58: Chapter 58 Coordinate Fire Monument

The area before the fire suddenly fell silent.

Lu Jin took the Dark Iron Beacon. As soon as his fingertip pressed against it, the faint old fire mark inside flickered slightly.

It wasn't a living fire.

It was the kind of old fire that had been buried for many years, nearly extinguished, yet still remembered the way.

Grey Pupil wiped the bloodstains from the beacon bit by bit, revealing the blackened, worn fine lines beneath.

"It's an Old Guidance Beacon."

"Back when the Military Court used to bury Coordinate Fire Steles, they would leave small items like this beside them. Steles are hard to find after being buried for a long time, so these are used to lead the way."

Ning Yanqiu had already crouched down.

She raised her hand and released a palm-sized small mirror. A cold white light swept across the edges of the beacon, and a line of extremely faint old characters slowly emerged.

"East slope, Death Ditch Mouth."

"There are two more characters after that, but they're too worn down. I'll have to change the angle."

Lu Jin's heart sank.

Death Ditch Mouth.

That was the break in the black slope where the drainage ditch on the left extended further out.

It was also the exact direction from which that Large Night Hyena had pounced earlier.

The thin box in his sleeve heated up again at this moment.

The beacon was heating up.

The fragment of the Old Fire Stele was also heating up.

The two items were reacting to each other; the direction was already very clear.

Qiao Ye watched from the side and asked bluntly,

"Going now?"

"According to military regulations, it's safest to report such a discovery immediately."

Lu Jin looked up at the high platform.

The Night Watch Officer was still there.

Instructor Han Tiecheng was already gone.

The camp was in chaos right now; at the front, results of the camp defense were being reported, while at the back, bodies were being collected and materials distributed. Handing the item over now would be fast, but once it was sealed in a Military Court Black Box, if they wanted to trace the lead further, they'd have to wait again.

Ning Yanqiu understood his meaning.

"You want to go take a look first."

Lu Jin didn't beat around the bush.

"I'll only take one look."

"If it's just an ordinary old stele, I'll hand it over on the spot. But if it really connects to those coordinates, I at least need to record the location and the tail code first."

Wen Zhao snapped his Fire Bee Box shut and lowered his voice.

"Then let's not waste time."

"Teams on the first watch of the camp defense can all receive a Morning Clearing Order before dawn. To put it plainly, it's to let the high performers go out first to clear beast paths, replenish fire lines, and rack up military merits."

"If you go get one now, you'll still be following the official path."

This was where military training differed from academy competitions.

In an academy competition, a win is just a win.

In a Fragmented World, if you hold out the first night, the paths and missions available the next day will change accordingly.

The Night Watch Officer soon distributed the Morning Clearing Orders.

For those on the first watch, they could leave the camp to clear lines for the duration of one incense stick.

The range was limited to within two hundred paces of the camp.

Checking beast paths, replenishing fire lines, and collecting remains.

Lu Jin received the iron token and made the decision on the spot.

"Qiao Ye, Wen Zhao, come out with me."

"Ning Yanqiu, watch the position from the sky."

"Grey Pupil, take the Burrowing Spear Rats underground. Wu Fu, stay at the Half-Pool on standby. If a second wave starts, I need to be able to replenish troops immediately."

Qiao Ye nodded quickly.

"Then I'll take the front row."

Wen Zhao picked up his half-empty Fire Bee Box and grinned.

"Just as well, those two bone carts from earlier didn't explode enough to satisfy me."

Ning Yanqiu tucked the four small mirrors into her sleeve and stood up with them.

"I'll scan the airspace over Death Ditch Mouth first. If there's really a burial point, there will definitely be a cavity in the ground."

The four of them, along with two Bone-Armor Furnace Guards and over a dozen Burrowing Spear Rats, quickly left the camp.

The sky wasn't fully light yet.

Ash and blood from the fires were everywhere on the black slope.

