Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 329 - 322: The Gate within the City

Chapter 329: Chapter 322: The Gate within the City

Cheng Ziang and Yalunte trudged laboriously through the muddy road towards Lipei. The gathering of the Three Kingdoms’ armies sparked life into the once tranquil deserted city. The ancient cobblestone road sunk from being trampled by horse hooves and soldiers. It had just rained briefly, rendering the entire road muddily unbearable in an instant.

Cheng Ziang stomped his foot vigorously, shedding off the sticky mud. Such a terrible road, one probably wouldn’t be able to run even if they wanted to. Yalunte, on the other hand, seemed unfazed, completely disregarding the muddy layer under his boots that had elevated him by a few centimetres.

"The traffic in this godforsaken place is horrendous!" Cheng Ziang could not help but complain.

"This place has been abandoned for many years, and even the roads were built centuries ago. It’s normal for the roads to deteriorate when so many people suddenly swarm in," Yalunte shrugged, using a tree trunk to shake off the sediment from his shoes.

"Why were you so excited when Luo’er delegated the task just now?" Cheng Ziang asked, looking at him.

"Was I?" Yalunte asked, hiding the expression on his face.

"Certainly, you made it sound like you are going to pick up free money while on duty," replied Cheng Ziang, rolling his eyes.

"Haha, I obviously feel delighted to perform a task with my apprentice (son)!" Yalunte laughed heartily.

"Ridiculous..." Unable to find an appropriate adjective, Cheng Ziang used these words for comment.

The two continued down the road, which was supposed to be suited for horse riding. However, riding a horse for reconnaissance might actually become a burden if something went wrong. Therefore, they decided to proceed on foot and left their horses at the camp.

The road was extremely muddy, so people had trampled a small path along its side. The two followed the path, finally not having to tread through the unbearable mud.

"Have you been to Lipei before?" As they were walking, Cheng Ziang felt the atmosphere a bit unverving and couldn’t resist asking.

"I’ve been there more than a decade ago on duty," Yalunte said, reminiscing, "Lipei was still dilapidated at that time, with a large section of the city walls collapsed. But many people took refuge here, making it bustling.

Narrowing his eyes as if reminiscing, he continued: "There were markets, bars, although the taste of the wine wasn’t great, the price was pretty fair. Lots of people persecuted by the Church Court, as well as criminals, mercenaries, beggars, thieves, escaped slaves... all hide here. Despite the disorderliness, it was quite harmonious."

"Sounds like a den of thieves." Cheng Ziang scratched his head.

"It was indeed a den of thieves. I nearly got robbed while living there. So many pitiful, despicable people crowded in there, so when the Judgement Legion arrived, they indiscriminately hauled many innocent pitiful people away, treating them like criminals." When Yalunte spoke about it, he couldn’t help but shake his head and sigh softly.

"I thought this place would be uninhabited considering that it’s labeled as ’the land of curses’." Cheng Ziang said in shock.

"That’s quite common. Only commoners believe in stories about the land of curses. The Church Court also abandoned this place well before this legend. To those homeless people, they fear men more than ghosts or spirits. As long as they can survive, they couldn’t care less about whether this is a cursed land or not." Yalunte spoke casually.

While they were chatting, suddenly, a troop of cavalry sped past them from behind. Instinctively, they ducked into the bushes to avoid attracting attention. The cavalry galloped past them, trampling the already muddy road into an even muddier mess.

"Masya Cavalry!" Yalunte instantly identified the group by their uniforms after a quick glance.

"It seems Masya’s army is about to arrive." said Cheng Ziang.

"Hmm." Yalunte nodded, and as he watched the departing cavalry, he said, "They are the vanguard. The infantry should arrive soon. We should speed up. The arrival of Masya’s army indicates that their assembly is near completion."

"Let’s go then." Cheng Ziang, a bit unwillingly, cast a final glance at the departing cavalry, contemplating whether or not they should ambush these men, steal a horse to ride, and thereby avoid walking.

But despite his complaints, Cheng Ziang could only helplessly follow behind Yalunte, walking towards Lipei at irregular paces.

A brief shower drenched the two into drenched chickens on the way. They looked quite disheveled, and their clothes were soaked. However, given the climate, getting drenched didn’t matter much.

After walking a few kilometers, they finally saw the crumbling city wall of Lipei in the distance. The city wall was severely damaged and overgrown with green plants. Beside a makeshift gate guarded by soldiers, which should be constructed by the original inhabitants of Lipei but now the army had requisitioned it, even these original inhabitants had been driven out of the city.

