Longzang

Chapter 238 Waiting for the Moon to Shine and the Flowers to Bloom

Dingbian City.

Chen Dao gently placed a piece, gaining an advantage on the board. Yue Jinshan, sitting opposite him, frowned and stared intently at the board, but couldn't find any weakness in the white pieces.

Chen Dao's playing style is just like his personality: he is not aggressive, he does not fight back relentlessly, he seems to be passive in every situation, and he is very concerned about the actual situation, but he unknowingly gains the advantage.

Yue Jinshan's chess skills are not low, but he is still a notch below Chen Dao, who is a national-level player.

Suddenly, Yue Jinshan abandoned the big picture and placed a piece to forcibly make a lone piece in the white formation live.

Chen Dao smiled. With this move, Yue Jinshan was certain to lose.

He readily agreed, but Yue Jinshan acted extremely quickly this time, stubbornly determined to make this isolated piece live, relentlessly pursuing it and resorting to all sorts of unreasonable tactics.

With Chen Dao's shrewdness, he would not be swayed by such petty tricks. He remained calm and composed, tightening his grip step by step, and finally placed a piece that decisively defeated the lone piece.

Chen Dao smiled and said, "Old Yue, you lost a bit too quickly today. If it weren't for these unreasonable moves, your chess skills would have improved even further."

Yue Jinshan did not concede defeat, but said, "If I can't save that group of stones, it's because my skill is insufficient, not because that group of stones is doomed. If someone else plays, the result might be different."

Chen Dao said, "That piece of chess shouldn't have existed in the first place. Given the overall situation, how can we stop it?"

Yue Jinshan snorted and said, "If the so-called Mandate of Heaven is truly inviolable, then the Great Li should have lasted for eternity, and there would have been no later dynasties, let alone the Great Tang."

Chen Dao frowned and said, "That's a bit outrageous."

"You guys who spout loyalty and righteousness but are actually pushing Da Tang step by step into the abyss are the real traitors. What am I?"

Chen Dao's face darkened, and he said, "Old Yue, out of camaraderie, I'll pretend I didn't hear what you just said. But if you continue to speak so recklessly and someone overhears you and reports it to the higher authorities, no one can protect you."

Yue Jinshan placed another piece and said, "I am very grateful to you for saving me from the eunuch faction. I owe you a favor. However, when it comes to friendship, it was almost exhausted when you called me over to play this game of chess."

"When two tigers fight, why can't we sit back and reap the benefits?"

Yue Jinshan said, “I can’t argue with you. You always have a bunch of fallacies to spout. I know that the officials in the court have been saying that although Qingming is good, it is not ours. Even if it is broken, it can only have two or three tenths of its original effect. If we take it back, it will still be the boundary stone of my Western Jin.”

"What's wrong with saying that?"

"That's certainly true for the Western Jin Dynasty, but for the Great Tang Dynasty and for the entire human race, the shattering of the Azure Netherworld means that eighty percent of the realm has been lost!"

Chen Dao sighed, "We are, after all, subjects of Jin."

"The loyal ministers of Jin, the treacherous officials of Tang!"

Chen was speechless for a moment.

Yue Jinshan said slowly, "I have spent my whole life on the battlefield, and I was born with a lowly nature. I simply cannot stand by and watch others fight to the death against foreign races."

Yue Jinshan reached out and picked up a white piece from the chessboard, throwing it into the chess box. Without that white piece, the isolated group of stones suddenly came to life.

“Lord Chen, if you just lift your hand slightly, this piece will be alive.”

Chen seemed to be deep in thought, but did not give in.

Yue Jinshan stood up and said slowly, "No piece of chess is destined to die. If a master player plays it, it can live."

As Yue Jinshan pushed open the door and left, Chen Dao knew that the two of them were now drifting further and further apart, just like Yue Jinshan's retreating figure at that moment.
-
Azure Sky.

The battle between the two sides has reached its most brutal stage.

