The surprise of seeing Cao Yun again gone, City Lord Dun Mofan inspected the other disciples. There were only seven disciples. According to what he knew, the Wubei sect had between three to four hundred outer disciples. Without the third-years, the number was closer to three hundred people, but the City Lord knew nothing about the internal workings of the sect. Although he wasn't expecting the presence of the inner disciples, he had still hoped for more.
Among those disciples, one was a mere 6th-grade Mortal, Sun Liao. Among the others, two were 8th-grade Mortals, including Cao Yun, two others were 9th-grade Mortals. And only Yun Ping was a Mortal Warrior, and just a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior at that. Every help was welcome of course, but still the disappointment was obvious in City Lord Dun Mofan's eyes. One was even a mere 5th-grade Mortal.
Sensing this, Cao Yun decided to try and comfort him.
"City Lord, let me introduce my fellow disciples to you. First are my sworn brothers, Ren Chao and Sun Liao. Do not be fooled by Brother Sun's cultivation, he will be essential for protecting Yinmen City. You see, he is the direct disciple of Chief Elder Suxian from the array formation pavilion. Right now he is only a 5-star Earth array formation master, but this is simply because his cultivation has not had time to catch up to his competence. If you lend him a hand, I'm sure he could even help you set up a Heaven rank array formation."
Indeed, Sun Liao could not set up such an array formation himself, but he could guide a Spirit Warrior to set it up for him. Of course, he could never reach a high level of perfection. But very few array formation masters could pretend being able to perform such a feat. Sun Liao had already tried that with some elders his master had chosen. By giving them the right instructions, he had been able to set up a 2-star Heaven array formation of the most basic quality.
The young man had pride and arrogance in his eyes when he heard his sworn brother introduce him like that. He bowed his head and City Lord Dun Mofan saluted him with more respect.
"Master Sun. Forgive me if I have misjudged you based on your cultivation. Having a great array formation master in our ranks will be precious. And if Chen Guo and you are sworn brother, then you must truly be a talented master indeed."
"Then, here is Yun Ping. Not only does he have experience on the battlefields since he is the son of a general from the Subei Province, but he is also proficient in battle formations. We have talked a lot and his knowledge and experience will be a great help for your forces."
Dun Mofan bowed his head to the young man. He knew that he had sensed something in him. If he came from a military family in the Subei Province, he had to know his way around a war zone. With the coming stampede, that would be great. Moreover, proficient and experienced battle formation masters were not that common. They weren't rare strictly speaking, but most of them were already busy in the provinces bordering demon territories, for obvious reasons.
"Those two are Suo Xiaolu and Shi Baoxie. They are both accomplished hunters. In battle, they have a great coordination and even mastered a few battle formations themselves. Although they're not Mortal Warriors, they have already hunted down and killed a 5-core demonic beast."
The pair of hunters was made up of a man and a woman. They were Dao companions and hunted together. Also, even though the woman, Suo Xiaolu, was a 9th-grade Mortal and her Dao companion an 8th-grade Mortal, they could fight off against an early Mortal Warrior without losing. Furthermore, demonic beasts were often not as difficult to kill as human cultivators. They had no weapon, no secret technique, and even though they were intelligent, they did not know about many of the techniques and occupations used by humans.
Suo Xiaolu was almost as tall as Yun Ping. Her hair was extremely black and tied up in a complex shape over her head. With her Dao companion, they had both burly physique and severe faces. Shi Baoxie was one or two heads shorter than his Dao companion. However, his musculature was more impressive, even under his Wubei Sect uniform. On their robes, they both were wearing the emblem of the Red Cliff Faction.
Both of them cupped their fists toward Dun Mofan and he did the same. The three of them were commoners and they had evolved in the same kind of environment. Right away, it created a kind of connection. Moreover, if they truly could kill a 5-core demonic beast while being Mortals, their strength was real.
"Your help is most welcome, my fellow cultivators."
"Finally, here is Zeng Minghe." The last member of the small team was from the Hidden Orchids Faction. His complexion was very pale as though he rarely went outside, under the sun. And his eyes were shining with a dim blue light that was almost purple. Above his Hidden Orchids Faction emblem, he had another emblem. It represented two stylized bone jaws circling a brown number five. That was the emblem of the beast tamers. Indeed, this boy was a 5-star Earth beast tamer.
During the journey here, he had almost not talked to the group as he was busy directing the Silver Winged-Lion.
However, all six of them had still conversed a little so that they would at least know each other. And they had thought up of a plan.
"City Lord, Zeng Minghe is an experienced beast tamer. And Chief Elder Yisheng from the demonic beasts pavilion has given him some indications. We have a plan to help you. But we would need to know the situation a little better to fine-tune it."
"Of course. Come with me."
City Lord Dun Mofan let the group get off their demonic beast. The Silver Winged-Lion stayed in an empty square as the city had no stable big enough to take it in. And there was no risk of people going through that square. Indeed, Cao Yun quickly noticed that the city had completely changed. Almost all the shops were closed and fortified with various wooden planks. The houses seemed empty and the gardens unattended. Most people who stayed in Yinmen City were busy on the outskirts of the city to create more defenses. Others were training in abandoned zones.
The atmosphere was heavy. War and death were in the air. No matter how they would defend the city, some of them, if not many, would die or be maimed and crippled for life. Yun Ping had been right though. A lot of the inhabitants had stayed to fight rather than flee. All of them had been curious of the group and they looked at them when they heard them pass. Just like City Lord Dun Mofan, there was a determination to fight for their land in their eyes. But there was also disappointment and even rage when they saw the small group.
