Over the past ten thousand years, Yanmen Pass had suffered at the hands of traitors within its ranks.
Thus, although Qing Chen had paid the troops in public to establish his authority, his words setting the blood of Yanmen Pass's 1.8 million Border Army soldiers boiling, he had not acted foolishly in such matters.
Had he forced Yanmen Pass to throw open its gates and formation, letting the four hundred thousand Cangming Army troops and over fifty thousand newly recruited Dao soldiers pour into the city at once, that would truly have been brainless.
And so, by dawn the following day, while the snowstorm still raged outside the southern gate's barbican at Yanmen Pass, thirty-six temporary troop inspection camps had already sprung up.
Before each camp hung an azure-black [Bone-Illuminating Profound Mirror].
Each mirror spanned a hundred zhang. Its body was not a magic treasure, but had been condensed from the cold baleful energy of the earth veins, drawn forth through Yanmen Pass's fifth-tier low-grade [Nine Profound Suppression of the North Formation].
When the mirror's light fell, it forcibly revealed traces of a cultivator's flesh, sinews and bones, bloodline and true essence, spiritual root aura, and even foreign imprints lurking deep within the divine soul.
Behind the mirrors stood Demon-Suppressing Spirit Platforms, Soul-Questioning Jade Steles, Immortal Register Spirit Books, and a full array of other dharma artifacts.
Once this arrangement was unveiled, many of Yanmen Pass's mid- and high-ranking commanders, who had secretly been waiting to watch him make a fool of himself, fell silent instead.
They had assumed that this demonic-path powerhouse, who had defeated the Taiyi Daoist Heir, swept through Faneng Temple, paid the troops in public, and spoken of a counteroffensive the moment he opened his mouth, would most likely only use his might to force others