, "Alright, just say 'but' then..."

Chen Yan smiled and said, "Actually, there's no other reason. It's just a little stubborn thought in my heart."

He paused, then said seriously, "I am used to being free and unrestrained and do not like to be constrained. If I follow Brother Jinjia's arrangement and enter the town general's mansion, and get an official position in the future, I am afraid that I will not be able to do many things as I please."

Besides, joining the garrison commander's office means serving in the Xueya Pass garrison, where rules and regulations are strict. I'm afraid my lazy nature wouldn't be suited for it.”

Gu Jinjia glanced at Chen Yan, somewhat helplessly: "Chu Yi, do you know the weight of my personal recommendation—this level of cultivation—within the realm?"

“Of course I know. The Gu family is a powerful and influential family, like a towering tree. The eldest son of the Gu family personally recommended me. This kind of influence is something that others would probably fight tooth and nail for. So I am very grateful for Brother Jinjia’s kindness. However, I know my own family situation and I am afraid that I am not up to the task.”

“You…you!” Gu Jinjia sighed and said in a low voice, “You and I ran all the way from Badlands Mountain together. We fought side by side along the way. Although you didn’t come from a good background, at your age, your skills, methods, and mentality are all top-notch. Over the years, my brotherhood has gathered quite a few brothers, but so far, you are the only one I have such high hopes for…”

With that, Gu Jinjia waved his hand and said, "Alright, I can't force you on this matter. If you're unwilling, then let's discuss it further and talk about it later. You're young now and don't know how difficult the world is. When you're a few years older and know how difficult the path of a rogue cultivator is, and that there's no way forward after reaching a certain point, then perhaps your thoughts will change."

Chen Yan nodded.

Gu Jinjia's words were truly invaluable, demonstrating his genuine appreciation and cultivation of him—the path of a rogue cultivator is difficult, not only now, but also in the future.

Throughout history, both in ancient and modern times, and in any world, a narrow path to upward mobility has always been a common problem.

The path of independent practitioners is difficult because the ceiling is too low!

The path of spiritual practice requires an enormous amount of resources as you progress.

When you're at the realm level, it's manageable. If you're a rogue cultivator willing to endure hardship and risk your life, you can hunt enemy tribes outside the pass, earn some bounty, buy some pills, and rent a training room to make a living.

However, once you reach a certain level, the resources consumed in cultivation cannot be earned through this method.

Do you want to learn more advanced cultivation techniques? Can you, a lowly rogue cultivator who relies on risking your life, obtain the materials for more powerful magical artifacts and treasures? If not, can you afford to buy them?

If a cultivator makes a mistake during practice or suffers an injury and needs high-grade healing pills, can a rogue cultivator afford them?
When breaking through to a higher realm, a rogue cultivator with no connections can only rely on their own exploration. In contrast, powerful clans and wealthy families are full of experts, with seniors and high-level masters who can offer guidance and even help stabilize one's realm...

Everything Gu Jinjia presented to Chen Yan today was essentially a golden road for independent cultivators to leapfrog their cultivation realms.

However, Chen Yan had plenty of reasons for refusing.

He wasn't some lowly rogue cultivator; he had his own cultivation techniques and powerful connections—his own grandmother was a Venerable of the Ghost Clan.

Moreover, he had more important matters to attend to in the realm, and he couldn't tie himself to Xueya Pass. If he were to join the garrison commander's office and serve in the Xueya Pass garrison, he would lose his freedom and wouldn't be able to leave Xueya Pass easily.

Besides these, there is one more important point!
Chen Yan knew he had too many secrets! Whether it was the smuggling channels that allowed him to freely enter and exit the domain, or the fact that his own father, Chen Jue, was the domain's most wanted criminal... these secrets made him dare not stay under the watchful eyes of the authorities for long.

Seeing that Chen Yan had no intention of speaking, Gu Jinjia, being an open-minded person, said nothing more.

The two then chatted about some trivial matters.

