Ze Tian Ji Chapter 741-742

Chapter 741 – The Bellowing and Disorderly Mountains

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The war between the demons and humans arose from their struggle for the continent, but the two sides’ fight to the death was closely related to a certain matter.

Demons ate humans.

This was the Human race’s greatest fear and cause for anger, and also the greatest source of their courage.

In truth, regardless of the era, humans had never been the primary food for demons. At the very beginning, demons ate humans as if to express the traits of a more savage era, and they did so to mystify their battles, strengthen their bodies, flaunt their power, and frighten their enemies. However, with the passage of time, this action gradually became a habit for the demons.

Later on, this terrifying conduct no longer had the effect on the demons that it used to, and the frightening effect it had on humans had mostly transformed into resentment and courage. From every aspect, this conduct brought no benefits to this war between the humans and demons, only negative effects.

The more intelligent of the demon soldiers had long since come to recognize this fact. However, breaking a practice that had become a tradition would inevitably face all sort of opposition. Moreover, to the demons famed for their cruelty, any sort of blood-soaked and terrifying matter was a pleasure most welcomed by them.

After many years of debate, the eternally famous Grand Scholar Tungus researched this practice for twenty years. Ultimately, after analyzing this practice through a theological and social perspective and weighing the merits and drawbacks biologically and mentally, he passed judgment. In his work, the grand scholar explicitly stated that eating humans offered no benefit to the advancement of demons. On the contrary, the human body contained certain material that would contaminate the brain stem of demons, ultimately causing demons that had eaten too many humans to go crazy and inflict harm upon themselves until they died. At the same time, Grand Scholar Tungus also expressed his callous disdain for this practice from a theological perspective, determining that this practice was blasphemy to the Moon God.

In Xuelao City, Grand Scholar Tungus’s research naturally faced no opposition, just like every other subject he had researched. As for that other grand scholar of the generation who had the right to question him, the Pope in the south, there was also no voice of objection.

Perhaps precisely because this silence was too stark a contrast with the fierce quarrels the two had engaged in in the past, it attracted all sorts of private rumor and discussion. Some demon scholars suspected that there was a problem with Grand Scholar Tungus’s argument, while the scholars of the Li Palace secretly proposed an even more outrageous possibility: this work of research on the effect of demons’ human-eating was highly likely to be a joint work between Grand Scholar Tungus and the Pope! At the very least, the Pope must have greatly assisted in it.

If these doubts were true, there was naturally something wrong with this research; perhaps it was even completely fabricated. But just as was mentioned before, the Imperial clan and the nobles of Xuelao City put up no opposition to Grand Scholar Tungus’s judgment, and the Pope within the Li Palace also maintained his silence, so who would dare voice their doubts?

As this work was circulated, the popularity of the practice of human-eating gradually waned. Finally, one thousand years ago, that Demon Lord who dominated the continent finally banned the practice. From that moment on, eating humans was completely banned in the Demon race’s territory, especially in Xuelao City, where such actions basically ceased to occur.

But the strength of tradition was far too powerful, the snowy plains of the demon domain too vast, the gap in intelligence and culture between the various levels of demons too great. Even mighty existences like Grand Scholar Tungus and the Demon Lord could not cause this practice to completely disappear. The lower-level demons in the small tribes would still sneakily eat human meat, even consider doing so an honor. In the past several hundred years, just how many human bodies had vanished from the battlefield? And amongst the several dozen Demon Generals, just how many had not tasted human flesh?

Now, with the passing of that Demon Lord, and the increasing bitterness of the war between the humans and demons, the binding effect of this ban had received a terrible blow.

In this remote region of the snowy plains, cruel sights such as this occurred all over the place, like right now amongst these disorderly mountains.

The demon soldier and his wolf mount were incessantly tearing into the body of the human soldier.

Blood dripped from their mouths and fell on the hard and cold ground.

Finally, someone’s will broke at this sight. With a lament, he threw down his weapon and retreated back down the mountain path. However, before he could get very far, one of the wolf cavalry guarding the southwest direction caught up to him. With a brief cry of misery, he became a pile of mangled flesh and blood.

Every day on the battlefield, the Human race would receive such a bloody lesson.

Only with their companions was there a hope of survival. Escape and betrayal were the same as death.

Fear and anger were born together, so when this soldier ran off in panic, the remaining ten soldiers became extraordinarily angry.

