The Monster and the Realm

"Change horses, I have urgent military intelligence to deliver." Chen Mo produced a letter and handed it to the station master.

Their outing this time was under military orders, so they carried military dispatches allowing them to utilize station horses for urgent intelligence transmission.

The station master dared not delay, quickly bringing a horse. Chen Mo mounted and changed horses, then lifted the bound man from behind the horse and placed him behind the saddle.

He had already changed several horses on his journey. At this pace, he could reach the military camp in just over half a day.

This speed was, of course, slow. There was no helping it; the horses at the Xingyuan Prefecture station were not the specialized swift horses used for intelligence transmission.

Most were just inferior horses, not capable of running very fast.

After galloping again and changing horses once more along the way, he finally saw the military camp.

At least from the current perspective, Xingyuan Prefecture had not experienced any incidents. The people of the Du Tian Dao Sect seemed to be mostly in Anyang Prefecture, and their presence near Xingyuan Prefecture this time was just a coincidence.

But this was only Chen Mo's speculation. The information they had extracted through interrogation was too little. That strongman was at the lowest rung within the Du Tian Dao Sect and knew very little.

Even if they had major plans, they would definitely keep him in the dark.

Therefore, no matter what, he had to report this news first.

This way, whatever the Du Tian Dao Sect people planned to do, they would at least have some preparation.

The personal guards on duty saw him galloping from a distance and couldn't help but look confused.

"I have an urgent matter to see the General," Chen Mo shouted, riding his horse into the military camp.

He rushed to the study, dismounted, and without waiting for someone to announce him, Chen Mo, carrying the strongman, barged directly into the study.

"Foster Father, something big has happened," Chen Mo said hurriedly, casually tossing the strongman aside.

"Hmm!" Sun Shouren stood up abruptly, his expression a mixture of surprise and slight confusion. However, being a seasoned veteran of the battlefield, he was accustomed to facing danger without fear.

He waved his hand to dismiss those around him, preventing any uncontrollable information from leaking out, and then asked Chen Mo, "What exactly has happened?"

"Reporting to Foster Father, your son and many of my brothers went to Qing Province to investigate traces of bandits. Unexpectedly, we encountered demons who called themselves members of the Du Tian Dao Sect.

Those demons had strange methods, able to transform their arms and tongues into weapons to injure people. They were also extremely hostile towards us, killing anyone they saw. Fifth Brother even captured a strongman from the Du Tian Dao Sect, whom I have brought with me." Chen Mo spoke concisely, outlining the general course of events.

As Sun Shouren listened, his expression grew increasingly grim. There were many things Chen Mo was unaware of, but he knew some.

"Those people you encountered are not demons; they are Qi Refiners," Sun Shouren said, his voice slightly grave as he spoke in a low tone.

"Qi Refiners?" Chen Mo inquired. Although he had known that the so-called immortal masters could refine Qi and cultivate when he had previously browsed that All-Heaven Grand Dao Scripture, he had only learned the superficial aspects because he couldn't continue reading that cultivation method.

"Qi Refiners are different from us martial artists. Martial artists temper their physical bodies and cultivate inner energy, while Qi Refiners draw the energy of heaven and earth into their bodies to perform various techniques.

Their methods are extremely strange and varied. Refining their own bodies to be used as flying swords to kill enemies is just one of their applications.

However, in close-quarters combat, these Qi Refiners are far from a match for us martial artists."

Sun Shouren slowly explained to Chen Mo, revealing what he knew.

A fifth-rank official was not much in the imperial capital, at most a Vice Minister in one of the Six Ministries.

But a fifth-rank General guarding a region was definitely a major official in the provinces.

Many secrets were not secrets to him. The things he could understand and access were far beyond what personal guards like Chen Mo could imagine.

Just like inner cultivation techniques, the reason he dared to say that after Chen Mo achieved success in his cultivation, he could ask him for an inner cultivation technique was precisely because, with his status and position, these things were not difficult for him to obtain.

"Then why do these Qi Refiners of the Du Tian Dao Sect insist on using tongues and arms as weapons? Wouldn't finely crafted steel needles be more discreet and effective?"

Chen Mo raised his question. During combat, they still had to remove their arms to look. Using steel needles for surprise attacks would undoubtedly be more discreet.

"Ordinary steel needles lack spirituality, whereas the human body naturally possesses spirituality. Especially the bodies of Qi Refiners themselves, after being cleansed by the energy of heaven and earth and refined, their power becomes even greater.

