Route (Early Update)

"Is Ailisha trying to blast a hole in the sky?" the unicorn asked, puzzled.

The light was suddenly blocked by something, stopping in mid-air, and then began to brighten. Qiluo was initially puzzled, until the light became blinding—was it heading straight for them?!

Before the unicorn could react, six beams of light grazed past her, straightening her mane. The three Grand Magus Mage chasing after her were torn to shreds without a doubt, the residual force penetrating the pursuing mage ranks, kicking up crimson fragments. Finally, they landed on the ground, ploughing through the densest part of the cavalry, leaving long, scorched ditches and a large number of scattered limbs.

The once smooth snowfield was instantly transformed into a scar!

The entire stadium was stunned!

A few seconds later, people reacted. The irresistible power and incomprehensible attack range of the Zijin spell plunged everyone into terror. The White Graupel Cavalry's orderly ranks scattered, and all the soldiers frantically searched for places to hide. The mages who survived the attack also immediately flew away in all directions.

Qiluo turned around stiffly, looking at the fragments of her mage's robe still falling from the sky and the six deep, dark marks on the snowfield. "Su Ming, Li, couldn't you have avoided me a little bit with your projectiles?!" she said indignantly. "My fur is all singed!"

"I'm sorry, the avoidance distance was set too low," Su Ming apologized. "I'll pay attention next time."

Qiluo was furious, "I'll never forgive you, you scumbags!"

****

Despite its sharp tongue, the unicorn circled back and began to snatch anything from the three Grand Magus that emitted Magic Power.

Katharine unwrapped the thick blanket covering the little Tuanzi, tucked the baby into her arms, and packed away three magic staffs and a pile of broken ornaments and props along the way into the blanket:

Her hands moved swiftly, but her gaze darted back and forth between the ground and the sky. High above, where the spell's trajectory twisted, hovered a strangely shaped octagonal flying machine, its colorful mirrored base shimmering eerily in the sunlight.

Katharine realized that it was this flight device, controlled by mirrors, that completed the final calibration for this ultra-long-range attack.

"Reflection?" she murmured to herself, "But what kind of material could reflect such powerful magic?"

Katharine used her Eagle Eye and quickly identified the material of the mirror—a Magic Crystal Core. A mouthful of blood choked Katharine's throat.

Each small piece of this rare crystal core should have been carefully designed and meticulously polished by a crystal core craftsman. Instead, it has been crudely polished into a smooth surface, cut into uniform angles, and pieced together to form a mirror.

They are grouped together in the same category, with each element occupying a corner, piecing together a hexagonal snowflake pattern that is almost eerily beautiful.

Even though she was the one who had just been rescued, Katharine still felt that this action was justified!

However, Magic Power could still seep into the tiny gaps between the crystal cores, which would tear and damage the mirror. Upon closer inspection, Katharine indeed saw that the mirror's backing material was entirely made of Celestial Gold!

Katharine was at a loss for words.

Also, I hope Ailisha won't charge her the entire exorbitant cost of the materials for this mirror!

After the unicorn finished scavenging, it smacked the Grand Magus Mage hooves, shouting, "Bad guy!"

"Let's go!" she called to Katharine, and the two then ran towards the train.

They quickly flew to where the Zijin was. The tea-haired girl was kneeling quietly on the snow, holding a thermos and sipping steaming strawberry-flavored milk.

Zijin raised her hand and greeted the two, "Greetings, Children of the Moon and Your Majesty the Queen, whom I have only recently parted ways with!"

"Hmph, exhausted, aren't you!" Qiluo flew forward, her two hooves ruthlessly pressing Zijin down onto the snow. Then, she grabbed Zi Jin by the collar, lifted her into the air like a kitten, and continued flying towards the train.

****

As the unicorn returned, the Youth Civilization had already slowly started moving. With a whirring sound, the tracks of the steam locomotive turned, pressing deep grooves into the snow and revealing the ice surface of Nuoxia Lake below.

"Full speed ahead!" Hansite said to the Gospel.

The steam locomotive's valves were opened to their maximum, and its speed steadily increased. Large swaths of snow were swirled up and flung to the sides and rear, scattering like comet tails in the wind. The long train began to speed away from the battlefield.

In the workshop car, Su Ming sat at a long table, holding a cup of refreshing tea, while rubbing his forehead with his other hand.

Zijin sat down next to him, and Su Ming handed her a few mints, which he had bought at the market earlier.

"How are you?" he asked.

"The Magic Power power I just unleashed exceeded this body's capacity." Zijin peeled a piece of candy and popped it into her mouth. "It needs some time to recover." She suddenly spat out the candy, "What a weird taste!"

"Ten kilometers is still too far," Su Ming reflected. "It was my misjudgment."

At this distance, the Zijin had to use its maximum output to compensate for the energy loss over the long distance.

