A Scroll of Infinite Glory

Chapter 243 First Meeting, Dongfeng Pays Respects at the Camp

Chen Xizhen's certainty that someone would attack the camp tonight was not without reason.

As the saying goes, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated." In any war, spying on the enemy is a crucial step.

For the Liangshan rebels, before committing all their forces to a decisive battle, they definitely needed to conduct some probing before deciding on their next move.

Therefore, tonight's attack is not aimed at achieving a decisive victory, but rather at probing how many noteworthy generals are in the army, and how many experts are among the Taoist priests.

Of the 100,000 troops, which parts have high morale and strict discipline? Which parts have low morale and are easily breached?

Besides the common archers, infantry, cavalry, and naval forces, what other special types of troops are there?

During the raid, there will definitely be skilled individuals spying from afar, striving to gather this information, but...

"If someone really attacks the camp tonight, at most we can only find out a quarter of the experts in the army."

Guan Sheng and Hu Yanzhuo were chatting idly in a military tent.

Guan Sheng was praising him slightly: "Chen Daozi is indeed very good at leading troops and fighting battles. The array he set up is based on the eight directions, occupying the eight qi of heaven, earth, water, fire, wind, thunder, mountains and marshes. Each of the two can form a hexagram."

"The generals in these two positions are fixed, but their subordinates are constantly changing, providing the commanders with a continuous supply of the eight demonic energies."

"The generals in the other six positions remain still and hidden, but their troops have already moved. Their demonic cultivation can subtly correspond to this, completely misleading the outside world's perception of the military camp."

Hu Yanzhuo nodded repeatedly and said, "However, Liangshan was able to achieve such great victories with a weaker force, successively eliminating Yan Shude, Yun Tianbiao, and Liu Yongxi. Their leader must also be a person who is both literate and martial, and is full of strategy."

"If General Guan were to guess how to arrange today's raid on the camp to gather the full details without suffering too many losses among his elite troops?"

Both of them were seasoned generals skilled in leading troops into battle. During the reign of Emperor Daojun, they were already outstanding local generals. After joining Han Shizhong's command, they often engaged in adversarial simulations, exchanging ideas and improving their skills.

Seeing Chen Xizhen's arrangement now, I admire it, but I can't help but feel competitive. I unconsciously put myself in the enemy's shoes and think about how to find a weakness.

Guan Sheng frowned, deep in thought. The flickering candlelight cast subtle shadows on his face. After a long while, he finally relaxed and said, "I do have a plan..."

Huyan Zhuo was eagerly awaiting his insightful opinion, but seeing him stop mid-sentence, he grew impatient: "What scheme is it?"

Guan Sheng shook his head: "This plan won't work either. I only managed to find this flaw because I already knew Chen Xizhen's entire plan. The Liangshan people had no idea about Chen Xizhen's scheme, so how could they have thought of this?"

Huyan Zhuo couldn't think of any good plan either. He sighed and said, "It seems that Liangshan is bound to lose a force tonight. The mission of reconnaissance is of great importance and will definitely require a fierce general to lead it. I wonder if it will be Shi Xiu, Lin Chong, or Lu Da and Wu Song who will be the unfortunate ones."

Guan Sheng said worriedly, "The leader of Liangshan has always led from the front in several battles. I'm afraid it's him who is personally taking action."

With 100,000 elite demonic soldiers, 32 top-tier generals, six Dao officials and their sorcerers, and three indestructible Golden Core cultivators, this lineup could put up a fight even against someone on the verge of ascension.

Even if Guan Luoyang is overestimated, once he ventures deep into this camp alone, he will definitely be trapped. If the Liangshan troops come to his rescue, they will have to engage in a decisive battle with the imperial army in a hurry.

That situation would be like trying to meet a cold, sharp knife with your warm chest and ribs; in the end, it would only be a waste of your passion, spilled in the cold night.

Before Guan Sheng and his men arrived, Han Shizhong had secretly instructed them to protect as many people as possible from Liangshan, as they were naturally unwilling to witness such a tragedy.

The two waited until the night was deep, filled with unspoken worries.

Just after midnight, the starlight and moonlight in the sky were obscured.

On the vast land, birds, beasts, and poisonous insects within a radius of fifty miles had long been frightened away by the imposing aura of the 100,000 elite demonic soldiers. No chirping of insects or birds could be heard nearby, only the uniform footsteps of the patrolling soldiers and the clattering sound of their armor plates.

Inside the imperial army's camp, the fire in the iron pot was burning brightly, and groups of soldiers were on night watch with torches in hand. The gray-white tent cloths were tinged with yellow by the firelight, but even with so many flames, they could only illuminate this military camp.

If they looked up at the sky, all they could see was boundless darkness, with no discernible height or distance.

