Chapter 97: Arrival at the Military Tent

In the high altitudes of the domain, the burly man with broad brows and a broad face had been observing the situation below, with a smile on his lips. He reached out with one hand and grabbed a jar of fierce wine from the human race, gulping it down into his mouth in one go.

......

"Um, roo roo roo roo"

The people who had been in heated discussion suddenly quieted down upon hearing the sound, looking cautiously at Aru beside Gu Xiaopang.

"Everyone, no need to worry."

"Aru only broke through to the third rank by accident several hours ago and isn't very good at speaking our human language yet."

"His meaning is to apologize to you all, and since you are my brothers and sisters, that makes you his as well."

Under Gu Xiaopang's hurried introduction, more than eighty people immediately burst into hearty laughter, bowing and saluting Aru in turn.

Aru, seeing this, also followed suit, bringing his two large bear paws together and bowing to them.

"Domain Master, what's next?"

"This title sounds weird."

"Hahaha, Domain Master, you'll get used to it after hearing it a few times."

"Alright, I originally planned to train for a few more days, but with Aru here, it seems there's no opportunity."

"In that case, why don't we take a rest here for a day? Tomorrow, I'll go out with you all."

"These pills are for you to keep."

"Bear Senior, can you lift the seals on them?"

Just as Gu Xiaopang handed a large pile of various pills to the Vice Domain Master Sun Tian, everyone saw him bow and salute towards the empty space high in the domain and ask.

Everyone subconsciously looked up, seeing nothing, with some doubt in their eyes.

"Good kid, even with my concealment like this, you could still find me. Impressive."

No one was seen, only the voice heard. The crowd realized this speaker was the domain's master, a super expert who had reached the fifth rank and could transform into a human form, the Demon Bear King.

Then, the people whose cultivation was sealed suddenly had their true qi restored. Though the time away was short, the familiar feeling of power finally returned, and they all laughed heartily without exception.

"Since you are willing to lend your strength to my young friend Changqing, and I am a witness, if in the future any of you dare to betray and abandon your allegiance, even if it is to the ends of the earth, this old man will kill him."

"Adult, please rest assured. If in the future someone really dares to do such a thing, I will also unhesitatingly kill them."

"Agreed, please rest assured, Lord Domain Master."

"Alright, everyone, we are all brothers and sisters. Let's not talk about this. Take the pills and recover yourselves."

......

"Aru, how is your injury?"

"Amie, you're here. Don't worry, this guy's fine."

"Roo roo roo Big Brother."

"Sorry, Changqing brother, Ling'er sister, I didn't expect Elder Lie to..."

"Don't be so polite. This has nothing to do with you. You're Aru's girlfriend, so you're my sister-in-law. We're one family, not two. Hahaha."

"Roo."

Aru anxiously wanted to explain, but Amie was teased by Gu Xiaopang into a blush on her fox-like face.

......

By the next morning at the boundary of the Endless Forest, Aru and Amie stood face to face with reluctance, watching Gu Xiaopang and his group repeatedly say goodbye and walk out.

"Young friend, here."

The Bear Demon King's voice came from somewhere, and a dark golden token engraved with the word "bear" suddenly flew over and was taken into Gu Xiaopang's hand.

After turning and bowing towards the depths of the Endless Forest, the group formally left the Endless Forest and returned to the human territory.

And what Gu Xiaopang and the others did not know was that this departure would cause the entire world's situation to change from then on.

......

At this moment, more than eighty people, each wearing a thin mask. These masks were all specially refined by Gu Xiaopang last night according to each person's spiritual attributes, using materials he purchased himself, all at the treasure artifact level.

His mastery of artifact refinement for the five elements and five systems, and his superb rapid artifact refinement techniques truly amazed the crowd.

After agreeing to meet at the great competition site of the disciples of the Hundred Sects in the South Domain's Shuluo Mansion, this group scattered, either three or two at a time, and went their separate ways.

Only Gu Xiaopang, who suddenly received a voice transmission from the Purple Gold Emperor Zi Qiankun's Jade Slip, took Bai Ling'er and stayed temporarily in the Purple Gold Imperial Court, rushing towards the place where the two armies were clashing.

"Ling'er sister, you say nearly a hundred million people in a big battle, what use can I go there for? Why did Old Purple have to send me?"

"I don't know, but since you're the imperial court's son-in-law, and His Majesty has such high expectations of you, there must be something you can do."

"Once there, we'll see."

"Um."

......

At this moment, at the confrontation site of the two armies in the Purple Gold Imperial Court and the Saint Mountain Imperial Court.

In the Purple Gold Imperial Court's command tent, Commander Zi Haochu and the other thirty-plus high-ranking generals all had faces as black as iron, extremely ugly.

And the general Zhao Qian, who had led nine thousand troops from the Endless Forest to sneak an attack earlier, was now lying in the tent full of sword and gun wounds, bandaged all over, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Commander, this subordinate dares to swear that this surprise attack must have been leaked of information."

"Among the people here, there must be someone from the enemy country."

"Dare you, Iron General, are you trying to disrupt military morale?"

