Chapter 173: Chapter 173: Now This Is A True Army

Aiden silently calculated for a moment.

Close, but not enough yet.

Valen City was already preparing for war. The longer he waited, the harder attacking would become.

Still...

If he attacked too early, casualties would rise unnecessarily.

Aiden finally spoke.

"Okay then."

His voice remained calm, but the moment the words left his mouth, the atmosphere around the courtyard subtly changed.

"In one week... we attack Valen City."

Graveknit slowly lowered his head.

"As you command, my lord."

Kael’s expression remained calm as always, though the pale glow in his eyes sharpened slightly.

Dragmar gripped his massive shield harder.

The air itself seemed colder afterward.

Because everyone understood what that meant.

Aiden continued calmly.

"While we wait, I want the three of you to continue attacking smaller forces, caravans, villages, anything useful."

His eyes shifted between Graveknit, Kael, and Dragmar.

"Harass them constantly."

"Keep them nervous."

"And gather more corpses."

The pale-blue flames within the undead commanders’ eyes flickered slightly stronger.

Aiden’s faint smile slowly deepened.

"We’ll grow the army further before the attack."

He looked toward the countless undead standing across the fortress.

"I want ten thousand undead within a week."

The courtyard became silent again.

Ten thousand.

That number alone sounded terrifying.

Graveknit spoke first.

"It can be done."

Kael nodded calmly.

"The surroundings are already unstable."

Dragmar added in his deep voice,

"There will be many corpses."

Aiden looked toward the distant darkness outside the fortress walls.

Far beyond those forests...

Valen City was still trying to prepare itself.

Everyone thought they still had time.

But none of them realized how quickly the undead army was growing.

Aiden slowly exhaled.

"Good."

Then his eyes turned colder.

"When the attack begins... I don’t want them to have any chance to recover."

The torch flames flickered violently from the night wind passing through the ruined fortress.

Below those flames stood thousands of silent undead soldiers.

The next few days passed in constant chaos.

Valen City became more restless with each sunrise.

The attacks never stopped.

Caravans disappeared overnight.

Villages near the outer regions were suddenly found abandoned, their defenders torn apart while strange corpse-like monsters wandered nearby.

Even smaller practitioner groups started vanishing without explanation.

Fear spread faster than rumors.

And the worst part...

Nobody knew where the enemy would strike next.

The atmosphere inside Valen City became increasingly tense.

The city gates now remained heavily guarded day and night. Patrol groups moved constantly through the streets while sect disciples and clan practitioners were ordered to stay prepared at all times.

Even ordinary civilians could feel it.

War was coming.

Inside the Clear Water Sect’s temporary headquarters within the city, arguments erupted almost daily.

"They attacked another caravan last night!"

A clan elder slammed his hand against the table angrily.

"At this rate, the outer roads will become completely unusable!"

Another practitioner spoke with a grim expression.

"The enemy is becoming bolder."

"We are dying here, is the Clear Water Sect really won’t do anything?!"

The elder’s furious voice echoed throughout the large meeting hall.

"We are losing men every single day!"

Several clan representatives sitting nearby wore ugly expressions.

Nobody could deny it anymore.

The situation was getting worse.

Fast.

A Clear Water Sect elder standing near the front finally spoke coldly,

"The sect is already handling the matter."

A middle-aged clan leader immediately snapped back.

"Handling it?"

His face was full of frustration.

"Then why are the attacks increasing instead of decreasing?!"

No one answered immediately.

Because everyone inside the hall understood the truth.

The enemy was adapting.

And the most terrifying part was that nobody knew where they were hiding.

They attacked quickly.

Killed quickly.

Then vanished into the forests before larger forces could arrive.

It was like fighting ghosts.

At the center seat of the hall, Fuing slowly opened his eyes.

The entire room quieted almost instantly.

The sect master looked exhausted.

Dark circles had appeared beneath his eyes over the past few days, and his expression had become colder than before.

Even for someone half a step into the Qi Sense Stage, constantly moving around the place while dealing with endless attacks was exhausting.

Fuing’s voice was calm.

"The enemy is intentionally dragging us around."

Nobody dared interrupt him.

"They are forcing us to spread our forces thinner each day."

One elder clenched his fist.

"Then what should we do, Sect Master?"

Fuing’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"We find their base."

His voice turned colder afterward.

----

Two days later.

A merchant caravan moved nervously through one of the southern forest roads under heavy guard.

Nearly fifty hired practitioners surrounded the convoy while several clan members rode near the center protectively.

Everyone looked tense.

Weapons stayed unsheathed.

Eyes constantly scanned the surrounding trees.

The attacks had become too frequent.

Nobody trusted the roads anymore.

One guard wiped sweat from his forehead nervously.

"I hate this damn forest."

Another answered quietly,

"Just stay alert."

