After the trade fair for Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Great Zhou Kingdom, the stockpiles at the Danyang Grand Camp were mobilized, and forces were dispatched to the border battlefields. The border between the Great Zhou Kingdom and the Northern Qi Kingdom was a stretch of sprawling mountain valleys and forests, riddled with numerous large and small mountain passes and strategic checkpoints. These passes were crucial flashpoints for military contention and absolutely required guarding.

In the sky, several streaks of golden and cyan flying sword rainbows flashed by. Ye Qin, Daoist Zheng, and a middle-aged Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Zhou family, Zhou Xing, the three of them descended into one of these passes. Following closely behind them were over twenty Qi Refining stage cultivators, all esteemed Immortal Masters safeguarding the Great Zhou Kingdom. Their mission was to ensure this pass did not fall into the hands of the Northern Qi cultivators.

The middle-aged cultivator from the Zhou family took out more than ten formation flags and handed them to Ye Qin and Daoist Zheng. He stated, "Daoist Zheng, Brother Qin, these are the formation flags. Please assist me in setting up a large protective formation here at this pass!"

Ye Qin and Daoist Zheng accepted the flags and swiftly planted them at the strategic, perilous locations within the pass.

These flags shot beams of light toward the sky. In a short while, all the lights connected, forming a faint, diffuse shield covering several li, enveloping the entire pass. Cultivators from Northern Qi would have to breach this light barrier before they could enter.

Only after completing these preparations did Ye Qin have the chance to survey the terrain of the pass.

This was a precipitous bottleneck constructed against the mountainside. The Great Zhou Kingdom had amassed an army of one hundred thousand soldiers here. Outside the pass, hundreds of thousands of Northern Qi troops were launching a massive assault, and the two armies were locked in fierce combat below.

Ye Qin ascended a high platform on the city wall, gazing out at the forested valleys beyond the pass with an indifferent expression. Tens of thousands of mortal soldiers from both armies were densely packed throughout the valleys. Arrows rained down like a storm, and the clamor of battle shook the heavens. Every moment, a large number of soldiers were falling.

Since embarking on the path of immortal cultivation, Ye Qin had personally experienced numerous battles and witnessed countless deaths. This war between mortal armies did not stir much emotion within him.

However, he felt a pang of injustice for these mortal soldiers. The conflict between the Zhou family and the Lü family was merely a struggle to seize a small spirit stone vein nestled between the border mountains of the two nations—a conflict of interest among cultivators. Yet, to avoid heavy casualties among the cultivators of the two great immortal families, they sent the mortal soldiers to fight. These soldiers, dying on the battlefield, would never know why they were sent there.

Zhou Lin arrived silently behind Ye Qin, standing perhaps ten feet away. She stood still, observing the brutal fighting on the battlefield outside the pass, seemingly unable to bear the sight.

Ye Qin turned to her and asked, "Does Zhou Lin know why the Great Zhou and Northern Qi are at war?"

Zhou Lin pondered for a moment, then shook her head mournfully. "Senior Qin, even I don't clearly know why the Great Zhou suddenly engaged the Northern Qi. This was a decision made by the higher echelons of the family. As an ordinary disciple, I have no right to be privy to such matters. Moreover, the royal houses of the Great Zhou and Northern Qi have maintained a hundred-year-long marriage alliance; such a large-scale war has not occurred between the two nations for a long time. My own younger sister is married to a secular member of the Lü family in the Northern Qi Kingdom; I often wonder how she is faring now."

Ye Qin remained silent.

In the eyes of many cultivators, mortals were like ants, useful only for protecting the interests of these powerful immortal families. In this regard, the Lü family and the Zhou family were no different.

A Qi Refining cultivator from the Great Zhou Kingdom rushed urgently onto the rampart platform, his voice laced with panic. "Senior Qin, the fighting at one of the battlefronts ahead is becoming critical! Senior Zhou and Senior Zheng request that Senior Qin proceed there immediately!"

Ye Qin was momentarily taken aback. A mortal battlefield, requiring the intervention of a cultivator? "Oh? Where is this situation?"

The cultivator replied, "It is in a valley just ahead."

Ye Qin considered this. He was unfamiliar with military affairs, but he knew that core strategic points within the pass required a guardian. He turned to look at Zhou Lin. "This high platform is the core of the grand formation's flag placement and the highest point of the entire pass. You remain here. If anything unexpected happens, send a message to me."

Zhou Lin nodded with a hint of nervousness. "Yes, Senior, rest assured!"

Ye Qin immediately summoned his flying sword, took the messenger cultivator with him, and shot away from the pass, speeding toward the valley ahead. Within a few breaths, he bypassed the ranks of soldiers and landed atop an earthen mound several dozen zhang high.

Zhou Xing and Daoist Zheng were already standing on the mound, gazing indifferently at the battlefield before them. Beside them were seven or eight Qi Refining cultivators, along with numerous mortal generals who appeared distinctly uneasy.