Wei Yuan has retreated to the fifth line of defense, and all the firearms and gunpowder he had accumulated have been exhausted. Now, he is engaged in a bloody melee with the Wu army, with each blow a sword and a spear.

Beneath Xuanwei Six, the aura of the Wu army soldiers vanished at a speed like a floodgate being opened. In the underground passages, Qingming warriors wielded heavy shields nearly half a person's height; two of them could completely block the passages, then fire from above, from the sides, and even from below.

Wei Yuan had charged back and forth on horseback countless times, and he was always the most conspicuous presence on the entire battlefield. No matter where he went, the commander's flag behind him always stood tall.

Holding the commander's flag in one hand and a sword in the other, Xu Yi followed closely behind Wei Yuan. Her mission in this battle was to protect the commander's flag and charge into battle alongside Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan wanted everyone to know where the human race's commander-in-chief was and what he was doing.

Yan Xin watched from afar and sneered, "Fool, as the commander-in-chief, you personally charge into battle? Don't you want to die fast enough?"

A high-ranking shaman nearby said, "My lord, shouldn't we go up too?"

Yan Xin revealed a cruel and bloodthirsty smile, and slowly said, "What's the rush? Let more soldiers die. Only a little over 20% have died so far, which is far from enough. Aren't the tribes under Lord Hongye's rule known as the elite of the world? Even if 30% or 40% die, they shouldn't collapse, right?"

The faces of the high shamans were grim. These warriors were the elite of their tribes, many of whom were destined to become high shamans, but now they lay dead on the battlefield.

A high-ranking shaman suddenly changed his expression, sensing that the casualties among the Xuanwei Sixth Army were exceeding expectations, with more than half of them dead or wounded. He immediately ordered another 5,000 reinforcements to be transferred from the central army.

As soon as the order was given, Yanxin suddenly said, "Add another ten thousand."

"What?" The high shaman wondered if he had misheard. Since the start of the war, Yan Xin had not yet intervened in command.

Yan Xin said, "He placed an elite force underground in the city; it's a dead end. Send more men down, and you can trap and kill that elite force. Oh, and there's a passage leading to the surface. I'll tell you the exit location; just send a troop to guard it." The great shaman quickly went to make arrangements.

Wei Yuan charged out of the witch formation once again, his body covered in witch blood, his warhorse, Qingju, soaked in blood. He saw from afar that the majority of the witch's rear guard had broken away to attack Xuan Wei Liu, and his heart sank.

This time, Wei Yuan deployed a force of 2,000 elite troops underground in Xuanwei Liu, unlike the previous time when most of them were civilians living in the city.

Clearly, the witch clan had discovered the anomaly underground and began to send troops to suppress it. However, they sent too many soldiers; their intention was to exterminate everyone underground.

Fortunately, there was still one last escape route, and Wei Yuan breathed a slight sigh of relief. Although this route was very narrow, only wide enough for two people to walk side by side, and not many people could escape, it was at least a glimmer of hope.

On the northern horizon, the great shamans continued to watch, showing no intention of intervening, as they watched the infantry of both sides fight a bloody battle on the ground.

The bloody battle was originally Wei Yuan's strategy, relying on firearms and the power of the "Instantaneous Beings" to forcibly boost combat strength, exchanging those who were originally only at the initial stage of Body Forging for elite warriors of the Witch Clan. The Great Witches couldn't possibly not see that these people were originally just ordinary people; this was actually a game of exchanging one to ten or even more, and they couldn't help but feel heartbroken.

But now, the great shamans are all unmoved, as if Wei Yuan is the one who should be heartbroken.

Wei Yuan suddenly felt a burning pain in his back, unsure when he had been injured. But he completely ignored the wound, pointed his spear, and charged into the witch formation once more!
Every time Wei Yuan chose the right time and angle to charge, he did so perfectly, which could shake the Wu Clan's formation to the maximum extent and forced the enemy's general flag to move several times.

However, there were simply too many Wu tribesmen; the size of this army was already equivalent to the entire population of Qingming. No matter how many Wei Yuan killed, there would always be more Wu tribesmen ahead.

