After the spiritual energy was restored: Goddess girlfriends came knocking.

Tushan Royal Capital, Jiang Mansion.

The ancestral hall was full of people.

Several clan elders sat at the head of the table, with the heads of each branch of the family standing on either side, and the younger members standing in the back row.

There was only one topic—Chang'an City.

Jiang Wuchen sat in the main seat, the tea in front of him had gone cold.

"Yan'er has built a city on the East Sea coast and has begun to gather the human race." The second uncle's voice was hoarse but his strength remained undiminished.

"Our Jiang family has been operating in the Tushan Dynasty for more than ten generations, and now, thanks to Yan'er, our foundation is getting stronger and stronger, but it's almost over."

"Above, the demon race can't accommodate us; below, we'll be squeezed out sooner or later. Chang'an City is different; it's Yan'er's own fiefdom, a city of the human race."

Some people hesitated.

The Jiang family's businesses, connections, and wealth accumulated over generations in the capital are not something that can be moved just like that.

However, some argue that industries can be rebuilt and networks can be reconnected, but a city belonging to the human race only has this one chance in thousands of years.

Jiang Wuchen remained silent.

He knew better than anyone what Chang'an meant to him.

The last person to attempt to build a city for the human race in the Demon Realm was Wen Chaosheng.

A half-demon, a sword cultivator at the half-stage of the Fusion Realm, he built Wangchao City.

After the city walls were built, on the day of the opening ceremony, three powerful demons appeared out of nowhere and joined forces to attack.

Wen Chaosheng fought alone for seven days and nights.

The city fell, and all the followers perished.

He himself disappeared without a trace, and from then on, no human ever mentioned that city again.

That happened a thousand years ago.

Jiang Wuchen looked at the elderly people in the ancestral hall who had spent most of their lives with the Jiang family, and at the young people in the back row whose faces still held a touch of childishness, and remained silent for a long time.

"Let Yan'er decide after he finishes this battle," he finally spoke.

Meanwhile, inside the palace, Ruoshui was lying on Tu Shanlie's desk, her two fox ears standing straight up.

"Father, please let me go—"

Tu Shanlie continued flipping through folded paper without looking up. "The war is still raging outside."

"I know, but Chang'an isn't on the front lines. Besides, that's Jiang Yan's territory."

"You can't go precisely because it's his." Tu Shanlie put down his pen and looked at her. "It's wartime now. If you go, he'll have to take care of you too."

Ruoshui's fox ears drooped down.

She opened her mouth to refute, but she was no longer a child who needed to be taken care of.

Over the years, she has been cultivating diligently in the palace, and with an abundance of rare and precious materials, she has now reached the Nascent Soul stage.

But she knew it was no use speaking out; once her father made up his mind, nothing could change it.

She snorted and ran out of the side hall.

Tu Shanlie shook his head as he watched his daughter run away.

He no longer minded that Ruoshui liked Jiang Yan, but now it was wartime and he couldn't let her take any risks.

"And... Chang'an City." A complex meaning appeared in Tu Shanlie's eyes.

……

At the entrance of the Jiang residence, a simple carriage was parked by the roadside.

Liu Qingyi stood beside the car, leaning on her cane, with a young boy standing next to her.

The boy was thin, with an old sword on his back, and stood upright like a newly planted pine tree.

The air about him subtly resembles that of Jiang Yan.

If Jiang Yan were here, she would definitely recognize him.

This is the little boy I brought back from the cage back then; he's grown up quite a bit now.

His current name is Jiang Shouzhuo.

Jiang Wuchen stood at the door, looking at the old man and the young man.

"Be careful on the road."

Liu Qingyi nodded and led the boy into the carriage.

The carriage traveled eastward along the official road, and Liu Qingyi looked at the upright young man sitting opposite her.

He was a man of few words, but he practiced swordsmanship diligently. His talent wasn't top-notch, but he had an indomitable spirit.

"It's still quite a distance to Chang'an." Liu Qingyi leaned against the carriage wall, closing her eyes to rest. "You can rest for a while."

