Chapter 1622: Stationing

Two days later, Li Yan and his squad were moving westward along a mountain range. By now, the other peaks in the vicinity had vanished, leaving only this single, winding range snaking toward the west. The range was only about seventy li wide, flanked on both sides by a vast, desolate expanse of Gobi desert.

Although Li Yan possessed a map on a jade slip, a journey that should have taken half a day was still ongoing because of their cautious pace. Along the way, Li Yan and Mu Guyue didn’t just keep an eye out for enemy scouts; they frequently stopped to cross-reference the map with the actual terrain. They meticulously marked important details that were missing from the original records.

This had been Mu Guyue’s suggestion, and Li Yan wholeheartedly agreed. No matter how good a map was or how far Divine Sense could reach, some things could only be truly understood by standing on the ground. This was a habit born of Mu Guyue’s experience, ensuring they had a well-defined path of retreat.

While Li Yan had survived countless battles, he admittedly lacked experience in large-scale military maneuvers. Their thoroughness earned them the respect of the four Nascent Soul cultivators. These men began to suspect that their aloof female Demon Marshal wasn’t a local of the Demon Realm, but perhaps a battle-hardened general who had ascended from a lower realm. This realization gave them a much-needed boost in confidence; following someone with such extensive combat experience could compensate for their lack of raw power.

Finally, the mountain range beneath them reached its end, merging into the vast Gobi desert.

“We’ve arrived,” Li Yan whispered. Even without his words, everyone had seen what lay ahead.

“From here to the teleportation array, it would take a Spirit Transformation cultivator about an hour at full speed,” Mu Guyue analyzed. “If the rear army wants to arrive in a very short time, they must possess flying treasures comparable to the Void Refining realm. Alternatively, they could teleport to a hidden location nearby and fly the remaining distance, which would be faster and more discreet. As long as the Beacon Tower remains vigilant and provides an early warning, a few dozen cultivators can indeed hold this position until reinforcements arrive.”

As soon as she saw the end of the range, Mu Guyue began calculating the response time. It was her habit to plan for failure before seeking victory. She quickly relayed her thoughts to Li Yan via voice transmission. Li Yan nodded slightly; he agreed with her analysis. Without a sophisticated defensive plan, this place would have fallen long ago.

At the end of the mountain range, a massive stone platform stood prominently, extending horizontally for about ten li. In its center were over ten rows of square houses, arranged with military precision. A fifty-zhang high wall surrounded the platform, giving it the appearance of a small fortified city.

Currently, a group of Green-Armored Soldiers was visible on the western wall. However, they weren’t patrolling in formation or looking out with vigilance. Instead, they appeared quite lax. Some leaned against the battlements, chatting with their neighbors, while others sat in circles, seemingly eating and drinking.

As Li Yan’s group approached from the rear, the men below noticed them immediately. The soldiers on the wall stood up in unison. In that instant, a fierce, predatory killing intent erupted from them. The smiles vanished from their faces, replaced by cold, indifferent stares.

The sudden shift in their aura created a towering pressure that the Green-Armored Soldiers behind Li Yan couldn’t hope to match. Compared to these veterans, Li Yan’s squad—aside from himself and Mu Guyue—looked positively green.

Among the veterans stood a burly man with a thick beard. He held his helmet under one arm while pointing at the sky with his other hand, his voice carrying clearly to them.

“Fellow Daoists, this way!”

Li Yan and the others quickly reached the air above the wall. But before they could land, the burly man spoke again, a predatory light hidden within his bulging eyes.

“Stay right there. Just send the handover jade slip over!”

Though they looked relaxed, their vigilance was incredibly high. From the man’s words, it was clear they had already been notified of the rotation. The man sounded polite enough, but his eyes never left the group, as if they would strike the moment Li Yan showed any hesitation.

Li Yan didn’t say a word. He first clasped his hands in a respectful greeting, but the burly man didn’t return the gesture, merely watching them while clutching his helmet. Li Yan then raised his hand, sending a pale yellow jade slip flying forward. Under everyone’s watchful gaze, the slip stopped exactly one zhang in front of the burly man.

The man didn’t use his Divine Sense to probe the slip. Instead, he raised his free hand. As magical power surged, flickering runes began to appear on his fingertips. These runes didn’t fly off immediately; they danced around his palm as he continued to perform a complex series of hand seals.

More runes of various shapes emerged. Once he had produced eighty-one runes, one of them suddenly shot forward like a bolt of lightning toward the jade slip. The others followed in rapid succession, forming a line like a spiritual serpent that struck the slip.

As the first rune made contact, it transformed into a halo of light and burst. The jade slip stood upright in the air, a faint yellow glow emanating from its surface. Then came a series of soft pops—tong, tong, tong—as the remaining runes struck the slip and transformed into circles of light that hovered around it.

Within seconds, the runes had vanished, and the halos had formed the phantom image of a command token. As the image solidified, the jade slip in the center spun once and disappeared. In its place, an ancient seal-style character for “Mo” (墨) appeared in glowing green light within the token.

Only then did the burly man extend his Divine Sense to probe the glowing command token. A moment later, as he withdrew his sense, the token dissipated into a cloud of light particles. The man finally nodded at Li Yan.

