Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1381: Battle Flag

"Are you looking for a job?"

A man came behind Lu Ning and asked.

Lu Ning naturally knew that he was coming, so she stood up and looked at the person who came.

The young man looked quite cautious, with several badges hanging around his waist, the top one of which had the words "Recruitment" engraved on it.

"I suppose you didn't come to ask me that?"

Lu Ning asked politely.

"Haha, so obvious." The young man scratched his head. He had an eye patch on one eye. Lu Ning also noticed that the leader among these civilian workers was somewhat disabled.

This was a bit strange, but Lu Ning didn't point it out directly.

"Just say what you want to say." Lu Ning stood up and faced the young man. With her aura, the young man became obviously more cautious.

"Actually... I know who you are, so I wanted to ask if there is anything we can do to help you."

"Can you tell me about what happened there?" Lu Ning pointed in the direction of their residence. "I'm not sure if this violates the taboo."

"The taboo exists to protect this city. If necessary, we can certainly make a breakthrough." The young man rubbed his fingers. "For example, in the current situation, I can provide you with some help without endangering the city, Special Envoy."

"Your attitude was not like this yesterday. Is there anything that made you change your mind?"

"I don't dare to speculate on the thoughts of the above." The young man forced a smile, "I am only responsible for explaining some things I know, and I can also take you to some places you can go. That's all."

"I want to know what's going on over there." Lu Ning did not hide the fact that she could sense the situation in the residence. "I'm just curious because I could hear the noise last night."

"It's just a routine cleanup every ten days." The young man smiled. "Lingjiang City also accepts refugees and people with lofty ideals from outside, and among them there are inevitably some with ulterior motives. We will closely monitor and screen them, and conduct a centralized process every ten days. As you can see, we usually choose to do it late at night, and to prevent being witnessed and causing unnecessary chaos, so there are those rules."

"Preventing chaos?"

Lu Ning asked back.

“Some common rules can become mysterious without explaining the causes and consequences. And precisely because they do not know the causes and consequences, those who intentionally violate them will not realize the true usefulness of these rules.”

"I won't ask about the city. When I entered the city, the rules I heard about were very strange."

"For example?"

“Go along the waterway and don’t look back. There must be four people in front of the house before you can get forward.”

"Lingjiang's formation is deployed in the city, and different people take different routes. The envoy's route is to go along the waterway. A true envoy will not have any doubts about this, nor will he look back. On the other hand, if someone does something suspicious like this, he is not an envoy. Similarly, the number of guards in front of the Gongshu Mansion gate will change at any time. If someone comes up when there are not four people, it means that they were not sent into the city by the guide, and they did not receive corresponding instructions, so their identity is also questionable."

"And once the identity is in doubt—"

"Just kill him on the spot. Behead him first and ask questions later," said the young man.

"Aren't you worried about accidentally killing a good person?"

"If someone doesn't follow the rules, it means that he doesn't take his life seriously." The young man said, "Your Excellency, everyone here has tied his life to the entire city. We don't restrict anyone from leaving, but since you stay here, you must follow the rules here. This is the case in Lingjiang. We follow such a strict ascetic life in order to inflict greater pain on our enemies."

"What a strong will. I suppose you can't explain the rules of the accommodation area to me?"

"Yes, because you haven't agreed yet."

Lu Ning was stunned: "Agree to what?"

Suddenly, a row of stone walls appeared in front of him, with a whole row of ice mirrors neatly inlaid on them. The ice walls suddenly appeared in the fog. Lu Ning wondered for a moment what kind of formation was at work.

"Master Ye Cong, I have brought the person here."

The young man leaned towards the ice mirror, and after a moment, a blurry figure was reflected on one of the ice mirrors.

"Hello, Lu Ning."

The voice sounded young but a little weak. Lu Ning bowed hesitantly and asked, "Excuse me, who are you..."

"I am Ye Cong, one of the three generals defending Lingjiang City. The one you saw in your dream yesterday was me."

"Greetings, General." Lu Ning bowed slightly. "I wonder why the General specifically asked me to come here?"

"Wait a moment." Ye Cong waved to the young man. The young man bowed slightly, took two steps back, and immediately disappeared into the mist.

"Because you have a clean identity and possess pure Yin internal energy, your other qualifications are quite in line with my needs for a deputy general." Ye Cong said, "and your special features will probably allow you to last longer than me."