The Death Ditch on the left looked longer than it had last night, extending out beneath a partially collapsed black wall. The base of the wall was sunken, as if it had been hollowed out from the inside by something.

Ning Yanqiu released three Mirror Frost Crows, which skimmed past at low altitude.

The first one had no reaction.

When the second one flew over the black wall, the mirror beneath its claws was suddenly covered in a layer of white mist.

When the third one went half a step further, the entire mirror frosted over directly.

Ning Yanqiu spoke immediately.

"It's hollow underneath."

"It's a large area."

"Three feet below the right side of the wall's base is the thinnest point."

Lu Jin pressed his hand down.

"Spear Rats, go down."

Six Burrowing Spear Rats immediately tunneled in.

The soil layer wasn't very hard.

It was more like old backfill that had been buried for too long.

Before long, a slanted opening was dug out beneath the wall's base, and a faint, dark red light first seeped out from within.

It wasn't morning light.

It was fire.

Lu Jin jumped down through the slanted opening. As soon as his feet hit the ground, the heat from the thin box in his sleeve became even more pronounced.

Below was a partially collapsed stone chamber.

It wasn't large.

All four sides were made of blackened old stone.

In the middle stood a half-person-high black stele. Most of the stele's body was buried in the dirt, with only the upper section exposed. The patterns on the stele's surface were almost entirely covered by grime and stone crust, leaving only a very narrow groove in the exact center.

As the beacon drew near, that groove lit up.

Grey Pupil's voice deepened.

"Found it."

"This is the Coordinate Fire Stele."

Coordinate Fire Steles were stone tablets used by the Old Military Court to define rift zones, mark routes, and record camp entrances.

The more important the location, the more complete the fire codes on the stele.

Lu Jin didn't rush to light it; he first took out the fragment of the Old Fire Stele as well.

The moment the fragment touched the stele's body, three fire marks flickered simultaneously.

The prefix.

The middle section.

Plus the tail code hidden within the beacon.

In that instant, the old coordinates from his father's files—the ones that had always been broken—finally connected into a single whole in Lu Jin's mind.

His breathing hitched slightly as he raised his hand and snapped the beacon into the groove.

Click.

It was as if something inside the fire stele had been brought to life.

The entire black stele first gave a low tremor, then bit by bit, it burned away the layer of gray crust on its surface.

The first line of characters soon revealed itself.

Royal Court Ruins Outer Perimeter, No. 7 Rift Zone.

Ning Yanqiu's eyes narrowed.

"It really is the Royal Court Ruins."

This was the collective name given by the Military Court to those lost ruins of an ancient civilization.

Any place that could be labeled with those four words was of no low rank.

Lu Jin didn't speak, only staring at the second line below.

Old Military Court C-Line Supplement Mark.

Further down was a string of even finer old numbers.

The entry-exit serial number beside it was exactly the same as the old team number on the corner of his father's sealed files.

Lu Jin's fingers tightened bit by bit.

His father had been here.

And he wasn't just passing through.

He had very likely participated in the supplement marking of this fire stele and subsequent missions.

Ning Yanqiu also saw that string of numbers.

She glanced sideways at Lu Jin but didn't ask further, only lowering her voice even more.

"There are more characters behind."

"On the back of the stele, it looks like an excerpt from a battle report."

"But there's not enough fire now to illuminate it."

Lu Jin glanced at the entrance of the stone chamber.

"Lighting it fully will create a pillar."

"Once a pillar forms, it'll be seen from outside very quickly."

Ning Yanqiu didn't respond.

She knew the implication behind those words.

The people who saw it wouldn't just be from the Military Court.

There would also be other teams clearing lines, as well as native planar beasts awakened by the fire.

Qiao Ye, however, slammed his shield onto the ground and replied curtly,

"We've already come this far, and you're going to leave it half-done?"

"Light it."

"If anything really comes from outside, I'll block it for you first."

Wen Zhao had already hung two small fire pouches at the entrance of the stone chamber.

"I agree."