Katharine handed the Tuanzi to Younier, used magic to stabilize her injuries, and then sat down across the table. "Thank you all. I really thought I was going to die."

"Just think about how you're going to pay me back," Zijin said. "I don't owe you anything anymore. I don't need to tell you how precious the material of that mirror is; just be considerate."

"... No rush, there's still a twenty-seven-year payment period." Katharine poured herself some hot tea and took a sip.

Zijin paused upon hearing this. She was asking for an exorbitant price, but Katharine adopted a deadbeat attitude.

Su Ming couldn't help but laugh. This time, the cutting of the Magic Crystal Core was designed using professional software, which greatly reduced material waste, leaving half of the crystal core intact. However, judging from the recent battle, they hadn't considered the possibility of long-distance dispersion. They should have added a slight concave angle to the mirror to create a focusing effect.

"You didn't make a mistake just now." Katharine turned to Su Ming, pointing to the clear sky behind the Youth Civilization, "The enemy has been terrified and won't dare to make any rash moves for a while."

In close-quarters combat, the weakness of insufficient numbers on one's own side will be exposed. If the enemy swarms in, they can be overwhelmed by a series of attacks.

Therefore, from a safety perspective, Su Ming chose to deter the enemy from a distance.

Katharine saw through his plan, and Su Ming no longer hid it. "We have the advantage in mobility; buying us some time is enough to escape. There's no need to fight to the death."

"Indeed. And the results this time were quite good," said Katharine. "Those three Grand Magus Mage were completely innocent."

The drone footage showed that the three Grand Magus Mage, who achieved the greatest victory, were completely unprepared for the sudden attack and simply maintained a normal defensive posture.

Although they sensed the energy fluctuations of the Zijin Saint Rank, they never expected to encounter such a precise attack from ten kilometers away, nor did they anticipate the beam spell would suddenly deflect at the last moment. If the Zijin had launched a surprise attack in a normal manner, this outcome would not have occurred. With the three Grand Magus Mage adopting a fighting stance, the battle could have entered a war of attrition.

However, other results were unremarkable. The otherworldly army was also composed of extraordinary beings, and since the energy dissipated after hitting the Grand Magus, half of the mages hit were able to withstand the attack thanks to their shields. On the ground, most of the warriors who were not directly hit but were within the affected area also survived.

The scene was horrifying, but the actual number of kills was not very high.

****

The skeleton servant took the map and intended to spread it out on the long table, but Katharine stopped him.

She took the magic book "Blue Bamboo Slips and Rue" from her belt, hovered it in mid-air, and casually manipulated it, projecting a high-precision military map onto the table.

Katharine glanced out the window. "We're heading northeast. How fast are we going?"

Su Ming picked up the microphone and asked Hansite in the driver's seat, "Twenty degrees east of north, speed 33 kilometers per hour."

As coal consumption decreased, the locomotive's weight reduced, resulting in an increase in speed compared to its initial state. The area is now a flat, frozen lake surface, the perfect terrain for the Youth Civilization to perform optimally.

Katharine breathed a sigh of relief. "That's definitely enough. Even if the enemy had two legs, they couldn't catch up at this speed."

"What's next?" Su Ming asked. "Let's make this clear first, I know nothing about land warfare. Just treat me like an idiot."

"Don't be modest. Here's a military common sense handbook; you can easily crush over 90% of the commanders in this world," Katharine replied. She looked at the map and asked, "Outside of Nuoxia Lake, where there's no smooth ice surface, won't the train's speed decrease?"

"Yes, reduce it to about twenty kilometers per hour."

"Further northwest, the terrain becomes even more rugged." Katharine's finger slid across the map, pointing to a spot 900 kilometers ahead of the train. "So, we'll have to cross the Middle Ridge Mountain Range at Red Fruit Slope?"

Red Fruit Slope is the smoothest part of the Middle Ridge Mountain Range. Su Ming nodded, "This was the route I originally planned to take to the second step."

Although it was a short time, Katharine had already perceived the performance range and limitations of the Youth Civilization through various details she observed.

Katharine continued marking the map with her magic cursor. "After crossing the mountain, what's your planned route?"

"Follow the river." Starting from the crossing point, Su Ming followed Katharine's example and used Magic Power to draw a path to continue north.

Katharine's face darkened. "Are we going to pass through the vicinity of Bubing City?"

"Yes, otherwise why would I say I'd take you to that area?" Su Ming replied.

This is no coincidence. Places with abundant water resources are more likely to attract populations, Bubing City is located on the Sang River. This also happens to be the requirement of the Youth Civilization for roads, which has determined the current situation.

"No. The Kingdom's City Guard is stationed in Bubing City; they're larger, and their mage units are far more powerful," said Katharine. "Charging in like that is suicide!"

"Can we go around it?" Zijin asked.

"There's an old riverbed to the north that we can utilize; I need to plan it out," Su Ming replied, turning on his computer to begin calculations.