The caravan slowly continued forward.

Then suddenly.

Shhk.

A black arrow shot out from the trees instantly.

One warrior near the front widened his eyes.

Too late.

The arrow pierced directly through his throat.

Blood sprayed across the road.

"ENEMY!"

Chaos erupted immediately.

Undead rushed out from the forest from every direction.

These undead moved with coordination.

The caravan guards roared and charged forward while arrows rained through the trees.

Screams echoed across the forest road instantly.

Then a figure dropped from above.

Boom.

Vermis landed directly on top of a wagon, cracking the wood beneath her feet.

Her pale-blue eyes glowed brightly while her long insect-like limbs unfolded behind her body.

The nearby practitioners froze for half a second.

That half second was enough.

Shhk!

One man’s chest split open instantly.

Another lost his head before he even reacted.

Vermis moved terrifyingly fast through the battlefield, her blade-like limbs tearing through practitioners one after another.

The undead army surged forward behind her.

Bodies quickly started piling across the road.

Then suddenly.

Boom!

A powerful pressure exploded through the forest.

Vermis immediately stopped moving.

Her glowing eyes narrowed sharply.

The surrounding undead instinctively turned toward the same direction.

A figure walked out from deeper within the trees calmly.

White robes.

Sharp eyes.

Cold expression.

Fuing.

The moment the caravan guards saw him, relief exploded across their faces.

"Sect Master Fuing!"

"We’re saved!"

The pressure radiating from his body alone was enough to make weaker practitioners struggle to breathe.

Fuing’s cold gaze landed directly on Vermis.

"So," he said quietly, "I finally found one of you."

Vermis stared at him silently.

Even she could feel it immediately.

Danger.

Extreme danger.

Fuing slowly raised one hand.

The surrounding air visibly trembled.

Unlike ordinary peak body tempering practitioners, his control over internal energy had already reached another level entirely.

He was close to becoming a true cultivator.

"You’re not escaping this time."

The next moment.

Boom!

Fuing disappeared from his spot instantly.

The ground beneath him exploded apart from sheer force.

Vermis barely reacted in time.

Clang!

A violent shockwave erupted as Fuing’s strike collided against one of her blade limbs.

The impact blasted Vermis backward across the road hard enough to destroy an entire wagon behind her.

Wood exploded everywhere.

The nearby undead were torn apart from the pressure alone.

Several guards stared in shock. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"So fast..."

Vermis immediately twisted her body and launched herself backward into the trees.

She knew immediately.

She couldn’t win.

Not against him.

Fuing chased after her without hesitation.

Boom!

Tree trunks shattered apart as both figures moved through the forest at terrifying speed.

Vermis leaped between branches rapidly while firing black spikes behind her repeatedly.

Fuing smashed through every attack directly.

Explosions echoed continuously throughout the forest.

At one point, Fuing finally caught up enough to strike again.

Boom!

His palm slammed into Vermis’s side.

Crack.

The sound of armor-like flesh breaking echoed faintly.

Vermis was blasted through multiple trees before crashing heavily into the ground.

For the first time in days...

She was injured.

Dark blood dripped from the side of her body as she quickly stood again.

Fuing slowly approached through the destroyed forest calmly.

His white robes fluttered lightly despite the chaos around him.

"You creatures are becoming troublesome."

Vermis hissed quietly before suddenly retreating deeper into the forest again.

She didn’t hesitate.

Survival came first.

Fuing’s eyes narrowed.

He wanted to continue chasing.

But after several seconds...

He stopped.

Because the deeper forest ahead had become strangely silent.

Too silent.

Fuing slowly looked around the dark trees.

Then his expression hardened slightly.

"...An ambush?"

He could feel it.

Fuing clicked his tongue softly.

Then turned around instead of continuing the chase.

Even someone as strong as him wouldn’t recklessly rush deep into unknown territory alone anymore.

Not after seeing how organized the undead had become.

Behind him, far deeper within the forest...

Vermis silently watched his retreat from the darkness while holding the broken side of her body.

The pale-blue glow in her eyes flickered coldly.

Then slowly...

The flesh around her wound started regenerating.

----

And just like that...

A whole week passed.

The forests surrounding Valen City had become a land filled with fear.

Every road carried rumors of the walking skeletosns.

Every village locked its gates before sunset.

And every practitioner now slept with a weapon beside them.

The pressure hanging over Valen City had reached its peak.

Meanwhile, deep within the hidden fortress buried inside the mountains, the undead army continued growing without pause.

The blacksmith area burned day and night.

Hammering echoed endlessly through the fortress as undead workers forged armor and sharpened weapons without rest. Rows upon rows of undead soldiers stood silently throughout the courtyard, now fully equipped with iron swords, shields, bows, and dark armor.

Compared to the ragged undead from before...

This looked like a true army.

An army built for war.