Xu Ke solemnly said, “It uses refined gold in the chest, back, abdomen, and groin areas, with an extension technique similar to Cloud Forging.”

The Yan King’s face darkened, “Taoyuan Realm.”

Refined gold was indeed an extremely expensive metal, but New Xia’s craftsmen had polished and extended it to the extreme. Just a rice grain-sized piece of refined gold could be embedded throughout the entire inner armor, directly elevating its defensive capability by two levels, making it impervious to ordinary swords and blades.

Most importantly, this crafting technique resembled “Cloud Forging”—a secret forging method mastered only by the Taoyuan Realm. Yan Kingdom’s forging level was certainly not inferior, but they still spent enormous sums to purchase large quantities of such armor from the Taoyuan Realm to improve their soldiers’ survival rate on the battlefield.

The fact that New Xia could also accomplish this was extremely surprising.

It had risen too quickly, using too little time. Knowledgeable people despised it as a nouveau-riche country, believing that its false prosperity concealed numerous weaknesses, with military equipment manufacturing being one of them. The standard of military industry is a weathervane of a country’s comprehensive strength, and in most people’s view, New Xia should have failed in this area.

However, the New Xia weapons and armor that appeared on the Wei battlefield greatly changed people’s perception. The Yan King’s first thought was whether the Taoyuan Realm and New Xia had made some private deal.

He tossed aside the inner armor in his hand, “Question the Taoyuan Realm. Have them tell me how New Xia, separated by a forbidden sea, could master their armor-making techniques.”

Faced with such questioning, the Taoyuan Realm naturally denied everything. But with him fighting on the Northern Continent’s front lines and the Taoyuan Realm at the easternmost edge of the Southern Continent, message delivery took too much time back and forth, and naturally, new changes had occurred on the Northern battlefield.

After capturing the Huachao Plateau, the Yan army’s main force continued to attack westward, advancing triumphantly, beating the Wei people black and blue along the way, with their morale soaring to the extreme. Subsequently, they encountered the elite forces led by Wei Kingdom’s great general He Lian Jia and fought fiercely for two days and two nights.

Both sides were bloodthirsty, and blood flowed like a river on the battlefield.

This was also the strongest enemy the Yan army had encountered since taking the Huachao Plateau.

Fortunately, with the Yan King’s superb elemental power coordination and enhancement, the Yan army ultimately defeated the Wei forces. This battle was especially brutal; He Lian Jia lost over 30,000 men and, knowing he couldn’t win, finally turned and fled.

The direction of the Wei army’s retreat was toward Tianmen Gorge, renowned as having the most magnificent scenery in the world.

As the name suggests, the mountains here resembled giant gates or folding screens, standing straight and steep on flat ground. The terrain was complex with narrow visibility—even tens of thousands of people could hide here without anyone knowing.

In the past, the Yan army would not have been willing to venture deep into such dangerous territory. But now, firstly, they were bloodthirsty, no longer heeding the principle of not pursuing a desperate enemy; secondly, they held all the advantages with formidable fighting power. As the saying goes, brute force overcomes all tricks—even if the Wei people planned to use clever strategies, they remained undaunted.

He Lian Jia’s army was the mainstay of the central Wei Kingdom’s resistance. If they could break it, the Yan army would be able to move freely in this area, taking a significant step closer to the goal of capturing the Wei capital.

So despite the opposition of several generals, the Yan King ordered an immediate pursuit.

This pursuit led them straight into a trap.

Suddenly, a large contingent of Wei soldiers poured out from the entrance of Tianmen Gorge, directly attacking the Yan army’s logistics camp stationed there. Their number was at least one hundred thousand, and if counting He Lian Jia’s army, the Wei forces fighting here exceeded two hundred and ninety thousand.

The Yan people had also guessed there would be an ambush here, but with their numbers exceeding two hundred thousand, carrying the momentum of a great victory, high morale, and abundant elemental power, they fearlessly met the challenge.

The two sides quickly became entangled in battle, and blood dyed Tianmen Gorge.

Theoretically, the Yan Kingdom’s army, enhanced by the Yan King, should have been fearless even with two hundred thousand men battling against two hundred and ninety thousand Wei troops. Even if they couldn’t win, they should at least be able to withdraw unharmed. However, just as the two sides engaged in close combat, a faint glow also emanated from the Wei soldiers. Under this glow, every Wei soldier was invigorated with increased strength, and amidst the earth-shaking battle cries were wild joy: “The State Preceptor has returned!”

Only the State Preceptor could coordinate elemental power and enhance warfare.

The Yan people on the opposite side were greatly shocked, even the Yan King’s pupils contracted suddenly. But he immediately activated his divine ability and shouted, “He Lian Jia, which nobody has your little Xiao Yan found to serve as State Preceptor?”

At their level of great power, the troubles they encountered weren’t ordinary. Yun Ya had not appeared for a long time and couldn’t even allocate Wei Kingdom’s elemental power. The Yan King had also fought him inside the volcano, so his first reaction upon seeing elemental power was that the Wei Kingdom might have sacrificed a pawn to save a chariot, employing a new State Preceptor. These words were also meant for his army to hear. Sure enough, upon hearing this, the Yan people on the battlefield became more composed. Indeed, even if the Wei Kingdom regained elemental power, as long as the State Preceptor wasn’t Yun Ya, what was there to fear?

But just then, a long laugh came from within the Wei army: “Zhao Hui, since our parting at Red Demon Mountain, you’re still as timid as ever.”

That voice was clear and melodious, and to the Yan King’s ears, it was infuriatingly familiar.

Yun Ya—it was truly Yun Ya!

He immediately mentioned Red Demon Mountain, which was the greatest defeat suffered by the Yan army since attacking the Wei Kingdom. The scene of the volcanic eruption devouring lives was like hell on earth, creating nightmares that haunted countless Yan soldiers. Among those present were many Yan soldiers who had retreated from the northwest, and trembled twice upon hearing this, involuntarily.

He intended to suppress the enemy’s momentum, but the Yan King had no time for verbal sparring; he was busy locating the source of Yun Ya’s voice, which was approaching rapidly.

Indeed, in the next instant, Wei and Yan soldiers fighting to his left front were suddenly pushed apart. In the whistling wind, a robust Feilian beast lunged toward the Yan King.

This monster had a leopard’s body with deer antlers, but a bird-like head. Born with the ability to command wind, it moved much faster than a Bozhu beast, leaving a trail of afterimages in the air as its true form had already pounced before the Yan King, its eagle-like sharp beak violently pecking at his spirit beast mount.

On the Feilian’s back was a rider; the halberd arrived before the person, thrusting directly at his throat.

This person wore light red battle armor and was exceptionally handsome—his appearance alone made him the dream lover of countless maidens, but now his peach blossom eyes were filled with fierce killing intent.

Old adversaries meeting, particularly red-eyed.

Having fought each other for many years, as soon as they engaged, the Yan King knew that Yun Ya had recovered his peak cultivation, and whatever accident he had experienced at Red Demon Mountain, the damage had long since passed.

Yun Ya’s dramatic entrance into battle at Tianmen Gorge was to engage the Yan King, preventing him from freely commanding his troops.

With Wei’s State Preceptor taking the field, Wei Kingdom’s army and cultivators naturally responded like clouds, converging here like flowing water. The Yan army, unwilling to be outdone, quickly turned this area into the central vortex of the entire Tianmen Gorge battlefield, continuously drawing in troops.

Although the Yan King commanded vigorously, he also realized that today he had been obstinate, rashly advancing into an ambush.