Chapter Sixty-One: Swaggering Boldly Through the Skies
Spatial artifacts generally cannot accommodate living creatures. Firstly, the world's laws do not permit man-made spaces to sustain life; for a man-made space to host life is akin to creating a new world, and the growth of a new world would inevitably disrupt the operation of the current one—something the will of this world will not tolerate. Secondly, the internal space of typical spatial artifacts is limited, and their environments are harsh, making survival for living beings nearly impossible. However, there are two exceptions that allow living creatures to survive temporarily inside a spatial artifact.
One method is to use a special refining technique, anchoring the artifact to a mobile pocket world or a fragment of space. In this case, the living being merely passes through the artifact as an entrance to the space, thus evading the suppression and influence of the world's laws.
The other method involves crafting an immensely vast interior within the artifact using special materials. This creates an environment where living beings can survive for a time. Yet, gains come with losses: when such an artifact houses living creatures, it cannot sever its connection to the current world. The world's laws must operate within the artifact's space, which means it loses the "preservation" ability typical of other spatial artifacts and is less convenient for storing goods.
The Imperial Guard Barracks is precisely such an artifact—its interior is enormous but ill-suited for storing objects.
Artifacts of this kind are not of high grade, possess little offensive or defensive capability, and are not particularly rare. Most are custom-made as mobile palaces or military encampments for mundane dynasties, holding little appeal for cultivators. The Imperial Guard Barracks is classed as a high-grade Yellow-tier artifact, but one as large as a military camp is truly rare; otherwise, even Master Liuguang would have been embarrassed to offer it to Wang Li as compensation.
Coming from a military family, Wang Li understood such artifacts far better than most cultivators.
He knew that, in war, the value of an artifact is not determined by its rank but by its application.
To most cultivators, who act alone, military camp artifacts are essentially useless. The powerful sects have far superior spatial artifacts, and the weak—well, if you’re weak, what use is an artifact that can accommodate so many people?
Yet for large-scale personnel movements, camp artifacts are unmatched.
Upon learning that Wang Li intended to take everyone to the secret realm’s entrance to complete missions, the entire Vengeance City was abuzz with excitement, and Wang Li’s reputation soared.
Who wouldn’t respect a steward who refuses to abandon his less powerful comrades?
Cultivators do not need to spend time packing like ordinary people, and since the people of Vengeance City were traveling within the barracks, many things simply needed to be placed inside. Thus, less than an hour after Wang Li finalized the plan, Vengeance City was deserted.
Most of that time was spent by Luo Heng refining the Imperial Guard Barracks, with some lost to tactical planning.
Holding the barracks aloft, Luo Heng looked back at the still-pristine Vengeance City, overcome with emotion.
He had witnessed the city’s rise and glory; now, he did not know if he would ever return.
Yet his flight was as swift as a flash of light, leaving him no time for sentimentality as he soon reached the mission zones at the secret realm’s outskirts.
A glance revealed that fierce battles raged in every mission zone.
These were all those who had left Vengeance City in pursuit of opportunity, unwittingly stumbling into the mission zones. However, since they had not accepted missions from the Chosen List nor acted according to mission requirements, even if they completed the tasks, no rewards would await them.
Luo Heng felt pity for them, while also feeling fortunate to have chosen the same strategy as Jiang Yu: to adapt by remaining unchanged—and, incidentally, to hold tightly to Wang Li’s coattails.
This time, those who stayed behind had seized the initiative.
Nevertheless, as instructed by Wang Li, Luo Heng placed markers along the way to guide these people toward Mission Zone 62.
After all, most were disciples of the Pure Yang Sect; it would be remiss to truly abandon them. Furthermore, with the secret realm’s dangers unknown, no one dared venture in without enough experts.
With the ground combatants drawing most of the mission zones' firepower, Luo Heng, aside from being intercepted once by a flock of second-tier four-winged beasts, flew openly and unhindered all the way to Mission Zone 62.
There was fierce fighting in Mission Zone 26 as well, but the battle ceased the moment the Imperial Guard Barracks was set down.
Ling Xiao, preparing to unleash a major technique in midair, stared blankly at the enormous barracks suddenly appearing at the secret realm’s entrance.
He was not alone—so too did the Lin brothers and more than twenty other Pure Yang Sect disciples wear the same stunned expression.
They found the barracks strangely familiar, as if they had seen it somewhere before.
But they quickly shook off the thought. Impossible—the Imperial Guard Barracks was Wang Li’s artifact; he would not abandon several thousand low-ranked disciples to seek fortune here alone.
Those thousands of low-level disciples were a heavy burden, but as steward, Wang Li could not forsake them; otherwise, when the Chosen Trials ended, the sect master would never let him off lightly.
The endless horde of Flame Rats they were fighting was also startled by the sudden appearance of the barracks. The two-legged ones before them were already formidable enough; the Flame Rat leader, wary that the new arrival might be allied with these two-legged foes, ordered a temporary retreat until the situation became clear.
According to plan, as soon as the barracks landed, over two thousand Qi Refining cultivators surged out, establishing a perimeter to buy time for reinforcing the barracks’ defenses.
Those inside the barracks unleashed their full power, deploying all manner of building materials and spells, and in the blink of an eye erected a ten-foot-high earthen wall encircling the barracks, sealing it tightly.
Practice makes perfect—the speed at which the walls rose was astonishing. By the time both sides confirmed their opponents, the two thousand Qi Refining cultivators had already returned inside.
The Lin brothers and the Flame Rat leader hiding among the horde stared at each other.
A true case of big eyes staring at little ones...
The moment the familiar Chosen List appeared within the barracks, the scene became downright comical.
“They’ve brought Vengeance City with them!”
“Steward Wang is truly ruthless—how did he bring thousands of people here?”
While others joked, Ling Xiao let out a long sigh of relief.
“At last, we can get some rest!”
He felt utterly spent.
The Flame Rats were weak—truly weak. Even at second-tier, their small size meant they were nothing more than large, fire-breathing rodents. Compared to the thick-skinned, tough beasts like the Earthshakers, Flame Rats were easy prey—a single sword strike could take out a swath, and even novice Body Refiners at the seventh or eighth level could handle ten or more apiece.
Yet among fierce beasts, Flame Rats were notorious for being a nightmare.
Why? Simply because of their overwhelming numbers!
So many that, even after more than twenty Foundation Establishment disciples and two Nascent Soul experts had fought until exhaustion, they were still not exterminated!
Before Wang Li’s group arrived, Ling Xiao and his companions had been locked in battle with these Flame Rats for a full day and night, slaying well over one hundred thousand, yet the tide seemed unending. Had things continued, not only would the Foundation Establishment disciples have fallen, even the Lin brothers would have been overwhelmed.
The moment they saw thousands of their fellow disciples arrive, Ling Xiao and the others were nearly moved to tears...