Chapter 722

"Demon's Lair?"

Thus output: 【1】 "Demon's Lair?"

But we need to keep the 【N】 prefix and a space? The format: 【N】 translation. So "【1】 \"Demon's Lair? \"". We'll output exactly that.

Inside Green Hill City, Linghu Qingqing's expression was extraordinarily vivid.

Inside Qingqiu City, Linghu Qingqing's face was extraordinarily splendid.

Wu Tie's official dispatch had not yet returned, but the Heavenly Fox Guard under Linghu Qingqing's personal command had already delivered a detailed report of the events that occurred in Wuguo's Demon's Lair to her in great detail.

Check: we need to keep "the events that occurred in Wuguo's Demon's Lair" -> "the events that occurred in Wuguo's Demon's Lair"

"This... really..." Linghu Qingqing glanced around, seeing no one else except her trusted servant Linghu Ayi, then she grit her teeth and snapped out an extremely vulgar remark.

Linghu Ayi narrowed his eyes, pretending not to have heard his old master's unrestrained speech.

"Hmph, these underground demons are also crafty, knowing to take advantage of the chaos... Wuguo has just been established, hehe, it's indeed a good opportunity for them to profiteer. However, with the Martial King present, they're likely to end up embarrassed this time."

Linghu Qingqing shook her head: "Without Huo the Butcher, I won't even eat a hairy pig. Open the secret treasury, pour all resources into the Ancient Armory Bureau, and mass-produce Primeval War Puppets."

She tapped her finger heavily on the imperial desk before her, Linghu Qingqing murmured: "As the Li Guangqing family says, those barbarians' armor and weapons are terribly inadequate? Excellent, then I will equip them with armor and weapons a hundred, a thousand times stronger to crush them."

The foundation of the Green Hill Divine Kingdom is astonishing.

Not to mention other things, after the unification of the three kingdoms, Linghu Qingqing took over the entire treasury of the Great Wei Divine Kingdom, as well as the private wealth of dozens of top aristocratic clans, all of which were merged into the Green Hill treasury; now Linghu Qingqing is filthy rich.

The Great Wei's Ancient Armory Bureau operates at full capacity, with massive resources poured in; every day thousands of Primeval War Puppets roll out of its workshops.

One after another, strange warships that neglect mobility in favor of crazy stacking of defense and offensive power are continuously manufactured and sent through the spatial gate to the northern frontier.

After the unification of the three kingdoms, although most legions had been disbanded, they were re‑recruited; countless new armor and weapons were distributed, and unit after unit marched north to the frontier shouting the slogan 'Defend Home and Country' with high morale.

Outside Green Hill City, within the Linghu clan's encampment, thick blue smoke rose from the altar, shooting straight up into the sky.

Mountains of offerings continuously vanished from the altar, as one Linghu clansperson after another with sufficient cultivation received the baptism and infusion of power from the Heavenly Divine Artifact, forcibly breaking through to the Divine Realm.

With sufficient offerings as a foundation, even without a Heavenly Divine Command, the Divine Tribulation faced by these Linghu clanspeople amounted to only about one‑tenth of the normal Divine Tribulation's power. Under the protection of a dozen or so Nation‑Protecting Divine Artifact‑grade Innate Spiritual Treasures, these newly ascended Divine Realm Linghu passed the tribulation unscathed.

In just one month, the number of Divine Realm experts among the Linghu clan rose to over a hundred.

At the same time, the Green Hill martial clans—Gongyang, Li, Zhao, Xiang, Wu, Wu and others—also scoured their fiefdoms for wealth, gathered enough offerings, and held massive sacrifices.

The Gongyang clan had the deepest reserves; in one month they gained thirty newly ascended Divine Realm elders.

The other clans—Li, Zhao and the like—each added anywhere from seven or eight up to eleven or twelve newly ascended Divine Realm elders.

The powerful surges from breaking through to the Divine Realm kept spreading across the Green Hill Divine Kingdom's territories, and the Heavenly Fox Guard continuously relayed news of each household's newly ascended Divine Realm elders back to Green Hill City.

Two months later, Linghu Qingqing ordered that all Divine Realm elders from every household be gathered in Green Hill City.

In just two months, the number of Divine Realm elders directly under Linghu Qingqing in the Green Hill Divine Kingdom surprisingly recovered to a scale of fifteen hundred.

Although over seventy percent of these Divine Realm elders had just broken through to the first level of the Divine Realm, they were still mighty beings of that realm, capable on the battlefield of unleashing terrifying destructive and deterrent power.

For two months, Wu Tie faced a stalemate against the Demon's Lair and the Four Ferocious Armies under Xi You's command.

Endless waves of cannon fodder kept charging the ground; Wu Tie commanded the Wuguo army to injure but not kill the dwarves, ratfolk, gnomes and other weak tribes that struck the ground, capturing as many as possible alive to enslave them.

Because of his own background, Wu Tie felt sufficient sympathy for these weak tribes and was unwilling to slaughter them indiscriminately.

Thus, over these two months the fighting around the Demon's Lair was extremely fierce, yet the actual casualties were minimal.

