"So, anyone else want to come up and challenge me?"
Chen Mu glanced around the audience and finally fixed his gaze on Kong Yu.
He had already scanned the crowd with his Divine Soul; the strongest among them was only at the peak of the Middle Stage of the True Spirit Realm, and there wasn't a single person at the Late True Spirit Realm. That's why he was so confident that he could handle everyone.
However, Chen Mu was still wary of a formation master at the Third Layer of the Solid Realm. If the opponent had cultivated a powerful Divine Soul technique, even if their martial arts cultivation level was not high, there was still a high chance that they could defeat the three of them.
However, Chen Mu waited for a long time but did not hear anyone else wanting to come up and challenge him.
After Kong Yu brought Guo Tao back to his side, he only cared about Guo Tao and had no intention of going on stage.
"Alright! Since no one wants to take on the challenge, let's not delay."
Let's set off now! To Broken Blade Mountain.
After confirming that no one wanted to challenge him, Chen Mu issued his first order as commander.
Broken Blade Mountain is formed entirely of hard black rock, with sparse vegetation and few living creatures that venture up there.
For millions of years, it has stood here, enduring the changes of time and the vicissitudes of life.
The area around Broken Blade Mountain is surrounded by dense forests, making it very unfavorable for large-scale troop movements.
Chen Mu led more than 300 " Sword Guardian Battalion " cultivators, escorting more than a dozen carriages and more than 500 low-level cultivators, as they struggled to advance up Broken Blade Mountain.
These five hundred-plus low-level cultivators were all recruited separately by Chen Mu. Some were Liang Yu's guards, but most were carpenters, construction workers, blacksmiths, and so on from within Absolute Sword City.
Chen Mu paid these people very high wages to work on the mountain. They didn't need to participate in combat; they only needed to do some miscellaneous tasks behind the camp.
After all, there are many things that these workers can do better than cultivators, while high-level cultivators only need to prepare for battle.
When they reached the foot of Broken Blade Mountain, the lower-level cultivators couldn't pull the carriages up at all. With the help of the Sword Guardian Battalion and many other cultivators, they slowly climbed up.
Upon reaching the summit, Chen Mu carefully surveyed the terrain, gazing at the distant, insignificant Absolute Sword City, and nodded to himself.
The environment here was even better than he had expected; the mountains were high enough and their bodies were very solid, so they wouldn't collapse during a fierce battle.
"Alright, let's start building the defenses, everyone get to work!"
At Chen Mu's command, nearly five hundred low-level cultivators sprang into action, unloading the items from the carriages one by one and modifying the mountaintop according to the pre-designed plan.
The area around the mountaintop is about two kilometers in circumference, and the terrain is flat, so setting it up shouldn't be too troublesome.
" A Huo, you'll train the Sword Guardian Battalion. You don't need to be absolutely obedient; just ensure they act in unison."
A Huo had helped Chen Hongjie train soldiers for a period of time back then, so he had some experience in this area. That's why Chen Mu assigned him this task.
Chen Mu never thought these people could become a real army, after all, the training time was too short, and the Otherworldly Demon army would attack in five or six days.
As long as they cooperate a little and don't mess things up during the operation, Chen Mu is already quite satisfied.
He himself went to find Kong Yu and discussed with him how to set up a defensive formation on the mountain.
Within the Sword Guardian Battalion, there are also some who assist in cultivating talisman masters, array formations, and even alchemy and weapon crafting, but their skill levels are too low to be of much help. Only Kong Yu, an array master at the third level of the Realm of the Third Layer of the Solid Realm, can play an important role.
Although his skill level wasn't high, Chen Mu still built a materials room, where he placed some common materials for alchemy, weapon crafting, and talisman making, so that they could put their skills to good use when necessary.
From the perspective of array formation alone, Kong Yu's skill level is no weaker than Chen Mu's, but Kong Yu's understanding of runes is far inferior to Chen Mu's.
Chen Mu simply entrusted Kong Yu with setting up the entire defensive formation of Broken Blade Mountain, while he himself adjusted and optimized the formation after Kong Yu's setup to enhance its local power.
After handing over the formation to Kong Yu, Chen Mu felt much more relaxed. He then officially began his research on the Demon Core Bomb in the newly built talisman-making room.
Three days later.
boom!
An explosion rang out in Chen Mu's talisman-making room, but the runes on the walls of the room flickered, blocking the aftershocks of the explosion.
The group building fortifications outside glanced at the talisman-making room but didn't stop, continuing their work.
In the past two days, Chen Mu's talisman-making room has been exploding every one or two hours, and everyone has long since become accustomed to it.
With a creak.
Chen Mu emerged from the talisman-making room, his outer clothes tattered, his body covered in black, his hair disheveled, and he looked utterly wretched.
" A Mu! Are you alright? Did the experiment succeed?"
A Huo stood outside the door, asking with concern.
"Not bad, we should succeed soon!"
At this moment, Chen Duo came over with a wooden basin, a towel, and a set of clothes.
Chen Mu smiled, wiped his face and body with a towel, and changed his outer clothes.
"The people in the ' Sword Guardian Battalion ' have been very cooperative these past few days, and the training has been more effective than I expected."
So I think it's about time to take out your Rune Artifacts and let them familiarize themselves with them, otherwise I'm afraid they won't be able to use Rune Artifacts well."
Chen Mu pondered for a moment and nodded.
"You're right! Alright, I'll go over there now and distribute the Rune Artifacts to them."
To prevent damage to the setup on Broken Blade Mountain during the test of the Rune Artifacts, Chen Mu led the ' Sword Guardian Battalion ' down the mountain and found an open mountain area for the test.
"This is a ' Handheld Rune Cannon,' with a maximum attack range of three kilometers. I'll test one now, and you can experience it."
Chen Mu Handheld Rune Cannon on his shoulder, and a scale plate could be pulled out from the front of his shoulder.
"This scale is for controlling attack distance. It can help you get started quickly. You can control your Spiritual Power at the value marked on this scale to attack targets at any distance."
The farther the attack range, the greater the error of the shell. Therefore, if you are attacking a target more than two or three kilometers away, you must be careful of friendly fire. However, within two kilometers, the possibility of error is very small.
As Chen Mu spoke, he showed his measuring plate to the cultivators of the Sword Guardian Battalion behind him.
The cultivators of the Sword Guardian Battalion were seeing such a strange Rune Artifacts for the first time, and they stared at it intently, completely silent.
"Alright! Now I'll fire a 500-meter shell."
Chen Mu controlled his Spiritual Power, stopping the scale on the cannon barrel at the value of 500, and then released his Spiritual Power.
Bang... whoosh... boom!
A deafening explosion rang out in the distance, startling many people.
Alright! That's how you fire Handheld Rune Cannon.
Anyone who wants to try it can raise their hand to sign up.