Chen Jing heard He Lili say, "The arena of the ancient Song Dynasty should be used for performance purposes, and it is impossible for them to use such a giant stone to block the gate."
"Perhaps it was to imprison the wandering souls of slaves." Mo Wuge looked at the crack in the massive stone gate. "It doesn't look successful."
“It’s a sword mark,” Dao Nan said. “Like an enlarged sword cleavage mark.”
Zhang Taoying took a step back in fear, as did Jasmine.
Chen Jing looked at Huang Yuanlong and said, "There are a lot of Mist Spikes inside the arena. They may have already spotted us and are climbing outwards along the inner wall."
As someone who had once used noise-based stealth to scout this place, Chen Jing was the most familiar with the situation inside among everyone present.
Huang Yuanlong nodded and said in a deep voice, "Everyone stay outside and be on guard to prevent the Mist Monsters from escaping through the outer wall."
He took out a candle, flicked his fingers to ignite it, and the candle immediately burned. The dim green light and the stench of the corpse made the girls and scouts around him take a few steps back.
"Have the reconnaissance team and follow-up soldiers disperse and surround the arena." Blackhand Lu Gang's voice was much clearer than when they spoke by candlelight last time.
"Don't let a single Mist Spike escape! We must avenge the Meijin Dojo trainees who sacrificed their lives here!"
"Freedom to fire is permitted."
These words, spoken with an aura of power and fervor, resonated with everyone around, making them believe that Lu Gang, the mastermind, was a worthy leader to follow.
After Huang Yuanlong repeated these orders to the soldiers around him, Chen Jing saw that Black Hand Lu Gang and others came from behind and headed inwards.
The narrow gap was only wide enough for one person to pass through. After the core members of the Black Hand, including Huang Yuanlong, entered, it seemed that no sound could be heard outside.
Every now and then, Chen Jing could feel the immense aura emanating from the arena, but this aura did not bring fear or trembling to Chen Jing, who was considered a "soldier." Instead, it made Chen Jing more focused, as if his whole body was full of adrenaline.
"They're here!"
A reconnaissance soldier shouted, raising his gun and aiming at the gaunt, misty monsters that were crawling out of the inner wall.
A series of gunshots rang out, and the mist monsters were annihilated as soon as they showed themselves.
Firing a gun in other parts of the city is likely to attract monsters, but there's less to worry about near the arena, because the arena's original owner, the Slave Ghost, used to make a lot of noise to attract all sorts of monsters, which were then killed by it.
Moreover, Lu Gang, the Black Hand, brought quite a few people this time, enough to surround the arena and prepare for external defenses.
The battle ended quite quickly. Apart from a few Mist Spikes rushing down from the arena through the smoke and engaging the soldiers in close combat, causing some casualties, there was no further commotion.
When Lu Gang and his gang came out and told everyone to clean up the battlefield, Chen Jing suspected that less than ten minutes had passed.
“It’s resolved. The reconnaissance team will go in first to scout the terrain,” said Lu Gang, the Black Hand.
“Yes!” Mo Wuge said in a deep voice.
Stepping into the arena, which is covered with weeds, bushes, and the corpses of the Mist Spikes, a sense of desolation washes over you from the past. The scars and marks left on the ground seem to tell those around you how many battles have taken place here.
He Lili sighed subconsciously, "Mei Jingcheng... the point of contention back then..."
Chen Jing glanced at her and understood why she sighed so much. Having crammed on history, Chen Jing already knew that Meijing City had witnessed several major events in history. It had once been an isolated city that resisted the invasion from the Lan Dynasty, and it had also become a symbol of the unity of the Song people. It was Xinjing after the fall of the capital.
Seeing the gazes of others, He Lili continued, "It is said that the people of Meijing City once modified the arena and used it to imprison prisoners of war."
"In the year 1020 of the Qin calendar, the Lan Dynasty launched a large-scale invasion, crossing the Ma Ming Mountains and attacking places like Meijing City, which did not have a large number of troops stationed there. Meijing City was the focus of the Song people's defense at that time," He Lili explained simply.
Zhang Taoying said sweetly, "Sister He is so amazing, she even knows about this kind of thing."
Dao Nan said, "So, that slave ghost was a captured enemy general who became a ghost after death?"
“Unlikely…” He Lili was about to speak when Mo Wuge interrupted their conversation:
"Pay attention to your surroundings. There may still be surviving Mist Spikes. Be careful of ambushes."
Chen Jing had been doing this all along, but thankfully, since they were positioned in the middle to rear of the formation, it didn't matter if they chatted casually. The ordinary soldiers on the outer layer were the ones at the greatest risk.
"There are no human corpses, only these monsters!" a scout said.
Mo Wuge said, "Look for any equipment from the Meijing Dojo. The Mist Spikes will turn corpses into bushes and weeds as fertilizer for their offspring. Of course you won't see the corpses; they've all turned into those weeds!"
These words made several people tremble, including Zhang Taoying and Jasmine, both of whom possessed extraordinary abilities.
Not long after, a scout reported that traces belonging to the Meijing Dojo had been discovered.
Mo Wuge and the others walked over and found that there were pieces of equipment lying on the ground, including armor and weapons, with nothing left behind.
Chen Jing seemed to be deep in thought as he examined the marks on the ground.
"Watch out for those grenades. Some might not have detonated yet, but could explode if you get too close." After reminding those around him, Mo Wuge looked at Chen Jing and asked, "What did you find?"
"It doesn't match," Chen Jing said after checking.
"What doesn't match up?" Mo Wuge asked.
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