The most secure job in Dajin

Chapter 559, Recruiting the Vermilion Bird Army Again

Duan Jishan didn't wait long at the mountain gate before a dazzling, fiery red figure quietly appeared beside him.

The newcomer wore a Vermilion Bird mask with outstretched wings, and layers of crimson feathers that stretched from his shoulders to the hem of his skirt.

As the mountain breeze swept by, her intricate feather skirt swayed gently, like a burning flame, flamboyant and dazzling.

This was the first time Duan Jishan had faced his own sect master so closely, and the intense heat emanating from him momentarily stunned him.

Hua Changxi glanced at him: "Have you handed over all the tasks you were handling?"

Duan Jishan snapped out of his daze, quickly composed himself, and respectfully clasped his hands in greeting: "Greetings, Palace Master. Everything has been arranged properly."

Hua Changxi nodded slightly: "Let's go."

Duan Jishan didn't ask any more questions and just followed silently behind.

The next moment, two streaks of crimson light, one deep and one shallow, one in front and one behind, rose from the ground, piercing the sky and leaving two brilliant but brief trails in the heavens.

Only after the two red lights completely disappeared into the sky did a few figures emerge at the entrance of Lingguang Palace.

It was Yun You, Ye Liyue, Yan Guichen, and other hall masters and managers.

After craning their necks to watch the trail of light disappear into the distance, the group turned their gazes away and huddled together, whispering amongst themselves.

"I never expected the Palace Master to be this kind of person, who actually likes to play the game of burying one's head in the sand."

"I understand, everyone cares about their image."

"I used to think that the Palace Master was aloof and mysterious, but now it seems that he is actually quite down-to-earth."

"Where do you think the Palace Master is taking Hall Master Duan?"

Listening to the chatter of the people around her, Yun You turned around and glanced at their faces: "This is not something we should be worrying about."

"The people who have entered the Soul Realm have not yet come out, and the Palace Master obviously has other plans for Hall Master Duan."

"Now, our primary task is to fulfill our respective duties and ensure the smooth operation of Nanxiang County, without any mishaps."

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.

The group glanced up again at the long-dissipated trail of red light in the sky before composed themselves and turning back to the Lingguang Palace.

The mountain gate returned to calm.

Meanwhile, Hua Changxi had quietly brought Duan Jishan to the outside of Flaming Mountain.

Before me lay a desolate mountainous area, littered with jagged rocks and devoid of any vegetation.

Duan Jishan looked around, his eyes filled with a hint of confusion.

Hua Changxi looked at him quietly: "What did you sense?"

Duan Jishan closed his eyes, carefully sensed for a moment, and replied, "The fire elemental energy in the air seems to be more concentrated than in other places, and the temperature here is also higher than in other areas."

"What else?" Hua Changxi pressed.

Duan Jishan remained silent for a moment, then shook his head and said truthfully, "This subordinate is incompetent and did not perceive any other abnormalities."

Hua Changxi remained calm, not particularly surprised by this.

Although Duan Jishan is a cultivator at the Spirit Platform Realm, if he can easily detect the existence of spatial rifts, then other cultivators of the same level can naturally do the same.

If that's the case, then the blessed land of Nanxiang City would probably have been occupied by various forces long ago.

"Whoo~"

Hua Changxi flicked her wrist and summoned the Floating Light Sword.

Flames emanated from the sword, with seven-colored strange flames swirling and rapidly condensing into the dazzling Great Sun Divine Flame.

On the Great Sun Divine Flame, the law of the word "crack" operated silently. In an instant, the air in front of the two people rippled, and a tiny spatial crack slowly appeared.

Duan Jishan witnessed all of this from the side, his eyes widening in shock.

Hua Changxi: "Go forward and try to see if you can get in."

Duan Jishan immediately stepped forward and tentatively reached his hand towards the crack.

However, as soon as the fingertips approached, an extremely sharp cutting force rushed towards them, and a scarlet bloodstain instantly appeared on the back of their hands.

Seeing this, Hua Changxi hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand and sent out a wisp of Nanming Li Fire, gently enveloping Duan Jishan's entire body.

With the protection of the Southern Bright Fire, Duan Jishan immediately felt the originally violent cutting force weakening. Then, an irresistible suction force suddenly came, and his body instantly lost its balance, being pulled directly into the spatial rift.

Seeing this, Hua Changxi did not hesitate at all. In a flash, she transformed into a streak of crimson light and followed closely behind, disappearing into the crack.

The feeling of weightlessness lasted only a moment.

When Duan Jishan stepped onto solid ground again, a terrifying heat wave, as if it could burn away his soul, crashed down on him like a waterfall from the heavens!

