Devouring Evil Martial Arts, Eliminating Demons from All Heavens

Chapter 488 Water Demon's Bloody Conquest of the Nation

According to the white ape's account.

The so-called water demon mainly consists of three parts.

First, there were the large number of monkey spirits under the command of the Mirror Ape; second, there were the many sea monsters that the White Ape had subdued while active in the deep sea.

These sea monsters originally had their own deity, the "Nether Sea Skull Bell," which they worshipped.

That demon was a formidable being among the gods, and its worship in the deep sea had continued for thousands of years.

Furthermore, the influence of spirits and deities has caused the organ structures and external outlines of many deep-sea creatures to naturally resemble an altar for communicating with a "skull bell".

These enormous but unintelligent sea monsters could be considered to have performed a sacrifice by engaging in large-scale feeding and mating activities without going through too many complicated steps.

However, being less intelligent ultimately puts one at a disadvantage.

Over thousands of years, the white ape clan tamed these sea monsters, turning them into powerful weapons in their military campaigns.

When necessary, they can even persuade some sea monsters to sacrifice themselves to the "Nether Sea Skull Bell" in exchange for a powerful offensive.

It could be said that they were using these sea monsters as tools.

The "Netherworld Skull Bell," which operates according to its instinctive authority, has no objection to this.

After these monsters were domesticated, they reproduced generation after generation, selecting the best of the best, and their rituals became far more efficient than when they were wild.

The "Netherworld Skull Bell" has to thank the white ape.

As for the third part of the water demons, it comes from the Yushan Ghost Mother clan of the South China Sea.

The Ghost Mother clan sent a small number of people, but they were all elites and experts.

More than a month ago, it was the powerful members of the Ghost Mother clan who spearheaded a grand military sacrifice in the deep zone.

The power manifested by the three great ghost gods—the Ghost Mother of Yushan, the Mirror Ape of Enemy Gods, and the Skull Bell of the Underworld Sea—shaken the mist in one fell swoop.

This allowed the water demon army to enter the shallow sea area and invade the land of Changzhou Kingdom without any hindrance.

For the first ten days or so, the water demon army advanced triumphantly, pushing forward for hundreds of miles.

Wherever their troops went, they were almost invincible.

Although the thirty-six battalions of Huotangwei were the most widely distributed soldiers, they also had deep connections with clansmen in various places, and responded enthusiastically to any call to arms.

Unfortunately, they are not usually authorized to mobilize high-level weaponry.

The long spears that train soldiers carry, capable of unleashing wind blades, were something the Fire Pit Guards were not previously qualified to use.

In terms of individual strength, they had been at peace for a long time, and they were no match for the army of water monsters honed by the environment of the deep sea.

It wasn't until the two palace guards who ruled Changju Kingdom finally distributed weapons on a large scale.

Those strategically important military locations capable of producing Ironclad Thunder and Fierce Falcon Thunder were put into use.

The momentum of the water demon army, which charged straight in like an arrow, was finally contained, thwarted, and pushed back.

The current battlefield is mainly a tug-of-war along the coast.

"The two palaces are divided into the Heavenly King Palace and the Earthly Beam Palace. The former is mainly in charge of the evaluation of civil and military officials in Changzhou Kingdom, while the latter is mainly in charge of tax laws."

"The highest authority in the two palaces is the Heavenly Official and the Earthly Minister. Under these two, there are several ministers assisting in governance."

Bai He said, "That monkey also revealed an important piece of information."

"The leader of the Ghost Mother clan once launched a surprise attack on the two palaces, killing several academy heads and severely injuring the Fangfeng clan's Heavenly Official."

"However, that commander was used to living in the deep zone, while Changzhou Kingdom is in the shallow zone. He would be uncomfortable fighting up here. Fangfeng Clan's Heavenly Official also relied on the terrain to put up a stubborn resistance, which is why we were able to defeat him."

To maintain morale, this news was strictly kept under wraps within Cheung Chau.

The white apes were dispatched to smuggle themselves across the waterways, disrupt the transport of war supplies in various locations, and also spread this information.

However, the Fangfeng clan denounced it as a rumor, and the Tiandi Palace sent people to dispel the rumors, reorganize the military, and maintain morale.

The white ape was inherently violent, and those who infiltrated were all highly skilled warriors.

Most of them are like the white ape that attacked the train, relying on their superior strength, so they are too lazy to spread those messages and focus on destroying warehouses and trains in various places.

"The Heavenly and Earthly Palaces, the Three Great Ghosts and Gods..."

After listening to the telepathic message, Chu Tianshu gained a rough understanding of the current situation.

It turns out that more than a month ago, the fog of unrest spread outwards.

It was actually caused by the fact that the tribes of the three great demons wanted to attack Changzhou Kingdom.

If that's the case, then this fog doesn't seem to be the work of the three great demons.

Was that the work of the two palaces? Probably not. They created a fog that enveloped the entire country.