Speaking of the course of the war, since the battle was over and there was no need to keep many things secret anymore, Gu Jinjia told Chen Yan: "Actually, this battle started out according to our plan, but later, something unexpected happened. With such a big accident, the new garrison commander was naturally unhappy. He should have led the army back to Xueya Pass earlier, but these days he has to stay outside, saying that he is looking for the person who ruined our plan."

Chen Yan's heart skipped a beat: "What do you mean?"

"The original plan was for the ferocious beast tribe's army to press in, allowing them to attack the city for days on end. We would only defend and not attack, and we could even show weakness, leave some openings, and reveal a weak and defensive posture to lure the ferocious beast tribe to press in with all their might, thus keeping them tied up here."

If we fail to break through after a prolonged siege and appear weak and vulnerable, the ferocious beast tribe will likely send even more troops from the rear. At that time, we can gather more ferocious beast tribe outside the pass, while the garrison commander sets fire to the forest to burn their retreat... Once they are exhausted from their long campaign and their supplies are depleted, we can launch a pincer attack and perhaps devour them in one fell swoop.

One battle could wipe out 100,000 able-bodied men of the ferocious beast tribe! They wouldn't recover for thirty years!!
However, after the unexpected event, the final battle was brought forward, but the number of ferocious beastmen gathered below the city was much smaller than planned before the battle.

In this battle, only thirty to forty thousand of their people were wiped out, meaning that more than half of the expected military achievements were lost.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yan's heart skipped a beat, his expression stiffened, and he said in a low voice, "The accident you mentioned..."

"It was that upheaval on the ice plains." Gu Jinjia shook his head and smiled bitterly. "If we fight for another two months, the ferocious beast tribe will mobilize more people from their rear. It would be better to launch an attack then."

Chen Yan recalled something and asked, "During the war, I was hiding on the snowfield and saw the ferocious beast tribe's army retreat. Why didn't the Snow Cliff Pass garrison send troops to pursue them along the way? They wasted an opportunity to expand their gains."

Gu Jinjia glanced at Chen Yan and shook his head, saying, "The original plan was to keep them here longer so that more troops could come up, and then cut off Lin Hai's retreat, cutting off their food supply and retreat."

But suddenly... Although the ferocious beast tribe outside the city was in chaos, their strength was not damaged. Most importantly, their military supplies were far from exhausted. The entire army had retreated, and their core strength was still intact. At this time, pursuing them would be much less effective!
Moreover, the best place for a snowfield chase is in an open area, in a vast space, so that those walking beast tribes are busy running for their lives, while our Thunder Riders chase after them. There's no need to fight; just running will make half of those beast tribes run to death!
But the ice field collapsed and turned into a large lake, leaving no room for the cavalry to maneuver.

The area where the ferocious beast tribe retreated was a small, narrow patch of land remaining on the ice plains. In such a confined space, cavalry could not maneuver effectively. It wouldn't be like hunting dogs chasing food; instead, it would force the ferocious beast tribe into hand-to-hand combat with us in a confined space—that's not how cavalry is used.

Moreover, most of the Thunder Cavalry in our city have been taken to the forest by the town general.

Therefore, I say that the timing of this ice sheet collapse is not very favorable for us.

Chen Yan lowered his head and gave a bitter smile. To cover it up, he wiped his face with water before saying in a complicated tone, "So, causing the ice field to collapse actually did more harm than good?"

"Not really," Gu Jinjia finally offered a word of comfort to Chen Yan: "Things are multifaceted. Although the results of this battle were smaller than expected, our losses were also smaller than anticipated. The original plan was to fight at Snow Cliff Pass for two months—two months of defensive warfare would have resulted in considerable casualties for us. According to the original battle plan and simulations, we would have suffered at least 30,000 casualties in exchange for swallowing up 100,000 members of the Ferocious Beast Clan!"

But now, these people don't have to die.

