The Jiuli Tribe’s invasion happened abruptly. The spies planted in their territory hadn’t sent any information regarding the event. It was as if Chiyou had spontaneously decided to invade Xuanyuan’s territory without rhyme or reason.
Xuanyuan had also been preparing to invade Chiyou’s territory. Rather than the fertile land under his reign, he would rather battle it out on Chiyou’s lands. However, war would not commence just because he wished to. War used up an exorbitant amount of resources. Because of the war, grain production would fall. Grain needed to be stored ahead of time, both to feed the soldiers and make up for the lesser harvests.
Not only grain, but weapons. The humans under Xuanyuan’s reign weren’t as proficient in war as those under Chiyou, and didn’t possess their uniquely powerful flesh. He knew he would lose in a frontal clash, all things equal. Of course, the men under Xuanyuan far outnumbered the Jiuli Tribe, but even with this large population pool, there weren’t nearly enough martial artists.
Ideally, Xuanyuan wanted to accumulate enough martial artists while stagnating the Jiuli Tribe’s growth from the lack of resources in their territory. Of course, he knew this was impossible. Chiyou would definitely choose to invade once his resources dwindled.
So, he thought of another plan. If he clashed against the Jiuli Tribe now, Xuanyuan had no doubt he would win from the sheer difference in numbers. But such a victory would come at a substantial cost. He didn’t know how many rivers of blood would form from the war.
Since that was the case, Xuanyuan decided that if the soldiers under his command could not beat the innate quality of warriors under Chiyou, then he would arm them with equipment and even the scales. That way, he could diminish the losses to the extreme.
No doubt the losses would still be high, but they should be much better than the originally estimated losses.
Alas, man proposes, but heaven disposes.
Sitting on his golden throne, Xuanyuan tapped his armrest thoughtfully. “Did Chiyou see through my plan and invade to prevent it?”
The ministers and generals selected by Xuanyuan stood below him. They stared at one another, not knowing how to answer. It was not like they gathered the grains or weapons secretly. Anyone with half a brain could deduce the reason for amassing such a large amount of resources.
Even without spies, Chiyou could likely guess the reason, but even so, they couldn’t help but denounce that Chiyou would employ such a strategy.
Xuanyuan shook his head. “Forget it. The most important thing right now is to halt the Jiuli Tribe’s invasion. General Fei.”
A burly man standing over two meters tall in bronze scale armor stepped forward. “Subject is present!”
“Lead five legions and repel Chiyou’s invasion, regain the territory stolen by those barbarians!”
“Subject obeys!” General Fei said as he clasped his hands together and kneeled.
“Time is of the essence. Go now, my subject,” Xuanyuan said.
“Wait,” a voice called out, attracting everyone’s attention. She was Gongsun Xuanyi.
“Brother, I don’t think it’s possible to regain the land,” Xuanyi said. “Since Chiyou has decided to invade, he must have already set his sight on the entire east. Five legions are far from enough to push him out. The best outcome would be to halt their invasion and blockade them.”
“Your Highness, please don’t underestimate me and my soldiers,” General Fei said. Anyone with eyes could see his dissatisfaction.
Not just him, but the other ministers also displayed their dissatisfaction. Ever since Xuanyi arrived, she had never gotten personally involved in the governance of humanity. She only attended the court meetings and nothing else. In these officials’ eyes, Xuanyi was just a layman.
All these officials knew how much effort Xuanyuan used to raise his army, so they were clear on how powerful they were. How could Xuanyi, who never took part in all this, know better than them? In their eyes, three legions were already enough to repel Chiyou and his soldiers.
“Sister, don’t worry,” Xuanyuan said. In fact, he also agreed that five legions were far from enough to repel them Chiyou’s army. Normally, that is.
Many years ago, Xuanyuan had sent spies to infiltrate the Jiuli Tribe. The Jiuli Tribe valued power, so the spies could never enter the high echelons of the power hierarchy, but it was more than enough to compile a profile on their method of war.
The Jiuli Tribe only attacked, never defended. They would invade under two conditions: to increase their manpower and to accumulate resources. They would pillage and plunder the resources they needed, including people, and bring them back to their tribe. Then, the Jiuli Tribe would ignore the ravaged land, allowing the inhabitants to recover if they weren’t forced to join the tribe. Once the resources accumulated to a certain amount again, they would return.
In Xuanyuan’s view, this would be no different. Once Chiyou saw the five legions, he would choose to retreat. Of course, Xuanyan would be left with pillaged territory, stripped of nearly all its resources, but that was fine. He would increase the border defenses to prepare against the future invasion while restoring the land back to its former productivity.
More importantly, Xuanyuan wanted to restore morale. He was not blind. Chiyou’s invasion had easily penetrated several regions. The ease with which he had accomplished this caused the people’s trust in him and morale to dip. To regain their trust and raise morale, he wanted to sell an illusion of repelling the invaders and restoring the land.
Of course, he couldn’t outright say it, so Xuanyuan could only signal with his eyes. Thankfully, Xuanyi didn’t say anything more.
Xuanyuan ordered General Fei to leave again. While the general departed to deal with the invasion, the court continued to discuss how to pave the way to increase grain storage, increase weapon production, and prepare the materials to construct the border fortresses. After Xuanyuan ended the session, he pulled his sister aside to explain his plan.
“Brother, are you sure?” Xuanyi asked. “My intuition tells me that Chiyou won’t be content with what he has right now. How about I go in case of any accidents?”
Xuanyuan shook his head. “You have to trust my decision. General Fei is a Sky Warrior, the same level as you. And if there are any accidents, I can’t afford to have anything happen to you. You are too important to me. What if they capture you and threaten me?”
