Myriad Immortals

Chapter 224 Suppressing Demons on the Huai River

The dismantling of the bandits was divided into two steps.

The bandits have been found.

Then kill the bandits.

The second step can generally be completed as long as the strength is sufficient and the number of people is large enough.

For the imperial army, the second step usually doesn't present much resistance, so the first step is the most difficult.

"This river is not easy to search."

Looking at the vast Huai River before him, Wang Kuan couldn't help but mutter something under his breath, a hint of bitterness appearing on his face.

The Huai River stretches for tens of thousands of miles, and even if it is just a single area, the scope is still extremely large.

They could easily spend a year or two searching.

It wasn't just him.

Many other scions of prominent families shared the same expression.

Practicing martial arts requires enduring hardship, but the hardship of martial arts training is completely different from the hardship of searching the river. Before today, many scions of noble families lived a life of luxury and ease, and they would never need to walk on the mudflats under the scorching sun.

In contrast, Zhong Xuan's demeanor was much calmer.

The mountains on both sides of the Huai River are gentle, making patrolling the river much easier than when patrolling the Qinghe River.

Back when we were in Qinghe, it was common to patrol the river for half a month or a month at a time, so it was much better in comparison.

Zhong Xuan did not underestimate his competitors because of his own experience advantage.

He glanced at the eight or nine people around him.

The junior scholars who came to participate in the assessment were divided into three teams, with Scholar Zhou, Scholar Zhuang, and Scholar Shangguan each leading a team to search separately.

of course.

The three scholars from the Hanlin Academy were only responsible for supervision and would not interfere in the assessment process.

Perhaps because the scholars had little experience in searching, the Huai River Commander's army was also arranged to conduct the operation.

Zhong Xuan happened to be grouped with Wang Kuan and Wang Zonglin, but his relationship with the others was just so-so.

"These bandits are really good at hiding."

Wang Zonglin was already covered in sweat.

He wished he could find those bandits and kill them all.

If even a scholar like him thinks this way, others will only hate him more.

But after searching for a whole day, there are still no clues.

Zhong Xuan then approached the leader, the River Guardian of the Huai River Commandery, and asked, "Lord Han, are you aware of the identity of the leader of this demon stronghold?"

He participated in several searches of the river while he was in Yongning Prefecture.

Therefore, it is clear that the hiding places of the demon stronghold are mostly closely related to the habits of the demon king of the stronghold.

Han Dang, upon recognizing Zhong Xuan, then spoke: "It's an old tortoise, extremely cunning. Our Huai River Governor's Office has been investigating for a year, and only recently received definite information that it's hiding near this place."

He was a military general who rose through the ranks of the border army.

Therefore, I have no interest in these inexperienced junior scholars who have never faced hardship.

Perhaps they are very strong in combat.

But it didn't help much in the search for the demon stronghold.

Scholar Zhou and his companions were aware of this, which is why they were conducting this assessment together with the Huai River Governor's Office.

But Zhong Xuan was different.

Before becoming a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations), he also achieved the sixth rank through merit. In fact, if he hadn't taken the imperial examinations, he might have become a river patrol officer like him. His experience might have been useful for patrolling the river.

"Old turtle..."

'

Zhong Xuan pondered for a moment.

His natural constitution might be somewhat helpful against snakes and pythons, but it doesn't offer much advantage against turtles.

Searching the river is an extremely time-consuming task.

But people as familiar with battlefields as Zhong Xuan know that the scene of two armies clashing and hundreds of thousands of people fighting each other, as imagined by the world, is almost impossible to happen.

At this time, the battlefields in the south were mostly small-scale guerrilla warfare.

Most of that time was spent searching for people, just like now.

It can be said that being able to find the right people is itself a manifestation of being good at fighting.

"No matter how good you are at fighting, it's useless if you can't find anyone to help you."

Zhong Xuan thought to himself.

Today is the ninth day of the assessment and the eighth day of the search for the river.

Many scions of prominent families were already showing signs of impatience.

Compared to life-or-death battles, these endless days are the most agonizing.

Just as morale was sinking, a deep rumble of thunder came from the far distance.

But everyone present was a martial artist, and they immediately realized that it was not thunder, but the sound of martial artists fighting.

"Finally found it!"

Everyone was taken aback.

Especially the junior scholars who came with them.

Now he no longer cares that he didn't find the demon stronghold himself and that his grades will be affected by it; he only wants to kill all the demons that took him almost half a month to find.

"kill!"

The situation turned around, and morale reached its peak.

Many spirited young scholars had already rushed out first, but Zhong Xuan did not immediately try to seize military merits. Instead, he kept himself in the middle of the crowd.

They are all skilled.

Their leg strength is even more terrifying.

In just a quarter of an hour, Zhong Xuan's team of junior scholars arrived at the battlefield first.

They were the second team to arrive.

Good luck.

The joy on everyone's faces increased, and they all went down to join the team that had found the demon stronghold, working together to kill the demon beast.

Zhong Xuan gazed at the enormous tortoise shell that floated on the river like a small island.

"No wonder we haven't been able to find the demon stronghold."

It turns out that the demon stronghold was hiding inside this tortoise shell, and most of the time it was submerged at the bottom of the river, making it extremely difficult to be discovered. If it weren't for the large number of people searching the river this time, it really wouldn't have been found.

Zhong Xuan continued to observe the battlefield.

This demon stronghold has no humans; it is inhabited by aquatic demon beasts, numbering in the thousands.

But on the surface, it was undoubtedly one-sided.

These junior scholars may lack experience, but when it comes to combat prowess, they are incredibly fierce.

Zhong Xuan quickly noticed Liu Shaohuan on the battlefield.

"Fox-shaped, water-shaped, sword-shaped...."

"Its rank is also quite high."

Zhong Xuan observed secretly.

He was well aware of his own limitations; he could achieve good results in the imperial examinations, but that did not mean his combat strength was comparable to that of the elite among the empire's elites.

Putting everything else aside, his level of cultivation alone surpasses his.

The mid-stage of Blood Refining is incomparable to the late-stage or Great Perfection stage of cultivating Qi or even multiple Qi.

Therefore, Zhong Xuan's goal this time is simply to achieve a mid-level ranking.

soon.

The other two teams also arrived at the battlefield.

But just as the battle was raging...

Zhong Xuan was positioned on the edge, slaying demonic beasts while observing the battlefield.

Suddenly, he felt a pang of heart palpitation, and the dragon bone inside his body hummed faintly.

The last time Chigu reacted this way was when it sensed the old dragon in the capital.

Something's not right.

Zhong Xuan increased the force in his hand, quickly killing the demonic beast in front of him.

next moment.

The water level of the Huai River suddenly rose sharply, with the banks rising a full ten feet high.

A sudden change occurred.

Everyone was taken aback.

Before they could react, they saw that the demon beasts in the demon stronghold had gone mad, their eyes turning blood red. Even the demon beasts that had awakened intelligence, comparable to the three great masters, were like this.

boom!

As the first monster self-destructed, a series of booming sounds echoed throughout the Huai River.

Zhong Xuan reacted the fastest. He was already on the outermost edge of the battlefield out of caution, and the moment the self-destruction occurred, he activated the Crane Transformation Secret Technique.

It transformed into a streak of white light and shot out.