While Su Ming was calculating, Zijin turned to Katharine and questioned her, "What exactly did you do? You forced the Cold Mountain Kingdom to risk a national war, involve Princess Dafulin, and use special forces to kill you?"

"You're not bad at being a scholar either, "Su Ming thought to himself.

Katharine looked uncharacteristically bewildered. "I don't understand any of this. Killing me would do me no good, and I've always had a pretty good relationship with the Cold Mountain Royal Family."

"You actually believe a politician's honeyed words and treacherous heart?" Zijin scoffed without hesitation. "Are you stupid?"

Katharine rubbed her face, unsure how to answer.

Su Ming asked Katharine another question, "How did you and Qiluo escape?"

That's a full-scale field regiment, plus a mage squad!

"Oh, after I joined the search party, they said they would take me to the camp," Katharine explained. "The officer in charge very warmly invited Qiluo to have lunch with him at the camp, and she gladly accepted."

Upon hearing this, Su Ming turned to Qiluo, who was tending to her wounds, and said, "Didn't you just finish eating?"

The unicorn turned its head and said, "It's afternoon tea time!"

You actually find the army's food acceptable?

"Can't I try it out?" Qiluo remained defiant.

"But I realized we were going the wrong way," Katharine continued. "They led us to a nearby valley. But the camp you told me was in Turkmen City, not this way."

Su Ming and Zijin had already scouted the White Graupel Cavalry's camp and knew its exact location.

"I was still wondering what we'd get to eat later." Qiluo finished tending to her wounds and downed the tea bowl prepared by the skeleton on the long table. "Her Majesty the Empress suddenly overturned the snow and pulled me away. I was completely bewildered when I saw a large group of people rushing out of the valley and chasing after us."

"We almost got surrounded." Katharine was also a little scared; she never expected to be confronted by the White Graupel Cavalry.

"Don't worry, if anything really happens, I'll find a way to collect your body," Zijin said.

"I want lisianthus flowers for the funeral. If the body is intact, dress me in a light yellow evening gown for the entrance. Keep everything else simple," Katharine replied quickly.

"Hey, you've really gone too far," Zijin said irritably. "Even if I collect your corpse, I'll freeze it into an ice block. Go ask Xialike for your reward."

"No need to be so considerate in helping me return to my roots, just bury me where I am!" Katharine chuckled.

****

Su Ming finished his calculations and drew a new route. "After crossing Red Fruit Slope, we'll take the ancient riverbed and circle around Returning Bird Bay. The road conditions are a bit worse, but it will allow us to pass through the area more than 200 kilometers away from Bubing City."

Katharine calculated, "This distance is enough to avoid the Bubing City Guard. They're not a field force; their mobility isn't as good as the White Graupel Cavalry."

She estimated the distance using the map, "900 kilometers, which means two days. We won't arrive at Red Fruit Slope until the 21st." She thought for a moment, "Does the train need maintenance before crossing the mountain?"

Su Ming was unsurprised by her keen observation skills. "Yes, it will take two hours."

After the White Bone Mark was upgraded, the speed of Magic Power recovery was no longer an issue. However, the mechanical parts of the Youth Civilization still required maintenance, only the required docking time was shortened.

"If we don't stop, after crossing the mountains and another two days, that is, the 23rd, we will pass through Returning Bird Bay," Katharine calculated. "That's more than enough time to shake off our pursuers. The White Graupel Cavalry have just suffered a setback and need to regroup before they can resume their operations. The mages we just encountered were from Northern Lands noble mage corps; their morale and tactical discipline are even worse, they can't possibly catch up with us."

"What about the other enemies?" Su Ming asked.

Now that the White Graupel Cavalry has arrived, we cannot ignore other forces in the Northern Lands, such as the Bubing City the Cold Mountain Royal Family, and the main force of the noble army.

"This inexplicable trap," Katharine grumbled. She got up and walked towards the crying Tuanzi. "Let me catch my breath and think things through—I need to feed the little one."

Katharine took a few steps before she fluttered up, but fortunately, Qiluo caught her quickly. "Please lie down on the bed, Your Majesty, let me treat your wounds again," she said warmly.

Su Ming gave the eager unicorn a strange look. He stood up to get the formula and bottle, "Let's feed the little Tuanzi milk."

Katharine rubbed her chest, somewhat helplessly, "Given my condition, he'll have to be weaned at such a young age."

"Don't worry, I was exclusively formula-fed when I was little," Zijin said. "Atiya never fed me."

Katharine glanced at Zijin's chest, swallowing back the words she was about to use to criticize the mother and daughter for being so similar. "Ailisha,"

According to my intelligence, Atiya is in Dragon Valley.

"She's in Misaila?" Zijin was surprised to hear this. "Atiya hasn't been back for almost twenty years."

"If you have some free time, you might want to go and visit her there."

"Of course."

Katharine turned her head and let out a barely audible sigh.