The bridal escort army was indeed still in the Divine Martial Kingdom… due to the fact that Jiang Yi contacted the heaven and earth laws, causing the Heaven and Earth Anomaly. It was why the bridal escort army had been delayed; if not, they would already have made it into the Great Xia Kingdom’s territory.
When the nine rays of divine light shot into Mt. Fire Cloud, the bridal escort army was at the southern part of Divine Martial Kingdom. They were about to detour around Mt. Thirty Thousand, advancing towards the Soul Break Valley.
With such a horrifying heaven-and-earth energy wave, it naturally alarmed the Soul Travel Realm experts in the army; and it also surprised Xia Wuhui. He immediately issued an order for the army to stop and stay vigilant while sending out scouts to investigate. These scouts quickly met with the scouts that were sent by Xia Tingwei.
Once the report came back, Xia Wuhui was even more cautious, not to recklessly make any move. He had a highly esteemed status. Without a clear situation ahead, how would he dare to march his army? The marriage date had been set for a long time, but a casual statement from Xia Tingwei would easily alter it—as safety was always placed at the top priority.
After finding nothing from the scouting report, Xia Wuhui began to be hesitant. After scouting for two days, he finally couldn’t hold back anymore. If the scouting report remained undetermined, was he not going to the Great Xia Kingdom for his whole life? If he didn’t go, how was he going to marry and bring back a beautiful bride like Su Ruoxue?
“Continue to advance. The scouts will clear out a 50-kilometer radius from the army, reporting back every one hour. General Long, you will lead 2000 men to the Summer Wind City and hand over our credentials. General Su Diguo will definitely send out an army to escort us along the way!”
On the fourth day, Xia Wuhui gave out his orders as the army advanced quickly. A general led a battalion of 2000 men scouting the roads ahead, making sure it was safe.
There were around 100 Soul Travel Realm experts in the nearby vicinity of Xia Wuhui’s luxurious carriage. There were even 1000 elite soldiers who were fully equipped with God-Exterminating Crossbows. Even if a peak-stage Soul Travel Realm expert came to assault them, there was only death waiting for them. As for Vajra Realm martial experts, they were countable by fingers in the continent; and none of them would risk offending the Divine Martial Kingdom just to kill Xia Wuhui.
Scouts would constantly return to report that the road ahead was safe. When the army entered the Soul Break Valley, Xia Wuhui heard the report that there were no martial artists lying in ambush in the valley ahead. He was finally relieved.
As long as they went across the Soul Break Valley, it would be the Great Xia Kingdom which was even safer. In the north of the Great Xia Kingdom was the main city, Summer Wind City, where 300,000 soldiers were stationed. Once they knew that Xia Wuhui had arrived, they would certainly send out a few tens of thousands of soldiers to come escort them. After all, if Xia Wuhui died in the Great Xia Kingdom, they would be the ultimate victims.
The Soul Break Valley was still the same ghastly and dusky path with bones littered on the ground, making it look frightening.
Xia Wuhui was seated in the luxurious carriage and felt restless. When he pulled open the curtains to see that he was surrounded by Soul Travel Realm experts and countless Royal Military soldiers, he felt a slight relief. He still gave his orders: “Hasten the advance and quickly get through the Soul Break Valley.”
After the orders were handed down, the entire army began to increase their speed. The Soul Break Valley was too narrow while the pavement was rugged and uneven. For an army of more than 10,000 to pass through, they would need at least one hour.
…
“Pong, Pong, Pong!”
As the army marched with unified footsteps, it brought about a tremble on the surface of the ground, awakening the sleeping Jiang Yi who suddenly opened his eyes. He didn’t recklessly make a move and place his ears on the mud wall instead. He wasn’t knowledgeable about military affairs, but he had some common sense—like for example, a massive army would generally send out an advance party to scout the roads ahead.
As expected!
In just one hour, the shaking on the surface of the ground had vanished. According to the footsteps, Jiang Yi estimated that 2000 individuals went across on the surface; and the real army was following behind.
Two hours later, footsteps echoed again; and Jiang Yi was startled like a hedgehog, with all his hairs raised up. He revealed sharpness like an unsheathed artifact sword, but he didn’t dare to release his killing aura, afraid that someone from the surface would detect him.
“Pong, Pong, Pong!”
