Chapter 1157: The Aged Youth
This iron spear appeared ordinary and unremarkable, no better than Xiao Zhang's own spear.
But a spear capable of wounding the Black Robe was certainly extraordinary.
This was the legendary Weapon Ranking's Frost Remnant Divine Spear, once used by Emperor Taizong.
"In the end, it's all futile. You will surely fail."
Leaving behind these words in a cold, eerie voice, the Black Robe transformed into a mass of black mist and dissipated into the chaotic battlefield.
Xiao Zhang wanted to give chase, but his body swayed twice, nearly collapsing to the ground.
It seemed that the rumors from a few days ago were true—he had indeed attacked Snow Old City riding a kite, and had indeed been severely wounded.
He just didn't know when Shang Xingzhou had picked him up and placed him in the carriage.
"Trading the kite for this spear for ten years—would you say it's a fair trade?"
"Of course it is."
Xiao Zhang stroked the iron spear, his expression somewhat excited.
Being able to hold the Frost Remnant Divine Spear in one's own hands was the dream of every spear user, and he was no exception.
Shang Xingzhou shook his head.
In his view, this was clearly a case of casting pearls before swine.
In fact, he had never believed that anyone in the present era was worthy of wielding the weapon left behind by Emperor Taizong.
But since defeating the demon race was paramount now, and Xiao Zhang was the strongest spear user, he had no choice but to reluctantly let him use it.
Xiao Zhang looked up toward the distant direction where the Black Robe had vanished, and said warily, "I don't think this matter is that simple."
He had hidden in the carriage for several days without revealing a single clue, biding his time, and even with the power of the Frost Remnant Divine Spear, he still couldn't kill the Black Robe. This was partly due to the severe injuries he had sustained earlier, and partly because the Black Robe's strength was too great, but there was another possibility—that the Black Robe had never gone all out from the very beginning.
"The demon race truly wants me dead, even if it's just a few dozen days earlier. But that's not important enough to make them leave the city and force a decisive battle ahead of time."
Shang Xingzhou said calmly.
His vision was deeper—or rather, more thorough—than Xiao Zhang's.
The demon race had launched their decisive battle early to create a scene of chaos on the plains. The chaos was meant to conceal their true intention, which now appeared to be assassinating him. But could the demon race have had a more comprehensive plan from the start—if the assassination failed, they would treat this as a diversionary tactic?
If that were truly the case, then what was the demon race's real killing move?
Shang Xingzhou turned and looked south.
...
...
For war, the most important thing was, of course, logistics.
And the most important part of logistics was food supplies.
If weapons were destroyed, one could rely on manpower to storm the enemy. If the Holy Light Crossbows were gone, ordinary arrows could still be used. In the most desperate moments, courage and willpower often played a crucial role. But without food supplies, how could one fight when weak from hunger? How could the Dragon Stallion horses even stand, let alone march? And charging would be out of the question.
The Great Zhou Dynasty placed great importance on logistics, especially for this war. Preparations for related supplies had been ongoing for a full ten years. If you counted the Seventeen Fortress Villages and the granaries north of Tianliang County, these preparations could be traced back even further, to the era of the Heavenly Sea Holy Empress and the previous emperor, and many strategies had even been set during Emperor Taizong's reign.
Gathering and preparing food supplies was an extremely difficult task, but transporting them was even more difficult and dangerous. As the war continued and the human army achieved successive victories, an increasing portion of the supply route lay within demon territory, where they could encounter harassment or even large-scale ambushes at any time.
For the sake of safety and efficiency, the scale of the human army's supply convoys grew larger and larger, with more and more cultivator experts accompanying them. The most important transport missions even received personal escort from Saint Realm powerhouses. Mao Qiuyu had traveled back and forth between the north and south several times.
Now that the war had entered its latter stages, Mao Qiuyu was severely wounded and had returned to Cold Mountain to recover. Huai Ren Daoist, the leader of Li Mountain, and Prince Xiang were also too injured to fight. Wang Po had to keep an eye on the Demon General, and even though his wounds hadn't healed, he couldn't leave Snow Old City for a single step, leaving no room to focus on this matter. Fortunately, the demon race was in even worse shape. Since the war began, three Saint Realm experts had fallen, and key figures like the Demon General and the Black Robe, including the Second Demon General and other powerhouses, simply couldn't leave Snow Old City, so it was still relatively safe.
"The court's affairs are led by the Ministry of Revenue, and most of the southern goods are prepared by the Tang family and the Muzhe family. I don't understand why the Qiu Shan family is so anxious."
The grain transport officer frowned as he looked at a carriage at the front of the convoy.
The head of the Qiu Shan family and that legendary half-step Saint Realm retainer were inside that carriage, putting immense pressure on the entire team.
