Chapter 395

Great Marsh Prefecture……no, no, Wu Tie decided, still better to call this wooden enclosure Great Marsh City.

Great Marsh City only has south and west gates; the west gate area basically became the Black Phoenix Army's activity range; the impressive large wooden house that Li Erhaozi spoke of, belonging to Zhao Lao San and his brothers, is located beside the south gate.

A small earth mound about five or six meters high, freeing one from the misery of mire and stagnant water, on this small mound of two or three mu, two small plots were opened; one plot planted common vegetables and fruits, the other planted common medicinal herbs.

Zhao Lao San and his brothers died in a hunting accident, losing their master; the vegetables and fruits in the fields were all picked clean, leaving only some vines weakly slumped on racks made of wooden strips.

The medicinal herbs in the herb field were also picked haphazardly; anything usable was harvested, leaving only some scattered, newly sprouted shoots growing in the field.

As for the impressive large wooden house Li Erhaozi spoke of, it is a row of stilted buildings.

Dozens of thick wooden piles support a row of twelve wooden houses; the piles are about one zhang high, perfectly isolating the houses above from ground dampness and preventing various pests from bothering them.

Wu Tie noticed that on both sides of this row of wooden houses, over twenty zhang long, two small wooden watchtowers had been built; their style clearly meant for night watch.

"Zhao Lao San and his brothers hooked up with some flirtatious women living here; usually it was bustling beyond belief." Li Erhaozi wiped the corner of his mouth: "However, after they died, those women ran off with other men, leaving only this row of wooden houses."

"Tsk, several groups want to move in, but nobody yields to anybody, nobody lets anybody else, so for now nobody has moved in." Li Erhaozi muttered: "Aside from the Black Phoenix Army commanders' camp, this row of wooden houses is practically one of the top mansions in Great Marsh Prefecture."

"A mansion?" Wu Tie glared at Li Erhaozi.

"A mansion!" Li Erhaozi nodded vigorously, sniffled, wiped his nose, and said seriously: "You also see, my humble hut beside the inn……is that a place for people to live? That damn thing is a livestock pen!"

Wu Tie lifted his foot and kicked Li Erhaozi over into the rainwater.

"You're nothing but a beast, what crime did Zhao Lao San and his brothers commit to get sent here?" Wu Tie glared fiercely at Li Erhaozi.

Li Erhaozi quickly got up from the ground, bowed and scraped, and said cautiously: "I heard……they offended a local wealthy family; tsk, the brothers were all capable, they gathered a gang to bully the market……it's said, it's said that the wealthy family's young master took a liking to a wine-selling girl and wanted to force himself on her……"

Spreading his hands, Li Erhaozi said feebly: "Good grief, a bunch of street ruffians actually considered themselves heroes……they beat that wealthy family's young master half to death and even killed two of his guards on the spot……"

"Then they really are heroes." Wu Tie kicked Li Erhaozi to the ground again: "Look at them, then think of yourself……you're just a beast, living in a beast pen, isn't that natural?"

Wu Tie snorted coldly, looked at the row of wooden houses, and muttered: "This place, the feng shui isn't great."

Li Erhaozi scrambled up again, bent over, cautiously looking at Wu Tie: "Isn't that right? If the feng shui were good, could Zhao Lao San and his brothers have died out there?"

Wu Tie shook his head, then suddenly thrust out a palm.

The Nine Revolutions Mystic Technique encompasses everything; aside from the most basic body-tempering method, various other divine abilities and secret arts are extremely powerful, including techniques for applying the innate and acquired Five Elements Grand Dao.

Wu Tie has already mastered the innate and acquired Five Elements Grand Dao; under the banner of the Nine Revolutions Mystic Technique, he can fully unleash the Five Elements Divine Ability without anyone doubting him. Even if the Five Elements Divine Ability he unleashes is somewhat too mighty, its changes too wondrous, this can only be said to be due to his extraordinary talent and exceptional comprehension.

As the palm struck, a huge yellow-light-wreathed earth hand appeared in midair, lightly pressing down.

With a "crack", the entire row of wooden towers was crushed to pieces; the big hand swept left and right, flattening this small mound into a level surface.

"Get up!" Wu Tie stamped his foot hard.

The surrounding ground shuddered heavily, without much noise; the nearby mud and water churned violently, and a thick slab of rock slowly rose from the earth.

