Mortal: Starting by joining the Falling Cloud Sect

After all the Foundation Establishment cultivators had gathered, the purple-robed elder sitting in the center of the high platform stood up and said a few words. His voice was not loud, but it seemed to be right next to your ear.

"The location we will be stationed at this time is Tiantai Valley. We elders will naturally be stationed in the main valley, and the rest of the area will be left to you. There are four outer camps in Tiantai Valley. In a moment, you will be divided into five teams according to the list of leaders of the Nine Kingdoms Alliance, and then stand in front of your respective team leaders."

After the purple-robed elder finished speaking, five managers from the Nine Kingdoms Alliance walked out from behind the stage, each holding a roster, and then began to announce their names.

The cultivators in the training ground gradually split into five teams. Zhou Qing was assigned to the team led by Fairy Hong Fu. Coincidentally, Chen Qiaoqian was also in the same team.

After all the Foundation Establishment cultivators were assigned their places, the five stewards handed the rosters to the corresponding elders, bowed, and then withdrew.

Then, the purple-robed elder at the head spoke again, explaining to the disciples the many responsibilities of the overall defense line of Tiantai Valley, and finally emphasized one point.

"Upon reaching Tiantai Valley, each team must strictly guard its designated defense zone. Any team encountering the enemy must immediately raise the alarm. Anyone who fails to raise the alarm, does not resist, or deserts their post will be severely punished without exception!"

After speaking, the purple-robed elder gave a slight nod to the other four elders. The five elders each led their Foundation Establishment cultivators onto the prepared spirit boats and headed towards Tiantai Valley in a grand procession.

As Zhou Qing traveled along, he keenly noticed that the villages along the way were almost deserted, with fields lying fallow and overgrown with weeds.

When the cultivators of Tiannan and the people of Mulan went to war, the cultivators of Tiannan would sometimes still be mindful of mortals, while the people of Mulan would not care at all.

Those who could be abducted were abducted, and those who could not be abducted were slaughtered on the spot.

In some places, you can still see the stark white bones left unburied, but it's unclear whether they belonged to mortals or immortals.

The wind swirled sand and dust, its incessant howling echoing in Zhou Qing's ears, and a sense of heaviness settled in his heart.

When the group arrived at Tiantai Valley, the scene before Zhou Qing's eyes suddenly changed.

The valley is filled with magnificent pavilions and towers, exuding a celestial aura and showing no trace of the grim atmosphere of a battlefield.

Zhou Qing remembered that there was a restrictive array set up in this Tiantai Valley, called the Heavenly Wind Profound Wave Array. With this array, along with five Core Formation cultivators, they could hold their own against a Nascent Soul cultivator.

However, he didn't really hope that a Nascent Soul cultivator would suddenly go berserk and attack this place.

Upon arriving at Tiantai Valley, Zhou Qing's group didn't even have time to rest. They were immediately assigned by the purple-robed elder to an outer camp to take over its defenses.

Hong Fu Fairy was somewhat displeased with this, but she didn't say anything. She simply asked Chen Qiaoqian to stay, of course, by making up a good excuse, saying that she would have her do the work of relaying messages.

Zhou Qing couldn't help but sigh to himself, "It's really comfortable to have someone protecting you."

Soon after, Zhou Qing's team arrived at an unnamed hill. The top of the hill seemed to have been flattened, making it a flat-topped hill.

The Nine Kingdoms Alliance built a large camp here, which was forty miles away from the main valley of Tiantai Valley and belonged to the outer forward defense zone.

The camp was established for two main purposes: first, to guard against infiltration and attacks by the Muran mages; and second, to protect a nearby spirit mine.

This spirit mine is not large in scale, and the spirit ore extracted is only enough for a few key border areas in the surrounding area, making it a useless place.

However, before this spirit mine was built in this camp, it was frequently raided by the Muran mages.

The main problem is that resources in the Mulan Grassland are extremely scarce, and most low-level cultivators don't even have a decent magic weapon.

