# 1642
Chapter 1636: Army Under Attack
At the same time.
In the rear of the army.
Wu Quan dismounted from his horse, looked around, and while no one was paying attention, rubbed his buttocks that had become sore from riding. He sighed helplessly.
Although he was a "Klein"-level powerhouse, one of the flaws of the [Emperor of Dominion] was that its user's true body was extremely fragile. If it weren't for this, he wouldn't have been so severely injured when crossing through time before.
He wondered how the Marquis had solved this problem... Wu Quan thought to himself.
"Lad."
A voice came from behind him. Wu Quan's gaze hardened, and he turned to see Gongyang Wan in her prisoner's uniform had somehow already appeared behind him.
Gongyang Wan narrowed her eyes, staring directly at Wu Quan, a gaze that made him extremely uncomfortable.
"What do you want?" he said coldly.
"The power on your body... is it the same as Huo Qubing's ability?" Gongyang Wan asked quietly.
"What if it is?"
Looking at the Wu Quan before her, Gongyang Wan's eyes flickered with a glint of light. She licked her lips, her expression somewhat menacing.
For some unknown reason, a chill enveloped Wu Quan's back. He instinctively stepped back several paces, releasing his "Klein"-level aura!
"What are you trying to do?" Wu Quan's eyes radiated a piercing killing intent.
"...Nothing, don't be nervous." Gongyang Wan's lips curved slightly upward as she casually swept her disheveled black hair from her shoulders behind her ears. She turned and walked away into the distance. "Little brother... big sister is very interested in you."
As Gongyang Wan's voice faded into the distance, Wu Quan's brow furrowed more tightly. Just then, a hand patted his shoulder.
Wu Quan's pupils constricted sharply. He猛地 turned his head, all his spiritual power was mobilized, ready to strike!
"Seven Nights?" Wu Quan saw who was behind him and dispersed the gathered spiritual power, breathing a sigh of relief.
Lin Qiye gazed at Gongyang Wan's departing figure, his eyes narrowing slightly: "What did she say to you?"
"She just asked me... if my ability was the same as the Marquis's."
Lin Qiye's expression darkened.
From a realm perspective, Gongyang Wan's current strength was somewhat higher than Wu Quan's. In other words, she could use the [Eternal Beauty] to devour Wu Quan and thus obtain his ability... Could she also have set her sights on [Emperor of Dominion]?
If that were the case, Lin Qiye would need to be on maximum alert to protect Wu Quan. The current Gongyang Wan was simply too dangerous!
"Mount up and follow me to the rear of the army."
...
When Lin Qiye and Wu Quan arrived at the army's tail, under the night sky ahead, torches were being lit one after another.
The two rode behind the army. The red stars at the horizon connected with the flickering torchlight below, barely carving out a path of light through the darkness as they advanced steadily into the distance.
Along the army's edges, black flags were raised high. Lin Qiye had one near him. He sniffed the air and caught an indescribable strange smell.
"Seven Nights, what's going on?" Wu Quan, seeing cart after cart of grain abandoned along the roadside, asked in confusion.
"I'm not entirely sure, but it should have something to do with those red stars."
Lin Qiye hesitated for a moment, then stopped a soldier walking at the army's end. He followed alongside him and asked,
"I want to ask you—have those red stars in the sky always been there?"
The soldier holding a torch paused, surprised. "No, they weren't there when we first set out for the northwestern frontier. They appeared halfway through our march."
"About how long ago?"
"Maybe... ten days?" The soldier spoke uncertainly. "But at the very beginning, they were only the size of a dot. At first, we thought we were imagining things, but later we realized those were actually red stars."
They hadn't appeared until ten days ago, and they were growing larger?
Lin Qiye's brow furrowed tightly. He looked up again at those red stars. Their light grew increasingly brilliant, and even when occasionally obscured by dark clouds, an eerie red glow still permeated through.
Based on the soldier's description, Lin Qiye could almost be certain those red stars were no ordinary celestial bodies. Moreover, they were approaching Earth at an alarming speed...
"Did those evil creatures start wreaking havoc only after the red stars appeared?"
"Right, we barely heard about evil creatures causing trouble before... But recently they've been increasing in number, and people are dying everywhere. We even heard that Chang'an has been severely affected!"
What on earth were those red stars, capable of causing such a surge of "Mysteries"?
Lin Qiye mused privately.
"What are those flags for? Why do they smell so strange?" Wu Quan pointed to the black flags in the distance.
"Those are the exorcism formations taught by the Imperial Preceptor. As long as the black flags are soaked in specific substances and arranged into formations, they can repel the surrounding evil creatures. We used these every time we went on campaign before, and we barely ever saw any evil creatures."
Lin Qiye glanced at the black flags, his expression somewhat grave. He knew the materials for this round's exorcism formations were incomplete. Combined with the red stars filling the sky and the evil creatures running rampant, the journey back to Chang'an would likely be far from peaceful...
BOOM—!!
An explosion roared from the western side of the army ahead. Torrential flames shot toward the heavens, and even the ground beneath everyone's feet trembled slightly.
This sudden explosion startled some of the soldiers. They all turned to look in the direction of the flames. Silhouetted against the night sky, several massive figures swept past. Screams of alarm rose from the crowd.
"So they finally came..." Lin Qiye withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the pitch-black land behind them.
Within his dual vision, a dozen monsters of varying sizes prowled behind the army, like a pack of wolves stalking wary prey, secretly waiting for the right moment to strike.
These "Mysteries" weren't very high in realm—most were "River" or "Sea" realm. But Lin Qiye could sense that in the darkness several li away, more "Mysteries" were rushing toward them in an endless stream.
In this desolate land where evil creatures ran rampant, this army advancing rapidly with torches was like a beacon in the darkness, frantically attracting every "Mystery" in the vicinity.
"Seven Nights, leave these to me."
Wu Quan raised his palm and pressed it toward the void behind him. The bodies of most of the lower-realm "Mysteries" were instantly dominated and smashed into the earth!
A low rumble rang out. The remaining few "Mysteries" that could still move darted out rapidly, howling toward the torch-bearing soldiers. Wu Quan's pupils constricted slightly. The next moment, the surrounding air rapidly formed into a cyclone, lifting a torch and transforming it into an enormous fireball over a hundred meters in radius, crashing directly into those "Mysteries"!
Torrential flames bloomed across the sky. Huo Qubing, commanding the central army, turned to look toward the rear. After a long moment, he slightly shook his head...