Transaction

While the sun shone brightly in Houting County, the area around Beifeng City was still shrouded in a blanket of snow.

The howling wind and snow made the general's tent exceptionally quiet.

The makeshift tent for the main general was not large. A dozen or so generals dressed in the armor of border army commanders sat clearly on both sides of the tent, while an old man with white hair and beard sat in the main seat.

None of them had a cultivation level below the third rank, they held considerable military power, and each of them was a powerful figure who could make the Northern Border tremble with a stomp of their foot.

But at this moment, a deathly silence permeated the group of powerful figures in the sect.

Fifteen minutes ago,

They have learned through various channels that a Cloud Qi Bomb has been detonated in the Houting County area.

A few days ago, when the imperial court presented two Cloud Qi Bomb and ordered them to immediately head south to reinforce Beifeng City, some people had ulterior motives regarding the Cloud Qi Bomb.

There's no way around it, the Cloud Qi Bomb is a good thing.

Having witnessed the effects of the Cloud Qi Bomb, this new type of weapon capable of altering celestial phenomena immediately aroused their greed.

As long as they get their hands on a sample, their own array masters can attempt to reverse engineer it.

Lou Ji completely ignored them.

Leaving them with the words, "Take it or leave it, we'll all die together," shattered their greed.

The loss of Beifeng City and the death of 300,000 imperial troops trapped in the Snow Plain was at most a major blow to the imperial court, but for these sects in the Northern Border, it was a catastrophe.

If their 300,000 elite troops are lost, all their industries, including large-scale medicinal fields, workshops, machinery factories, and banks, will be directly exposed to the Barbarian Tribe army.

Aside from some core inner disciples, those who remained in their hometowns were mostly second-tier recruits of the eighth and ninth ranks.

The core disciples have high cultivation levels, but they don't practice military formations. The new recruits have never seen blood, and they are prone to collapse when they go to the battlefield.

Forced to flee south, but unwilling to risk their lives, they made a deal with the Barbarian King.

From their perspective, the Barbarian King couldn't possibly disagree with their charity.

The Barbarian Tribe dared to detour south entirely because the blizzard provided them with an overwhelming advantage in terms of weather.

But when the Beifeng Army and the Black Scale Army marched south and joined forces with them, a Cloud Qi Bomb dispersed the clouds, and the 700,000-strong army formed a battle formation. Without the protection of the City Protection Array, the walls could be blasted down.

And now,

The third Cloud Qi Bomb was indeed detonated.

However, the location deviated slightly from their expectations.

It wasn't in Beifeng, but in the Marquis Pavilion.

Having fought in the Northern Border for decades, they certainly understand what that means.

In the deathly silence,

The old man in the main seat,

Qian Shuisheng, the Supreme Elder of the Spirit Water Palace, finally spoke:

"Gentlemen, let's share our current opinions."

But after he finished speaking, silence remained.

After a while,

A female general on the left suddenly stood up and cupped her hands in greeting to the old man in the main seat.

The woman was slender and rather short, but her appearance was striking; she had fair skin, a beautiful face, eyebrows like emerald feathers, and a voice as melodious as silver bells.

"General Qian, I thought this was a delaying tactic by Marquis of Martial Achievement or that woman Lou Ji. Our Snow Soul Valley's liaison point outside Houting County has not received any news of the Marquis Pavilion's fall."

Upon hearing the woman speak, a man with a scar on his cheek raised an eyebrow, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke up:

"Qing Feng has a point. The timing doesn't match at all. The Black Scale Army and the Beifeng Army are far away in the Dali Mountain. Even if they use cavalry, it will take them at least two to three days to reach the Marquis Pavilion."

Upon hearing this, Qian Shuisheng were both white, smiled kindly, stroked his white beard, and nodded slightly.

"That is indeed possible."

After a moment's pause, Qian Shuisheng's eyes, which had become slightly cloudy due to age, suddenly sharpened:

"But even if what you two say is true, who will contact that Barbarian King Barbarian King? And who can convince him to believe us?"

As he spoke,

His gaze swept over the generals inside the tent:

"Hehe. If you were in the position of that Barbarian King, would you rashly mobilize troops to march north? I think not, right? At the very least, you would send a powerful warrior with you to confirm, but then there might not be enough time."

The words were spoken, then silence.

Time difference.

Their offer to the Barbarian Tribe was to cede the Houting County area, allowing them to take over all the weapons and City Protection Array there, thereby blocking the Black Scale Army and the Beifeng Army from returning to reinforce.

The key to this is the time difference.

Now that a Cloud Qi Bomb has exploded over there, even if they haven't actually arrived yet, it will buy them time to get there.

It was also clearly a message to the Barbarian Tribe:

You guys fight your battle, don't get involved with me.

