We bear people have power

Kou Zhong didn't understand military strategy, so for her, preventing the army from splitting up its forces without alerting the enemy was quite an difficult task.

You have to understand, these troops are now traveling on cement roads paved by pampered rich kids, which can't be destroyed by ordinary means. Simply creating cracks isn't enough; you have to dig at least half a mile of road, pile up boulders and trees, and only then can you consider it a successful road blockage.

However, the entire reconnaissance team consisted of only a dozen or so people; how could they possibly destroy the road? After much thought, they came up with a compromise: to tamper with the cavalry of the Fire Seekers.

According to Anbing's plan, the first batch of one thousand scouts would set off lightly in the morning, carrying only three days' worth of rations; five hundred would return and the remaining five hundred would continue the advance. As for whether one thousand scouts was too many, the Vajra Monk, who knew nothing of military strategy, didn't even bother to ask.

An Bing was feeling proud of his intelligence, but by noon he discovered that most of his thousand scouts had returned, and many of the cavalrymen had been converted into infantry.

Angrily grabbed the scout captain and shouted, "What on earth is going on?"

"We were traveling smoothly until we were about 30 miles away when it suddenly started hailing. We were caught completely off guard, and over a hundred of us were knocked off our horses," the scout captain reported, his face bruised and swollen.

Hailstones the size of fists fell, and those unlucky enough were instantly knocked unconscious, falling to the ground and being trampled into a bloody pulp by the warhorses behind them. Moreover, when the ice fell to the ground, the warhorses would slip and fall, causing many more casualties.

"What kind of weather is this? How could it be hailing?" An Bing drew his whip and gave the scout captain a sound beating. However, even after whipping the man until he was a bloody mess, this first attempt to divide the troops still failed.

Moreover, the returning scouts reported that a strange hailstorm had indeed occurred.

Although the hottest season has passed, it's not even autumn yet, so how could it suddenly hail? It's truly puzzling. However, such weather anomalies are beyond human control.

An could only allow the troops to rest in place for a day before continuing their journey.

This hailstorm was naturally Kou Zhong's doing.

She had already achieved a considerable level of proficiency in cultivating the "Longevity Technique." Guan Bo had laid a solid foundation for her, so the strength of the third level of the "Longevity Technique" was already enough to influence the weather on a small scale.

Moreover, she was Guan Bo's local lord, and Nie Shuhuan, who was in charge of managing all the magical treasures of Sickle Hammer City, would likely give her some preferential treatment. Therefore, Kou Zhong also possessed a magical treasure that could increase his frost magic power; in other words, the Northern Dark Pearl was a rare treasure obtained from the belly of the Void Belly Ghost King.

With the help of this magical artifact, Kou Zhong was able to create a small hailstorm without too much difficulty.

However, most of the spiritual energy on the Northern Darkness Pearl has been consumed, so the same trick cannot be used again in the short term.

The next morning, An Bing, still unwilling to give up, planned to divide his forces again. But this time, before the scouts even set out, a host of problems arose within the army.

A series of cracking sounds rang out as over a hundred carriages had their axles broken. These were all carriages loaded with grain and supplies; with the axles broken, they were completely paralyzed.

It's impossible to repair it right now; finding suitable timber is difficult. One or two carriages are manageable, as the logistics department has spare axles, but if hundreds of axles break at once, that simply won't be enough.

This time, even a fool could see that someone was up to no good.

But who could silently break hundreds of axles amidst a vast army? Even with a traitor, it's impossible to succeed a hundred times in a row. Do they really think everyone is blind?

This made An Bing a little panicked. If he could cut off hundreds of axles without anyone noticing, cutting off his own neck probably wouldn't be difficult at all.

Thinking about it this way, An Bing had no interest in claiming the credit for attacking Sickle Hammer City; the right thing to do was to first capture this traitor lurking in the army.

But no matter how hard An Bing investigated, he couldn't find a trace of this traitor. The large-scale search even caused panic within the army, and morale was steadily declining.

If things continue like this, we'll collapse before we even have a chance to fight.

Left with no other option, An Bing turned to Vajra Monk for help. In An Bing's view, Vajra Monk was, after all, a monk and should know some divination skills, so perhaps he could find the spy.

Upon hearing An Bing's words, Vajra Monk's expression remained unchanged. He calmly said, "It's nothing but a self-deceiving trick. It might work on mortals, but it's not enough to fool me."

An Bing was initially somewhat relieved upon hearing this, but his anger immediately flared up again.

"You're really that good, aren't you? How come you didn't do anything when the spy cut the axle? Aren't you just deliberately trying to embarrass yourself?"

He dared not say these words aloud, but An Bing's impression of Vajra Head Monk had dropped even further, and he had even developed a feeling of extreme dissatisfaction.

Vajra Monk didn't possess Guan Bo's innate ability to sense people's hearts. Seeing An Bing bowing before him, he felt a surge of pride. It's common for cultivators to look down on mortals and consider themselves superior. Those like Guan Bo, who were determined to change this situation, were truly anomalies in this world.

The Vajra Monk stepped out of his carriage for the first time, holding a string of prayer beads in his hand, and walked through the army while chanting incantations.

It looked like a monk was chanting sutras to ward off misfortune, but his eyes started darting around. Before the monk had gone far, Vajra Ascetic suddenly threw the prayer beads in his hand into an open space.

The place was deserted, without even a speck of dust. Everyone was a little puzzled; perhaps the old monk had made a mistake.

But what was shocking was that the Buddhist beads flew out with tremendous force, and actually created a golden light shield in an empty place.

The Vajra Talisman is a life-saving trump card provided to the reconnaissance team members by Sicklehammer City. The Vajra Monk's string of prayer beads was incredibly fast and sharp. The reconnaissance team members, all seasoned veterans, immediately recognized that the beads were no match for their strength and used their last life-saving trump card.

However, once the Vajra Talisman is activated, the invisibility effect of the Illusion Robe is eliminated.

A person shrouded in golden light appeared in what was once an empty place, a sight that was quite astonishing.

The Vajra Monk, seizing the advantage, pressed his advantage relentlessly, his feet moving with the speed of the wind as he raised his fist and smashed it into the man.

Vajra Monk's fist possessed immense strength, far exceeding that of ordinary people. He was confident he could kill the spy with a single punch.

Before the person even arrived, a whirlwind of ice and snow arose from the ground. Suddenly, another person appeared beside the golden figure—it was Kou Zhong, who had pushed the power of the "Longevity Technique" to its limit.