"Disrupting military morale? Then you say, with such a meticulous arrangement, why did the enemy know in advance and set up such a heavy ambush?"

"If it weren't for the soldiers fighting to the death, Zhao would have been buried in a foreign land long ago."

"More than nine thousand troops... only less than three thousand came back alive..."

......

Speaking from Zhao Qian's receipt of the military order, leading eight thousand infantry and one thousand archers to infiltrate the Endless Forest, passing through countless beast dens safely and finally reaching the hinterland of the Saint Mountain Imperial Court's border army. Then, after the two armies' front lines clashed, he ordered the surprise attack.

Unexpectedly, after one thousand archers fired tens of thousands of arrows in a row, the Saint Mountain Imperial Court side suddenly seemed prepared, with tens of thousands of shields opening simultaneously. Therefore, the damage caused by this surprise attack to the other side was extremely limited, and it didn't even cause any noticeable panic from the opponent.

And from the other side of the mountain in the Endless Forest, suddenly more than a hundred thousand enemy troops emerged, with tens of thousands of arrows shooting continuously towards Zhao Qian's side.

Though not knowing why it was like this, Zhao Qian, who realized he was ambushed, decisively ordered a retreat, but it was already too late.

On the way back during the retreat, arrows flew endlessly from behind, and the purple gold imperial court's ambush troops were shot into a swarm of hornets, even though many were blocked by the Endless Forest's countless giant trees.

Afterwards, the opponent's more than a hundred thousand troops directly surrounded and besieged the remaining less than fifty thousand troops of the Purple Gold Imperial Court, killing them.

General Zhao Qian's eyes bloodshot, watching the brothers he had fallen into pieces, forcefully broke away from the protection of his personal guards, charged in front of his own soldiers and fought the enemy army without end for several hours, while killing and shouting for his brothers to retreat.

By the time the sky darkened, the only remaining ambush troops who successfully retreated to the Purple Gold border were less than thirty thousand, each with countless wounds and bleeding.

And General Zhao Qian was carried back by only the remaining three personal guards, limping, with the white cloth stretcher completely dyed red with blood.

And on the way back from this journey of nine thousand people, there were corpses everywhere, some of the opponent's, but more of the own soldiers.

Shattered weapons and armor fragments, incomplete bodies covered everywhere, severed limbs and arms splashed everywhere, countless arrows, arrow rods, and feathers broken and torn...

Everywhere were insect sand and ape cranes, broken trees and pits, corpses scattered across the fields, blood flowing and drifting.

......

This perfect surprise attack plan had failed, and not only that, the losses were not less than sixty thousand soldiers, more than double the losses in the tens of hundreds of thousands battle on the front lines.

The news of the defeat instantly spread throughout the Purple Gold Imperial Court, causing uproar, and Emperor Zi Qiankun sat stiffly on the dragon chair for a long time without speaking.

......

"Commander, this subordinate swears there must be a spy among us, even if you cut me up I would still say so."

"If we don't root out this spy, we'll be more passive from now on."

"Defeat is like a mountain collapsing; if we can't hold here, then..."

"But we have sentinels everywhere. How did the message of the sneak attack get out?"

"Damn it, who the hell is the spy, stand out for me!"

"If I find out who the spy is, even if I die, I will skin him... cutting down his entire family won't be enough to console my fallen soldiers' spirits."

Zhao Qian, who was already heartbroken, trembled violently, still spitting blood foam from his mouth, gritted his teeth and said word by word.

"Everyone, do you know what the array masters said?"

"After Old Zhao took the troops, a very obscure fluctuation came from within our side's prohibition formation."

"Meaning that in the entire army's prohibited camp, except for the Qiankun Mother-Child Talisman I used to contact the emperor, there is another person holding a similar talisman slip..."

"I don't know who it is for now, but this old man still advises him to stand out, and this old man promises to only kill that one person. If not, if this old man finds him actively, then like Old Zhao said, he will definitely be exterminated from his whole clan."

In the tent, you look at me, I look at you, even though the relationships during the day were how good they were, everyone looking at each other like spies, this tent suddenly quieted for a few breaths.

Outside the tent, the sounds of injured wailing, medical soldiers hurrying back and forth... you could hear a pin drop.

......

"Report!"

"Report to the commander, there's a young man, bringing a woman, claiming to be the son-in-law of our dynasty, seeking an audience outside the camp."

"Quick! Bring him in quickly!"

"Yes."

"Commander, when did our dynasty have a son-in-law? Isn't he an enemy spy?"

"You're dumb. If it was really a spy, would he dare to come here so grandly in the name of son-in-law?!"

"Also."

"Everyone, because of the array's seal, my niece Zi Ya'er has been married to a talented man named Gu Changqing. His Majesty has informed me with a letter talisman."

"This child is a hero, picking off three hundred plus talented people from nine prefectures with his own strength..."

......

"Young man Gu Changqing, pays respects to the commander! All generals!"

"We see the son-in-law!"

"Indeed, a handsome appearance and outstanding bearing."

"Um, this kid is still usable, didn't disgrace the princess."

......