Chapter 346
Lin Han was happy to see that Xu Ziyan didn’t mean to blame Yu Hao for his low level of cultivation. After all, he had been following Yu Hao for the past ten years. He was witnessing how Yu Hao established and developed the Qianwen Pavilion step by step.
And when he became Yu Hao’s real confidant, he also knew that there were actually two bosses of the pavilion – one was Yu Hao who was in front of the stage, and the other was Xu Ziyan who always kept his identity hidden.
The so-called boss at the beginning was of course fictitious, and the purpose was to stabilize him as a golden core cultivator, but Lin Han didn’t mean to get angry at all. In the past ten years, what he got from Qianwen Pavilion was comparable to his own quests of more than a decade.
Otherwise, he would not be so loyal to Yu Hao and he wouldn’t become his confidant either.
“Qianwen Pavilion is developing very well. Recently, almost every big city has its branch. It’s just that the boss said that it’s better to keep this kind of place a secret. And that’s why we’re usually quite low profile. You know why I came here quickly this time? It’s all because of the news from the Qianwen Pavilion in Yun Xiao city.”
“Oh? Is there also Qianwen Pavilion in Yun Xiao city?” Xu Ziyan was a little surprised, as he was wondering why he had never heard this news before, yet he understood it after a while. Ever since he entered Yun Xiao city, he had been training in the manor of Qiu family. He also rejected those party invitations from the aristocratic family heads, and he naturally wasn’t in much contact with local news.
It’s not what he wanted, yet the battle was approaching and the people that he’d brought all had low level of cultivation. If they still didn’t work hard, then the whole city would face disastrous outcome when the demon race invaded them.
The other patriarchs also understood this, so after the first invitation was rejected, they didn’t mention it anymore. Instead, they started focusing on the preparation of the battle.
“So, is there anything that Yu Hao wishes to tell me?” Xu Ziyan didn’t think much about the Qianwen Pavilion inside Yun Xiao city. Regarding something like this, he only had to ask those host families a few questions before getting the answer.
“Yes. ” Lin Han’s expression became serious, “this news came after the boss lost dozens of spies. The first news is that the demon race seems to be building a cross-realm teleportation array. ”
Xu Ziyan nodded. He had just learned this piece of news, but at the same time, he was also surprised by the efficiency of Qianwen Pavilion in terms of the collection of information. He knew that Lin Han came with the news, while Big Foot Luo simply sent a communication talisman. The difference in speed between the two was self-explanatory, and it also means that the Qianwen Pavilion got the news even sooner than Big Foot Luo.
“I already got this news. What’s next?” Xu Ziyan looked at Lin Han.
Lin Han hurriedly gave the second news, “boss Yu said that he deduced this news from various pieces of news, and he can’t guarantee its accuracy. As long as it involves the Yun Xiao city and as long as you’re stationed here, I was sent here to report about it.”
“Tell me about it.”
Lin Han paused, “boss Yu said that according to the information he received, the materials for the cross-realm teleportation array built by the demon race have been collected, except for two things that are still missing. The first is the central part of the teleportation array – the stone of empty realm, which is very rare. It’s estimated that those were brought by the demon race. The other thing is the rock of spirit transforming. To build a teleportation array, we would need a large number of rocks of this kind. Therefore, if the demon race wants to build the array in the shortest period of time, the best way would be to occupy a mine of rocks like this.”
“And the mine of spirit transforming near Yun Xiao is the closest to them, correct?” Xu Ziyan asked.
Lin Han nodded, “boss Yu said that some spies of the demon race have started exploring the Yun Xiao city, so you need to be careful.”
“I will.” Xu Ziyan nodded.
At this moment, they heard the voice of the cultivator in black robe again, “senior Xu, we found a large number of demon spies outside Yun Xiao.”
Xu Ziyan’s facial expression darkened. He hadn’t expected that the spies would come so quickly. If Lan Han and Yu Hao hadn’t informed him on time, he would’ve been totally confused.
“Spread out the third team and the fourth team, let them be on guard around Yun Xiqo, especially near the mine. Let the first team guard there, and before I arrive, no demon race can go near. Tell the first team that if they cannot take it, I will only allocate them half of the demon race’s materials in the future!” Xu Ziyan sternly shouted.
“We will obey your order!” The black-robed cultivator who came in to report had a serious look on his face, knowing that something major must have happened. Otherwise, Xu Ziyan wouldn’t have made such a harsh request.
