Confucius looked up in the direction Mo Chuan pointed. Above the Spring and Autumn world, a large mass of flesh, adorned with tentacles and blood vessels, floated in the sky.
"!!!" Confucius's gentle and refined demeanor vanished instantly. He beckoned, unleashing several golden characters. The golden seal script flew towards the floating mass and ignited in a fierce blaze upon contact.
"Cover your ears and close your eyes," Confucius instructed.
Accompanied by an eerie and indescribable wail, the flesh ball rapidly turned to ash, leaving behind a scorched skeleton that plummeted downwards. Upon touching the ground, it disintegrated into dust.
"Alright, you can open your eyes now," Confucius patted Mo Chuan.
Mo Chuan opened his eyes and saw the barely recognizable black, burnt bones before him.
"Teacher, what is this..."
"The Spring and Autumn world is connected to the other side of the real world, the temporal world," Confucius stated calmly. "All your spatial abilities, teleportation arrays, and summoning skills must pass through the temporal world before returning to the real world."
"So, this corpse likely teleported away from somewhere while alive and accidentally ended up here in the temporal currents."
"Let me try," Mo Chuan said, raising his lantern close to the skeletal remains, intending to retrieve any soul that might be present.
Layer +1
Mo Chuan quickly used his spiritual energy to probe the soul's memories, but was unexpectedly bombarded by intense and chaotic emotions, causing his brain to boil.
"Ah!!!—"
Mo Chuan, with a contorted expression, clutched his head and channeled a large amount of spiritual energy to pacify the raging soul.
"The Master said, 'The Master did not talk about the extraordinary, nor about violent deeds, nor about spirits, nor about gods.'"
Confucius's calm voice resonated. The agitated emotions, dissolved by the golden spiritual energy, vanished like morning snow under a scorching sun.
"Thank... thank you, Teacher..." Mo Chuan panted, wiping cold sweat from his forehead.
"It's nothing... Mo Chuan, how are you feeling now?"
"I'm much better..." Mo Chuan let out a sigh and stood up from the ground. "Teacher... I know what happened."
"Oh?"
"It's the Cross Alliance... the Cross Alliance has been invaded by an evil god." Mo Chuan pointed at the skeleton. "This body originally belonged to a priest of the elven race from the Cross Alliance. When they were clearing out someone, an evil god descended, and she was sent away by her teammate's portal. But she didn't know she was contaminated, so by the time we saw her, she was already a twisted mass of flesh."
"???" Confucius's expression grew more solemn. "Is there anything more detailed?"
"No... this soul itself is incomplete. Having witnessed the descent of the evil god, she had already lost memories from before the contamination. Her teammates, her identity, and their clearing mission were all inferred by me from their conversations."
"Good... you've done very well," Confucius nodded and casually opened a portal. "I'll take you out of here."
...
Unknowingly, the New Year was fast approaching.
Luoyang, being far from the battlefield, enjoyed a rare New Year's atmosphere at Yichuan Academy.
It was noteworthy, as even during the brief standoff and rest period of the New Year, the war zones of Qingzhou and Jizhou were still plagued by widespread famine and death.
At the entrance of the village below Yichuan Academy.
Mo Chuan and Luoni emerged from the teleportation gate, having transported back a cart laden with six large cauldrons.
"Brother Chuan, Brother Chuan!!" A child who had been waiting eagerly jumped down from the stone block by the village entrance. "Brother Lian Shan told me to tell you to go to the public hall for a meeting as soon as you get back!"
"Okay, I'll be right there." Mo Chuan took out a hard candy from his pocket. "Here, a fruit candy."
"Thank you, Brother Chuan! I'm going home to eat!" The child took the candy and ran towards the village, hopping and skipping.
"Luoni, open a portal for me, and then you can go return the cauldrons."
After giving his instructions, Mo Chuan gave Luoni a hug and said, "I'll cook something delicious for you tonight."
Luoni nodded and opened the teleportation array for Mo Chuan.
A moment later, Mo Chuan quietly entered through the back door of the public hall and overheard Xuanyuan Qi's meeting.
"In the nearly two months since the Longjing coup, we have accomplished three things: conscripting troops, accumulating supplies, and negotiation. Now, everyone report on your progress. He Lanxin, how is the training of the army progressing? How much has combat effectiveness increased compared to before?"
"Currently, of the 400,000 troops we have just recruited, ordinary soldiers account for 85%, ability users for 11%, and the remaining 4% are various logistics and administrative personnel," He Lanxin stated. "Since we don't have a large number of outstanding senior officers, I initially assigned them a strategy of stable enhancement. As for the combat-oriented ability user troops trained by us personally, their individual combat capabilities and coordinated execution abilities can already be considered excellent."
"Our army currently has two main problems," Lian Shan Rang said, furrowing his brow. "First, we have a small number of veteran soldiers.
According to our informants, among the three opposing factions, the Southeastern Alliance has the largest army, with 1.4 million troops, but their combat effectiveness is the worst due to internal factional strife and military corruption.
The second place is the Suiren government. Their Northeastern Army and Central Army combined have at least 1.2 million soldiers, with generally average combat effectiveness at the lower levels but excellent elite combat capabilities.
The third is the Zhuanxu government, with approximately one million troops. However, their combat effectiveness is the most formidable. The Western Legion, which has long confronted beasts and natural disasters, has given them an average combat power and strict military discipline that is significantly higher than the other two.
Although we have a total of one million troops combined, the proportion of new recruits is too high. We must gain complete control over the major families in Yujing provinces and the officers who command small units of troops."
"Second, there is a lack of professional military officers.
Most of our officers are quickly trained and lack actual combat experience. Compared to the other three factions, especially the Zhuanxu army, we are at a significant disadvantage."
Xuanyuan Qi nodded upon hearing this. Seeing Mo Chuan take his seat, he addressed him, "Mo Chuan, I wanted to ask about supplies. Is today's congee finished?"
"It's finished. But I heard from people in the town to the north that a group of refugees fleeing the war from Jizhou and Qingzhou should arrive in Zheng County, Bianjing, and Luoyang before the minor new year."
"Lian Shan, are our supplies sufficient for all the impoverished villages in Yujing provinces to get through the winter?"
"If the temperature this year is the same as last year... the fuel for heating should be enough, but I can't say for sure about the grain."
"...How long can it last at least?"
"About two months..."
"Are there any deficiencies in the army's supplies?"
"No."
"I have an idea regarding supplies," Xiaoyaozi chimed in. "Didn't we sign an agreement with the Suiren government before? Let them advance us a certain amount of grain, and we can advance the attack on Bazhou, letting them spend money to buy opportunities."
"I'll try that later."
"Did Neon give us anything?" Mo Chuan asked.
"They did... this is already the total amount combined."
"How many times have you distributed food since winter set in?"
"Twice... Wait, are you saying..."
"I didn't expect there to be rats here too," Mo Chuan said, slamming his grappling hook onto the table. "Since it's New Year, let's kill a few to celebrate."