Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 1160 – A Fire Burns in the Heart of Every Person

In the earlier stages of the war, Xiao Zhang had twice been heavily injured, and his sneak attack on Black Robe from the carriage had only worsened his wounds. His pursuit of the Demon Commander on the kite now was also very forced. But his resolve and determination when striking with his spear were anything but forced. The strike was imbued with a fearless momentum and a chilling and fierce energy.

There was a dull crumpling sound as a bloody hole appeared on the Demon Commander’s armor, the bright jewels shattering into shards of ice.

She let out a furious howl and turned her right hand, her blade descending like a crescent moon toward Xiao Zhang’s shoulder.

Xiao Zhang fell to the ground, the white paper on his face now thoroughly soaked with blood, but an unbridled and satisfied laughter could be heard behind it.

He felt like all the bones in his body had broken. While he was in great pain, he felt an even greater pleasure.

He was confident that no matter how strong the Demon Commander was, she would be incapable of fighting for a short time. Even more importantly, he had realized his promise to Shang Xingzhou.

He had sent the painting to Xuelao City.

The wolf cavalry on the plains began to charge toward Xiao Zhang, the Second Demon General’s figure prominent among them. Just when everyone thought that Xiao Zhang would die, two gorgeous sword glows shone and melded, transforming into a beautiful rainbow.

The kite crashed into the city gate, carrying the painting depicting the burning of Sangharama Temple. Under the light of the setting sun, it suddenly began to blaze.

Intense and breathtaking flames flowed along the city gate like a waterfall.

The rainbow formed of sword glows forced back the Second Demon General and the wolf cavalry, at the same time fanning the flames.

This fire lasted for a very long time, punctuated ten-some times by some sort of explosion. But no matter what methods the Demon Generals used, they could not extinguish the flames.

From dusk to late in the night, the gate of Xuelao City blazed, looking just like a massive wall of fire.

Many creatures could not sleep tonight. The escaping demon soldiers and the human cavalry tasked with chasing them down naturally could not sleep, and neither could anyone inside or outside Xuelao City.

The Tang Old Master and Shang Xingzhou stood on the slope of the small mountain, quietly gazing at the distant wall of fire for the entire night like it was the world’s most beautiful sight.

Perhaps they were thinking about the siege of Luoyang, Sangharama Temple burned to ashes, or perhaps they were thinking about nothing at all.

……

……

At dawn, the fire was finally extinguished.

The gate had been so thoroughly burned that only some of its frame remained, through which one could faintly make out its outline. The majority of it had been rendered into ash, leaving it incapable of stopping any foes.

No one knew what sort of secret that painting depicting the burning of Sangharama Temple contained or why those flames had been able to burn so fiercely. They could only guess that it was related to the Tang clan.

The entire war strategy had probably been planned by Shang Xingzhou, perhaps with contributions from Wang Zhice.

Any method that one thought about for several centuries was certain to be terrifying.

This was precisely the reason Chen Changsheng had reached that conclusion when he was traversing that deserted street in Wenshui City and saw that one dog.

Elders were truly very terrifying.

……

……

The greatest barrier to entering Xuelao City had disappeared, but the human armies did not begin their assault the next morning. Instead, they aimed all their catapults and ballistae at the vanished city gate, firing the occasional ballista bolt or stone to prevent the demon soldiers from repairing the gate.

The human armies had also suffered grievous casualties, Xiao Zhang was still in a coma, and even Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong had been injured. They would be unable to fight with their full power for a short time, and a certain period of time was needed to recover. Moreover, the two divisions of demi-human reinforcements who had traveled over such great distances truly did need some time to rest.

In the Central Army Camp, Chen Changsheng met the commanding generals of the demi-human reinforcements and realized that he knew them. The commander of the first reinforcement army was the Shi clan leader, but Xiaode was their primary fighting power. The other army was commanded by the Bear tribe leader, but Chen Changsheng did not see Xuanyuan Po, which he felt was rather strange.

At noon, a more descriptive report was sent to the main camp. After silently reading it, Archbishop An Lin said, “The Brown Bear tribe is to be exterminated.”

In order to differentiate them from the Bear tribe that lived in the watershed of the Red River, the Bear tribe that lived on the snowy plains was often called the Brown Bear tribe. Perhaps because there was too much mixing of blood or because of frequent trade relationships, many spies appeared amongst the Brown Bear tribe. When Chen Changsheng was bringing Su Li back to the south and this time when he was bringing back Xiao Zhang, it had been spies from the Brown Bear tribe that had sold him out.

Both the Great Zhou Dynasty and White Emperor City had a deep-seated hatred for the Brown Bear tribe. If they hadn’t needed the Brown Bear tribe’s understanding of demon movements, they might have already dealt with them. With the entire war now decided, the Brown Bear tribe would naturally have no good end.

Chen Changsheng understood that Archbishop An Lin found this rather unbearable and wanted him to issue an amnesty, but after thinking about it, he decided not to respond.

Archbishop An Lin could only sigh at his silence, and then she added, “The elders of the Wolf tribe and their chief want to see Your Holiness, but they lack the rank.”

In this war, the most outstanding and accomplished performance in the demi-human armies had not come from the Shi clan, famed for its bravery and power, or from the Bear tribe, famed for its ferocity and love of battle. Instead, it had come from the inconspicuous Wolf tribe, which rarely engaged in head-on confrontations.

