Chapter 956: Chapter 950: Not A Failure Of Strategy
“Reporting to the General! Prefecture Lord Yun Manlou’s army has collapsed! He’s taken the Yun Clan and fled. There are no reinforcements in sight!”
“Shadowfell City has fallen. The Crown Prince has evacuated as per your arrangements.”
“Since the Wu Race Sage Elder appeared, the Lotus Ferry Nunnery has remained completely silent. Abbess Dairou hasn’t shown herself. Inside their Grotto-Heaven, they’re packing up their valuables.”
“Marshal Bi Shihu’s reinforcements made it halfway, but they’ve now retreated!”
“….”
Li Tianyue’s blood-robed army charged into the Wu Race ranks.
These 320,000 Soldiers, who had followed her from the Eastern Border to this battlefield against the Wu, were slaughtering their enemies alongside her.
Clad in red, this army was like a sharp sword, viciously stabbing into the black tide formed by the massive Wu army.
They pressed forward with indomitable will.
Under Li Tianyue’s command, the Spiritual formation of these 320,000 soldiers manifested into the forms of the Four Divine Beasts, rampaging across the battlefield.
Yet, even the sharpest sword has moments of weakness.
Li Tianyue rode atop a Nine-Headed Ghost Lion that had been sent from the Northern Border.
Wielding dual swords at the very forefront of the Spiritual formation, she was the very tip of the blade for the entire blood-robed army.
As piece after piece of bad news reached her ears, Li Tianyue remained expressionless, merely casting a glance toward Shadowfell City in the distance of the battlefield.
That was the main stronghold of the Western Border’s Defense Army against the Wu.
She had guarded this place for many years. Yet, in the face of that giant tree stepping across the battle lines and the Wu Race Elders standing atop it, this city—once deemed impregnable—seemed like nothing more than a laughable toy.
Throughout a lifetime of campaigns, both great and small, Li Tianyue had never witnessed such a desperate plight.
The Wu Race had shattered the unwritten rules.
A Body Integration realm Sage Elder had intervened.
As Heavenly Fire rained down from the clouds, human lives proved frailer than paper.
Suddenly, Li Tianyue snapped her head upward. Within the cloud-filled sky, she glimpsed three terrifying auras.
The Spirit Tablet on her lit up.
…..
High in the sky, three figures stood upon empty air.
Each of them cast a sidelong glance at the blood-red army below.
The Human Race was in full retreat. Only a single force still charged headlong into the enemy ranks. Even as they carved through the Wu army, they had already sunk deep into a tightening encirclement.
All three hailed from the Divine Bird Totem. Golden birds wreathed in flame were embroidered across their fire-red robes, and the one at the front bore the face of a youth.
Elder Huai Fan kept his hands tucked within his sleeves.
His long, narrow eyes rested on the white-haired woman in black armor and a blood-red robe far below. A flicker of respect passed through his gaze, along with faint reluctance.
“Blood-Robed General Li Tianyue. The Butcher. It would be a terrible waste for her to die here.”
The two elders at his sides wore different expressions, yet both shared the same trace of regret.
When war first broke out, they had wished nothing more than to tear Li Tianyue limb from limb.
Now that the chance had come, they found themselves admiring her talent and lamenting her fate.
And beneath that admiration lay unease.
“Look there,” one of them said, pointing toward the battlefield’s flanks.
Chaos reigned. Some Human cultivators still lingered atop their Spirit Boats, only to turn and flee in silence.
Against the main clash, where the Blood-Robed Army drove like a spear into the Wu ranks, the spiritual power on the outer edges of the battlefield appeared thin and scattered, like two faint streaks barely holding their shape.
From above, the Wu army spread like a sea of black ink. Across that dark expanse, the Human forces had once formed three parallel lines advancing in unison (三).
But only the central line held firm, cutting straight into the enemy’s heart.
The upper and lower lines faltered. They touched the edge of battle, then broke away, retreating in the opposite direction.
Huai Fan’s expression shifted.
“Those were the Azure Dynasty’s armies. The moment our forces pushed into Shadowfell Prefecture, Li Tianyue had already prepared her counterattack.
She meant for the Blood-Robed Army to split the field, while the other two armies swept in from both sides and seal us in, wiping out our tribesmen in one stroke.