Given the current situation, we'll only suffer a few thousand casualties in this battle, while they'll gain thirty or forty thousand – a huge profit!
Moreover, the collapse of the ice field into a large lake will make it difficult for us to pursue them. The Beast Tribe returned on foot, but after the ice field collapsed, they will have to take a detour, which will be much longer than before. When food becomes scarce, even without our pursuit, many of them will probably die.

Although the results were smaller, the cost-effectiveness was also higher.

However, the new town general was too ambitious, wanting to secure thirty years of peace with one battle—wanting to get rich quick. His idea was good, of course, so he was not very satisfied with the current result.

"But I've been at Snow Cliff Pass for many years and know the suffering of the people here. I'm quite satisfied with the results so far. We've saved many lives and wiped out thirty to forty thousand of the ferocious beast tribe; that's quite good."

Chen Yan asked, "When the Ferocious Beast Clan withdrew, Xueya Pass did not send troops to pursue them. How could the Ferocious Beast Clan have suffered 30,000 to 40,000 casualties on their own?"

"Do you think the town general brought so many Thunder Cavalry riders through the forest just for fun?"

The icy plains made it impossible to conduct a pursuit, but the beast tribe had just exhausted their food, strength, and morale after their long journey around the great lake!
"Then, over in the forest, several thousand Thunder Riders can chase those ferocious beast tribes like rabbits, leaving them bleeding dry!"

Chen Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

At least, what I did wasn't entirely wrong.

However, he had made up his mind that he would not blindly get involved in things he did not understand in the future.

He was not a garrison soldier of Xueya Pass, nor was he a person of this world, and he also did not understand war.

It's best to avoid such blind interference in the future.

The two discussed the war, and Gu Jinjia stopped talking about it at this point. However, he then brought up another matter.

“A few days before you returned to the city, that merchant from Luo… came to see me.”

Gu Jinjia sat in the pool, leaning against the edge, and spoke with a somewhat complicated tone.

Chen Yan gave a soft "hmm": "When I was going through the process, I heard... I heard Brother Thirty-Nine talk about Luo Shang's fate."

"Hey!"

Gu Jinjia shook his head and said with a bitter smile, "He's completely ruined. He was carried back by his colleagues during the battle outside the city and only survived by sheer luck. But his dantian was shattered and he lost all his cultivation. Even if he recovers, he'll be a mortal for the rest of his life, and he'll most likely be bedridden with illness and won't live long."

"Why did he come to see you?" Chen Yan asked.

"What else could he be... seeking death?" Gu Jinjia sneered. "Back then, he made a vow with me that after killing a thousand ferocious beasts in this lifetime, he would come to me to die."

But now, severely wounded, it was utterly impossible for him to fulfill his oath and kill a thousand ferocious beastmen. Knowing his vow was hopeless, he actually came to me alone, knelt before me, and begged me to take his life to atone for the sins of the dozen or so brothers who died in battle years ago.”

Chen Yan looked at Gu Jinjia: "You...kill him...well, no, since you're telling me this, I suppose Brother Jinjia didn't actually take his life."

“This man… does keep his word.” Gu Jinjia’s tone was complicated: “At the time, I only saw that he was still seriously injured and had lost an arm…”

Brother, it's not that I'm soft-hearted or soft-hearted.

Rather, he was carried back after being seriously wounded in battle against the ferocious beast tribe outside the city.

During battles, he always took the lead, charging into the fray with unwavering courage, showing no regard for his own life.

After returning severely wounded... how could I possibly kill such a hero of the army who had just fought for my people?

Chen Yan paused for a moment—he could understand Gu Jinjia's feelings.

At other times, I would have killed him.

But this guy just fought bravely on the front lines for humanity, fighting until he was seriously wounded. And now he wants Gu Jinjia to kill him? Let alone Gu Jinjia, anyone else would probably hesitate.

“I didn’t kill him. He asked me for some things to take with him, and I let him leave the pass… to the snowy plains.”

After a pause, Gu Jinjia said in a low voice, "I gave him a good knife, a leather armor, a bottle of White Bone Pills, and a bottle of Bigu Pills."