"Deputy General...please explain it more clearly."

"Reach out and touch the ice mirror, and it will send you to me."

Lu Ning followed Ye Cong's instructions and reached out to touch the mirror. A chill spread to her palm and ripples appeared in front of her eyes. In an instant, she was sent into a maze made entirely of ice, and Ye Cong's reflection was inside the maze.

"If we talk here, no one will hear us. Lu Ning, I am the master of the ice array here, and also the master of the maze array in the city, Ye Cong."

"Ice Array?" Lu Ning reacted slightly, and suddenly remembered the red river entering the city, and the red sand and gravel used to destroy the corpses.

"You are from Gou Chen, but I have never heard of you?" Ye Cong asked without any hurry.

"Is this place Lingjiang protected by the three formations of ice, red water and red sand?" Lu Ning asked.

Ye Cong nodded slightly.

"In that case, what Gou Chen saw at that time seemed to be raging flames, howling winds, and falling souls." Lu Ning had never been to Guanyuan, but with this speculation, he could also know what kind of formations Guanyuan had set up.

"No wonder Saibei and the demon army have been able to hold out for so many years, and even have the upper hand."

"The so-called Ten Warriors is just a title." Ye Cong's tone was quite calm, and he seemed unable to speak faster. "As you can see, my body is not healthy. In fact, to maintain such a large formation, there is always a price to pay. I am not that compatible with the ice formation, but I have no choice."

"So, the top ten have actually been replaced?"

"The person currently in charge of the formation is the flag bearer, and his deputy general is the flag commander. If the flag bearer dies, the flag commander will take over in order. For this reason, all flag bearers and flag commanders should be trustworthy people."

"General, do you think I'm a trustworthy person?" Lu Ning asked.

"I don't think so yet, but trustworthy people are always cultivated by themselves. And you are more adaptable to the ice array than I am. If you take over in the future, you should be able to maintain it for a longer period of time. Whether this position of the commander can be passed on depends on you and me. If you don't want to, I won't force you. I will just take your memory. If you are willing, you must also pass my judgment and become someone who is qualified to hold the flag of this array." Ye Cong said, "Therefore, I must invite you here first to ask you this question."

Lu Ning was silent for a moment, then asked, "I just arrived here for the first time, and I was recruited by a figure like you. Can it be said that even a formation flag commander is rare?"

"That's right." Ye Cong answered quickly, "There is only one person holding the flag of the Frost Formation. Even if you are included, there are only two of us. The flag of the Ten Absolute Formations cannot be held by ordinary people, because each formation is a sacrifice. The person holding the flag must also bear the most damage from the formation."

Lu Ning thought of Dong Zai, who, as the ruler of a country, poured his strength into the Blue Dragon Emperor Qi, but gradually could not hold on under the erosion of the sacrificial array. Although Broken Dragon cut off the supply of Blue Dragon Emperor Qi, Dong Zai also could not withstand the effect of "Heavenly Court" because he refused to kill.

And now, the ten ultimate formations deployed in the northern border are probably in similar situations. Ye Cong is obviously just an ordinary person. He may have some magical weapons or something like that, but these things cannot allow him to fully control the power of the ultimate formations.

"I can't promise you now. After all, I came from Gou Chen."

"This matter is not difficult to resolve. The matter of commanding the formation flag is of great importance. I can transfer you here with a letter. But you need to practice for a period of time to become the commander and to become one with the ice formation." Ye Cong said, "Of course, you can finish this matter first. Although my illness is difficult to cure, it will not relapse in such a short time."

"I can agree to this, but General, I have seen disasters outside Lingjiang, which have changed the state of an entire village. Will such an impact really not spread to this place? Can the Ten Absolute Formations really prevent the changes in the rules established by the True Immortals?"

After hearing this, Ye Cong was silent for a moment before he said, "I can't be sure."

"So you're just moving everyone away from there as a precaution?"

"Of course. We won't let anyone stay there, and the abnormality there should be sealed off. Since you saw it when you came, it means that the blockade has failed. I'm afraid that ordinary control can't prevent the effect of the collapse of the immortal rules."

“But we have to think about it.”