If the Fangfeng clan of the Heaven and Earth Palaces had possessed such technology nearly a hundred years ago, they wouldn't have been caught off guard and unable to react in the early stages of the war.

They were then ambushed by a commander of the Yushan tribe, suffering heavy losses.

At this point, the mountain-climbing centipede was progressing more and more smoothly on the railway tracks.

The initial roaring noise of the train as it set off transformed into a steady, low-pitched tremor.

The soldiers' chanting inside the carriage immediately decreased by two-thirds.

It seems that they take turns chanting the incantation; once they enter normal driving mode, not everyone chants the incantation at the same time.

Inside the car, Fang Zhen stopped chanting incantations, closed his eyes slightly, placed one hand on his chest, and slowly calmed his breathing.

Fang Liang shoveled two more shovelfuls of fuel into the boiler, straightened up, leaned on the shovel with one hand, and wiped the sweat from his face.

His face was flushed, and he was full of energy. He seemed to be in better spirits than Fang Zhen, and he smiled as he struck up a conversation.

“My lord, this time we are going to the 18th Battalion of Huotangwei. It’s a great place.”

"The old man Feng Baili, who pioneered shallow-sea bull turtle farming and the technology of using fire pits to synthesize feed, is living there in his old age."

“Because of his reputation, many young people used to go there to study, and itinerant merchants would go there to buy feed for shallow-sea aquaculture. Once word spread, the price they got from reselling the feed was higher than that of feed produced elsewhere, and it sold out quickly.”

Fang Liang speaks clearly and fluently.

"Now that everyone is rich, they simply buy houses and land in the Eighteenth Camp area. Restaurants are also more common there. Football, polo, and all sorts of entertainment from the entertainment districts are flocking there."

"Don't laugh at me, my brother, but we brothers used to run this route all the time. Every time we stopped at the Eighteenth Camp, we would go out for a short walk. It was so pleasant to look around, and we felt refreshed and full of energy."

Fang Xun also spoke up, saying, "The seventeenth, nineteenth, and twentieth camps were ravaged by water demons before. The people of these three camps fled to the eighteenth camp with their families."

"Several battalions joined forces and weathered the most difficult period. Now, although things are somewhat different from before, the area is just as lively as in previous years."

Chu Tianshu's heart skipped a beat: "The 19th Battalion was ravaged by the water demon, what happened to the fire pit guards there?"

Fang Xun sighed and said, "I heard the losses were considerable. Although the Fire Pit Guard of the 19th Battalion originally had more than 10,000 men, most of them were only engaged in breeding, delivering goods, repairing fire pits, and maintaining railway tracks."

"There is only one thousand-man squad that has truly undergone years of rigorous training."

"When they were fleeing to the Eighteenth Camp with their local tribesmen, they were chased by several groups of water apes. It was a terrible ordeal!"

Fang asked, "Does the young master have any acquaintances in the Nineteenth Battalion?"

"We're not that close."

Chu Tianshu brushed it off casually, but secretly pondered it in his heart.

As the conversation progressed, Fang Liang became somewhat lost in thought, his gaze fixed on the distance.

“Originally, we brothers planned to save up for a few years and move our homes to the Eighteenth Camp. Although the Eighteenth Camp has never been breached and is still lively, we don’t dare to go there anymore.”

"That area... is too close to the battlefield!"

After he finished speaking, the three carriage drivers fell silent, looking preoccupied.

Don't be fooled by their previous reckless, all-or-nothing attitude when facing that white ape.

That's because the white ape's brutality had already deeply penetrated people's hearts in a short period of time at the beginning of the war.

The Fong Fung clan of Cheung Chau has a long history, having lived here for a very long time. Their ancient records also contain many accounts of the deep sea.

However, over thousands of years, the spirit world and reality have been too far apart, and the shallow and deep areas within the spirit world have become increasingly distinct.

At that time, from the shallow sea to the deep sea, it was a huge, dark, bottomless cliff.

The Fangfeng clan is highly accomplished, yet they have never had any dealings with deep-sea races.

At the beginning of the war, some coastal tribes discovered that the white apes understood their language and seemed to be able to communicate with them, and wondered if it was a misunderstanding.

However, the white apes gave them no chance to negotiate, blatantly revealing the vast differences in their clan customs.

Those monsters even had a habit of searching for a piece of flesh resembling a pine cone inside the heads of the Windward Clan members and swallowing it.

Therefore, when cleaning up the battlefield, they would pry open the skulls of the Windward Clan members one by one.

Those low-IQ sea monsters, at most, swallowed the Fangfeng clan members whole when they ate them.

It's not as bloody as the white ape.

It's impossible to say that you're completely fearless in the face of such an enemy.

Even the wagon handlers who had never participated in the war had this mentality, and they didn't know what the Eighteenth Battalion, a place truly close to the front line, looked like now.

(End of this chapter)