Chapter 36: The Non-Existent Iceberg

A few days later…

Ning Xuan did not wait for a marriage alliance, but he did wait for his big brother to come out of seclusion.

Wangyue Prefecture began to receive refugees from the north, and some strange and ghostly things began to break out. It was said that there were gnawing sounds in the middle of the night, human skins floating in the wind, and newly buried people in the cemetery coming back to life. In short, people were in a panic.

Ning Xuan thought about it. He couldn’t hide, so he could only bite the bullet and “open for business.”

Thus, a group of three people, with four battalions of government troops and one hundred and thirty-six people from the martial world, went north along the official road.

The Fangshi were not brought along. After all, the Fangshi still had to deal with those “human skin demons.”

Although Wangyue Prefecture was far from the point of “great chaos,” the people who lived in comfort had already begun to see “demons.”

As for the four battalions of government troops, three of them were ordinary soldiers, and one was a “Fierce Fire Battalion” equipped with barrels of kerosene.

And among the one hundred and thirty-six people from the martial world, a full half of them came from a gang called the “Hunter Gang.”

Wangyue Prefecture had many mountains, and there were also many hunters. These extra hunters spontaneously formed the “Hunter Gang,” leading dogs and eagles, and roaring in the mountains and forests. Ning Xuan had dealt with them a lot when he was playing in the past.

This time, when he went to Ping’an Prefecture, he had recruited people from the “Hunter Gang” for the purpose of having their hounds scout the way, so as to reduce casualties.

That ghostly thing was invisible and formless. Unless it drilled into the target’s body, it would not be discovered.

But that ghostly thing was also very easy to deal with. A single burst of fire from the Fierce Fire Battalion was enough to kill them.

Using hounds to scout the way, if there was a problem, the Fierce Fire Battalion would immediately take over. If that didn’t work, Ning Xuan and the others would make a move.

This was the first time Ning Xuan had led troops on an expedition in such a novel way. He didn’t have to manage the people, and everyone protected him in the center, but he still felt a little uncomfortable…

He had truly experienced what it meant to “fight a war costs money,” and what it meant to “damn it, war is all about money.”

It would be fine if no one died today, but if someone died and he had to pay a pension, the silver would flow like water.

This money was enough for him to build a harem of three hundred beauties.

And if the enemy was cruel and all the people he brought today died, then he could build a palace harem.

The key was that this money seemed to belong to the prefect, but in fact, it was all his family’s.

He looked at his big brother by his side.

This army was not formed by him, but brought out by his big brother.

In order to protect his safety, his big brother had pulled out a well-trained army, with the principle that if something could be solved with money, he would never let him solve it with a saber.

Chou Nu was riding a horse, looking at the advance ahead with a blank expression.

Feeling Ning Xuan’s gaze, Chou Nu turned his head slightly and said, “What are General Ning’s orders?”

Ning Xuan said, “None.”

The Ning family needed to be stable.

If stability could be exchanged for money, then so be it.

As for the dead?

Ning Xuan had long known the principle of “a benevolent person does not command troops.”

Raise soldiers for a thousand days, use them for a moment.

On the battlefield, it was best for the superior to see everyone as chess pieces, to strive for the greatest victory with the least sacrifice, rather than thinking about “these people will be sacrificed” when moving the chess pieces.

If one didn’t even have this basic awareness, the result would often be the greatest defeat with the greatest sacrifice.

Letting the soldiers clear the way, and they would make a move after seeing clearly from behind, this was the smallest sacrifice.

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen in the python robe was actually not riding a horse. She floated and moved, her feet not touching the ground, extremely light. Compared to when she first arrived at the Ning family, she had an extra white veil covering her face, so from the outside, no one could see what she looked like.

The fact that she could do this was enough to show that floating and traveling had almost no consumption for her.

She had seen Ning Xuan’s slash and already knew that this young man had the qualifications of a general. Now that she had given the only “Whisper” connection to this young general, there was a sense of “destiny of being forced to be partners by imperial power and responsibility” between the two of them.

At this time, she was perceiving the information in the “Imperial Heavenly Master Circle.” These people were scattered all over the place and could provide a lot of intelligence.

She carefully selected, and then her lips moved slightly.

She only needed to use the slightest, slightest tone that even if someone next to her listened carefully, they would not be able to hear clearly, to transmit the words to Ning Xuan’s ear.

“In the north of Ping’an Prefecture, a mountain that did not exist before has appeared.

It is an iceberg. The ice thorns on the iceberg are very many and very hard, and there are also many corpses pierced through.

This iceberg is very strange. It is almost summer now, but the iceberg shows no signs of thawing.

The demon infestation in Ping’an Prefecture may be related to this iceberg.”

“In Ping’an Prefecture?”

“No, in the north of Ping’an Prefecture.”

“Then is it in Ping’an Prefecture?”

“No, it is in the north of Ping’an Prefecture.”

“Well, then it has nothing to do with us.”

“But, if you want to be a divine general, you have to take the initiative to explore these places. Once you become a divine general, you will receive the cultivation of the resources of the entire country.”

“If it’s there, then I’ll go. If it’s not, then forget it.” Ning Xuan replied again.

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen did not speak anymore.

Combined with the dissolute appearance before, she also understood what kind of character this general she had come to assist was.

She began to recall why she had left the imperial capital and decided to come and assist this young man.

Oh…

She remembered.

The memorial to the throne said, “He slayed demons and subdued devils in Manfeng Mountain, like a thunderbolt, deterring all evils, and even deterring the arrogance of the great general’s personal soldiers. He also executed a Heavenly Master and a demonic plague Taoist boy, all of whom were villains who acted unscrupulously in the dark.”

