Lu Tao walked out from behind Guo Dahai. He was a general armed with chilling armor plates. He sneered and walked towards Feiyun with a treasure chain.
The experts and merchants inside and out of the inn gloated with a smile on their face.
Feiyun’s eyes turned cold: “Guo Dahai, you are quite bold. Even your direct superior, Tiger Marquis, wouldn’t dare to act like this in front of me. You dare to try and capture me?”
Feiyun’s murderous intent pricked Dahai like a needle.
How could a general like him be afraid of a single glare? He replied: “Brat, state your name. There aren’t that many people that I, Guo Dahai, don’t dare to catch.”
Feiyun stood there with no intention of stating his name.
Strategist Mo stroked his long beard and took a good look at Feiyun. His expression suddenly became frozen. He then whispered to Guo Dahai.
Guo Dahai’s smile quickly disappeared. His face turned red then black. Finally, he also stared at Feiyun carefully before turning gray.
His expression looked quite strange; the spectators didn’t understand at all.
The girl called “attendant” was also puzzled. She didn’t know what this Divine Commander was doing.
Lu Tao also stopped in his track and asked: “Sir, are we taking him in?”
“Lu Tao, come back here.” Strategist Mo coughed and said softly.
The crowd was stunned again. There was someone the army didn’t dare to mess with? Certainly, but a youth like Feiyun shouldn’t be able to scare these experienced soldiers.
A while later, Dahai no longer looked arrogant and revealed a smile on his brutish face. He spoke with prudence: “Young Noble, may I ask if you are from the capital.”
Feiyun fixed his robe and said: “I did stay there for a while.”
“Young Noble, you and our Tiger Marquis…” Dahai asked. He clearly guessed Feiyun’s identity but wasn’t certain. Plus, he didn’t dare to reveal it either lest he offends the current Divine King.
Feiyun said: “I do know him, is he at the border now too?”
Dahai became sure of his speculation. His voice became more respectful: “Recently, the three main tribes of the Jiang are not getting along. The small tribes have become nervous. After that villain Beiming is dead, the remnants of the clan are also causing chaos everywhere. The marquises positioned at the capital have been ordered to leave. Lord Tiger is presiding to the south, responsible for stabilizing Grand Southern and Ancient Jiang Prefecture.”
The troops under Tiger Marquis normally referred to him as Lord Tiger.
The cultivators here had a strange expression on their faces. The imperious Dahai became so obedient. It was as if he was reporting to his superior.
Who is this youth? A big shot from the court?
Feiyun nodded: “How many troops are under your command?”
“A total of 6,200,000 soldiers.” Dahai didn’t dare to hide. Of course, this wasn’t really confidential because it was impossible to hide that many soldiers.
Nevertheless, the number still shocked the experts. Even a Giant would back off before this great army.
Feiyun frowned: “So many? Shouldn’t a Divine Commander only be in charge of one million?”
Dahai said: “After the empress’ coronation, she ordered a massive recruitment campaign. In just one year, the martial army’s size increased five times over. Lord Tiger’s troops alone are at 400,000,000. The majority are rookies yet to be sharpened on the battlefield. It’s hard to pick out new Divine Commanders among them, so they are sent to the existing ones. That’s why each commander has many more troops now.”
Special circumstances required special strategies. The martial army was nearly 6,000,000,000 strong, around five percent of Jin’s population.
This wasn’t even the worst rebellion in Jin’s history. It had faced numerous challenges in the past.
The worst consisted of a rebellion from seven out of eight prefectures. Every able-bodied man took arms, ranging from fourteen-year-old youth to sixty-year-old grandpa. Only one out of ten survived this conflict. Eventually, Empress Long Jiangling guided the dynasty for twenty years and managed to come out victoriously.
In the present day, the fires of war raged the realm with heroes wanting a piece of the land, but it was far from escalating to requiring full recruitment.
It wasn’t difficult for Jin to supply and feed 6,000,000,000 troops either since it had several thousand years of accumulation.
Feiyun nodded, thinking that it’s not hard for the government to quintuple the army’s size in one year. Back in his hometown, many martial artists wanted to cultivate but never got the chance to join the martial army. This was their chance to cultivate the merit laws in there, so many naturally joined.
The court also recruited the disciples from the small sects. For example, Strategist Mo used to be the sect master of a small one.
“So why are you here instead of training the troops?” Feiyun said.
Dahai became awkward as he quietly replied: “The army gets to rest on the last day of the month…”
Many began to speculate about Feiyun’s identity. A Divine Commander was as docile as a child and answered every question as if he was meeting a direct superior?
They initially thought Feiyun came here to hide from pursuers. This no longer seemed to be the case. He must be a big shot on a secret mission from the court.
Several old men in the inn had flashes in their eyes, seemingly realizing who Feiyun was. They began conversing with their divine intent and others couldn’t hear them at all.
Bu Tian sat there calmly with his corpse, no longer talking about killing Feiyun. After all, Guo Dahai was here as well now and might ruin his plan.
However, Feiyun didn’t want to let go: “Shall we continue our fight?”
“Any time.” Bu Tian said.
Guo Dahai didn’t know the feud between the two, but this was his chance to get close to His Excellency. How could he let Feiyun fight alone?
He pointed his wide saber at Bu Tian and said: “The young noble doesn’t have time for the likes of you, I will take you down instead.”
Strategist Mo and the six generals glared murderously at Bu Tian. Their battle intents surged so their skin started glowing.
“This is my business, no need for you all to join.” Feiyun said.
“But…” Guo Dahai became awkward again.
“You think I can’t kill him?” Feiyun asked.
Dahai instantly put down his saber and told the others to back off. His Excellency seemed to have full confidence in dealing with this corpse controller.
“I’ll wait for you outside.” Bu Tian had a better impression of Feiyun. He thought Feiyun would rely on Dahai to deal with him, but the guy didn’t do so. He began to consider Feiyun a real foe.
***
Ten miles outside of Spirit Domain was a steep cliff. On the other side was a dark mountain range filled with thick trees and chaotic energies. One could faintly see big creatures flying in the sky with eyes as big as lanterns.
These creatures didn’t dare to approach the inn as if there was something frightening inside. They could only roar in the near vicinity.
Bu Tian was now standing on a peak there. His robe fluttered while his chilling aura chased the creatures away.
Feiyun walked through the bridge made out of rope stretching from the cliff towards the forest on the other side. He took his time, looking nonchalant.
“They’re really gonna fight.”
“I can’t believe that youth is doing it.”
“Judging by the Divine Commander’s attitude towards him, he should be special. Maybe he has a Dominating Armament that can change the tide of the battle.”
Commander Guo, Strategist Mo, and the six generals stood on the cliff with a cold expression. They knew Feiyun’s identity and his abilities. Even the Grand Chancellor was killed by him. His crazed state was something else.
“Sir Guo, our mistress wants to see you.” The attendant came behind the commander and quietly said; her eyes as pretty as a painting.
Dahai lost interest in the fight right away and became ecstatic, ‘Yaoyao wants to see me? Oh god, she finally agrees to see me!’