After the internet was disconnected, I connected to the magic world.

When the news reached Emperor Xuanhuang, Song Xian was in the logistics group counting grain.

The letter was brought up by someone sent by the owner of the inn at the foot of the mountain, saying that the official road was full of mobilized troops recently.

After reading the letter, Song Xian's face immediately darkened.

"Blow the assembly whistle!" he shouted to the players next to him.

"Send a message to all the brothers who are out doing missions, gathering materials, or hunting, and call them all back!"

No one is allowed to go out and have fun!

The trap team went to check all the traps on the mountain road, replacing or adding any that needed replacing!

The scout team dispatched ten men, sending them out in all four directions—east, west, south, and north—with a sentry every twenty li (approximately 10 kilometers). Any news was to be sent out immediately!

The explosives team brought out all the homemade explosives they had made earlier and buried them at the mountain entrance and on both sides of the mountain road!

Once the order was given, the entire Xuanhuang Sect sprang into action.

The players were never afraid of trouble, and when they heard that there was going to be a war, they were not panicked at all, but instead became extremely excited.

Some were making traps, some were carrying explosives, and some were practicing their swordsmanship. The whole camp was in a noisy commotion, just like during the Chinese New Year.

Zhao Hao walked over from behind, carrying a sword, and curled his lip upon hearing this:

"Aren't they just imperial soldiers?"

What are you afraid of?

"I am now at the Innate Realm myself, and with Zhang Lei and Zhou Ming also breaking through to the Innate Realm, no matter how many people come, we'll kill them one by one, and two by two."

"Don't be careless." Song Xian rubbed his temples.

"There must be some experts of innate level among those who have come this time, and more than one."

"The three of you have only reached the Innate Realm, and your cultivation is still unstable. Those Innate Realm cultivators from sects and royal families have been cultivating for decades; they won't be easy to defeat."

As he spoke, he took out the Dream Token and sent a private message to Daoist Xuanqing:

"Master, the imperial court is about to besiege us. When will you arrive?"

After a long while, Xuan Qing replied, his voice slow and unreadable:

"Young friend Song, I already know about this matter."

I, an old Taoist priest, have wasted my entire life in reality, and only now, in my old age, have I finally reached the threshold of cultivation.

Having finally reached the Innate Realm, this physical body has entered the Nine Provinces. If it dies, it will truly be gone.

"I just want to quietly comprehend my runes; I won't get involved in this fighting and killing."

Song Xian frowned and sent another message to the monk Shi Mingyuan.

Master Mingyuan replied even faster, only saying, "Amitabha, this humble monk is a person who has left this world and does not wish to be involved in the karma of killing," and then said nothing more.

Song Xian looked at the message and couldn't help but sigh.

He had expected this to happen.

Xuanqing and Shimingyuan are both free spirits, with no ties or obligations in real life.

What the Special Investigations Department offered held no appeal for them.

They seek the Tao and immortality, not to serve the country. No one would be willing to risk their life for it.

If it were him, he wouldn't want to either.

"Report—!"

The scouts from the foot of the mountain stumbled and crawled up, panting and barely able to speak, their faces pale.

"Brother Song! Brother Hao! Lots of soldiers are coming from the west!"

"Black armor, long spears—these are the imperial guards! There are at least two thousand of them, plus many disciples from various sects, and they're less than ten miles away!"

"Report! They're coming from the east too! At least a thousand Imperial Guards, plus disciples from the Black Tiger Sect and the Heavenly Spear Sect, are also heading this way!"

Two scouts returned one after the other with the news, and the entire council chamber fell silent for a second before erupting into an even louder uproar.

"They're here! They're really here!"

"Damn it! What's there to be afraid of! You'll be a hero again after three days!"

"Where are my crossbow bolts? Where did my crossbow bolts go?"

Song Xian took a deep breath and looked at the player in charge of the explosives:

"Have the homemade explosives been planted?"

"It's all buried, Brother Song!" the player said, patting his chest.

"It's made with saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal from Kyushu, so it's very potent."

In the early stages of the post-natal stage, a single hit will shatter you. Even in the later stages, being hit by an explosion will cause you to lose a layer of skin!

