Following the speech, Qiu Tai returned to his temporary office to make some plans. 

“General, it’s a surprise to see you, I didn’t think a general would be sent for something like this,” a man said as he bowed.

“A beast horde of this level is whatever and as long as there are a couple of captains, it should be fine already. However, I’m here for the 3 culprits… or rather, the one behind them. Those 3 aren’t strong enough to do something as coordinated as this,” Qiu Tai rubbed his brows as he thought.

“Ahh, Anyways, general, Peng An was spotted here,” the man pointed towards a village marked on the map. 

“How reliable is the source?” Qiu Tai asked. 

“Sir, the source is one of the people that Zhong Chun is keeping an eye on right now as. In fact, I have the report of him for you,” the man said as he handed Qiu Tai a report. 

“Old Zhong’s grandson? Haha, even though that kid isn’t a cultivation genius, he has always had a sharp eye. We’re so lucky to have him,” Qiu Tai laughed. 

Continuing he said, “This information however, is pretty big. If it turns out to be true and we can take out Peng An and obtain the flute that he’s using to control the spiritual beasts, we can focus on the other two fronts.” 

Opening the report on Qian Yu, he quickly skimmed through it as he said, “Hmm! This kid even knows the Bai Family’s little princess. I haven’t seen the girl in a decade, I wonder how she has grown haha! Alright, I can go check him out after we deal with Peng An. If everything goes well and he’s decently strong, I can give him a breakdown and the informal invitation.”

“Sir, you don’t need to do it personally. I can do it myself!” the man said.

“No, you need to stay here and do the logistics work anyways. Other than you, the other captain and lieutenant will be responsible for the northern front so I’ll just do it,” Qiu Tai replied.

“Ahh, that’s right…” the man sighed as he remembered his job.

A couple hours later, Qian Yu and Zhong Chun along with hundreds of thousands of other cultivators had left towards the western front. With how quick and late everything was organized, people weren’t strictly separated and taking advantage of this, Qian Yu entered the group heading towards the town Zhen Yue was at. 

‘I wonder how many of us will perish,’ Qian Yu thought as he looked around his group. In his group, there were about 100,000 cultivators with the majority being qi gathering fighters which would probably be the biggest casualty. As for the amounts of higher ranked cultivators, Qian Yu naturally couldn’t tell who they were. 

Looking at Zhong Chun, Qian Yu felt that he was acting a little odd. When Qiu Tai had announced his name, Qian Yu saw that Zhong Chun wasn’t very surprised or anything as if he had already seen the Martial Emperor before. He just had the same smile he would have normally. 

Still, Qian Yu didn’t pry into his secrets as he separated from the group and headed towards Tian Xinyi’s location as the group passed through the town. 

‘Mmm, I can feel her presence… there!’ Qian Yu thought to himself as he quickly ran around trying to pinpoint Tian Xinyi’s location.

‘Master you’re finally here!’ Tian Xinyi yelled as Qian Yu entered an alleyway. Leaping off of Zhen Yue’s arm she ran at him and touched Qian Yu as she disappeared, entering Qian Yu’s soul world.

“Master! Tian Xinyi has been acting weird lately. She’s been acting a little paranoid and less energetic since yesterday,” Zhen Yue said as she came closer.

“Mm, I know,” Qian Yu said. 

‘Alright, Xinyi, what has been happening lately?’ Qian Yu asked.

‘Ughhh, there’s been some music that only spiritual beasts can hear and it has been affecting my consciousness ever since we entered the town. It’s been driving me nuts lately,’ Tian Xinyi replied. 

‘Hmm, music affecting spiritual beasts. There’s no way it’s a coincidence! Could that music be causing the spiritual beasts horde?’ Qian Yu thought. 

‘Alright, just stay cozy in there and don’t come out,’ Qian Yu said. 

‘Yeah, I will need to enter a hibernation-like mode. Even though I’m not in the real world, I can still feel its effects. Of course, it’s weaker but still, its really painful,’ Tian Xinyi said as she started entering a dormant state. If Qian Yu could see into his own soul world, he would see a purple-colored egg similar to when he first met her.