"Don’t say anything unnecessary later, I’ll handle it," Yalunte cautioned without looking back, then led Cheng Ziang straight to the gatekeepers.

"Who goes there?" The guards immediately aimed their rifles at the two who approached the gate.

Cheng Ziang noticed these soldiers were not wearing armor but simple cotton uniforms. However, their weapons were surprisingly good, mostly semi-automatic. The two soldiers blocking their way held a metric FAL semi-automatic rifle, while others were equipped with American M14 semi-automatic rifles. All these guns had one thing in common: they used 7.62X51mm NATO standard rounds.

"Mages!" Unfrazzled, Yalunte revealed the magic wand at his waist. He carried a long sword and a short sword at his waist, and Cheng Ziang a long knife and dagger, so the soldiers hadn’t noticed their magic wands.

Upon seeing the magic wand, the two soldiers exchanged glances. One of them frowned and asked, "What are you doing outside the city?"

"Do we need to report to you what we do outside the city?" Yalunte retorted with a smile.

"Of course. If you don’t say, you can’t enter the city," the other soldier threatened, holding his gun ready.

"Do you want me to get your chief and let him tell you what we are doing outside the city?" Yalunte threatened calmly, with a sarcastic smile on his face.

"You!" The soldier was about to act but was held back by his companion. Without further questioning, he simply signaled for Cheng Ziang and Yalunte to enter the city.

As they walked in, they heard these two soldiers whispering.

"Why be courteous to them? These guys have a bit of magic knowledge and act superior!" The resentful soldier grumbled.

"Forget it. Don’t offend them now, or we might be the ones in trouble," his companion advised.

The chaotic organizational relationships made it hard for these soldiers to accurately identify the two, so they had to let them go. The joint forces of the Three Kingdoms might seem impressive, but there were many problems. Especially the organizational structure of the three kingdoms’ armies, which was a mess, leaving many loopholes to be exploited.

Stepping into this dilapidated city, Cheng Ziang got a glimpse of this thousand-year-old abandoned city for the first time. The layout of the houses was disorganized, without any effective urban planning. Most of the buildings were mud houses or houses piled with stones. There were several large buildings built of blue strip stones in the city center, but they were structures left from the Aud Empire.

The Otherworld Gate in the center of the city had been closed for many years. This gate, unlike the open one in Yazhi City, existed only as a frame standing in the center of the city.

Compared to the Otherworld Gate in Yazhi City, this one was significantly smaller. The Otherworld Gate in Yazhi City was four hundred meters high and three thousand meters long, standing majestically on the plain outside Yazhi City. However, this gate was only about fifty meters tall and three to four hundred meters in length. Compared to Yazhi City’s Otherworld Gate, it looked like a miniature.

The area where the Otherworld Gate stood in the city center was originally a plaza, but it had been transformed into a slum by the locals. After the joint forces of the Three Kingdoms arrived, they demolished most of the illegal buildings, clearing a large space on the plaza for their march.

When they reached the city center, they found many people bustling around the Otherworld Gate. Their clothing varied; they didn’t look like soldiers but hired civilian mages.

"Shariya guessed right; these fellows are indeed targeting the Otherworld Gate." Yalunte looked up at the Otherworld Gate and nodded approvingly.

"Those runes, they seem to be modifying the runes!" Cheng Ziang pointed at the scaffolding erected not far from the Otherworld Gate and exclaimed.

Yalunte followed his gaze and saw several mages standing on the scaffolding, comparing drawings and studying something. Beside them stood two sturdy men, likely stonemasons responsible for the carving.

This was their first time seeing someone modify the runes of the Otherworld Gate, so they were intrigued. Cheng Ziang originally thought that the material of the Otherworld Gate was indestructible, but was surprised to find it could be carved by stonemasons.

"You two!" A mage noticed the two of them standing dazedly and shouted angrily.

When he got close and saw their faces, his tone softened considerably, "Hurry up and help, what are you dawdling here for?"

The appearances of Cheng Ziang and Yalunte were typical of Aud people. Furthermore, Cheng Ziang had an air of wealth about him, which led the mage to mistake them for relatives of some wealthy families and thus didn’t dare to shout at them.

The so-called air of wealth was actually Cheng Ziang’s appearance. He inherited some features from his mother, Princess Lin of Odelanqi.

Nobles often intermarried, and as a result, their appearances shared certain common traits, which came to be known as the aristocratic aura.