After leaving Dome City and getting rid of the patrol mission, Lu Qingshan felt that the sky was high enough for birds to fly and the sea was wide enough for fish to leap.
The Fourteen Cities are very large, but too small for sword cultivators.
If you want to go deep into the demon-occupied area, it is impossible to pass through the front line.
At this time, there were millions of soldiers stationed on the front line by both humans and demons, and the war was raging. It was impossible for him, a cultivator in the sixth realm, to pass through the army.
Taking a detour is the only option.
Although you have to take a detour, it doesn't take too much time.
Lu Qingshan just needed to copy exactly how the demons bypassed the front battlefield and entered the human race’s rear area.
The demons’ blockade of the airspace and the defensive line definitely exist.
But it is not difficult to avoid the demons' air blockade.
In the vast and open Zhongling, even with the huge number of manpower of the demons, it is impossible to completely block the airspace.
The demons can't spare too many manpower.
It's good that their house is big, but it's also a big business, and there are too many things to do.
Therefore, when it comes to the airspace blockade, the main purpose is only to prevent large-scale human cultivators. There is really not much defense against the infiltration of a duo like Lu Qingshan and Mo Yan.
With Lu Qingshan's current speed, even if he brought Mo Yan along, he could still easily bypass the defense lines extending from the three cities of Niu Jiao, Hu Tou and Ma Ti by dusk and enter the area occupied by the demons.
With such a speed, even a cultivator in the seventh realm would feel ashamed of himself.
After crossing the front line, Lu Qingshan stopped for a moment, carefully felt the source of the fluctuation, then started again and continued to fly towards the west at the same speed.
The further west he went, the more devastated the land beneath his feet became.
After the demons entered the country, they carried out a massive massacre. Lu Qingshan had no idea how many starving people with skin and bones on the roadside and dead bodies covered with crows hanging on the trees he had seen along the way.
The city was burning in flames, black smoke was rising from the golden rice fields and wheat waves, and the scene was a scene of chaos and disorder.
In addition to the demons, there are also small groups of monsters in the entire demon-occupied area that emerge like locusts after autumn and roam everywhere.
Along the way, Lu Qingshan also saw many demon troops advancing eastward.
These were all continuously drawn from the Wujian Realm by the demons, and were also what the demons relied on to invade Zhongling.
As for these demon troops, Lu Qingshan just glanced at them from a distance and did not get too close.
"Lu Qingshan, there is such a strong humid atmosphere," the usually lazy Gu Yiyi woke up from her rest. Before she could figure out the situation, she asked in a daze, her voice somewhat excited, "Where are you?"
"No, that's not water." Lu Qingshan withdrew his gaze from the ground without leaving a trace.
There, a group of monsters filled with demonic energy were moving towards the east.
"Those are tears."
Lu Qingshan said: "There is still blood."
…
Nightfall.
It has been more than six hours since Lu Qingshan left Dome City.
It was winter.
Snowflakes danced and floated, forming a thin layer on the scarlet to black ground.
When you step on such a ground, you can hear a crisp creaking sound.
Phew.
Li Si pulled the sword in his hand out from the heart of the demon cultivator in front of him.
Blood immediately spurted out from the blood hole created by the sword blade.
His eyes were very cold.
Apparently he had experienced this kind of scene many times, causing him to become numb.
He held the long sword and looked at the demon cultivator who was surrounded by his companions. He pulled the corners of his mouth and muttered to himself.
When it comes to killing people, it’s up to us sword cultivators to do it.
"I'll help you!" he shouted softly.
That demon cultivator was only at the fifth level, but he had thick skin and could withstand beatings. At this point he no longer had much ability to resist and was only relying on his body to hold out.
The other cultivators who were surrounding the demon cultivator heard Li Si's shout and immediately understood what he meant, and they made way for him as if they had telepathic communication.
Li Si followed the gap and thrust his sword at just the right moment, piercing the demon cultivator's forehead without any defense.
…
In this sudden encounter, the human monks won a complete victory.
After quickly cleaning up the battlefield and clearing up all traces, they were about to leave when Li Si's eyes suddenly fixed.
In the snow, he saw a wild musk deer hiding behind a rock and looking around.
I don’t know what he thought of, but Li Si’s heart moved slightly, and a sword energy shot out from his fingertips like a sharp arrow.
puff!
The wild deer fell to the ground.
Li Si smiled with satisfaction.
"Li Si, I brought game for your girl again." His companion joked with a smile.
Li Si shook his head and scolded with a smile: "What do you mean my girl? Don't talk nonsense."
As he spoke, he walked forward and picked up the wild deer, "Let's go back."
…
A few hours later.
Li Si and his group reunited with other companions.
This is a very strange team.
A team of eight or nine very old monks and hundreds of ragged mortals.
Seeing Li Si and his group coming back, the monks here quickly surrounded them and asked anxiously, "What's the situation?"
