Time flew, and before he knew it, it had already been five years since Liu Ming arrived in the Evil Spirit Realm.
A hundred li north of Black Peak Valley, on a plain, stood a majestic giant fortress. It was twice the size of Golden Light City, its quaint black-green walls extended into the distance, exuding a thick and majestic aura. The outer walls were riddled with large and small pits, as well as battle scars, as if telling the onlookers of the battles this fortress had gone through.
On top of the city walls were rows of giant crossbows, catapults, and other large weapons. There were also several dozen cylindrical towers around the city, each of them several dozen meters tall, engraved with countless runes that flickered with various colors.
This was the largest fortress of the Evil Spirit Realm's four major sects, Peaceful Sky Fortress.
At this moment, groups of cultivators wearing armors from the various major armies could be seen walking through the city from time to time, all of them wearing solemn expressions. The entire fortress was filled with a tense atmosphere.
Suddenly, the sound of something flying through the air could be heard from the distant horizon of the northern city walls, drawing the attention of the cultivators stationed on the city walls.
"It's fine, the patrol team has returned!" Following the voice of a middle-aged man wearing a white captain's uniform, the rest of the people sighed in relief.
In the blink of an eye, a streak of light arrived nearby, revealing a group of about a dozen cultivators. With a few flashes, they landed on top of the northern city walls.
The leader of the group was a middle-aged man in a yellow robe. He appeared to be in his thirties, and his face was filled with the vicissitudes of life. His cultivation had already reached Jin Dan late stage.
There were about a dozen cultivators in the group behind him, all of them wearing the uniforms of the four major armies: green, yellow, white, and black. Each of them was at False Core stage, and the magic power fluctuations coming from their bodies were extremely powerful, not at all inferior to ordinary early Jin Dan cultivators.
"Alright, you've all worked hard. Go back and rest, but don't relax too much. No one knows if the Evil Spirit Army will attack this place or not," the yellow-robed middle-aged man said in a deep voice.
"Yes!" The dozen False Core stage cultivators all nodded in agreement.
The yellow-robed middle-aged man waved his hand, then turned around and flew back into the city. The others also dispersed, and soon, only a young man in azure armor remained on the city walls.
It was Liu Ming.
A very serious expression could be seen on his face as he looked off into the distance at Fort Titan Heaven. After a moment, he leaped off the city walls and headed back into the city. Moments later, he came to a stop in front of an arched stone building not too far away from the northern wall.
He waved his hand to cast a spell and quickly walked into the stone house.
This was a simple and crude temporary residence. Although the area was not large, it was complete with chairs and beds. There were also a few isolation restrictions. It could be considered as a small cave with all the necessary organs.
Liu Ming exhaled softly and walked to the bed. He sat down cross-legged and fell into deep thought.
During these five years, the battle between the Four Great Armies and the Malevolent Spirit Legion had become increasingly intense. In the beginning, they only fought in the outer regions. The Four Great Armies relied on the geographical advantage of the various fortresses to defend themselves with ease.
However, as time passed, the Malevolent Spirit Legion's offensive became fiercer and fiercer. They began to truly besiege cities and pillage cities. The Four Great Armies' sphere of influence continued to shrink. Currently, seven or eight of Jin Guangjun's 19 fortresses had fallen, and the other three armies were in a similar situation.
In the face of the Malevolent Spirit Legion's aggressive offensive, Jin Guangjun had already sent two batches of reinforcements to the Taiqing Gate. Only then did they manage to resist the Malevolent Spirit Legion's offensive.
Recently, the battle had become even more intense. In addition to continuing to attack the various fortresses, the Malevolent Spirit Legion had also gathered a large number of troops in the vicinity of the four main cities: Golden Light City, Noble Spirit City, Hidden Demon City, and Puppet City. They had assumed an aggressive stance.
Normally, the Malevolent Spirit Legion would launch a large-scale offensive every hundred years or so. Although it was about the same time now, the scale of the Malevolent Spirit Legion's offensive had greatly exceeded any of the previous ones.
Speaking of which, the origin of the Malevolent Spirit Legion was a mystery. After so many years of contact, the Human Race had some understanding of the strength they had revealed on the surface. However, as for how many trump cards they had, perhaps even the four major sects of the Human Race couldn't tell.
In the face of this situation, the Four Great Armies had no choice but to join forces once again, preparing to deal with the upcoming large-scale offensive of the Malevolent Spirit Legion.
This Taitian Fortress was the most important hub between the main cities of the Four Great Armies of the Human Race. They couldn't afford to lose it. Therefore, although this fortress was located in a relatively remote area, the Four Great Armies had recently selected a group of elites to work with the original garrison troops stationed in this city in preparation for a sneak attack from the Malevolent Spirit Legion.
Because Liu Ming had performed extremely well in many missions in the past few years, he had also been dispatched to this fortress ten days ago.
Just as he was lost in thought, a knock came from outside the door.
His expression changed. He got up and opened the door. He saw a short-haired woman in cyan armor standing outside the door. It was Xiaowu.
The faint spiritual pressure coming from this woman's body showed that she had broken through to the Jin Dan Realm.
