432: Stormy Fortress

"Ghouls are a relatively low-level type of demon, extremely numerous, and if they appear, there are almost certainly corpses nearby..." Jun Li said, "Hmm... we can look for them..."

Jun Li looked around, and her eyes glowed faintly with white light, as if she was activating some kind of pupil-based Sword Technique.

"Found them. Ghouls usually appear in groups..." Jun Li headed in one direction.

Sure enough, in a short while, she saw four Ghouls eating something on the ground.

Looking at the surroundings, it seemed to be a merchant caravan, with an overturned carriage, scattered goods, dead people, and dropped weapons.

The Ghouls smelled living people and all turned their heads to look at Jun Li.

"Roar!" They all roared and charged at Jun Li.

Jun Li slashed out with her sword.

Whoosh! A burst of intense light flashed.

Great Sun Sword Art!

The sword was like the Great Sun, incredibly hot!

This Sword Technique was inherently utmost Yang and utmost rigid, and it was exceptionally effective against demons.

In an instant, the four Ghouls fell to the ground, their bodies largely burned away.

Jun Li had held back, as she needed to gather materials for everyone in the group; otherwise, she would have directly burned them to ashes.

She didn't even want such low-level materials.

After all, Jun Li was someone who had seen countless "good things."

Jun Li collected the materials and directly threw them into the shop to increase the "inventory" available for sale.

"Hmm... there are probably seven human bodies or parts left... well, most of them have been eaten by the Ghouls... these bloodstains... the number of people in this caravan should be no less than twenty... it seems the Ghouls have been eating for a while now." Jun Li began to "investigate" the scene.

The dead horses also had their bellies mostly eaten out.

Ghouls have enormous appetites; let alone one horse, even three or four horses would be more than enough for a single Ghoul to eat entirely, though Ghouls do not eat very quickly.

Of course, as for the caravan's merchant guild marks, emblems, or clothing, Jun Li understood none of it. She only knew the markings, clothing, and adornments of the former Sword Sect.

As for anything else, she was completely ignorant.

Or rather, anything recent, from the past ten to twenty years, she basically knew nothing about.

Many other things she had seen recorded in various documents within the Scripture Repository.

"However... this carriage track came all the way from over there..." Jun Li stood up and followed the carriage tracks outwards.

Soon, she saw a compacted dirt road wide enough for about three or four carriages to travel side by side.

"A road!" Jun Li was slightly pleased. A road meant people, and towns. Following the road would surely lead her there.

Coincidentally, the direction the caravan came from seemed to be east, so Jun Li followed the dirt road forward.

Jun Li walked for three hours, and the sun was about to set.

Along the way, she killed many demons, all low-level ones, such as Ghouls, Forest Demons, and Jungle Spider Demons.

In just three short hours, she encountered demons nearly ten times. This frequency showed that demons were indeed extremely rampant in this world.

"Why are there so many demons!" Jun Li also felt that this frequency was too high! Although they were all low-level demons, having so many low-level demons in the wild indicated that it was truly a case of "demons running rampant."

Moreover, Jun Li was walking on what was considered a main road. Logically, such places should be regularly cleared of surrounding threats.

After all, this area was for human passage and trade, and demons were not entirely brainless; they also understood how to seek advantages and avoid harm. Such main roads generally wouldn't attract too many demons.

At this moment, Jun Li saw many people in the distance, and there was a long stone wall + watchtower + "wooden spikes" and "chevaux de frise" outside the stone wall, forming a checkpoint.

There were many fully armed soldiers with powerful bows on the watchtower.

There were also several squads of soldiers at the checkpoint entrance, and teams of soldiers patrolled the surrounding area.

It was clear that the vigilance was extremely strict.

Jun Li walked over.

"Stop! Who goes there!" The soldiers immediately spotted Jun Li and shouted at her.

"A passerby!" Jun Li replied.

At this moment, a team of people approached.

"Sorry, recently there have been too many demons, as well as many rebellious soldiers, bandits, and mountain brigands. Please cooperate and submit to a check." A captain leading four people walked over. The captain, seeing that Jun Li's demeanor and attire were not ordinary, spoke politely to her.

She might be some kind of cultivator. Of course, in the current world, the imperial dynasty has been established. Although it is difficult to manage and barely survives, there are indeed many ambitious individuals who have joined the imperial dynasty for the sake of the common people.

And they are also cultivators. Whether they cultivate the Dao or not is one thing, but they all certainly practice cultivation.

It's not limited to any specific cultivation path; as long as they cultivate to become stronger and have power, they can deal with demons.

Of course, the army still has a certain "inheritance," which has been gradually explored and discovered.

"What's the situation here?" Jun Li asked curiously.

"Let's talk over here!" The captain told Jun Li, then waved his hand, letting the others continue their work. He led Jun Li to the side and then informed her of the recent situation.

The world had been extremely chaotic recently.

Demons ran rampant, and monstrous beasts frequently appeared.

Furthermore, there were wars between the imperial dynasty and those sects.

The reason was that the imperial dynasty wanted to unify management and establish rules.

This was also for the sake of the common people, but how could those sects be willing? And what about "everyone is equal"? They were inherently superior!

Coupled with their great strength, they naturally refused.

Moreover, things had always been this way. Now the imperial dynasty wanted to manage everyone? Have you asked our sects, have you asked our "orthodox lineages"?

So, they started fighting, and those sects, which were already "rampant," became even worse, whether it was ignoring laws, oppressing the common people, or being indifferent to life and death.

In addition, they themselves often fought among themselves, and once a fight broke out, they didn't care about the lives of ordinary people.

Only cultivators would be treated equally.

As for the rest, they were "commoners."

Of course, nothing is absolute, and not all of them were like this.

Jun Li listened to the captain, oh no, after talking, this captain was the commander of this checkpoint.

This checkpoint was called "Lanbian Fortress" and was the only way to connect Qide Province and Fenlu Province.

"If I want to pass, do I need anything?" Jun Li asked.

"I take it you're a Sword Immortal?" The commander looked Jun Li up and down and said.

"Yes, that's right." Jun Li nodded.

"Then it's fine, you don't need anything. You can just pass. I'll even issue you a pass here. When you arrive at any city in Fenlu Province, you can enter by showing this pass." The commander told Jun Li.