The image of a heroic general immediately appeared in Immortal Aunt Yaozhen’s mind. She felt that she might not be able to wait for a good candidate, so she chose this one, and then received the imperial decree to come and assist. As a result, as soon as she came, she was greeted with the sentence “Then I want to sleep with you, does His Majesty agree” and “it has nothing to do with us.”

“Ever-Pure Heavenly Venerate, quell my anger.”

“Ever-Pure Heavenly Venerate, quell my anger.”

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen recited it a few times in her heart to suppress the inexplicable anger that had surged up.

As they were talking, a dog barked from ahead.

A hound at the very front suddenly fell to the ground, and the hounds next to it barked around it.

The soldiers of the Fierce Fire Battalion went forward directly, and the fierce fire burned. A scream appeared in the air, and then a cloud of black smoke, like cooking smoke, rose to the sky. The soldiers next to them only looked on with solemn and nervous expressions.

Looking again at the scorched hound.

A soldier braced himself and went forward, and with one slash, he cut it open. The hound immediately split into two halves, and a large piece was missing from its abdomen, as if it had disappeared into thin air.

A strong sense of coldness emerged.

The army continued to move forward.

The sound of dogs barking also gradually increased.

Soon, the hounds of the Hunter Gang were all consumed.

The closer they got to the Ping’an Prefecture area, the more of those invisible ghostly things there were.

This did not mean that Ping’an Prefecture had fallen, but because the road Ning Xuan and his party were taking was the road to the north. If they went forward another thirty li, turning right would be Ping’an Prefecture, and going straight would lead to the iceberg that Immortal Aunt Yaozhen had mentioned, so it was not strange.

It also verified that these ghostly things were very likely to be related to that iceberg.

At the same time, both Immortal Aunt Yaozhen and Chou Nu had already sensed the demonic qi.

It was a faint, sky-covering demonic qi that covered this place.

Ning Xuan suddenly stopped his horse.

He stopped, and everyone stopped.

Ning Xuan said, “The road is still long. The soldiers should retreat ten li and set up camp.”

He was prepared to sacrifice the soldiers, but this kind of sacrifice was meaningless and bottomless.

Chou Nu frowned.

Ning Xuan suddenly said, “Heavenly Master Chou, you should stay too.”

Chou Nu was about to speak.

Ning Xuan glanced at the horse he was riding, and then at Immortal Aunt Yaozhen who was floating in mid-air, and asked, “Heavenly Master Chou, can you do what Yaozhen is doing?”

Chou Nu shook his head.

He had also noticed for a long time that this Heavenly Master from the imperial capital had been flying the whole time. He couldn’t do it at all.

But…

“No, I have to go in with you.”

“Heavenly Master Chou, you should stay outside and provide support. If I run out of strength and run out, at least there will be someone outside to help me block.”

“Then you must be careful.”

Half an hour later.

The young general carried the long Beast-Slaying Saber on his back and walked into the depths.

He had sealed all the “acupoints” on his body with the Bodhisattva golden body, so that all the ghostly things were useless.

At the beginning, he was still trying to kill these ghostly things, but as he walked deeper, he gave up.

There were too many.

They were as dense as mosquitoes and flies in summer.

He glanced again at Immortal Aunt Yaozhen next to him.

There was an invisible golden light ball around Immortal Aunt Yaozhen. Black smoke-like things kept rushing into the surface of the light ball, but no matter how fast the black smoke was outside, it would become extremely slow after entering the golden light ball. And as Immortal Aunt Yaozhen moved, those extremely slow black smoke were thrown far away.

Ning Xuan was not surprised by this scene.

He had already communicated with Immortal Aunt Yaozhen before the expedition.

He had learned two things.

First, Heavenly Masters were divided into grades.

This grading was very strange. The first grade was the lowest, and there was no upper limit for the time being.

And if it was divided according to the official ranks, the first grade was actually the highest.

Why was it divided like this?

Because, no one knew what level a “Heavenly Master” could reach, so every time there was a qualitative change, it would be promoted by one grade, and the lowest was naturally the first grade.

The Heavenly Master who could see the scene on the other side of the mountain through the mountain, move mountains to suppress the soul, travel several li in three breaths, and condense the Heavenly Master’s Seal to smash everywhere and knock out the demons was a first-grade Heavenly Master.

And the Heavenly Master who had the ability to survey the land for more than ten li, set up mountain barriers, shrink the land to an inch so that the enemy could not walk half a step no matter what, instantly travel through the earth, and recover at an extremely fast speed… was a second-grade Heavenly Master.

Of course, there were also third-grade Heavenly Masters.

Immortal Aunt Yaozhen was a half-step third-grade.

And according to this classification, Chou Nu was a half-step second-grade.

There was a big gap between the two, so Ning Xuan naturally did not bring his big brother.

Second, golden-bodied demons were a very special, very difficult to deal with, and so far, very rare type of demon. They were not very afraid of the suppression of Heavenly Masters, and at the same time, they could use their golden bodies to exert powerful flesh and blood power, which could be said to be extremely difficult to deal with.

Their existence was quite mysterious. Other demons came in nests, but they always traveled alone.

However, it was fortunate that the bodies of all golden-bodied demons were extremely fragile. This might be their only weakness.

Now, no matter how strong the generals were, they were all strong in flesh and blood, and none of them had golden bodies.

It could be said that the generals were all flesh and blood demons with human skin and reason.

But Ning Xuan was different.

He had a golden body and also flesh and blood.

So, he felt that he could carefully walk forward two steps and see if that terrifying Incense-Stealing Mouse had run here.