Unfortunately for them, they did not expect us to abandon the old rules. We shattered the board before their plan could close.”
A chill crept down his spine as he spoke.
Their decision had been swift and ruthless. If not for Sage Elder Nirvana’s support in this battle, he did not dare imagine the cost.
Fortunately… the others had fled.
“In the end, she was left behind. Even after sensing our Sage Elder’s aura, she carried out her orders without hesitation.
Meanwhile, the Lotus Ferry Nunnery of Shadowfell Prefecture, Prefecture Lord Yun Manlou, and Marshal Bi Shihu chose to run.
Had they followed through and committed to a final stand, they might have stalled us.”
Huai Fan let out a quiet sigh.
“Abbess Dairou treasured her own life too dearly. Yun Manlou and Bi Shihu saw the tide turn and saved themselves.
Otherwise, there might truly have been a battle worth speaking of. Li Tianyue would not have stood alone, trapped within our encirclement.
This defeat… was not a failure of strategy.”
But the words had barely left his lips.
Huai Fan’s eyes suddenly went blank.
A tremor rippled from below, and the space ten meters in front of him wavered, as if a slit had been torn open by something sharp.
Glistening cold light radiated an unspeakable killing intent, gradually revealing a razor-sharp edge as it swept past Huai Fan on both sides.
Two long spears!
One was silver; the other shone like the moonlight in the sky.
Pfft!
With just two soft sounds, the clansmen standing to his left and right desperately tried to defend against the spears. Yet, the weapons shattered their techniques and pierced right through their bodies.
All of this happened within the span of a single thought.
Amidst the Blood-Robed Army, black mist began to surge and billow.
A figure clad in moonlight-colored armor, with black mist seeping out from the crevices of the plating, was now standing right beside Li Tianyue, staring with deathly intensity at the three Elders.
The spears had pierced the bodies of two of the Elders, yet the wounds were not fatal.
As the two Elders stopped their bleeding, their hearts filled with vigilance, the two long spears suddenly vanished into thin air.
When they looked again, the weapons had already fallen into the hands of the figure shrouded in black mist.
A pair of pitch-black pupils pierced through the layers of clouds, locking onto them firmly, as if gazing directly into their souls.
The three, who had originally intended to move in and kill Li Tianyue, suddenly felt a dark power binding them tight within the sky, daring not take even a single step.
They all looked back in unison, their Primordial Spirits already projecting outward.
In the rear, that thousand-meter giant tree had already stepped inside Shadowfell City. With wanton trampling and Heavenly Fire descending to destroy the world, it took only moments for the city to be engulfed in flames.
“Stop.”
As an ancient voice rang out, the giant tree suddenly froze in its tracks, as if locked in time.
Its massive leg, seemingly capable of propping up the heavens, paused bent in mid-air, causing the entire tree to shudder.
The many Elders standing on the topmost tender leaves all sensed the aura of space fluctuating behind them.
Even Sage Elder Nirvana, with his benevolent countenance, furrowed his brows. “A troublesome individual.”
The aura of Space. He sensed that exceptionally difficult aura—something that was troublesome to the extreme, even for the Void Refining realm!
“Tianyue, I’m taking you away.”
On the battlefield, Li Tianyue, mounted on the Nine-Headed Ghost Lion, stared fixedly at the chaotic scene.
Li Wei stood beside her, his back turned to her as he locked his gaze on the three Wu Race Elders and the halted ancient tree.
He was clad in the Bright Moon Divine Armor, yet his entire form appeared pitch-black, with dark chains coiled around the armor.
For this journey, he had even brought the Low-Grade Spirit Treasure, the Heaven-Imprisoning Lock, which he had obtained from Li Dalong.
Yet, Li Tianyue, who had always been obedient, gave no response for a long time.
At this moment, the Blood-Robed Army had instead fallen into the Wu Race’s encirclement.
The army halted its advance.
On the battlefield, the wind, mixed with the scent of blood, blew through Li Tianyue’s short hair.
Li Tianyue, who had been obedient her entire life, for the first time did not agree to the Old Ancestor’s request.
She didn’t even look back, simply staring fixedly at the Wu tribesmen closing in from all directions outside the Blood-Robed Army’s formation.
