Martyrs' Wall

Mr. Mo smiled faintly, swung down from his horse, and slammed his fist against the other man's. "Zhang Heizi, you're not dead yet?"

"If you're still alive, how could I bear to leave first?" Captain Zhang laughed heartily, then looked at Liu Hongyan with equal familiarity. "Instructor Hongyan, you've had a hard journey."

Liu Hongyan nodded slightly. "Captain Zhang, thank you for the trouble."

The students watched the scene curiously, guessing that Mr. Mo and Captain Zhang must have known each other.

"These are the Academy's promising seedlings for this year. I brought them here to broaden their horizons and let them see the world." Mr. Mo casually pointed at the students behind him.

Captain Zhang's gaze flashed like lightning as it swept over the young men and women. Smiling, he nodded. "Mm. They've all got good spirit."

With that, he beckoned. "Follow me. Enter the pass."

Inside the barbican, before the passage leading to the main gate, stood a stone platform. Upon it rested a strange metal device, shaped like an armillary sphere. Its surface was covered in densely packed silver runes, while a fist-sized white crystal floated at its center.

"Everyone, step forward in turn and place your hand on it," an official called out. "This object can detect demons disguised in human form. It is a mandatory inspection for entering the pass."

"You heard clearly. Do not resist!"

So this was a method for detecting disguised demons. Li Yuan was startled at first, but the more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.

Demons were adept at transformation. If they disguised themselves as humans, would not the pass collapse without a fight?

The students lined up as instructed, stepping forward one by one to place their hands in the designated spot. The crystal continued to emit a steady white radiance, with no abnormalities.

When it was Li Yuan's turn, the white light enveloped him. The Bronze Palace that had lain dormant for days in the depths of his sea of consciousness gave a slight ripple, then returned to stillness.

The change was so faint it was almost imperceptible, yet a strange feeling flickered through Li Yuan's heart.

Over the past few days, he had tried every possible method without budging it in the slightest. Yet now, it had stirred.

After all the students had been inspected, the group passed through the final heavy black-iron gate and entered the pass.

Wu Yu, walking behind Li Yuan, seemed quite interested in the inspection method. He muttered softly, "This thing's useful. Why doesn't our Academy get one? What if demons sneak in?"

He had spoken without thinking, but Li Yuan's heart stirred. He recalled that when he had enrolled, they had seemingly done no more than briefly inspect his identity documents.

That was right. Divine Martial Academy gathered Great Tang's youngest geniuses. If demons infiltrated it, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Yu Ling'er, walking ahead of them, found this amusing. She turned back, curled her lips, and spoke as if it were only natural.

"Absolutely impossible."

"Why?" Wu Yu pressed, puzzled.

Yu Ling'er smiled. "Do you remember the Spirit-Appraising Stone we used to test our talent?"

Wu Yu nodded, while Li Yuan immediately understood.

Sure enough, Yu Ling'er continued, "It does far more than simply test aptitude. It also has the miraculous ability to detect the aura of evil fiends. If a demon presses its palm against it, at best, it will reveal its true form on the spot; at worst, it will be scorched by the spirit light."

She smiled proudly. "So, anyone who passes the Spirit-Appraising Stone test can absolutely not be a demon in disguise. That is an ironclad rule!"

"So that's how it is." Wu Yu suddenly understood.

No wonder the Academy was so confident in its enrollment screening. Who would have thought the Spirit-Appraising Stone possessed two functions?

Li Yuan felt greatly reassured. He had always worried that the Bronze Palace in his sea of consciousness might be connected to some evil heresy. Since it had passed the Spirit-Appraising Stone's test, it seemed he had been overthinking things.

But why did it react every time demons were being detected?

Could it be that if he wanted to activate the Bronze Palace, he could only work from this line of thought?

He nodded thoughtfully and thanked Yu Ling'er.

Beyond the heavy gate, the true mighty pass unfolded before their eyes.