Anger was the greatest source of courage. The soldiers tightly gripped their weapons once more and roared at the wolf cavalry.

The leader of this squad was an old soldier who had succeeded at Purification many years ago. He had abundant experience on the battlefield, so he was much calmer than all of his subordinates.

When the cries of misery and angry bellows were rising up together, he was still observing the surroundings, judging the present situation and thinking of a way to escape.

His gaze rested on the stretcher and he silently gave his apologies. His squad was doomed to be completely wiped out, as he would be forced to use his last two resorts. But even if he succeeded, not a single survivor would remain. At that time, the array master on the stretcher would either freeze to death or starve to death. Regardless, it would be a very wretched end.

Array masters were the most respected and most welcomed of individuals on the battlefield. It was no surprise if they died in battle, but they should not have such a dismal end as this.

Moreover, this array master was very young.

The lowest level of array master had to be at Ethereal Opening, so they were normally rather old.

The array master was very dark-skinned and very thin. Though his face was covered in blood, it was still possible to tell that he was young.

Such a young array master was an extremely rare sight even in the Mount Song Army headquarters, let alone amongst the ranks of the armies engaged in battle.

Such a young array master was assuredly most gifted. As long as he could survive, he was guaranteed a beautiful and boundless future.

The squad leader understood that it was probably for precisely this reason that his superior had, despite the ferocity of the battle, ordered them to evacuate this array master.

Regretfully, the wolf cavalry that they had been battling with had probably also realized this fact, so they had not hesitated to harm their own fighting power and send several wolf cavalry in pursuit.

Seeing the wolf cavalry charging, seeing his subordinates resolved to die, the squad leader threw down his sword and took out a magical artifact from his belt.

This magical artifact exuded a faint Qi that seemed to communicate with a certain object beneath his clothes.

The soldiers also seemed to sense something and turned their heads to him.

He opened his mouth, planning to say something.

The soldiers guessed at what he intended to do. Their faces paled, and one young soldier went red in the eyes, not out of rage, but sorrow.

There was no time to persuade or comfort. The demons and their wolves were already upon them, the stench assailing their nostrils.

The disorderly mountains bellowed in rage.

The human soldiers struck back against the wolf cavalry. No matter how sharp the teeth of these strange wolves, no matter how powerful the spears of the demon soldiers, the humans charged!

As they charged, not a single one of them turned to look back at him.

Blood spurted and limbs flew. In an extremely brief amount of time, the human soldiers were all killed. Of the wolf cavalry, two of them received light injuries.

The corpses of the soldiers lay collapsed in the claws of the wolves or hung from the spears of the soldiers as they were snacked upon. This was an abnormally gory and horrifying scene.

The demon soldiers cackled at the final human.

Unable to comprehend their words, he shattered the magical artifact in his hands.

Chapter 742 – Embers and Cold

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

As the magical artifact shattered, a strand of Qi emerged from the squad leader’s hand, spreading with remarkable speed across the entire cliff.

The corpses of the human soldiers, whether on the ground, or on the spears of the demon soldiers, or in the mouths of their wolves, responded to this Qi, and a weaker Qi, almost like a scent, emerged from their bodies.

This Qi was like an invisible flame that was now igniting a long-hidden kindling.

The demon soldiers seemed to sense something, and a smear of shock appeared in their green eyes. With a set of sharp shouts, they waved their spears to cast those human corpses far away, at the same time jerking on the leather reins around the necks of their wolves, intending to turn and retreat.

But it was too late.

These strange wolves were very dimwitted and had no inkling of what was going on, so they were somewhat unwilling to throw away the human corpses in their mouths. At this moment, a bright yellow ball of light emerged from the deceased humans. Simultaneously, more balls of yellow light lit up all across the cliff.

Boomboomboomboom!

Terrifying explosions rumbled through the mountains like claps of thunder. Then a fire began to blaze, almost instantly transforming the area into a sea of flames.

The hard rock was exploded into chunks and then melted by the blazing flames into lava that splashed onto the demon soldiers.

The wolves met an even more miserable fate. Their heads were immediately blown to bits, transforming into mangled piles of flesh and meat bearing no resemblance to their original appearance.

Howls of misery continuously rose up from the disorderly mountains, but they were unable to pass through the sea of flames and surging waves of Qi, and quickly died away.

Just like this, the demon soldiers and their wolf mounts died.

The surging waves of Qi carved out a smooth slope on the mountain cliffs before mixing into the heavens and earth.

