Yun Qiang looked as a peaceful and sunny city came into his view, high stone walls made the city look impenetrable, at the gates soldiers wearing silver armor checked every traveler that wished to enter.
Only a large river seemed immune to the control, passing through the city undisturbed.
"We have arrived at River City"
Announced the head of the caravan, inciting his servants to call for the soldiers that were accompanying them.
When Yun Qiang, Sun and Lee arrived the merchant bowed down.
"Thank you for your protection, please take these coins as a gift from my humble caravan" Having said this a few servants approached them with a small bag containing a few dozen coins.
Yun Qiang took the coins while being pleasantly surprised by the merchant, this kind of sum would be enough to last him a few years if he was still living as a farmer.
He did a small bow.
"Thank you sir. I wish you safe travel." he put away the money before adding "If we meet again in the future I will be indebted to you"
The caravan master seemed elated by this and after exchanging a few more pleasantries he left with a smile on his face.
In reality Yun Qiang felt a little guilty, during this travel the merchants had provided them with both food and lodging always treating them with the utmost respect. And now they even paid them a huge sum.
Obviously he knew that their presence had provided the caravan with protection and that they were the reason no bandit had blocked their way, but he still felt the reward they received to be excessive.
"Don't make that face, it's normal for mortals to reward us like this" Sun pointed to the moving caravan
"If it wasn't for us they would have died to the bandits along the way."
"Ahahah" Lee laughed lightly "If it continues like this our leader will marry into a merchant family in the future!"
Yun Qiang laughed and joked with them. Light hearted moments like this were rare in the Shard or during patrols.
When they reached the gate a soldier quickly approached them.
"Are you the new soldiers?"
Yun Qiang studied him for a second. The man was small, sported a black beard and wore a short haircut typical of the military. Overall he looked harmless but every one of them could feel a murderous aura around him, he definitely wasn't an inexperienced soldier.
Yun Qiang took a step forward.
"Yes, I'm Yun Qiang, these are Sun and Lee. We were transferred from the Shard"
The man gave a nonchalant nod
"Good follow me, the Fort is only a day's walk from here."
The group looked at each other then followed him, they could already see a large group of black clouds gathering around a spot in the distance. Yun Qiang felt a chill in his heart, then gave one last look at the peaceful city and the blue sky. He was sure he wouldn't see them for a long time.
-Two days later-
Yun Qiang was looking at the sky with a grim expression. Rain constantly fell from it, further amplifying his bad mood.
Suddenly his captain emblem started shining with a green light. They were calling him at the headquarters.
Without hesitation he wore a coat and started moving towards a large wooden tower in the distance, his feet splashing in the puddles that were in his way.
Different from the Shard the Rainy Fort was made completely out of wood and the ground wasn't paved, overall the place didn't give the vibe of a secure and sturdy fort but it felt more similar to a poor fishing village filled with mud and the stench of fish.
"Umpf" he lowly grunted as he walked
He didn't like the rundown and gloomy atmosphere of his surroundings, it made him feel like this place was filled with rejects and criminals. Not righteous and steady soldiers.
As he entered the headquarters a large crowded square room greeted him, the room was devoid of most furniture and looked rundown, the only remarkable thing was how the inside was larger than the outside. Probably thanks to a space array.
Yun Qiang moved forward, weaving through a mixture of soldiers waiting for their turn and servants carrying corpses in various stages of decomposition. The master of those servants probably wanted to refine them into a zombie or some kind of undead.
After weaving through the crowd he arrived in front of a mortal girl.
"What sect are you from?"
Yun Qiang looked at her briefly before responding.
"Skyward Pavilion"
He then gave her his emblem. This attracted a few hostile looks from a few soldiers on the side but he didn't mind. This was the only fort on the border that was jointly managed by the Skyward Pavilion and the Black Fiend Sect. These two sects were the main powers that dominated the Rose Kingdom and were like water and fire, it was normal for members of the two sects to be hostile to each other.
The girl gave him back his emblem.
"Corpse retrieval, Area 17"
Yun Qiang nodded.
The Rainy Fort had three types of tasks, scouting, guard, and corpse retrieval.
Today's duty was simple take a cart, go to the 17th area and fill the cart with dead corpses and return to the Fort. Repeat until there are no more corpses in the area.
This however wasn't done to give a proper burial to the dead soldiers or to help their souls rest in peace. This kind of task was issued for a single reason. Greed.
Practitioners from Black Fiend Sect needed bodies to create ghosts, and Jiangshi. And what better place than a battlefield to accumulate bodies?
Naturally, the higher ups had noticed this kind of practice and had even begun to incentivize it, recruiting mortals into the army only to send them to die on the battlefield. During peacetime, the Rainy Fort supplied more than 20% of the bodies used by the Black Fiend Sect. This meant that the Rainy Fort was a cornerstone of the economy for evil sects and cultivators alike.
As he moved towards his team lodgings he started losing hope in the cultivator world. To mortals and low level cultivators this war was something devastating, capable of changing their entire lives, yet to huge families and sects this was just another way of accumulating resources and becoming stronger.
He let out a long sigh.
What have I gotten myself into this time....