Chapter 944

Wuguo, southern border, Kill Ghost City 108.

A crude and savage name, 'Kill Ghost'.

But in the old frontier, 'Kill Ghost' is the name of most military cities in the southern border defense line; from Kill Ghost City One to Kill Ghost City several thousand, several hundred, several ten, several, military cities stand here, having endured bloody storms.

Over countless years, countless evil ghosts have died here.

Over countless years, countless soldiers have fallen here.

Originally, the walls of these cities were dyed black by the ghosts' aura and the soldiers' congealed hot blood, but after Wu Tie purged the southern ghost state, the walls of these Kill Ghost cities were cleansed by Buddhist law.

Each wall regained its original material's color.

The bluish-gray boulders polished to an oily sheen, alloy juice poured between them, powerful sealing runes like coiling dragons spreading, the hundred-zhang-high walls exude a heavy dignity.

Teams of ruddy-faced young laborers shouldered various tools, shouting joyfully in the fields outside the city, sweating as they worked.

The Martial King issued an order: for the next ten years, newly opened fields belong entirely to those who opened them, and they are exempt from certain taxes and the like.

A diligent young cultivator roughly at the Chonglou Realm can open at least several thousand mu of new fields per year, tens of thousands of mu in ten years—a huge asset enough for a large family to live without worry.

The young laborers wildly swinging various tools laughed loudly, sweat dripping into the soil, their mirth carried far on the wind.

They enthusiastically discussed how many children they could raise with so much land in ten years.

Thus these ten years are not just about farming the fields, but also about striving in bed, taking several more wives, bearing a dozen or more children—hey, this way the family can also proliferate.

"Long live the Martial King's holy longevity!"

A youth swinging a hoe cleared a large patch of brush and weeds in just a few breaths, and couldn't help but look up and cheer.

Outside the city, those madly laboring youths broke into loud cheers, their soot-covered faces breaking into smiles, two rows of gleaming big teeth shining in the warm sunlight.

In Wuguo's central and northern regions, heavy snow falls, but only the southern border remains bright sunshine, very pleasant weather.

In such fine weather, within Kill Ghost City 108, a twelve-man elite scout squad of the Heavenly Martial Army, accompanied by dozens of local auxiliaries, piloted a small specially made scout vessel, slowly penetrating deep into the southern border.

"Ahead lies the old ghost state's territory; inevitably some yin winds and evil qi remain in the deep valleys, not yet cleared."

The scout team's deputy leader, a Life-Pond Realm peak officer, held a bronze mirror able to surveil three thousand li around, monitoring surroundings while lowly warning: "Be careful, encountering little ghosts is fine, but if you run into those hidden great ghosts or ghost kings..."

The mirror light flashed, and a splendid spiritual radiance appeared on its surface.

The officer stared blankly, then fixed his gaze on the mirror, and shouted sternly: "Forward, south-southeast eighteen degrees, full speed ahead… something's odd, stay ready to respond."

The specially made scout vessel, over thirty zhang long, lit up with earth-yellow runes across its hull; a beam of light about a zhang thick enveloped it. Then the two rows of twenty-four circular floating arrays beneath its hull activated fully, each zhang-wide array spraying three-dimensional circular runes, and the twenty-four wheels emitted intense light pillars a hundred zhang long.

The vessel's speed surged instantly, covering hundreds of li in a snap, bringing a dull tearing-through-air roar as it sped southeast.

Ring after ring of air blasts burst from the prow; the twelve scouts and dozens of auxiliaries gripped their weapons tightly, vigilantly scanning all around.

Soon the vessel arrived amidst towering mountains and ridges.

In the mountains, huge cyan jade pillars stood, each wrapped in a cyan tornado tens of zhang in diameter and a thousand zhang high.

The cyan tornadoes spun rapidly yet made no sound; their clarity resembled carved cyan glass, standing silently between the peaks.

Thin, fist-sized wind shadows flickered between the tornadoes, likewise soundless.

The vessel traced a huge turbulent arc in the air, then came to a sudden halt.

The scout leader stared in shock at the dense cyan jade pillars and their massive tornadoes, then barked: "Warn the rear, have the Heavenly Martial main force come to clear this… damn it, we only searched here half a month ago—who set up this formation?"

On a distant hilltop, dozens of heavy-armored soldiers of the Fu Feng Divine Dynasty gazed coldly at the tiny scout vessel.

A silver-armored strongman gripped a spear, ready to attack the vessel, but the gold-armored youth raised a hand, stopping him: "These scouts surely have close ties with the rear; killing them would only alert them."