Unlike the purely military fortress Li Yuan had imagined, the interior of the pass was laid out in orderly fashion. Its streets were broad, flanked by sturdy stone-and-wood barracks, warehouses, workshops, and even a few simple taverns and shops. It resembled a small frontier city.

The soldiers coming and going all wore standard leather armor or light mail. Their eyes remained straight ahead as they hurried along. The students noticed that even the ordinary soldiers were all at the Body-Tempering Realm; not a single one had successfully drawn in vital essence.

Some students, seeing that these ordinary martial men were clearly less cultivated than themselves, could not help showing a trace of superiority in their eyes.

After all, they were all geniuses chosen from ten thousand. Having entered Divine Martial Academy, they were destined to become lofty cultivators in the future, fundamentally beyond these common soldiers.

After crossing the streets, they began to climb the city wall.

"Look, doesn't that wall seem to have a lot of words carved into it?" Wu Yu, sharp-eyed, pointed into the distance curiously.

Everyone followed his gaze and saw that the dark bluish-green stretch of wall, several dozen zhang long, was densely carved with tiny characters from a height above a man's head all the way up to beneath the battlements.

The writing varied in size and depth. Some strokes were neat, others scrawled. As the sunlight slanted across them, it cast long shadows over the deep and shallow carvings.

"What is that? A merit roll?" one student guessed curiously.

"Doesn't look like it. What merit roll would have so many names..."

"Could they be the names of the generals who guarded the pass throughout the ages?"

"Come on, let's take a look!"

The students surged over excitedly. The instructors did not stop them, merely following silently behind.

Only when they drew near did they discover that they truly were countless names, like a silent swarm of ants covering the vast expanse of wall within sight.

Some names had already been weathered blurry by the passage of time, while others remained relatively clear, as though they had been carved only recently.

"Wang Ergou," "Li Tiezhu," "Zhao Shanhe," "Chen Ping'an"...

"Captain Sun," "Squad Leader Zhou," "Instructor Liu"...

"Xuanzhenzi," "Huiming," "Liaochen"...

"Why are there so many?" Wu Yu murmured.

All the students were filled with curiosity and confusion. The names seemed to have no connection to one another, and no official titles had been carved beside them. They had no idea what they meant.

Li Yuan looked on silently. Having been a soldier in his previous life, he almost immediately guessed the truth.

As his eyes swept across the cold stone wall, it was as though he saw one young face after another. His heart slowly sank.

"These are the names of those who died."

A low voice rang out. Everyone turned to see Shen Lian slowly walking to the wall. With his head raised, he stared fixedly at the densely packed names, his eyes bloodshot.

Only then did everyone remember that Shen Lian came from Jade Gate Pass, another mighty stronghold like Divine Martial Pass that guarded Great Tang's northwestern gateway.

"All passes have an unwritten rule. Whether soldiers or laborers... so long as the names of those who died can be recorded, they will be carved upon this Martyrs' Wall."

They were the names of everyone who had died in battle!

The crowd was struck as if by lightning, instantly frozen where they stood. The tiny sense of superiority they had felt before was shattered to pieces before the seemingly endless names, leaving behind only boundless shock.

Over Great Tang's four hundred years, how many bloody battles had there been? How many lives had spilled their blood beneath these walls for the lights of ten thousand homes behind them, until in the end, nothing remained but one cold name after another carved upon the wall?

Perhaps some had not even left behind a name.

Wu Yu's face turned deathly pale, and he staggered back a step. Yu Ling'er could not help covering her mouth, her eyes reddening at once.

Even Chu Yunhe, usually so lazy, shed his habitual carelessness, his expression turning grave.

Li Yuan stood quietly, looking at that wall. It was as though he saw the martyrs' cemetery from his previous life, saw the monument to the unknown heroes.

The same silence, the same weight, the same monument forged from lives.

He slowly bent at the waist and gave the Martyrs' Wall a deep bow.