Volume 1, Chapter 134 – Demon-Suppressing General

Ancient Phoenix City.

Because Shi Lan and the others had not concealed their movements in the slightest when they left the city, the martial artists who had previously flocked into the city to watch all followed after them, leaving the formerly bustling City Lord’s Manor now deserted enough to catch sparrows at the gate.

A young man dressed like a scholar walked along the street to the manor entrance. On his back he carried a bamboo basket, inside which lay more than a dozen scrolls of various sizes.

The manor’s main gate was tightly shut. The scholar hesitated a little, then stepped forward and knocked.

The gate quickly opened a narrow crack, and a young servant in green came out.

Because Gu Deyuan had many friends from all walks of life, the servant did not dare be careless when he saw the scholar’s appearance. He asked politely, “Sir, who are you looking for?”

“Uh… may I ask… is Miss Shi Lan in the manor?” The scholar nervously hitched up the bamboo basket on his back.

“Miss Shi Lan? Miss Shi Lan left Ancient Phoenix City nearly ten days ago. Are you her friend?”

“Ten days?” Song Jue froze for a moment, then quickly asked, “Do you know where she went? When will she be back?”

“I don’t know where Miss Shi Lan went. As for when she’ll return… Miss Shi Lan isn’t a native of Ancient Phoenix City to begin with, so whether she’ll come back is hard to say.”

The servant shook his head and pushed the gate open a bit wider. “Please, come in and wait a while. I’ll go inform the young city lord. Perhaps the young city lord knows where Miss Shi Lan went.”

“Oh, there’s no need to trouble yourself. If Miss Shi Lan isn’t here… then forget it.” Song Jue stopped the servant who was about to go report, then turned and walked away.

Reaԁ оn ΚαtRеαԁiոɡCafe

Strolling along the bluestone street, Song Jue felt a wave of dejection well up inside.

After leaving Sky Thunder Hall that day, he had done little but rest. Every spare moment he had relied on his memory to paint hundreds of portraits of Shi Lan, then selected a dozen he was most satisfied with and rushed overnight to Ancient Phoenix City.

In the end, he had still missed her.

In such troubled times, even if he did find out where Shi Lan had gone, he would not have the time to chase after her again.

“Perhaps this is what they call being fated but not meant to be together.”

Song Jue sighed inwardly and strode quickly out of Ancient Phoenix City.

Once he reached the wilderness, a silver-tipped brush flew out from his sleeve and, in an instant, expanded into a giant brush nearly a zhang long, wrapped in a faint white glow.

Song Jue turned to look back once at Ancient Phoenix City, then stepped onto the silver-tipped brush. He transformed into a streak of light and shot toward the horizon.

……

To avoid any accidents, Shi Lan had not absorbed phoenix blood at all during the journey, lest the aftereffects interfere with her combat ability.

Yet the journey that followed went more smoothly than she had imagined.

Rеаⅾ οn КαtRеаⅾіnɡCαfe

After the first three who made a move at the beginning, only a few more late Earth Fiend Realm martial artists appeared. They tested from a distance for a bit, then withdrew on their own.

After that, no one blocked the road again. What followed instead was another surge in her reputation, which rose past forty thousand and was now not far from the fifty-thousand mark.

Shi Lan had once asked the system what, exactly, this reputation was used for. The system’s reply had been only one sentence.

[The conditions to unlock it have not yet been met.]

And when Shi Lan asked what was supposed to be unlocked, the system fell silent.

……

The days spent on the road were so peaceful that Shi Lan almost felt it wasn’t real.

After four or five days of traveling, the group smoothly stepped into the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect’s territory.

However, the map they had been using was now useless, leaving Shi Lan and the others a little lost.

They had no choice but to ask for directions as they went, groping their way forward.

After traveling nearly ten thousand li deeper and passing through four or five market towns, Shi Lan and the others finally found a prosperous giant city spanning nearly ten thousand zhang across.

Reаd оո КatRеαdіոɡСαfе

Once they settled there temporarily, Shi Lan immediately circled the city, buying the largest map available on the market.

Back in the room at the inn, Wu Lingkong carefully scanned the map, then drew a semicircle on it. “We’d better not get too close to the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect’s mountain gate.”

“Why should we go around the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect’s mountain gate?” Shi Lan asked, puzzled, as she watched Wu Lingkong’s hand.

“Mm… at a time like this, there will definitely be high-ranking officers of the Demon-Suppressing Army at the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect’s mountain gate. It’s fine if we run into some reasonable ones, but if we happen to bump into a few hard-headed types who only know rules and nothing else, we might not even get the chance to explain before they execute us on the spot in the name of military law.”

There was a hint of grievance in Wu Lingkong’s tone. “After all, the battle merits on our Demon-Suppressing Orders haven’t been updated in a long time. In a sense, this doesn’t count as a temporary retreat anymore, but desertion.”

Shi Lan took out her Demon-Suppressing Order from her robe and fell silent.

She had tried to put the Demon-Suppressing Order into her Qiankun Bracelet, but whether because of the order’s special material or something else, the Demon-Suppressing Order completely blocked the bracelet’s storage and simply could not be taken in.

After a moment of silence, Shi Lan said, “So what you mean is?”

“Although this place is still some distance from the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect’s mountain gate, we’d best change direction and circle far around. If we can run into other scattered units along the way, all the better.”

“Then we’ll do as you say…”

Before she could finish, Shi Lan’s expression shifted slightly. The Demon-Suppressing Order in her hand suddenly grew searing hot, and a stream of information flowed out of it, forming a somewhat blurry set of coordinates about three thousand li from their current location.

Rеаⅾ оn КаtRеаⅾіոgСαfе

Wu Lingkong’s face instantly darkened.

“What is it?” Seeing her expression, an ominous premonition rose in Shi Lan’s heart.

“It should be that a Demon-Suppressing General sensed our position through the Command Platform and is summoning us,” Wu Lingkong said, taking out her own Demon-Suppressing Order and gripping it in her palm.

“What rank is a Demon-Suppressing General? And what is the Command Platform?” This was not the first time Shi Lan had heard the term “Demon-Suppressing General.” Back in Purple Flame City, she had heard it from Lin Yusheng’s mouth.

“The lowest Demon-Suppressing General is still third-rank and commands at least a hundred thousand soldiers of the Demon-Suppressing Army. Their cultivation is at least in the Myriad Phenomena Realm. And every Demon-Suppressing General is appointed by the Imperial Court. In the Demon-Suppressing Army, even if your battle merits and cultivation are sufficient, you are not necessarily granted the title of Demon-Suppressing General.”

“The Command Platform is a special artifact used by Demon-Suppressing Generals to command their troops in large-scale wars. It can sense the positions and movements of all Demon-Suppressing Army soldiers within a radius of five thousand li, so they can adjust the battle formations in time.”

After speaking, Wu Lingkong took a deep breath. “The Command Platform is only activated when the army is on campaign. There is probably a battle coming. Get ready, we need to hurry over. If we lose too much time, there might be punishment.”

“What if we don’t go?”

“If we don’t, then it will truly be desertion in the face of battle. Under military law, that only ends one way: death.” Wu Lingkong said no more and turned to leave the room.

Shi Lan stared at the map on the table for a long time, then suddenly pointed. A thread of true qi shot out from her fingertip and shredded the map to pieces.