The gold-armored youth smiled thinly: "On the contrary, let their main force come, let them try to break our 'Myriad Transformation Wind and Thunder Grand Formation'—perhaps we can gain more time."

The group of heavy-armored strongmen stared, then laughed together: "Your Highness is wise!"

If we simply slaughtered these scouts, Wuguo would instantly know an enemy had invaded.

But if we don't kill them, letting them lure the main force to deal with this Myriad Transformation Wind and Thunder Grand Formation… in these wild mountains, a sudden grand formation is likely some ancient cave dwelling or primordial relic that has just emerged.

Thus we won't expose their presence.

Thus we can gain more time.

Between two massive gateposts, veiled by wind shadows, a thin light curtain had completely torn open, faintly revealing the mountain range beyond.

After another six hours, a hundred-zhang-long old-style warship tore through the sky, and over a thousand armored Heavenly Martial troops flew out, hovering outside the Myriad Transformation Wind and Thunder Grand Formation.

These Heavenly Martial soldiers all wore armor, but their gear bore many nicks and dents, as if hacked by blades and axes countless times, looking somewhat worn.

A glimmer of spiritual light flickered in the gold-armored youth's eyes as he surveyed the Heavenly Martial troops from head to toe, then he sneered: "Even the border troops' armor of my Fu Feng Divine Dynasty is better than this; this local dynasty's strength is truly limited."

Several Heavenly Martial officers escorted a few old men in cyan and white robes, holding counting rods, compasses, etc., who slowly flew out from the warship.

These old men were clearly formation masters, each followed by a dozen or several dozen disciples. They landed and began using various methods to measure the nearby terrain and meridians, calculate the positions of those jade pillars, and gesture about seeking the formation's eye.

The Fu Feng Divine Dynasty's entourage watched with interest as these old formation masters toiled about.

"This Myriad Transformation Wind and Thunder Grand Formation is one of my Fu Feng Divine Dynasty's twelve national guardian formations; Myriad Transformation Wind and Thunder—creation endless, changes unfathomable—and the set of formation pillars we brought were jointly crafted by our dynasty's three formation grandmasters and nine refining grandmasters."

A bronze-armored strongman chuckled gleefully: "This formation is hard to breach even for a half-step venerable; these weaklings… hehe."

The gold-armored youth rubbed his chin and laughed: "What do you think, how many of them will die?"

Before his words finished, a formation master brought by the Heavenly Martial Army spat a mouthful of blood, staggered back dozens of steps, then collapsed, his body twitching as he fainted.

All the Fu Feng Divine Dynasty's armored soldiers exchanged glances, unable to speak.

They hadn't even tried to break the formation, merely calculating its shifting momentum, yet one of them collapsed from exhaustion and vomited blood?

"Weak…" the gold-armored youth furrowed his brow: "With such feeble strength, how much time can they buy us?"

The armored troops also stared blankly; a silver-armored strongman muttered: "But maybe this is just a border outpost, so their formation masters are pitifully weak? Surely their capital must have… experts?"

After another two and a half hours, several more hundred-zhang-long old-style warships arrived.

Each old warship carried over a thousand Heavenly Martial soldiers in tattered armor, low in strength, accompanied by a few formation masters, geomancers, talisman refiners, and other old fogeys who came along.

According to the gold-armored youth's judgment, this is because the commanders of Wuguo's southern border garrison received the news, issued orders, and thus troops from nearby military cities came rushing in.

But seeing the order and time gaps of these warships' arrival, the gold-armored youth couldn't help but smirk and shake his head.

Obviously a rabble… tsk, these reinforcements are all so slow?

During this period, more than ten formation masters were exhausted to the point of vomiting blood, and seven or eight geomancers suffered backlash from the great formation, likewise vomiting blood and fainting.

Several talisman masters attacked the Myriad Transformations Wind and Thunder Grand Formation with talismans, were directly struck by backlash, and several wind blades of moderate strength flew out, nearly killing a group of Wuguo army soldiers.

Blood soaked the ground, and dozens of injured Wuguo army soldiers were carried back to the warship to rest and recuperate.

Time passed slowly, from dawn until dusk, and then the sky grew bright again.

Boom— a thunderclap rang out; at noon, a fleet of about a hundred old spark-warships slowly approached, and a hundred thousand soldiers in tattered armor, their weapons only at the three- or six-refined spirit weapon level, charged out and formed ranks outside the Myriad Transformations Wind and Thunder Grand Formation.

Several officers wearing brightly colored heavy armor, escorted by a retinue of personal guards, with cultivation at the high stage of the Womb Treasury realm, walked slowly out of the warship.

