Looking around at what seemed like the insides of a forest, Xiulan's first thoughts were that she had been transported to somewhere far away from the battlefield by Jian Shen.
However, the concentration of Qi, availability of the Intent of Heaven and Earth, and even just the air around her was of a far greater quality than she was used to.
It almost felt like she was no longer in the Mortal Realm but an entirely different world.
Well, Xiulan wasn't too scared or anything because she knew that the answer would be obtained from a single question.
"What did you do, Jian Shen?"
Unfortunately, there was no one around her to answer the question forcing Xiulan to rethink her plans.
Flying to the air and seeing everything from a wider angle, Xiulan took only a few seconds to spot a small clearing inside the forest which spread until the eye could see.
Going close, Xiulan stopped before she even reached the location after seeing that she was flying towards warehouses.
Luckily, due to the direction she travelled in, Xiulan began seeing another clearing. And this time, there were houses in the clearing.
...
Once Jian Shen took Xiulan inside his World Crest because he was too bored to listen to whatever Wan Han had to say, he didn't wait to see what kind of reaction Wan Han would show and instead chose to leave.
Flying outside the tent and up high into the sky, Jian Shen suddenly sensed a weird fluctuation of Qi from one of the tents.
"What is that?"
"I have sensed a Qi signature close to this one, but this isn't the same as that one. And even if it was, this shouldn't exist in the Mortal Realm."
Almost rolling his eyes at how Qingyu always tried to speak mysteriously, Jian Shen chose to just sneak into the tent and find out what was inside it.
Entering the tent Jian Shen was a little stunned from what he saw but soon a smile appeared on his face.
"This just be the true trump card of the Taiyang Empire."
"It seems so, husband."
…
Following Li Qiao's orders, the mercenaries who were anxiously waiting in the closest city immediately set off and arrived in the battlefield.
As mercenaries who did anything and everything for money, they didn't even mind losing their lives as long as they could earn money.
And what better way to earn money than to fight for the Empire?
With a huge smile on his face, Li Qiao who felt like he could see what would happen at the end of the day was waiting for the sun to rise as possible.
He almost felt as if he only needed to stretch his hand to grasp victory.
Due to this feeling, Li Qiao didn't even sleep the whole night and spent it just sitting around and laughing like a mad man every once in a while.
As soon as the sun had just barely peeked over the horizon, Li Qiao didn't wait for the complete sun to become visible like he did the previous days and made his army launch attack.
Forced to do the same, Wan Han who couldn't understand why Xiulan chose to leave the Empire so suddenly and how she suddenly disappeared, after giving the order Wan Han went back to seriously think about the two questions he was trying to find an answer to.
But, once Li Qiao who didn't wait too long after the initial clash to use the mercenaries did so, he could no longer afford to be immersed in his own thoughts.
With the addition of mercenaries, the battlefield like the previous days wasn't being shared fifty-fifty by the armies on the both sides.
Instead, the Yueliang Empire's forces now had over 70% of the battlefield in their control.
And this included both the one on the ground and the one in the sky. If there was one thing which hadn't changed, it was the stalemate between the Genesis Realm Cultivators.
Soon the surprised on Wan Yan's face wore off as a smile appeared on his face.
"If this is your trump card, then get ready to lose Li Qiao."
Saying so Wan Han sent out the order for his special troops to enter the battlefield.
What happened next was pure commotion and madness on the side of the Yueliang Empire's forces.
The special troops which Wan Han sent out weren't humans or beasts. They were half-human half-beast creatures that hadn't been seen in the entire Mortal Realm until now.
The special troops did look like humans due to possessing four limbs and standing on their feet, but there were many things which a human didn't possess on them.
Like how they had claws instead of hands, and their faces which had red coloured fur on them also had beast like teeth.
In short, they looked like tigers which had turned human.
But since that wasn't possible, the only possible explanation was that it was humans which had been given the attributes of a tiger.
More specifically of a Scarlet Tiger, which was a species of Desolate Beast that was famous for their control over the Intent of Fire.
Grinning from how lucky he was to find that special pill recipe which allowed him to fuse the Bloodline of a Scarlet Tiger with humans due to which he was able to create this special army of tiger men, Wan Han couldn't wait to see how they would perform on the battlefield.