Chapter 26: Leaving the City

Just before the deadline set by the City Lord’s Mansion, Wei Cheng finally managed to gather fifty people. Apart from the four of them, there were twenty-five third-cycle Mountain Movers, who made up the main force. The rest were second-cycle Mountain Movers—scattered individuals who, even within their previous teams, were considered the dregs. Even among this ragtag assembly, several small cliques formed, all eyeing Wei Cheng’s ambition to become squad captain and trying to extort him one last time.

In the end, Wei Cheng was forced to promise them food and lodging before they would relent.

“When did fifth-cycle Mountain Movers lose all their charisma? What are these people so arrogant about?” Even Yu Liang found it strange.

“They still have some skill; otherwise, they couldn’t have cleared the fourth checkpoint. Now they just see an opportunity to raise their price. If you weren’t aiming for captain, would they dare act so brazenly?” Wang Wei whispered in consolation, though even she, usually even-tempered, had been so angered her eyes turned blue. By now, the top and middle-tier teams were already full, had collected their banners from the City Lord’s Mansion, and had gone to their assigned sections of the city wall to prepare for the defense.

Only the bottom rung remained—groups of three, cliques of five—not even bothering to vie for captaincy, just trying to negotiate reorganization terms. Now, as the deadline approached, two or three hundred people were still loafing around, arms folded, wearing a mixture of smirks, indifference, and arrogance.

The true dregs.

“Twelfth Ding Squad, Captain Wei Cheng, your detachment is to reinforce Section Twelve of the North City’s Ding District. No mistakes are permitted!”

A bronze command token was placed in Wei Cheng’s hand. A faint light flashed from it, enveloping not only Wei Cheng but all forty-nine others. From that moment on, they could no longer join other teams and were required to obey Wei Cheng’s orders on the battlefield.

Otherwise—their pay would be docked.

Currently, each person was still earning two large coins a day.

“Everyone, stay with me and do not stray more than one hundred meters from my position!”

Wei Cheng issued the order through the bronze token. The light flashed, making his words ring clearly in everyone’s ears.

Not bad, he thought.

With a clamor, the group drew closer to Wei Cheng, though naturally not without grumbling and sour faces.

Wei Cheng paid them no mind and led the team directly to the north of the city.

The five thousand trial-takers were divided into a hundred teams, distributed among four sectors: A, B, C, and D.

Twenty-five A squads defended the south wall.
Twenty-five B squads covered the east wall.
Twenty-five C squads guarded the west wall.
Twenty-five D squads, including Wei Cheng’s, were assigned to the north wall.

The city walls stretched a thousand meters, divided into twenty-five sections—forty meters each. With fifty people per section, it was almost too crowded to stand.

As Wei Cheng led his group onto the wall, even he felt a bit lost. Many others were wandering about carelessly, like tourists on a group outing. Even though Cheng An and Yu Liang kept shouting for order, no one paid them any mind. As long as they didn’t stray more than a hundred meters, they weren’t violating any rules—let’s see what you can do about it!

“Everyone—” Wei Cheng felt he ought to say something; otherwise, the whole scene felt like children playing at war.

“Moo!”

A thunderous roar came without warning, rolling like a tidal wave, vast and unending as mountain ranges. At first, no one reacted, but a few seconds later, Wei Cheng’s face changed.

Instantly, Mountain Moving inner strength surged through him, howling through the imagined mountains of his mind and gathering in his chest. He inhaled sharply, then shouted:

“Ward!”

His voice exploded in the air, shattering a faint, golden barrier as if ripping apart a strange sound wall in the void!

Under the influence of that sound barrier, everyone else had momentarily fallen into a stupor. Wei Cheng’s shout snapped them out of it as if from a dream.

Cheng An, Yu Liang, Wang Wei, and several others nearby turned pale, as though lightly injured. Those farther away coughed up blood instantly, their meridians clearly damaged.

But the thunderous roar persisted, and the uncanny sound barrier continued to assail them.

“Close to me!” Wei Cheng bellowed, his inner power surging again. He roared three times into the sky; with each roar, the strange sound barrier within twenty meters shattered.

Those within this range, even if slightly injured, could recover with a few cycles of inner strength. But anyone outside this zone was left standing dumbfounded, mind blank, for ten full seconds. Then, like a dam released or a drunk unbuckling his belt, they spewed blood uncontrollably and collapsed, gravely injured.

In fact, this scene played out all along the north wall. Only Mountain Movers at fourth cycle and above could protect themselves, and even then, just barely. There were no other fifth-cycle Mountain Movers besides Wei Cheng who could, with a shout, shield a radius of twenty meters.

After all, Wei Cheng was actually already at the sixth cycle.

Shaken, the crowd had no time to process what had happened when the roar suddenly ceased. But all around Floating Cloud City, the surrounding cliffs began to collapse on a massive scale, as though some barrier had been broken.

At the same moment, twelve points of light slowly descended from the sky—none too many, just twelve. They were inheritance steles, and their landing sites lay among the collapsing cliffs.

Three in each direction.

Roughly a hundred miles from Floating Cloud City.

Suddenly, the bronze token in Wei Cheng’s hand vibrated, and a voice sounded:

“By order of the City Lord: the demon vanguard has arrived. Are there any warriors willing to sally forth and annihilate them?”

It all made sense now. Wei Cheng glanced across the north wall at the other teams. Hardly any of them were still intact—most were coughing blood, barely clinging to consciousness, in no shape to march out and destroy the demon vanguard.

Only his squad still had thirty-two men standing; the other eighteen—the loafers from before—now lay sprawled on the ground, clutching their chests like tragic heroines.

“All hands, hear the order: Twelfth Ding Squad will sally forth immediately!”

At Wei Cheng’s command, Cheng An, Yu Liang, and Wang Wei were eager to move, and some others yearned for battle. Yet a few still hesitated.

“Captain Wei, shouldn’t we wait a bit longer? So many of our people are injured, we’re not at full strength!” shouted a man named Guo Jiangshan, who had formerly led a small group of five or six. His voice was loud and his negotiation tactics infuriating.

Unfortunately, his words stirred unrest—he was the one who’d bargained for free food and lodging.

“You may take leave. I approve. Your pay will not be docked.”

To everyone’s surprise, Wei Cheng wasn’t angry. He even smiled, appearing easygoing, while Yu Liang beside him was grinding his teeth in frustration.

But really, what was there to be angry about? At this point, only their own opportunity was at stake.

He wasn’t their parent—no need to be disappointed.

“Move!” Wei Cheng cried, and leapt straight from the eight-meter-high city wall.

Boom!

He landed steadily, not pausing for an instant, and shot off like an arrow toward one of the inheritance steles a hundred miles away!

Whether the others could keep up or wanted to—what did that matter to him?