Ze Tian Ji Chapter 739-740

Chapter 739 – Let Us Go South

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

From the beginning of the new era, the entire continent was only concerned about one thing.

It was not the exiled Pope, not the closed-up Holy Maiden Peak, not Wang Po’s return to Scholartree Manor.

This matter was far more critical than all the other matters added up together.

It was the invasion of the demons.

In the autumn of last year, the Demon Lord died, Nanke fled, the new lord took the throne, the demons fell into internal turmoil, and Xuelao City was soaked in blood. The weather was abnormally cold—winter had come early. The combined efforts of the wind and snow had resulted in an unusually poor harvest. Many of the smaller demon tribes had been forced to venture far away from Xuelao City, and the wolf cavalry so prized by the Demon Palace numbered only a third of their former numbers.

Anyone could see that this was the Demon race’s weakest moment, and very few people could imagine that it was this moment the demons would choose to begin their invasion on a large scale.

To conduct things on a large scale indicated madness and a willingness to pay any price.

Perhaps the crisis of survival brought about by the blizzards and harsh cold had directly transformed into the demons’ desire for blood. There was also another very important reason. It was that the once-Demon Crown Prince Han Qing, after guarding the Mausoleum of Books for more than six centuries, had finally left the human capital, passed through the vast snowy plains, and returned to Xuelao City.

According to an agreement made with Shang Xingzhou, White Emperor City used some secret method to get him into Xuelao City. There, he connected with a few members of the Council of Elders that had always been loyal to him. Through intelligence sent out of the Demon Palace, he once more confirmed that the one truly ruling the land of demons was not the newly ascended Demon Lord in the Demon Palace, but the Demon Commander and the enigmatic Military Advisor Black Robe.

He believed that although the Demon Commander and Black Robe had joined hands to overturn the rule of his father, the Demon Lord who had once terrorized the continent, this did not mean that they truly trusted each other. On the contrary, without that shadow in the sky, the trust between the two could transform into foam at any moment. They needed to remain vigilant of each other at all times, even prepare to attack the other. As for the young Demon Lord within the Demon Palace, he was just a pathetic puppet, a blade of grass buffeted to and fro by two cold winds. He was liable to get involved in their struggle at any moment and then die.

Han Qing wanted to use the tense relationship between the Demon Commander and Black Robe.

Because of their history, he could not work together with Black Robe, so just as it should be, he first contacted the Demon Commander.

He knew that the Demon Commander did not completely trust him, but he did not care. The person he truly wanted to ally himself with was the young Demon Lord.

That child was isolated and without help in the Demon Palace, probably living every day in fear. Right now, if he were to obtain Han Qing and the strength and support backing Han Qing, he would probably be wild with joy.

And they were brothers.

In retrospect, Han Qing’s way of thinking was not necessarily wrong. It even might have been correct. Demons were not humans, and they viewed the world differently, but the two were fundamentally quite similar. In their end, they decided matters based on what they could gain, who they trusted, and the natural strengths and weaknesses of their relationships.

Han Qing failed because there had been a problem with his judgment from the very outset.

There really might have been a problem between the Demon Commander and Black Robe, but the young Demon Lord was not the helpless puppet that he imagined. In reality, only after he died did the entire continent come to know the main driver behind the rebellion of Xuelao City was neither the Demon Commander nor Black Robe, but the young Demon Lord that had been pitied or disregarded by all.

He had truly been the one to seize the throne.

The Demon Commander and Black Robe had joined hands to push the once-domineering and invincible Demon Lord into the abyss precisely because of the young Demon Lord.

The Demon Commander and Black Robe truly would not trust each other, but they both had an incomparable trust in the young Demon Lord, treating him as their closest nephew.

Just how had the young Demon Lord been able to gain the trust, even loyalty, of both of them at the same time?

His father had once been this continent’s most terrifying shadow. Even when Taizong and Zhou Dufu worked together, they could not completely eradicate him, and yet the young Demon Lord had personally killed him.

Just what sort of existence was the young Demon Lord?

He had placed his hopes of success on this true opponent, had wanted to use him to deal with an opponent that was more terrifying than he could imagine. There were no surprises. Han Qing was utterly defeated. Before he died, this demon who had guarded the Mausoleum of Books for six hundred years, unmoved by any storm, could not help but raise his head to look at the throne.

A young and handsome demon was seated there, his lips perked up into a smile, perfectly diluting the noble and domineering aura exuded by a demon’s body.

The young demon was the youngest son of the mighty Demon Lord, not much older than Nanke.

The deceased Demon Lord had many children. Han Qing had been the strongest, and Nanke the most famous, but no one could even remember the names of the rest of them.

Comparatively speaking, his name was actually well known. This was because he had been the young prince of the Demon Lord, but mostly because he had once said a certain phrase.

“I absolutely want Xu Yourong.”

He didn’t want to just meet her, he wanted her.

