Great Wei's border.
The north wind swept up yellow sand, racing across the cracked Gobi like raging waves.
The vast land was almost devoid of green.
At the foot of two black mountain peaks shaped like camel humps stood rows upon rows of grayish-green tents.
This was the Great Wei barracks.
The barracks were divided into four main camps: Jia, Yi, Bing, and Ding.
Xu Mingxuan was in Ding Camp, where he had been made a squad leader with fifty soldiers under his command.
He had originally thought it was merely a border war, but only after arriving did he learn that a Mysterious Iron Essence Stone mine had been discovered along the border between Great Wei and Great Liang.
The two nations had gone to war over the mine's resources.
Great Wei currently held the upper hand and occupied the mine, but Great Liang's army had not given up and launched sneak attacks from time to time.
Mysterious Iron Essence Stone was superb material for forging Mortal Iron Treasure Weapons.
It could also be used as material for a cultivator's magic tools.
Some in Great Wei speculated that the vein was substantial and might contain a certain amount of Mysterious Iron Mother.
Mysterious Iron Mother was rare and precious, and could be used to craft Foundation Establishment Magic Tools.
The few members of the Xu Family who had come out here were now scattered throughout the barracks.
The barracks' rules were strict. Even on rest days, no one was allowed to leave their own camp area, so over the past few years, Xu Mingxuan had only seen Li Zhi and Chen Daniu.
They were both in Yi Camp.
Chen Daniu was still a soldier under Li Zhi's command.
If they had not happened to run into each other while