"No wonder the Red Turban Army can break through so many cities so quickly... and defeat so many garrisoned Spirit Army troops..." Zhang Rongfang’s expression was solemn.

Just then, a figure swiftly approached from the distance.

"Report!"

It was a master of the body technique from the Rebel Sect.

The person arrived in front of Zhang Rongfang, knelt on one knee, and urgently said.

"Master! Something happened on Lord Ding Yu’s side! Lord Ding is severely injured, and only two of the people taken remain. Lord Yunqi has now returned with the severely injured Lord Ding! They’ve already reached inside the observatory!"

"..." Zhang Rongfang’s expression changed slightly, "Zhenhai, bring people and follow afterward, I will go first!"

"Yes!"

Before the voice fell, Zhang Rongfang had already sped towards the direction of the Wish Girl Gorge.

*

*

*

Several hundred miles away from Wushan Prefecture, in a place called Qianjin Mountain.

Deep in the mountains, there stood a manor whose walls were completely painted black.

At this moment, hearty laughter was coming from within the manor, shaking the surrounding mountains and forests.

"The Mountain Province, with Brother Zhou in charge, has truly been a smooth journey, without any obstruction! Truly lives up to the reputation of the once-great Ming God Teaching that sparked the ceremonial wave plague disaster, its fame is well-deserved!"

An elderly man, with a radiant complexion, bared his chest, revealing a strong upper body, was sitting drinking and happily talking with another person, under the protection of elite Red Turban soldiers.

Sitting opposite the elderly man was a long-bearded scholar wearing a white cloud-pattern square hat.

The scholar was thin, with narrow and bright eyes, holding a white porcelain wine cup, revealing a reserved smile.

"On this side of the Mountain Province, the only resistance is from those few commanders, but they have limited numbers, even if they intervene everywhere personally, they cannot reverse the situation."

"Indeed, the Great Dao Teaching, Zhenyi Sect, and Western Sect combined only have three Grandmaster commanders. As for the Heavenly Lock Black Ten’s branch here, it has already withdrawn, so the real opponents are just them. Plus, the four inspectors from the Spirit Army hailing from the Snow Rainbow Pavilion." The elderly man downed the wine in his cup.

"Moreover, the Great Capital is reallocating forces, they also need to deal with the rebellion over there...."

"No...." The scholar smiled slightly, "The leaders of the Five Religions Circle will not take action. On the contrary, they are very much wishing for us to act in this manner."

"Indeed, this group has grown accustomed to avoiding death, they no longer dare to risk their lives." The elderly man nodded in agreement.

The scholar did not reply, only smiling.

The two poured more wine, clinked their cups, and drank together.

"However, such a one-time method is not sustainable, the mobs whose full potential has been incited are merely consumables, at most they will dwindle away within a few years. We must determine victory or defeat before large-scale exhaustion sets in." The elderly man spoke.

"There’s no need for Brother Hu to worry, soon..... very soon someone will come in to clear up the mess." The scholar with the surname Zhou smiled.

"Sect Leader Zhou has truly pondered deeply, already having a strategic plan, impressive!" The elderly man laughed.

"Not at all, if it weren’t for the vast amount of Spring Peak Poison brought by Brother Hu, it wouldn’t have been so easy on my side either." The scholar with the surname Zhou replied softly.

This operation of the Thousand Teachings Alliance, by fully lifting the Ten Thousand Teachings Shepherd Contract, had caused warfare to ignite everywhere across the Great Spirit.

Countless mobs, whose brains had been emptied by the Bloodline martial artists, had their potential temporarily exhausted, transformed into fanatical mobs who could survive only a few years, sweeping through all surrounding towns.

At the same time, the entire Thousand Teachings Alliance dispatched twelve generals respectively to twelve provinces, overseeing all situations.

The scholar with the surname Zhou, Zhou Yitang, was the chief general managing the Mountain Province, one of the twelve generals.

At the same time, he was also the contemporary leader of the Ming God Teaching among the Secret Teachings affiliated with the Thousand Teachings Alliance.