Returning his focus to Zhen Yue, he said, “Don’t worry about Tian Xinyi. How about you though, are you fine?”

Hearing Qian Yu’s concern, Zhen Yue couldn’t help but smile, “I’m fine. More importantly though, what’s going on? Who are those people?” 

“Alright follow me, I’ll explain on the way,” Qian Yu didn’t immediately explain as he grabbed Zhen Yue with him and started returning to the army. 

A few minutes later Qian Yu finished explaining as Zhen Yue said, “Master, do you think this is worth it? This beast horde could be dangerous.”

“Hmm, to be quite frank… the pay is pretty nice. We are getting paid 1 spirit stone every day of fighting and we can get even more from the beast cores of the spiritual beasts. It could be good training as well for the cultivation technique,” Qian Yu thought. Beforehand, 1 spirit stone could take up to a week to make with the random missions he found throughout the city. 

“Ahh money. I forgot we don’t have a steady income…” Zhen Yue said.

“Anyways, we are cultivators. With risks comes rewards. We can’t back away from every adversary we come across,” Qian Yu reassured her. 

“You’re right master. We just need to remember to be extra careful,” Zhen Yue said determinately.

Soon another day passed and after passing another town, they finally reached their destination. Standing outside the small city, the leader of the 100,000 man army stopped as he finally introduced himself. 

“Alright. This is the area we are responsible for. My name is Xiao Song, a Martial Saint elder of the Flames of Origin Sect. With a 100,000 man army, I will split you all into 100 different units led by a Martial Fighter or Martial Lord and each unit will be responsible for holding down an area that I assign to you.”

In a matter of minutes, the 1,000 man groups were formed and Xiao Song dedicated an area to each leader. Quickly, the groups started swiftly separating and headed to their respective area.

“Hahaha, I can feel my blood boiling!” Zhong Chun said to Qian Yu and Zhen Yue. 

“Hmm, you can say that because you’re a soul foundation cultivator,” Qian Yu smiled and jokingly replied as he felt Zhong Chun was trying to hype him up. Zhen Yue, on the other hand, didn't say anything as to attract unwanted attention from the other male cultivators.

As for how Qian Yu introduced Zhen Yue to Zhong Chun, he said they were friends. With Zhong Chun’s wide extensive network, it was completely possible for him to know about him buying a slave. Nonetheless, Qian Yu didn’t care as it was completely reasonable for young and healthy males to buy female slaves. 

Hearing Zhong Chun talk, a few others joined in. 

“Hahaha, you guys don’t need to be too afraid,” one said.

“He’s right, master Cao Tu is our leader!” another said. 

“Who is that?” Qian Yu asked.

“Hahaha, you must be a foreigner if you don’t know him. He’s one of the youngest talents in the Soba Empire!” someone explained.

“In fact, many brothers in this group are servants under him that his family brought a long time ago. We can guarantee that everything will go smoothly!” a 4th person chimed in.

By the side, Zhong Chun whispered, “Yeah, Cao Tu is pretty strong. We are in good hands.”

‘I wonder what he’s like? I was a little worried but it seems we got a decently strong leader,’ Qian Yu smiled and thought as he heard all the compliments. 

An hour passed and the group soon reached a small valley which was the area they were responsible for defending 

As Qian Yu started observing the surroundings, he heard a loud voice announce, “There will only be another day or so before the monster horde reaches here. I have decided that we will split into three groups with each two groups fighting and one group resting at a time. Each time you fight, your group will fight for eight hours and rest for four hours.” 

‘Essentially fighting for 16 hours a day. Hopefully I don’t regret this...’ Qian Yu thought as he heard the voice. Looking at the source of the voice, Qian Yu saw the young figure who was responsible for leading the group. He was a young man like the others talked about who currently had on golden robes. As for any resemblance of his weapon, there were none.