Thinking deeper,

If your Barbarian Tribe doesn't act quickly, the Beifeng Army and the Black Scale Army can come down with their Cloud Qi Bomb at any time to find you.

Are you scared?

"You bastard!"

A burly man muttered a curse, "Marquis of Martial Achievement and Zong Qingsheng have a clever plan. They want our border troops to face hundreds of thousands of barbarian soldiers alone!"

"Alright," another middle-aged man with a bushy beard sighed, "There's no point in saying more. The most urgent thing now is to figure out how to break this deadlock."

The burly man glared, opened his mouth as if to swear, but held back, snorted coldly, and remained silent.

At this time,

The beautiful female general spoke again, "Today I am in charge of the camp's defenses. Scouts have discovered that many Barbarian Tribe wolf riders are roaming around our camp. We cannot determine the location of their main force. If the army moves rashly, they may attack us at any time."

Beifeng City is only about forty miles away from their camp, and it would normally take them half an hour to reach it by march. However, if they were ambushed by the Barbarian Tribe during the march, taking advantage of the wind and snow, they would all perish together.

Forty miles away, seemingly close yet worlds apart.

The middle-aged man with the bushy beard hesitated for a moment, then whispered:

"Our camp's defenses are practically nonexistent right now. Anyone who still has supplies is giving them away. We need to fortify the camp. The array masters accompanying the army, hurry up and inscribe some simple defensive array patterns to prevent those Barbarian Tribe from attacking the camp."

The scarred man suddenly chuckled and spoke:

"Fortify the camp?"

The middle-aged man with a thick beard frowned upon hearing this, staring at the man with the scarred face:

"What, General Hou, do you think we shouldn't fortify our camp?"

The scarred man slowly shook his head and smiled.

"Of course, I have no objection. Our Brilliant Moon Palace still has some materials in stock to reinforce the camp, left over from the previous repairs of Houting County. If other sects contribute some materials, it should be enough to increase the camp's defensive capabilities by an order of magnitude."

As he spoke,

The scarred man stared at the bearded middle-aged man. "But the question is... how much food do we have left?"

Upon hearing this, everyone in the commander's tent looked at the first of the Qian Shuisheng.

Under the gaze of the assembled generals, Qian Shuisheng hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice:

"Previously, we provided the Barbarian Tribe north. Our current food and supplies should be enough to last our army for about two weeks. If we reduce the rations, we can last for about a month. If we are willing to slaughter our cavalry and horses, we should be able to last even longer."

"."

January.

These words caused some of the generals present to start having ulterior motives.

Compared to the vertically centralized command system of the Black Scale Guard or the Beifeng Army, their side is more like a coalition, a coalition forced together by external pressure.

It was quiet for a long time.

A gentle voice suddenly asked:

"What about the Barbarian Tribe and the imperial court?"

Qian Shuisheng glanced at the person who spoke; the other person was the only one present who was not from a sect in the Northern Border.

A handsome young man with thin lips, captivating eyes, and a refined and elegant appearance.

The Myriad Medicine Sect

They were present wherever there was war.

They came to do business.

They are responsible for treating wounded soldiers; if you're willing to pay, they can even regenerate limbs for low-ranking soldiers.

certainly,

Besides paying them silver, they were also occasionally required to capture live Barbarian Tribe for medical experiments.

Qian Shuisheng pondered for a moment, then said truthfully:

"The Barbarian Tribe should have plenty of provisions. The corpses of the three-headed Ice Beast Colossus, along with the corpses of the soldiers in Beifeng City and the corpses of their dead kin, should last at least several months."

The Barbarian Tribe who live year-round in the Utterdark Lands, Desperate Snow Plain have little moral compass.

Survival was their only moral principle.

The lower your bottom line, the more supplies you'll have.

Just as the corpses of Demon Beast are to humans, the corpses of human cultivators are a great tonic to the Barbarian Tribe.

Speaking of this,

Qian Shuisheng glanced at the north:

"According to our intelligence, the original supplies for Marquis of Martial Achievement should have lasted about a month, but Wu Yuan should have taken all the supplies he could carry with him from the city before he left."

Upon hearing this, the handsome young man narrowed his eyes slightly and smiled:

"So, of the three factions in the Northern Border, we have the least amount of food supplies?"

"."

Qian Shuisheng didn't speak, but instead glanced at the dozen or so leaders of various sects below.

But as his gaze fell upon them, everyone lowered their heads.

Seeing this, Qian Shuisheng's wrinkles twitched, and he sighed slightly.

In military campaigns, who doesn't carry a few Sumeru Ring in their possession?

As the saying goes, "Better to sacrifice a friend than myself," everyone actually has some food reserves, but they have to hand them over.

Hehe, we haven't reached the point of running out of ammunition and supplies yet, have we?

When food really runs out, everyone can haggle over the price and maybe sell it for a higher price to seek compensation after the war.

