Gua Shao brought the Cloth Army under the cover of night, first casually slaughtering a few large household families with high courtyard walls.

Then he sent his little ghosts to scatter, those living in the lowlands had little ghosts push rocks down from the mountains, those on the slopes had them shake tree branches, and others went into houses to blow out the oil lamps, caused chaos in the Ancestral Hall, and blew the fires in the kitchens to burn down the houses.

More joined the Cloth Army outside the city, hoisting flags from the left to the right, relentlessly throughout the night.

The mountain dwellers, never having encountered such chaos from ghosts and evil demons, were truly shocked by an attack of a ghost army on the city; within one night, a growing fear spread, with wailing everywhere, thinking it was the army attacking at their doorstep.

In these Southern Border mountains, the lives of common folk often held no value, but those Tusi A Gong were extremely valuable.

Seeing chaos spreading everywhere and countless deaths, these Tusi A Gong became scared, sending little ghosts or gu insects with messages, summoning their troops not to guard in the mountains, but to quickly return to defend the villages.

The King of Chaos's army of 100,000 largely depended on these Tusi A Gong, and with their orders, even the King of Chaos's commands were ineffective.

Upon hearing urgent orders from their Tusi A Gong, many abandoned the King of Chaos's orders, leading their trusted followers and troops urgently out of the mountains, and many, for the sake of submission, even started conflict with the General Commander.

The King of Chaos might be notorious, but he hadn't experienced grand battles, and his troops had not fought hard battles; generals everywhere lacked authority, making it difficult to enforce orders and intimidate the entire army.

"What nerve...!"

Upon learning of the changes in the rear, the King of Chaos was utterly enraged: "Daring to stir trouble across the vast mountains, courting death!"

Fortunately, although the opponent's tactics were sinister, he still had many trusted troops; even amid chaos, more than 60,000 continued to follow orders, staunchly defending five mountain areas.

So the drums beat faster, and they drove the people-eating mountains.

He dispatched countless strange people to the mountains, waiting for opportunities to harm.

Meanwhile, under the arrangement of Monkey Wine, Bald Zhang and 800 troops crossed the valley overnight, buried the bamboo baskets from his cart at specified places, then gathered to receive orders.

Throughout the night, strange events persisted in the mountains, eerily haunting; everyone was deeply frightened, yet remained unscathed.

However, they clearly felt the vast mountains seemed increasingly perilous.

With no visible paths and indistinguishable directions, the distant sound of landslides occasionally echoed.

Occasionally, a slope full of dead bodies hung high, beckoning the living among them.

"Is this... will this work?"

Bald Zhang asked worriedly, in a low voice: "We came with only 1,300 people into the mountain, and now General Qiao Yun has taken her 500 followers away, leaving just these 800 to face the King of Chaos's 100,000 troops?"

"Even with a masterful Life Skill, merely beheading would take days, how could we fight them?"

"..."

"We don't need to fight them, they'll drive themselves into a corner."

Monkey Wine, hearing this, just smiled gently and said: "A military formation is a military formation, and magic is magic."

"If it were me, I would never confuse the two."

"If the King of Chaos's 100,000 troops were laid out, I would not dare bring these 800 against them."

"But since they insist on casting magic with the army, this really is..."

"..."

He gently shook his head, apparently at a loss for words to describe them, only sighing lowly: "The world says the Ten Families are powerful, but my thoughts differ."

"The Ten Families are merely parasites daring enough to steal the fate of Douyi, high above but lacking the ability to govern the world, nor having the ambition to seize power over the realm; occupying territories and authority but only engaging in armchair strategies."

"They each support the Emperor Seed, if they dare truly surrender their possessions, then so be it."

"Supporting the grasshead king with one hand while keeping a firm grip on power..."

"... an easy defeat!"

"..."

Having finished speaking, he turned to look at Lao Ma, who tirelessly pulled his cart and sometimes willingly participated in experiments, gently stroking its horn, saying: "It's arranged here, you should go."

The horse—more accurately, cowhorse—trembled, incredulously raising its head, eyes full of longing for survival.

"Go!"

Monkey Wine whispered: "Head east!"

When he removed the bridle from the horse, it immediately galloped eastward.

With its tail tucked in, it dared not look back once.

Only then did Monkey Wine lift his flute, casting a glance around.

At this moment, the mountain was at its most oppressive, with gusts swirling all around, the depths of the ground occasionally booming, and hidden within the endless forests, amid wild grass, there was always a feeling of being watched.

Even the breeze passing through the trees seemed filled with voices calling his name, stripping him of any sense of security.

Forget 800 people, even 100,000 would feel insignificantly small within these vast mountains.