This is a rock stratum reinforced by Wu Tie using the Earth Dao, pitch black throughout, extremely hard, several times harder than ordinary alloy. The rock block is one li long, one li wide, ten zhang high, square as a seal, like a huge black seal stamped onto the ground.

Nearby there were several hundred wooden huts and thatched cottages of various sizes; when Wu Tie raised this rock stratum, he directly employed the Within Reach, Worlds Apart divine ability, pushing both hands outward, the ground undulated like water, and with ease he shifted those wooden huts and thatched cottages far away.

Among the allocation funds issued by the military headquarters, there were a large number of tents and even prefabricated standard barracks.

However, Wu Tie found a better treasure among the baggage gifted by the master behind Mr. Li.

With a wave of his hand, rosy light burst forth; an object the size of a fist tumbled upward into the sky, then gradually enlarged, slowly descending onto the rock stratum Wu Tie had raised.

With a thud, the object settled gently onto the stratum, square and stable, perfectly matching the one-li-long and one-li-wide rock stratum.

Walls on all sides, with several rugged stone buildings in the center capable of housing several thousand people; at the four corners stand watchtower arrow towers tens of zhang high, and in the middle is a bell tower, with banners hung everywhere. This is a Three Refined Immortal Soldier grade cavern abode secret treasure, a portable military camp.

The smallest scale of this Three Refined cavern abode is precisely this one-li-by-one-li military camp before us.

If driven to its maximum, he can manifest as a colossal military camp one hundred li by one hundred li, capable of accommodating several hundred thousand soldiers.

Given Wu Tie's rank as a third-grade general, under normal circumstances the number of troops he can command is at most several hundred thousand.

Li Erhaozi stared agape as Wu Tie raised the rock and set up the camp; he trembled and fell to his knees with a thud.

Even the Black Phoenix Army does not possess such a cavern abode secret treasure.

Wu Tie can produce such a treasure; who would dare say he has no backing or support?

Cavern abode secret treasures are the hardest to refine; a Three Refined Immortal Soldier grade cavern abode secret treasure's true value rivals that of several ordinary Nine Refined Immortal Soldier grade divine weapons.

Li Erhaozi has survived seven years in Great Marsh Prefecture; though he has never seen one himself, his experience is not shallow—he has heard of such cavern abode secret treasures, and even among the main corps of the Great Jin Divine State they are rare treasures.

Only those with extremely strong backing would possess such a treasure that can be deployed at any time to set up camp—it is truly the supreme asset for marching and war. In the wilderness, if you encounter an enemy and suddenly throw down such a solidly defended camp… tsk tsk, what a feeling!

At the west gate of Great Marsh City, Qian San sat on his mount, still overseeing the temporarily conscripted laborers moving goods.

When Wu Tie suddenly unleashed his divine ability, flattening the wooden huts of Zhao Lao San and his brothers, and then raised a stone platform from the ground, Qian San leapt into the air and gazed toward the south gate.

The west and south gates are only a dozen li apart; the commotion Wu Tie caused was not small, and Qian San clearly saw his actions, involuntarily chuckling: "Yo, is this a show of force? But you, a bare-bones state army commander, what can you…"

The next moment, Wu Tie hurled forth the immortal soldier camp.

Qian San's words cut off abruptly; he clenched his jaws shut with a crack, biting his own tongue hard, tears spurting from the pain, mixing with rain as they streamed down his face.

"This… I've misjudged!"

"This is… an immortal soldier… mobile camp… this kid, this kid…" Qian San mumbled indistinctly, slamming his thigh hard: "A fat sheep, a fat sheep… this guy's backer…"

The Great Jin military headquarters would absolutely not issue a three-refined immortal soldier grade mobile camp to a newly appointed commander of a newly established prefecture.

Therefore, this mobile camp, worth as much as several nine-refined immortal soldiers, must be a heavyweight sent by a major figure behind Huo Xiong to equip him for his departure.

This thing… this thing… even the Black Phoenix Army doesn't have one!

With a wave of Wu Tie's right hand, a stone beam rose on the north face of the one-li-by-one-li rock block; the hard stone undulated like mud, quickly solidifying into a staircase up to ten zhang wide, exactly leading to the north gate of the camp.

Wu Tie leapt into the air, glancing at Qian San standing in midair several li away; his vision far surpassed Qian San's, allowing him to see even the unshaven stubble on Qian San's face clearly.