"It's generally safe. The demons are not marching this way, but we did encounter a few wandering demon cubs on the road. We killed them all." Li Si said with a grin.
"That's good." The monk who asked the question breathed a sigh of relief.
At this moment, the monk who asked the question suddenly lowered his eyes and then revealed a meaningful smile.
Li Si also felt some movement around him. He looked down and saw a small hand tightly grasping the corner of his clothes.
It was a dirty little face with dark skin, but the pair of equally dark eyes were unusually lively and bright.
"Don't be afraid, we will be in a safe place in a few days." Li Si, who has no children in his life, comforted the little girl in a gentle voice that he had only heard a few times in his life.
The little girl shook her head to show that she was not afraid.
But there was a gleam in his eyes as he stared at the wild deer in Li Si's hand with eyes like a little rabbit seeing a carrot, cute and pitiful.
Seeing this scene, the monks who were traveling with him couldn't help but say, "Li Si, it's understandable that you killed the demon cub, but this wild deer didn't do anything wrong, so why did you kill it too? You have no place to complain even if you are right."
"Who said it didn't make any mistakes? It's its fault that it's so fat." Another monk came up and teased.
Others couldn't help laughing.
"Ahem..." Li Si's face turned red, but he didn't say anything. He just reached out his big hand and touched the girl's head, then shouted to his companions beside him: "Don't just watch the fun, help me roast this wild deer."
"Li Si, my fire magic is used to kill enemies, not to grill meat for your girl." The companion who was called out said dissatisfiedly.
"Don't do that to me," Li Si threw the wild deer to his companion and reminded him, "Remember to lower the heat this time. It was burnt last time. And you keep bragging about your exquisite control of magic that you can't even roast meat properly. Damn it."
“You don’t even know how to be polite when you ask me to do something…” the companion muttered softly, but his hands moved obediently.
…
After a while, the wild deer was roasted. The steaming and oily deer meat made the girl laugh happily.
But the little girl did not eat the food immediately. Instead, she bowed to Li Si to express her gratitude.
Then she skipped toward the crowd holding the wild deer and distributed the meat to several other elderly people.
"Her whole family was killed, and now she is the only little girl left. You have no children in your life, and it just so happens that you two are attracted to each other," a fellow monk walked up to Li Si and whispered, "If we can take them safely out of the demon-occupied area and back to the human realm, I think you should just adopt her."
"Although she is mute, it is not a big deal with our ability. We should be able to find a spiritual practitioner to cure her when the time comes."
"At this age, wouldn't it be nice to have a girl calling you daddy?"
Li Si smiled as his companion said that. He seemed to be moved by the scene, but he soon calmed down and shook his head, saying, "Let's talk about it after we can leave here safely."
"The situation is not good?" The companion noticed something and asked hurriedly.
" Although have you noticed that our scout team has been encountering wandering demon cultivators more and more frequently recently?"
Scout is a somewhat unfamiliar term to monks.
When a mortal army moves forward, scouts are necessary to avoid sudden attacks from the enemy.
But for monks, the term scout is rare.
Because mortals and monks are actually no longer the same species, the difference is too great.
For ordinary armies, marching a hundred miles a day is considered fast.
At this speed, the scouts could ride their horses much faster than the main army, so they could run far enough to gather intelligence and return safely.
But the army of monks was advancing like a high-speed interstellar fleet, and the range of the monks' spiritual sense was already extremely wide. If they sent out scouts, then the question of what level of monks to send out became a problem.
Those with low cultivation bases have insufficient escape speed, which can’t even match the speed of the main army. They simply can’t spread out over a large area, so how can they conduct scouts?
For those with high cultivation, their speed is fast enough, but...
How can a marshal be a scout?
Those who can truly be considered semi-scouts are usually sword cultivators or dark cultivators who go to investigate the surrounding situation.
It is said to be an investigation, but in fact it is half investigation and half fighting.
As for Li Si, this time he took on this job which required some experience for him.
But this time, the scout's duty is extremely important.
Li Si looked at his companions around him, lost in thought.
He didn't recognize any of these companions a few days ago.
Because not long ago, as "veterans" who had retired from Longcheng Pass, they were in different states of Zhongling and had no intersection with each other.
Later, the evacuated flying boats arrived at their respective hometowns with the conscription orders.
Next, they set off, bringing their companions with them and gathering at their own expense from all corners of the world to the western front battlefield.
They are not "regular troops", their skills are not outstanding, and they are still old. They don't know who their companions are, let alone the exact location of the battlefield.
Logically speaking, this was a very blind action.
But not in this war.
This is a war that concerns the survival of the entire Zhongling world, a war between Taoism and the devil.
Therefore, everyone is a regular soldier, and every middle-level spiritual practitioner met on the road is a companion and comrade-in-arms.
