Shen Qian then asked some more questions that had been weighing on his mind. Although Wu Wei did not answer every question, he did answer most of them. Seeing that he had achieved his goal, Shen Qian took his leave.
"Minister, do you know when the teacher will return?"
Before sinking, he couldn't help but ask a question.
"Your teacher has been sent to guard a special place. Normally, it should be several years before he can be rotated out."
Wu Wei pondered for a moment and said, "However, given the special circumstances, he might return ahead of schedule."
"I understand, thank you, Minister."
Seeing that Shen Qian was about to leave the garden, Wu Wei called out to him again.
"Oh, right, there's one more thing."
Wu Wei thought for a moment and said, "The joint mobilization order from the Martial Arts Department and the Military should be issued soon, but since I've met you, I'll let you know in advance."
"What?" Shen Qian was taken aback.
"The 'Gate' is about to open on a large scale. Having learned from the lessons of the six city collapses, the Council of Kings and Marquises plans to divide all provinces of China into war zones and organize elite forces to defend them."
Wu Wei said with his hands behind his back, "In addition to the Mountain and Sea experts who are assigned to various war zones to stand by, we will also form elite patrol teams."
"Patrol squads will not participate in routine defense matters, but will serve as the core mobile force patrolling the defense zone. The squads will adopt an 'all-mountain-sea' system, reporting directly to their respective lords."
Upon hearing this, Shen Qian nodded slightly.
Before entering the underground city, he would have doubted whether China had enough powerful experts from the mountains and seas to draw upon, but now he naturally has no such doubt.
Although China has more than 30 provinces, there are at least hundreds of thousands of powerful cultivators from the Mountain and Sea realms who belong to China. If distributed equally, each province would have tens of thousands of such powerful cultivators.
A year ago, this would have been a number that would have left Shen Qian speechless.
"You're on the list and will be the captain of one of the patrol teams. Any questions?" Wu Wei asked.
"Which defense zone am I in charge of?" Shen Qian had no doubt about his own abilities, so he went straight to asking the question he was more concerned about.
"Which defense zone do you want to go to?" Wu Wei asked in return.
"Southwest." Since Wu Wei asked, Shen Qian answered without hesitation.
"That's about what I guessed, which is just right," Wu Wei nodded.
"Just what?" Shen Qian was taken aback.
"The reason I'm specifically mentioning this to you is because you've been specifically requested by a prince to serve under his command."
Wu Wei said after careful consideration.
"Which king or noble?" Shen Qian asked curiously upon hearing this, a guess forming in his mind.
Lord Luoshen? Lord Pingyang? Or Lord Kunhu, who is a permanent resident of Kuncheng...?
The possibility of it being Kunhu Bo is probably higher, after all, he is often in the first province in the southwest, so it is only natural that he is in charge of the southwest defense zone. Moreover, because of Geng Qianqiu, he is also very friendly towards Shen Qian.
Of course, names like Duke Yanshan and Duke Tianning were never considered before the incident, and Wu Wei would never have made such an obviously incongruous arrangement.
"Lord Lingtian." Wu Wei didn't keep them in suspense and uttered the three words directly.
Ling Tianhou?
Shen Qian narrowed his eyes. How could it be him?
Although he and Ling Tianhou had no direct enmity, Liu Changqing and the other party had a long-standing feud, and this feud could be ranked among the top three "hatreds of stealing a wife"... As Liu Changqing's junior brother, could Ling Tianhou not have thought of this?
Moreover, last time in the city at the center of the earth, Shen Qian publicly humiliated Ling Tianhou by refusing to sell him the three Chaos Stones with mysterious uses. He didn't quite believe that Ling Tianhou would let the matter go so easily.
Regardless of Ling Tianhou's intentions, Shen Qian unconsciously became more vigilant.
Perhaps Wu Wei also sensed something, which is why he reminded him in this way?
As he watched Shen Qian leave, Wu Wei's usually calm and relaxed expression finally began to change.
He couldn't help but cough, his face flushing.
After turning blue and purple, it spat out some blood that shimmered with iridescent light. Strangely, as soon as the blood came into contact with the air, it immediately emitted wisps of cold air. When it landed, it had already turned into a hard block of ice, and the temperature of the entire garden dropped sharply.
Raising his hand to stop Old Yang from walking over, Wu Wei, whose face was as pale as paper, looked up, his eyes now filled with utter heaviness.
"The Witch Clan already has a powerhouse of this level... No wonder King Zhouyi was noncommittal about my voyage to test the waters."
"So he already knew something, which is why he chose to protect himself?"
After an unknown amount of time, Wu Wei's breathing finally calmed down. He straightened up, gazed at the serene scenery in the garden, and murmured:
"Gao Wenyuan, Gao Wenyuan, what are you waiting for? I originally thought you had placed your hopes for overcoming this calamity on your youngest disciple, but... time is running out! We don't have ten years, not even five or three!"
"A storm is brewing, the edifice is about to collapse, and this time, there will be no more of the original nine kings..."
...
Nearly ten days of peace followed before the sinking.
After confirming that the threat to Jiangzhong Military Forces' "gate" had been eliminated, there was no need for them to be stationed there anymore. The Lushu Battalion, including the Ninth Company, had already received orders to rush to the Southwest Province to relieve the local garrison.
With Wu Wei's advance notice, Shen Qian guessed that this might be to make it easier for him to take on two roles in the future.
Routine troop rotations can be handled by Dao Jiu; before the troop rotation, all that's needed is to wait for the official transfer order.
During this time, he didn't go anywhere and stayed entirely in the underground city, renting a large, private training ground and immersing himself in it day and night.
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