"Sigh~"

He gasped sharply at the scorching air, feeling a sharp pain in his lungs. He instinctively and frantically circulated his spiritual energy to protect his meridians.

It took him quite a while to get used to the extreme heat.

Once his eyes adjusted to the blinding light, he finally had time to look around.

However, after just one glance, he froze on the spot, his pupils trembling violently.

As far as the eye could see, there was a breathtaking world of interwoven dark red and crimson gold.

Countless enormous, fiery red mountains rise abruptly from the ground, their entire bodies composed of dark or light red rock layers, resembling solidified magma.

The mountain's surface is covered with deep, spiderweb-like ravines, and within those crisscrossing fissures, either molten lava flows or raging flames burn!

"here it is……"

Duan Jishan murmured, his voice dry and strained.

"One of the twelve blessed lands of Nanxiang City - Flaming Mountain".

Hua Changxi's voice rang out, calm and undisturbed.

Duan Jishan's eyelids twitched violently. He swallowed hard, suppressing the shock in his heart, and asked in a low voice, "I wonder what the Palace Master wants me to do by bringing me here?"

"Of course, we should take over this blessed land."

Hua Changxi's tone was perfectly matter-of-fact, but to Duan Jishan, these words were like a thunderclap from a clear sky.

He looked up in astonishment, unsure how to react.

Hua Changxi ignored his astonishment and continued, "To take over the blessed land, we must first pass the test." As she spoke, she pointed to the flat canyon in front of her.

"The first test is individual combat ability. Once you reach the bottom of the valley, a fiery rock road will appear. Crossing that road will lead to the second test—military formation drills."

Upon hearing this, Duan Jishan immediately understood.

Given Xiao Hua's "out of place" performance on the battlefield, it's no wonder the Palace Master brought him here instead of going himself. Sure enough, the next second, Hua Changxi said, "I want you to take over this blessed land."

Duan Jishan's heart jolted violently, and he even paused for a moment.

He never expected that the Palace Master would value him so much!

Duan Jishan took a deep breath, clasped his hands in a fist salute to Hua Changxi, and said in a firm voice, "Your subordinate will certainly live up to the Palace Master's expectations!"

Having said that, he no longer hesitated, turned around and strode into the flat canyon in front of him, which exuded an eerie atmosphere.

However, after taking only a few dozen steps, a sudden change occurred!

The once silent scorched earth suddenly trembled violently, accompanied by a muffled roar, and crimson magma gushed out like a living thing, instantly solidifying in front of him into a burly figure clad in heavy lava armor—the Fire Armor Guard.

After that, it was a life-or-death battle between Duan Jishan and the Fire Armor Guards.

When the number of Fire Armor Guards climbed to double digits, Duan Jishan's breathing became extremely heavy, and his body became increasingly strained under the ferocious attacks.

Hua Changxi stood aside silently watching the battle, his brows slightly furrowed.

She had already made up her mind: Duan Jishan would not pass the first test.

It wasn't because Duan Jishan was too weak.

The strength of the Fire Armor Guards is determined by the strength of the test taker, or more precisely, by the test taker's cultivation level in magic.

As a cultivator at the Spirit Platform Realm, Duan Jishan is already quite powerful, capable of fighting against more than ten Spirit Platform Realm cultivators at the same time.

However, this level of strength is clearly far from enough to pass the test of the Flaming Mountain.

Hua Changxi understood that the reason she was able to pass the first test was because, in terms of magic cultivation, she was only a Nascent Soul cultivator, but in terms of body cultivation, she had already entered the eighth level of Body Refinement.

This can be considered as exploiting a bug in the Flaming Mountain test.

Just as Duan Jishan was about to give up, Hua Changxi moved, transforming into a streak of crimson light and rushing into the battlefield to fight alongside Duan Jishan, joining forces to counter the surging fire-armored guards.

She wanted to verify whether the rules of the Flaming Mountain allowed for coordinated operations.

In a flash of inspiration, the conclusion was quickly revealed—it's possible!

So, led by Hua Changxi, the two of them went one after the other, step by step, deeper into the valley, until the crimson, scorching fiery rock road appeared at the end of their sight.

"Crossing the Fire Rock Avenue tests one's perseverance and courage more than anything else."

Hua Changxi looked at Duan Jishan, who was panting beside her, and said solemnly, "I can't help you with this; you have to bear it yourself."

Duan Jishan was too exhausted to stand and leaned against the mountain wall. He listened to Hua Changxi's words and nodded heavily.

At this moment, he was in a very turbulent state of mind.

Everyone knew that the Palace Master was very powerful, but that was ultimately just awe passed down through word of mouth. Without personal experience, people did not have a truly concrete understanding of this power.

