Soon, they found a hill surrounded by ancient trees lush and verdant, each requiring five or six people to encircle, some towering to more than twenty or even thirty meters high, yet the hilltop itself was barren, the dense aura of Weapon Fiend making the Metal-Eating Rat within the cage emit a piercing squeal.
This was Broken Blade Mountain’s Golden Origin Ley Line, cutting off all vitality of wood, thus making it the easiest to locate.
There was a watchtower of Da Chen in this place, made from a giant tree overlooking everything around, but it had been abandoned for decades. The hollowed-out bark had sprouted new branches, entwining and enveloping everything.
"If we seize control of this Earth Pulse Node, we can monitor the movements of all living creatures to the northeast—summon the Vanguard Camp here," said An Jing.
Scouts from all around converged, forming a small squad. After reporting back to the main tent everyone began to laugh and joke around, the mission progressed smoothly, they were not tense, in fact, they seemed very relaxed, "Indeed, there’s nothing extraordinary about Broken Blade Mountain. It’s said that Linjiang City has a Divine Mandate, but after all, he’s not a professional and has no defenses."
"Divine Mandate is also human; without iron, they can’t forge good weapons. It’s useless for him to want to be prepared, how many people does Linjiang City have in total? How much military equipment? Could he possibly make it appear out of thin air?"
"The order from above is, at all costs, we must deal a heavy blow to Linjiang City, dampen the spirit of this Divine Mandate, and prevent him from gathering strength."
"The tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind; the bird that sticks its head out will be shot. It’s his own fault for being so high-profile. Clearly he’s one of us from Dust Li, yet he insists on being the City Lord in Da Chen?" "No, you’re wrong, he’s a native of Da Chen. His family home was burned down by the western army, he just took the master of the neighboring Bright Mirror Sect as his mentor." "Oh, oh, I got it wrong then."
"Anyway, it’s useless, how many days will it take for our unit to reach and capture the surroundings of Broken Blade Mountain?"
Hearing this noisy discussion, the Old Scout felt somewhat annoyed; he always felt something was amiss.
"The watchtower may have been abandoned, but the ground in its vicinity seems to bear the traces of wild beasts. The Earth Pulse Node shows no anomalies, but the Metal-Eating Rat seems to be somewhat afraid? Although the aura of Weapon Fiend and Gold Fiend is slightly different, this shouldn’t be the case."
His hundred years of experience in Battle Formation scouting quickly let the Old Scout spot many irregularities, though they were minor details. What truly troubled him was that his Fate Pattern [Leading the Charge] was alerting him, and he entered combat readiness.
But where? Where is the enemy? Could it be Demon Beasts in the woods? Or perhaps some lurking Scout?
—Strange, could someone be invisibly surveilling us? But it’s impossible, if there were hidden Magic Artifacts, the other scouts’ Eagle Eye Clairvoyance Mirrors would have detected something by now.
His silence was very familiar to his comrades; Kuo Yunlv was always overly cautious. This was the reason he survived a century of battles, and it was both his Fate Pattern and personality.
There had been many similar situations before, often just Ferocious Beasts hidden in the woods, nothing to fret over.
"Perhaps I am indeed too tense," he thought.
Using Arts of Magic, he confirmed there were indeed some small creatures around. After driving them away, the warnings of Kuo Yunlv’s Fate Pattern gradually faded, and he lowered his guard.
Although he remained vigilant, Kuo Yunlv did not pay too much attention. The mission was complete, and the scouts could rest for a while before continuing to explore the situation in Broken Blade Mountain and then move on to scout the current state of the three cities near the broken blade.
And in the woods, indeed there were pairs of lifeless eyes moving and focusing. Even the branches and leaves of the forest were swaying slowly in the still air without wind, quietly observing the scouts as they dispersed again, discerning and targeting each one.
On the other side of the lens, An Jing was still waiting patiently.
The leading Old Scout did indeed know his business; An Jing could affirm that the other had realized something was not right in this area. This was an artificial trace that even Weng Cuiyu, despite her assistance, couldn’t completely hide—if they dug into the ground to check, they would undoubtedly find many landmines, but the Golden Fiend of the Earth Pulse Node blocked many clues.
Even so, this old soldier had instinctively sensed danger, and An Jing had no choice but to withdraw Weng Cuiyu and just use drones to monitor from a distance.
These scouts were not valuable; eliminating them was meaningless. If the intelligence provided by Gu Yunzhi was correct, once the scouts confirmed this place as safe, the enemy’s Vanguard Camp would be the first to step in and arrive here.
Before long, as evening approached, a three-hundred-strong Vanguard Camp arrived.
Row after row of Cavalry concealed their presence, entering the forest much like Ghosts converging around the already scouted campsite. They wore pale fur armor that allowed them to disappear even without Arts of Magic in the heavy snow. They carefully parted the bushes without chopping down the undergrowth and alarming the surroundings, leaving no trace, undoubtedly a truly elite force.
They were the Vanguard of the Iron Li troops, up next, they would use the Earth Pulse Node as a base for about half a month of intelligence gathering and basic Formation setting—what seemed like a swift three-day conquest of a city actually involved several months of detective infiltrations and spy operations, invisible to the common eye, yet paramount in defeating the enemy before the battle began.
What awaited them, however, was a creation from another world, beyond all of their experiences and teachings.
"Is that all there is?"
An Jing, watching through the drone feed as the enemy pitched their tents, knew this was probably the best moment yet couldn’t help feeling a bit regretful, "Let them continue to probe, perhaps they can discover the landmines. However, detonating them now would make it difficult to continue ambushing the large forces."