Ye Qin approached them, cupped his hands, and inquired, "Brother Zhou, Daoist Zheng, may I ask why you summoned me?"

Zhou Xing pointed ahead. "Brother Qin, what do you see there?"

Ye Qin followed his gesture.

In the midst of the two armies, a force of over five thousand elite, heavily armored soldiers was locked in a bloody melee on a flat clearing ahead.

Within the Northern Qi formation, dozens of broadsword infantrymen, stark naked to the chest and charging at the forefront, were enveloped in a faint layer of red light. Not only were they impervious to blades and spears, but their strength was enormous; a single one of these soldiers could hold off dozens of Great Zhou soldiers. Even when struck by arrow volleys as dense as locust swarms, these broadsword warriors showed hardly any wounds; the sharp arrows merely broke upon impact.

After several successive clashes and charges, the Great Zhou forces suffered heavy defeats and retreated.

Ye Qin saw this but was not overly surprised; he only frowned slightly. "They must have been enchanted with some kind of spell, perhaps a Vajra Shield or a Divine Strength Talisman. Brother Zhou, did you not prepare any talismans? Simply applying talismans to the Great Zhou soldiers should suffice."

"We did use them, but they weren't a match for these broadsword warriors."

Zhou Xing shook his head. "Brother Qin, you've just arrived and don't know much about secular battlefields. They aren't using Vajra Shields or Divine Strength Talismans; they are employing a unique type of killing aura specific to mortal armies, known as the Iron-Blood Fiend Aura. Ordinary soldiers possess very little of this aura, but when tens of thousands of soldiers gather, this aura becomes truly terrifying. What's most troublesome is that cultivators can collect and refine this aura, then focus and apply it to dozens of soldiers, making them fearless of any spell and causing their combat power to surge dozens, even hundreds, of times over. Ordinary spells have little effect on them. Brother Qin, if you encounter them, you must not underestimate them. I asked you here so that you can witness this Iron-Blood Aura firsthand, preventing you from suffering a hidden loss in the future."

"Iron-Blood Fiend Aura?"

Ye Qin's brow furrowed even tighter. When he first arrived in the Northern Qi territory, he had nearly stumbled upon evil cultivators from the Red Cloud Sect gathering this very aura. He was already wary of it. "Brother Zhou, do you know of any method to counteract this Iron-Blood Aura?"

Zhou Xing shook his head. "This is an extremely rigid and yang-attributed pure Iron-Blood Aura. It not only wards off evil spirits and monsters but also resists the power of immortal spells, making it hard to counter. However, they are not truly invincible, as they are still merely mortal flesh and blood, unable to fully unleash the aura's greatest power. You will understand just by watching."

After speaking, Zhou Xing said no more.

Daoist Zheng maintained a placid, seasoned demeanor, clearly not intending to intervene either.

A few Qi Refining cultivators set up a peculiar, intricate iron cylinder on the earthen slope. Ye Qin recognized the device—it was a stone cannon, something commonly found atop the walls of many secular nations, used to launch stone projectiles for defense, though its range was short, seldom exceeding a few hundred zhang.

However, this refined iron stone cannon seemed somewhat different. Its craftsmanship was exquisite, and its base was engraved with a strange formation that had sockets for spirit stones. The projectiles loaded into the barrel were made of refined iron.

Ye Qin was wondering about this when

a cultivator installed a low-grade spirit stone into the device, activating the formation on the cannon's body.

"BOOM—!"

With a deafening roar, a dazzling red light erupted from the cannon barrel, and a projectile shot out. Several li away, within the Northern Qi army formation, a crater suddenly appeared with a crash, scattering blood and gore over a wide area.

Even the soldiers reinforced by the Iron-Blood Aura could not withstand the impact of this projectile; several were sent flying.

The low-grade spirit stone in the cannon barrel had completely lost its spiritual energy, turning into waste rock particles.

The cultivators quickly cleared the waste stone, replaced it with another low-grade spirit stone, and continued firing. The Northern Qi formation was thrown into chaos. The Great Zhou army's flagging momentum was rapidly reversed.

Ye Qin stared at the stone cannon, watching the cultivators work with silent amazement. He had just realized that this cannon was actually a large-scale spiritual artifact. Such artifacts posed almost no threat to agile cultivators, but they were surprisingly devastating when used in warfare.

"What is this?"

Zhou Xing chuckled. "This is the Sky-Shattering Cannon, a spiritual artifact refined by a Grand Luo artifact master, specifically a sharp weapon for the battlefield. However, they are rare to craft; this pass only has this single piece. Still, this one is enough to give the Northern Qi army a taste of real suffering."

The Northern Qi army's probing attack that day yielded no advantage.

When several Northern Qi Qi Refining cultivators rushed forward, attempting to destroy the stone cannon, they immediately retreated upon seeing the three Great Zhou Foundation Establishment cultivators present, daring not to show their heads again.