Only today, after personally stepping into that valley and walking in front of that group of tireless and relentless Fire Armor Guards, did he gain the most direct understanding—that the Palace Master, who fought alone, had become so incredibly powerful that he was awe-inspiring!

He couldn't help but recall the scene of the temple master being thrown out again and again during the military drills, and at this moment he finally realized what was going on.

Compared to others, the lord must integrate with the military formation and must deliberately suppress and weaken himself significantly.

This is ten or even a hundred times more difficult than a simple fusion.

Time slipped away little by little. After his spiritual power was fully restored, Duan Jishan glanced at Hua Changxi and resolutely stepped onto the lava road that resembled a fire dragon.

Hua Changxi followed closely behind, always keeping a few steps away from him so that she could come to his rescue if he couldn't hold on any longer.

The journey that followed was extremely difficult for Duan Jishan.

The extreme heat, which seemed to melt his very soul, caused him to endure excruciating pain time and time again.

But each time, he gritted his teeth and, with astonishing willpower, managed to pull through every moment on the verge of collapse.

When he finally dragged his heavy steps out of the tunnel and onto the second valley, he was almost completely exhausted.

But his bloodshot eyes shone with an unprecedentedly resolute light.

Hua Changxi looked at Duan Jishan, a hint of expectation in her eyes: "You should recover first."

"You've passed the first test. The next test is a military formation drill."

Upon hearing this, Duan Jishan immediately sat down cross-legged, circulated his cultivation technique, and greedily absorbed the extremely dense fire spiritual energy around him.

After a period of time, the spiritual energy in his body was fully restored, and the injuries he had sustained from being burned by the Fire Rock Path were also healed after taking the pills given to him by Hua Changxi.

"Your subordinate is ready."

Duan Jishan opened his eyes, his gaze sharp and resolute.

Hua Changxi nodded slightly and pointed to the vast valley below: "Go ahead, I'll be waiting for your good news."

Duan Jishan clasped his hands in acceptance of the order and leaped into the valley.

He passed through both the hundred-man and thousand-man formations without any hindrance on his first attempt.

Next came the formation of ten thousand men.

The martial arts hall of Lingguang Palace has various military formations carved on its stone walls, but there is no military formation with a scale of 10,000 people.

Faced with the overwhelming pressure and the seamless flow of the formation, Duan Jishan failed more than ten times in a row. In the end, relying on his unique understanding of military formations, he overcame this difficulty by falling down and reflecting on his mistakes.

Hua Changxi thought that the second test would be over after the formation of ten thousand people.

Unexpectedly, the moment Duan Jishan stepped out of the formation of ten thousand men, a sudden change occurred!

The earth trembled violently once more, and crimson magma shot into the sky, forming twelve massive formations of ten thousand men each on the vast plain before him!

Hua Changxi's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the distribution of the twelve military formations.

She discovered that the location and orientation of these twelve formations, each capable of holding ten thousand people, were exactly the same as the geographical distribution of the twelve blessed lands of Nanxiang City.

They echo each other, their energy intertwined, and in this vast天地 (heaven and earth), a vermilion bird totem, poised to take flight, is vividly depicted!

Duan Jishan was also stunned. Of the twelve military formations, he could only control one, while the remaining eleven obviously needed to be controlled by others.

"Lord of the Palace."

Hua Changxi was momentarily lost in thought, then instantly understood that the test of Flaming Mountain was never for one person, but for a group of people.

Based on the current situation, there are at least twelve people.

At the same time, Hua Changxi also thought of another problem: if the Twelve Great Formations were to be set up in reality, then 120,000 Vermilion Bird soldiers would be needed.

The Lingguang Palace only recruited 100,000 Vermilion Bird soldiers!

As one of the twelve blessed lands of Nanxiang City, Flaming Mountain would never have set up a twelve-sided army formation of ten thousand men without a reason.

This twelve-sided, ten-thousand-person army formation must have a special purpose.

Hua Changxi's eyes flashed, and at that moment, she made a decision in her heart—to recruit the Vermilion Bird Army again!

"Give me a list of eleven people who can control a force of ten thousand."

Duan Jishan pondered for a moment, then named eleven people, including Yan Guichen and Ye Liyue.

Hua Changxi looked at him and said, "You can stay here and study this Twelve Directions Ten Thousand Man Army Formation." After saying that, she left.

Upon returning to Lingguang Palace, Hua Changxi didn't immediately seek out Yan Guichen and the others. Instead, she summoned Yun You and instructed her to issue a public notice in the name of Lingguang Palace—recruiting another 50,000 Vermilion Bird soldiers. (End of Chapter)