Originally, Ian Song planned to head to the Sky‑Sun Region alone, but Rosie Ning, Lena Wei, Wes Wei, Holly Hong, and even Conrad Wu all insisted on going with him.
Their cultivation had all improved too quickly, but they lacked real combat experience. The battlefield was the perfect place to temper their strength.
Lena Wei especially—she advanced from early Divine Sea to Sigilforge Realm in less than a year. Even with Marrow‑Cleansing Pills and Frost‑Soul Pills, her foundation was still unstable and she needed actual battle to hone herself.
When Conrad Wu first joined Ian, he was only at early Origin Core, and although the Frost‑Soul Pills he took weren't as potent as Lena's, he still reached mid Sigilforge Realm.
After becoming Ian Song's followers, Rosie Ning and her group also saw huge improvements in their strength, and they needed tempering just as much.
Unable to resist everyone's pleading, Ian could only agree.
Somehow, Jason Zhuge, Rhea Yan, Moira Ji, and others also heard about the trip to Sky‑Sun Region and rushed over, demanding to join as well.
Right after that, the Vermin Squad members started showing up one after another, insisting on going with him to Sky‑Sun to fight Goblins.
With no way out, Ian had to agree. Worried that even more people would show up, he asked Sherry Summers to notify the Vermin Squad's families, then used the Art of Great Teleportation to take everyone away from Dragonfang City.
After more than a month of fighting, the Goblins had already taken fifteen cities in Sky‑Sun Region and were now locked in a stalemate along both banks of the Demon‑Dragon River.
Goblins are different from the Insect Race—they don't eat humans, but they love to torture them, treating captured humans as slaves.
Also, Goblins may be short, but they're incredibly strong and always use heavy weapons. On the battlefield, don't be surprised to see a one-meter-tall Goblin swinging a seven- or eight-meter spiked club—it's totally normal in their ranks. Their biggest flaw: they're lazy and gluttonous, sneaking into human territory to steal food whenever there's no war.
The Goblin domain is even larger than the Insect lands—about a third bigger than Mystic Sun, and on par with Sky‑Sun Region.
The city closest to Demon‑Dragon River is Dragonskull City, which is now the main base for the Human army. There are over three million regular troops stationed there, and more than five million cultivators have come to join the fight.
On the Goblin side, their army numbers over ten million.
With the Art of Great Teleportation, Ian Song covered the vast distance in just a quarter of an hour, bringing everyone straight to the outskirts of Dragonskull City.
"Up ahead is Dragonskull City, at the border of Sky‑Sun Region!"
Ian Song pointed toward the dark city ahead.
"No way, we're here already?" someone exclaimed.
"That's unreal! It's at least ten million li from Dragonfang City to Dragonskull City, and we made it in less than half a quarter hour!"
"Captain, you're basically a walking teleportation array!"
Teleportation arrays exist in this world too. In the Greenmang Domain, where cultivation flourishes, nearly every city is connected by arrays, unlike Mystic Sun, where they're incredibly rare.
"Let's go—into the city!"
Ian Song waved his hand and led everyone toward Dragonskull City.
Getting into the city went smoothly; no one gave them any trouble.
Inside the city, cultivators carrying weapons were everywhere. Dragonskull City was a mid-sized city, with a population of over ten million before the war broke out.
After the fighting started, most ordinary people fled, and the military took over the empty houses, distributing them to cultivators who came to join the war.
To get a house, you just had to register at the military office up ahead; the better your cultivation, the better the housing you got.
But meals were up to the cultivators themselves, so the restaurants and inns in the city were doing booming business.
When they entered the city, the guards had already pointed Ian and his group toward the registration office, so they found it easily.
Divine Sea cultivators could get a standard house, Origin Core cultivators a slightly larger one, and Sigilforge Realm cultivators qualified for a house with its own courtyard.
As for Sun‑Soul Realm cultivators, they were treated like honored guests by the military—they could pick any vacant house, and even their meals were provided.
The military's registration office was set up inside a sprawling manor.
Inside the gate was a huge training plaza, with more than a dozen registration counters set up.
Each counter had dozens of cultivators lined up, waiting to register.
In Ian Song's group, only Wei Suo and Gao Hongying were Origin Core cultivators—the rest were all Sigilforge Realm or higher, which meant everyone qualified for a private courtyard.
Cultivators from Sky‑Sun Region were generally much stronger than those from Mystic Sun, but even here, Sigilforge Realm cultivators were a big deal.
When more than a hundred Sigilforge Realm cultivators suddenly showed up, the officer in charge was startled and came out to handle things personally. After asking what Ian Song's group wanted, he immediately assigned them a large mansion.
That mansion had belonged to a local family in Dragonskull City. When the Goblins attacked, the whole family fled, so the military took it over without hesitation.
The mansion was huge, and since the family had left in such a hurry, all their valuable furniture was still inside.
The mansion was so spacious, even five or six hundred people could live there without feeling crowded.
As the leader, Ian Song naturally took the largest and most luxurious main courtyard, with Wei Le, Ning Qiangwei, and the other two joining him there.
Right now, the Humans and Goblins were locked in a stalemate.
This was mostly thanks to the Goblins' laziness and gluttony. After capturing more than ten cities, they'd found plenty of food and resources—and knowing them, they'd probably finish eating everything before attacking the Humans again.
So Dragonskull City had been pretty peaceful these past few days.
Once everyone was settled in, Ian Song sent people out to gather information, buy food, and stock up on daily necessities.
That night, after returning from the restaurant, Ian Song called everyone together for a meeting and had the scouts report what they'd learned.
All things considered, Dragonskull City was pretty chaotic right now.
Most of the turmoil was caused by the cultivators who'd come to support the war.
During battle, they kept things under control, but with the recent lull, all kinds of conflicts had started popping up—and cultivators loved to settle things with their fists.
So it was common to see cultivators fighting one-on-one or even in groups all over the city.
The military found it a headache, but couldn't really control it, so they issued an order: cultivators could fight, but killing was strictly forbidden—anyone who killed would face severe punishment.
Aside from that,
there were plenty of shady characters sneaking around the city—no place was ever free of scoundrels. Swindling, cheating, and stealing happened every day in every corner.
The military was sick of it. Anyone caught was thrown straight into the Death Camp, and when war broke out, they were sent to the front lines. Even so, it didn't stop them—the number of troublemakers only grew.
Just yesterday, the personal divine weapon of a young sect master from a major sect got stolen, turning him into the laughingstock of the city.