If you die, I will be able to inherit your cultivation.

The team traveled for three days and two nights before finally reaching the northern border.

Instead of the majestic, isolated fortresses Zhou Ming had imagined, there were rows of massive cities stretching along the border.

The distance between the cities is no more than fifty miles. Some are built along steep mountain slopes, with city walls rising directly from cliffs.

Some are located right next to a wide river, with the moat serving as a natural barrier.

The gaps between each city were connected by beacon towers and garrison posts, forming a tight defensive line.

At each city along the way, the garrison commander would personally open the city gates and lead his troops to greet them on both sides of the road.

Su Mingyue, however, did not linger for long. She only exchanged a few words with the garrison commander on horseback, took the military report presented to her, flipped through it, and continued to ride forward.

As she passed through a border town built against a mountain, she glanced back at Zhou Ming behind her as she passed through the town gate.

Zhou Ming was riding his horse, rubbing his back, when she saw him. He quickly sat up straight and took his hands off his back.

After traveling northwest for another day and night, the group finally arrived at a huge city that was far larger than any of the cities they had passed along the way.

The city wall is about three zhang high and is made entirely of huge bluish-gray stone blocks. The surface of the wall is covered with mottled marks from swords, axes and arrows.

It has all the features of a beacon tower, arrow tower, and barbican, and above the city gate are three large, bold characters: Zhenbei City.

Of the 200,000 border troops left to guard the northern border, a full 80,000 are stationed here.

This is the core of the northern defense line and the location of the commander's mansion, which the Su family has guarded for generations.

Upon seeing Su Mingyue's banner from afar, the city's garrison opened the city gates wide, the drawbridge was lowered with a roar, and the soldiers on the city walls gave a uniform gun salute.

Su Mingyue rode into the city, and the people and soldiers on both sides of the street knelt down and called him "Young Marshal".

Hearing these two words gave Zhou Ming a deeper understanding of the Su family's influence in Youzhou.

The fact that the common people call her "Young Marshal" instead of "Miss" shows that in the minds of ordinary people, the heir of the Su family is no longer the playboy Su Mingli.

Without taking a moment's rest, Su Mingyue immediately ordered someone to summon all the generals to the commander's mansion for a meeting.

The Marshal's Mansion is located in the very center of the city. It is a huge building complex that combines the functions of an official office and a residence, with the government office in the front and the residence in the back, and the layout is very strict.

The council hall was brightly lit, and a huge map of the northern border hung on the front wall, marking all the passes, cities, garrisons and supply routes of the entire Youzhou region and the southern border of the Great Yuan Dynasty.

About twenty generals sat on either side, most of them with gray hair and beards, the youngest being in their early forties, their armor bearing the numbers of their respective units and battalions.

Su Mingyue sat in the main seat and first inquired about the defense situation in the northern border and the movements of the Yuan Dynasty's troops stationed in the north.

An old general in charge of military intelligence in the northern border got up and reported that there had been no major moves by the Yuan Dynasty, and that there had been fewer border skirmishes than in previous years.

This sounded like good news at first glance, but no one present relaxed at all.

The border is so quiet now, it's unsettling.

Then Su Mingyue took out the tiger tally.

The candlelight in the council hall illuminated the half of the bronze tiger tally in her hand with exquisite detail. All the generals stood up in unison, and the clanging of armor echoed throughout the hall.

Su Mingyue held the tiger tally to her chest, her voice clear and bright:

"My father has gone south to defend the emperor, and the northern border cannot be without a commander for even a day. From today onwards, I will temporarily take charge of all military affairs in the north. This is my order, and all units are to obey my command."

None of the gray-haired veterans showed even the slightest resistance; they all clasped their hands in obeisance and accepted the order.

In the Northern Territory, the Su family's prestige wasn't maintained by imperial decrees. It was the combined influence of Su Mingyue's grandfather, father, and several uncles and aunts who had cultivated their influence in this harsh and cold land for countless generations.

Those who were left behind to guard the rear were the Marquis's most trusted and trusted subordinates.

After taking over the troops, Su Mingyue did not rest for a moment and immediately assigned the 20,000 soldiers she brought with her to various units.

Their mission was not only to reinforce the defenses, but more importantly, to teach the "Scripture of Crossing the World".

Just as Su Mingyue finished arranging her tasks and the generals were leaving the council hall, Zhou Ming suddenly felt a surge of heat rising within his dantian.

