As the saying goes, speak of the Devil and he will appear. Xiao Jie was just thinking about sharing some good stuff with Wentian Wuji when a private message popped up on the screen.
Wentian Wuji: Are you there, Xiao Jie, do you have a moment?
Hidden Moon Following Wind: I’m here.
Wentian Wuji: There’s something I want to talk to you about.
Half an hour later—outside Qiansong City:
Xiao Jie flew over the vast snowy plains and forests, overlooking the broad northern wilderness below. The map of Beiming State has a unique desolate atmosphere that inevitably drew Xiao Jie in.
From a distance, he saw the rough, primitive outline of Qiansong City. However, the surroundings of the city were no longer barren and desolate, but had many other things added to it.
At this moment, outside Qiansong City had turned into a huge construction site, with countless craftsmen and soldiers building some sort of defense system. Watchtowers were everywhere, trenches crisscrossed the land, and fortifications were continuous.
And on the wide wilderness beyond this construction site were scattered recently spawned monster groups—Imperial Patrol Teams, Demon Soldier Battle Groups, army deserters, and wandering giants...
These monsters had only recently appeared, likely due to the development of the storyline and the dynamics of the Monster Forces.
For example, when the Giant King was killed, it led to the spawn of many wandering giants, all described in the game lore as having retreated from the front lines.
The Imperial Patrol Teams were dispatched by the New Empire Army.
At this moment, numerous player teams, some with dozens of people and others in groups of three to five, were busy farming monsters.
Considering the upcoming massive battle, this Qiansong City had become the hottest monster farming map in the entire game; not only because the version event made drop rates extremely high, but also because it allowed players to conduct some early scouting for the upcoming war.
Xiao Jie saw several teams, purely composed of high-level players Over Level 30, which were clearly investigation teams sent by major guilds.
The construction site of the Imperial Army was bustling, heavily guarded, while not far away, in the Outer Circle, countless players and various wild monsters were engaged in fierce combat. This scene was truly something magical.
Xiao Jie slowly landed on a hilltop, reverting to human form.
Not far away, Wentian Wuji stood at the edge of a cliff, looking out towards the gigantic construction site in the distance.
"Are you here to scout the enemy situation?" Xiao Jie asked casually.
Wentian Wuji responded, "Of course, as they say, ’know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles.’ War is primarily an information battle. Since I rely on the Alliance Army to procure Ascension Items, I must do my part to help them win this battle. Besides, I just accepted a scouting mission from the State Governor, and the reward is quite good—a nice little side income."
"Haha, you’re never one to miss an opportunity, are you? Oh, by the way, here’s this thing for you." Xiao Jie said, trading a Blood Spirit Fruit over.
Chen Tianwen took it, a bit surprised. This was a good item... "Thanks."
"No need to be polite, by the way, have you gotten any intel from your scouting?"
Chen Tianwen dodged the question, "Look at what the New Empire Army is doing over there?"
Xiao Jie looked towards Qiansong City. The construction site was enormous, and it didn’t look like an ordinary camp. There were many interconnected passageways, crisscrossing in all directions, yet faintly displaying some kind of pattern. Fortifications were distributed throughout, forming a system of their own, the trenches like a chess board, forming a network.
"Are they building—an array?" Xiao Jie tried to guess. But if it was an array, the scale was a bit exaggerated.
Chen Tianwen had also set up arrays before, but generally only a few hundred meters across. Even the Qiankun Shift Array wasn’t more than a kilometer wide.
The formation in front of them stretched over ten miles, incredibly complex—hard to imagine what the effect would be if such a large array were activated.
"That’s right, it is indeed an array. However, for now, I cannot discern its origins. It seems there are some experts in the New Empire Army—if I can’t understand it, it must be the work of Wang Xie."
Despite the intimidating words, Chen Tianwen’s tone was relaxed, as if he didn’t care at all.
Xiao Jie was quite curious about the so-called array. Literary novels often featured plots about setting up and breaking formations, but the concept of an array was never concrete.
It seemed there was something worth watching now.
This array was clearly entirely different from the simple Illusion Arrays Chen Tianwen usually set up. The scale alone was astonishing, and when the time came, it would surely need to be used in coordination with the army. It was exciting to think about the potential effects when it was put into practice.
"Is this array powerful?"
"Of course it’s powerful. If the Alliance Army attacks rashly, they will suffer heavy casualties and be defeated here."
"The Alliance Army now has over 150,000 troops and so many experts, that’s unlikely, isn’t it?"
Xiao Jie thought to himself, do those few True Men not understand formations?
"No, those experts may understand ordinary arrays, but they might not know much about these slaughter army formations.
As for the manpower advantage, it’s meaningless in the face of an array. Remember the three-pronged army of 150,000 with three World Bosses—weren’t they defeated in just one day? The essence of an array lies in isolating the enemy, disrupting their formations, and then defeating them piecemeal.
Moreover, within this large array, there are still many aspects I can’t comprehend. There must be some hidden killer moves. If an attack is launched recklessly, however many go in will die."
Xiao Jie asked curiously, "Then what should we do?"
"Don’t worry. With exhaustive calculations and transformations of myriad forms, I have already made numerous predictions over the past few days. All future changes are within my grasp. Although this array is impressive, it won’t affect the overall situation."