Therefore, even if they had never met each other before, they could quickly become comrades after meeting.
As for the battlefield?
Wherever there is the enemy, there is the battlefield.
With this idea in mind, they plunged into this area.
Their actions were even faster than those of the Sword Sect.
When they first arrived here, their main focus was on finding and killing lone demon cultivators.
After all, they are few in number and not organized into a system, so they can only launch ambushes and take advantage of weak targets.
Afterwards, the demon army swarmed across the border like a swarm of locusts.
Wherever they passed, there was slaughter.
The demons need a stable rear, but they also need to vent their anger and stimulate the brutality and murderous intent in the hearts of all demon cultivators.
So from the very beginning, the demons did not intend to leave a single person alive in the area they occupied.
The battle between Taoism and demons has always been cruel.
Li Si met these refugees on his way back.
These were people from a small village who had narrowly avoided the first wave of the demon army's sweep and were stumbling in an attempt to flee to safety.
But at this time, demons are everywhere in this area. Where can these people, who have almost never left their villages in their entire lives, escape to?
They had just walked for a few dozen miles when they encountered a hunting monster that was contaminated with evil spirits.
By the time Li Si arrived, only the elderly, the weak, women and children were left - facing the nearly invincible monster, the adult men timidly yet bravely stood up, using their own lives to buy time for their loved ones to escape.
In fact, the effect is not great.
If Li Si had not arrived in time, no matter how brave and fearless those men were, they would not have been able to save their loved ones.
But Li Si came.
So the sacrifice of those men was worth it.
Li Si killed the monster and faced these hundred or so ragged people, who looked at his compatriots with cautious but hopeful eyes. From that moment on, he understood that his mission was no longer to kill lone demon cultivators, but to find ways to take them out of the demon-occupied area.
This is destined to be an extremely difficult road.
These refugees had no skills in cultivation and could not perform any escape techniques. They could only walk and could not cover more than a few dozen miles a day.
In addition, with so many people, not only is it difficult to hide, but food and drink alone is a big problem - Li Si, who has been fasting for a long time, cannot eat the same food as ordinary people.
Fortunately, he met these companions again.
One of his companions found a few bottles of fasting pills in the mustard seed that he didn't even remember where they were placed. This finally solved the problem of food and drink for everyone.
Their only challenge now is how to lead these unarmed refugees through this vast minefield and into the safe zone.
They didn't have a flying boat, so they chose a stupid method, having the monks act as scouts to explore the way ahead, and after confirming it was safe, they would follow with the refugees.
Just like crossing a river by feeling the stones, we move towards the safe zone step by step.
"What do you mean?" the companion asked warily.
Li Si shook his head. "I can't tell you the specifics, but I have a bad feeling."
"Let's take another route," he thought for a moment and suddenly said, "I'll try the Minshan route again."
"You take a rest, I'll do it." The companion took the initiative to take the job.
Li Si waved his hand and said, "Let me do it. You guys are not as efficient as me."
The companion curled his lips and did not argue.
Whether it was killing enemies or escaping speed, they really could not compare with the experienced swordsmen.
This is their profession.
…
Minshan Mountain.
A pale white crescent moon appeared in the sky. The wind and snow were howling, making Li Si's clothes rustle.
From time to time, branches were broken under the heavy weight, and the accumulated snow fell down.
Li Si stepped on the snow, leaving footprints, which would soon be covered by new snow.
The scout's task is not simple. In addition to detecting any danger, he also has to walk the road himself to see if it is suitable for mortals to pass.
The next moment, Li Si seemed to have discovered something and stopped suddenly.
He turned slowly.
There, stood a gigantic monster that was at least twenty feet tall, covered with bright red scales all over its body, like a piece of bright red armor.
Its lantern-like eyes flashed with ferocious murderous light as it looked coldly at Li Si.
His eyes were full of cruelty and contempt as if he was looking at an ant.
The aura is even more intimidating.
Horrible, ferocious, brutal and powerful.
Sixth-grade red-scale demon.
Li Si, who was only six feet tall, wore a thin long gown and was even a little hunched. His hair was black with a mixture of white, and it kept shaking with the dancing snowflakes.
His face was full of wrinkles that represented his age, like dried orange peel, and his cultivation was only at the fifth level.
It's like a military general in gorgeous armor and an old soldier in half-naked clothes facing each other from a distance.
The hunchbacked old swordsman summoned his own sword, spat into his palm, gripped the sword tightly, and straightened his body.
The long sword clanged and rang.
Then he raised his head and pointed the tip of his sword at the monster not far away.
The two looked at each other from a distance, and their eyes met.
One side is as violent as fire, the other side is as calm as ice.
Deep mountains, flying snow, and flaming monsters.
The dark night, the waning moon, and murderous intent as cold as ice and snow.
"Devil cub..."
Li Si's voice was colder than ice and snow, just like his sword.