They should be wondering whether the Hongchen Kingdom had given up on them. The fact was that many areas were in danger. Eight provinces were threatened by the stampede. But there were several cities and towns threatened in each province. The demonic beasts would not just attack one point. Yinmen City was very close to the Nine Peaks and would definitely suffer a stampede, but other small cities or towns were also threatened up north and down south. The particularity of Yinmen City was that the mountains were more practicable to come here. Probably, there would be a more severe attack because of this. More demonic beasts would be able to easily come through those mountains.
Very quickly, the group finally arrived at the City Lord residence. It had completely changed. From the quiet place Cao Yun remembered, it had become like a garrison. The courtyards were invaded by hunters and mercenaries. Many weapons were laid out here and there. Yun Ping felt at home. It reminded him of his own province. There was almost a permanent state of war. The demons could attack at any moment and everyone had to be constantly ready to fight.
As a Mortal Warrior, Yun Ping could clearly feel the Qi all around the place. Even without spiritual senses, he was able to sense that no one there had reached the Mortal Warrior realm. Vagrant cultivators had a real hard time breaking through. The fact that Dun Mofan had even achieved the realm of Spirit Warrior was a testimony to his stubbornness as much as to his talent. With much effort, he had been able to become a Mortal Warrior by the age of sixty and thanks to various fortuitous encounters, he broke through to 1st-grade Spirit Warrior when he was around 150.
Compared to someone like Yun Ping who had become a Mortal Warrior at 21, the difference was obvious. Dun Mofan had not enough talent to join a major sect. Thankfully, he had found a nice group of friends to hunt together. Sadly, none had been able to follow him in his cultivation, and all were dead by now. Either they had died hunting or of old age. Dun Mofan had served in the army and had gotten the attention of a superior who had allowed him to enter a small sect. Thanks to that sect, he had finally reached this realm. But he had soon realized that he would not go very far. It had been more than a century now and he still hadn't progressed in his cultivation. So he had retired from the sect to become the city lord of this small town.
And now, he was really attached to Yinmen City. No matter what happened, City Lord Dun Mofan would protect this town and its people.
Once they reached the residence, servants brought food and beverages to the group from the Wubei Sect. But there was no time for niceties. Yun Ping was the first one to talk as he was both the strongest and the oldest of the group. Moreover, he would be in charge of forming battle formations.
"City Lord, are those people in the courtyard your main force?"
"Indeed. Unfortunately, our city has very few powerful cultivators. Most of them are already fortifying the outskirts of the city. But the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall and the Huang family have helped us a lot. They gave some money to raise a small force of mercenaries and hunters. We could not find any Mortal Warriors as they're all going into richer places to get more bounty. But those men are truly motivated. I know they will fight for us!"
"I do think so too." Yun Ping was accustomed to seeing mercenaries in his own province. Many commoners were not conscripted into the army but did various jobs here and there. In times of need, the army asked for them. By now, the young man was able to see the difference between a mercenary only interested by money and someone you could really count on. Those men were mostly from the second category. Most of them should have seen the handiwork of demonic beasts on their own comrades and they would not back down in front of those man-eaters.
"City Lord, I think I should immediately train them. Setting up battle formations require a lot of time. There are probably many of them who already know one another. It would be easier for me to work with groups who are familiar from the get go."
"Of course. My servants may help you with that. We have all their names and backgrounds. This is necessary to pay them according to their actual involvement. But it is also useful to recognize the corpses..."
Two servants quickly went to fetch a document where the names of every mercenary was listed as well as their characteristics and affiliations.
"Thank you, City Lord. This will be greatly useful. I'll get to work right away."
Since no one knew how long it would be until the stampede, every second mattered. As such, Yun Ping who had already warned his friends before their arrival immediately left the room and went back toward the courtyard. He was accompanied by two servants. As soon as he addressed the crowd, his voice was so powerful that it was heard even inside the residence. Yun Ping had no problem at all taking charge of this disparate group. After all, he was really accustomed to those kinds of men.
While he was working with the mercenaries and the hunters, the five others kept talking with the City Lord. The next one to talk was Sun Liao.
"City Lord, if you allow me. I'd first like to examine the array formations you have already set up around the city. The sooner I have a good understanding of your defenses the sooner I can optimize them. And I may need your help with some things, City Lord. With my master, we already discussed a few array formations that would be perfect for this city."
Sun Liao had indeed examined a map of the region. Right now, he had several Bamboo Maps pertaining to the city. Each one depended on many factors. Those maps were abstractions of the actual geographical characteristics of the place. With them, he would be able to set array formations with way more ease. Almost half of the work was already done in a sense. But he still needed to take the current array formations into account to harmonize all of them together.
Moreover, he had to admit that he wasn't very convinced by array formations set up in such a small city. Despite his change in character, Sun Liao was still very proud and arrogant when it came to array formations. And to be fair, he had every right to be. Among all the young cultivators of the Hongchen Kingdom, he was the only one who had been recognized by Chief Elder Suxian as his direct disciple. Even in his family, that had been considered as a great honor, and they knew what they were talking about.
Once again, a servant brought various documents explaining the array formations and where they were set up.
"Great. I'll get to work right away. City Lord, I'll come back to you if I need your help."
As Sun Liao left, he also left a bad impression on Dun Mofan. But he knew that young people could easily let talent get to their head. As long as he was as talented as he seemed to behave, he would have no qualm humoring him, and even obeying him. Cao Yun was a bit embarrassed by the way his brother was treating Dun Mofan but there was no time for that. From what they had briefly discussed during their journey there, the four other disciples still in the room would be in charge of culling the demonic beasts.