Chen Tianwen had sharp eyes; taking advantage of Tang Qingyuan going to the military barter station, he sidled up next to Shen Hao to probe for information, believing Shen Hao must know something.

But Shen Hao didn’t dare say a word. If he talked, it’d be leaking military secrets, and if anyone held him to it, he’d be in deep trouble.

"Not talking? Heh, so you know something, don’t you? At least you know part of it, right?" Chen Tianwen wasn’t surprised Shen Hao stayed silent, and kept nagging: "This is Jingzhong. Bringing us here is obviously to move out the local Xuanqing Guard—it’s a sign they don’t trust the folks here! And they even mobilized at least ten thousand troops of the Jingnan Army. That’s cross-region deployment. With numbers like this, whoever they’re targeting won’t be simple, and our rendezvous point is Shi Family Castle—which means the closest major force in the area is Bai Dang Mountain’s Wen Family.

Tsk tsk, Shen Zongqi, am I right or not?"

Shen Hao instinctively put some distance between himself and the short, chubby guy. People always said Xuanqing Guard members were odd, but Shen Hao felt Chen Tianwen was the oddest of all—the guy could break down any matter in just a few sentences, clear as day. What kind of brain did he have?

Seeing Shen Hao step back with that expression, Chen Tianwen just laughed and changed the subject, letting it drop. He already knew—it was the Wen Family.

Sure enough, after one meal’s time, Tang Qingyuan returned and gathered Shen Hao and Chen Tianwen to lay out the specific mission. It was more or less as Chen Tianwen had deduced: the target was officially Wen Family of Bai Dang Mountain, seventy li north of Shi Family Castle.

"Jingnan Army has sent a Central Lang General, commanding eleven thousand elite troops—all the top soldiers from Jingnan Army. Sixty-two Gathering Spirit Realm experts, and five in Primordial Pill Realm. They’re equipped for a major war. So, you all understand, right? The higher-ups are treating this as a major battle zone, so pass it down—if anything goes wrong, you must do your utmost.

As for the battle plan, they won’t reveal it to us. Our task is only as notified—we’re to investigate ’illegal arms trafficking’ and ’concealing Spirit Stones’ after Wen Family’s resistance has been subdued. If you find anything else, list it."

Tang Qingyuan stared at Chen Tianwen as he spoke: "Chen Zongqi, I’m leaving defense to you once we’re inside Wen Family. Any issues?"

"No problem, you can rest assured, sir."

"Shen Hao, your men will handle the actual investigation. Dig three feet if you have to—don’t let a single clue escape. You know how much is riding on this." Tang Qingyuan’s voice had a killing edge at the end.

"Understood!" Shen Hao knew that for something so big, hard evidence was a must; otherwise, he couldn’t report back to the higher-ups.

Luckily, Shen Hao had foresight—he brought Zhou Guangcai along this time, who just so happened to lug a big chest full of his craft. If things hit a snag, grab someone for interrogation on the spot—what couldn’t he get out of them? Shen Hao felt pretty confident.

At mid-9 p.m., night had deepened; a fine rain began to fall. Sssssss... kill kill kill...

Shen Hao followed at the rear, seeing for the first time the other side of this world: a killing machine.

Over ten thousand elite soldiers from the South Army—the Jingjiu Dynasty’s four major corps—advancing in full-armored formation, unexpectedly swift. Looking close, Shen Hao realized that each soldier carried some True Qi—not enough to call them cultivators yet, but still stronger than ordinary folk. Their rapid march was like fierce beasts in the night, cutting through the fine rain, brimming with murderous intent.

They covered seventy li on foot in only one hour! That kind of speed for a whole army was simply terrifying.

"Up ahead is Bai Dang Mountain!"

Looking off into the distance, you could barely make out a broad mountain peak—not very tall.

They thought there’d be some diplomacy before violence, but the Jingnan Army had no such plans. Where their blade pointed, it swept like a torrent; command flags waving, over ten thousand men splitting into separate battle formations, each fully organized. Short and long weapons complemented each other, and paired with Law-Breaking Arrow Arrays, they encircled the mountain from all sides, leaving Wen Family on Bai Dang Mountain with nowhere to run.

"Woooooo..."

"Dong dong dong..."

The horns sounded; murderous energy surged through the formation. War drums thundered—echoing to the horizon!

Warfare was all about "momentum"—horns and drums not only suppressed the enemy’s momentum, but also stirred their own. In the military, these tools had become works of art—and a habit.

In the fine rain, horns and drums split the sky, marking a full stop to the silent night atop Bai Dang Mountain.

The previously pitch-black mountain now lit up with lanterns, a carpet of light that made it obvious from below just how wealthy Wen Family was—just looking at the illuminated houses, there had to be at least fifty or sixty on the mountain!

The mountain soon rang with alarm bells. Moments later, the recently lit lamps all went out in a flash—the entire Bai Dang Mountain seemed to fall back into sleep.

Suddenly, the horns and drums cut off sharply, and the dark army formation split into several groups, surging up the mountain.

The atmosphere became ever more grim and deadly.

Shen Hao watched, dumbstruck. He hadn’t expected the Jingnan Army to be this aggressive—not a word spoken, straight up and ready for blood. He was certain: with this stance, if Wen Family didn’t surrender their weapons and submit immediately, the Jingnan Army’s swords and arrows would come down mercilessly on them.

Shen Hao and the rest of the Xuanqing Guard watched Bai Dang Mountain in the darkness, wondering how Wen Family would respond to this situation.

Soon enough, a shouted challenge rang out, clear even in Shen Hao’s ears—the cultivation in this voice was definitely Primordial Pill Realm or higher.

"Wen Family is a vassal of Celestial Prosperity Valley. Would your army kindly leave us some face? Everything can be discussed—why resort to such violence?"

Was this pre-battle banter?

Shen Hao smirked. The Jingnan Army obviously had no intention of exchanging pleasantries—you want to play formation talk? Who cares?

Sure enough, the shouting had no effect other than letting the troops know Wen Family had a high-cultivation Primordial Pill Realm expert up top—otherwise, absolutely useless.

Primordial Pill Realm—impressive, sure. But context matters. Facing ten thousand heavily armed elite soldiers of the Jingnan Army, even Great Perfection in Primordial Pill Realm would just lose their head.

"Does your army have no one, afraid to answer this old man?"

"Wen Family doesn’t fall under mortal law, you have no authority to breach our mountain gate!"

"Intolerable arrogance!"

The army: "..."

Shen Hao didn’t know why he felt like laughing, but his fist clenched tight. Power—in the face of absolute power, what did a Primordial Pill Realm expert amount to? Just another clumsy joke.

The battle formation had barely entered the mountain when, within the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, things got lively. The Wen Family’s sentries, both hidden and open, clashed with Jingnan Army. One had orders to strip Wen Family of all martial force; the other’s mission was defending their clan’s gate—the conflict irreconcilable, hard collision inevitable.

The military’s style was hard-hitting—negotiation wasn’t their thing. Whether or not you’re a cultivator, they’ll hit you with a coordinated formation: five surround one, still not enough? Throw another ring around you. Still not enough? Use long weapons to open distance, throw in Talismans, or maybe sample a Breaking Arrow Rain?

This style basically had no solution for cultivators below Primordial Pill Realm—no matter how many, they’d just die.

No choice—the formations were made as death traps for middle and low-tier cultivators.