Only after two months did the elite of the Four Ferocious clans begin to try entering the battlefield; for a time the Demon's Long Lair became tense with alarm, and Wu Tie cautiously strengthened his defenses.

Especially, upon receiving news from the north, while every family and tribe was burning offerings to exchange for newly ascended Divine Realm blood, Wu Tie likewise followed suit, outwardly holding large‑scale sacrifices while actually secretly distributing Heavenly Divine Commands.

Elders such as Li Xuangui, Yuan Qilin, Mo Yun, Ou Yezi, Kong Chengxi, Meng Buyan, Si Ma Yan, Ma Liang and others personally oversaw the selection, strictly choosing usable talent from their clans and letting them, relying on the Heavenly Divine Command, break through to the Divine Realm peacefully.

All newly ascended Divine Realm experts, under escort by their own clan elders, knelt before Wu Tie, opened their souls, and submitted to the life‑and‑death seal he imposed.

Wu Tie was very cautious in controlling the number of newly ascended Divine Realm experts.

In all of Wuguo, plus elders like Li Xuangui, the total number of openly acknowledged Divine Realm experts was about one thousand, which is a third less than Linghu Qingqing's fifteen hundred under her command.

The Heavenly Fox Guard reported Wu Tie's actions to Linghu Qingqing.

Linghu Qingqing couldn't help but nod and smile, expressing great approval of Wu Tie's 'being well‑informed and tactful'.

But in the blink of an eye, Linghu Qingqing's anger toward Gongyang Sanlü flared up again.

Linghu Qingqing knew Wuguo's reserves; adding hundreds of Divine Realm experts in a short time would likely drain Wu Tie's treasury. These newly ascended Divine Realm experts had repelled the underground demons of the Demon's Lair and would later be deployed to the northern frontier to fight the Snowplain Barbarians.

Wu Tie was pouring his entire fortune into strengthening his strength…

And what about Gongyang Sanlü?

They merely put on a show, increasing only thirty Divine Realm experts?

"Just thirty people… humph, the Gongyang clan only has this much wealth? Do you think I don't know how much they skimmed when they took over the Great Wei Divine Kingdom?"

"Heh heh, they're hiding their strength from me!"

"Their intentions are sinister; they deserve to die."

Linghu Qingqing passed final judgment on the Gongyang clan; beside her, Linghu Ayi also nodded slowly in agreement.

Indeed, compared to Wu Tie's upright increase of strength, the Gongyang clan's behavior seemed overly petty.

In the northern frontier of the Green Hill Divine Kingdom, thirty‑six massive barracks stood in a row, gathering countless elite soldiers.

Hundreds of thousands of elite scouts had already penetrated the northern mountains, continuously relaying the latest intelligence on the Snowplain Barbarians.

Thus, Linghu Qingqing and the other high officials of the Green Hill Divine Kingdom finally learned that the northern barbarians possessed a total of eighteen ice‑crystal highways, all simultaneously charging madly southward.

They even discovered that the Snowplain Barbarians exist as a tribal alliance, whose strongest major tribes are the Bear, Wolf, Deer, Eagle, Flood Dragon, and Mighty Mammoth six tribes. The tribal alliance's Council of Elders is their highest decision‑making body, on par with which are the shamans of the Profound Dark Hall.

Most of the elders in the Council of Elders are fierce close‑combat generals.

The shamans of the Profound Dark Hall are versed in witchcraft.

The composition, temperament, diet, reproduction, family structure and myriad other details of the Snowplain Barbarians are continuously transmitted back.

After another month or so, on the northern side of Shuozhou in the Green Hill Divine Kingdom's northern frontier, at a distance of seventy‑to‑eighty thousand li from Shuozhou City, a piercing cold light burst from deep within the mountains, instantly shattering hundreds of hills into a sky‑full of ice crystals; a ten‑li‑wide straight highway shot out from the mountains and stretched for hundreds of li across the plains beyond.

A low‑pitched roar echoed, and a towering ice sculpture ten thousand zhang high came racing along the highway.

Tens of thousands of sturdy men over three meters tall pulled the ice sculpture, each shouting joyously as they sprinted forward.

They felt a warmth.

They had trekked a long way; the northern frontier of the Green Hill Divine Kingdom was already midsummer.

A wide breach opened in the mountains, where the hot, humid airflow collided with the cold currents spewing from the peaks, producing vast clouds in the sky and continual sheets of snowfall.

And those burly men of the snowy plains did indeed feel warmth.

The temperature around was rising, rising noticeably, and many men were already sweating profusely.

Although snowflakes were drifting in the sky, the temperature here had been raised by the snowy plains by a great deal, a great deal, a great deal.

The burly men pulling the ice sculptures ran much faster.

Outside the mountains, a massive cavalry unit came roaring in; hundreds of Li clan commanders drew their longbows, let out a long whistle, and hundreds of arrows shot through the air.

Among the snowy plains team pulling the ice sculptures, hundreds of burly men were shot in the head and instantly collapsed.

Behind the Li clan commanders, tens of thousands of cavalry formed a long line, simultaneously drawing their bows, and arrows rained down like a storm.