Among Xu Ziyan’s guarding teams, the first and the second team were the ones who followed Xu Ziyan first, and they were the strongest. Nonethless, the second team was sent by Xu Ziyan to guard Mo Xin city, so only the first team remained to help Xu Ziyan train the newcomers. Therefore, they could only be dispatched at this time.
Xu Ziyan reckoned that even if they encountered the demon race now, it would definitely be a small group of troops. The demon race would not easily dispatch large troops without understanding the situation completely.
What Xu Ziyan wanted was this time difference. He sent a team in the hope that these people would wipe out all the investigative troops of the demon race, so that their commander couldn’t figure out the details there.
As the saying goes, knowing yourself and the enemy is the only way to win every battle. If the demon race couldn’t know their place well, they would achieve half of their victory already.
After Xu Ziyan sent the order, he instantly asked someone to arrange Lin Han to rest in a guest room. Then, he sent a message to his master and reported about the situation before inviting the three patriarchs of Yun Xiao there.
“Since you already know the situation, do you have any suggestions?” Xu Ziyan explained everything and calmly waited for feedback.
After all, he was still an outsider, and at some point he also required backup.
If these people wanted to harm him, he could evidently use thunderous means to deal with them, but if it was really a battle against the demon race, then he couldn’t ignore the significance of people behind.
After all, cultivators are not machines and it’s not like one can replace a part before using them again. After getting injured, cultivators needed a large amount of materials to cure themselves. And if these big families tried to get away from this responsibility, Xu Ziyan would be extremely worried.
Therefore, Xu Ziyan was still relatively polite towards the heads of the three families, and they also acted appropriately. At least everyone seemed harmonious at this stage.
Patriarch Ma stroked his beard, and exchanged glances with patriarch Yang and patriarch Niu.
They hadn’t received similar news that Xu Ziyan had mentioned, but they didn’t think that Xu Ziyan would lie to them either. It’s only that they needed to think if they could still guard the Yun Xiao city once the demon race invaded.
In fact, one couldn’t really blame them for admitting defeat before the battle began. The news that was already spread didn’t sound positive. Several cities were lost one after another. Yun Xiao city was neither big nor small, and they wouldn’t even believe it if someone told them that they could resist the attack of the demon race.
The patriarchs of these three major families had the required determination to fight, but if the outcome of the battle was already doomed, it’d be better to save their lives and temporarily transfer to other cities.
They might not be wrong, yet they forgot that it’s a battle between the human and the demon race. It would be fine if they didn’t know about important stuff like the rock of spirit transforming. After knowing about it, how would those from Liu Guang sect let it be snatched away by the demon race while being aware that it’s a necessity for the cross-realm teleportation array?
“There’s no need to worry. We just need to guard for a certain period of time.” Xu Ziyan’s glance swept across the three patriarchs and witnessed how worried they were.
He nodded and noticed that the three patriarchs were just worried about the difference of strength between the two sides. It’s not that they were afraid of battles.
It may sound contradictory, but it’s the difference between changing strategies and retreating.
It all depends whether the person has the required courage or not.
Xu Ziyan was very satisfied with their reaction. Then, he told them that there would be someone sent from Liu Guang sect for assistance.
Sure enough, the three patriarchs quickly calmed down after hearing the news. They even started thinking about what they could prepare beforehand.
Xu Ziyan sat at the top and let them say whatever they wanted. As the patriarchs of the three big families, they were supposed to be familiar with these mundane matters. Xu Ziyan didn’t need to worry about them at all.
The main force in the battle was naturally Xu Ziyan’s guarding army, and now they even had a new name – the army of demon slayer.
Xu Ziyan didn’t really care about a new name, but judging from the upright position of the two guarding cultivators in black, they seemed to really like it . →. →
After three days of arrangements, Xu Ziyan led hundreds of other people to the mine of spirit transforming for defense, except for a team of demon slayers left in the city as backup.
When these hundreds of sword-controlling cultivators were flying, they were almost covering the sky, scaring away all the monsters along the way. Even a few cultivators, who dared to hunt near Yun Xiao, were startled by them. They all stared at the silent team, feeling dumbfounded.
Xu Ziyan glanced at the cultivator behind him, with a smile on his face.
These cultivators were all very nervous. Although they had been trained, it was their first time fighting against the demon race and they weren’t confident enough.
“Zirong, please take care of them. It’s their first battle and many people might not perform well as they’re too nervous. These people will be our subordinates in the future, we cannot afford losing them all.” Xu Ziyan reminded Xu Zirong.