When these words spread across the continent, they naturally incited the limitless wrath of both humans and demi-humans, and also attracted a great deal of ridicule.

This was because at that moment, besides being a prince, he had nothing much to brag about.

Whether it was his talent in cultivation or the advancement of his demon body, his performance was very mediocre, inferior to Nanke and far inferior to Xu Yourong.

In the parties held by the demon nobles in Xuelao City and in the Orchid Creek Art Exhibition, he had obtained not one bit of fame. He wasn’t even comparable to Chen Changsheng, let alone Qiushan Jun.

Until now.

Fire beacons were lit all around Xuelao City as the heads of countless nobles were severed from their bodies, green blood being shed for days on end.

Outside the Demon Palace, the wolf cavalry howled in their patrols and the buildings of the palace all bore the marks of a fierce battle.

His legendary eldest brother kneeled before him, covered in blood.

The Demon Commander and Black Robe stood quietly at his side.

He was at the very front.

He was at the very center.

……

……

“Do you really think that you can keep their loyalty forever?”

Han Qing asked the young Demon Lord. He was naturally speaking about Black Robe and the Demon Commander.

“Elder Brother, all of you have lived for too long. When you think about things, you only think about loyalty, passion, trust, schemes…nothing but these dull, old terms. I’m very young, so I like more new and refreshing terms, like ideals, dreams, sunlight, warmth, spring…the south, and girls.”

The young Demon Lord flashed a moving smile, then continued, “Their support has nothing to do with loyalty, but because we share common ideals, have the same dream.”

Han Qing understood his meaning, and his face paled.

The seventh Demon General and the twenty-fourth Demon General stepped forward and dragged him out of the hall. The abyss behind the Demon Palace was waiting for him.

The Demon Army was about to move out.

The young Demon Lord walked out of the hall and looked upon the dense packs of wolf cavalry and the ever-roaring demon soldiers, then suddenly fell silent.

He seemed to be thinking about something rather absent-mindedly. After a very long time, he came to his senses and chuckled at himself.

Then, he said a few words that would become very famous in the future.

“The sunlight in the south is better, warmer. The spring is longer and the south has more girls, so let us go south.”

Han Qing, you useless piece of shit.

Chapter 740 – The Cruel and Disorderly Mountains

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Tianliang County was the most famous county on the continent. A thousand years ago, this place was home to the Liang Household, the Chen clan, the Zhou clan, and the now-destitute Wang clan. The last two dynasties to reign over the continent had both arisen from this county, and the county had been witness to an endless stream of experts, like those emperors, or Chen Xuanba, or Zhu Luo, or Wang Po.

With the establishment of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Tianliang County’s status became even more unique, as it was now regarded as the ancestral homeland. Whether in taxation or administration, it received the best treatment. The Daoist church within Xunyang City also had the highest status of all of the Orthodoxy’s Daoist churches. It also gradually began to encompass more land, eventually becoming the largest county or province on the continent.

On a map, the present Tianliang County looked like a dagger. Hanqiu City was the hilt, and Xunyang City was on the edge of the dagger. Above it was a vast territory of land similar to the body of the dagger.

This dagger was pointed straight at the north, the endless plains of snow, the territory of the demons.

Of course, the northernmost thousand-some li of Tianliang County were, excluding the ten or so forts and two army headquarters, sparsely inhabited and extremely desolate. Humanity had never been able to establish effective control over this area, let alone flourish here, because this place was simply too close to the demons.

Regardless of the situation in the world, in the northern reaches of Tianliang County, the war between the humans and demons had not truly ceased for even a single day.

In the early spring of last year, the Demon Army began to move south, causing the situation here to grow even more tense, and even bloodier. The plains which had once been desolate and deserted were now covered in smoke and dust as uncountable numbers of cavalry charged against each other. Even in the sky, those flying carriages that were rarely seen in the capital and the vicious, strange beasts controlled by the demons clashed high up in the cold air like the callous eyes of a god.

The sound of fighting shook the sky as the cavalry of both sides charged at each other like two mighty floods, sending blood and Qi flying everywhere. In a very short span of time, an innumerable amount of human cavalry had toppled over and died. Similarly, many of the demons’ most frightening wolf cavalry had been entrapped in the arrays set up by humans and torn into countless disgusting pieces of flesh.

Similar to their perspectives on life, the blood of the Human race and the Demon race were of completely different colors. Under the backdrop of the snowy plains, they made for a most breathtaking contrast, yet as more and more lives were lost, the red and green blood had no choice but to finally mingle. The corpses also began to pile up, and regardless of whether their deaths had been glorious or nauseating, it was impossible to pry them apart.

