After emerging from the small space, Qin Shilei and Zhang Xiaoli arrived at the rear garden of the City Lord's mansion.
He placed the Ice Source Stone in the octagonal pavilion in the middle of the garden from his Qiankun Ring, then waved his hand and released the Golden Armored Beetle.
"From now on, you will stay here and guard the Ice Source Stone. Anyone who dares to approach the Ice Source Stone, except for me and the three City Lord's wives, will be devoured by you."
Turning to Zhang Xiaoli, he said, "Xiaoli, you give the order to designate the rear garden as a forbidden area, and no one is allowed to approach it.
Also, remember to arrange for someone to deliver some exotic beasts to the front gate of the rear garden every day."
The Golden Armored Beetle was an exotic beast at the peak of Gold rank, possessing almost human-level intelligence.
Even if Qin Shilei left Hope City in the future, Zhang Xiaoli would be able to command the Golden Armored Beetle, so she wouldn't be afraid of it killing people or causing trouble in Hope City.
"Alright, is this the Ice Source Stone? It's truly miraculous."
Zhang Xiaoli reached out and touched the Ice Source Stone, and immediately felt a surge of energy.
The Source Stone needed to absorb external spiritual energy, so it was not suitable to be kept in the small space and could only be placed here.
"Xiaoli, I'm going to see how effective this Source Stone is for cultivation, so I won't be accompanying you."
Qin Shilei said this and then sat cross-legged beside the Ice Source Stone.
Zhang Xiaoli looked at her husband, who was being guarded by the Golden Armored Beetle and was perfectly safe, then turned to attend to her own matters.
Unknowingly, two days passed.
Qin Shilei opened his eyes again.
After one cultivation session, he successfully advanced again, reaching Gold four-star.
He looked up and saw that the Ice Source Stone had shrunk by about a third.
He took out another Source Stone he kept hidden close to his body.
This Source Stone had taken about three days to recover after consuming one-third of its spiritual energy last time.
It had only recovered about one-thirtieth of its energy.
A simple calculation showed that it would take about three months to fully recover to its initial state.
In other words, he could level up approximately every three months, and the Source Stone would be completely undamaged.
The Ice Source Stone, however, had the attribute of "Whale Swallowing Dragon Breathing," which increased its recovery speed threefold compared to this Source Stone. It would only take one month to return to its two-meter height.
Qin Shilei then tried to refresh this attribute-less Source Stone, but unfortunately, no good attributes appeared, so he had to hide it close to his body again.
After leaving enough food for the Golden Armored Beetle for one day, Qin Shilei left the rear garden.
He accompanied Zhang Xiaoli for a warm dinner.
After dinner, Zhang Xiaoli nestled in Qin Shilei's arms and said, "Brother Qin, Xu Jun from Xinluo City just sent word that a group of survivors arrived in their city today.
They escaped from the hands of the Indians and hope that Xu Jun will send someone to rescue their compatriots.
Xu Jun has written to ask how to handle this matter."
Qin Shilei ate the grape that was fed to his mouth and asked indifferently, "Did he mention the strength of the Indians, and whether Hope City needs to send people to assist?"
Zhang Xiaoli peeled grapes as she replied, "Xu Jun said he can handle it, and only asked us because of the international implications."
Qin Shilei said casually, "Then it's fine, let him handle it as he sees fit. We can't let our compatriots be bullied by the Indians."
"Mmm," Zhang Xiaoli agreed, "We should teach these hateful Indians a lesson."
She fed Qin Shilei another grape from her hand, then got up to arrange for someone to send a reply to Xu Jun.
Qin Shilei didn't take this matter to heart, but he didn't expect that Xu Jun would almost lose his life because of it.
...
After receiving the message from Zhang Xiaoli, Xu Jun called the survivors who had escaped to him again and questioned them carefully.
These survivors had escaped from Xixiang Town, a border town.
Half of Xixiang Town belonged to Great Xia, and the other half belonged to India.
In the early days before the apocalypse, the residents of both countries were relatively harmonious, each striving for survival without interfering with each other.
However, ten days ago, the Indians suddenly launched a surprise attack, killing three top-tier Silver experts on the Great Xia side, and then captured the families of Great Xia people with low strength.
With their loved ones captured and their own strength inferior to the attackers, the Great Xia people quickly surrendered.
From then on, they fell into a dark and hopeless state of enslavement.
Women with even slight beauty were abused by the other side, while low-strength survivors were either forced to do dirty and tiring work or were directly used as bait to lure monsters.
Even powerful awakened individuals were reduced to tools for the other side to earn crystal cores.
"There are over a thousand of them in total, with about ten above the Silver realm. The strongest should be Silver five-star," one of them said.
"Good," Xu Jun said with confidence, "Tomorrow, you will lead the way for us, and you'll see how I blow these beasts to ashes."
The next morning, Xu Jun led eight hundred elites and marched towards Xixiang Town.
It wasn't that Xu Jun was arrogant and didn't bring his entire five thousand troops.
It was simply unnecessary.
Although there were over a thousand Indians in Xixiang Town, more than half of them hadn't even reached Bronze rank.
As for Xu Jun's eight hundred men, they were all Bronze five-star or above, with nearly a hundred experts at the Silver realm. He himself was a top-tier expert at Silver seven-star.
Xixiang Town was nearly three hundred kilometers away from Xinluo City. They galloped all the way and took nearly five hours to reach a village near the town.
"Our compatriots are held by them in the residential area on the east side of the town."
The person leading the way pointed to the tallest commercial buildings in the distance.
Xu Jun turned to a young man beside him and said, "Xiaolin, send your pet to scout for information."
"Understood, Commander." Xiaolin immediately released his pet.
A skylark flew rapidly from his palm towards the distant commercial buildings.
Xiaolin had a special ability that allowed him to share vision with his pet, making him the best candidate for a scout.
Soon, he spoke, "Commander, there are only a few dozen of them left in the residential area. Our compatriots are held on the top few floors."
Xu Jun pointed forward and ordered, "Advance quickly, we will catch them off guard."
One thousand elites got back into trucks and sped towards the town ahead.
The Indians in the residential area were completely unaware of the approaching danger. They were sitting together in small groups chatting, while several people were beating and abusing the imprisoned Great Xia people.
Screech!
As the sounds of urgent braking echoed, Xu Jun's convoy stopped one after another near the residential area.
"Leave no Indian alive, kill them!"
With Xu Jun's command, eight hundred elites rushed towards the residential area like wolves and tigers.
Buzz buzz buzz!
The sharp alarm sounded for less than a minute before it abruptly stopped.
The Indians were quickly cut down and killed one by one. Soon, all the Indians in the entire residential area were slain on the ground.
The over a hundred imprisoned compatriots, their clothes in tatters, were also safely rescued.
"Commander, should we wait here for the Indians who went out hunting to return, or should we temporarily send these compatriots to the next town?"
A middle-aged man with a handlebar mustache asked.
"Send a small team to escort them to the next town first, and we will ambush those Indians here."
Xu Jun pondered for a moment and replied.
"Commander, someone is approaching the town, and there are many of them."
Xiaolin's face changed, and he said in a panicked tone.