"No need," Jiang Shouzhou shook his head. "I'll train." He pushed open the carriage door, jumped off, and ran after the carriage.

……

On the other side, on the battlefield.

Four months later, Jiang Yan captured two cities in succession.

Tianlang's defenses on the eastern front were as fragile as paper, and were torn apart layer by layer by the Northern Expeditionary Army.

Each time his military reports were sent back to the capital, no one in the court was surprised anymore; it wasn't that they weren't shocked, but that they had gotten used to it.

A sixteen-year-old boy with the cultivation of the mid-Nascent Soul stage led 50,000 demon soldiers to conquer cities and fortresses as if they were nothing.

Half a year later, Jiang Yan's army swept across the eastern front and finally advanced to the last barrier of the Tianlang Dynasty—Zhenguo Pass.

Zhenguo Pass is no ordinary border town.

It is the last natural barrier leading to the capital of Sirius. The city wall is built against the mountain, dozens of feet high, with crenellations that are continuous like saw teeth.

The Sirius Dynasty has stockpiled nearly half of its elite troops and supplies here.

The general guarding the pass is Helian Fenghuo, a veteran general in the Refinement Realm. He fought against the previous ruler of Tushan and was not at a disadvantage.

Tu Shan Jing's main force had arrived first and was arrayed in front of the pass.

Jiang Yan's Northern Expeditionary Army arrived shortly afterward, and the two armies joined forces, their camps stretching for more than ten miles, their banners obscuring the sun.

Inside the central command tent, Tu Shan Jing stood before the map, with several attendants standing on either side.

Jiang Yan lifted the curtain and walked in, and everyone turned to look at him at the same time.

Tu Shan Jing sensed the spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from Jiang Yan, indicating he was in the late Nascent Soul stage.

He began to recall how many years it had taken him to progress from the Golden Core stage to the late Nascent Soul stage, and then decided to stop thinking about it.

"Attack the city tomorrow." Tu Shan Jing pulled himself out of his thoughts and tapped the map with his fingertip. "Helian Feng Huo has put all his forces on the front line. His meaning is very clear: no bluffing, a direct confrontation."

"Then let's fight head-on," Jiang Yan said.

Tu Shan Jing turned to look at him, a slight smile playing on his lips.

The next morning, the sound of horns shattered the silence of dawn.

Fifty thousand armored soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army lined up in the center, the Jiang-character flag fluttering in the morning breeze.

On the opposite side of the Zhenguo Pass city wall, wolf flags fluttered like a forest, and archers above the Foundation Establishment Realm were densely packed with them. The arrowheads were gleaming with a ghostly blue spiritual light, clearly all specially made armor-piercing crossbow bolts.

Helian Fenghuo stood at the highest point of the city tower, clad in black armor, holding a ten-foot-long spear. His beard and hair were all white, but his back was as straight as a spear.

Jiang Yan drew his sword.

"The Northern Expeditionary Army—" He pointed his sword forward, his voice not loud, but every word struck the hearts of his soldiers, "Break the city!"

Behind him, 50,000 soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army surged into the breach like a tide.

Tu Shan Jing's Northern Army followed closely behind, and the two iron torrents merged into an unstoppable torrent.

Jiang Yan's gaze fell on a white figure in the crowd. Jian Li was wearing white soft armor, her long hair was tied into a single ponytail, her delicate face was taut, but her sword moves were gorgeous and precise.

The Human Emperor Sword Technique was already showing promise in her hands; wherever the sword light passed, the Heavenly Wolf Soldiers fell over, and her hair flew in the wind, making her look nothing like a thirteen-year-old girl.

She volunteered to join the army after breaking through to the Golden Core stage six months ago.

Jiang Yan initially refused, but after Ao Tianxin said, "I'll take care of it," he relented.

But Jianli did even better than she had expected.

She had gained considerable fame among the Northern Expeditionary Army and even among the Tianlang forces, with many soldiers privately calling her "the Glass Sword."