In the deep mountains of Yunling at night, the sound of insects sounded from the cracks in the stones from time to time.

In the dark depths of the mountains and forests, there was the low roar of the beast soul in the night, sometimes heard by the wind.

In the deep mountains of Yunling at night, there are many shadows of trees, swaying in the wind. The fog is thick, and the mountains and forests gather but do not disperse, making it difficult for the ghosts in it to distinguish between the east and the west, the north and the south.

In addition to the low roar of the beast soul, these tree shadows who looked down on the lineup at night added a bit of horror because of the darkness in the mountains and forests.

Especially when the wind blows and the grass and trees sway, the image of the tree is a devil who is dancing in the house with teeth and claws, and will pounce on someone in the next second.

The ghost soldiers led by Wu Xiaoshen walked in the mountains and forests at night. Like the vanguard he sent out earlier in front of the ghost soldiers, these ghost soldiers are also demon spirits and human souls with night eyes, and can see secretly without lighting. And he made a cloak out of odorless weeds and draped it over his body.

And the armor on their bodies is painted with colorful paint, like camouflage in the world. At the same time, it ensures that the armor will not be reflected when and where.

This is a means of facilitating operations, stealth and assassination, hiding their whereabouts.

In addition, the knives used by these ghost soldiers are also coated with a special dark blue paint, which can not only prevent rust and rain, but also will not reflect in the cloudy sun.

The ghost soldiers that Wu Xiaoshen is responsible for commanding and training are the most elite Nine Shadow Army outside of the defenders of the three major islands of the Nine Shadows Kingdom, Shuoyue, Black Dragon and Samsung. Not only is it well-trained, its individual combat ability is strong, but even its equipment is the most sophisticated.

Now, the ghost army of no more than 100 people led by Wu Xiaoshen is a ghost that sneaks quietly in the dark and moves with the yin wind.

They marched silently among the mountains and mountains, silently through the lush forests of the mountains.

They marched quickly, but lightly on their feet, and tried not to trample on the branches of the trees in the middle of the hill so as not to make too much noise.

And in the mountains and forests, the dead leaves on the ground that have been completely damp in the ghost fog can also cover the footprints and traces of this army.

Under the cover of the night, the army advanced silently, getting closer and closer to the heart of the mountains.

The deeper you go into the forest, the more people are nowhere to be found, and the mountains are full of primitive ecology.

This kind of place not only has complex terrain, but ghosts who are not familiar with the terrain enter it, and it is easy to get lost in the fog and can't get around. Moreover, the vast forests, the strange rocks and lush vegetation all over the mountains are very good hiding places, and it is easy to hide and hide their whereabouts.

In the mountains and forests, there are also many edible wild fruits, and there are also many beast souls. With a little common sense of survival in the wild, it is not a problem to live in the mountains here for thirty or fifty years.

The enemy chose to take this as a retreat, hiding in the mountains within a radius of 100 miles, in the dense forest, it seems that it is not a brainless random decision.

Rather, it's like a well-thought-out, well-formulated plan.

Wu Xiaoshen couldn't help but think that before leaving, in the order given to him by the ghost mother, he deliberately explained that he must hide his identity and bring the sergeant.

It can only be a matter of revealing their true identity on a small scale.

Thinking about it now, the ghost mother seems to have sensed something from military intelligence, such as the enemy's retreat is the purpose of guiding Wu Xiaoshen here, so that he must conceal his identity.

After all, the garrisons and defenders are good at encirclement, pursuit, interception, and offensive and defensive warfare, and are not good at jungle search and jungle tracking.

Although after the army restructuring in the past few years, the defenders of the Nine Shadows Kingdom have also begun to gradually increase the training of search, tracking, lurking and guerrilla warfare in various terrains and environments. However, it will take time for all the ghost soldiers in the armies of the Nine Shadows Kingdom to be proficient in these and improve their individual combat capabilities.

This is also one of the reasons why Xiao Shizhu Society and the Northern Yin Dynasty promoted a peace agreement.

The Nine Shadows Kingdom is not only about recuperation, but also about improving the combat effectiveness of the ghost soldiers.

Having said that, the terrain of Yunling is complicated, and the misty ghost mist surrounds the mountains and high forests, and such a place is handed over to Wu Xiaoshen and his army, who are good at mountain and mountain peak operations and guerrillas, and experts in search and tracking to deal with the rebels who are far away in the mountains and forests and hide in the Yunling Mountain Range, which is even more suitable.

From this point of view, it is more like to attract Wu Xiaoshen and the ghost soldiers and ghost army he commands here.

It's just that for a while, Wu Xiaoshen still couldn't understand what the enemy's purpose was in doing this, but he vaguely felt that the enemy seemed to want to expose him and the Nine Shadows Army he was responsible for leading to be exposed to the eyes of all the ghosts.

