Xiao Yunfang and Zhang Wencai communicated with the local garrison commander about the current situation. There hadn't been any significant changes at the border; it was the sa as before.
Large-scale battles were rare between the two sides, mostly confined to small scuffles.
Neither side was intent on launching a full-scale attack, simply maintaining the status quo and occasionally flexing their military strength.
"Are you coming with us," Xiaoyunfang asked Zhang Wencai after they left the commander's office, "or will you be on your own way?"
"I'm unfamiliar with this area, so it's probably best I journey with you for a while and let my n adapt. Then we can part ways," Zhang Wencai pondered before answering.
He had only heard of the circumstances here and never experienced them firsthand.
"Very well. We'll set off tonight. After a month and a half on the flying vessel, the soldiers should be well rested. They won't need any further breaks," Xiao Yunfang stated.
"Good. I'll go alert them," said Zhang Wencai as he went back to inform his n about their impending journey.
The martial practitioners soon followed the spear team and vacated the camp.
Ye Liuyun had initially thought the location would be similar to the previous city, where they could loot for resources.
Unexpectedly, there wasn't a single city to be found, only military camps.
He discovered that they would need to travel for four to five days on the flying vessel to reach the nearest city with a trading guild.
"Forget about the trading guild once you're here. Rob anyone you please. There are cities and trading guilds on the border battlefield. However, all who reside there are treacherous rchants. You'll need to recognize quality goods to avoid being cheated," Pei Yong inford Ye Liuyun.
Much like the others, everything he shared was secondhand information; he'd never been here before either.
Hearing that they could freely loot, Ye Liuyun figured it wouldn't be too bad. At the very least, they wouldn't lack resources.
But the reality was far too different from their imagination.
They hadn't gone far before they encountered a few small villages. However, these people were so poor that they had nothing, their clothes tattered. There was nothing to rob.
What they ate were all grains they planted themselves.
The people here could not be considered martial practitioners, but were just common folk.
"Was this the 'casual robbery' you were talking about?" Ye Liuyun retorted to Pei Yong.
"Well... I didn't know it would be like this! Maybe we haven't reached the place yet!" Pei Yong also looked sowhat confused.
What was there to take from these ordinary people?
Indeed, thought Ye Liuyun, they had only just left the border half a day ago. It was said that the border here was so wide that it would take several months to reach the other side.
After passing this village cluster, Xiao Yunfang began to send out patrols in advance. Clearly, they had beco much more cautious, and the marching speed had slowed down sowhat.
Every once in a while, the Spear Team would co here for training, so except for a small part of new recruits, most had a clear understanding of the situation on this side.
Ye Liuyun's Divine Sense probed far ahead, and discovered traces of martial practitioner activities.
His Divine Sense could extend hundreds of miles. Information that the scouts would take ti to gather, he could see imdiately.
These martial practitioners looked like bandits, but their outfits and weapons were shabby, and their levels were not high. It seed that they were just robbing the nearby villagers.
They actively avoided the group led by Xiao Yunfang, who did not attack them either, but quickly passed through them.
"Are we not gonna help the villagers by clearing out these bandits?" Ye Liuyun specifically asked her.
"We can't clean them up. These martial practitioners may not be very powerful, and they sotis rob commoners. However, their existence also prevents the people up ahead from daring to approach our common folks. They serve as a barrier," Xiao Yunfang explained to Ye Liuyun.
"Oh!" Ye Liuyun initially assud the people ahead were all bandits as well.
Yet, as they continued forward, Ye Liuyun was greatly shocked.
His Divine Sense detected that the village ahead was far more horrifying.
The residents there were all emaciated, and their clothes were not just raggedy, so were practically naked. Ye Liuyun also discovered through his Divine Sense that a few villagers were fighting over a corpse, pouncing and eating it raw like feral beast!
"Are they even human?" Ye Liuyun was utterly shocked.
It was then he realized the role of those bandits - they were blockading these cannibalistic 'humans'.
Ye Liuyun hadn't imagined that such a situation would exist here.
The houses in the village were in severe disrepair, there wasn't a single blade of grass in the vicinity, and all edible things had been consud.
Only those who were like ghosts aimlessly wandered with empty eyes.
At this mont, a scout relayed through a transmission symbol, "Starvers found in the village ahead! Approximately sixty to seventy people!"
"Team Seven, clean up!" Xiao Yunfang imdiately dispatched a hundred-man team to quickly eliminate those cannibalistic villagers.
Ye Liuyun observed the entire process of the squad warriors battling with the starving villagers through his Divine Sense.
According to Ye Liuyun's understanding, these starving villagers could no longer be considered human.
When they saw these soldiers, they were not scared at all; instead, their eyes glinted with a green light, and they sward towards them like wolves lunging at their prey.
Regardless of age or gender, they seed impervious to pain. As long as they were not killed, they instinctually wanted to gnaw and scratch.
However, the strength of these starving people was pitifully weak. In front of these soldiers, they were no match at all.
They were quickly exterminated by this small squad of soldiers.
Then, the soldiers gathered the corpses together and set them afla.
By the ti Ye Liuyun and his team arrived, the bodies had been burnt to ash.
Yet, the flas still occasionally attracted other sporadic, starving people. The soldiers would kill them and throw their bodies directly into the fire.
"What are these things?" asked a martial practitioner who had seen these crazed, starving people, and couldn't help but ask.
A soldier nearby explained, "We call them 'Starvers'! They have no food, they resort to cannibalism. Their minds are not normal, they're crazy and don't feel pain, all that's left is the instinct to eat.
Specifically, they can't be considered human anymore, they're more similar to feral beasts!"
Seeing this, Lei Ming and others were shocked.
"This isn't a battlefield, it's more like a living hell!" Lei Ming exclaid.
"Hell? That's only for these starved people. If you go a bit further, you'll see how the rich live like immortals!" another soldier sadly comnted.
At this ti, Xiao Yunfang also reminded Ye Liuyun, "Keep an eye on your Black Panther. Due to their long-term cannibalism, these starving people all contain toxins inside their bodies."
Ye Liuyun nodded and looked at Black Panther.
Black Panther communicated to him, "I understand, I can sll it. They indeed possess so sort of toxin inside their bodies."
Ye Liuyun imdiately stored Manshu and Black Panther into the Xuankong Stone. He found so poison sources for them and let his clone guide them in the cultivation of the Fatal Scripture.
Since neither of them had ever practiced Fatal Scripture, Ye Liuyun worried they might be poisoned.
"Are you scared?" A female soldier saw the actions of Ye Liuyun and smirked, asking him.
"Not quite! I'm just making sure they are prepared," Ye Liuyun replied with a grin.
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