As it was impossible to even separate the dead, those still alive were naturally squeezed together. The armies of both sides were difficult to distinguish from each other, now merged into a single black tide that completely engulfed the vast plain of snow. In such a crowded and intense battlefield, the arrays of both the Human race and the Demon race were forcefully torn apart by bloody Qi. Occasionally one could hear the anguished cry of an array master about to die as he suffered a backlash. Occasionally, a human cultivator or demon expert would soar into the sky, killing out a space in the black tide as they attempted to escape. Soon after, they would be drowned once more under the black tide and seen no more.

The occasional flash of light in the black tide was the explosive dispersal of star radiance. Every flash of light meant that a Star Condensation cultivator had died, his star radiance dispersing into the surroundings.

Even if Xue Xingchuan were reincarnated, Xiao Zhang stepped onto the field, or the gigantic figures of the Demon Generals in the depths of the snowy plains began to move, they would not have much effect on this sort of battle.

This was a war, desperate but extremely fair. The final outcome depended on every person that participated in this battle.

Of course, every person had to work together in order to have an effect on this war. The moment they separated, their effectiveness began to drop until it was reduced to nil.

Take, for instance, the small squad from the Mount Song Army that was making its way through the disorderly mountains to the east of the plain. They were on the verge of being completely annihilated, but such an event would have no effect on this war.

The problem was that everyone in this squad wanted to survive. Their lives meant quite a lot to them, so they had to continue fighting, even if they were clearly no match for their opponents.

This squad from the Mount Song Army was retreating from the battlefield not because they had deserted out of fear, but because they had received orders to evacuate a heavily wounded array master in advance.

Array masters played one of the most important roles on the battlefield. Spreading out an array required that one’s sea of consciousness and star radiance form an inseverable connection with the array. This was very demanding on a cultivator, so even the most mediocre of array masters needed to be at Ethereal Opening. Moreover, the moment the array was broken, the array master would suffer the most terrible of backlashes. Thus, an array master was also a role on the battlefield in which it was very easy to die.

It was one of the most important roles, but also the one with the highest casualty rate, so it was only right that array masters received the greatest respect from soldiers, and were also placed under the greatest protection.

In order that the heavily injured array master could receive treatment as quickly as possible, this squad of the Mount Song Army had paid a most bitter price. In reaching these disorderly mountains, thirty soldiers had dwindled to fourteen.

They were being pursued by five wolf cavalry.

Rocks were sent flying, the ground shook, and dust flew into the air. The wolf cavalry had once more appeared before them.

The wolf cavalry were the most terrifying of the demons’ troops. Their mounts were a sort of blood-drinking wolf that lived on the snowy plains and had enormous bodies and fur like iron needles. They possessed amazing speed and ruthless temperaments.

With a spray of rocks, five wolf cavalry burst out of the dust and surrounded the fourteen human soldiers.

These bloodthirsty wolves were around a zhang high, and the demons mounted atop were horned, their bodies covered in scale armor, their eyes a gloomy green. Their mouths, which were shaped like ‘人’, dripped with stinking saliva.

Compared to the demon nobles that lived in Xuelao City, these demon soldiers were much more ugly and much more terrifying.

This was the true appearance of lower-level demons, and this was what demons looked like to humans.

The lowest level of demon soldiers could still resist against a human that had succeeded in Purification, but these were not the lowest level. These were the elite wolf cavalry.

Surrounded by five wolf cavalry, there was no path of retreat. The human soldiers were filled with despair, but no one surrendered. Instead, they tightened their grip on their weapons.

In the war between the Human race and the Demon race, rarely were people captured, and rarely did people surrender. The reason for this was very simple: demons did not have a habit of accepting surrenders.

From a certain perspective, the natural ruthlessness of the Demon race was a benefit to the humans, because they did not need to worry about desertion or betrayal.

It was precisely for this reason that many people had found it impossible to believe that the Mount Li Sword Sect’s Liang Xiaoxiao would collude with the demons.

The battle began and was very quickly decided.

Although this small squad of the Mount Song Army could be said to have perfectly demonstrated the results of their arduous training, attacking and defending with sublime coordination, they were still no match.

Violent waves of Qi spread out, permeated with the scent of blood. The hard rock of the mountains was scored by the claws of wolves.

The first exchange had lasted for a few seconds, and three human soldiers had died.

The demon soldiers had also paid a price, but it was only that one of them had their horn cut off.

The cold wind stirred up the dry snow and covered the scratches left by the wolf claws.

The demon who had had his horn cut off was furious. He let off a series of enraged howls, then lifted the human corpse in front of him with his spear.

With a rip, the corpse of this human soldier was torn in two.

Blood rained down.

The demon soldier grabbed the upper half of the corpse, brought it to his mouth, and slowly began to chew on it.

The lower half of the corpse did not fall to the ground, but instead was taken up in the mouth of his wolf mount.

Kakakaka. In the deathly stillness of the mountains, the only sound that could be heard was that of bones being gnawed apart.

Blood dripped from both the demon’s mouth and his mount’s, falling onto the ground.