There were not many Grandmasters among the Thousand Teachings Alliance, so although he had only broken through the year before last, under the current circumstances where high-level forces were in urgent demand, he was also assigned a general position.

"Now, seventy percent of the towns in the Mountain Province are already surrounded by us, the rest are occupied by the Righteous Alliance and the Spirit Army. The Provincial Inspector Ah Moye has just taken office not long ago, and facing such a situation, he will probably fight desperately." Zhou Yitang’s expression returned to calm.

"Leave it to this old man to deal with. Just a mere Three Emptiness. The Spirit People have been sitting too high for too long, it’s a joke that a mere Three Emptiness can manage an entire province." The old man with the surname Hu said coldly.

"With Brother Hu taking action, it will naturally be accomplished with ease. After dealing with the Provincial Inspector, we will directly capture Qingchuan." Zhou Yitang nodded.

He was about to continue when suddenly a woman in red armor quickly approached from outside and whispered a few words in his ear.

"Sect Leader, a squad near Qingchuan Prefecture has lost contact, it seems they have been dealt with."

Zhou Yitang slightly nodded, his expression unchanged.

"It doesn’t matter. In such a big Mountain Province, encountering some strange individuals is quite normal. Didn’t we just capture Yunhai Town? Move quickly from there, select two thousand people to send over. Remember to divide them into more than a dozen teams."

"Yes!" The woman nodded and left.

"What happened?" The elder surnamed Hu also heard the exchange between the two.

"Nothing. The Ten Thousand Teachings Shepherd Contract is no longer effective, ordinary civilians can be directly transformed into mobs, those with better constitutions can also be easily transformed into Spirit Guards. If I hadn’t brought enough followers, the conversion would have been faster, mountain province would be nothing more than something in a bag." Zhou Yitang laughed.

Without the Ten Thousand Teachings Shepherd Contract, mortals could be forced to worship gods, then have all their brains thoroughly consumed, transforming into mobs.

This way, all potential is stimulated, losing their rationality, only following desires to destroy everywhere.

Such mobs could only survive a few years, becoming mobile natural disasters.

Therefore, neither the elder nor Zhou Yitang cared about the loss of the hundred-person squad.

*

*

*

In the snow, Zhang Rongfang’s figure turned into a blur, swiftly flashing past behind a series of mobs.

"""

A second later, over a dozen bandits around suddenly stiffened on the spot, their foreheads caved in, and they fell dead.

"Kill!!" A leader of the Red Turban Army not far away wore an expression of fanaticism, and his body exploded with a boom, transforming into a large area of spiritual lines, sweeping away all living things around.

Two Rebel Sect experts attacking were caught off guard, their bodies cut in half instantly, killing them on the spot.

Zhang Rongfang was unable to rescue in time, he could only look at the mass of spiritual lines that was still recovering with a grim expression.

The sharpness of the spiritual lines was such that even he was unwilling to try approaching them.

After a little while, when the spiritual lines had quickly retracted, Zhang Rongfang tiptoed and suddenly appeared in front of the bandit, placing his palm on their forehead, absorbing blood and then shattering their heart, turning them into black ash that slowly dispersed.

"Has the spiritual army of the Mountain Province been wiped out!? Where has everyone gone!?" Zhang Rongfang looked at the death and injuries of over a dozen Rebel Sect subordinates around him, feeling deeply pained in his heart.

Just on his way back to the gorge, he happened to encounter dozens of bandits madly assaulting the gorge defenses.

He took action immediately to stop them, but unfortunately, he was still a step too late.

This band of bandits was like locusts! Against experts, they were nothing. But against Martial Artists who were not very strong and not in the Super Grade, they were completely overwhelming.

"Take the wounded into the gorge, and the rest change shifts to be on alert!" Leaving the order, Zhang Rongfang quickly entered the gorge. Soon, in a newly opened cave, he saw Ding Yu who was heavily injured once again.

"Lord... I’ve let you down again..." Ding Yu looked pale, gritting his teeth as he lay on the sickbed.

His entire body below the chest was a bloody mass of disarray, indistinguishable where bone ended and flesh began.