They brought over a hundred formation masters, who were clearly much more skilled; they made calculations outside the Myriad Transformations Wind and Thunder Grand Formation, and only one person vomited blood while the others merely flushed and paled.

"Sir, this grand formation likely serves as the mountain-guarding formation of some ancient cave dwelling. Profound and mysterious, it contains the powers of life, death, and creation; it is exceedingly subtle and deep, certainly not something people of the present age could have set up."

A white-haired old formation master stepped up to the several commanders and loudly declared his judgment: "Such an ancient cave dwelling is a great fortune; it surely contains unimaginable rare treasures… this is your good fortune, generals!"

The soldiers of the Fu Feng Divine Dynasty were already grinning from ear to ear.

The golden-armored youth laughed delightedly: "Interesting, interesting, you actually took this place to be the opening of an ancient cave dwelling? Hehe, rare treasures are nothing, but a group of murderous demons who blink not an eye… that could also be considered a pleasant surprise, right?"

Several Wuguo army commanders pretended to examine the Myriad Transformations Wind and Thunder Grand Formation for a while, then waved their hands: "Hmm, very good, break the formation—you have… one day."

The formation masters' faces visibly stiffened.

They glanced at each other, and the earliest white-haired formation master gave a dry laugh: "Generals, it's not that we… aren't doing our best; it's simply that this heaven‑crafted, earth‑set wondrous grand formation is beyond our cultivation in the art of formations."

After a cough, the old formation master said dryly: "Perhaps the several grand masters of Wudu could…"

Several commanders shouted in anger, berating the old formation master until he was drenched in insults.

Their point was simply: if they summoned the grand masters of Wudu, could this ancient cave dwelling still belong to the Southern Border garrison?

Since they were the first to discover this benefit, the greatest share of it must naturally belong to them.

Outsiders must absolutely not be allowed to interfere.

Therefore, the formation masters present must strive to break the formation; they must open the grand formation within one day.

If they cannot resolve the issue within a day, the news of the grand formation's sudden appearance will likely not be kept from the senior officers of the Southern Border garrison, and then important figures will come down to seize the benefits.

This is something they absolutely cannot tolerate.

"Ah, lax discipline, deceiving superiors and inferiors… what fighting force could such an army have?" The golden-armored youth could not help but sigh to the heavens: "What is this country called? Wuguo? Tsk… done for, them."

Within the Myriad Transformations Wind and Thunder Grand Formation, between the huge gate pillars inside the light curtain, a woman clad in gauze, whose beauty could overthrow a nation and whose allure was unmatched, twisted her slender waist, stepped on a large red peony blossom, and carefully passed through the light curtain.

At the moment the woman passed through the light curtain, the golden-armored youth lightly exhaled: "Unexpectedly, this goes far more smoothly than we thought. Hehe, we don't even need to act."

The golden-armored youth waved his hand, and the tornadoes on the jade pillars vanished instantly.

The beautiful woman passed through the light curtain and abruptly appeared before the Wuguo army soldiers.

Closest to the beautiful woman were dozens of formation masters trying every means to break the formation; they stared blankly at the woman who had appeared before them, and a youthful formation master holding a compass, who was in the midst of calculations, had his eyes light up as he greeted her.

"May I ask, lady… where do you come from?"

Several Wuguo army commanders' eyes suddenly brightened, and they shouted sternly: "All fall back! This young lady clearly emerged from that cave dwelling… heh, heh, this is our fortune!"

The beautiful woman stared blankly, her lovely eyes swiftly scanning the surroundings, then her expression turned extremely odd as she fixed a fierce gaze on those jade pillars.

"Heh heh, heh heh… Myriad Transformations Wind and Thunder Grand Formation… is this their prepared retreat?" The beautiful woman covered her crimson little mouth and laughed; her rather alluring figure, when she smiled, sent waves of charm rippling through her body, scattering a startling allure.

Dozens of formation masters' gazes grew hazy, and then they all simultaneously had blood spurting from their nostrils.

"Demonic art?" a Wuguo army commander bellowed: "Take the masters and retreat!"

Over a hundred Wuguo army soldiers, faces flushed red, closed their eyes and, in utter disarray, dragged a group of formation masters whose nostrils kept bleeding as they fled backward in a frantic run.

The beautiful woman did not obstruct them, nor did she increase her demonic power; after laughing a few times, she gently saluted the several Wuguo army commanders: "Generals, I am Hu Three Daughter, and I offer my respects… hee, I do not know where this is, which country this is, nor which deity reigns on the heavenly throne."