Year 48 of Longyou, June 26
Four more hours until daylight.
"What are we still thinking about? We can only go through here, taking the tunnel gets us to Wushuang the fastest, then retracing our path to Song Yuan and back to Long Mountain, we might make it in four hours."
"To quickly reinforce Long Mountain, we can only take the tunnel."
"We only have two thousand three hundred men left, our marching speed is faster, taking the tunnel can at least save half the time, we can’t delay any longer, Leader, let’s go!"
"Those advanced Cold Beasts have just left, if we don’t take the tunnel now and march in the open, once they’re onto us, the entire army will be doomed." The source of thɪs content is 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝙣𝙚𝙩
"We can’t think anymore, take the tunnel, Leader!"
On the northwest side of Beehive, Li Xuanling stood at the tunnel entrance, hearing the urging behind her from several Cold Resistance level individuals, she clenched her delicate fist, her expression struggled, and for a long time, did not give the order.
"Fourth, we can’t delay any longer, there’s not enough time."
With Li Xuanyan’s final urging, Li Xuanling eventually helplessly gave the marching order, but immediately supplemented: "Xuanping, Xuanqiu, Xuan Hong, Jiang Ping, Meng Ying, Cheng Guang, Song Kang, the seven of you go first through the tunnel as scouts, any problem, signal immediately.
Six heavily injured Cold Resistance level, let the soldiers carry them, the remaining thirty-six Cold Resistance level, disperse with me to patrol the front of the tunnel, as soon as anything happens, immediately signal the army to retreat from the tunnel."
Unlike the Earth-digging Realm, Cold Resistance level is barely restricted by the environment, if focused on the road, they can quickly return to Long Mountain, naturally no need to take the tunnel to speed up.
Li Xuanling originally didn’t want to take the tunnel, but seeing she couldn’t convince the others, she could only take a secondary option, commanding all Cold Resistance level to guard around to ensure safe marching along the way as much as possible.
Hearing this, the seven, including Li Xuanping, nodded, entered the tunnel first, heading forwards; the Cold Resistance level behind urged the Longyou Army soldiers to move inside.
Actually, there was no need to urge, the two thousand three hundred Longyou soldiers were all eager to return home, quickly entering the tunnel heading to Wushuang.
"Fourth, send half the Cold Resistance level back to Long Mountain to check the situation first, Second Uncle’s arm was cut, Xuankong was killed, we don’t know the situation at the base!"
"That’s right, Leader, as Yuwen Dao said, Yucheng, Song Yuan, and Changning have betrayed, Xia Hong has rallied Xiling, White Abyss, Zhaoyang, East Kang, that’s a total of seven Earth-digging Realms, over ten thousand, can’t afford to lose the base, send half the Cold Resistance level back, maybe they can help."
Hearing the suggestion from Li Xuandu and Sun Yan, Li Xuanling, visibly angry, retorted: "Do you think I didn’t think of that?"
She paused, took a deep breath and continued: "Yuwen Dao took the severed limb and head to show all the soldiers, it’s clearly forcing us to withdraw the army to reinforce Long Mountain, since they calculated this, won’t they make use of it? The situation right now is even more dangerous than when we were underground, do you understand?"
Upon hearing this, their expressions stiffened, unable to speak for a moment.
They weren’t foolish, once they were out of the ground, they quickly understood Yuwen Dao’s intention, but even understanding it, they were at a loss.
Just like the two thousand Longyou soldiers, their loved ones were also at the base, just as the soldiers worried about their loved ones at the distant base, they too were concerned.
Whether Xia Hong broke through Long Mountain or not, is irrelevant, the key is Yuwen Dao brought back the severed limb and head, which is indeed real, forming a valid reason for their retreat.
Even in the worst-case scenario, even if they break through Beehive and kill Xia Chuan’s group, but then the base is wiped out by Xia Hong, all would be in vain.
This is fundamentally the deep reason why Li Xuanling eventually agreed to retreat.
"I’ve already sent Yue Qian and Second Brother back to Long Mountain to scout the situation, we can get a message back in an hour at this speed. Within this hour, let’s ensure the safety of our march, if anything goes wrong, we’ll be really..."
Hearing Li Xuanling’s grave tone, Li Xuandu and Sun Yan exchanged a glance, showing some confusion on their faces.
"Altogether, Great Xia had only twenty-seven Cold Resistance level, we killed three, heavily injured nineteen, at most there’s five Cold Resistance level left, relying on their five thousand Earth-digging Realm army to ambush us, it would be suicide!"
Li Xuandu finished, Sun Yan immediately nodded and added: "Leader, Third Brother is right, even if they intend to act, they don’t have the strength, no need to be so cautious, still send a part back to Long Mountain first?"
Not just Li Xuandu and Sun Yan, but several Cold Resistance level nearby who hadn’t dispersed all nodded, agreeing with the two’s opinions, turning to Li Xuanling.
Li Xuanling’s expression froze, looking at everyone’s eyes, feeling powerless.
She fully understood what they were thinking at this moment, nothing more than worrying about the base’s safety, fearing the home base being wiped out by Xia Hong.
How could she not be worried, but the issue was she was clearer, if anything goes wrong now, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"No, listen to me, before Yue Qian returns with news from Long Mountain, no one is allowed to leave, once we finish this Great Xia tunnel, I will immediately send out half the men back to Long Mountain!"
Li Xuanling didn’t care about their pleading looks, directly asserting her authority, seeing them wanting to speak, she directly interrupted: "No more arguing, quickly go guard the front."
Everyone’s faces were full of hesitation, several people couldn’t help but open their mouths, but seeing Li Xuanling already leading the way ahead, they held back.