If they looked beyond the military camp, they could only see things within a hundred feet at most. Beyond that, the shadows of the mountains and forests stood like silent black paper cutouts at the edge of their vision, without a trace of detail.

The wind whistled softly among the soldiers' armor, subtly altering the solemn atmosphere of the military camp.

Soon, someone recognized that it was a gust of wind blowing from the east. However, such a wind was easily blocked and cut off by the high fences and towering watchtowers at the edge of the military camp.

Once inside the military camp, the wind was easily compressed into a flat, weak gust by the tents, forcing us to walk around them and causing the flames of the soldiers' torches to shift slightly.

Even the heavy banners remained hanging limply, ignoring the slightest breeze.

The wind seemed to be enraged.

The wind was getting louder and louder, and it was all blowing from the east.

Finally, the torch began to sway violently, and the flag was blown open.

In the dark sky, although everything was blurry, large clouds could be vaguely seen being blown by the wind, moving and slowly rolling.

All the generals in the camp remained firmly in their positions, scoffing at the strange wind.

There was no need for these top-notch generals to lift a finger. The minor officers and lieutenants simply rallied their soldiers, who then used their internal energy to create an invisible, impenetrable barrier around the army camp, easily repelling the strange wind.

The strong winds from the east refused to give up. No matter how fiercely the howling air currents blew, they could only repeatedly crash against the eastern camp, breaking apart and swirling back, forming sand and dust vortexes outside the camp gates, all in vain.

The flag officers and soldiers guarding the east side exchanged glances, their faces revealing tacitly arrogant smiles.

The sorcerers and charlatans in the countryside might be able to deal with small groups of soldiers, a thousand or eight hundred people, but to think they could shake an army of one hundred thousand is simply a pipe dream!

When those ignorant sorcerers hiding in the shadows run out of magic power and find that they can't even budge a few small fry, their expressions will surely be hilarious.

As they gazed at the silent mountain shadows in the distance, imagining the expressions on the faces of the demons lurking in some direction, their smiles deepened.

Where are they hiding?

Is it on the mountain peak to the southeast, on the mountainside to the northeast, or in the valley of the northernmost mountain?

Or is it that low mountain to the east?

Among the mountains, the one to the east is the shortest.

Even the lowest-ranking soldier on night watch could probably run from the foot of such a mountain to the top in just two or three breaths and trample the mountain under his feet.

The soldiers on duty scanned the area, and after a while, they were fairly certain that the wind was coming from the low hill to the east.

The wind was still picking up, but it still couldn't get into the camp. It just stirred up more and more sand and dust outside the gate, obstructing people's vision. Looking through these sand and dust swirles, the low mountain seemed to have grown taller.

The flag officer rubbed his eyes, focusing 50% of his power into them, and his vision immediately became clear, his eyesight greatly improved.

I wasn't mistaken, the mountain really did get a bit taller.

Hmm, it's gotten higher again?

It's even higher!

It's even higher!!!

The soldiers on the east side of the camp stared blankly at the scene before them.

The mountain grew taller and taller, increasing more than tenfold in an instant, and becoming so large that it blocked out the shadows of the surrounding mountains and filled the entire field of vision.

The mountain was growing faster and faster. The wind outside the camp sounded like the howling of hundreds of wild beasts, and the ground outside the camp was cracked in patches. The fence, which was several meters high, was also shaking.

The seemingly impregnable protective barrier began to show some signs of disturbance.

Finally, the flag officers and guards struck the scorching drum and blew the iron whistle. Once the triangular command flags on their backs were pulled out and waved in the air, a dazzling firework exploded.

From the east of this military camp, which stretched for more than ten miles, five hundred dazzling fireworks rose one after another.

The garrison commander on the due east side, General Haransen, carrying a bronze unicorn, stepped out of his tent.

"Good timing, you dared to choose this location..."

Harlan's grand and heroic voice came to an abrupt halt. What came from the east was not the enemy army he had imagined, but a mountain, a mountain peak that was constantly growing larger.

Wang Tianba, the Demon-Slaying Immortal guarding the southeast, flew into the air in horror, slapped the top of his head, and a golden light shot out from his skull.

The golden light formed a large golden eyeball about three zhang in diameter, which slowly rose up, its pupils clearly defined, and scanned the mountain peak from top to bottom.

The mountain peak wouldn't actually grow bigger; the reason it gives the impression of growing enormously is because it's approaching the military camp.

In just a few breaths, the mountain had moved from five miles east of the military camp to a hundred feet away.

That resounding east wind was not some strange wind created by the magic of the Liangshan Taoist.

It was a completely natural phenomenon. As the mountain approached, it generated an enormous airflow that forced the air towards the military camp.

A gentle, natural east wind, without any magical influence...

Your mother!

