Another New Year had arrived. As ordinary folk hung lanterns and colorful decorations and celebrated with abandon, Wu Longjie, Lu Feiyang, and the others brought the attendants and trusted followers they had gathered in the Heavenly Dao Alliance to Xilan City, a first-class city under the Mu Family's rule.
Although the city appeared peaceful, anyone who paid attention could easily detect an undercurrent of grim tension. The Spirit Tamers coming and going hurried about, entirely at odds with the festive atmosphere.
The reason was that the Central Province army had advanced another thirty thousand li southward. They were close to taking control of the entire Yi Mountain Range and bringing the fighting to their doorstep.
Only a stretch of mountains and plains several tens of thousands of li wide lay between Xilan City and the Yi Mountain Range. To ordinary mortals, it was an almost impassable natural barrier, but to Spirit Tamers, it was merely a journey of several days to half a month.
Once the entire Yi Mountain Range fell under their control, they could easily protect their long supply lines and even establish Teleportation Arrays within the Southern Wilds, bringing in an endless stream of reinforcements.
For the Southern Wilds, this was an extremely unfavorable situation.
But none of this had much to do with Wu Longjie and his companions. They had come to join Fang Qianyuan, and their spirits were high.
"We're finally here! This is Xilan City!"
"Commander Wu, is Elder Fang in this city now?"
"That's right. He's now the commander-in-chief of the allied army, responsible for holding the rear and coordinating the overall effort. He's been directing operations from here lately. We've been summoned to serve as his personal guards, so we'll naturally have opportunities to follow him, earn merit, and receive rewards!"
Wu