"This fire stele is buried like this; if we don't dig out the words on the back today, we might not get another turn if we want to come back tomorrow."

Lu Jin no longer hesitated.

He raised his hand and pressed it against the fire stele, pushing his gray fire into it along with the beacon and the fragment.

Boom.

The entire Coordinate Fire Stele instantly lit up.

A beam of dark red fire light shot straight out of the stone chamber's ceiling, piercing upward through the collapsed wall cracks.

The light wasn't high, but it was extremely steady.

Like an old nail that had been buried for many years, it was once again driven back into this Fragmented World.

At the same time, the entire ground layer gave a gentle tremor.

Ning Yanqiu's expression changed immediately.

"Something below has woken up."

"The Thermal Stone Layer is moving, there are many of them!"

Just as she finished speaking, the soil layer on the left side of the stone chamber was violently burst open.

A large gray-black lizard forced its way out from within. Its head was flat and wide, its back shell looked like cracked stone armor, and its four claws kicked up a cloud of gray dust as soon as they hit the ground.

Cracked-Shell Ground Lizard.

These things usually slept buried in the Thermal Stone Layer, but they would burrow upward as soon as they smelled fire, specifically biting anything that emitted heat.

And the Coordinate Fire Stele was now the hottest point in this area.

"Qiao Ye, block the left!"

"Bone-Armor Furnace Guards, press in front of the stele!"

"Wen Zhao, fire-seal the right opening!"

As soon as Lu Jin's orders were given, the entire stone chamber went into action.

Qiao Ye's Shield Bear stepped up first, its heavy paw strike sending the first Cracked-Shell Ground Lizard reeling to the side.

The two Bone-Armor Furnace Guards followed, positioning themselves in front of the fire stele. With a dip of their shoulders, they completely blocked off the open space before the stele.

Wen Zhao raised his hand and threw out a fire pouch.

With a 'pop,' the slanted opening on the right immediately caught fire, forcing two more ground lizards that hadn't fully emerged to shrink back for a moment.

Lu Jin himself dashed behind the stele in one step.

"Ning Yanqiu, look at the characters!"

"Leave everything else to me!"

Ning Yanqiu didn't hesitate at all.

Four mirrors were simultaneously pinned to the four corners of the stele's back. As the cold white mirror lights merged, the old characters that were originally suppressed by the fire and unable to surface fully began to light up bit by bit.

She read very quickly and recited just as fast.

"Battle report excerpt... Supplement marking of No. 7 Rift Zone outer perimeter completed..."

"Third Scouting Team, second entry into the rift..."

"Recovered one anomalous fire stele sample..."

"The rest is gone, it looks like it was ground away by someone!"

Lu Jin whipped his head around.

Sure enough, there was a large, very even grinding mark on the lower half of the stele's back.

It wasn't weathering.

Nor was it from beast claws.

It was done later by a person, ground smooth bit by bit.

And at the very edge of the grinding mark, two broken characters that hadn't been cleaned off remained.

Lost contact.

Handed over.

Lu Jin's gaze sank to the bottom instantly.

His father's lead indeed hadn't simply ended on the battlefield.

Someone had tampered with things behind the scenes.

Right then, an eagle's cry suddenly came from outside the stone chamber.

Ning Yanqiu looked up, her voice turning cold.

"Someone's coming."

The next moment, two birds of prey clad in chainmail swept over the broken wall.

Three figures followed, landing lightly.

The leader was none other than the Deputy Captain of Bei Yue who had been sitting in the front-left seat on the vehicle last night.

A late-stage peak Apprentice God Realm Controller.

He followed the path of using chainmail birds of prey and Iron-Horn Mountain Hounds for tracking and point-snatching.

People of this path were best at sniffing out disturbances to find points of value.

He stood on the broken wall, and with one glance, he spotted the Coordinate Fire Stele. His expression changed on the spot.

"Lu Jin, take your hands off the stele."

"This thing belongs to the Military Court, not to you for private lighting."