Wang Tianba almost cursed aloud, for the golden eyeball above his head had locked onto the bottom of the mountain, where someone was running at full speed.

Wang Tianba had seen that person's portrait.

—The leader of Liangshan Marsh, a traitorous Taoist priest from Guanluoyang, came carrying a mountain!

"Brothers, come quickly to our rescue!!!"

The fierce roars of Halansheng and Wang Tianba echoed throughout the entire military camp.

In the blink of an eye, the mountain peak crashed into the Song soldiers' camp.

"Hahaha, Liangshan Pass and Luoyang, I've come to pay a visit. Please accept this small gift."

Halanshan and Wang Tianba were the first to be affected.

Harlansheng mobilized the demonic energy of his troops, which suddenly erupted. While the rest of his body appeared normal, his right arm suddenly extended thirty feet, growing thicker from his shoulder to his forearm.

The palm had swelled to the size of half an acre, and the once domineering and majestic unicorn bronze man had become an inconspicuous little object in the center of this palm.

The palm struck the mountain peak, leaving a deep dent. Immediately, large plumes of blood mist burst from the five fingers, and the arm broke.

Harlansheng soared through the air, but like a tiny insect, he was crushed by the mountain and continued crashing into the military camp.

Wang Tianba fled, not daring to block him head-on.

From the central command tent in the distance, Chen Xizhen roared, and a purple beam of light as thick as a man's waist shot into the sky.

The elegantly designed Longhu Mountain Demon-Slaying Sword, located at the tip of the purple light, guided the pillar of light, transforming into a purple phoenix, trailing five long feathers, as it crashed into the mountain peak.

The mountain was struck with such a heavy force that numerous cracks burst forth from the middle, showing signs of breaking, but it was still tilting toward the military camp.

Chen Xizhen couldn't care less about any secret plans for the moment. The tiger tally and command flags, representing the commander-in-chief's authority, shook repeatedly as he issued military orders.

The generals stationed in various locations all wore tokens that corresponded to each other.

However, before the military order even arrived, some people who were on good terms with Halansheng and Wang Tianba had already taken action.

All that could be seen was a raging torrent of turbid air, which dispersed into hundreds of strange phenomena resembling black water. These phenomena were controlled by divine generals and their auras, and they attacked one after another, crashing towards the mountain peak.

When viewed from a distance, the mountain seems insignificant, easily climbed, and its entire peak can be trampled underfoot and subdued.

But when this mountain also comes to conquer people's hearts, its true terror is revealed.

Although the massive mountain was repeatedly blasted apart, even a small portion of its remains still far surpassed the destructive power of a barrage of artillery fire.

Moreover, all the mountain debris is still within the military camp's perimeter.

Guan Sheng, Hu Yanzhuo, and others also made their moves.

Liu Hunkang now held a jade ruler in his hand, floating in mid-air. With a flick of his finger, at least one-seventh of the mountain debris began to shrink under the jade light, from the original boulders and mudflows to only fist-sized pieces of rubble.

Wang Laozhi unleashed divine fire from his palms, instantly turning millions of pounds of earth and stone into smoke and fire. As more and more earth and stone were refined by him, black smoke billowed up.

Another flying sword came from behind Chen Xizhen, stirring up a lot of soil and rocks, which gathered into three black smoke dragons swirling with flames. They were ferocious and menacing, baring their fangs and claws, and pounced towards the location of the man who had carried the mountain earlier.

The place was now deserted.

Even though the sword is drawn, and its light is sharp.

Chen Xizhen's face was ashen. All the experts in the military camp had made their moves, and Liangshan had not lost a single soldier; his plan had already come to naught.

"How could someone who has never ascended to immortality possess such profound skill?!"

He didn't say those words aloud. He calmed himself down, and when the others met with him, no one knew what he was thinking.

"Hahaha, the Liangshan bandits are indeed cunning, but no matter how many tricks they use to move mountains, they still cannot shake the very foundation of my camp."

After comforting Harlansen and laughing as he reassured the other soldiers, Chen Xizhen calmly returned to his tent alone.

About half an hour later, the clouds in the sky began to churn.

Another small hill appeared, then fell down.

This time, the mountain was much smaller than the previous one, and since everyone was already prepared, they quickly moved and shattered it.

Chen Xizhen's expression remained indifferent.

Another half hour passed, and another small mountain peak came crashing down. He was furious and drew two swords at the same time, unleashing their full power and shattering the small mountain peak.

"Again! Everyone's already gone..."

He gritted his teeth, preventing himself from saying those words.

In the early hours of the morning, in the darkness before dawn, the clouds in the sky moved slightly. Suddenly, two sword lights flew into the clouds and swept through them.

In the military camp, the two swords were sheathed, and everyone turned to look at them.

Chen Xizhen paused for a moment, then said, "This time it's just mist."

(End of this chapter)