"We buried twenty at the mountain gate and fifty along the mountain path. We'll blow them up one by one as they come up!"

"Where's the trap?"

"The horse traps, spikes, and tripwires are all set up, and the crossbows are all mounted on the walls. The rolling logs and stones are piled up like small mountains; they'll be in for a rough time!"

Song Xian nodded, feeling a little more at ease.

They currently have three innate level players, over thirty late-stage acquired level players, over two hundred mid-stage acquired level players, and the remaining over one thousand players are all early-stage acquired level players.

Although their skill level is inferior to their opponents, they are not afraid of death. They will revive after dying and continue fighting. Every time the opponents die, there are one less to fight. They can wear them down.

"Everyone, to your positions!" Zhao Hao jumped onto the wall with his iron sword, his chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) kicking in, pointing the sword down the mountain.

"I want to see if the army of the Great Yao is tougher, or if our backbone is tougher! No matter how many dare to invade my Xuanhuang Sect, I will kill them all!"

"kill!!!"

The players on the wall brandished their weapons and shouted, their voices shaking the leaves on the mountainside. Their eyes were as red as wolves', and none of them were afraid.

On the official road below the mountain, the dark mass of troops could already be seen.

The imperial guards in black armor led the way, their spears forming a forest, followed by disciples from various sects.

Dressed in different colored clothes and carrying swords, spears, and halberds, the ten innate masters at the front stood suspended in the air, their robes fluttering, their aura so powerful that the surrounding trees bent over.

Leading the group was the Grand Elder of the Imperial Family, a cultivator at the mid-stage of the Innate Realm. Looking at the Xuanhuang Sect's headquarters on the mountain, he sneered:

"A bunch of clowns, daring to claim the mountain as their own? Today I'll show you what it means to defy the might of Heaven."

With a wave of his hand, the army stopped a mile outside the mountain gate and began to form ranks.

Looking down at the sea of ​​people below, one new player, who had only been in the game for a few days, felt his legs go weak and swallowed hard.

"Bro... there are so many people... can we beat them?"

"What's there to be afraid of?" The veteran player next to him patted him on the shoulder and handed him a cigarette.

"We are players, we can be resurrected when we die, but they are gone when they die, so what are you afraid of?"

"At worst, I'll die once, then come back in three days and keep going. Consider it a free return trip to the city."

The new player took the cigarette, lit it, took a puff, coughed for a while after being choked, and then laughed:

"Yeah, what's there to be afraid of? Just do it."

As soon as he finished speaking, an elder from the opposing camp, dressed in a gray robe and looking to be in his forties or fifties, stepped forward through the air.

He didn't take any weapons, stood in mid-air, took a deep breath, and let out a loud shout.

Visible to the naked eye, milky-white sound waves swept up the mountain in a ring, the sound exploding in everyone's ears like rolling thunder:

"You barbarians from beyond the realm! How dare you act so recklessly in the Eastern Continent! Die!"

"Buzz—"

As the sound waves swept across, half a foot of soil was lifted off the mountain road, and the homemade explosives, tripwires, and spike traps buried in the ground were blown into the air.

The large trees by the roadside were snapped at the roots, their branches and wood fragments swirling in the wind as if swept by a tornado.

The players on the wall were stunned, and they even dropped their cigarettes on the ground.

Zhao Hao's expression changed instantly, and his innate true energy surged out wildly, condensing into a semi-transparent pale golden true energy shield in front of him.

With a muffled "thud," the sound wave slammed into the shield and scattered into fragments, sparing the players behind it from being affected.

Zhang Lei swallowed hard, his hand gripping the knife was sweating, and his voice trembled:

"Brother Hao...this guy is fucking strong. A single sound wave destroyed most of our traps. And they have ten Innate Realm experts..."

Zhao Hao tightened his grip on the iron sword, and his Adam's apple bobbed.

He's only seventeen years old, and he's only just broken through to the Innate Realm.

If a player dies the day after tomorrow, at worst they'll lose a level of cultivation and can be resurrected in three days. But he entered the Nine Provinces in his physical body; if he dies, he's truly gone.