Lu Jin didn't even turn his head, his voice steady.

"You followed the fire here."

"Saying it belongs to you now is too late."

The Deputy Captain of Bei Yue's face darkened, but he spoke very directly.

"I'm not going to argue over who spoke first."

"Military training is recorded in the border files; whoever controls the point first has the right of first report."

"Step aside now, and I can still count you as a co-discoverer."

Qiao Ye chuckled, but the shield in his hand didn't loosen one bit.

"You sure make it sound nice."

"Once we actually step aside, whether our names are still on this stele will all depend on your mood."

Wen Zhao also glanced upward.

"If you want a piece of the pie, fine."

"First, suppress the ground lizards outside."

"If you want to get something for nothing, stop dreaming."

As if intentionally cooperating with those words, the ground outside suddenly shook violently again.

A second batch of Cracked-Shell Ground Lizards burrowed out from both sides of the black wall.

This time, it wasn't just five or six.

At a glance, there were at least a dozen.

The one at the very front had an even thicker back, and its skull was ringed with outward-turning bone. When it pounced, it even shattered a section of the wall bricks.

The Deputy Captain of Bei Yue saw this, and his expression changed as well.

He had originally come to snatch the point.

But with this fire stele lit, it was no longer just about snatching a point.

If the Coordinate Fire Stele was actually knocked down by ground lizards right under his nose, he wouldn't be able to account for it when he returned either.

Lu Jin finally turned to look at him.

"If you want to snatch it, wait until we've survived to do so."

"Now, you have two choices."

"First, stand outside and watch as this group of things rushes in and buries the stele along with us."

"Second, suppress those two chainmail birds of prey of yours outside the wall and guard the opening above for me first."

The Deputy Captain of Bei Yue stared at Lu Jin for two breaths, then gritted his teeth.

"Birds of prey, press forward!"

"Iron-Horn Mountain Hounds, block the right wall!"

"Clear the beasts first!"

With those words, the tension on the broken wall finally dissipated for the time being.

The two chainmail birds of prey dove down, first forcefully knocking aside two ground lizards that were trying to climb over the wall.

The three Iron-Horn Mountain Hounds pounced toward the right wall opening, and along with Wen Zhao's fire line, they held half of the slanted opening.

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

But the truly difficult one to handle was the big one right in front.

It smashed through the corpse of the first cracked-shell earth lizard and lunged straight toward the fire monument.

Two Bone-Armor Furnace Guards moved up to block it simultaneously, but they were actually knocked half a step backward.

Lu Jin's eyes narrowed.

This thing was already on the verge of becoming a First-Rank Plane Beast.

If it hit again, the front of the monument would break.

"Grey Pupil!"

Grey Pupil had been waiting for this call.

"Red-Eyed Rats, go underneath!"

The floor of the stone chamber had originally been dug with a few shallow crevices by the Burrowing Spear Rats.

At Grey Pupil's command, over thirty Red-Eyed Rats swarmed out through the crevices, biting directly into the belly and hind legs of the large earth lizard.

The lizard couldn't reach these spots.

But it hurt the most.

The large earth lizard had barely arched forward half a step before its hind leg twitched violently.

Qiao Ye immediately moved in to fill the gap.

"Get back!"

The Shield Bear slammed into it head-on, landing a solid hit on the large earth lizard's chest.

The creature was knocked to the right, and just as its front claws stumbled, Lu Jin followed up with the next move.

"Burrowing Spear Rats, lift its chin!"

The four Burrowing Spear Rats buried in the crevices on the left side lunged out simultaneously, their spear-like front claws stabbing into the earth lizard's lower jaw and throat, forcing its head—which was still pushing forward—up by half an inch.

Half an inch was enough.

Wen Zhao flicked his two fingers, and the last small swarm of grey fire bees in the hive rushed out.

They didn't bite the thick armor, but instead burrowed into the cracked seams.

The next second, a layer of fine sparks exploded along the earth lizard's flank and neck.

