After the spiritual energy was restored: Goddess girlfriends came knocking.

After seeing off the departing soldiers, Jiang Yan and Tu Shan Jing reorganized the army overnight.

The name "Zhengbei Army" was originally used for the Northern Expedition against Tianlang, and it is inappropriate to use the old name now.

After discussing it, the two decided to change the name to Chang'an Army.

Jiang Yan was appointed as the commander-in-chief, and Tu Shan Jing was appointed as the deputy commander-in-chief.

Pei Xiao and Lu Zhanshuang each led a battalion, while Lu Fa and Tu Shanye remained under Jiang Yan's command, leading his personal guards.

After the reorganization was completed, the total number was less than 50,000.

This number of troops is enough to defend a city, but it is far from sufficient to deal with the upcoming attacks.

That afternoon, recruitment notices were posted at the entrances of various wards and markets in Chang'an.

The recruitment office was located next to a stone tablet in the center of the city. The notice clearly stated: "No restrictions on cultivation level, race, or origin. As long as you are willing to defend the city, the Chang'an Army will accept you."

Within half a day of the notice being posted, long queues formed at the recruitment office.

Most of the attendees were young and strong humans. After two years of accumulating prestige, Jiang Yan's influence among humans had reached an unprecedented level.

Among them were refugees fleeing from various places, wandering cultivators who had been hiding in the wilderness of the Ten Thousand Demon Domain for half their lives, and many ordinary people who had originally settled in Chang'an City.

A day later, Ao Tianxin returned.

When she entered the main hall, Jiang Yan was reviewing the city expansion plan. He looked up and saw her, and immediately put down his pen.

"How is it?"

Ao Tianxin sat down in the chair and briefly recounted her trip to the capital.

The Jiang family is safe for now, and Tu Shanyao has no intention of harming them.

Ruoshui and Tushanlie were placed under house arrest in a restricted area.

Then she shared her assessment: "Tu Shanlie must have a backup plan. I don't know exactly what it is, but that person definitely didn't just sit there waiting to die in the forbidden area."

Jiang Yan loosened her grip on the pen slightly.

I breathed a sigh of relief; it's good that nothing happened.

"But there's also bad news." Ao Tianxin picked up her teacup and took a sip. "Tianlang and Xuanyu are both gathering their forces, and Tushan is also reorganizing its army. Conservatively speaking, it's a three-pronged encirclement, and it might be more than that."

Jiang Yan frowned slightly.

This is indeed a tricky situation.

It's plausible that Tianlang and Tushan are on the other side, but what exactly did Tushan Yao offer that could get Xuanyu involved?

Ao Tianxin hesitated for a moment, then suddenly said, "There are some things I shouldn't say, but if things really can't be done, I can take you and some other people back to the Dragon Court."

"Although the Dragon Court cannot intervene in the dynastic wars of the Myriad Demon Realm at present, it can still recruit some people."

Jiang Yan remained silent for a moment, the image of the demon soldiers who had voluntarily stayed behind on the training ground flashing through his mind, and then shook his head.

"The three countries won't launch an attack so quickly. They each have their own agendas, and coordinating the deployment of troops alone will take a while."

"We still have some time. If we leave now, it would be like abandoning all those who believe in us. I can't do that."

Ao Tianxin seemed to already know his answer, and didn't say anything more, only nodding slightly.

Over the next few days, several groups of humans arrived one after another.

At first, they were scattered refugees, in groups of a few hundred, dragging their families along, walking with difficulty.

Later, organized teams began to appear, with dozens of hunters carrying homemade spears and hundreds of miners pushing wheelbarrows loaded with iron ore.

Later, human cultivators at the Golden Core and Nascent Soul stages also began to appear.

Some independent cultivators traveled for months to come and support the human race.

A retainer from a certain demon clan resigned from his post after learning that Chang'an knew about Jiang Yan, and rushed to Chang'an with his sword on his back.

There were also some cultivators who were already famous among the human race in the Myriad Demon Realm.

One of them, Su Henian, a late-stage Nascent Soul sword cultivator, led three disciples across most of the demon realm, killing countless fleeing demon soldiers who took advantage of the chaos along the way.

He stood in the center of the city, looking at the golden characters on the stone tablet, for a long time, and then said to Jiang Yan.

"Su is willing to do his part for Chang'an City."

Jiang Yan's gaze fell on his crisscrossing wounds, and he was about to advise him to go and heal his wounds first, but Su Henian raised his hand to interrupt him.

