"Brother Yun, it's been a long time..."
Everyone around the two men was perplexed. They didn't know how to react. Obviously, the name Chen Guo was known to all, at least to those old enough to have known his time. Unfortunately war had forced very young cultivators to join the fight. But among those present, this was a name that meant something. However, they weren't sure what to make of it. As such, they were all waiting for their Commandant's answer.
"Brother Chen, I thought that... Well..."
"You thought I had died eleven years ago, I understand. But I haven't, I've been sent to the other side of the planet. It took me this long to come back, but I'm finally home..."
Cao Yun almost sighed as he ended his sentence, then he looked around. The scenery had somewhat changed. Many trees had been cut down and scars of battles could be seen. Besides, with his current senses, Cao Yun could feel some Evil Qi and even faint remnants of Death Energy. In the environment of the Hongchen Kingdom, it was almost impossible for Evil Qi to accumulate, except in very specific locations. Sensing even some of it indicated how ferocious the battles had been. Moreover, even though he had sealed his blood cultivation, Cao Yun could feel demon blood in this Evil Qi as well. Both humans and demons had lost many soldiers around here.
"... Then he was right... I should have trusted him... Brother, this is great news, but we shouldn't stay here. My father will want to talk to you."
Yun Ping muttered to himself with sadness in his eyes. Apparently, he blamed himself for something. Seeing that their Commandant trusted this young man, his troops began to relax. Then, Yun Ping addressed them directly.
"Brothers and sisters, this honorable man is the Young Sect Master of my Wubei Sect, Chen Guo. Show him the respect he deserves."
"This humble one pays his respect to Young Sect Master."
All the soldiers suddenly changed their demeanor. Clearly, the Wubei name still meant something. As they were still speaking, they all heard powerful explosions in the distance. Cao Yun saw large pillars of flames close to the border, within the barrier. Most likely, those were array formations placed inside the tunnels or toward their exit. Although there were array formations in the air, the main defenses were on the ground, considering the demons could not easily cross the barrier. At the very least, the more powerful they were, the harder it was to get inside.
"Brother Yun, I'm sorry about that. I didn't want to cause such chaos, but I had no choice in order to get back."
"What did you do to them to make them this angry?"
"Well..."
Cao Yun took out the body of the slain officer.
"I've killed one of their officers and stole her memories..."
"Oh?! Yes, that should do it... Wait! You have her memories?! ... Of course, you were taught by Spirit Master Xiao. My father will really want to speak with you then. Follow me, this is urgent!"
Yun Ping didn't hesitate and ran in a specific direction. Cao Yun followed suit without protesting. As they were running, Cao Yun sent telepathic messages to Yun Ping to inquire about certain matters. Yun Ping couldn't reply in the same manner, but simply mouthing his answers was enough for Cao Yun to hear everything he was trying to say.
"Brother Yun, there are many things I want to ask about the situation. But first, I came here with Hongyu, my bird. So I just want to make sure she's safe."
"Don't worry about that. Brother Xen, go back and tell them to take care of the demonic beast, she's not to be harmed. Bring her back to our camp."
"Yes, Commandant."
"Thank you, Brother Yun. Then, let me ask a few questions. How are my brothers and sisters? How is the Wubei Sect? How is Feng Yingyue? Please, tell me everyone is still alive..."
Deep down, Cao Yun also wanted to know about his sister, but it would be difficult to ask such a question out of the blue. Should he suddenly ask if the Emperor's daughter was alive? Should he ask if the Emperor had recently broken through? For now, he would just try to get a good picture of the situation.
"Don't worry about your brothers and sisters, they're fine. Sun Liao was here a few days ago. With the war, his talents are required everywhere so he's very busy. But you should know, he's always been convinced that you were alive somewhere. Unfortunately, I didn't believe him. I wanted to, but... So many people died, I didn't want to blind myself with illusions. I'm sorry, Brother. But it wasn't just Sun Liao. Mei Hua, Ren Chao and Feng Yingyue were all certain that you had survived. But, once again, war is keeping them busy.
"Ren Chao remains at the Wubei Sect, but he's always forging new weapons and armors for everyone. With his kids, that's a lot... Oh?! Yes! He married Wang Mei and they have three kids already. They're both inner disciples of the Wubei Sect at the moment.
"Mei Hua and Feng Yingyue are in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. Their alchemy is absolutely essential. By the way, that's how my cultivation rose so fast. In a year or two, I should be able to even become a Spiritual Warrior if I keep gulping down pills, but... Well, we need strong warriors now, so..."
Obviously, Cao Yun knew what it meant. Using pills to speed up one's cultivation was sacrificing one's future for a quick gain in the present. Even now, Yun Ping probably had a lot of toxins in his system. It would be difficult for him to go further than early Spirit Warrior. And if he used a pill to force a breakthrough, he might never actually become more than a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior. However, in war, if one wasn't strong enough, they would simply die. So sacrificing one's future in order to save one's life made some sense.
"My father kept trying to dissuade me, but... Soon my sister will be old enough to join us on the battlefield. My father and I tried to stop her, but we kept failing. I need to get strong enough for her. I can't let her follow my path. Besides, my arm won't come back so my strength is already limited. I can live with that."
"Brother, you humble yourself too much. You've achieved the state of Spear Spirit. Even I have not reached such an achievement."