The two Bone-Armor Furnace Guards seized the opportunity and pressed forward simultaneously.

With a muffled "crack."

The front half of the earth lizard was jammed tightly against the monument, while its hindquarters thrashed wildly, its tail whipping against the stone walls with a slapping sound.

Lu Jin didn't give it a chance to flip over.

"Red-Eyed Rats, burrow deeper, bite through its hind leg tendons!"

As Grey Pupil's command went down, the Red-Eyed Rat Tide immediately burrowed into the bloody wounds.

The earth lizard's entire body convulsed violently, and finally unable to hold on, it crashed to the ground with a boom.

Only then did the stone chamber catch a breath.

But Ning Yanqiu's voice rang out almost simultaneously.

"There's more text!"

"The bottom line was just pushed out by the fire!"

Lu Jin turned around immediately.

Sure enough, on the edge of the abrasion at the very bottom of the monument's back, a few old characters, so faint they were nearly invisible, had emerged.

Ning Yanqiu stared at the mirror surface, reading them out word by word.

"Team Observer… Lu…"

Her voice suddenly paused, then dropped even lower.

"Observer Lu Chenyuan."

Lu Jin froze completely.

Father's name.

It was hanging right there on the back of this Old Military Court coordinate fire monument.

There was half a sentence left behind it.

But that half-sentence had been worn away even more severely, leaving only a few broken marks.

Ning Yanqiu stared at it for a moment before giving her judgment.

"The part after looks like 'Retrieved after loss of contact'."

"The characters are incomplete, but that's roughly the meaning."

The fire in Lu Jin's eyes sank deeper.

Father had been to No. 7 Rift Zone.

And later lost contact.

Everything after that had been manually worn away, and it had been retrieved.

This was no longer a guess.

This was an old account spat out by the fire monument itself.

On the broken wall, that Deputy Captain of Bei Yue had clearly also heard those last few words.

His expression changed twice in succession, and he finally stopped pretending to be calm.

"Enough."

"Pull the beacon out, return the monument site to the Military Court, and we'll report it when we go back."

Lu Jin slowly stood up straight, his voice not loud at all.

"Whether you want to report it to the Military Court or snatch this lead for yourself, we both know."

Exposed, the other party's tone hardened.

"This is a military training exercise."

"Whoever controls the high-value point gets the credit. You took the A-grade last night, and now you want to swallow this one too? Your appetite is too big."

Qiao Ye frowned upon hearing this.

"To put it bluntly, you just want to snatch it."

"Then don't act like you're doing this for the Military Court."

The Deputy Captain of Bei Yue didn't respond to that, but simply raised his hand.

"Flying beasts, descend to the monument slot."

Two armored flying beasts turned simultaneously and dove down along the broken wall.

This time, it wasn't just talk.

It was a real grab.

Ning Yanqiu reacted faster than anyone.

The last two small mirrors in her sleeves flew out simultaneously. As the cold white mirror light crossed in mid-air, a layer of thin frost immediately formed under the wings of the leading armored flying beast.

The flying beast lost its balance and brushed obliquely past the corner of the monument.

The other one tried to dive further, but Wen Zhao had already thrown the remaining half-bag of kerosene up at it.

As soon as the fire touched the armor, the entire flying beast started flapping its wings chaotically on the spot.

Lu Jin rushed to the front of the monument in one step and pressed his palm directly onto the beacon.

He pressed another layer of grey fire along the old fire patterns.

Boom!

The dark red firelight on the monument suddenly shot up by another half a foot.

The entire monument seemed to have been completely awakened.

On the front of the monument, the few lines of old numbers that had already lit up all shifted upward.

From the narrowest fire slot at the top of the monument, a wisp of finer white fire suddenly popped out.

It wasn't Lu Jin's grey fire.

Nor was it the monument's original dark red.

It was an older, colder fire used for Military Court reporting codes.

Ning Yanqiu looked up, and her expression changed on the spot.