Just half a month ago, the Wolf tribe had been tasked with ambushing demon reinforcements from Lelang County but ended up encountering one thousand wolf cavalry. The battle had been extremely intense, and if the Wolf tribe had not put everything on the line and paid a disastrous price to completely exterminate the wolf cavalry, the demons would have broken through the siege and threatened the demi-human reinforcements.

Chen Changsheng, according to Zhexiu’s request, had given a part of the Elf grasslands to the Wolf tribe. But every time he thought about how these Wolf tribe elders had driven the child Zhexiu out of their tribe, leaving him to wander the snowy wastes, he felt angry, especially toward the upper ranks of the tribe.

For the sake of the Wolf tribe’s achievements, he had agreed to meet their chief and elders, but he was not prepared to see them for too long.

The moment the Wolf tribe elders and chief walked into the tent, they immediately kneeled, adopting postures of absolute devotion.

When they raised their heads, Chen Changsheng froze. It was not merely because of the sincerity in their eyes, but because they were all very young.

Why were the elders and chief of the Wolf tribe all so young?

And where did this heartfelt love and respect come from? Was it just because the grasslands that belonged to the Wolf tribe had been gifted by Chen Changsheng?

Chen Changsheng sized up the elders and chief, and upon seeing their attire, he suddenly understood what the answer was.

Xuelao City in the early autumn was already rather cold, but these elders were thinly attired, and both their sleeves and pantlegs had been cut very short.

Many years ago, when Chen Changsheng was standing outside the Li Palace and saw Zhexiu for the first time in the morning sun, Zhexiu had been dressed exactly like this.

He finally understood just how powerful Zhexiu’s influence had been on the Wolf tribe.

The current Wolf tribe probably had countless Zhexius. It was no wonder they were so strong.

It was also easy to understand why the Wolf tribe’s elders and chief were so young. They were all Zhexiu’s followers.

Their successful ascension to these positions represented countless battles and a ruthless purge.

In this process, many elders of the Wolf tribe had probably died or been forced to relinquish their authority.

But where was Zhexiu in all this?

……

……

Good news was coming in from all over.

Whether it was the demi-human reinforcements or the two human armies converging on Xuelao City from the east and west, or even the third division of cavalry coming as reinforcements from the south, they were all claiming victory after victory. The demon cities were being broken one after the other, and many tribes had already covertly sent representatives to inquire with the human armies on the terms of surrender.

Xuelao City was alone and without reinforcements. The human armies were gathering outside its walls in preparation to assault the city, but they did not surround it, and they paid no attention to the gates of the city that faced north. They lacked the soldiers for this, and they also hoped that leaving an avenue of escape could lessen the fighting will of the demons.

Based on the scouting reports, few demons were using the northern gates to flee the city, and there were certainly no soldiers among them.

It seemed that the demons were preparing for the final battle within Xuelao City.

No one wanted to see this, but neither was anyone worried. Everyone was well aware that human victory was inevitable.

The destruction of a dynasty was right before their eyes. The end of an era of history was close at hand.

The demons had once ruled this world. In the eyes of other races, they had been gods, eternally standing high above, possessing an unimaginable intelligence and culture. But now they were gradually descending into the earth, about to sink into an abyss from which they would never climb out.

Let alone the demons, even their foes, the many commanders of the Human and Demi-human races, did not understand why this was, and felt a faint disappointment and frustration. Was this highly-developed civilization that had been built up over so many years and had accumulated so many resources about to suddenly come to an end?

Just like the gate of Xuelao City, it appeared like it would not topple for tens of thousands of years, but it ended up being burned to smoke by a fire.

“The battering of the wind and rain will bring everything down.”

Xu Yourong stood on a grassy slope, the wound on her left shoulder bandaged by a white cloth. She had a rather haggard complexion, but a very calm expression.

“There are many examples of the cultured being defeated by barbarians, but we are the cultured ones here. The problem with the demons lies within themselves. They are no longer a match for this era, so there is no medicine that can save them.”

In both aspects decided when they were born, like intelligence, and in how they were treated afterward, the high-class demons and low-class demons had always been separated by a massive gap. Alas, in the aspect of reproduction, the lower-class demons played a vital role in the Demon race. This sense of fragmentation and this undeniable fact would assuredly lead demon society to grow more and more abnormal.

Many years ago, Grand Scholar Tungus was already aware of this problem. After thinking about it for a very long time, he decided to place his hope on the humans. In his view, the humans and higher-class demons had similar appearances, and more importantly, they possessed similar levels of intelligence. It was on this basis that he and that Pope engaged in a series of projects, ultimately creating the new beings that were the Eight Great Mountain Men. Unfortunately, he still failed to realize his theories.

Chen Changsheng understood what she meant, but he still felt rather emotional.

At this moment, many people around the camp raised their heads to the sky.

Geese were calling out as line after line streaked across the sky. Ten-some Red Geese and Red Falcons were flying in from the south.

Just what had happened that would necessitate so many Red Geese and Red Falcons?

Everyone had solemn and nervous expressions.

The Red Geese and Red Falcons had brought shocking news.

The Prince of Xiang had betrayed them.