At first, only a few or dozens of cases appeared intermittently. He thought it was another small-scale death inheritance, so he quietly moved back half a step, intending to wait until everyone in the council hall had left before dealing with it.

But before the last few veterans could even step out the door, the heat in their dantian suddenly intensified.

It was no longer a trickle, but a torrent of water gushing in, as if someone had breached a dam in his dantian.

Zhou Ming quickly focused his consciousness into his brow, and saw that the causal chains on the causal network began to break off in large numbers.

It wasn't a series of isolated breaks, but rather a complete and widespread extinction, as if entire swathes of stars in the night sky were simultaneously blown out from behind by something.

The areas with the most dense fractures are the earliest ones and the areas where the real phenomenon of Cangzhou falling to the Japanese emerged one after another.

Before the gaps left by the break could be filled by the newly formed phantom, another large chain of cause and effect broke at the same time, one after another, which shocked Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming could tell at a glance that the Sect of All Beings had begun its attack on Anzhou.

It's been about ten days already.

If he were the leader of the Cult of All Beings, he wouldn't have given Anzhou much time to prepare.

Once the loyalist army has joined forces, it will be a pipe dream to attack Anzhou. So the sooner we can take it, the sooner we can, to avoid any unforeseen complications.

Feeling the surging magical power within his body, Zhou Ming dared not linger in the council hall.

After apologizing to Su Mingyue, Zhou Ming, guided by the guards of the Marshal's Mansion, quickly arrived at an uninhabited side room in the backyard of the mansion.

This is a guest room, and the room is extremely clean.

Zhou Ming disregarded everything else, bolted the door shut, sat cross-legged on the low couch, and focused his mind on carefully sensing the changes within his body.

The heat rising from within the dantian was rapidly absorbed by the twelve-inch platform, much like a whale sucking in water.

As a massive amount of magical power was continuously poured into the Dao Platform, it began to undergo a subtle transformation.

A tiny vortex appeared in the very center of the platform, drawing in all the incoming magical power. The vortex spun faster and faster, and a faint purple-gold light could be seen flickering deep within it.

At the same time, a cool sensation emanated from between his eyebrows, as if icy spring water was flowing into the depths of his soul, and the area covered by his divine sense was expanding imperceptibly.

The heat flow lasted for a full day and night.

The people at the Marshal's Mansion probably thought that Steward Zhou had fallen ill from exhaustion on the way.

Dongmei knocked on the door once during the middle of the night, and Zhou Ming called out through the door, "I'm resting because I have an upset stomach."

Dongmei muttered something outside the door, "A grown man, not even as good as a group of us women," and left. A little while later, she brought back a bowl of hot porridge and placed it at the door.

As the heat finally began to subside, the twelve-inch platform within Zhou Ming's body began to change.

As the guide platform absorbs more and more heat, the platform begins to gradually shrink.

At a certain moment, the purple-gold vortex above the platform, like a gluttonous beast, suddenly opened its mouth and swallowed the platform whole.

Immediately afterwards, the purplish-gold vortex condensed into a perfectly round purplish-gold pill.

The pill was about the size of a pigeon egg, purplish-gold in color, warm and smooth like jade yet hard like iron, and covered with faint golden Dao patterns.

Those Dao patterns were profound and complex, each containing some kind of law of heaven and earth that he could not fully understand at the moment.

The heat from within the dantian began to flow into the purple-gold pill, and then pure magical power flowed out, making the purple-gold pill seem to breathe.

With each breath, the heat flowing into the dantian transforms into pure magical power.

As the Dao platform within his dantian transformed into a purplish-gold pill, Zhou Ming's divine sense also underwent a change.

The divine sense, which could originally only detect movements within a radius of forty or fifty meters, could now detect all activity within a radius of one thousand meters.

Zhou Ming cautiously extended his divine sense.

He "saw" Su Mingyue whispering with several veteran generals in the front courtyard of the Marshal's Mansion.

I saw Dongmei leaning against the well in the backyard of the Marshal's Mansion, polishing her silver spear.

They could "see" the sentries on the city wall silently chewing their dry rations while gazing at the northern sky.

All of this was clearly imprinted in Zhou Ming's mind.

He doesn't need to scan deliberately; every detail within a kilometer radius is within his perception range.