Wu Xiaoshen couldn't figure it out for a while, so he didn't think about it, and after calming down, he continued to follow the ghost soldiers around him, guarding the surroundings while carefully searching for the traces around him.

However, Wu Xiaoshen also knew that such an environment was too easy to be ambushed or raided.

In order not to be ambushed by the enemy in this kind of dense forest, Wu Xiaoshen also arranged a small flag flying army in the air, even at night, hovering in the air to escort them.

There was also a small banner of monkey demon ghost soldiers, sneaking through the dense canopy above their heads. It was specially arranged by Wu Xiaoshen, it was difficult to hear the sound, and Wu Xiaoshen deliberately arranged a strange soldier who could not see the figure.

Even if they encounter an enemy surprise attack or ambush, the ghost soldiers with these two small flags in the air above their heads can quickly support the troops on the ground and catch the enemy by surprise.

Wu Xiaoshen has always maintained this arrangement and has not changed his subordinates.

After sneaking in the mountains and forests of Mi Wucai City for a long time, the sergeant in front suddenly stopped and made a gesture of vigilance on the spot.

The armies stopped one after another, standing in place, and watchful all around.

The fungus people accompanying the army also notified the Flying Army and the Monkey Demon Soldiers above their heads, telling the ghost soldiers of the two small flags to stop their march and stand by for the time being.

Wu Xiaoshen strode forward, and when he came to the front of the team, Wu Xiaoshen saw the vanguard in front of him who was responsible for opening the way, squatted on the ground, and carefully looked at a piece of bluestone coiled by the roots of a tree.

Wu Xiaoshen took a look and saw the scratches left on the bluestone observed by the vanguard.

"General, this is the Pioneer Banner Officer, I asked the fungus man to send a message before, the trace mentioned. The vanguard pointed to the traces on the bluestone and said to Wu Xiaoshen: "It should be this." ”。

After that, he looked at the bluestone scratches, two small branches interspersed between the roots of a tree, crossed into a cross.

That's the vanguards, the guiding signs.

Wu Xiaoshen immediately saw these two branches, so he reached over, plucked them from between the roots, and gently placed them at his feet, destroying the whereabouts of their ghost soldiers in the cloud mountains.

Then, Wu Xiaoshen beckoned to the adjutant behind him.

The adjutant immediately understood, removed the map barrel hanging from his waist and walked up. When he squatted next to Wu Xiaoshen, the adjutant had already opened the lid of the barrel, took out the rolled up topographic map from it, and handed it to Wu Xiaogray.

Wu Xiaoshen unfolded the map in the darkness, and saw every line outlined on the map clearly.

However, the terrain of Yunling is complex, and the Nine Shadows Kingdom has not drawn a detailed topographic map. Even this topographic map in Wu Xiaoshen's hand was drawn from the air.

Except for the terrain of the mountains and a few water veins, the terrain covered by mountains and forests is not visible from the map at all.

But for Wu Xiaoshen, that's enough.

He and the soldiers under his command can fight in all kinds of unfamiliar terrain and environments, even if there is no detailed topographic map, it will not prevent Wu Xiaoshen from fighting here.

Wu Xiaoshen looked at the topographic map, looked around again, and after confirming the direction, he pointed to the front and asked the guide who followed him: "Going forward here, is the ninety-nine to one pool on the topographic map?"

The voice was still very soft, and the low whisper could only make a few ghosts around Wu Xiaoshen hear what he said.

The guide had already surveyed the surrounding terrain and discerned the direction, and immediately nodded: "Yes, there is probably a mountain road of seven or eight miles." ”。

"General. When the guide's voice landed, Wu Xiaoshen's adjutant also whispered: "The pioneer banner officer sent a message saying that they were going to search for the side of the Ninety-Nine Return One Pool. ”。

Wu Xiaoshen rolled up the map and handed it to the adjutant, and after a little thought, he immediately said: "Water source, yes, the enemy army is likely to be entrenched in the water source area, and the ninety-nine to one pool is a water source in the mountain, let's follow." ”。

Wu Xiaoshen's judgment was the same as that of the vanguard flag officer he sent, and based on the traces that appeared here, it was very likely that the enemy was entrenched near the Ninety-Nine One Pool.

If the judgment is correct, there must be a camp that was built temporarily near the Ninety-Nine One Pool. The rebels are entrenched in the vicinity of the pool, and there may be a number of traps set up near the pool.

The vanguard nodded in response, gave sign language to his comrades behind him, then stood up, continued to carry the firecracker, and walked forward according to Wu Xiaoshen's order......

Wu Xiaoshen's vanguard army was just a few miles ahead of him, sneaking towards the side of the Ninety-Nine One Pool.

In the midst of the dense forests, the vegetation flourished, the abundant canes hanging from the trees, and the rugged mountain roads slowed the march.

Not only that, the closer this vanguard army got to the Ninety-Nine One Pool, the more traces of human souls or demon spirits were found nearby.