After attacking for a full day without success, the Northern Qi forces withdrew.

Zhou Xing then ordered the secular generals to lead their troops back into the pass. Most of these generals were secular descendants of the Zhou family; in the presence of Zhou Xing, the highest-ranking cultivator of the Zhou family, they didn't even dare to breathe loudly.

For the next ten-plus days, the Northern Qi army continued to provoke them at this pass, and the fighting grew increasingly intense. Just as Ye Qin predicted, the cultivators of the two nations never engaged directly. Whether through applying talismans to the soldiers, bombarding them with the Sky-Shattering Cannon, or using other methods, their clashes remained indirect.

The Lü family and the Zhou family were highly restrained in this war. As long as no family cultivators were killed, no matter how many mortal soldiers perished, both sides retained room for maneuver, preventing the conflict from escalating into an all-out war between immortal families, which might even drag the Qingdan Sect and the Beast Spirit Gate—the two major immortal cultivation sects in the Misty Fog region—into the fray.

"No one can afford such a large-scale war in the cultivation world," Ye Qin muttered to himself every night after the day's fighting, standing alone on the platform. Although he felt the mortal soldiers were being treated unjustly, he had to admit that it was better for the Great Zhou and Northern Qi to use mortal armies to contend for that spirit stone vein in the valley than for the Zhou and Lü immortal families to fight directly.

Ye Qin’s cold gaze swept over the valley. He could clearly see dozens of evil cultivators deep within the distant valley, gleefully harvesting items from the secular battlefield—the Iron-Blood Fiend Aura, and even the corpses of soldiers—amidst the skeletal remains scattered throughout the jungle. There was no need to guess what they were using these for.

"A flock of vultures!"

Ye Qin snorted coldly.

He planned to leave the Great Zhou Kingdom once his duty as a state-guarding Immortal Master was fulfilled in a month. He had no intention of further involving himself in the conflict between the Lü and Zhou families. As long as it didn't escalate into a sect war, it wouldn't affect him.

The mission assigned by his sect was to investigate the reserves of this small mineral vein and ascertain whether the Lü family required support from the sect. He found that the Zhou family's strength was not overwhelmingly powerful; the Lü family was fully capable of handling the current situation.

He had no intention of serving the Lü family, nor did he plan to exert himself for the Zhou family. Over the past few days, he had already exchanged enough low-grade spirit stones with the Great Zhou state-guarding Immortal Masters to last him several months.

As for where he would go after leaving the Great Zhou Kingdom, Ye Qin hadn't given it much thought; he had many places to visit.

The most useful aspects of his three years of descending the mountain for training were cultivation and broadening his horizons. He intended to cultivate while traveling through various kingdoms—the Chaos Lands, the cultivation world of Ten Thousand Moon Lake, and the cultivation world of the Azure Sky Plain were all options. Once his period of practical training was over, he would return to the Qingdan Sect for closed-door cultivation to break through to the Great Dao realm.

Ye Qin glanced at the sky; it was already late at night. Just as he was about to return from the platform to his residence in the city, his gaze suddenly stopped. He saw a familiar, dim gray shadow drift out from within the Zhou Kingdom's pass and rush toward the valley.

"Daoist Zheng, what is he doing going to the valley late at night?"

Ye Qin hesitated, wondering whether to follow. Daoist Zheng was a cultivator from the Chaos Lands, possessing a somewhat sinister and murderous air that Ye Qin disliked; he usually had little interaction with him. Furthermore, Daoist Zheng's cultivation was quite high—a middle-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Ye Qin might not be capable of dealing with him if things went awry.

At that moment, another figure, this one cloaked in green and patterned cloth, drifted down from the city gate, following the gray shadow from a distance.

"Zhou Xing?"

Ye Qin sucked in a sharp breath. Of the only three Foundation Establishment cultivators at this pass, two had left in one night. Where were they going? He calmly waited for a moment, and seeing no other cultivators emerge, he immediately transformed into a streak of cyan smoke and flew out of the pass, following the two of them.

Ye Qin did not dare to be careless, following them extremely cautiously. If he sensed anything amiss, he would leave immediately. If Daoist Zheng discovered Zhou Xing tracking him, the two of them would certainly fight. He could easily use the opportunity to slip away.

Daoist Zheng rushed several dozen li before stopping at the edge of a deep ravine valley. He consulted a map for a while in the dim moonlight, hesitated briefly, then gritted his teeth and leaped into the ravine, which plunged several hundred zhang deep.

After a long pause, Zhou Xing stood silently where Daoist Zheng had just stood. He glanced into the dark, bottomless ravine and cursed under his breath, "Damn it, how did that old rogue Zheng know the spirit stone vein was beneath this deep gorge?" (To be continued. For future developments, please log in to m for more chapters, supporting the author and legitimate reading!)