Shennong Dao Master-Chapter 1389 - 22: Absolute Heaven and Earth · Battle of Mortals (Part 2)_5

"A Wandering Soul Commander," Xia Jing said, "His superior was killed, and his power transferred to Old Chen. Long Xiao and Old Chen aren't in the city; they're out hunting down the remnants."

Zhao Xing pondered, "What about his personal belongings? Are they here?"

"They are," answered the Hundred Generals Magician in the dungeon.

"Bring everything to me, quickly!" Zhao Xing commanded solemnly.

"Yes."

The Hundred Generals Magician immediately ran out.

"Mr. Zhao, what's wrong?" Xia Jing asked, unable to resist, seeing Zhao Xing so serious. "What did you discover?"

"I'm not sure yet," Zhao Xing replied, "Maybe I'm just being paranoid."

An air of silence suddenly fell over the dungeon.

Soon, the Hundred Generals Magician returned with a large pile of items, including those of Ta Gu King, and placed them before Zhao Xing.

"Sir, here they are."

Zhao Xing quickly rummaged through the miscellaneous items, soon finding a pitch-black disc.

Ta Gu King's eyes twitched slightly at the sight.

"Ta Gu King, this is the Jiuyou Order, isn't it?" Zhao Xing waved the token in front of Ta Gu King.

Ta Gu King sneered silently, closing his eyes without a word. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"The Netherworld King's Mark on both sides, submit to the Jiuyou upon the command."

"Ta Gu King, this is a death order. Why does the Jiuyou God have you guard Wind Witch City to the death?"

"What conspiracy are you plotting? Speak!"

Zhao Xing extended his hands, sharp spikes piercing into Ta Gu King's pain points.

"Crack~~"

The purple potato sprite really is tough, grinding his teeth to bits in silence.

Xia Jing's expression changed. During the interrogation, Ta Gu King had been much less tough and confessed everything.

But now being so resilient? There could only be one explanation.

"Damn! He deceived us?!" Xia Jing quickly shouted, "Where is Hong Sikou? How the hell did you interrogate him! Get over here and do it again!"

"It's useless," Zhao Xing shook his head, "These people are resolute-minded; your highest is only ninth grade, your methods too crude, you won't extract anything."

"Xia Jing, take your people out. I need to kill to recover," Zhao Xing said, "And get a detailed battle report from the military historian about your assault on Wind Witch City."

"Alright." Xia Jing immediately took his people and left.

After Xia Jing and his men ran off, only twenty-two prisoners and Zhao Xing remained in the dungeon.

"Puff!"

Zhao Xing extended a finger, instantly killing another eighth-grade cultivator.

"Buzz~"

A streak of golden light transferred from the corpse to Zhao Xing.

Even Ta Gu King found this strange.

There were twenty-three people including Zhao Xing, and he killed one, yet it randomly transferred to him?

Ta Gu King didn't know that Yanjun's qi fortune had taken effect.

Even if the probability was one in a thousand, killing someone still transferred the power to Zhao Xing, unless there was someone with comparable qi fortune within the dungeon's range.

"Realm restored," Zhao Xing flexed his body, "I've now recovered to the eighth-grade Earthly Evil Realm; anomalies are resolved, both Heavenly Time Technique and Geographical Advantage Skill are usable."

Previously, he relied on the Cloud-climbing Vine to support his domain, but this authority was incomplete, and he couldn't use many spells.

But now, after killing an enemy, he truly gained the authority.

The Cloud-climbing Vine could finally rest inside his body.

"Puff puff puff puff~"

Zhao Xing unleashed Gang Wind, instantly killing all the enemies except for Ta Gu King.

One eighth-grade, plus twenty ninth-grade, Zhao Xing restored from early eighth grade to middle stage eighth grade.

"Looks like to ascend every major level, I need to kill about ten peers," Zhao Xing mused.

"Ta Gu King, look into my eyes," Zhao Xing's voice carried a magical power, compelling Ta Gu King to meet his gaze.

Soul Binding!

Using a spell derived from the soul-binding grass man, Zhao Xing instantly extracted Ta Gu King's soul, opening his mouth wide.

"Crunch crunch~" Zhao Xing seemed to chew as he shattered Ta Gu King's soul.

Meanwhile, numerous memory fragments appeared in his mind.

Since they are fragments, they are incomplete, and the older the memory, the more blurred it becomes, with those over a month old being practically indiscernible.

