Chapter 312: The Xuantian Mercenary Group
On the Battlefield of Nanyang County– there was a 180-degree turn of events. Kong Donglai surrendered to the Jin Kingdom, and just as Wang Zhouzhi had predicted, the Jin Kingdom only demanded a nominal surrender and submission from Kong Donglai. Once Kong Donglai publicly announced his surrender, the Jin Kingdom agreed to send reinforcements.
To be precise, it wasn’t actual deployment of troops. Although Jin and Nanyang County shared a border, rapid deployment was still impossible. Sending troops isn’t that simple; it requires extensive coordination—especially since the Jin Kingdom had just suffered a defeat and needed time to recover.
But the Jin Kingdom still had 250,000 prisoners of war in Nanyang County’s hands. Once released, that meant an army of 250,000!
These 250,000 troops, once freed and led by Wang Zhouzhi, immediately marched north and launched a surprise attack on Songzhou County. This move was completely unexpected. Songzhou’s governor, Gao Bin, was finally forced to retreat. With Songzhou pulling back, Guangling County, unable to stand alone, also had to retreat step by step.
However, the Jin Kingdom’s army did not pursue the victory further. A standoff resumed between Guangling, Songzhou, and Nanyang Counties.
In Nanyang County, Nanyang Prefecture, Kong Donglai was discussing matters with his advisor, Guo Hongyan, the civil officer of Nanyang County.
“Guo Hongyan, tell me—what exactly is the Jin Kingdom planning?”
The Jin Kingdom’s actions indeed left Kong Donglai puzzled. They only accepted Nanyang’s nominal surrender, imposed almost no coercive terms, and didn’t pursue accountability for Nanyang’s earlier betrayal (under Li Lisong). But after lifting Nanyang’s crisis, the Jin army immediately withdrew without capitalizing on their victory.
Too many issues here made Kong Donglai frown.
Guo Hongyan flipped through many documents and began analyzing them bit by bit. “I think there are three main points:
First, the Jin Kingdom just suffered a defeat. Their internal losses are significant, anti-war sentiment is high, and those released prisoners are unstable in temperament—not suited for prolonged combat.
Second, the Jin Kingdom is currently pretending to be weak, hiding their strength while secretly absorbing technologies gained from Anyang, focusing on internal development.
Third, they’re letting us fight each other internally so they can reap the benefits. They haven’t officially accepted us, but they’re using us as bait.”
Kong Donglai nodded slightly. “After all, we’ve now publicly announced our surrender to Jin. We’re the first to do so in Great Xia, which gives the surrounding regions an excuse to attack us. This makes us a juicy target everyone wants a bite of—a fat piece of meat, a tempting bait.
Once everyone begins attacking us, civil war is inevitable. And now that the fragile balance has been broken, if war erupts again, it could be to the death!”
“Not necessarily,” Guo Hongyan slowly uttered two words: “Anyang.”
“Anyang?!” Kong Donglai was stunned, then nodded again, though his expression grew grave. “General Li Xian’s firepower is being sold everywhere. With Anyang in the mix, the variables multiply!
Pass down my orders: Nanyang County is to expand its forces and prepare for war immediately. A greater conflict may be coming soon!”
In Kaiping County, Li Yulong was already dressed in imperial robes. The ministers were in a meeting, discussing the current situation.
Yang Zhong calmly listed all the details one by one, finally concluding, “Xiao Liming has indeed been defeated, losing more than 20,000 elite soldiers and over 100 Golden Core stage experts. It was a crippling blow. Anyang has already sent a message to the First Prince, Xia Xu.
Your Majesty, Xiao Liming is an old fox. Should we intercept his remaining army while we can? Even if we can’t annihilate them, we should at least severely weaken them.”
Li Yulong gently shook his head. “Not yet. The northwest still needs Xiao Liming to hold the line. If he loses too much strength, he might not be able to hold off the Chen Kingdom from the northwest. That would harm our own development.
Let’s maintain the current balance for now. The longer we keep things stable, the better it is for us.
How’s the construction of the military-industrial base coming along?”
Right Chancellor Ye Junhua stepped forward. “Your Majesty, the engineers sent by Anyang have already left. The necessary technology and infrastructure are in place. Guns, bullets, cannons, shells, and gunpowder are now in mass production.”
