There were six roads in the Northern Territories: Autumn Peace Road, Yumen Road, Pingyang Road, Xiajing Road, North River Road, and Gongzhou Road.
The first three were guarded by Xiao Yinghao's White Dragon Army, while the latter three were held by Gu Yuanye and his Xuanhuang Army.
Back in the days when Gu Yuanye had still been an obscure centurion under Ding Xingfeng, his rise had begun from Xiajing Road.
Xiajing Road was the most perilous of all six, its ownership had shifted back and forth countless times between Great Wei and the Qingman tribes, and it was the most war-torn, chaotic front of all.
At that time, Gu Yuanye's squad had clashed with the Qingman forces and was routed. In their desperate retreat, they stumbled blindly into the Desert Sea.
Gu Yuanye vanished there for a full month. When he returned, his cultivation had soared, and from then on his rise was unstoppable. Eventually, when Ding Xingfeng was unjustly punished, Gu Yuanye replaced that legendary Martial Saint and ascended to become the Northern Garrison Prince.
During that month, he had, by sheer chance, entered the Martial Tomb of the Soldier Immortal and obtained the inheritance of the so-called "Soldier Immortal."
Both his War Puppets and his army formations came from that legacy.
Though the figure was revered as the Soldier Immortal, the fact that he was sealed within this tomb made it clear, he was no virtuous being.
From the inscriptions upon the tomb's suppressing stele, it was recorded that his name was Li Kan, a figure from an age even older than Ancient Zhou, a true powerhouse of antiquity.
The stele called that era the "Age of the Great Crucible."
Li Kan had been the Grand Marshal of the greatest empire of that age, invincible on the battlefield, with a record of blood and conquest that shook the heavens. Millions of souls had perished beneath his banner. He had walked to the absolute extreme of slaughter, earning the title "Soldier Immortal."
Gu Yuanye had once been deeply puzzled by this description.
In the understanding of cultivation, the ancients should not have diverged much, one who walked the Dao to its utmost should have been First Rank.
Moreover, judging from the inheritance he himself had received, even by his own comprehension, Li Kan the Soldier Immortal should have been of First Rank strength.
Yet, in recent years, while deciphering the surviving inscriptions within the tomb, Gu Yuanye discovered that the being who had suppressed Li Kan during the Age of the Great Crucible had described his realm only as "Attained the Dao."
Gu Yuanye speculated, perhaps the people of that time used different terms. But perhaps... First Rank was not truly the limit.
Just as the followers of the Path of Revelation often said: only by lifting the lid could one see the real world.
Regardless, even the smallest fragment of inheritance from this Martial Tomb of the Soldier Immortal had been enough to make him a fearsome War Saint, his foundation immeasurably deep.
The three War Puppet Avatars he refined were all of Third Rank strength.
And beneath this tomb lay countless bronze soldier statues, all of them identical War Puppets!
Back then, he had dared to reach into the coffin's narrow gap and steal only the formation and refinement method for the War Puppets. But now, to obtain more... he would have to open the coffin once again.
Gu Yuanye had long known that Li Kan was no benevolent being. To have been suppressed for at least a thousand years, and yet even the faintest leak of his baleful energy was that terrifying, he must never be released.
But now, Gu Yuanye no longer cared.
"The world betrayed me first! To hell with all those so-called beings of the world! Better that I alone reign supreme!"
Floating in midair, Gu Yuanye stared at the coffin. The blood he had spat moments ago was being slowly absorbed by it, vanishing from sight.
His eyes turned cold. Drawing a deep breath, he raised his spear and hurled it forward with full strength.
"Boom!"
The spear struck the coffin lid. The impact flared with sparks as invisible shockwaves rippled outward, making the talismans rustle violently.
Gu Yuanye gathered his spiritual power again and barked a cold command:
"Open for me!"
"Crack! Crack! Crack..."
The long-decayed bronze chains snapped one after another. The yellow talismans disintegrated into ash, their blood-drawn sigils weeping as if in pain.