"It's sending codes in the direction of the camp."

"This is the automatic positioning pillar fire of the Old Military Court!"

At this moment, even that Deputy Captain of Bei Yue couldn't hold it together.

"Are you crazy?"

"Once this kind of old pillar fire lights up, it won't be the night-duty officers who come!"

Lu Jin didn't even turn his head.

"I know."

"But if I don't light it all up, the text behind will never fully appear."

"We've come this far, I have no reason to retreat."

As soon as he finished speaking, another, heavier tremor came from beneath the fire monument.

This time, it wasn't just the earth lizards.

Behind that black wall outside the stone chamber, a large expanse of sand and rock slid down like a tide.

Ning Yanqiu reported the information almost simultaneously.

"There's another group outside!"

"At least twenty, high on the right and low on the left, all charging toward us!"

Wen Zhao cursed under his breath.

"We've really poked this place awake."

The three Iron-Horned Mountain Dogs from Beiyue Academy were already in disarray.

The Deputy Captain of Bei Yue gritted his teeth, clearly still hesitating whether to retreat.

But Lu Jin didn't give him any time to think it over.

"If you want to keep the points, stay."

"If you want to save your life, retreat now."

"But as soon as you retreat, once this wave of beasts crashes into the monument chamber, this spot will have nothing to do with you today."

This was very direct.

So direct that the Deputy Captain of Bei Yue's face darkened.

But he stayed.

Because what Lu Jin said was the truth.

The most fatal thing in military training was never suffering a loss.

It was seeing a high-value point clearly, but ending up with nothing in the end.

"Iron-Horned Mountain Dogs, pull to the left!"

"Flying beasts, suppress the high opening! Don't let any more big ones flip down!"

Once he spoke, the Beiyue Academy group was effectively tied into this defense of the monument.

Lu Jin's side was faster.

"Qiao Ye, guard the front. Split two Bone-Armor Furnace Guards to the right opening."

"Wen Zhao, don't spray fire randomly. I only want you to burn the ones clustered together."

"Ning Yanqiu, keep watching the text. If anyone dares to touch your mirrors, report it to me first."

The orders were issued layer by layer, and the entire half-collapsed stone chamber instantly became like a taut bow.

The second wave of earth lizards soon crashed in.

The flying beasts above intercepted two that were trying to climb over the wall.

The three Iron-Horned Mountain Dogs at the right opening had just bitten a small earth lizard when a larger one pushed up from behind, knocking both the dogs and the rocks over.

This was the moment Wen Zhao was waiting for.

He raised his hand to ignite the fire, and the entire line of fire at the right opening rolled up along the rubble, instantly burning those few earth lizards clustered together into a ball.

The left side was more troublesome.

Two large ones were pressing down along the black wall, trying to crash directly into the monument chamber from high up.

Qiao Ye held the Shield Bear and didn't retreat a single step, forcing the section of broken wall at the entrance into a ramp.

When the first earth lizard crashed down, the Shield Bear's entire forearm was pressed down heavily.

Qiao Ye gritted his teeth and roared directly.

"Now!"

Lu Jin had been waiting for this opportunity.

"Bone-Armor Furnace Guards, lift it!"

The two Bone-Armor Furnace Guards guarding the left opening pushed upward simultaneously, arching their backs and shoulders, and actually managed to prop up the front half of the earth lizard that had crashed down.

Grey Pupil took the opportunity to land a finishing blow.

"Burrowing Spear Rats, stab its eyes!"

Three Burrowing Spear Rats darted out from beneath the rubble, raising their short claws to stab repeatedly into the earth lizard's eye sockets and nostrils.

The creature threw its entire head back in pain, and before the second one behind it could land steadily, it collided with the first, forming a chaotic mess.

Wen Zhao raised his hand and unleashed another stream of fire.

The fire rolled out along the stone dust and blood, igniting both of the creatures at the left opening.

The stone chamber was instantly filled with the smell of burning flesh.