After experiencing the ordeal of life and death five years ago, she finally grasped the opportunity to break through. After cultivating in seclusion for a period of time, she finally succeeded in forming her Gold Core not long ago.
Originally, after achieving this goal, she was going to return to the Thousand Spirit Mountain Range. However, the war in the Malevolent Spirit Path was urgent, and they urgently needed manpower. In addition, the Yin Qi in the Malevolent Spirit Path was very dense. This would be of great help to a Ghost Path cultivator like Xiaowu in stabilizing the Jin Dan Realm. Therefore, after much consideration, this woman decided to stay and was also dispatched to Taitian Fortress as an elite disciple.
"Senior Sister Xiaowu." Liu Ming smiled and greeted her.
"Younger Brother Liu, I thought that your patrol team should be returning soon." Xiaowu smiled.
The two of them were fellow disciples of the same sect. Coupled with the incident at Spirit Vulture Slope, the two of them had become much closer than before. They even often discussed cultivation experiences.
"Senior Sister's team is in charge of the northwest region of the fortress, right?" Liu Ming invited Xiaowu into his room. He then got up and went to brew some spirit tea.
Xiaowu glanced at Liu Ming, who was brewing tea, and casually said, "Yes. I only returned to the city yesterday. Fortunately, it's still relatively peaceful here. There are no signs of the Ghost Army."
Although there were no signs of the Ghost Army in the vicinity of Taitian Fortress, the Celestial Phenomenon cultivators guarding the place still divided Liu Ming and the other cultivators into several small teams just in case. They took turns patrolling the area around Taitian Fortress.
Amidst the rising fragrance of tea, the two of them sat facing each other on chairs.
"I wonder what the situation is like in the four main cities … I didn't expect to encounter such a large-scale war after just a few years in the Evil Ghost Realm." Liu Ming sighed helplessly.
Even though he had come to the Wraith realm with the intention of using this place to fight against the wraiths to temper himself and break through his limits in search of an opportunity to break through, he did not want to participate in such a large-scale chaotic battle.
After all, in a war of such a large scale, no matter how high a cultivator's cultivation base was, he could fall if he wasn't careful.
"Younger Brother Liu, there's no need to worry too much. Taitian Fortress is still relatively safe. Each of the four main armies has a Celestial Phenomenon Realm Grand Elder stationed here, and there are also dozens of Jin Dan Realm managing elders assisting them. In addition, there are several Sect Grand Formations and countless defensive restrictions. Once they're fully activated, even if the Profound Ghosts come, they won't be able to break through in a short period of time. It should be enough to buy enough time for reinforcements to arrive." Xiaowu seemed to have seen through Liu Ming's worries.
"Mm, let's hope so." How could Liu Ming not know what Xiaowu had just said? However, there was no telling what would happen once the war broke out.
Xiao Wu's eyes flashed with light as she continued, "Speaking of which, the army mobilized this group of cultivators here for two reasons. Firstly, it is to strengthen the defensive power of this Stronghold of Fairsky. Secondly, it is likely that they want to place us in a relatively safe area at the back of the stronghold.
"If that's the case, at the very least, our safety should not be an issue for the time being," Liu Ming said with a smile.
In a large-scale war between cultivators, the first few waves were the most brutal and resulted in the highest number of cultivators dying. Once the first few waves were overcome, the two sides would fall into a stalemate and the number of cultivators dying would decrease. As such, when Liu Ming heard that they would be sent to defend Taitian Fortress instead of directly facing the fearsome attacks from the Evil Ghost Army, he had breathed a sigh of relief.
As Liu Ming and Xiaowu were drinking tea and chatting, a loud "weng" sound came from all directions.
"What is that sound?"
Liu Ming and Xiaowu reflexively exchanged glances. Next, their faces sank and they quickly walked out of the room.
The sound was none other than the Soul Subduing Bell located in the center of Taitian Fortress. It would only be rung when something serious happened.
Many cultivators outside were in the same situation as Liu Ming and Jian Xiaotian. When they heard the sound of the bell, they rushed out of their rooms and looked in the direction of the sound, looks of shock on their faces.
After ringing for a while, the sound of the Soul Subduing Bell slowly came to a stop.
"Disciples of the various sects, gather at the Ceremonial Hall in the central square!" A sonorous voice rang out, clearly audible to everyone there.
Liu Ming and Xiao Wu looked at each other, but didn't say anything. Instead, they flew toward the open-air plaza of Fort Tai Sky.
Along the way, many cultivators dressed in the armor of the four armies flew in the same direction. Everyone had grave expressions on their faces.
Not long after, Liu Ming and Jian Xiaotian landed on a large open-air square in the center of the fortress. A huge bluestone hall sat there.
Liu Ming had been here once when he first arrived here. Soon, he and Xiaowu walked into the hall side by side. There were already about a thousand cultivators gathered inside.
He looked around and found that most of the disciples here were stationed here. Their cultivation wasn't high. Most of them were at the Condensation State. There were only a few at the Crystallization Period. All of them looked a little panicked, and they were whispering something.
Once the war started, these people were very likely to be used as cannon fodder.
This was also the thing that these outer disciples and the punished disciples were most worried about, and it was also something that they had no choice but to do.
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