Daqin Zhentiansi

Chapter 1156 A Voice Transmitted from Beyond the Heavens, The Secret of Emperor Jun!

The armies from Shilei Fortress and the General of the North's Mansion have not yet all arrived.

The message talisman had been traveling for several days.

The call to arms from even further afield is being passed down along ancient routes.

The message was sent to those ancient passes whose names had been forgotten by the world.

Even the ancient inhabitants of Zhaohua City, who never left the mountains, quietly opened their armories, which had been sealed away for countless generations.

One camp after another was erected on the wasteland outside Zhaohua City.

One formation after another completed their final reorganization on the drill ground.

Looking out from the city wall, the army of a million men stretched as far as the eye could see.

Banners fluttered, armor gleamed, and the cold light of weapons blended together, forming an impenetrable war fortress around the entire Zhaohua City.

Further away, on the horizon at the edge of the land, the purplish-black wave that stretches across the field of vision is no longer just churning clouds.

In the dim light of day, countless outlines of all sizes could be seen wriggling beneath the barrier of demonic energy.

A vast, boundless herd of beasts, like a tidal wave, waited silently on the other side.

At noon, the sky above suddenly darkened.

It was as if it were being covered by an invisible giant hand.

It wasn't dark clouds, but a deeper, more profound light. That light slowly spread across the high sky, like a silver scroll covering the entire heavens.

A deep and gentle voice came from the depths of the light.

It was as if they had traveled from an extremely distant place, through endless void, to arrive at this shattered land.

"He who carries the order, please step forward."

Zhang Yuan raised his head and looked at the silver light.

Then he laughed.

The smile was faint, but when Tuoba Shan, who was standing next to him, saw that smile, he suddenly felt a chill run from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

He had been by Zhang Yuan's side for so long that he was all too familiar with that smile.

Every time Zhang Yuan showed this expression, it meant someone was about to suffer.

"May I take a step forward?"

Zhang Yuan did not move.

He stood still, looking up at the silver light, his voice not loud, but clearly reaching the ears of everyone present: "You won't even give your name, yet you want me to take a step forward?"

The silver light fell silent for a moment.

Zhang Yuan continued, "Back then, even Emperor Jun Tianzun didn't set a rule for me to 'take a step forward.' Who are you?"

These words struck like a thunderbolt, crashing down upon the army of a million men!

Everyone stared wide-eyed at Zhang Yuan in disbelief.

What did he say?

Emperor Jun Tianzun?

Even in front of Emperor Jun Tianzun, there was no rule that he should "take a step forward".

The ordinary soldiers didn't understand the weight of those words, but the elders of the old guard, Qin Yue, Lieyang Hong, and Jin Yanshan all understood them.

Because Emperor Jun is the strongest Celestial Venerable among the Celestial Race, and the ruler of the entire Celestial Race and even the Primordial World.

In this world, who else could stand before the Celestial Venerable without taking a step forward?

The silver light remained silent for a long time.

Then the voice rang out again.

This time, it carried an extremely subtle tremor, as if it had traversed a long period of time.

"It's really you."

The voice paused for a moment, then continued in an even lower tone.

"Millions of years ago, on the eve of the fall of Tianyuan City, someone did something."

"He sealed all the troops that were scattered across the three thousand six hundred Qing Song Realms at that time within the void rift with a Heavenly Venerable Decree."

"He left behind a final message: someone will arrive with his token in the future. At that time, the seal will be broken, and the army will reappear in the world."

He said it was the last resort left for the world.

The person he's talking about is you.

After listening, Zhang Yuan remained silent for a moment, then said calmly, "I know."

Just three simple words.

It's as if he already knew all along.

It's like that seal, that million-year wait, that final trump card left for the world.

For him, it was nothing out of the ordinary. The voice left behind its last words before fading away.

"Come on. Bring them back."

The silver light slowly dissipated in the sky.

No one speaks.

No one knows where the voice came from.

But everyone knows what it means.

Tuoba Shan gripped his spear tightly, gazing at the surging, purplish-black barrier of demonic energy outside the city wall.

He took a deep breath and muttered under his breath, "Damn it... just who is Mr. Zhang...?"

Beside him, Amu drew the bowstring of his new bow, and with a deep, resonant note, the corners of his mouth slowly turned up.

Yan Qing stood in the crowd, holding the bone-white short knife in his hand, watching the last ray of silver light in the sky dissipate.

Yan Laoshuan, who was beside him, looked up at the sky and said in a low voice, "Kid, this time, we're probably really going to a big place."

Yan Qing did not turn her head; her gaze remained fixed intently on Zhang Yuan's figure standing in front of the city gate.

He was silent for a moment, then said in a soft but firm voice, "Then let's go."

Zhang Yuan walked forward quickly with a calm expression.

Not many people know what happened back then, but there are quite a few on the 3,600-square-meter Sky Patrol Continent.

This person must be one of the venerable ones who survived back then, right?

Perhaps they even fought side by side in Tianyuan City?

……

After the silver light faded, a million-strong army was arrayed on the wasteland outside Zhaohua City.

It's said to be a million, but the actual number is even less.

The Jin Yu Prefecture had 30,000 light cavalry, the Fen Tian Fortress had 40,000 heavy infantry, the Qing Tian Pass had 50,000 border troops, and the elite hunters gathered by the Xianmin tribes numbered around 20,000 to 30,000.

In addition, there were more than 10,000 survivors who returned alive from Canglang Plain, as well as reinforcements from Shilei Fortress and the Zhenbei General's Mansion that arrived later.

A rough estimate suggests that the number of troops gathered around Zhaohua City is close to 200,000.

Two hundred thousand versus ten million – the disparity is still staggering.

Tuoba Shan stood at the edge of the drill ground, watching the soldiers who were regrouping, his brows furrowed in worry.

Two hundred thousand men sounds like a lot, but to defend the entire northern border, that number of men wouldn't even make a splash.

What's more, the opposing side consists of tens of millions of monsters.

"Not enough," Tuoba Shan said in a low voice.

Amu stood beside him, wiping the bow arm of the new bow again and again with a linen cloth soaked in oil and fine sand.

The bow arm was black, gleaming with a dull sheen in the sunlight; it was made overnight by the blacksmiths in Zhaohua City.

Without looking up, he calmly said, "Whether it's enough or not, we have to fight."

Tuoba Shan did not refute.

He gripped the black spear he had brought from the ruins, his knuckles slowly tightening on the cold shaft.

Yes, we have to fight whether there are enough or not.

Millions of years ago, those people beneath Tianyuan City must have thought the same thing.

Zhang Yuan stood on the city wall, gazing at the soldiers arrayed in the drill ground, and remained silent for a long time.

Those 200,000 people standing on the wasteland, when viewed from the city wall, looked like a field of gray-white pebbles covering the earth.

Their armor was of different colors, their weapons were of varying quality, and their ranks were far from orderly.

Some of them were veterans who had experienced the bloody battle of Canglang Plain, and their killing intent was so strong it was almost tangible.

Some of them were just hunters who had just put down their hoes, their hands still trembling slightly as they held their knives.

How long could such an army last on the front lines?

Zhang Yuan knew the answer perfectly well.

I can't hold on any longer.

But he didn't say it.

He simply turned and walked down the city wall. (End of Chapter)