"It's me, A Mu."
Chen Mu recognized Chen Hongjie's voice, so he had no choice but to stop his research and open the door.
"Third Uncle, is there something you need?"
"Yes, A Mu, the Flame Blessing Tribe has been blocking our way for more than half a month. If we don't drive them away soon, the damage to our prestige will only get stronger."
So I plan to fight the Flame Blessing Tribe tomorrow. In any case, we can't afford to lose face."
Chen Hongjie is under a lot of pressure right now. If it weren't for Chen Mu creating a small teleportation array that allows them to trade with the outside world, they might be facing a food shortage right now.
Chen Mu pondered for a moment.
In the past two weeks, most of the cultivators in Chen Village who have surpassed the Qi Nourishing Realm have adapted to the Five Elements Pattern and their strength has made significant progress.
With the addition of armor and magical artifacts by Chen Mu, as well as improvements to Rune Artifacts, the overall combat strength of the Spear Squad and Cannon Squad has been greatly enhanced, and they now indeed have the strength to compete with the Flame Blessing Tribe.
"Okay, then let's have a strategic meeting tonight, at 7 PM. I'll be there on time."
Chen Hongjie breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Chen Mu agree; he was afraid that Chen Mu would not support his decision.
"Okay, I'll go back and prepare now."
After Chen Hongjie left, Chen Mu seemed to suddenly remember something and took out Ten-Thousand-Li Communication Talisman from his storage ring.
Contact Chen Duo!
Chen Mu activated the runes on the communication talisman, but the light on it flickered twice and then went out.
Contact Mingye!
Chen Mu continued to activate the communication talisman, but the runes on it also flickered twice and then went out.
He had previously agreed with Chen Duo and Mingye to contact each other at least once every two weeks, but now he hadn't been able to reach them for more than two weeks, which made him a little worried.
However, he had asked someone to inquire about the cabinet a few days ago, and they all said that nothing special had happened.
There are no more than fifteen disciples in the entire Heaven-Questioning Pavilion's inner circle. If someone were to get into trouble, there would be a reason why there was no news at all. So he felt much more at ease.
For cultivators, going into seclusion for a year or two is quite common. Perhaps some of them have encountered an opportunity for a breakthrough, which has delayed them.
So he calmed himself down, stopped overthinking, and focused on dealing with the Flame Blessing Tribe tribe first.
The next day, at the entrance of Chen Village.
More than four hundred cavalrymen, clad in blood-red armor, wielding fine iron spears and leading ferocious beasts, stood in a square formation, their expressions solemn and their presence imposing.
Beside them were two Rune Artifacts teams of only fifty or sixty people each, each carrying a unique Rune Artifacts. One team carried identical Rune Gun, while the other carried identical Handheld Rune Cannon on their backs, but each carried a small, exquisite shield.
Both teams of Rune Artifacts wore light blue armor that shimmered with a soft glow, appearing to be of higher quality than the cavalry.
Beside them were uniformly equipped Azure Wind Horse Azure Wind Horse, which were used for travel and not suitable for combat.
"Let's go! Destination: Wuyan Market."
At Chen Hongjie's command, the procession of over five hundred people set off in a grand procession toward Wuyan Market.
Chen Hongjie led over two hundred cavalrymen at the front, Chen Mu led two squads of Spear Squad and cannonmen in the middle, Chen Zihu led another two hundred cavalrymen at the rear.
The Wuyan Mountain Range are Chen Village's home turf. They are very familiar with the distribution and power of the monsters in the surrounding area, so they did not encounter any obstacles along the way.
The army of over 500 men in Chen Village were completely disciplined and well-trained on the road, which shows that Chen Zihu and his men put a lot of effort into training their troops.
These soldiers were all highly skilled, mostly at the Eighth-Stage Martial Artist or above, making them the most elite group in Chen Village.
Mutou's ' Fate Vision ' device was constantly flashing with data streams; he was collecting data on the march.
He currently has a plan to train the Chen Village army to form battle formations.
Battle formations are a branch of array formations. Array formations are generally formed using inanimate objects such as Spirit Stone, materials, and magical artifacts, while array formations composed of living beings and armies are called battle formations.