His legs were completely gone. His arms were reduced to just two sections, with the forearms completely missing.

"Who over there in town could have injured you so badly?!" Zhang Rongfang looked at Ding Yu’s wounds, feeling pained himself.

"No experts, it’s just that there were too many of them...." Ding Yu said through clenched teeth. "I fought to the death and killed over sixty of them, almost didn’t make it out!"

"What about the medicine traders?" Zhang Rongfang asked in a deep voice.

"Dead. Not a single one alive." Ding Yu sighed.

"Take good care of your injuries." Zhang Rongfang patted his shoulder, feeling more and more burdened in his heart.

Even someone like Ding Yu, a Super Grade expert whose bloodline had been exchanged, ended up in such a state. One could only imagine how dire the situation over there must be.

"It’s okay, I’ll recover from these injuries quickly!" Ding Yu said through clenched teeth, "It’s just that those brothers I took with me..."

He took over a dozen, and now only three made it back.

The injuries, he wasn’t wrong, Zhang Rongfang could already see the places he was injured starting to regrow.

The terrifying recovery power of Bloodline was evident.

The Rebel Sect members nearby watching this scene also swallowed hard, their faces showing expressions of doubting life itself.

It’s not through worship, yet there’s such recovery power, when half of the body was already almost gone, and still, he came back alive. This was far beyond the scope of a typical Martial Artist. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"By the way, Sect Leader, when I was over there, I got a piece of news!" Ding Yu continued, "The spiritual army’s situation is very bad now, many villages and towns are completely deserted. More than half the population has become bandits. The main roads near Qingchuan Prefecture are basically cut off, and the grain transport convoys are all gone. The bandits rob everything, want everything!"

"Cut off supply..." Zhang Rongfang knew very well that most everything else could be temporarily absent, but if there were issues with food, chaos would ensue.

"I understand, you’ve worked hard."

In an instant, he thought of his sister and brother-in-law’s side.

His brother-in-law, as the main official in charge of Qingchuan Prefecture’s commerce, must be overwhelmed right now.

Qingchuan Prefecture, as the capital of Mountain Province, was still stable for now, but given the current trend, it was bound to descend into chaos as well.

Coming out of the cave, Qingsu approached with a serious expression, quickening her pace.

"Sect Leader, all the major roads for transport around have been severed, medicine supply and food supply are critically important, they must be quickly restored."

"What’s the response from the Provincial Governor?" Zhang Rongfang’s first thought was the Great Spirit’s garrison.

"Troops are being mobilized, and it seems they plan to engage in a frontal assault to clear all the bandits." Qingsu replied.

"Let’s see how effective it is." Zhang Rongfang said in a deep voice.

"Strangely, the Great Dao Teaching, Zhenyi Sect, and Western Sect have shown no response. Normally, they would take the initiative to help, stabilizing the area, but this time..." Qingsu couldn’t understand.

"The presence of spiritual guards among the bandits implies involvement of religious forces.... I’ll bring everyone back first, then hold the gorge and wait for the right moment." Zhang Rongfang instructed.

"Understood!"

Leaving the front of the cave, Zhang Rongfang looked into the distance where Rebel Sect members had already started getting busy, piling up rocks at the gorge entrance, building barricades.

"Let’s try first, completely clearing the surrounding bandits."

If possible, actually spreading the Bloodline vastly would be the most convenient method.

But manufacturing Bloodline could very likely draw the focus of religious powers.

Yue Shi had only just managed to suppress the previous incident, it was best not to add more complications.

So the only way was to rely on himself taking action.

Having decided in his heart, he was about to move and patrol around the gorge himself.

With his body technique and stamina, he could constantly patrol for days and nights without rest.

But this was too time-consuming and greatly hindered his cultivation.

Yet at this moment, it was a necessary....

BOOM!!

Suddenly, in the direction of Qingchuan Prefecture, a huge firelight suddenly burst into the sky.

Zhang Rongfang sharply turned his head to look in that direction.

"What’s going on?!" His heart skipped a beat, and with a tap of his foot, he shot toward that direction rapidly.