"Basil, what are you doing back here?" Tucker asked, staring at Rocky with wide eyes.
"Sir, have you dispatched any troops to Deadwood Pass to support the grand commander?" Rocky
asked immediately.
"Yes, I have. I sent Deputy Commander Lin and he took five thousand soldiers with him to help Grand
Commander You. I saw it as a chance for us to make more contributions. I have faith in all our other
commanders at the front line. They will all do the same," Tucker replied in a confident voice.
"This is not good." Rocky felt glued to the spot. Previously, they had moved ten thousand soldiers to
Bear Pass, and now, another five thousand had gone to Deadwood Pass. That left less than twenty
thousand soldiers guarding Tiger Whisker Pass. If the troops of the spiritual race were to come here, it
would be like trying to put out a forest fire with a cup of water.
"Why? What happened?" Now, Tucker's face had darkened too.
Rocky briefly explained what he had been thinking lately, making Tucker break out in a cold sweat.
"Really? Why would the spiritual race waste so much effort just to attack Tiger Whisker Pass? It doesn't
make sense." Tucker shook his head slowly.
"I know I'm right, even if no one else believes me. The spiritual race must have a purpose that we don't
know about yet. If we were to lose Tiger Whisker Pass, they would completely overpower us. We would
have real problems by then," Rocky replied.
"Are you one hundred percent sure?" Beads of sweat were now rolling down Tucker's forehead. Some
guilt had mixed in with his fear.
"There's no need to be sure. Right now, we just need to set up sentries within three miles of Tiger
Whisker Pass. That way, we will have our answer in less than two days," Rocky said.
"It's not that I don't believe you. It's just that this is not a small matter. If it's true, then the whole left wing
of our army may be doomed." Deep down, Tucker was hoping that Rocky's speculation was wrong, so
that he could at least lift some of the blame off of his shoulders. If it were true, then his position as a
commander would come to an end.
"Sir, I have disobeyed a military order and come back to inform you. There's no time to wait. Please,
take action," Rocky begged. He was worried that Tucker would hesitate or not believe him and it would
be too late to stop the army of the spiritual race.
"Okay. I'll do as you said." Tucker nodded, realizing quickly that Rocky would never go against military
orders for no reason. He had to trust him.
Without any delay, Tucker ordered all his spies to set up sentries within three miles of Tiger Whisker
Pass and report immediately to him if they saw any suspicious activity from the spiritual race.
Since Rocky was not sure how many troops the spiritual race would send, he could not plan their
countermeasures at this point. He would have to try and be patient.
Just like Rocky had expected, two days later, the spies hurried back with reports that they had found
traces of the spiritual race's army close to Tiger Whisker Pass. Unfortunately, they had also determined
that there were at least thirty thousand people in their army.
As soon as Tucker heard the news, his face paled. He immediately summoned Rocky to his tent to
discuss what they should do next.
"They're finally here," Rocky said with a sigh. He stared hard at the ground, thinking.
"What should we do now? They have at least thirty thousand soldiers. We can't withstand that many
with the amount of men we currently have." Tucker's nerves all felt like they had been ignited. Even
though he had experienced countless battles in his lifetime, he still showed some fear in the face of
urgent situations.
"We have no choice but to wait for the reinforcements. Sir, please send a message to Grand
Commander You and ask him to order Deputy Commander Lin to bring our soldiers back to support us.
And if he can send even more troops, that would be ideal," Rocky replied after a while. He had to try
everything in his power and that meant exhausting all of their resources.
"All right. But even if the grand commander agrees to this plan, I'm afraid that Deputy Commander Lin
won't make it here in time," Tucker agreed, but there was still some worry coating his voice.
"I will try my best to help you buy some time," Rocky said. A hint of confidence flashed across his eyes.
Tucker looked into Rocky's eyes and inexplicably felt a bit of trust towards him. He nodded and
scampered off to find an intelligence soldier. Then, he instructed him to immediately send a message
via flying beast to Grand Commander You.
"Sir, please gather all the soldiers and spirit manipulators you have available. We must organize a pre-
combat mobilization meeting. If we stand any chance of keeping Tiger Whisker Pass, we need morale,"
Rocky said, still wearing a cold look on his face. In order to defend Tiger Whisker Pass, he couldn't just
rely on his own strength. He had to use the strength of thousands of soldiers. However, in order to do
this, he required a certain amount of morale.
"Okay." Tucker sent the order out for all of his men to gather on the battlefield in front of the city wall of
Tiger Whisker Pass.
Then, Rocky and Tucker traveled to the city wall of Tiger Whisker Pass to join them. Five minutes later,
the stragglers were all assembled and accounted for.
"Everyone, I have an important announcement to make. Prepare yourselves mentally for this..." As
Tucker spoke, he raked his eyes over the whole army. Then, he continued, "According to the
information Spiritual King Basil and the sentry have brought me, we can be sure that a spiritual race
army has come to our Tiger Whisker Pass and that they intend to launch an attack on us soon.
Recently, we have discovered that their military strength is at least thirty thousand."
Within seconds of hearing that, the soldiers complained, and many of them even panicked because
they all knew that there were just over ten thousand soldiers left in Tiger Whisker Pass. If the army of
the spiritual race were to attack today, they wouldn't be able to defend themselves.
"Everyone, please be quiet. Basil has something to say," Tucker said over all the noise. He had done
all he could to placate them. The rest was up to Rocky now.
Immediately, all the soldiers quieted down, mostly out of great respect for Rocky.
"I know you are scared and I'm afraid that you might even want to flee. After all, it's normal to be
nervous when faced with a situation that one knows nothing about. At present, the army of thirty
thousand soldiers from the spiritual race might launch an attack on us and Tiger Whisker Pass is the
last defense line of the left wing. If Tiger Whisker Pass is breached, the army of the spiritual race could
go straight into the Ethereal Region. At that time, countless innocent people will be hurt. Your friends
and family could be harmed or even killed. If it were me, I would choose to be strong and swim against
the current. After all, I swore to protect Tiger Whisker Pass, even at the cost of my life. But I can't
change your minds, so I asked Commander Tucker to call you here to confirm your thoughts on the
matter," Rocky said in a powerful voice.
"I have two choices for you. The first one is to stay and guard Tiger Whisker Pass. If you don't want to
risk your lives, your second choice is to become a deserter. Leave Tiger Whisker Pass immediately and
you may live. I'll give you a few minutes to think about it. Those who choose to stay will stand in their
original positions, and those who choose to be deserters will step outside. You don't have to fear being
punished for being a deserter; because if you choose it, your guilt will be your biggest punishment. The
thought would haunt you for the rest of your life that maybe your relatives and friends wouldn't be killed
if you didn't chose to run away in the first place..." At the end of Rocky's speech, his tone softened and
his voice became more serious.
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