Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Jiang Chen went back over the valley. The battle there was over. Dead bodies were everywhere, almost all of them from the Dragon Rebel Army.
Tang Zhengyi came up to Jiang Chen in a hurry before the latter had the time to taste the joy of victory and told him something.
Then Jiang Chen turned ashen. He ran into the valley.
He saw Whitty lying on his stomach on a big rock, looking very weak. He tried to get to his feet at the sight of Jiang Chen, but his limbs were too weak to do so.
“Why did you force yourself so much?!” Jiang Chen reproached him unhappily. Then he cuddled Whitty with pity.
Whitty wasn’t injured. In fact, he was safe and sound.
But giving that drop of golden essence blood to Jiang Chen had almost exhausted him, and then he had fought against three troops alone. That was how he had ended up like this.
“You’ve grown up. You have the nerve to lie to me now, don’t you?”
Jiang Chen took out his best recovery panaceas to give Whitty.
However, he found the situation was trickier than he had originally thought. Whitty’s body was like a bottomless pit for all those resources.
And they still hadn’t helped Whitty recover.
“Why is that?”
Jiang Chen couldn’t sit still any more. He put his hands on Whitty’s head and body and closed his eyes.
He wore a distressed expression when he opened his eyes. He didn’t know what to say.
It turned out that Whitty was in the vital stage of a breakthrough.
It could have been compared to the breakthrough to grand Venerable. Needless to say, it was important.
However, after doing so much for him, Whitty was not only exhausted, but his body was suffering from an energy deficiency.
Even if he gave all of the energy resources he had in the spiritual storage ware to Whitty, it was possible they wouldn’t be enough.
And Whitty couldn’t even take all of them.
The first idea that Jiang Chen came up with was to deploy a grand formation to take in the essence of the universe, but then he realized they were in the Alien Battlefield.
He ordered Asura to summon numerous low-level demons so that Whitty could absorb them, but it had little effect.
“Dada…”
Whitty didn’t have the heart to see him coated with sweat due to anxiety.
“You…” Jiang Chen couldn’t think clearly. Nothing helpful occurred to him.
“General, you need large amounts of resources, don’t you?” Tang Zhengyi and the others asked him. They had realized the tricky situation.
“Yep. Do you know any way to get them?”
“The resources were what we were fighting the Dragon Rebel Army for here. Maybe we can help…” Tang Zhengyi had no idea what word he should use to describe Whitty.
But Jiang Chen didn’t care. He was pleasantly surprised, since he had been reminded of something.
He knew that there was Black Yellow Gas under the basin, which could be used for Whitty.
“Move,” Jiang Chen ordered. He took Whitty to the deepest part of the valley and said to him, “I’ll deploy a hiding formation and a defense formation. You stay inside. Don’t leave.”
Whitty was nervous to hear that. He grasped Jiang Chen’s clothes with his sharp paws, unwilling to let the latter go.
“Don’t worry. I’ll come back. If I stay here, I can do nothing but watch you become weaker and weaker. If you die, we won’t see each other anymore, will we?” Jiang Chen said.
Whitty still wasn’t willing to let him go. Jiang Chen, looking concerned, had to order him to stay there in a serious tone.
He deployed two fantastic formations in the valley right away. Then he started to act with Tang Zhengyi and the other soldiers.
First, they were going to meet up with the Red Flame Battalion, whose current position was displayed on the lieutenant’s token.
“Why did they stop?”
Jiang Chen found the Red Flame Battalion had stopped in the north of the valley, and he was worried about it.
In theory, after the Red Flame Battalion gained back control, the most worrying move would be to return to the valley for a rescue, while the best move would be to head for the seven cities.
However, they had stopped. Jiang Chen was totally confused.
Not until he arrived there with Tang Zhengyi and 100 soldiers did he figure out the reason.
The whole Red Flame Battalion had been caught!
They should have entered the enemy’s territory before Qiu Yan got back control of the Cooling Formation.
This had been Jiang Chen’s mistake, but fortunately, things weren’t too bad.
Lying on their stomachs on a stone mountain, he and Tang Zhengyi were observing a fancy castle built down on the plain earth.
“It’s not on the map.”
It wasn’t on the map, and it didn’t look like a city used to deploy a ward.
The castle was only as big as a manor, but it was extremely resplendent. It looked odd in the desolate Alien Battlefield. If it had been constructed in a place with great mountain and lake views, it would have been perfect.
“General, there aren’t many soldiers down there, but there are many guards!” Tang Zhengyi said.
“Guards?”
Jiang Chen had heard the word from Han Siming, but he had no idea what it meant.
“Black Dragon, War Chariot, and Holy Wind are troops stationed abroad, while the guards are under the direct leadership of the Dragon Rebel Army. They aren’t sent for unless it’s an extremely important battle.
“The Dragon Rebel Army owns 26 guards troops, and they’re all stationed in the Realm of True Force. Only a few of them ever leave to perform special tasks.”
Jiang Chen remembered the guards in the Dragon Field, sneering.
After half an hour of observation Jiang Chen found there were only around one hundred guards in the castle!
The thing was, they were all very strong. All of them were in the peak of the Reaching Heaven State.
Even their junior captains were Martial Venerables. Their general was a Spiritual Venerable!
They must be great since they managed to catch the Red Flame Battalion. Although I’m already a Venerable, there are too many of them, Jiang Chen thought to himself.
Tang Zhengyi said, “General, shall we ask the Bright Moon Troop and the Shadow Pursuing Troop to send reinforcements? They would be happy to help.”
“They should be attacking the city right now.”
Patting Tang Zhengyi’s shoulder, Jiang Chen said, “If I told you that we shouldn’t do anything for the moment and just meet up with the Bright Moon Troop first, what would you say?”
Tang Zhengyi was shocked. He wouldn’t leave Commander Qiu Yan there without at least trying to save her.
However, glancing at Jiang Chen, he said, “I believe the general must have a plan.”
“I don’t have a plan. Just trying to make a joke to break the ice,” Jiang Chen said with a smile. “Before we go to their rescue, I have to ask—which one of you uses a sword?”
…
In the picturesque castle, every 15 guards formed a team that walked at the same pace.
Like the guards in the Dragon Field, their whole bodies were fully covered in armor, including their heads.
And with their synchronized movements, in the eyes of the hostage Red Flame Battalion soldiers, they were more like machines than human beings.
“Commander, I didn’t know the Dragon Rebel Army had guards in the Alien Battlefield,” Wang Qiang said in surprise.
“Yes, they have guards here now.” Qiu Yan was quite calm. She said, “These guards are too few to do anything. I’m guessing they’re performing a secret task.”
Suddenly, the patrolling soldiers and those guarding them lifted up their heads and threw their shoulders back. Facing the same direction, they put their right hands on their chests. This was the Dragon Rebel Army’s military salute.
Qiu Yan looked over, curious about the owner of the castle. Why had the owner hold them in custody instead of killing them?
Neither the dynasty nor the Dragon Rebel Army had a custom to gather captives before the end of the war.
