Chapter 605: Purchasing (1)

The all-out war between the Qingqiu Divine Kingdom and the Great Wu Divine Kingdom has been ongoing for half a year.

Six months, every day tens of thousands of soldiers die in battle, and every day an entire organized unit silently vanishes from the battlefield.

Within six months, the busiest department in Qingqiu City became the Military Ministry's Funeral Affairs Office.

Dressed entirely in black—black attire, hat, sash, and boots—the Military Ministry's Funeral Affairs Office expanded more than twentyfold in six months; groups of three to five funeral clerks ran in and out of the military headquarters daily, drawing sideways glances wherever they went, with even other military officials and clerks trying to avoid them.

In just six months, thousands of incidents occurred in which Funeral Affairs Office officials were beaten severely, even killed on the spot.

They were merely going to the homes of fallen soldiers to deliver news, consolation money, comfort items, and various commendations when they were mobbed by the enraged families of the troops—whether military aristocrats or military households, whose homes are filled with hot-tempered, burly brutes.

Upon hearing that their elder brothers, uncles, fathers, grandfathers, and other senior relatives had died in battle, they inevitably, besides grief and anger, lashed out at these unfortunate folk-called 'messengers of death'.

As a result, the business of the talisman masters in Qingqiu City also improved considerably.

Sales of various short-term defensive talismans and one-time escape talismans surged dozens of times, and the talisman makers raked in huge profits. This, too, could be considered a kind of wartime dividend—except nobody wanted such a dividend.

Linghu Qingqing mobilized the nation's troops and fought desperately against the Great Wu Divine Kingdom; the fighting was fiercely intense and extremely tragic. In the Qingqiu Divine Kingdom, both great and minor military households almost every family hung white lanterns and white soul-summoning banners, and many prominent households pasted white paper over their gates, turning them a pallid white.

But Linghu Qingqing either forgot about Wu Tie's existence or had other ideas; every fief and prefecture of the Qingqiu Divine Kingdom had large numbers of troops mobilized, except Wu Tie's An Prefecture, which remained calm and peaceful.

Wu Tie, meanwhile, was leisurely using these six months to preliminarily organize his 'Invincible Army' into shape.

Apart from organizing the Invincible Army, across the Nine Provinces, the lands and estates of the great and minor aristocratic families that Wu Tie had driven out were all seized by him in a high-handed manner. Under the Prince An's Manor, countless fertile fields, grasslands, and forest pastures were added in a short time, not to mention countless mines, medicinal fields, fisheries, and manors.

That day, nine Four Spirit Warships led the way, nine Four Spirit Warships brought up the rear, with three thousand medium-large warships in between, escorting a massive transport fleet that sliced across the sky like a dark cloud as it entered a spatial gate at the northwest corner of An Yi City.

After several days of travel, the massive fleet arrived at the outskirts of the Qingqiu Divine Kingdom.

Looking forward from high altitude, an extremely wide, extremely long, bottomless earth fissure could be clearly seen in the distance.

On the mountain ridges on either side of the great fissure, forts of various sizes stood tall, their battle arrays exuding killing intent that shot straight up into the sky, and faintly carried on the wind came the shouts of soldiers drilling within the forts.

Behind these forts, in the direction facing the fleet, a line of imposing military cities stretched out, forming a solid defensive line.

The massive fleet mightily advanced toward a central military city; the enemy soon spotted the fleet, and their warships swiftly took to the air, forming a line formation amid sharp alarm calls as they moved to meet us.

They were still over a hundred li away when a dozen streaks of light shot out from the enemy warships; a commander clad in heavy armor, wielding a great blade and accompanied by a dozen deputy commanders, rapidly approached the fleet and shouted loudly: 'Ahead is the Demon-Suppressing City defense line under the Demon-Suppressing Hall—this is no time for logistical transport or supply. Who are you? Why have you come here?'

Clad in the robes of a Qingqiu Divine Kingdom prince and radiating authority, Wu Tie leapt from the ship's deck, stepped upon flowing clouds to reach the commander, and flicked a seal toward him.

"I am Prince An Huo Xiong of the Qingqiu Divine Kingdom, appointed by His Majesty as Vice Master of the Demon-Suppressing Hall... Hmph, this Demon-Suppressing City is also under my jurisdiction, is it not? Frankly speaking, you lot are properly my subordinates."

Wu Tie stepped upon flowing clouds and, with large strides, walked up to the commander whose eyes had suddenly widened, and snatched the seal hanging from his waist.

"What? A mere Third-Rank General—hey, your rank is too low; summon whoever in your city actually has authority to see me."

Casually seizing the Vice Master's seal from the commander's hand and tossing back his Third-Rank General's seal, Wu Tie waved his hand nonchalantly: 'Is the Master of the Demon-Suppressing Hall not present? Then I am now the highest-ranking person in Demon-Suppressing City... Why don't you hurry up and open the gates to welcome me in?'

Flustered, the commander reclaimed his own seal, thumped his chest with a confused right fist, performed a standard military salute to Wu Tie, and then hurriedly led his dozen-odd deputy commanders flying off toward the rear Demon-Suppressing First City.

Wu Tie waited quietly; after about a quarter of an hour, the commander and his deputies had long since entered the city, yet there was not a stir inside Demon-Suppressing First City.

Wu Tie's face gradually darkened, and he let out a faint sigh: 'Ah, it seems I don't know whether it's because my reputation is too bad, or... the local commander thinks he's someone important and doesn't need to bother with me.'

Shaking his head, Wu Tie muttered: 'The current Master of the Demon-Suppressing Hall is a royal clansman; he certainly wouldn't normally be stationed in Demon-Suppressing City, and the other few Vice Masters likewise wouldn't idle away in such a godforsaken place.'

"I'm not mistaken—around this Demon-Suppressing City, I certainly hold the highest status."

"Heh, giving me the cold shoulder? A show of force?"

Wu Tie suddenly bellowed at the top of his lungs: 'Send out the alert—underground demons have invaded Demon-Suppressing City; all commanders inside Demon-Suppressing First City have been assassinated by the demons and died for the nation—prepare for battle!'

Wu Tie's voice thundered like a roar, shaking the earth: 'Four Spirit Warships, stand by—charge all warship main guns, lock onto Demon-Suppressing First City, prepare for a volley... Today I will make those underground demons know what it means to perish together, jade and stone alike! What it means to prefer jade shattered over remaining intact!'

Wu Tie shouted loudly, and the three thousand warships trailing behind him swiftly maneuvered, forming a square volley formation in the air.

A low bell rang from within Demon-Suppressing First City ahead, and a voice faintly laced with anger came through: 'Prince An, what a show of force... Who was assassinated by the demons? Eh? As a prince of the Divine Kingdom, how can you spout such nonsense?'

Wu Tie's eyes flashed like blades, swiftly sweeping toward the source of the voice.

Several dozen heavily armored commanders slowly rose from the city, trudging through mud and water as they flew toward this side.

The leader was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties in appearance, whom Wu Tie did not recognize.

But judging from his armor, he was nothing more than a First-Rank General.