"We will continue to study this, but I'm afraid we won't be able to come to a quick conclusion. Grand Master Qin should have some understanding of this. If you really have any questions, perhaps you can ask the Grand Master for advice in the future."

Everyone in the northern border trusts Grand Tutor Qin unconditionally. Even Lu Ning is influenced by him and believes that as long as Grand Tutor Qin is there, all problems can be solved. But the current situation involves True Immortals. Could it be that Grand Tutor Qin still have a solution?

"As the leader, you must fight in the battlefield to better adapt to the Ice Formation. You must also go to Guanyuan, and you are more qualified to meet the Grand Master. The Grand Master is strict, but he is generous with his teachings. He will answer all your questions." Ye Cong smiled, "I can't answer more for you, but it's good that you have these questions... In the future, you will be a more successful leader of the Ice Formation."

"I understand... I agree." Lu Ning nodded slowly. This position might be difficult to take on, but she also wanted to try to take on more power.

"Okay, I will let you become the commander, but you have to leave the city and let your own flag grow as you kill enemies, until it becomes strong enough to be integrated into the main flag. Only in this way can you withstand the bone-biting power of the icy inheritance. Of course, your internal strength is quite pure, and should be better than mine back then. Ah... The time for our meeting today is almost up, do you have any questions? I can still give you an answer."

"I heard in my dream what the resurrection they preached was all about. Being swallowed up by the red sand array, the so-called resurrection should no longer be effective, but I am still curious about the origin of this resurrection."

"This is quite simple. The battle in the northern part of the Great Wall lasted so long because of the help of the demon star Huang Kui. The demon star Huang Kui is the demon star that summons souls. The so-called resurrection is all due to his ability."

=

Inside the Mountain of Ten Thousand Demons, countless demons raised their heads and roared, their roars shaking the valley, but they could not stop a "person" from walking into the valley.

No matter his figure, appearance, clothing or temperament, he was not outstanding at all. If he mixed into any crowd, he would be ignored. However, at this moment, the demons could not ignore this "person" who was walking into the depths of the valley.

At the foot of the Ten Thousand Demons Mountain, five demons, also dressed as humans, each used their own magical powers to watch the demon star walking into the valley.

Li Ji was quite emotional: "When I came in, the pressure was still very high, but now Huang Kui is very relaxed... It seems that he has completely mastered the power of the demon star."

"He's now a disciple..." A man dressed in a Taoist style stroked his beard, "We taught him because we want to see him grow to this point, right?"

"He is more like a human than us. No, it should be said that even after a hundred years, he can still look at the things around him with a human heart. This is limitless." The middle-aged man in gorgeous clothes said in a judgmental tone, "This time entering the Ten Thousand Monsters Mountain and the Soul Valley, the thousands of ancient souls must have a place to pour out. The immortal rules are dead, and the demon rules should be established."

"Master Qin is not someone you can easily deal with." The tall general said in a muffled voice, "This may not be enough to turn the situation around."

"It's not to turn the situation around." The woman with burnt yellow hair and a ghost mask on her face grinned, "It's to fight for the right time, not to compete with the human race for profit. If they can't react in time, then this world will eventually belong to my demon race."

Li Ji was silent, looking towards the valley where clouds were gathering in the distance.

In the Valley of Souls, Jiuli has gathered souls for thousands of years and the powerful souls of humans and demons all rest here.

"Jiuli, I am here to take away their obsession." Huang Kui spoke. His voice was gentle and calm, and in an instant, it suppressed all the roars around him.

"Is it just obsession, or is it the soul?"

A shocking question came from the valley, and Huang Kui just smiled slightly after hearing it.

"Of course it is obsession. However, if the soul still cannot let go of the obsession, it still has to go through the mortal world. When the shackles in the heart are broken, it will be the time to return to the origin and rest in peace."

"You've been spared the pain in the process."

"No need to elaborate. If you are willing to follow me, you should have known it long ago. From the time I learned how to use this ability, I knew the responsibility and price it came with - giving life and suffering. I will not hide anything from you."

Jiuli let out a laugh.

"You want to solve something that has not been accomplished for thousands of years in one day?"

"I'm afraid it will take more than a day or two. I have no idea how long it will take. But you will help me, the oldest demon star, because this is also what you are obsessed with."

"Then, I will grant you life, the youngest demon star, and I will also grant you...suffering."