The novice mages who went to the battlefield used only a few simple magical artifacts, such as a hazy round bowl or a fist-sized round bead, but most of them were magical flags of different colors.

Therefore, the Mulan people have been launching small-scale raids along the border of the Nine Kingdoms Alliance for many years, plundering basic resources such as spirit stones and spirit ores.

However, they were not simply plundering resources; they were also using this opportunity to test the defense strength, garrison strength, support speed, and formation strength of key locations along the border of the Nine Kingdoms Alliance, gradually uncovering the vulnerabilities of the Tiannan border defense system.

The leaders of the Nine Kingdoms Alliance were no pushovers either; they were all seasoned veterans who had lived for thousands of years. They could see through the Mulan people's treacherous schemes at a glance. So they tried several times to set up bait and ambush or send a large number of cultivators to intercept the plundering team, but unfortunately, they always had little success.

It's mainly due to their strength.

In one-on-one combat, the cultivators of Tiannan are not afraid of the monks of Mulan at all. They are often evenly matched when fighting at the same level. However, once they engage in group combat, the hastily assembled group of cultivators from Tiannan will be completely at a disadvantage.

These Mulan raiding teams are well-trained and have fought for many years. Their teamwork is far superior to that of the loosely organized Tiannan cultivators. Moreover, Mulan mages are proficient in multi-person combined attack spells, which can unleash large-scale group attack spells with extremely strong destructive power. Ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators are simply powerless to resist them.

This is why some of the spirit stone mines and spirit mineral veins located on the borders of the Nine Kingdoms Alliance are frequently robbed and suffer heavy losses.

In order to reverse this decline, the Nine Kingdoms Alliance, after much painful reflection, built large permanent camps around all the spiritual mineral veins on the borders, dispatched cultivators to guard them in shifts, and set up large formations at various key locations of the mineral veins for defense.

Taking advantage of their terrain and relying on their powerful formations, the cultivators from Tiannan were able to repel several raids and attacks by the Mulan people.

Near Zhou Qing's camp is a mineral vein rich in fire-attribute minerals, mostly fire crystals. However, it is rumored that a lot of fire molten crystals have also been mined from it, but it is unknown whether this is true or not.

You should know that Fire Crystal is an excellent material for refining top-tier fire-attribute magic weapons, and one crystal is worth more than a hundred spirit stones.

In the world of cultivation, strength has always been paramount!

Upon arriving at the camp, two late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators took the initiative to issue orders, and the others, including Zhou Qing, were quite sensible and followed their instructions.

The twenty-odd cultivators were divided into three groups, taking turns on duty for four months at a time. One group patrolled the vicinity of the mine, another group guarded the outposts outside the camp, and the last group of cultivators who were not on duty could stay in the camp to meditate and cultivate their magical power.

Of course, if other locations are attacked, the last group of cultivators, no matter what they are doing, must immediately stop and go to provide support.

Zhou Qing's group was unlucky; they were assigned to guard patrols at the mine from the very beginning.

Before setting off, the group had a short get-together, introduced themselves, and that was how they got to know each other.

This group consists of eight people, and is the only group without any late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators. Five are in the early stage of Foundation Establishment, and three are in the middle stage. They come from a variety of sects.

The only person Zhou Qing was somewhat familiar with was a cultivator from the Hundred Crafts Academy.

Both of them came from the Heavenly Dao Alliance and were also from the three closely related sects of Yunmeng, so it was natural for them to come together.

However, to Zhou Qing's surprise, the other members of the Nine Kingdoms Alliance also formed small groups in twos and threes based on their relationship with their respective sects.

The most obvious example is that the cultivators of the original six sects of Yue Kingdom have all banded together, and there is almost no communication between them and the cultivators of the original sects of the Nine Kingdoms Alliance.

Zhou Qing stood aside and watched coldly. This clear-cut scene made him secretly wary. The Nine Kingdoms Alliance seemed to be united in their hatred of the enemy and worked together to resist the Mulan people, but inside, there were still many sects and each with their own thoughts.