Volume 1, Chapter 137 – Return

“Does the Demon-Suppressing Army have a lot of these flying ships?” Shi Lan asked as she walked a circle around the quiet room.

“Not that many, but not exactly few either. This counts as a mid-sized warship. Back on Heavenly Dao Peak where I was stationed, there were more than ten of them. When Heavenly Dao Peak fell, most were destroyed by several Heavenly Demon lords.”

“You know this Demon-Suppressing General, don’t you?”

Thinking of Wu Lingkong’s reaction earlier, Shi Lan walked over to the couch and asked.

Wu Lingkong flipped over and sat up, then nodded. “I do. His surname is Bai, given name Weiyang. He’s from the Bai Clan of Qingyun Prefecture in the Central Heaven Domain, and he’s of the same generation as my father.”

“The same generation as your father?” Shi Lan was a little surprised.

“Yes.” Wu Lingkong nodded.

“Among my father’s generation, Bai Weiyang was one of the most monstrously talented few. I’d been hearing his name since I was little. He began martial cultivation at six, reached the Innate Realm at eleven, stepped into the Earth Fiend Realm at nineteen, and by the time he was thirty, he was already an expert of the Heavenly Astral Realm.

“Bai Weiyang joined the Demon-Suppressing Army in his forties. At first he operated around Xiquan Crossing, then he was transferred to several fortresses like Tiger’s Maw Gorge and Heavenly Dao Peak. He served for only three years before being promoted straight to Ten-Thousand-man Commander.

“His most famous deed in the army was when he ran into a shapeshifted demon king while leading a detached force to encircle demonic beasts.”

“A shapeshifted demon king of the demon race is equivalent to a Myriad Phenomena Realm martial artist of our human race. At the time, his cultivation was only at the peak of the Heavenly Astral Realm, yet he crossed realms and cut that shapeshifted demon king down with his sword, gaining fame in a single battle.

“In the Demon-Suppressing Army, there can’t be many who don’t know of him. Even if they haven’t met him, most have at least heard his name. There are quite a few in the women’s battalion who admire Bai Weiyang.”

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Shi Lan nodded in understanding, then asked in puzzlement, “Strictly speaking, rank-wise, a Thousand-man Commander should fall under a Ten-Thousand-man Commander, right? So why am I directly under Bai Weiyang?”

“That’s what sets Bai Weiyang apart the most from other Demon-Suppressing Generals.” Wu Lingkong lay back down on the wooden couch and said,

“Bai Weiyang has his own ideas when it comes to arranging and commanding troops. In the past, for the forces under him, he would often bypass the layer of Ten-Thousand-man Commanders and directly command the Thousand-man Commanders and below.

“They say that at the most extreme, his orders could be precise down to the level of a squad leader. Probably because of that, among all the Demon-Suppressing Generals, Bai Weiyang is the one with the best relationship with the officers at the grassroots level.

“As for the Demon-Suppressing General I used to serve under, never mind giving orders to me personally, I barely even saw her a few times. Even the Ten-Thousand-man Commander, I could count on one hand the number of times I met him.”

Thinking back on the scene when Bai Weiyang arrived at Twin Moon City, Shi Lan knew Wu Lingkong wasn’t exaggerating.

“As a Demon-Suppressing General, Bai Weiyang should have long since stepped into the Myriad Phenomena Realm, right? How old is he this year?”

Wu Lingkong straightened up, sat on the cushion, and thought for a moment before saying, “Bai Weiyang entered the Myriad Phenomena Realm at fifty-seven, then was conferred the title of Demon-Suppressing General at sixty-three. This year, he should be seventy-five.”

Shi Lan couldn’t help clicking her tongue in amazement. Bai Weiyang looked no older than a handsome youth in his early twenties. It was hard to imagine he was already well past seventy.

After a moment of silence, Shi Lan asked curiously, “Is the Central Heaven Domain divided into many prefectures?”

Bai Weiyang was from Qingyun Prefecture, and Wu Lingkong had once said she came from Wuyang Prefecture.