Some formations, although composed of living beings, do not belong to the category of battle formations.
For example, when Chen Mu participated in the entrance examination for the Heaven-Questioning Pavilion, someone set up a Zhoutian Star Array. Although the array required the examinees as the array base, the array could not be moved. The examinees were actually used as spiritual objects, so it was not a battle array.
A true battle formation is a method that can combine the power of its members to enhance attack and defense capabilities, and even bring about a qualitative change in combat power.
Battle formations are more complex and more difficult to control than battle formations.
Because living beings can move and have self-awareness, it is difficult to control them to strictly follow the rules of the formation.
The formation of a battle formation often requires years of practice, and some even require specific techniques, making it very complex. Therefore, even among the major powers in the Central Land, very few possess battle formations.
Throughout the entire Wilderness, Chen Mu had never even heard of any force possessing an army capable of forming battle formations.
The ' Five Elements Battle Formation ' that he had been studying during this period was for the army in Chen Village.
His progress is going smoothly so far, and I believe that he will be able to test it on the Five Elements Guards soon. If there are no problems, he will then extend it to the core army of Chen Village.
When Chen Village's army arrived outside Wuyan Market, the Flame Blessing Tribe's army was already waiting in full battle array.
"Hmph! So these cowards have finally shown themselves?"
Tuoba Ziying stood in the center of the army, his eyes filled with malice.
The Wuyan Mountain Range are much more barren than most of the Flame Blessing Tribe's territory. He wouldn't be able to gain much by occupying the Wuyan Market, and he had long since wanted to leave.
However, the Tuoba Lineage ancestor had given a death order: if Chen Village was not eliminated this time, they could not return.
He had tried many methods these days, but with little success. He couldn't break through Chen Village's defenses at all and could only stay here and wait for his prey to come to him.
" Mo Junnian, has your Mo Lineage Army reached the designated position? This time, we must block their retreat and not let them escape."
Tuoba Ziying used a communication jade tablet to communicate in a low voice with Mo Junnian, the commander of the Mo Lineage Army.
"Almost there, just give me another incense stick's time."
After receiving confirmation, Tuoba Ziying put away his communication jade token, walked to the front of the army, and faced Chen Village's troops from a distance of more than 300 meters.
" Chen Hongjie, what, weren't the deaths last time enough? You want to test the might of my Flame Blessing Legion again?"
Tuoba Ziying had only a little over two hundred men with him, and even with the addition of the Mo Lineage Army, they only had about three hundred men in total, but their morale was much stronger than that of Chen Village's troops.
Because it was a long-distance raid, the troops sent by the Flame Blessing Tribe to attack Chen Village were all composed of cultivators at or above the Qi Nourishing Realm.
They originally had more than 400 men, but more than 100 were lost during the attack on Chen Village, so now only about 300 men remain.
"Hmph! Tuoba Ziying, don't be arrogant. No matter how strong your Flame Blessing Tribe, it's still thousands of kilometers away."
Think this through. If you continue to be so unyielding, don't blame me for fighting to the death. Even if our Chen Village is severely weakened, your Tuoba Lineage will gain nothing!
Chen Hongjie's words struck a nerve with Tuoba Ziying.
Ever since Chen Haoran stole his opportunity back then, he seems to have never gained any advantage over anyone with the surname Chen.
In order to deal with Chen Village, even the assassins his father had carefully trained were lured away by Chen Mu. After fighting Chen Village for so long, he really didn't gain any benefits at all.
He remained silent for a moment with a sullen face, then suddenly laughed.
"Alright! I can consider withdrawing my troops, as long as you are willing to give me Spirit Stone as compensation."
Tuoba Ziying's sudden change of attitude startled Chen Hongjie for a moment, but he quickly recovered.
" Spirit Stone? How many Spirit Stone do you want?"
"Two thousand fourth-grade Spirit Stone! If you give me two thousand fourth-grade Spirit Stone, I will withdraw my troops!"
"Impossible, we don't have that many Spirit Stone!"
"How much can you offer? I'll think about it."
Chen Hongjie was silent for a moment, then finally extended a hand.
Five hundred fourth-grade Spirit Stone.
As soon as Chen Hongjie finished speaking, a deep rumble sounded behind him.