Li Tianyue remained expressionless. Behind her, not a single Soldier retreated.
They maintained the Spiritual formation, gripped their weapons tight, and roared at the charging Wu tribesmen!
Above the formation, the Four Divine Beasts roared proudly at these reckless enemies, ready to devour them whole.
Li Wei gripped the dual spears with a deathlike intensity.
Although he remained motionless, the Heaven-Imprisoning Lock coiled around his body was trembling, emitting a low, crisp rattle.
Outside the great formation, the giant tree from Shadowfell City turned back around.
Li Wei’s eyes were bloodshot; he could even clearly distinguish the powerhouses standing on the tender leaves of the giant tree.
Including the three in the cloud-filled sky, there were twenty-three of them in total.
Sage Elder Nirvana, holding a white burning branch in his hand, gazed at him with keen interest.
They were getting closer and closer.
The gathered auras of those experts felt like an unstoppable behemoth approaching; before such a massive entity, anyone would appear insignificant and pathetic.
“Tianyue, you are being disobedient.”
Li Wei finally shifted his stance.
He offered a gentle rebuke, his body moving heavily as if weighed down by a massive burden.
He dared not look back; instead, he hurled his dual spears straight at Sage Elder Nirvana atop the giant tree!
His eyes were blood-red, yet icy cold.
The giant tree was colossal, and the power of the experts upon it was terrifying. Yet today, like a mayfly trying to shake a tree, he would challenge the impossible!
“Tianyue, don’t be afraid. With the Old Ancestor here, they won’t advance a single step.”
Li Wei murmured these words, yet he could not stop the trembling in his voice.
The nine heads of the Nine-Headed Ghost Lion roared at the Wu Race tribesmen outside the formation.
On its back, Li Tianyue gripped her dual swords. Her short hair had grown out, now reaching her cheeks; the strands were blown by the wind of the battlefield, brushing against her eyes and causing them to turn red.
Li Tianyue could not stop herself; raising the hand that held her sword, she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, turning her face away as she did so.
The terrifying giant tree was drawing closer and closer.
The Old Ancestor had called her disobedient, yet there he was, wielding the dual spears as he stepped out of the void to face the enemy, leaving behind only wisps of black mist.
In that moment.
Scene after scene flashed before her eyes.
She missed home.
She thought of her serious yet benevolent Great-Grandfather and her gentle Great-Grandmother.
She thought of her four grandparents in their small home in Merit City.
She remembered Granduncle Yaozu teaching her swordsmanship, Grandaunt Yaoqing carefully treating her wounds, her hot-tempered Grandfather and Grandmother, and the Grandaunt who taught her to read…
She thought of her two stern eldest uncles, her carefree father, her six younger uncles, and her three older brothers.
Only in their presence did she ever feel like a little girl.
And then there were the juniors of the clan…
She remembered the Ancestral Worship ceremonies held every ten years, the reunion dinners where the whole family ate together, the discussions about which child was the silliest, and the loud laughter that erupted every time they reminisced about funny stories from the past…
She missed home.
She wanted to go home.
But ringing in her ears were battle cries.
They belonged to the 320,000 Immortal Soldiers who had traveled a long, arduous journey to follow her here.
Every single one of them wanted to go home, to return with the supreme honor of having protected the Human Race, their hearts burning with hot blood.
They should have been wearing the most dazzling armor, sitting atop majestic Spirit Beasts, and basking in the admiring gazes of the common people, returning to homes decked out with lanterns and colored banners.
They should have been on their triumphal return, arms slung around each other’s shoulders, arguing over whose merits were greater.
The wind stopped.
Li Tianyue brushed back her short hair and gripped her dual swords tightly.
Yet her long robe continued to snap in the wind—because the Nine-Headed Ghost Lion was charging!
This daughter of the Li Clan, who had spent the better part of her life fighting on the battlefield, spoke with a hoarse voice.
“Old Ancestor, Tianyue is obedient… I am obedient. In the next life, Tianyue will listen to your words again.”
—
Donate on Ko-fi ➡️ [] ⬅️
Get Early Access to 90 Chapters: Search for “Dark Tea” on Ko-fi (Explore tab) and join my membership to read ahead!