Chapter 25: Foundation of an Army

Chan Wei was rather pleased with himself. By stealing the spotlight from Nie Li during the confrontation, he had avoided drawing his sister's attention—and spared himself some awkward situations with Ye Ziyun.

The next morning, after emerging from his tent, Nie Li quickly packed up before heading over to Chan Wei to thank him and inform him about the absorption of the shadow.

"Don't worry about it, brother. That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about," said Chan Wei, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "You see, I created an inscription to place on a pill, combining it with one of my shadows to boost the pill's energy. But it seems like you can just absorb the shadows directly."

"Oh, by the way—I've reached Gold rank," he added with a grin.

Nie Li was glad that Chan Wei wasn't upset about the shadow, and even happier to hear he had already thought of combining pills and inscriptions.

"You know, you should save that for when we get back. I'm sure Sister Ning'er and the others will be impressed. But honestly, after yesterday's power surge, I would've been more surprised if you hadn't reached that rank," Nie Li said with a smile, which made Chan Wei pout as he finished packing up his tent.

Ye Ziyun joined them as the group was getting ready to move, followed a few steps behind by Huyan Lanruo—and strangely, by Chen Linjian as well.

"Good morning, Nie Li. Good morning, Chan Wei," said Ye Ziyun as she approached.

"Good morning, Ye Ziyun," replied Chan Wei with a smile, quickly stepping aside to give Nie Li space, shooting him a discreet wink. Nie Li returned the gesture with a faint smile before starting his conversation with the girl he loved.

"Big sister, Master Chen," Chan Wei greeted with a slight bow toward Chen Linjian. "What can I do for you?" Chan Wei wasn't arrogant enough to think Chen Linjian had simply come to say hello.

"I'd like to hear your version of yesterday's conflict," Chen Linjian said calmly. "Even though I have nothing to fear from the Chu family, I can't be sure the same applies to you. So I'd like to know how it went, from your perspective. Chu Yuan and Huyan Lanruo have both given me their accounts—but they differ quite a bit."

It was clear Chen Linjian was trying to subtly pressure Chan Wei, perhaps hoping to recruit him in the future.

"Master Chen needn't worry," Chan Wei replied with a smile. "My master is a Legend-rank expert, and the Inscriptionist Association supports me. I don't think the Chu family will bother me over Chu Yuan's delusions."

"As for yesterday's event, it's quite simple. I was trying to draw Chu Yuan's attention away from myself and my big sister with a silent cue to Nie Li. But he started insulting Nie Li—and something inside me snapped. I lost control of my body and emotions," Chan Wei explained calmly, then smiled toward his sister.

Chen Linjian was slightly surprised and a bit disheartened after hearing Chan Wei's response."A Legend-rank master… no wonder you're so strong at your age. Thank you for your honesty. I'll take my leave now," he said before turning to walk away.

"You little rascal, I think you disappointed Chen Linjian—he probably wanted to recruit you," Huyan Lanruo said teasingly as she ruffled Chan Wei's hair into a mess.

"Big sis, please! Not the hair, you know it sticks up afterward!" Chan Wei replied, a bit downcast.

"But you're so cute with your spiky hair," she giggled, reaching back to mess it up again, only to quickly pull her hand away to avoid a bite from Little Bai.

"Little Bai, no! I'll tell you when someone's actually being mean, but you can't attack my big sister—even if I don't like having messy hair," Chan Wei said to the snake, who coiled up with a sulk."Come on, Little Bai, I'm not mad," he added, stroking the snake's head as it affectionately rubbed against his cheek.

"I'm gonna tell Grandma that little Chan tried to attack his big sister with a snake. I wonder what she'll say… Maybe she'll punish you by making you stand in the corner with books on your head like when you were a little brat," Huyan Lanruo said mischievously before walking off.(Author's note: I don't think I need to explain which "snake" she's referring to. (°w°))

"Big sister!" Chan Wei shouted, thoroughly embarrassed—especially as a few others turned toward him at his cry. Red-faced, he quickly walked over to Nie Li and Ye Ziyun.

When he arrived beside Nie Li, Chan Wei didn't comment on the thoughtful expression on his brother's face. He knew exactly what Nie Li was thinking—it was part of his personality and the story he once read.

In a few years, Glory City would be under the threat of demon beasts. Even Ye Ziyun's grandfather, a Legend-rank Demon Spiritualist, would die in battle. Therefore, Nie Li needed to reach the Legend rank before that happened. For him, this was a massive challenge—the time was too short. He had to use every possible method to strengthen himself, including this journey to the ruins of the Ancient Orchid City!

