Chapter 723 - 219: Time to Leave
Although the battle results were somewhat small, the cost-effectiveness was higher.
However, the new Town General had ambitions too high, thinking he could secure thirty years of peace in one battle—wanting to bite off more than he could chew, good intentions of course, but he was not very satisfied with the current results.
But I’ve been at Snow Cliff Pass for many years, and I know how hard it is for people here. With the current results, I am quite satisfied. A lot fewer deaths among our people, and wiping out thirty to forty thousand from the Fierce Beast Race counts as very good."
Chen Yan asked, "When the Fierce Beast Race withdrew, why didn’t Snow Cliff Pass send troops to pursue and just relied on the Fierce Beast Race retreating on their own, how could this lead to three or four thousand of them being killed?"
"Do you think the Town General led so many Thunder Riders into the Sea of Trees just for fun?
There’s no way to conduct a pursuit battle on the Icefield, but after the Fierce Beast Race traveled a long way around the big lake, it was just the time when their food, energy, and morale had all been exhausted!
Then, over in the Sea of Trees, a few thousand Thunder Riders could chase them like rabbits, making those Fierce Beast Race bleed dry in the Sea of Trees!"
Chen Yan heaved a sigh of relief in his heart.
After all, what he did was not entirely wrong.
However, at this moment, he also resolved not to blindly involve himself in things he doesn’t understand in the future.
He was neither the garrison of Snow Cliff Pass nor of this world, and besides, he also did not understand warfare.
It would be wise to avoid such blind interventions in the future.
The two talked about the war, and Gu Jinjia didn’t say much more, but then he did mention something else.
"A few days before you returned to the city, Luo Shang... came looking for me."
Gu Jinjia sat in the pool, leaning against its edge, and when he spoke this sentence, his tone was somewhat complex.
Chen Yan lightly responded, "When I entered town, I heard from Brother Thirty-nine about Luo Shang’s fate."
"Ah!"
Gu Jinjia shook his head, smiling bitterly, "He is completely broken now. On the day of the great battle outside the city, he was carried back by his comrades, barely surviving, but his Dantian was shattered, and his cultivation was lost. Even if he recovers from his injuries, he will remain an ordinary person for life and will likely be bedridden continuously, with not much time left."
"Why did he come to you?" Chen Yan asked.
"What else... to seek death." Gu Jinjia sneered, "Back in the day, we had an oath; after killing a thousand Fierce Beast Race, he’d come to me to meet his death.
But this time, with his severe injuries, it’s impossible to fulfill the oath by killing a thousand Fierce Beast Race. Knowing he couldn’t fulfill his vow, he actually came alone to see me, knelt in front of me, and asked me to take his life to atone for the ten brothers who died in battle."
Chen Yan looked at Gu Jinjia, "You didn’t... kill him... hmm, no, since you’re telling me this way, it seems Brother Jin Jia didn’t take his life."
"This person... indeed kept his promises." Gu Jinjia said with a complicated tone, "I only saw his injuries unhealed, one arm lost...
Chuyi, brother, it’s not that my hands were tied with kindness.
It’s just that, he went out of the city on the battlefield, fought with the Fierce Beast Race, returned heavily injured.
During battle, he also took the lead, charged bravely and recklessly.
After returning with heavy injuries... how could I just personally kill a military hero who just fought bravely for our race?"
Chen Yan fell silent for a while—he could understand Gu Jinjia’s sentiments.
Any other time, he would have killed him.
But, just after someone had fought bravely for the Human Race at the front, only to get seriously injured in battle, should they collapse in front of Gu Jinjia and be killed? Not to say Gu Jinjia couldn’t do it, but anyone else might also struggle with the decision.
"I didn’t kill him; he asked for some items to take away, and I allowed him to leave the pass... head to the Snowfield."
After a pause, Gu Jinjia spoke softly, "I gave him a good knife, a leather armor, a bottle of Bone Pill, a bottle of Fasting Pill.