Wu Tie landed atop the watchtower at the northeast corner of the camp, looking down upon Li Erhaozi standing below the rock stratum.

"Li Erhaozi, by my temper I should have cut you down with a sword… but you're right, though you were sentenced to death, you offset it with border service, so I have no grounds to kill you."

"My forces are short-handed; do you want to join the state army? But I'll say it up front—you're no good, don't expect an easy life under my command."

Li Erhaozi's body shuddered; he trembled as he lifted himself, eyes wide staring at Wu Tie: "General, join the state army? Are you serious?"

Wu Tie's face twitched; he looked down at Li Erhaozi and snapped angrily: "I've laid out such a grand display—do you think I'm playing games with you?"

With a wave of Wu Tie's hand, a three-hundred-zhang-long flagship tower ship appeared silently overhead; he pressed a palm onto its hull, and a powerful divine soul ripple instantly spread through the entire vessel.

When he was in the Military Department, these standard-issue tower ships had already been brought under Wu Tie's soul seal control; at this moment, a thought of Wu Tie's divine sense moved, and the whole tower ship lit up with countless fine restrictive runes.

A massive energy ripple spread outward, vaporizing raindrops within a radius of several li; not a single drop fell.

The tower ship's bow deck opened left and right, a multi-faceted conical main cannon barrel tens of zhang long protruded from the hull, spitting out fine electric light; the barrel adjusted slightly up and down, and in the next instant a beam of light several zhang thick roared out.

The light pillar struck a dense forest more than ten li away.

With a deafening boom, a mass of strong light slowly spread; amidst the torrential rain, a fire column could still be seen shooting up into the sky, slowly turning into a red mushroom cloud in the air. Vast tracts of forest were ignited by the high temperature, and hundreds of mu of woodland burst into raging flames.

The downpour poured, the forest fire raged for a while, then was extinguished by the rain.

"Old man, I'm playing for real!" Wu Tie roared at Li Er Haizi: "Go, recruit troops and buy horses overnight for me; cultivation must be at Perceive Mystery Realm or above, age under fifty, don't bring a bunch of old, weak, sick, and disabled."

He waved his right hand; with a "thud", a metal box fell heavily in front of Li Er Haizi, splashing rainwater and mud all over him.

The box lid opened, revealing a box full of gold coins.

"Go, recruit troops and buy horses for me; each person gets a hundred gold as settlement fee." Wu Tie proudly patted his chest: "These shiny gold pieces, I have plenty of them!"

The Military Department gave Wu Tie funds and provisions for a hundred thousand soldiers, while the master behind Mr. Li had an even greater hand; at this moment Wu Tie had become abundantly wealthy and bold.

More than ten li away, Qian San looked at the box of gold coins at Li Er Haizi's feet, his body trembling slightly.

"Right, right… big fat sheep, big fat sheep… Even if one has offended someone and been exiled here as an unlucky wretch, the Military Department, by regulation, must also give a relocation fee for at least a hundred thousand people… provisions and equipment for a hundred thousand troops… a hundred thousand people!"

Qian San gritted his teeth, fell heavily to the ground, and rushed into the Black Phoenix Army's camp like a gust of wind.

Wu Tie glanced at the spot where Qian San had just stood and muttered: "Wealth moves hearts; you scoundrel, you won't turn on me, will you? But it's fine—when soldiers come, we block them with earth; when water comes, we dam it with soil… This Great Marsh Prefecture, a little chaos is good; the more chaos, the better."

Li Er Haizi had already snatched a big handful of gold coins from the metal box and stuffed them into his pocket, then strode boldly into the rain.

These metal boxes are specially made by the Military Department, six feet long and wide, about three feet high; this box of gold coins weighs tens of thousands of catties. Li Er Haizi, a lowly cultivator at the first level of Chonglou Realm, practicing an inferior civilian technique, could never possibly lift this huge box.

Wu Tie stood atop the watchtower, the tower ship hovering above his head, shielding him from the rain.

Great Marsh City was in an uproar.

That main cannon blast just now startled everyone in Great Marsh City.

Li Er Haizi, carrying gold coins, did who-knows-what in the city; gradually, loud clamor rose in the city, and even the originally pitch-black wooden and thatched huts began to show specks of firelight.

Wu Tie's soul spirit fluctuation enveloped Great Marsh City; he seriously counted and found that the city had only twenty-something thousand, less than three hundred thousand.

Among them, the young and able-bodied predominated; they could probably form a sizable force.