The burly men of the snowy plains pulling the ice sculptures dropped the ropes on their shoulders, shouted hoarsely, pulled out crude shields, and tried to block the rain of arrows.

The rune arrows of exceptionally high grade used by the Qingqiu Divine Kingdom cavalry detachment each nearly possessed the lethality of spirit weapons.

The arrows flickered with strange gloomy light; the shields held by the snowy plains burly men were merely ordinary wooden or stone shields, and even the somewhat better ones were only ordinary metal shields, with rune‑infused ones being extremely rare.

As the arrows rained down, shields shattered one after another, and the arrows whistled onto the bodies of these burly men.

The burly men let out low, hoarse cries, and a dense Cold Qi sprayed from their bodies, a thick white cold mist surging forth and coating their surfaces with a heavy layer.

Specially made heavy rune‑piercing armor‑breaking arrows penetrated their protective Cold Qi, punching fist‑sized holes in their sturdy bodies.

One burly man after another cried out hoarsely and collapsed to the ground.

Some burly men with formidable cultivation in the Fetus Storage realm cursed loudly, brandished their weapons, condensed icy armor around their bodies, and charged at the terrifying cavalry unit as swift as galloping horses.

The well‑trained cavalry unit turned their horses around and rode away.

They ran forward a distance, then turned in unison, and another volley of arrows was shot.

They again turned their horses and galloped wildly, opened a slight distance, then fired another volley after turning in unison.

Vast numbers of snowy plains warriors had their ice armor pierced bit by bit by the dense arrows, then were shot down and fell to the ground in a sorry state like hedgehogs.

Above the cavalry unit, killing intent rose and condensed into a phantom of a strangely shaped longbow.

This is the unique killing‑intent army soul of the Li clan commanders; under its enhancement, each arrow fired by a cavalryman gains several times its power, so that even an ordinary officer of the Meridian Pool realm shooting an arrow reaches the level of one who has just entered the Fetus Storage realm.

Under such a formation's concentrated volley, tens of thousands of sturdy snowy plains men pulling the ice sculptures hadn't even seen what the land of Shuozhou looked like before they fell sideways, bristling with arrow shafts, stiffly collapsing onto the Shuozhou soil.

Blood spurted, dyeing long stretches of the chariot road red, and staining vast expanses of land.

A prolonged chant echoed from deep within the mountains.

Clusters of ice‑crystal Dao patterns flickered on the chariot road, then suddenly converged inward, and an ice‑crystal‑formed spatial gate appeared; hundreds of elders clad in various animal pelts, wielding staffs, screamed shrilly as they rushed out of the gate.

The raging blizzard condensed into countless three‑foot‑long ice blades, which fell like a downpour from the sky and bombarded the massive cavalry unit commanded by the Li clan leaders.

Inside the spatial gate, droves of white wolves howled as they surged out; these wolves, starved to the point of losing flesh and reduced to skin and bone, gritted their teeth, spewing viscous saliva from between their fangs, low‑howling like a white wave charging toward the cavalry.

The earth rumbled and trembled as massive herds of giant mammoths emerged from the spatial gate, swinging their long trunks; occasionally pointing a trunk forward would unleash a howling blast of sharp ice‑crystal cold current spraying tens of thousands of feet.

Blasts of ice‑crystal cold current slammed into the Qingqiu Divine Kingdom's cavalry, making their armor clang; the powerful impact knocked each rider to vomit blood and tumble from their mounts to the ground.

Moreover, some unfortunate souls were struck in the face by the ice‑crystal cold current, their skulls shattering instantly and freezing into a messy lump of ice shards.

As the sky‑filled ice blades fell, the Li clan commanders' formation, strong in offense but weak in defense, was easily pierced; the cavalry's simple leather light armor could not stop the relentless sharp ice blades, armor was readily broken, flesh pierced, and vast numbers of cavalry wailed, freezing solid as they fell from their mounts, utterly devoid of any vitality.

"Retreat!" a Li clan commander bellowed hoarsely, leading a cavalry unit that had instantly lost twenty percent of its strength back along the road they had come.

A dozen or so elders clad in animal pelts and holding staffs suddenly appeared in the middle of their formation, and they slammed their staffs heavily into the ground.

Terrifying rings of ice‑crystal halo howled outward, freezing everything in their path; instantly, several hundred thousand elite bow‑cavalry were frozen solid into ice sculptures. Then came a continuous crackling as hundreds of Li clan commanders and several hundred thousand bow‑cavalry exploded simultaneously, shattering into bloody ice crystals that piled thickly on the ground.

Behind, in the Shuozhou great camp, the senior leaders of Qingqiu who had witnessed all this were struck dumb with shock.

"This is outrageous, unreasonable, any rules left? A Divine Realm expert striking ordinary soldiers? Then come on, who's afraid of whom?"

Li Guang suddenly burst into hysterical howling.

A Divine Realm expert, disregarding dignity, dealt a vicious blow to ordinary soldiers… such a thing had never happened before on the battlefields of the Three Kingdoms.

These snowy plains barbarians are utterly unreasonable, they are utterly unreasonable.

"An eye for an eye, blood for blood!" a Li clan elder roared furiously.