In the following days, Nie Li continued to refine the soul force he'd received from Chan Wei's shadows while Chan Wei regularly went out to hunt demon beasts nearby. He mostly hunted snakes, wolves, and the occasional tiger.

He gave all the fox bears to Nie Li, since he found them uninteresting in battle. Chan Wei's frequent hunting stirred up quite the noise in the surrounding area, and the group became fascinated by the hundreds of bronze-rank beasts he had slain.

He even offered the demon beasts to the group, saying that if he didn't find anything valuable in the ruins, at least he could recoup the trip through those materials. Nie Li assumed Chan Wei was doing it to protect him in case they didn't find any treasures.

In reality, Chan Wei was just trying to win the favor of the group, about 30% of which came from noble families. Plus, he was using it as an excuse to thin out his army of shadows—offering the overflow to Nie Li—and make room to complete his maximum limit.

After trekking through the mountains for two days and passing through a deep canyon path, a distant, unadorned valley finally came into view. It was a fragment of an ancient city ruin. The area stretched for miles, blanketed mostly by dense forests, with only a few stained walls left standing.

The roar of demon beasts could be heard from within the ruins. The demon beasts ranked above Gold had already long since left. What remained in the ruins were Bronze- and Silver-ranked beasts, yet this excited Chan Wei greatly—he had reached Gold rank, 2 stars, while his physical strength had reached 4 stars. He was eagerly awaiting his battle against the Demon Ape that had awakened its spiritual wisdom.

Nie Li had finally reached Bronze rank, 4 stars, but the shadows at the Bronze rank were no longer enough for him. His soul realm outright refused to absorb them. Even Silver-ranked shadows were now being rejected.

Despite the power of the shadows he had devoured, his cultivation technique compressed and purified their soul force to an extreme degree—losing a great deal of energy in the process. This explained the slow progress in his cultivation.

Nie Li hypothesized that his soul realm was now saturated with Yin energy, and he would have to use other methods to avoid corrupting his soul realm.

Meanwhile, Chan Wei had assembled a personal team composed of ten Scarlet Wolves and ten Gold-ranked monkeys. These beasts had grown so massive that the wolves were the size of oxen, while the grey monkeys had become as bulky as gorillas from his own world—yet they retained incredible agility.

As for Silver rank, Chan Wei hadn't even hit his limit yet. He already had 130 Silver-ranked 5-star shadows, composed mainly of monkeys, wolves, Blazing Lizards, and Frost Boars—all forming his primary front-line assault force.

The Bronze rank was even more extravagant—he had already reached 1,300 Bronze-ranked 5-star shadows. He had razed dozens of monkey colonies, wolf dens, and other demon beast congregations, which had caused an explosive growth in the number of his shadows. This was especially thanks to the fact that he no longer needed to hold back under the scrutiny of experts.

If Glory City were ever to be breached by demon beasts, it would become just like these ruins—nothing left behind but bones and rubble. During the Era of Darkness, the rampaging demon beasts had wiped out the entire human empire.

Only a handful of lucky survivors remained, struggling against the demon beasts. However, most of their knowledge and culture had been lost in the catastrophe. Many of the cultivation techniques, martial arts, and inscription patterns in Glory City were incomplete as a result. Therefore, it was highly likely that valuable relics from the Era of Darkness could still be found by exploring these ancient ruins!

What Nie Li truly sought was the Spirit Lamp—an extremely powerful item left behind by a Legend-rank Demon Spiritualist from the Era of Darkness!

Before Nie Li and the group arrived, each noble family had already sent people to explore these ancient ruins. Unfortunately, not many discoveries had been made. As a result, fewer people came here to explore afterward. Chen Linjian had somehow gotten his hands on a map of the ruins of the Ancient Orchid City, which is why he had decided to explore this place.

However, even if the group found nothing in the ruins, the number of creatures slain and distributed by Chan Wei was already enough to leave them satisfied. They even agreed to take an alternate route if they found nothing in the ruins to continue collecting demon beast loot.

"At last, we've arrived at the ruins of the Ancient Orchid City! Now, we have two paths we can take. Here's the map," said Chen Linjian, spreading out the map and pointing at the marked lines.

Everyone gathered around to examine the map and started discussing which path to take.

"The first route is toward the west gate. By following the city walls, we can quickly reach the central area. But what could we possibly find along that route? We'll definitely want to explore the residential areas for loot!" one of Chen Linjian's lackeys suggested.

"I agree with him!"

"Yeah, we should search that housing area!" others echoed, parroting each other.

Chen Linjian remained silent for a moment. He then looked up at Nie Li and asked, "What do you think?"