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“The Central Heaven Domain is divided into nine provinces and seventy-two prefectures, with countless counties beneath them. Qingyun Prefecture isn’t very far from Wuyang Prefecture, about two hundred thousand li. I went there once. Two transfers through teleportation formations and I was there.”

Shi Lan listened quietly. Hearing about teleportation formations didn’t surprise her. That formation manual she had drawn from the system had mentioned teleportation formations, though in that book they were still only a theoretical construct.

Seeing Shi Lan seemed interested, Wu Lingkong warmed to the topic and went on,

“The Bai Clan is one of the top great clans in Qingyun Prefecture. Their ancestors produced an Emperor-level powerhouse, and now they still have several Heaven-Man Realm experts sitting in town. Their clan’s ultimate art, the Divine Martial Heavenly Astral Sword Qi, is famous throughout the Central Heaven Domain.”

Wu Lingkong paused for breath. “As for my Wuyang Prefecture…”

“Screech—”

A rather grating grinding of mechanisms rang out, and both her and Shi Lan’s Demon-Suppressing Orders received the same command at the same time: assemble on the deck.

The two cut off their conversation and quickly left the quiet room, heading up to the warship’s deck.

The warship had stopped and was floating quietly in the air.

Shi Lan stole a glance at the ground and realized in a flash that in only half a day or so, the warship had already returned to the sphere of influence of Sky Thunder Hall, and it wasn’t far from their stronghold.

There were not many people on the deck, only officers at the rank of Centurion and above, a sparse hundred or so. Most were at the Innate Realm. There were fewer than thirty in the Earth Fiend Realm, and only five or six whose auras were above the Earth Fiend Realm.

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Bai Weiyang stood on the high platform. With a wave of his arm, a scatter of flowing light flew out toward the crowd.

Shi Lan raised her hand and caught the few streaks of light flying toward her. They turned out to be several square jade tokens. The carving on them was quite fine, the design simple, with the character “Martial” engraved in the center.

“One Ten-Thousand-man Commander will take three Thousand-man Commanders and ten Centurions. You’ll split up and, according to the information I gave you earlier, distribute all the Martial Summons Orders.”

“General, if someone is unwilling or defies the Imperial Court’s decree, how should we handle it?” A burly man in his forties stepped forward and asked with a bow.

“You may act at your own discretion. For those unwilling to lend a hand, warn them first and make the stakes clear. If anyone dares resort to violence, you are granted the authority to kill first and report later.”

With that, Bai Weiyang waved his hand and gave the order. “Move out.”

In an instant, more than half the figures on the deck had vanished.

Shi Lan gripped the Martial Summons Orders and glanced around, only to find in confusion that all of the Ten-Thousand-man Commanders had already left. No one had called her.

The four Centurions assigned to her earlier stood behind her, equally at a loss.

Bai Weiyang swept his gaze over Shi Lan and the others. “You will remain on the warship and accompany this general directly to Sky Thunder Hall.”

The warship started up again, turned, and sped toward Sky Thunder Hall’s stronghold.

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A short while later, the warship entered a stretch of continuous mountain ranges.

A familiar, muffled thunder reached Shi Lan’s ears, and a towering peak nearly four thousand zhang high, capped with dark clouds, entered her view.

Sky Thunder Hall, Heavenly Thunder Peak.

In just over a month, Shi Lan had returned here once again.

The warship stopped before the tall peak, and several streaks of light shot out from Heavenly Thunder Peak, coming to a halt in front of the warship.

There were four people in total, the leader being none other than Lei Chen, the Hall Master of Sky Thunder Hall.

The black banners on the Command Platform were extremely eye-catching as they snapped in the wind. Lei Chen’s heart sank, though his face remained unchanged as he approached the warship deck, cupped his fists, and called out loudly, “May I ask what business the Demon-Suppressing Army has come to Sky Thunder Hall for?”

“Have Lei Wuji come out and talk.”

Bai Weiyang stepped into the air, glanced over Lei Chen and the others, and spoke lightly.