The Speedrun Begins with Choosing Hunter

Chapter 260: Chapter 260: Nine Heavens Profound Soldiers

The thirteenth day of the Northern Garrison Army’s northern expedition.

News finally reached the Great Wall.

To be precise, it came from soldiers who had fled back from the Northern Plains.

The Northern Garrison Army was defeated...

Grand General of the North Yang Baizhou had fallen in battle, and the one-hundred-thousand-strong army had scattered and fled.

The news quickly spread to the Capital City, shocking the entire Court. The Xuan Yang people, who had been dominant for millennia, could never have imagined that they would be defeated!

Of the one-hundred-thousand-strong army, only thirty thousand made it back.

Such a terrible loss was difficult for even the Xuanyang Dynasty to bear.

According to the soldiers who fled from the Northern Plains, the Northern Garrison Army had already crushed the Demon Sect’s main force and was about to press their advantage northward to secure a decisive victory when something unexpected happened.

They witnessed a scene they couldn’t have conjured even in their wildest dreams.

A mountain of corpses in a sea of blood.

A true mountain of corpses and sea of blood. The Demon Sect, after biding its time for a thousand years, had actually set up an unprecedented Ten Thousand Spirits Festival in the Northern Plains.

It was said that the Demon Sect summoned a Demon God that slaughtered more than half of the Northern Garrison Army’s experts. Seeing their chance, hidden Demon Sect masters launched a counterattack.

With most of the Northern Garrison Army’s elite generals killed by that Demon God, their only option was to flee for their lives.

The Xuan Yang people had always thought this was just the Demon Sect’s wishful thinking, never expecting that a Demon God truly existed.

With the crushing defeat of the Northern Garrison Army, the Xuan Yang Court couldn’t muster enough soldiers to take on the Demon Sect.

At this time, Grand Tutor Xuanyang, Han Yu, made a suggestion.

Xuan Yang may be short on soldiers, but the sects were still as wealthy as ever, each one richer than the last. Why not make them contribute?

Of course, those thousand-year-old foxes wouldn’t help of their own accord, so Grand Tutor Han proposed putting the already-fallen Five States in the Northern Territory on the table.

Whichever sect could retake a city would be granted ownership of that city.

After all, the fallen cities were no longer under Xuan Yang’s control anyway. With this move, the Court could get the sects to act without spending a single coin.

As soon as this news broke, the sects that had been watching coldly from the sidelines could no longer sit still.

Although Xuan Yang ruled the world alongside the sects, it actually placed many restrictions on them. For instance, expanding a sect’s territory was no simple matter.

Establishing a branch sect required navigating layers of approval from the Court’s Ministry of War, a process that alone could hold back many major sects.

After all, the Xuan Yang Court would not just stand by and watch these sects grow too powerful.

But now, this step was effectively skipped. As long as they could retake a city from the Demon Sect, that city would become their branch sect.

It was the same for the great noble families as it was for the sects.

If they could seize a city, they would be ennobled on the spot, and that city would naturally become their fiefdom.

In an instant, experts from all over the world flocked to the Northern Territory.

In times of peace, such a chance to be ennobled was rare indeed.

...

Huanglong Prefecture, Prefecture Magistrate’s Office.

"Ah Yuan, our chance to strike it rich has arrived!"

Yang Fangyu’s eyes shone as he gazed at the official document from the Capital City in his hand.

National grudges and family feuds?

He couldn’t care less. The only reason he’d been willing to come to Shuofang from the Jiangnan Water Village was to win fame and fortune.

The danger from the Demon Sect was still present, but it was nothing compared to this heaven-sent opportunity.

Bai Yuan, meanwhile, was holding a military report from the Northern Garrison Army.

’A Demon God...’

His mind raced. ’So such terrifying beings really do exist in this world?’

He had clashed with the Soul-Chasing Tower and the Celestial Heart Sect several times before, and nearly every slaughter was accompanied by a Ten Thousand Spirits Festival.

Bai Yuan had always been convinced it was all just feudal superstition, but he never expected the Demon Sect to have actually figured it out.

However, according to the military report, the Demon God had only appeared once before vanishing again.

’Divine Mansion... Demon God...’

’It seems this world is even more mysterious than I thought.’

"Forget it."

Bai Yuan shook his head, clearing his mind of distracting thoughts.

Compared to some ethereal Demon God, he needed to focus on the current situation.

Yang Fangyu looked at Bai Yuan. "Ah Yuan, what do you say we join forces?"

"I have eight hundred private soldiers from the Yang Family, and you’re the Sect Leader of the Divine Mansion Sect. Between the two of us, we have enough troops to get things done!"

At these words, Bai Yuan felt a stir of interest.

’This way, not only could I kill openly and legitimately, but I could also expand the Divine Mansion Sect’s influence. It would be killing two birds with one stone.’

Seeing Bai Yuan nod, Yang Fangyu was overjoyed.

...

The various factions of Xuan Yang dispatched their forces and headed north.

But to the world’s surprise, after crushing the Northern Garrison Army, the Demon Sect did not seize the golden opportunity to press its advantage. Instead, after occupying the Great Wall, it advanced no further.

Even the Demon Sect masters within the Northern Border States silently withdrew to beyond the Great Wall.

"What is the Demon Sect really after?"

Jiang Changping frowned.

The Demon Sect’s actions were so strange that he couldn’t help but be suspicious.

Du Qinghui said, "Because their goal was never Xuan Yang to begin with. It’s to use the Ten Thousand Spirits Festival to activate the Nine Heavens Profound Soldiers."

As soon as he said this, the expressions of both Jiang Changping and Dong Wanjun changed drastically.

The Nine Heavens Profound Soldiers... those were the supreme Divine Artifacts of the Martial Dao.

No one knows how the Nine Heavens Profound Soldiers came into being, but anyone familiar with the history of the Grand Ancestor Emperor’s founding of the dynasty knows that besides his own heaven-defying talent, he had also earned the recognition of the Nine Heavens Profound Soldiers.

The Li Family’s thousand-year rule over the world was inextricably linked to the Nine Heavens Profound Soldiers.

Legend had it that the Demon Sect Ancestor Master once possessed one of the Nine Heavens Profound Soldiers as well. To think it was actually true.

Only a terrifying existence like the Nine Heavens Profound Soldiers could have had the power to repel the Northern Garrison Army.

Du Qinghui snorted coldly. "The Demon Sect is treating our Xuanyang Soldiers like pigs and dogs for a sacrifice. They are truly despicable!"

After learning about the Nine Heavens Profound Soldiers, Jiang Changping and Dong Wanjun instantly understood the reason behind the Demon Sect’s actions.

With its current strength, the Demon Sect couldn’t possibly swallow Xuan Yang whole. So it was better to occupy the Great Wall, making it convenient to raid and slaughter to the south whenever they wished.

In the end, everything the Demon Sect did was to revive the Nine Heavens Profound Soldiers.