"For us cultivators, this injury is nothing."

After saying that, he led his disciples directly to the recruitment area.

There are more than just one or two people like this.

Over the course of a few days, the number of people seeking refuge in Chang'an City exceeded Jiang Yan's expectations.

Many newcomers are drawn by the cultivation techniques inscribed on those steles.

Although these are just the most basic Qi-inducing and foundation-building methods, in the Myriad Demon Realm, they are things that countless humans will never come into contact with in their entire lives.

As a result, Chang'an City began to operate at full capacity.

The originally reserved space was quickly filled, and newly built temporary shacks spread along the outer side of the city wall.

When the recruitment team stretched from the East Gate to the Central Square, Jiang Yan gave an order.

The city was expanded and its walls were rebuilt.

The efficiency is completely different when monks participate in the construction project.

The foundation of the city wall was tamped down by several Golden Core stage earth-element cultivators working together. With each palm strike, the ground within a radius of several dozen feet sank by half a foot, becoming as hard as iron.

The special stone materials were transported directly from the Dragon Court by Ao Tianxin using a storage bag. Each piece of bluestone was lifted into the air by spiritual power and precisely embedded into the cracks in the wall.

In just a few days, a massive city wall was completed.

The city expanded outwards at an extremely rapid pace, swallowing up the surrounding barren mountains, riverbanks, and abandoned mines, forming a new urban area.

In the midst of his busy work, Jiang Yan suddenly noticed that the speed of the circulation of the Haoran Nourishing Qi Technique within his body was subtly changing, and the speed at which Qi was gathering was faster than before.

With each additional human who continuously poured into Chang'an, their own fortune subtly increased.

The beliefs of those who survived the disaster, those who migrated eastward with their entire clans, and those who came specifically to defend the city are converging into a new wave.

Jiang Yan sat cross-legged, seizing the opportunity to break through.

The Nascent Soul stage is at its peak, just one step away from becoming a Deity.

Meanwhile, outside Chang'an City.

Two people were standing on a hillside beside the official road, gazing at the city in the distance that was undergoing a transformation.

Liu Qingyi leaned on her old cane, squinting, and could vaguely see several sections of the newly erected city wall amidst the swirling dust.

Jiang Shouzhou stood beside him, carrying the old sword on his back, his posture as upright as a pine tree.

"What a huge city wall!" Jiang Shouzhuo exclaimed.

Liu Qingyi did not answer, but looked at the bustling crowd at the city gate.

Almost all those entering and leaving the city gates were human people, some carrying bundles, others pushing wheelbarrows, their faces showing signs of travel and exhaustion.

A deep sense of longing appeared in his eyes.

"How long has it been since I've seen a scene like this?" he murmured. "Such a purely human city."

Just as I was about to take a step, I suddenly heard a series of dragging footsteps behind me.

A middle-aged man with a stubble-covered face and shabby clothes sauntered past him, drinking and looking left and right as he walked toward the city.

The man walked with a slouching gait, his clothes were dusty and gray, and the gourd hanging from his waist looked like it was made of ordinary iron. By all accounts, he was a down-on-his-luck, drunken mortal.

But Liu Qingyi's hair stood on end.

His knuckles, gripping the cane, turned slightly white as he stared at the disheveled man's retreating figure, his brow furrowed.

"Teacher?" Jiang Shouzhou asked in confusion.

Liu Qingyi snapped out of her daze and shook her head: "It's alright, let's go into the city first."

He walked towards the city gate with his cane, and couldn't help but glance again in the direction where the man had disappeared.

But that figure had already disappeared into the crowds entering the city and could not be found.

At the same time.

Inside a side hall of the city lord's mansion, Jian Li sat cross-legged on a futon.

The sword intent around her rose and fell like the tide, and the sword energy of the Human Emperor Sword Technique was circulating within her body. At this moment, she had reached the final juncture.

Ao Tianxin sat on a chair to the side and watched her.

Jian Li suddenly opened her eyes, and two golden sword beams flashed from her pupils, while spiritual energy gathered around her.

A faint, almost imperceptible sword shadow materialized above his head.

The aura of a Nascent Soul cultivator emanated from her body, causing the candlelight in the hall to dim.

As the sword shadows dissipated, Jian Li stood up and bowed to Ao Tianxin.

"Sister Tianxin, I've broken through."