Xuanyi sighed and reluctantly accepted Xuanyuan’s choices. Still, she couldn’t ignore her gut feeling.
Days passed, and an uncomfortable silence settled over Zhuolu. Xuanyuan originally planned to inform everyone that General Fei departed to repel the invaders to raise their spirits, but owing to Xuanyi’s feeling, he didn’t. He planned to wait for General Fei to return with victory before announcing it and calming his subjects’ hearts.
Not just him, but the ministers under him also waited for General Fei’s triumphant return. But what awaited them was a beaten general trudging back by his lonesome self.
General Fei’s current state had none of his previous heroic aura. He wore rags, with not a patch of unmarred skin. Scabs covered his entire body. When he tried to enter, the guards had almost thrown him out because of his state and the ominous aura surrounding him.
How could General Fei let mere guards stop him? So, he resisted, which caused a large commotion and more city guards to arrive. Were it not for the leader of the city guards arriving and recognizing General Fei, he would have likely caused even more trouble. Even so, General Fei still killed over ten city guards, all of them martial artists.
The leader of the city guards wanted to punish General Fei for the death of his men, but he was only an Earth Warrior, a realm weaker than General Fei. So, he could only escort the tattered general to see Xuanyuan.
When Xuanyuan and the other officials saw him, they couldn’t help but gaze at him in disbelief. Never in their wildest imagination would they expect General Fei would return in such a sad state. Of course, they also considered the possibility of loss, but even if he did lose, it shouldn’t be at such a point.
“What happened?” Xuanyuan asked. His tone was gentle, with no hint of blame.
All the ministers and generals present just looked at General Fei. Not everyone was sad to see his state. Where people converged, there would be a conflict of interests. Some of the other generals envied his luck and wanted to replace him, but now, it seemed they had dodged a calamity.
General Fei said nothing. He just stood and continued to stare at Xuanyuan. His gaze was sharp and penetrating, as if critiquing the lord of Zhuolu.
Finally, one minister couldn’t stand his conceited gaze and stepped out to scold him. “General Fei, although His Majesty is kind, it doesn’t mean you can stare at him so impudently. His Majesty allowed you to stand and not kneel in consideration of your injuries. Not only are you not grateful, but you have shown such a blasphemous side. Kowtow and beg for forgiveness!”
The defeated general finally turned his gaze from Xuanyuan and stared at the minister. From that single glance, the minister saw a sea of blood and fire. It was as if he had become one of the many skeletons blackened by the hellish heat. Sweat dotted his entire body, soaking his clothes as he shivered.
“Kind?” General Fei asked with a sneer. He turned back to Xuanyuan, allowing the minister to breathe. “That’s not kindness, but weakness.”
All the ministers and generals gasped at General Fei’s blasphemy. Although they traded many blows in the dark, all of them still respected Xuanyuan. Like the minister, they wanted to jump out and reprimand the defeated general, but Xuanyuan asked a question that caused all of them to freeze.
“You’re not General Fei. Are you Chiyou?”
General Fei—no, Chiyou grinned, revealing his body’s cracked teeth. “I wanted to see what kind of man my rival to become the next ruler of humanity was, but I’m disappointed. Although this guy is only so-so, he wasn’t a weakling. I thought that you would be surrounded by people with similar power, but I was wrong. You surround yourself with ants all day. No wonder you are so weak.”
The ministers and generals said nothing. They wanted to jump out and rebuke Chiyou, but after revealing his true identity, he no longer restrained himself and allowed his aura to leak, pressing down upon all of them. It was not a physical pressure, but one generated by his strong will.
Thankfully for the officials, a powerful pressure exuded off of Xuanyuan that offset Chiyou’s aura. Xuanyuan coldly gazed down at Chiyou from his high throne. “They may be weak, but they are not ants. Each one is crucial for the development and prosperity of humanity. Since you don’t even understand this, humanity will be ruined if you become ruler.”
“No,” Chiyou said. “It’s you who will weaken humanity. Only strength matters.”
Neither side budged on their view. The pressure increased as the two faced off in a battle of will. It did not last long, and Chiyou smiled. “I will prove to you that you are wrong. Come and face me if you have the guts.”
With those parting words, the light in his eyes disappeared. General Fei’s body collapsed onto the ground, nothing more than a corpse. Just as they pondered whether or not to bury the corpse or not, it went up in flames, leaving nothing but ashes.
Xuanyuan’s face had no expression, but there was no hiding the fury in his eyes.
“My generals, since Chiyou dares to look down on us, it’s time to show him the error of his ways. Summon all the available legions. I will personally lead the charge,” Xuanyuan said, standing up. His fingers tightened around the nameless sword Xuanyi had given him.
“You must not, Your Majesty!” a minister called out. “It’s too dangerous. If you fall, everyone will fall into disarray.”
“Then what?” Xuanyuan asked. “You would have me swallow this provocation? If I shirk from his challenge, the people will lose their faith in me. What right do I have to contend to become the next ruler of humanity? No, this battle must be fought.”
The minister opened his mouth, but he didn’t know how to object to Xuanyuan’s reason. He could only close his mouth and obey.
Less than a week later, Xuanyuan led his army toward the Jiuli Tribe. Accompanying him were most of his generals and his sister. Only a few military personnel were left to defend his territory and Zhuolu. A few civil ministers also did not follow because they had the duty to maintain the rear and prevent any accidents while handling the logistics.
The movements of his army were too large to hide, but Xuanyuan didn’t want to, either. This was an open declaration of war between Yan and Huang.
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