“That’s good.” Li Yulong turned to Li Liang. “Strengthen the training of elite warriors. If there’s a shortage of liquid spirit energy, pill essence, or refined black iron, write to your third brother (Li Xian).”
Li Liang gave a bitter smile. “Father, we already owe Anyang up to 40 million taels of gold. To make up for this, we’ve waived Anyang’s taxes for the next hundred years.”
The waived taxes weren’t just for Anyang itself but for all merchant caravans operating under the Anyang banner throughout the Tang Kingdom. In other words, any caravan flying the Anyang flag could do business in Tang without paying commercial taxes.
When Li Yulong heard this, he couldn’t help but twitch his mouth slightly. “Keep owing them then. That rascal has grown wings. Just focus on cultivating more experts and training more foundation-stage troops. Also, accelerate training in the Ten Thousand Swords Grand Array and the Eight Desolations and Six Harmonies Heavenly Gang Formation obtained from Anyang.”
In Anyang – Inside the Adventurer and Mercenary Association, Astonishment continued to ripple through the hall, as numerous tasks were being completed almost instantly.
The mission to collect 100 colorful feathers issued by Li Xian was fully completed. The quest to find demon cores had been fulfilled. The mission to acquire fox demon fur had also been completed…
All the tasks had just shown the word “Accepted,” and then immediately changed to “Completed”; the entire process took only a few breaths.
At the task handover window, everyone was watching a beautiful woman continuously take out one item after another.
Accepting tasks… submitting tasks… completing them! The whole process took only a few breaths. Beside this woman was a large wooden box, which seemed to contain countless items.
More and more people gathered around, all discussing in amazement, “Things can be done this way?”
“Yeah, how did we never think of it? You can gather the items first, and then take the tasks and hand them in. That way, your task completion rate would surely be one hundred percent.”
“Which mercenary group is this? Anyone know?”
“I do, I do! That’s the Xuantian Mercenary Group, the first mercenary group ever registered. That Xuantian Zhenren is a Nascent Soul stage expert. Back when he wanted to form the group, he didn’t have enough people, so he shouted right here, ‘Nascent Soul stage expert recruiting—only need five people to form a group!’ Tsk tsk, that momentum had me captivated.”
Hearing the discussions around her, Zhang Changle, who was submitting tasks, felt full of pride. To be honest, it was only after entering the demon race’s territory that she realized there wasn’t much difference between them and the human race—they both followed the law of the jungle. The task completion process? So simple it was almost unbelievable. A lot of items could be obtained directly by trading with the demons.
Salt, spices, medicinal herbs, weapons and armor, iron tools—especially stainless steel—and many other strange items from Anyang could all be exchanged for equivalent items from the demon race.
Of course, there were dangers too. Carrying so many items—if it weren’t for Xuantian Zhenren, the Nascent Soul stage expert, holding the line, they would have long been devoured by powerful demons—raw, no need to even wash.
Finally, the box holding the items was empty. Zhang Changle had “completed” a total of 24 tasks, and the Xuantian Mercenary Group had completed a total transaction volume of 1.8 million taels of gold. Their group rank was upgraded to a “Three-Star Mercenary Group.”
A Three-Star Mercenary Group didn’t currently have any special privileges; however, there was one notable benefit. With the points earned, Xuantian Zhenren could now buy a high-grade Lingtong Baojian (Spirit-Connected Treasure Mirror) at half price—originally one million taels of gold, now only five hundred thousand, with the rest paid using points.
When they saw that Xuantian Zhenren truly obtained a long-coveted item for half the price, the mercenary guild hall erupted.
“I want to take on tasks!”
“Me too!”
Voices rang out one after another—nothing moves people like profit.
Suddenly, someone shouted, “Xuantian Zhenren, I want to join the Xuantian Mercenary Group! Is that possible? I’m at the Golden Core stage, a native of Anyang—not someone who came here later. I cultivate water-element techniques.”
The crowd instantly fell silent, then more voices followed. Many people surrounded the six members of the Xuantian Mercenary Group, eyes gleaming with excitement.
All six had purchased large quantities of items at half price—magic treasures, elixirs, liquid spiritual energy—these three things made everyone envious.
Zhang Changle blinked and looked at the frenzied crowd around her, momentarily at a loss.
Only Xuantian Zhenren remained calm, casting a cold glance around. “It’s not impossible to join the Xuantian Mercenary Group, but you must pass a test. Here’s the deal—five days from now, I’ll announce the specifics right here.”