“You may descend. Men, go greet the other brothers. We’re leaving immediately!”

The man addressed two different groups with the same word—the first half was for Li Yan, the second for his own men. Upon hearing the order, the veteran soldiers stopped looking at the newcomers and vanished from the wall like a gust of wind.

Li Yan and the others landed on the platform. The burly man’s expression softened slightly. He had received word of the handover a few days ago, so he had already recalled his men to wait here. After verifying the token, he had a rough idea of Li Yan’s identity, but he had no intention of formal introductions. He got straight to the point.

“Daoist Li, I presume? This place is yours now. If any other cultivators appear here, you must verify their identity. You should have received the technique for the jade slip verification before you came.”

Li Yan nodded. This method was unique to the Moji Dao Sect and required specialized jade slips. According to the deacon at the Pure Yang Hall, each slip was issued only after a rigorous background check and had to be encoded in person. Once encoded, they couldn’t be reused. Furthermore, if anyone tried to probe them directly with Divine Sense or magical power, they would instantly disintegrate into starlight, leaving no chance for tampering.

“Other than that,” the man continued, “if the Mocha Palace attacks with fewer than a thousand men and no experts above the Spirit Transformation realm, the grand array should be enough to handle them. Otherwise, you’ll need to send a message back. There’s a specialized transmission array in one of the rear rooms, but it only works for inanimate objects—don’t even think about using it to transport people. Every month, the rear will send supplies through it: medicinal pills, talismans, and materials for the array… The array will collapse instantly if it detects any signs of life, including spirit-storing treasures. I’m telling you this now because if you break it out of curiosity, you’ll have to pay for the repairs out of your own pocket. I’ll take you to see it in a moment…”

Less than fifteen minutes later, the burly man led his thirty-odd survivors and flew away at high speed.

Watching the man depart without a single look back, Li Yan and Mu Guyue stood in front of one of the houses. They had already taken control of all the arrays and replaced the previous squad’s imprints with their own, ensuring that only the two of them could operate the fortifications.

Li Yan withdrew his gaze and looked toward the distance. The four Nascent Soul cultivators were busy organizing the men to familiarize them with the outpost. He spoke softly.

“It seems the casualties here are indeed heavy. They’ve replenished their numbers three times. After four years of duty and their final reinforcement, this is all they have left.”

Li Yan had taken a moment to ask about the situation. The burly man’s face had twitched at the question, but he had eventually shared a few details. Although this wasn’t the main northern front, the Mocha Palace frequently pushed from this direction, hoping for a breakthrough. The previous squad’s vice-captain had been replaced twice, and the losses among the lower ranks were devastating.

It wasn’t that the rear army refused to help, but rather that the Mocha Palace launched countless small-scale raids. Most of the casualties occurred during these skirmishes. Furthermore, the enemy had figured out the Moji Dao Sect’s patterns; they would often attack multiple Beacon Towers simultaneously along the entire line while splitting their forces to pin down the main Moji army. This forced individual towers to hold their ground with only their own strength and the defensive arrays.

“We need to familiarize ourselves with the surrounding environment again,” Mu Guyue said suddenly.

A few days later, Li Yan, Mu Guyue, and three of the Nascent Soul cultivators stood in a room, looking at the air in front of them. A map flickered in the void. As Li Yan and Mu Guyue whispered to each other, they occasionally marked the map with dots of different colored light.

During these past few days, while Li Yan remained behind to guard the outpost, Mu Guyue had taken four Nascent Soul cultivators and scouted the area within five hundred li. They had even reached the boundaries of the adjacent Beacon Towers and met with the guards there to discuss mutual assistance. However, such help was limited to extreme emergencies; on a daily basis, every tower was responsible for its own sector.

After that, the five of them had scouted several hundred li to the west, but they found only the endless, desolate Gobi desert. According to their intelligence, there was a Mocha Palace city about thirty-six thousand li ahead of their tower. That city was Ghost Sound City, which was precisely why Li Yan had agreed to come here.

If Ghost Sound City had been on the northern front, he would have risked the greater danger of the main battle lines. Had he requested it, the deacons would have surely agreed; the northern front was so perilous that almost no one volunteered for it. Usually, people only went when their numbers were called. However, Chong Yangzi had made arrangements. While they weren’t kept in Broken Ghost City, they were placed on the western front to give Li Yan a chance to approach Ghost Sound City and execute his own plans.

The Mocha Palace also had an army stationed between them and Ghost Sound City, but the enemy faced the same shortage of manpower as the Moji Dao Sect. Thus, the two armies mostly remained in a stalemate, unlike the northern front where massive battles were frequent. Here, the armies served primarily as deterrents or diversions. Major battles were rare. Most of the action involved scouts infiltrating enemy territory or small-scale hit-and-run attacks.

Upon their return, Mu Guyue and the others began marking the map, planning to set up additional small-scale auxiliary arrays in key locations.

But just then, a series of low, urgent buzzing sounds resonated from the walls of the room.

“Hmm? Something’s happening!” Li Yan immediately turned his head toward the window.