He said that although he had lost his cultivation, he still had some strength. He could take these things out of the pass and become a mortal. With his skills of digging traps, setting snares, and a knife in his hand, he could still kill one or two more ferocious beastmen.

Then, he planned to die outside the pass.

Chen Yan remained silent.

It must be said that this Luo Shang, shameless as he may be, is also stubborn as he may be.

But in some ways, he was truly "pure".

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Chen Yan stayed at Xueya Pass for a few more days to rest and recuperate. After all, he had endured a lot of hardship during the battle, having spent so many days in snow dens in the snowfield.

After returning to Xueya Pass, I rested for a few days and then went to the rented training room to recover my strength.

These days, news keeps coming from beyond the Great Wall. Gu Jinjia spends most of his time away from the Brotherhood, instead going to the General's Mansion, only returning once every day or two, sometimes even every two or three days.

Gu Jinjia would also share some news with the brothers in the Brotherhood.

It is said that the newly appointed town general ambushed the fleeing army of the Beast Clan in the forest. Taking advantage of the fact that the enemy had traveled a long distance, run out of food, and were demoralized, he took advantage of the fact that the enemy had run out of food and were demoralized.

The town general, with thousands of Thunder Riders, waited in ambush and gathered at the edge of the forest, defeating the ferocious beast tribe. The vast number of ferocious beast tribe scattered into the forest, and the Thunder Riders broke into smaller groups and pursued them in different directions, reaping the heads of the ferocious beast tribe every day.

The meteor shower caused a massive fire to sweep through the forest. The fire started from the edge of the snowfield and spread towards the Badlands Mountain. In three days, it had burned for a hundred miles!

The fire raged on for fifteen days before being brought under control by a blizzard and gradually extinguished.

When the fire was extinguished, the forest that originally stretched for thousands of miles along the eastern side of Etu Mountain, starting from the edge of the snowfield and spreading towards Etu Mountain, was burned into black soil!

After such a large area of ​​the Evil Spirit Forest, which suppressed the primordial energy of heaven and earth, was dug away, it is said that the area near the snowfield where the forest was clashing with the snowfield is showing a faint trend of primordial energy recovery!

This news is even more exciting than the victory on the battlefield!
Originally, the people of the Domain Realm were superior to the Beast Clan in terms of combat strength—it was only because of the suppression of the Evil Spirit Forest Sea that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth disappeared, the cultivators of the Domain Realm lost their magic power and spells, and could not even use magic treasures and artifacts. They could only become mortals and fight hand-to-hand with the Beast Clan, which is why they fought so suffocatingly.

However, as long as there is vital energy, when cultivators fight the ferocious beast race, it's like a strong man beating a child. No matter how fierce the ferocious beast race is, it's useless.

Only those red-glowing monsters can contend with cultivators.

Now, it's as if the area with the vital energy of heaven and earth has been pushed to the edge of the original forest!

This effectively pushed the war zone where Xueyaguan could gain an advantage forward far too far.

Even in the future, the entire snowfield will gradually recover its vitality and will no longer be a place where the sled caravans of the ferocious beast tribe can roam freely.

According to Gu Jinjia, the town general's mansion has already made plans to cross the snowfield and build a forward military fortress on the edge of the forest when the natural energy has recovered a bit. This fortress will serve as a thorn in the side of the ferocious beast tribe and will give them a strategic advantage in future confrontations with the tribe.

However, after hearing about these things many times, Chen Yan stopped caring about them.

Because he received news that the garrison commander was preparing to lead his troops back to Xueya Pass.

According to Gu Jinjia, the town general was convinced that someone had secretly interfered with the collapse of the ice field and used underhanded means to create this incident. This action had cost him most of his gains, and the town general had even dispatched several squads of Thunder Cavalry to search around the great lake to find the culprit who orchestrated the collapse of the ice field.

Chen Yan knew it was time for him to leave!
(End of this chapter)