Socially anxious people transmigrate to another world; living in seclusion is too difficult.

Chapter 271 A Sudden Blow of Bad News

The sound of orderly footsteps echoed across the western lands of the Tianyun Empire. The 50th Army marched in neat formation toward its destination. Although it had the same number of men as the other armies, only 30,000, the 50th Army's imposing presence seemed to indicate that they were the elite of the army.

Indeed, the first thing Chu Jingwu did after becoming emperor was to expand the army, with the goal of having the empire have a full army of 30,000 men in total. When it expanded to the fiftieth army, Chu Jingwu's original intention was to train this last full army into the empire's elite force. However, with the advancement of beast taming technology, the fiftieth army gradually became the elite force of the regular army.

Su Yang and Zhu Ning rode their horses, with Qin Wei, the staff officer, and several deputy generals ahead of them. The march was tedious and boring, and Su Yang almost fell asleep on horseback several times. Fortunately, Zhu Ning was by his side to keep an eye on him, otherwise he would not have known when he would fall off the horse.

Zhu Ning kept thinking about it the whole way. He didn't understand why Qin Wei had set off on his own without orders. So this question became a topic of conversation between him and Su Yang to relieve boredom.

"Brother Su Yang, you clearly did not give any orders, so why did General Qin set off without authorization?"

"I don't know." Su Yang shook his head to clear his mind.

"According to the latest strategy issued by the Shence Army, the fifteen armies at the front are distributed in five different locations and are slowly advancing. However, General Qin is not going anywhere else, but instead has ordered them to advance towards Xiaohu Mountain. As far as I know, Xiaohu Mountain is steep and there is no road to climb it. There are no trees to cover the mountain. If General Qin judges that the Demon Kingdom will bypass us from here, it seems unlikely. Moreover, Xiaohu Mountain is far away from the Central Allied Army. Even if General Qin's prediction is accurate and he does block the Demon Kingdom, how can our army alone hold out?"

Zhu Ning seemed to be talking to himself as he poured out all his doubts and confusion. Su Yang didn't know anything about Xiaohushan or about military operations. Even now, he still felt a sense of detachment from these things, even though his current military life felt quite novel. Ultimately, he couldn't make the decisions about fighting.

As the two chatted casually, the army reached their first rest stop, a small town called Xing'an City, about 70 or 80 miles from the front line. The army camped and rested outside the city, while Qin Wei, along with his staff officer, two deputy generals, and Su Yang, entered the city.

The city lord warmly welcomed Qin Wei. Although he did not accept the city lord's invitation to a banquet, he still sat idly in the city lord's mansion for a while. After inspecting the city's soldiers and defenses, he left and returned to the camp outside the city.

For three consecutive days, they passed through three such small towns. Qin Wei would always talk with the city lord and then inspect the garrison and city defenses. However, when they arrived at Quannan City, which was thirty miles away from Xiaohushan, Qin Wei changed his behavior and refused the city lord's invitation. He and a few others changed into ordinary clothes, went into a teahouse, chose a window seat on the second floor, and sat there for the whole afternoon.

During this time, Qin Wei forbade anyone to speak to him, but allowed them to communicate and move around freely, except to disturb him. This puzzled Su Yang and Zhu Ning, who were sitting opposite Qin Wei. They didn't understand what Qin Wei was looking at outside the window, so they looked over as well, but found that there seemed to be nothing special about it.

Qin Wei did not leave with his men until the teahouse closed, returning to the outskirts of the city. Although Zhu Ning was puzzled, she could not bear to ask him because she saw that Qin Wei looked exhausted from concentrating too much.

The next day, the army marched on again, covering about ten miles, and arrived at Tongye City, which was twenty miles from Xiaohushan and a hundred miles from the front line. Just like the day before, Qin Wei went into a teahouse after entering the city. He had only been sitting down for a short while when a soldier ran into the teahouse and handed Qin Wei a letter.

Qin Wei finished reading the letter with a furrowed brow, then casually tossed it to a few people before continuing to observe the streets. The staff officer and two deputy generals took the letter and spread it on the table to examine it. The letter read: "Pingwei and Luoyi cities have rebelled. Fifty thousand troops from the Demon Kingdom have appeared at the rear stronghold. We request all armies to rush to their aid."

Everyone was shocked upon seeing this. The chief of staff exclaimed, "How is this possible! Pingwei and Luoyi were only recovered less than six days ago. Why would they rebel?"

One of the generals said, "Perhaps there are spies from the Demon Kingdom lurking in the city."

Another lieutenant said, "That doesn't make sense either. How did the Demon Kingdom's 50,000 troops bypass the front line and penetrate straight into the rear? Where did they come in from?"

Zhu Ning then interjected, "Could it be from Little Fox Mountain?"

Upon hearing this, everyone's gaze turned to Qin Wei. Su Yang couldn't help but look up at him as well. If he really was someone who had infiltrated from Little Fox Mountain, then Qin Wei was truly a divine general; he could even guess that.

Although Qin Wei felt the gazes of the crowd, he didn't even turn his head. He just stared intently at the people on the street. Suddenly, he gestured with his hand and said, "Wang Hao, Lü Ji, go and capture that man immediately!"

Wang Hao and Lü Ji, the two adjutants, came to the window. Following Qin Wei's gesture, they saw a person slowly walking towards them. He looked no different from an ordinary citizen of the Empire's demon race, but Qin Wei's words were military orders. The two obeyed the order and immediately went downstairs, walking quickly towards the person.

Su Yang and Zhu Ning also leaned out of the window to watch the two men's actions. At first, neither of them knew who they were trying to capture. It wasn't until Wang Hao and Lü Ji made their move and saw that they had succeeded that Qin Wei immediately got up and went downstairs to meet up with the two men. After that, the group hurriedly returned to the camp outside the city.

Back in the camp, the group looked at the demon kneeling on the ground, not understanding why he had been captured. Su Yang looked at the demon and felt a strange feeling inexplicably, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Zhu Ning looked at Qin Wei curiously and asked, "General, why did you bring this person back?"

Qin Wei remained expressionless and did not directly answer Zhu Ning's question. Instead, he looked at the demon in front of him and asked, "Tell me, which army of the Demon Kingdom do you belong to?"

"Injustice! General, I am a citizen of the Empire!" The demon bowed down, but because his hands were bound, he could not get up for a long time after his head hit the ground. When Wang Hao saw this, he ordered the soldiers to help him up, but Qin Wei stopped him.

"Get up yourself. If you don't get up, I will kill you with my sword."

The chilling words lowered the atmosphere, and the demon lying on the ground remained silent for a long time. Finally, a sinister laugh rang out: "Heh heh ha ha ha."

The laughter came from the demon. Then, he raised his head and stood up straight from the ground without the support of his hands. Su Yang was surprised. The elemental bracelet on this person's body had already been removed. Without the support of external force, he could stand up on his own. He must have been trained. It was possible that Qin Wei was right. This person was a soldier of the Demon Kingdom.

"Kill me, General Qin." The demon was fearless and even continued to provoke Qin Wei.

Qin Wei did not show anger, and continued to ask, "Do you know who I am?"

"The commander knew you would come, so Little Fox Mountain is a grave specially prepared for you, hahahaha!" The arrogant laughter echoed in the tent.