The battle has raged on for so long, with the Wu tribe suffering over 20,000 casualties and the Qingming tribe less than 10,000. But the battles to come will be a test of willpower and fighting spirit, with no room for luck.

Wei Yuan once again charged out of the witch formation and returned to his own camp. He scanned the area with his divine sense, located Cui Yu, and teleported over.

Cui Yu, covered in blood, was holding a sword and shield, panting heavily as he leaned on the ground. A cultivator was tending to his new wounds.

The two looked at each other and realized that the other had never looked so disheveled, so they burst into laughter. But as soon as they laughed, Cui Yu aggravated his wound, and his face contorted in pain.

Without a word, he took out a pill and swallowed it. This pill was also made by Sun Yu; it could unleash potential, make one impervious to pain, and grant immense strength. This was the third pill Cui Yu had taken since the start of the war, and each one had a shorter effect than the last.

Wei Yuan pointed to the great shamans in the distant sky and asked, "Can you curse them down?"

Cui Yu was taken aback: "The Witch Clan has no shame, how can they insult them?"

Wei Yuan thought for a moment: "They should be under the jurisdiction of a sorcerer named Shu Li, or should we curse Shu Li?"

Cui Yu was in pain all over his body and had absolutely no inspiration: "Giving birth to a child without an anus?"

Wei Yuan pondered, "Do they have that thing?"

"Should we call him a coward for not daring to take action himself, or say he's not a man?"

"He wasn't even human to begin with."

Cui Yu retorted angrily, "If this won't work and that won't work, then you come and yell at me!"

"Forget it, I'll go charge in again." Wei Yuan picked up his spear and charged into the witch formation once more.

In the underground of Xuanwei Six, the guards had been compressed to the lowest level. At this moment, in an empty hall, Yun Feifei was half-naked, and a young master from a noble family was trying to press on the wound on her back. However, the wound was too deep, and no matter how hard he tried to channel his Dao power into it, blood continued to gush out, quickly soaking through the robes pressed against the wound.

Tears welled in his eyes as he looked around anxiously, but all he could see were seriously injured and unable to get up; there was no medicine left.

Yun Feifei groaned in pain, waking from her semi-conscious state. As she regained consciousness and circulated her Dao power, the bleeding decreased significantly. Her first question upon waking was, "How many of us are left?"

The young master from the noble family said, "There were four hundred just now, but now there are probably only three hundred and seventy. Half of them are lying here."

Yun Feifei listened carefully and said, "They really think highly of us, that another ten thousand have come down. You rest here, I'll go kill a few more!"

The young master suddenly asked, "Aren't we leaving?"

Yun Feifei slowly shook her head: "If we retreat, these 10,000 enemies will follow, and then we won't be able to fight them at all."

Looking at Yun Feifei's retreating figure, the young man suddenly mustered his courage and called out, "Sister Feifei, I...I like you! If we survive this battle, I will tell my family and marry you!"

Yun Feifei turned around, looked into the eyes of the young master from a prominent family, and asked softly, "Do you really like me?"

The young man's gaze was firm: "From the first moment I saw you, I liked you! I know you like the Realm Lord, but I'm afraid if I don't speak up now, I'll never have another chance!"

Yun Feifei opened her arms and gently hugged him, whispering in his ear, "If you really like me, then die with me."

Yun Feifei picked up a steel pipe and threw it into the escape tunnel.

The young master watched as the steel pipe rolled into the depths of the passage. Dozens of seriously injured people in the hall were also watching, their eyes filled with calm and determination, and none of them tried to stop it.

With a loud crash, the escape route collapsed.

Yun Feifei's voice rang out from the smoke and dust: "This is my home, I'm not leaving, I'm not going anywhere!"

The earth suddenly trembled, and the entire Xuanwei Sixth City sank by one zhang (approximately 3.3 meters), turning the original city into a deep pit that buried more than 10,000 elite Wu Clan troops from the northern border.

(End of this chapter)