So, before they could figure things out, he absolutely had to establish his own power base. Only with genuine strength on hand could he truly hold his ground in the Shu Yun Kingdom...
Those eight thousand Iron Army warriors had now become his personal force, yet he knew clearly that this alone was far from enough. To say nothing else, on the matter of intelligence alone, he was leagues behind those established great families...
As for wealth, the gap was even wider. His path lay ahead, long and arduous; he still needed to proceed one step at a time. This Yun Guard Chiliarch post, while not seeming like a high official position, held untold potential benefits if managed correctly. After all, the Yun Guards possessed the power to audit all officials, their informants woven throughout the entire Shu Yun Kingdom and even beyond its borders...
Whether Luo Xiaofeng had arranged this position for him out of sheer lunacy or held some ulterior motive was irrelevant to him. He only knew that he had to seize this opportunity with both hands...
A meal is eaten one bite at a time, and a road is walked one step at a time, was that not so?
Hearing Ye Jingyu's slightly concerned tone, the Yun Guards felt a subtle warmth in their hearts. People said a new official always made the first three fires blaze fiercely, but this new commander seemed remarkably amicable...
Immediately, Jiang Ming, along with several other Centurions, led dozens of subordinates each and began moving out in various directions...
At first, Ye Jingyu worried about how they would see, but then he watched as one after another they pulled out eyeglass-like covers from their robes and placed them over their heads, instantly causing streams of green light to flicker...
Night vision goggles? Ye Jingyu cursed internally. Though the style varied slightly, he distinctly recognized these as high-tech products that shouldn't exist until his previous life. How could these Yun Guards possess such items?
"That Jiang Ming, come over here..." Seeing that everyone had produced a night vision device, Ye Jingyu's eyes reddened slightly...
"My Lord, do you have further instructions?" Jiang Ming, who had just taken a few steps, immediately returned upon hearing Ye Jingyu's call...
"What is this thing called? Do you have any more of these on you?" Ye Jingyu asked calmly...
"Reporting to My Lord, this is called a Cat's Eye. We are each only equipped with one set. If My Lord requires one, please temporarily use this subordinate's," Jiang Ming was astute enough to understand that Ye Jingyu was newly appointed. Although he was a Chiliarch, he likely hadn't familiarized himself with the Yun Guard's procedures or collected his necessary equipment. Without pointing out the situation, he directly removed his Cat's Eye and offered it over...
"Oh, you keep yours. I can still see some things. Be careful," Ye Jingyu nodded lightly. Calling it a Cat's Eye seemed appropriate, as cats can see in the dark. Since the other man only had one, Ye Jingyu felt awkward snatching it away...
He lightly patted Jiang Ming's back, signaling him to proceed with caution...
Jiang Ming nodded gratefully and led a dozen men toward Ye Jingyu's left flank...
Ye Jingyu shook his head, glanced back at Chi Yixiu, Ying Xiaoxiao, and the forty-odd Chi Yi clan warriors following him, signaled for caution, and then continued leading Hei Ming Shixuan's small hand forward...
At this moment, the entire canyon was profoundly silent. Other than the rustling sound of their footsteps, the only other audible sound was the beating of their own hearts...
And the light was truly abysmal; everyone could barely proceed through the darkness...
The deeper they ventured, the quieter it became, and the more intense that strange, eerie atmosphere grew...
"Ah..." Just then, a piercing scream suddenly ripped through the air. Ye Jingyu's eyebrows shot up, and his grip on Hei Ming Shixuan's small hand tightened unnaturally...
"What happened?" Ye Jingyu shouted loudly, but the surroundings remained deathly still, yielding no echo...
Turning back, he realized that Chi Yixiu, Ying Xiaoxiao, and the others had vanished without a trace...
"Xiu..." Ye Jingyu called out softly again, but still, there was no response...
"Xiaoxiao..." Ye Jingyu tried once more, but received no reply. The area was silent, save for the sound of his and Hei Ming Shixuan's hearts beating...
Hei Ming Shixuan remained silent. Ye Jingyu could not even detect a quickening in her pulse. She stood calmly beside him, seemingly unafraid of the absolute darkness, but Ye Jingyu's heart clenched to the core...
At this moment, it wasn't just Chi Yixiu and Ying Xiaoxiao; even Taotie and Ni Bo had disappeared from his side at some unknown point...
Visibility was now less than three meters. A flash suddenly illuminated Ye Jingyu's brow, and a crescent moon-like light sprang forth—it was his Rinnegan opening. Beams of silver light swept across the space, but what disappointed him was that the canyon held a bizarre power that even his Rinnegan could not penetrate to its essence...
Of course, this was partly due to Ye Jingyu’s Rinnegan not being fully mastered. At his current level, he could at most see through simple illusion arrays, but he was incapable of discerning the secrets of this strange Hundred Burial Valley...
"Little Shixuan, can you sense anything around us?" Ye Jingyu asked the Hei Ming Shixuan beside him...
But strangely, Hei Ming Shixuan did not answer Ye Jingyu's question, as if she hadn't heard him at all...
"Little Shixuan..." Ye Jingyu called softly again, but still, no reaction...
"Shixuan..." Ye Jingyu gently shook Hei Ming Shixuan's small hand, yet she remained unresponsive...
"Shixuan..." Just as Ye Jingyu was about to crouch down to check on Hei Ming Shixuan, he suddenly realized that what he was gripping was an icy, cold skeleton...
His expression changed drastically...
He instantly let go of the skeletal remains, and his body instinctively recoiled a few steps, unfortunately stepping on another pile of brittle bones. A crunching sound immediately followed—the sound of bone shattering underfoot. Yet, in this pitch-black darkness, it sounded horrifyingly sinister...
Every hair on his body stood instantly on end; goosebumps erupted across his skin, and cold sweat streamed continuously down his forehead, rapidly soaking his clothes...
"Wuwuwu..." Vaguely, a sound of weeping drifted into Ye Jingyu's ear, chilling him to the marrow...
"Who..." Ye Jingyu roared internally, swiftly grabbing the 'Heavenly Sovereign' blade sheathed on his back with one hand...
But even clutching the Heavenly Sovereign, Ye Jingyu's heart was fluttering, and the crying sound grew louder, seeming to occur right next to his ear...
"Hah..." Suddenly, it felt as if someone had gently exhaled directly by Ye Jingyu's ear, and he could distinctly feel the hairs on his neck being lifted by the puff of air...
"Damn it, show yourself!" Ye Jingyu roared in fury. The Heavenly Sovereign in his hand flickered, and a blinding swath of cold light instantly illuminated the space, slashing ferociously behind him...
But this lightning-fast strike ended up cutting nothing but air—or rather, there was nothing behind Ye Jingyu. Only in the brief flash of light did his eyes catch sight of a figure seven or eight meters away: a woman wearing a white gauze dress, her hair unbound and flowing loose...
(My goosebumps are popping!!!)