"Creak-"
The coffin lid slowly opened wider. Within, one could faintly glimpse a buried longsword and inscriptions carved along the coffin walls.
Gu Yuanye's eyes gleamed. Instantly, he halted, retrieved his spear, and landed upon the coffin.
Drawing in a steady breath, he leaned closer and began reading the ancient script. His focus deepened, his expression gradually turning entranced.
He failed to notice that, though there was no wind in the chamber, several of the eternal lamps embedded in the stone walls had suddenly gone out.
"Heh heh..."
A faint, ethereal chuckle drifted through the air, echoing between the stone walls before fading away as if it had never existed.
...
Northern Territories. Xiajing Road. The Desert Sea.
"Whoo... whoo..."
Winds howled through the vast yellow sands. The endless desert stretched to the horizon, barren of life save for a few dead trees scattered across the dunes.
The sun sank toward the horizon, dyeing the sky a bloody red. The scorching air distorted everything in sight.
Suddenly, a streak of white light flashed across the sky.
A young man in blood-soaked white robes appeared, cradling a girl in a tattered dress. Due to his severe injuries, his landing was anything but graceful, he tumbled across the sand in a rough roll.
"Pah, pah, cough, cough!"
Gu Fangchen spat out mouthfuls of sand, only to feel his blood surging chaotically. A coppery taste rose in his throat. He quickly turned aside, away from the girl beneath him, and coughed twice.
The girl he had fallen upon, Xu Fu, had initially worn a cold expression, memories of that previous night flashing through her mind. She had been about to scold him for his rudeness when her expression changed, realizing something was wrong.
Her hands pressed against his chest and felt a damp, sticky warmth, thick with blood.
As Gu Fangchen coughed up another mouthful, his head lolled sideways. He collapsed against the Grand Preceptor's body, unmoving, his breath weak to the point of vanishing.
Xu Fu's heart clenched in alarm. She instinctively tried to channel spiritual power, only to remember she was now a mortal. Struggling, she pushed at the young man atop her and called out:
"Gu Fangchen! Are you all right?! Wake up!"
She was powerless now, still hunted through the reverse tracking of the Sixth Division Star Lord. If the Demon Sect's pursuers caught up, she would have no one to rely on but Gu Fangchen.
Yet the once bold and untouchable thief, who had always seemed in control of everything, had suddenly... failed her.
Xu Fu called out several times, but Gu Fangchen didn't respond. The emotions of her fragile servant girl's body overwhelmed her, her eyes grew hot, her nose tingled, and tears welled up before she realized it.
"Why are you crying again? Cough... it's not that bad, is it, Grand Preceptor?"
A familiar voice sounded beside her ear. Xu Fu froze and turned her head, meeting Gu Fangchen's smiling eyes.
Her expression stiffened at once, her small face tightening as she said coldly,
"It was your little maid who panicked."
Gu Fangchen glanced at her reddened eyes and smiled lazily.
"Fine, let's say it was my little maid who panicked."
Xu Fu pressed her lips together, then raised her hand and gave his shoulder a small punch, scolding lightly,
"Playing dead now? Get up already!"
But with her current strength, the strike was little more than a soft nudge, more like a pout than a blow.
Gu Fangchen, who had been using her as a cushion, sighed with mock helplessness.
"Ah, I'm grievously wounded. I only just recovered a little after resting a moment. I can hardly move... But since the Grand Preceptor commands, how could I disobey?"
With great effort, he rolled himself off her. Xu Fu exhaled in relief, sat up, and turned to look at him, only for her pupils to contract sharply.
Gu Fangchen lay on his back, the wound on his chest now closed, yet beneath the torn fabric his skin revealed the faint outline of a crimson demonic flower.
His face was bloodless, pale as paper, and sweat poured down like rain.
Though he spoke lightly, it was exactly as he had said, he could barely move. Yet he had still forced himself to roll over, simply because she had told him to.
Xu Fu's heart trembled. She murmured softly,
"The Heart-Poison Mark... without Flower-Grasping's suppression, with your current cultivation, you can last at most half a year..."