Even the Silver Wolf Marshal had not succeeded. He was close, but he had still not achieved such proficiency. Most likely, Yun Ping had focused all his attention on his spearmanship while pills were taking care of his cultivation. He had to spend most of his time working on his spear, both on the battlefield and outside. Indeed, Yun Ping could spend literal weeks working on his spear, without much rest, thanks to his cultivation and some pills. He had pushed himself to the point of sacrificing his future cultivation but he had also gained a lot.
"Thank you, but it's not enough... Sorry, I've made it all about myself. You wanted to know about the Wubei Sect. I'll tell you about the war first. I don't know if the officer you've killed knew about this since it happened within our borders. When the capital was attacked and you disappeared, this wasn't the only attack. Throughout the kingdom, many demons had infiltrated us, passing as humans. Suddenly, they all activated at once. They were in random small villages and they killed everyone. Several thousand people were killed just for them to sacrifice themselves. Through blood rituals, they were somehow able to create a few portals. They didn't last very long, but long enough for demons to really infiltrate us.
"This was utter chaos. In a matter of days, we've lost two provinces to those demons, the Huogu Province and the Kai Province. Everyone in it was slaughtered like animals. They didn't take prisoners or slaves, they just slaughtered, tortured and... Well, you can imagine everything they did. The provinces were not ready for such fierce battles, nor was our Hongchen Kingdom. A third province was under attack too, the Rengui Province. Unlike the other two, Governor Gang Suo put up an impressive fight. They fought with everything they had. The Governor herself went to the battlefield even though she wasn't in the military.
"They had no chance, but they did everything they could to slow down the demons. Governor Gang Suo fought for seventy-two days straight. She didn't rest and no reinforcement came to her. But she and her soldiers protected her province while her people were fleeing. Without her sacrifice, the Rengui Province would have been the third one to be annihilated. Unfortunately, the Hongchen Kingdom's reinforcements only arrived after her death. They say that they found her still fighting with some of her limbs missing and her organs crushed. They barely recognized her as human, but she endured till the very end, pushing with her willpower. She died by taking as many demons as she could with her. She was the first war hero to die for us, but not the last, by far...
"After that, the demons were pushed back and their plans were delayed. But they had complete control of the Huogu Province and the Kai Province while the Rengui Province had turned into a no man's land. So they tried to attack their main targets. Through the years, they've attacked them several times but always failed. Their targets were the Wubei Sect, the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute and the Imperial City. There were many casualties, but they all endured. In the end, it took us almost four years to completely root out those demons. A few of them scattered and fled through the land, but with Spirit Master Xiao's help, we've found them all. We also spent months making sure no other spy was within our midst.
"From Sun Liao's understanding of their blood ritual, this isn't something they can reproduce. It probably took them decades to plan for this attack if not more. Just producing the spies alone would take them half a century. But we would be able to find them out now, thanks to Spirit Master Xiao. She developed new ways to discern between humans born and bred in the Hongchen Kingdom and demons bred to appear humans."
"The Wubei Sect, the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute and the Imperial City?"
"Yes, those weren't the only places under attack, but they were their main targets. This occupied our strongest Spirit Warriors within while other demons were attacking from the outside. Thankfully, the Huang family seemed to have been prepared. Matriarch Huang fought for years at the border while Sect Leader Xuan and Emperor Weide were fighting within the Hongchen Kingdom. Their new Matriarch knew everything about the tunnels under the Subei Province, so we had some advantage there. My father and the Silver Wolf General fought since then to keep the demons out. In the last years, the pressure has lessened, but it's still intense. Besides, we've lost many people. It's hard to find an exact figure, but more than twenty million people died in the span of eleven years. This was brutal."
"I see..."
With everything Cao Yun had gathered from the demons, he had a big picture of the events, but he was still missing key details.
"Wait, you've talked about a new Matriarch? Is Matriarch Huang Yufeng still alive?"
"Oh, yes. But, she's getting way too old to fight. From what I know, she's preparing to try one final breakthrough. In the meantime, she already gave her full authority to Matriarch Huang Cixi. That girl is a genius, I tell you. Although she's not a great fighter, she was able to anticipate almost every strategy by our enemies. Still, some people criticize her, claiming that she's intriguing in order for her family to benefit from the war. In a sense, they're not wrong, but she's still essential to our defenses. Without her, we would have lost three or four million more people to the demons."
"What about Huang Liyue?"
"She's almost our fourth 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. Unfortunately, she's been injured in a fight three years ago, so she hasn't been able to go back on the battlefield. But she was absolutely monstrous back then. She could enter the den of the enemy without being detected and she would slaughter their officers, their generals, she could kill thousands of demons before being found out. The Huang family was clearly a key factor in our victories.
"But you'll be able to talk with them directly if you want. Huang Si is working with my father to protect our Subei Province."
"Thank you."
"No problem. But, Brother, what about you? What happened to you?"
"I've been sent to the Desolate Sepulcher. The influence of the Empyrean Theocracy was barely reaching them, so I've been able to hide and to plan for my return. Things haven't been easy, but I've made it."
Cao Yun retold some of his tales. Of course, he omitted key details and focused on points that would be of interest to the Hongchen Kingdom. Most slaves in the demon army were from the Desolate Sepulcher and Cao Yun knew how to get rid of their Slavery Brand. This was of the utmost importance for the Hongchen Kingdom as they could plan a new strategy with this information. The young man also told about what was going on in the demon territories. Once again, he hid certain things that could give away the fact that he had cultivated the demon system. To be fair, no one would ever think that this was possible. Humans couldn't cultivate the demon system and demons couldn't cultivate the human system.
Cao Yun and Yun Ping were moving as fast as they could. In a matter of minutes, they would reach the main camp, where General Yun Po was.