Seeing the expressions of the commanders below, Qian Shuisheng didn't say anything more.

Because it's useless.

He is only the nominal commander-in-chief. All battle command must be discussed and agreed upon. Without discussion, distribution of benefits, and provision of compensation, the operation is likely to fall apart.

The handsome young man from the Myriad Medicine Sect rubbed his temples and whispered:

"So, we're just stuck here, stuck in a stalemate, competing to see who has more supplies?"

Qian Shuisheng let out a breath, leaned back in the main seat, and asked in return:

"Our Northern Border Sect has made such a great sacrifice for the greater good, can't your sects in other places provide support?"

The handsome young man smiled slightly, unhurriedly:

"Elder Qian, haven't we already submitted the details of the compensation to you? That much supplies are more than enough for you to recover."

Once the imperial court launches an attack, sects in the affected areas will contribute manpower and resources, while sects in other areas will provide material compensation afterward.

When one sect is in trouble, help comes from all sides; this is an unwritten tacit understanding among sects.

Qian Shuisheng gave the young man a deep look:

"What I mean is sending someone."

Upon hearing this, the young man laughed without hesitation:

"Elder Qian, that would be breaking the rules. Besides, the Northern Border is currently blocked by heavy snow, and the imperial court has already sealed off those important official roads leading north. Even if we wanted to reinforce the Northern Border, we wouldn't be able to get in."

Before he could finish speaking...

"BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!"

A series of booming explosions resounded over the border army's camp, causing the generals inside the main command tent to furrow their brows slightly.

If before this they still harbored a sliver of the Barbarian Tribe would use this route to travel north, then at this moment that hope has completely vanished.

The Cloud Qi Bomb detonated over Houting County still prompted the Barbarian Tribe to prioritize dealing with the sect's border troops there.

The catapults, with their immense power, hurled countless stones and various military weapons at the camp stretching for miles. The high-level cultivators accompanying the army leaped to intercept them, but caught off guard, the first volley still sent over a dozen boulders and Corrosive Acid Beast crashing to the ground, causing chaos.

However, this chaos was quickly suppressed, without even the commander needing to intervene and maintain discipline.

Although sects are adept at internal strife, it does not diminish their abundant martial virtue.

Therefore, during the Barbarian Tribe's second volley, not a single piece of gravel or Corrosive Acid Beast managed to land in the camp.

After a while,

Qian Shuisheng suddenly stood up from the main seat, cupped his hands in greeting to the crowd, and said:

"Because of the court's inaction, we can only wait and see how things develop for now. I trouble you all to organize the troops and be ready to repel the barbarians' raids at any time."

As he spoke,

He suddenly turned his head to look at General Hou with the scarred face:

"General Hou, we'll leave the reinforcement of the camp to your Brilliant Moon Palace. We'll definitely compensate you double afterwards."

The scarred man grinned upon hearing this.

"Elder Qian, rest assured, this is our duty as the Brilliant Moon Palace."

"Report!"

A loud shout suddenly rang out outside the camp, drawing everyone's attention.

Qian Shuisheng looked surprised and said:

"Enter."

A man dressed in captain's armor strode into the tent, knelt on one knee, and said directly:

"Elder Qian, someone outside the camp wishes to see you and the other commanders."

"See me?" Qian Shuisheng frowned. "Who is it?"

"They've sent people from the Prime Minister's Estate," the captain reported truthfully, his eyes lowered. "They say they want to discuss a business deal with you."

Upon hearing this, everyone wore a strange expression.

Qian Shuisheng reacted the fastest, exhaling and chuckling as he said:

"What are you standing there for? Invite that gentleman in."

"Yes," the captain replied, and in an instant he left the camp.

After a few breaths,

A middle-aged man with a stubble beard, led by a captain, walked unhurriedly into the main general's camp.

Looking at the room full of powerful figures in the tent, Zhou Chen felt his heart skip a beat.

There were a total of seventeen people. Apart from the seven Grandmaster, the remaining people all had unfathomable cultivation levels.

Damn it, I shouldn't have pretended to be dead.

He feigned death back then, and now he's trying to atone for his crimes—what a terrible thing to do!

He cursed under his breath, but Zhou Chen smiled and said:

"Hey everyone, good afternoon!"

Qian Shuisheng stared calmly at the newcomer and smiled slightly:

"Mr. Zhou, the military situation is urgent right now, so please speak frankly."

"Elder Qian is really impatient."

Zhou Chen's smile remained unchanged. He cupped his hands in greeting and said with a smile, "Then I won't keep you in suspense any longer. My master sent me here to make a deal with you."

"What deal?" Qian Shuisheng, his expression unchanged.

Zhou Chen looked around and said slowly:

"My master knows that Elder Qian and your family are in a difficult situation right now, so he asked me to ask if you have any need to purchase Cloud Qi Bomb?"