The reason the Qi Refiners of the Du Tian Dao Sect attacked you was most likely because they coveted your bodies.

Although the bodies of us martial artists are not comparable to their own, they are much stronger than ordinary people. When used for refinement, they are not only more convenient but also more powerful."

Sun Shouren slowly answered Chen Mo's doubts. These matters were actually not very secretive.

It was just that Chen Mo's status and position were not high enough to access these things.

Chen Mo had originally thought that the people of the Du Tian Dao Sect might be cultivating evil paths, which was why they used bodies as weapons.

Now it seemed that the Qi Refiners in this world, if not all, then most of them, did things this way.

"Then does Foster Father know that we also encountered someone who couldn't be killed?" Chen Mo spoke again. Since there was someone to answer his questions today, he decided to seize the opportunity to ask more.

He then roughly explained the events that transpired from entering Qing Province to encountering those strange disaster victims.

Upon hearing Chen Mo's account, Sun Shouren's expression turned extremely grim. He signaled Chen Mo to close the doors and windows tightly to prevent eavesdropping, and only then did he speak.

"That thing you encountered is called a Xu (xu) monster. No matter how many times you kill them, they will not die.

The place where Xu monsters reside is called a Xu realm. The Xu realm you encountered was relatively mild. Although there was someone who couldn't be killed, it wasn't particularly strange.

Xu realms continuously expand over time. We martial artists are helpless against them, which is why Qi Refiners hold a high status in our Great Qian."

Sun Shouren's explanation wasn't very detailed, but Chen Mo could glean more information from his words.

That is, there was more than one Xu realm, and the one he encountered was not particularly strange. There were more and even stranger Xu realms.

"Why have I never heard of such a thing in Xingyuan Prefecture, Father? Could it be that these ruin monsters only exist in Qing Province?" Chen Mo asked curiously, genuinely perplexed by this.

From his adoptive father's words, he understood that there was more than one Ruin Realm, and only Qi Refiners could suppress them.

If a ruin had ever appeared in Xingyuan Prefecture, he would have at least heard some rumors about it.

"That's certainly not the case. If they exist in Qing Province, they naturally exist in Xingyuan Prefecture as well. I don't know much about it myself; I only heard a few high-ranking officials from the Directorate of Celestial Observation discussing it.

The Void Realm and Void Monsters are both illusory realities; a person's mind can influence them.

The more people know about a ruin, even if they haven't seen it firsthand but merely heard rumors or fragments of information, the stronger that ruin becomes.

Existing seals might even be broken, and the cost to reseal them afterward would be significantly higher."

Sun Shouren explained what he knew in broad strokes. After all, he was just a martial artist, not a Qi Refiner.

If he hadn't assisted a few Qi Refiners in handling such matters before, he likely wouldn't have had the opportunity to learn about them.

He wouldn't normally speak of these things to others, but since Chen Mo had already encountered a Ruin Realm, he had to inform him of the dangers involved.

"You absolutely must not spread any information about this. How many others know about it besides you, and where are they now?" Sun Shouren inquired.

Chen Mo reported the names of the new recruits one by one. Apart from them, Chen Mo hadn't specifically mentioned the incident when interacting with others.

He had also specifically warned those few individuals not to tell anyone else.

At the time, he simply didn't want to get involved in such troublesome matters, but it turned out to be a fortunate coincidence that it prevented the matter from spreading widely.

Sun Shouren finally relaxed after hearing this. He knew how terrifying the Void Realm could be, and more than anything, the consequences of this matter leaking would be the most severe.

However, he immediately thought of something else: why did people from the Du Tian Dao Sect appear precisely near the Ruin Realm?

More importantly, one of them could even harness the power of a Void Beast, clearly indicating that this group was no ordinary Qi Refiner.

Their journey to the Qing Province region, though their specific purpose was unknown, was likely not for any good reason.

"Take my token and lead a group of men to rush to Qing Province at full speed. Do not engage with those Du Tian Dao Sect members; first, bring your Fourth Brother and the others out of Qing Province," Sun Shouren said, taking out his seal and writing the dispatch order on the spot.

He was unsure of the Du Tian Dao Sect members' intentions, but he knew he had to get his adopted son and nephews out first.

These men were his trusted subordinates, each capable of leading a separate camp. If he lost them, he would never have the chance to fight on the battlefield again in his life.

Losing Zhao Yuncheng was already painful enough; he absolutely could not afford any further losses.

"Your son obeys!" Chen Mo took the military order, quickly gathered a group of elite troops, and rushed to Qing Province.