Everyone was a bit surprised. None of them expected Chen Linjian to ask Nie Li's opinion at a moment like this. Chan Wei smiled beside his brother, saying nothing—it was time for Nie Li to shine in front of Ye Ziyun.

Ye Ziyun also looked at Nie Li, her eyes gleaming. Even Huyan Lanruo couldn't take her eyes off of him.

Now, everyone was paying close attention to Nie Li's thoughts.

Nie Li reached out and said, "If you came here just to rummage through random houses, that would be a huge mistake! Those who came before us have already searched the commoners' homes. Even if we were to search them again, we'd gain nothing. In a city, who holds the most wealth? Is it the commoners? Of course not. Ninety percent of a city's riches are held by the great noble families."

"There's an area spanning hundreds of kilometers here. There are countless commoner homes, and many parts of the ruins have been destroyed. How would we even know where the noble families once lived?" Shen Yue interjected from the side. As always, he couldn't help but oppose anything that came out of Nie Li's mouth.

However, Shen Yue quickly shrank back and abandoned his argument after receiving a single look from Chan Wei. A deep, primal fear surged through him, as if he were being stared down by a demon beast ready to pounce.

"Go on," said Chen Linjian, looking at Nie Li with interest. He clearly agreed with Nie Li's deduction.

"It's easy to find the residence of noble families. Which buildings on this map are the most spread out? That's the place! Typically, noble families would have their own courtyards," Nie Li continued.

Everyone's eyes fell back on the map at Nie Li's words.

"Here!" Huyan Lanruo said, pleasantly surprised.

"Correct. This should be the area. Many buildings there are huge!"

Chen Linjian furrowed his brows and said, "That area has already been searched. Although a few valuables were found, it wasn't anything substantial. Some people even dug a meter underground and couldn't find any chamber-related areas!"

"What are you even thinking? You think other people didn't think of that too? You think all the noble families of Glory City are fools?" Shen Yue snorted.

Nie Li frowned and was about to respond when Chan Wei placed a hand on his shoulder.

"From now on, cut the crap and keep your mouth shut," Chan Wei said coldly, unleashing a concentrated wave of Yin intent onto Shen Yue. Chan Wei's eyes flared with a ghostly white flame, reminiscent of what had happened to Chu Yuan.

Shen Yue instantly collapsed under the weight of that intent, scrambling back more than ten meters with his lackeys. The fear of ending up like Chu Yuan overwhelmed him, and only later did he realize that he had wet himself in fear.

"It's only natural that area has already been searched. Let's keep looking at the map. This large noble house is located at the city's central axis. Because of that, it would've been the most guarded and safest area," Nie Li explained, pointing to the area behind the noble residence. "That area should be where the City Lord's mansion was located!"

Chen Linjian nodded. So far, Nie Li's deductions had been spot-on. However, even the City Lord's mansion had already been searched by earlier explorers—including underground—but no significant discoveries were made.

"Let's keep looking at the map. A few hundred meters from the City Lord's mansion, there are three distinct areas. Do you know what those are?" Nie Li asked Chen Linjian.

"Among those three areas, one is a military training ground where the City Lord's soldiers used to train. Another is a stone fortress—very solidly built. It's empty inside and made of black marble. Not even a chisel can damage it. As for the last one, I'm not sure what it was for. It's just next to the stone fortress and overgrown with trees and weeds," Chen Linjian replied. Before arriving here, he had memorized the layout of the ruins of the Ancient Orchid City.

Upon hearing this, Nie Li smiled and said, "That lines up well with my theory!"

Chen Linjian's eyes lit up. "You mean these three areas are suspicious? Could it be the stone fortress? But… it's already been searched!"

"That stone fortress was likely a refuge in times of catastrophe. When disaster struck, people would hide inside. Therefore, there should be a hidden chamber storing treasures somewhere within. The area near the fortress is obviously a trap zone, meant to keep demon beasts at bay. If someone tried to investigate it carelessly, they might not even know how they died. More importantly, I believe the most suspicious area is the military ground!" Nie Li said with a faint smile.

"Why would the military ground be the most suspicious place instead?"

The military ground was just a muddy patch of land used for training. Why would it be suspicious?

"The most inconspicuous place is usually the safest! Moreover, the City Lord placed the military grounds right at the central axis of the city, which alone proves it's not so simple. There must be something important hidden beneath that training ground!" Nie Li pointed at the map and said, "We'll search this area!"

"Alright! Then it's decided!" Chen Linjian rolled up the map with a light chuckle. With the direction now chosen, they could save a lot of time and avoid unnecessary detours.Also, no one in the group objected to Chen Linjian's decision, having seen how protective Chan Wei was of his friend — few dared to contradict Nie Li.