He said that although he lost his cultivation, he still had some strength, and with these things, he could venture beyond the pass, even as a mortal. Using traps, snares, and the knife in his hand, he could still kill one or two more of the Fierce Beast Race.
Then, he planned to die outside the pass."
Chen Yan remained silent.
It must be said, this Luo Shang, shameless as he may be, stubborn as he may be,
in some ways, he is truly "pure."
·
Chen Yan lingered at Snow Cliff Pass for some days for a bit of recovery, after all, he endured much hardship while residing in snow pits in the Snowfield during the conflict.
Upon returning to Snow Cliff Pass, he rested for a few days, then went to the rented training room to replenish his Primordial Qi.
During those days, news continuously streamed in from outside the pass, yet Gu Jinjia wasn’t at the Brotherhood most of the time, having gone to the Commander’s Mansion, returning only every one or two days, sometimes two or three days.
Some of the news, Gu Jinjia would share with the brothers in the Brotherhood.
It’s said that the new Town General ambushed the fleeing Fierce Beast Race army over in the Sea of Trees, leveraging the exhaustion of their food supplies and scattered morale after their long retreat.
With several thousand Thunder Riders in ambush at the edge of the Sea of Trees, they routed the Fierce Beast Race, sending hordes scattering into the Sea of Trees; the Thunder Riders dispersed to pursue, harvesting the Fierce Beast Race’s heads daily.
And that meteor shower of fire caused a great fire to engulf the Sea of Trees, with the flames rising at the edge of the Snowfield and spreading towards Evil Land Mountain, burning a hundred miles in three days!
The fire burned continuously for fifteen days, and only after a blizzard did the fire gradually subside and extinguish.
As the fire died down, the once endless Sea of Trees on the eastern side of Evil Land Mountain, starting from the edge of the Snowfield and stretching towards Evil Land Mountain, spanning eight hundred miles wide and three hundred miles deep, had been charred into blackened land!
With such a large expanse of land claimed from the Evil Spirit Forest in the Sea of Trees, which suppressed the Primordial Qi between heaven and earth, it’s reportedly that the area near the Snowfield is gradually showing signs of weak Primordial Qi revival!
This news is even more exhilarating than the victories on the battlefield!
Originally, the Domain Realm people already surpassed the Fierce Beast Race in terms of combat power—but the suppression by the Evil Spirit Forest in the Sea of Trees made the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi dissipate, leaving the Domain Realm cultivators without Mana or Spells, and even the Magical Treasures and Artifacts became unusable, reducing them to mere mortals, forced to melee with the Fierce Beast Race, making it frustratingly difficult.
But as long as there is Primordial Qi, the cultivators battling the Fierce Beast Race is akin to a strong man pummeling a toddler; no matter how fierce the physique of the Fierce Beast Race, it was to no avail.
Only those red-light monsters could contend with the cultivators.
And now, it’s as if the area with Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi has been pushed to the original edge of the Sea of Trees!
This effectively advances the advantageous battlefield for Snow Cliff Pass miles forward.
In the future, the entire Snowfield could gradually resume its Primordial Qi, no longer allowing the Fierce Beast Race’s sleigh teams to roam freely.
According to Gu Jinjia, the Commander’s Mansion has already planned to cross the Snowfield, and at the edge of the Sea of Trees, once Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi revives more, they intend to construct an outpost military fortress there as a strategic pin under the nose of the Fierce Beast Race, to obtain strategic superiority in future standoffs with them.
However, after listening to a lot of these things, Chen Yan stopped paying attention.
Because he received news that the Town General was preparing to lead the army back to Snow Cliff Pass.
According to Gu Jinjia, the Town General firmly believed that the sudden collapse of the Icefield must have been orchestrated by someone using tactics, causing such a twist. This move cut off his majority battle gains, and therefore the Town General specifically dispatched several teams of Thunder Riders to search around the big lake to find the culprits behind the Icefield collapse.
Chen Yan then knew it was time to leave!