Zhao Xing closed his eyes and began to search through these memory fragments, sorting them into useful information.

Upon reopening his eyes, Zhao Xing's expression changed.

"Damn, Xia Jing and the others have entered Jiuyou God's encirclement. This is Jiuyou God's sweeping plan."

What is Jiuyou's Great Sweep? It refers to the Southern Barbarians' first large-scale mobilization, a siege operation against the Great Zhou entering the southern range within Absolute Heaven and Earth's domain.

Xia Jing has only thirty thousand troops in total here, including cultivators of only the hundred generals' grade, with about one cultivator per hundred soldiers, totaling approximately three hundred.

But Jiuyou God's sweeping operation has mobilized four hundred thousand troops, nearly all of whom are cultivators!

"Damn, damn, damn!"

Thinking of the strongest dungeon in Absolute Heaven and Earth about to appear, Zhao Xing felt his scalp tingle, and he immediately rushed out of the dungeon.

"Xia Jing!"

"Zhao Xing!"

Xia Jing ran over, his expression gloomy.

Seeing both sides had something to say, Zhao Xing instead calmed down: "You speak first."

"Old Chen and Long Xiao just returned and reported bad news. Large-scale armies of tens of thousands have appeared on the east, north, and west of Wind Witch City, with the closest one at Pang Ge Peak 350 miles away," Xia Jing said in a serious tone. "We need to break through."

"Where did the intelligence come from?" Zhao Xing asked.

"From Wang Ji," Long Xiao and Chen Shijie came in and, seeing Zhao Xing, wasted no time catching up. "Mechanical Master Ju Ziliu used the Wuliang Juzi for remote communication, reporting this news."

With a rustle, Zhao Xing activated the miniature sand table. Clouds, mountains, rivers, and many red dots symbolizing enemy forces quickly spread over three sides of Wind Witch City.

The four instantly held their breath; the red dots indicated cultivators, with at least several thousand encircling them!

Even if ninety percent of these several thousand are newly Gathering Essence cultivators, they are still cultivators!

"Why are there so many..." Long Xiao murmured.

"The map shows even fewer. The actual encirclement is at least fifty thousand strong."

"What? Impossible!" Xia Jing was stunned, "Fifty thousand, all cultivators? What a joke."

"This time, Jiuyou God personally commands the Great Sweep."

"With a total of over 400,000, all cultivators, aiming to clean the entire southern battle zone," Zhao Xing sighed.

"For consuming Wind Witch City, you became one of their targets. You have a Heroic King, a top Sword Immortal, a Junior Agricultural Officer, and these thirty thousand are elite troops trained by Great Zhou, sufficient to be on Jiuyou God's menu."

"Four hundred thousand?! All cultivators?!" Long Xiao, Chen Shijie, and Xia Jing were utterly dumbfounded, this number is enough to frighten anyone.

"We don't have time for you to be shocked," Zhao Xing quickly said, "We must lead people to break through now; time is running out."

"Where to break through?" Long Xiao instinctively asked. "North to Dong Ze's main army to join forces?"

"Impossible to go north. Since it's a Great Sweep, we can't break through successfully with so few people," Xia Jing said. "The Great Sweep left only the south open; any direction but south—east, west, north—is difficult for breakout."

"Only south," Chen Shijie nodded, "South to find Li Hao's Wuyao army? Which route?"

Zhao Xing said nothing, his mind raced, official battle reports rustled as he quickly sifted through army and terrain information.

After a moment, Zhao Xing nodded: "Yes, only south."

"Even south offers three directions: correct south along Nanping Road, or southwest to Wuying Territory, or southeast over Tianshui River?" Xia Jing asked.

"Brother Xia, you're the navy general, with many ships, we'll certainly take the nearest Tianshui River," Zhao Xing said.

Xia Jing, in a panic, had forgotten there is actually only one choice, not three.

"We must act quickly! Xia Jing, swiftly order the whole army to cross Tianshui River," Zhao Xing said.

"Abandon as much of the baggage as possible, discard all heavy weapons, only keep horses, boats, mountain trucks, no war chariots."

"With so much baggage abandoned, what if we encounter the enemy?" Long Xiao asked.

"Don't panic, the enemy will gift them to us," Zhao Xing said. "As long as the Qing Mountain remains, there's no worry of running out of firewood."

"We must compete with the enemy's main army in speed and agility, so we need to move swiftly...There's no time to explain, quickly order the river crossing!"