Li Jun and Tie Gang each led five million soldiers, walking in perfect order and wearing the best armor and weapon. Anyone who watched these groups could feel the intense aura they emanated, immediately realizing they were soldiers who had seen blood and slaughter.
"Halt," roared Li Jun, and everyone stopped simultaneously. He looked at his man and could see them breathing hard and sweating.
"The information is correct," said Li Jun to the group next to him.
"They only walked a few thousand kilometers and are already this tied," commented Yan Liling. The weakest cultivation level of these soldiers is Primordial Spirit, with many middle officers in the Void Shattering Realm. Meanwhile, the Lieutenants are all Saints. Any of these soldiers would be god back on Earth or considered middle or high level in other worlds.
Yet, after walking a few thousand meters, they were out of breath, sweating, and displaying signs of fatigue.
"So, the restrictions of soldiers is that besides their strength, their stamina is limited to a mortal?" complained Tie Gang, feeling more absurd about this game.
"It might be worse than this," said Wang Wei. "Ordered them to recuperate." Li Jun made a hand movement, and the soldier perfectly sat cross-legged on the ground, entering a deep state of meditation while holding their weapons.
Half an hour later:
"It's useless. They are not recuperating their stamina."
"Give them some food and pills," ordered Wang Wei, and Yan Liling did so. After eating the food, the soldiers' stamina recuperated.
"You, you, and you," said Li Jun pointing to three people in the front. "Go to the side and use all your Origin Essence."
The soldiers followed his order and used the fastest way to deplete their Origin Essence. Then, they cultivate to recuperate.
"Useless, as expected," said Li Jun. Yan Liling approached the soldiers and gave them Energy Recuperating Pills, and they quickly recovered.
"Resources will be extremely valuable," she said. The game allowed her to remove limited items from her space ring. So, she will need to use the resources of this place to supplement her soldiers.
"I'm surprised they did not make us use our own resources," commented Tie Gang.
"That's what the exchange at the beginning was for," added Wang Wei before looking in the distance. "Heavenly Dao purposely teleported us to a faraway place so we could waste the resources in our spirit ring. If resources are not managed properly, we could be wiped out."
"This game seems to value mortal strategies and abilities." Mortal Generals have to worry about their armies' state when marching, their transportation, logistics, etc. Meanwhile, as a cultivator, he rarely has to worry about his soldier's stamina and traveling speed. Luckily, he also had to learn these things when his army was young, and he also read Sun Tzu's Art of War from Wang Wei.
"Personal ability should play a role in this game as well," said Wang Wei as he closed his eyes and expanded his Divine Sense of the surrounding. "Nope, they restricted that too. Tie Gang is right; this is bullshit."
"That's what I've been saying."
"Let's go in that direction. I've detected life."
The armies continue their march, with the group focusing on managing their pace and keeping tabs on the soldiers. After five days of marching, numerous breaks, and hunting food for the soldiers, the group arrived at a small devil race village and immediately noticed a few anomalies.
"What race is this?" asked Tie Gang, he learned of the subspecies of the devil race, but he had never seen such a creature, so he thought it was a lack of knowledge and experience.
"They looked like humans with horns," said Li Jun. "There is no devil species like this. The closest is the Horn Devil, but they have claws, fangs, and wings."
"Only a few devil races externally looked like humans," added Yan Liling. "Is this a new species?"
"Their bloodline has some human mixed on it," said Wang Wei as he scanned them with his Divine Sense. "More importantly, have you guys noticed something even more abnormal?"
"Yes, they are not afraid of us," she replied. "I cannot see the slightest fears in any of their eyes."
The group did not act rashly and observed. These devils only glanced at their large army and continued to live their lives as if nothing had occurred. Some of the children even looked at them with curious eyes.
"Wang Ju, send one of your men to kill one person," ordered Wang Wei. A Fate Shadow Guard approached the nearest healthy man and slashed his head, immediately turning the village into a frenzy. Children hurdled with their mothers, and the man stood in front, protecting everybody.