Chen Linjian's subordinates looked at Nie Li with eyes full of admiration. At that moment, no one belittled Nie Li anymore, and everyone agreed it was only fair for him to choose a treasure first.

Ye Ziyun pinched her lips into a smile. That charming expression stunned Nie Li — it gave him a strange feeling of déjà vu.

Nie Li pulled a bolt out of his backpack, then took out some Purple Haze Grass and smeared it along the tip of the arrow.

"Nie Li, what are you doing?" Ye Ziyun asked, watching him curiously.

Nie Li gave an innocent smile and said, "Just some prep work for later."

"Alright, let's move out!" Chen Linjian called. The group slowly advanced toward the Ancient Orchid City ruins, keeping close to the outer walls and choosing a relatively quick and safe path. If they had followed the original route, it would've been more difficult, as the complex terrain hid many demon beasts.

Roars of demon beasts echoed from the depths of the ruins. In addition to the beasts, there were occasionally groups of people — other explorers from Glory City, also seeking fortune in the Ancient Orchid City ruins.

Just as Chen Linjian, Nie Li, and their party moved deeper into the ruins, another group appeared at the city's entrance.

They wore black robes — fifteen in total.

"You're sure these kids are from noble families?" the man leading the group asked coldly as he swept his gaze over the others. He was tall — a head taller than anyone around him.

"Yes, Deacon Yun Hua!" one of the black-robed men replied.

"Good!" A sinister smile crept across Yun Hua Deacon's face. "Capture the three with the highest cultivation. We'll ransom them back to their families — kill the rest!"

The Dark Guild was a terrifying presence in Glory City. They often kidnapped noble children to extort ransom. Like a pack of leeches, they thrived in the city's shadows, using every method possible to collect money to supply cultivation resources to their members. Although many noble families had repeatedly joined forces to wipe them out, the Dark Guild always managed to vanish without a trace.

It was said that the headquarters of the Dark Guild was located in a very secretive place in the St. Ancestral Mountains. They were such a powerful force that even Lord Ye Mo had been unable to eradicate them.

Sou sou sou — the black-robed men swiftly made their way toward the Ancient Orchid City ruins.

Inside the ruins of Ancient Orchid City

The group was having trouble advancing. From time to time, massive blue-armed giant apes would appear. These demonic beasts stood two meters tall, with thick arms like dark stone pillars — and despite their size, they were incredibly agile. They were typically classified as Silver rank. For Chan Wei, they were one of the primary targets of this trip, as he planned to turn them into a heavily armored regiment by outfitting them with weapons and armor.

Six blue-armed apes leapt across the ruined walls, chasing Nie Li and the group. But five were quickly taken down by Chan Wei's throwing knives, while the last one fled. Using a well-practiced method, Chan Wei discreetly absorbed the shadows of the five apes before asking someone from Chen Linjian's team to collect the loot.

To the eyes of the group, Chan Wei was like a hunting god — giving the demonic beasts barely any chance to resist.

Soon after, the escaped ape returned with reinforcements. A group of them gathered in the distance, watching the group from afar.

"These blue-armed apes are really annoying!" Chen Linjian frowned. While the apes hadn't attacked yet, they couldn't do anything to drive them off. And as time passed, more and more blue-armed apes began to gather. Once their numbers reached a certain point, they would definitely swarm them.

Chan Wei had temporarily distanced himself from the group to hunt freely, knowing Nie Li could hold his own. In no time, fifty apes had fallen to Chan Wei and his shadows. Thankfully, for this expedition, Chan Wei had purchased several large spatial rings to store all his loot.

After his little excursion, he returned quietly to the group and was satisfied to find that they had already drawn the attention of over thirty apes.

At that moment — sou — a sharp sound sliced through the air. A cold flash darted through the shadows of the ruins.

Chen Linjian and the others quickly spotted the source. It was an arrow. The arrow shot through a narrow angle between branches and flew straight toward one of the blue-armed apes.

Pu!

The arrow struck its mark. The blue-armed ape groaned and toppled from the high wall, hitting the ground with a heavy thud, sending a cloud of dust into the air. It struggled on the ground, but couldn't get back up.

Seeing the opportunity, Chen Linjian rushed forward, drew his sword, and slashed down. Plop — blood splattered from the ape's body as the demonic beast died where it lay.

The group turned around in amazement — only to see Nie Li emerging from the shadows.

(Author's note: And here are two chapters for the weekend! I'm adding here the bonus images I generated with AI. If you're enjoying this story, feel free to leave a review to support me. Have a great week! ^^)