The footsteps sounded very disciplined, and it was apparent that the army above contained the elites that were trained as they marched without any chaotic rhythm. Jiang Yi squatted in the underground cave, counting silently the number of soldiers in the army by their footsteps.
The underground cave he dug was just tens of meters from the surface, and he was only leaning on the mud walls to listen. He could even clearly hear the voices that came from above.
“Yar, Yar!”
Suddenly, he heard an indistinct sound of wheels rolling. He could feel that there were many martial artists around this carriage, and the footsteps from these people sounded much lighter.
“Xia Wuhui!”
His heart jolted while his eyes were filled with killing aura. These martial artists with light steps were obviously Soul Travel Realm guards, and with so many guards around this carriage, it meant that there was someone of esteemed status riding in this carriage.
“I must not move!”
Jiang Yi resisted the urge to rush onto the surface and slaughter everything. He told himself he was here to plunder the Soul-Subduing Herb—not to kill. Moreover, among all the Soul Travel Realm experts, there was surely a peak-stage Soul Travel Realm expert. Even if he was to suddenly appear and kill Xia Wuhui, he would definitely be dead.
The carriage advanced at a fast speed while Jiang Yi clenched both his fist and waited with a grave expression. After 30 minutes, wheels of carriages echoed again; and there were three carriages with an obvious increase in the number of guards.
“Kill!”
Jiang Yi couldn’t contain his killing aura anymore. One of the spirit beast talismans lit up in his hand, and the Fire Phoenix whizzed out. He yelled out, “Fire Phoenix, release your flames and follow this tunnel for five kilometers. You can counter-kill any human that wants to attack you!”
“Chirp-Chirp!”
The injuries on the Fire Phoenix was obviously not recovered yet, but with Jiang Yi’s orders, it cried out with a secret grudge, emitting blazing flames on its body before it dashed in a tunnel that was dug by Big Huang earlier.
Jiang Yi didn’t care whether this Fire Phoenix understood his orders as he didn’t expect for it to be able to kill Xia Wuhui. He just wanted the Fire Phoenix to go lure away some enemy strength and die.
Xia Wuhui had too many experts surrounding him. If he was to allocate some to intercept Jiang Yi—before Jiang Yi could even obtain the Soul-Subduing Herb, he would already be dead.
Xia Wuhui had a status of a Crown Prince, and his life was naturally the most precious. Hence, he sent the Fire Phoenix towards Xia Wuhui’s direction, which would cause the experts around him to prioritize Xia Wuhui’s protection and slay this Fire Phoenix.
“Swish!”
The Black Scale Sword appeared in Jiang Yi’s hand as he burst towards the surface. The Black Scale Sword flashed into chilling lights, turning all the mud and rocks above into fine powder, while he burst through with lightning speed.
“En?”
Once the Fire Phoenix appeared, a Soul Travel Realm expert on the surface immediately sensed it; and as the Fire Phoenix turned into a sharp arrow that flew along the tunnel ahead, the blazing flames from the body quickly alerted all the soldiers on the surface as well.
“Enemy assault!”
Innumerable yells echoed as many of the soldiers blew their long horns, warning the experts around Xia Wuhui.
“En?”
When Xia Wuhui heard the horn, his expression immediately changed as he quickly sensed the blazing heat coming from below the ground; and it was getting hotter. There was obviously a formidable demonic beast of the fire attribute that was approaching him.
“Your Highness, do not panic. It is just a tier-three demonic beast!”
An old and grayed-hair royal eunuch, who had a hunched back, flashed through the partitions of the carriage. He used a single hand to lift Xia Wuhui and flew out of the carriage. This eunuch looked very old but had competent strength. Pointing on the carriage with a single leg, they flew along the cliffs, straight up towards the top of the Soul Break Valley, and finally stopping on a protruding rock hundreds of meters above.
“Swish!”
Dozens of Soul Travel Realm flew up in succession, using their weapons to thrust into the cliffs and launch themselves upwards as they climbed and quickly guarded the nearby vicinity of where Xia Wuhui was.
“Kill!”
The rest of the Soul Travel Realm experts went into the ground while the Royal Military elites formed ten-man groups while arming themselves with the God-Exterminating Crossbow in their hands, ready to deal with any unexpected situation.