But Ning Yanqiu's mirrors were still glowing.

She stared at the very bottom of the back of the monument, her voice showing a hint of obvious urgency for the first time.

"Lu Jin, the last line is out!"

"Royal Court Ruins, outer No. 7 Rift Zone, outer edge sealing application…"

"Third Route Survey Team, accompanying observer, Lu Chenyuan…"

"The part after is, 'Retrieved after loss of contact'!"

As the last four words fell, the ball of grey fire in Lu Jin's Sea of Consciousness surged upward violently.

The old fire in the monument, the fragments in his sleeves, and the broken coordinate in his father's file—at this moment, they all finally matched.

Father had indeed been here.

And he had indeed lost contact here.

Everything after that had been retrieved by someone.

The fire in Lu Jin's eyes was terrifyingly deep, but his hands were even steadier.

He didn't let his emotions override his judgment, but simply raised his hand to issue an even harsher order.

"Red-Eyed Rats, hold the left opening."

"Let the earth lizards on the right into the fire, don't let them touch the monument!"

"If the Beiyue Academy people want points, stop staring at the monument!"

This was very tough.

But no one in the stone chamber could refute it.

Because the person who understood the situation best right now was Lu Jin.

The Deputy Captain of Bei Yue's expression was ugly, but he gritted his teeth and turned back.

"Mountain Dogs, back to the right opening!"

"Flying beasts, suppress the high point of the left opening, peck their eyes!"

For a time, the half-collapsed stone chamber was actually held as a small battle line by the various groups.

On the left, Bone-Armor Furnace Guards propped up the wall, Burrowing Spear Rats burrowed into the crevices, and Red-Eyed Rats bit into the bloody wounds.

On the right, the line of fire rolled up along the rubble, and the Iron-Horned Mountain Dogs and small earth lizards rolled into a ball.

Above, two armored flying beasts dove repeatedly along the broken wall, knocking the earth lizards trying to climb in back out.

In the center, Ning Yanqiu used her four mirrors to illuminate the monument, not moving a single step.

Lu Jin stood in front of the monument, his grey fire constantly pressing on the beacon.

This was his current strength.

Late-stage peak of the Apprentice God Realm Controller.

Just a hair's breadth away from Apprentice Perfection.

With Grey Pupil suppressing the battle line.

With Wu Fu in the back, ready to reinforce at any time.

With Bone-Armor Furnace Guards capable of withstanding the first wave of impact in a real battle.

Viewed separately, these things were just trump cards.

Only when reaching a place like this could one see how capable they were when combined.

The beast tide outside charged two more rounds.

But every round that crashed in front of the monument was stripped away by the line of fire, the bone armor, and the rat tide.

Until the beginning of the third round, a deeper iron whistle finally sounded from the direction of the camp.

It wasn't the night-duty whistle.

It was the Military Court's emergency fire-recall signal.

The Deputy Captain of Bei Yue's expression stiffened, and he blurted out.

"They've arrived."

The next moment, three black iron short spears suddenly fell from above the broken wall.

"Thwip!"

"Thwip!"

"Thwip!"

The three earth lizards that had just been about to lunge down were pinned to the wall on the spot, not even finishing their struggle.

Following closely, a dozen dark figures pressed down from the slope.

The person in front wasn't wearing an academy robe.

Still wearing that worn, dark grey military uniform.

Still that face as cold as iron.

Instructor Han Tiecheng.

He walked step by step under the broken wall, first glancing at the still-glowing coordinate fire monument, then at the beast corpses on the ground and the chaotic group of mountain dogs from Beiyue Academy, before finally letting his gaze fall on Lu Jin and Ning Yanqiu.

The stone chamber suddenly became so quiet that even the sound of the fire crackling seemed to fade away.

Instructor Han Tiecheng stopped two steps in front of the monument, his voice not loud, yet it suppressed everyone so much that they didn't dare to breathe too fast.

"Who told you about this thing?"