The sea of flames, however, persisted for a very long time as the flames gradually lost their energy.

The squad leader released his hold on the scorched black item on his forearm that was once a small shield, and began to slowly crawl to the back.

His right arm had been completely destroyed by the explosive might of the magical artifact and his chest was also a bloody mess, with bones faintly visible. He had suffered severe injuries, but he was still not dead.

Before he died, he still had one task that he had to complete: killing the array master.

He deeply respected the young array master, who would assuredly have had the best prospects if he survived, and such an outstanding human should not be frozen or starved to death. And also…the day before yesterday, he had received an order. By no means could he let this young array master fall into the hands of the demons. If it was necessary, he could kill him.

With some difficulty, he crawled up to the stretcher. As he gasped a few tired breaths, he looked at the young array master on the stretcher with a rather complex and sorrowful expression.

The magical artifact he had used to kill the five demon soldiers had naturally been no ordinary magical artifact, but a very strange sort that was more similar to an array. This sort of magical artifact that used the power of an array was extremely rare, and its method of use was excessively cruel. The Great Zhou Army had essentially never used them before.

It was said that this set of magical artifacts came from the Wenshui Tangs. He could possess this sort of magical artifact because he was the general’s trusted subordinate, and also because the small squad of the Mount Song Army that he led was often entrusted with very important missions, like protecting or killing this young array master.

Even at the moment of their deaths, the soldiers under him never knew that this magical artifact had been planted in their bodies long ago.

When he thought of the order the general gave to him before the battle, the squad leader revealed a rather perplexed expression.

For this person, the important figures of the Mount Song Army had clearly made many arrangements in advance, even preparing to bury this small squad.

“Just who are you?” he muttered to the unconscious young array master on the stretcher.

Before he killed this person, he had a deep desire to know his name and surname. Perhaps it was only this way that he could feel a little consolation.

Regretfully, this person had suffered a backlash on the battlefield and been severely wounded. It was utterly impossible for him to awaken and answer his question.

He laboriously pulled out a dagger, aimed it at the young array master’s throat, and then closed his eyes. After taking a deep breath, he pushed down.

But he did not hear the sound of the throat breaking, nor did he feel the dagger puncture through flesh.

He opened his eyes and saw to his astonishment that the dagger was being clutched between two fingers, utterly incapable of pressing forward.

Even more astonishingly, these two fingers belonged to the young array master.

At some point, the array master had awakened and opened his eyes, and was now quietly watching.

His eyes were very cold, completely devoid of emotion. They were like the ice covering these mountains, but there were bloodstains beneath this ice that exuded a faint stench of blood.

The squad leader came to his senses and felt an inexplicable fear upon looking at the array master’s eyes.

The young array master lightly flicked his fingers, taking the dagger, but doing nothing after that.

The squad leader quickly explained what had just occurred.

The young array master seemed to be in deep thought.

The squad leader had no more strength. Exhausted, he sat on the ground and said in gratitude, “You’re still alive, so the deaths of my brothers will not have been wasted.”

The young array master’s voice seemed particularly cold. “Do you really think that any of you pieces of trash can decide whether I live or die? I just didn’t want to act.”

“What?” The squad leader froze, not daring to believe what he had just heard.

What did this mean? After spending a few moments in amazed stupefaction, he became furious, pointing at the burned corpses on the cliffs and wanting to reprimand the array master.

The young array master did not give him a chance. A terrifying Qi emerged from those cold and cruel eyes, instantly jolting him to death, transforming him into a blood-covered corpse. Then, this corpse began to blaze from the remaining flames left behind by the magical artifact, producing an unpleasant smell.

“Regardless of whether it was out of kindness or to carry out an order, you still attempted to kill me.”

The young array master apathetically stared at the burning corpse and declared, “So you needed to die.”

The howling of the cold wind gradually extinguished the embers on the cliff, dispersing those mixed and unpleasant scents.

The demon soldiers and their wolf mounts had been at the very center of the attacks of ten-some magical artifacts, and they were burned by a sea of flames. The only thing that remained of them was a rough outline, and it was impossible to make out their original appearances. Then ten-some bodies of the human soldiers were also in an awful state. In short, it was a dismal scene, a cruel environment.

But the young array master did not leave, instead lying back down on the stretcher.

He closed his eyes as if unable to see the hellish mountainside, unable to smell the charred bodies, unable to feel the chill of the wind. Just like that, he fell asleep.