Wang Wei and the group did not continue to kill and waited. They checked the Entrance Token to see if this kill made any change: it did not.
Half an hour later, a new message suddenly appeared in the sky.
[Soldier has violated the rules. According to the stipulations, preparing for annihilation.]
A terrifying power brewed from the sky and readied to annihilate that Guard. And he knew that nothing he could do could save him. There was no fear or other emotions on the Shadow Guard's face; he was trained to die for the leader, and when the moment arrived, he accepted his fate.
"This is his infraction," yelled Wang Wei.
[Annihilation Cancel. First Infraction Punishment: Weakened State.]
"For how long?" countered Wang Wei.
[Three days.]
A light sphere from the sky entered the Fate Shadow Guard's body. His aura suddenly drastically decreased, and his expression became pale. Wang Wei walked next to him.
"Thank you, Lord."
"Don't mention it. I won't let my man die if I can help it," replied Wang Wei as he observed the latter's weakened state.
"We now understand the rule: 'Soldiers can only kill Soldiers.' It's to protect the mortals of this continent and prevent mindless slaughter," said Li Jun.
"The question is, why does our Heavenly Dao suddenly care about mortals? In the previous Clean Up, everything was permitted," added Yan Liling.
No one could answer her, so the crew focused on Wang Wei.
"Did you find something?"
"Not really. It's the power of Order, beyond my ability to deal with. The best I can do is quickly figure out the hidden rules," replied Wang Wei. He tried to study and deal with Wang Ju's seal, but it was useless. Luckily, she could still use Immortal Venerable 3-Leaf strength.
Wang Wei looked in the sky as he mobilized his Dao of Fate and Yin-Yang, trying to divine and calculate any information about this continent, for example, the history and evolution of this place. He then tried the power of Time to see if he could see the past before proceeding to read the Fate Line of the villagers.
"So, all conceptual abilities not used in battle are limited? Does this game want to turn us into mortals with only powerful destructive power? Or am I missing something?"
Wang Wei looked in the distance, his gaze landing on an elderly man who seemed to have a high position in this village, most likely the Elder. He waved his hand, and the elder flew before him.
"Foreign Demon, have you not learned your lesson? The Heavens protect us."
Wang Wei ignored him as he entered the latter's memory and saw everything from birth until now. And as expected, as the oldest person in this village, the Elder knew some valuable information.
"There is a big city about 5 kilometers northeast," said Wang Wei. "Take all their food and burn their farms."
Li Jun frowned before ordering his man to do as he said. The troop marched forward, leaving a devastated village.
After walking for a few hours, he approached Wang Wei and asked: "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
"If you were fine, you would have turned that village into a resource-gathering spot for our troops."
Wang Wei sighed: "I was hoping you wouldn't notice." He was embarrassed.
"Come on, I know you better than this."
"I just find this place too suffocating," replied Wang Wei as he looked at the sky. Li Jun understood and patted his shoulder.
"Don't worry. I've calmed down." Wang Wei decided to better control his mood during this game. The group continued their march, taking the necessary pause and break. After five days, they finally arrived in a big city.
The troop immediately noticed the city was prepared with the gate closed and soldiers on the city wall. So, Li Jun ordered everyone to siege the place and waited outside, deciding on the subsequent attack strategy.
Somewhere in this continent, a secret gathering took place:
Seven shadows sat at a rectangular table–three on each side with one person on the head.
"Hasn't these meetings become too often?" asked a voice.
"Shut up, Greed. You're always complaining about something."
"Unlike you, Lust, who spends all the time staring at a mirror, I have better things to do."
"Shut up," said Pride, who knew these people would bicker for hours if this continued. "We have these meetings often because of the Clean Up. I'm assuming this is the reason we are here, Wrath?"
Everybody looked at the head position.
"That's correct."