Needless to say, traces such as footprints can be seen almost everywhere. Even on the damp and rotten leaves on the ground, there are many footprints that have been trampled and sunken.

In addition to this, there are quite a few other traces of activity.

Used traps, traces left by simple arrows flying over the grass and rocks when chasing the soul of the beast.

and the traces of wild fruits in the mountains, being picked.

It seems that after the ghost captives blocked the road down the mountain in time and surrounded the rebel iron bucket in the Yunling, the rebels who escaped into the deep mountains of the Yunling Mountains did not have a very good life.

Wu Xiaogray's vanguard army even found that they scraped around repeatedly with metal objects on the salt rocks in the mountains to get traces of salt powder.

Whether it is a human soul or a demon soul, just like animals and humans in the world, salt ingestion is indispensable.

If there were so many salt rocks in the Yunling Mountains and dense forests, the rebels trapped in the mountains would soon be exhausted, and finally they would not be able to escape the fate of starving to death in the mountains without anyone asking.

Maybe when the rebels are weak and powerless, it will become a feast for the beast soul sacrifice in the mountain.

However, the ghost captives did not choose the tactic of waiting for the rebels to die quietly, if they did so, if they slipped through the net, the ghost captives and Shi Ben would be accused of being a thief. Second, the ghost captives knew from the hunters and medicine men in the mountains that there were salt rocks in the mountains.

Even so, the closure of the mountain and the blockage of the road still made the life of the rebels in the mountains very miserable.

And Wu Xiaogray's vanguard army, after discovering more and more traces of rebel activities, advanced even more cautiously. Not only must you quietly approach the Ninety-Nine One Pool, but you must also carefully scout whether there are any rebel sentry posts nearby and destroy the remaining traps.

So that the main force led by Wu Xiaoshen in the back does not fall into these traps.

The vanguard army is getting closer and closer to the Ninety-Nine One Pool, and there are more and more traces of activity left on the ground, which are becoming more and more obvious.

However, the vanguard encountered many traps, but the sentry did not find them.

The rebels are a rabble, and they will not even arrange sentry posts. It also made the flag officer of the vanguard army sure that the rebel rebellion was not the real purpose, and there must be some secret hidden behind it.

At the same time, he also ordered that it is even more prudent to subordinate ghost soldiers, after all, there is no big mistake in being careful.

As a result, the pace of the march slowed down. It wasn't until the second half of the night that a dozen of their ghosts, led by their guides, came to a mountain peak near the Ninety-Nine One Pool.

The vanguard followed the guide, crawled forward, and quietly came halfway up the mountain, on a cliff.

Under the darkness, the straw cloaks they wore made them blend with the sparse weeds on the cliffs, and also made them merge with the night.

Lying on the edge of the cliff that stretched forward, the flag officer of the vanguard army suddenly opened up.

On the edge of the cliff, there is an abyss, under the constant howling of the wind, the flag officer can overlook the whole picture of the mountain, and the col between the nearby mountains appears in front of him.

From this protruding rock cliff, you can see the whole picture of the mountain below.

The guide beside him pointed to the bottom of the mountain, and the flag officer looked down the mountain and saw the ninety-nine to one pool in the middle of the mountain col.

Although it was in the mist, the blazing bonfires around it lit up the ninety-nine pools in the mist.

As recorded in the book, the large pond in the middle is surrounded by eight small pools of different shapes. In the middle of the pool, a tall red coral breaks through the water and rises from the ground.

In the firelight, the flag officer on the cliff thousands of feet above the ground could see the coral clearly. The tall and magnificent coral, and the coral canopy that stretches out like an umbrella cover, covering almost the entire pool, amazes the flag officer.

However, the secret exclamation was only for a moment. Soon, the flag officer gently took out the clairvoyant mirror, quietly opened it, and looked at the bright firelight on the edge of the ninety-nine to one pool in the col, where the blue waves rippled continuously.

With the clairtelescope, the flag officer can see the scenery in the col below more clearly.

In the mist of the col, these places where there is fire have been made of local materials, and countless simple houses have been built around the shore of the pond.

Although they were made from local materials, the houses were too simple to build, and at most they could barely shelter from the wind and rain.

The demons who lived here connected the houses together, and at the edge of the perimeter, they also set up barricades such as horses to resist horses, and set up high platforms to use as sentry posts, and arranged guards on them with simple bows and arrows to stand guard in the dark night.

The ghosts in this place have connected many simple buildings into a large camp.

Looking at the guards standing guard on the high platform, the robes they wore were also very ordinary, but they did not even have a piece of armor, and they did not look like regular sergeants. Moreover, the saber is mostly used in the homes of the ghost people, and is used to chop wood, machetes and axes.

Just looking at it like this, in addition to seeing the camp and the ghosts in it, the flag officer couldn't tell whether the ghosts below were rebels who were far away in the mountains.