A subordinate officer said, "Everyone knows that the Qiu Shan family head dotes on his son like crazy. If he's putting in this much effort, it must have something to do with Qiu Shan Jun."
The grain transport officer thought of the rumors and said with a hint of mockery, "So he wants to restore Li Mountain's honor."
This referred to the northern expedition war many years ago.
The Li Mountain Sword Sect disciples responsible for transporting supplies had been delayed for some reason, and Jin Yulu had nearly beheaded them on the spot. No one's pleas could sway him.
In the end, the then-leader of the Li Mountain Sword Sect had to use the complete Li Mountain Sword Technique to move the White Emperor to intervene, saving the lives of those disciples, including Xiao Song Gong.
Xiao Song Gong's later execution during Li Mountain's internal strife was a separate matter.
For the Li Mountain Sword Sect, this was arguably the only stain on their reputation in the memory of the world—if you didn't count Su Li.
Now that the Li Mountain Sword Sect was led by Qiu Shan Jun, the True Dragon's Son, who had been somewhat subdued in recent years, naturally wanted to use this war to erase that stain. Perhaps that was why the Qiu Shan family was so proactive, agreeing to every request from the court and even voluntarily joining the northern expedition.
"It's not just about honor."
The subordinate officer said, "I heard that Lord Jin Yulu himself said that if this matter is handled properly, he would return the complete sword technique to Li Mountain after the war."
The grain transport officer was stunned for a moment, then said with some envy, "That's too simple."
If anyone else had said this, he might not have believed it, but since it came from Jin Yulu's own mouth, he had to believe it.
After the war began, the demon race's reinforcements had left Congzhou and then wandered around on that grassland, never reaching the battlefield. The Great Zhou court and the public were already furious and highly dissatisfied, but no one had any complaints or doubts about Jin Yulu.
This was the prestige built by history, and also because he still played an extremely important role in this war.
All matters related to the army's logistics and supplies were now handled by Jin Yulu, big or small, all decided by him alone.
This was the privilege and trust given to him by the Great Zhou Emperor and the Pope, but it was also an incredibly heavy pressure.
Several hundred officers from the Ministry of War, veteran officials from the Ministry of Revenue, accountants from the Tang family, financial secretaries from the Wu family, plus the two servants he had brought from White Emperor City, and his deputy Tang Thirty-Six—these were all his subordinates, helping him share the burden.
Now, many of those veteran officials and accountants had collapsed from exhaustion, and Tang Thirty-Six had a high fever that wouldn't go down, so he had been sent to Cold Mountain.
Jin Yulu had become nothing but skin and bones, but he still persisted.
He had earned the awe of all the soldiers.
And "awe" included an element of fear.
The grain transport officer looked at the mountain range in the distance across the plain, his body trembling slightly, silently hoping that nothing would go wrong.
This convoy's grain carts could at least supply the frontline soldiers for twenty days, making it a very important supply run. It consisted of thirty thousand civilian laborers and several thousand large carts, stretching for dozens of miles from end to end, a truly magnificent sight. With three thousand cavalry and the Qiu Shan family's experts escorting them, there was no need to worry about harassment from scattered demon troops, nor the danger of a supply raid. But the road was long, and who knew what might happen? If they were even a day late, never mind the death penalty, the military rod was no easy punishment either.
Just then, a general rode up to the Qiu Shan family head's carriage and whispered a few words. A moment later, the Qiu Shan family head's low voice came from inside the carriage, followed by shouts echoing around them. The Qiu Shan family's stewards and guards turned serious, and the convoy picked up speed. The clatter of hooves grew dense, like a sudden downpour, as cavalrymen repeatedly overtook the supply train, heading toward the distant plain, scouting while also clearing the path.
"It looks like we'll pass through Norilang before dark."
That grain transport officer raised his horsewhip, pointing at the mountain range on the distant plain. "Then we'll see Star Gorge tomorrow."
...
...
From the plain, it looked like a mountain range standing beneath the sky.
From the sky, it looked like five mountain ranges lined up one after another across the plain.
Norilang was the highest peak among these mountains. Both the demon race and the human race habitually used the name Norilang to refer to this entire mountain range.
No one expected that, hidden within a cliff peak on the western slope, there were actually over a thousand demon wolf cavalry.
The bloodthirsty giant wolves, with their rotting fur, opened their mouths, emitting a foul stench. The gaunt demon cavalrymen's eyes burned with a faint green light.
But whether it was these fierce, untamable bloodthirsty giant wolves or the demon cavalrymen, they all maintained absolute silence, not making a single sound.
The wolf cavalry leader looked very young, his face even somewhat youthful, as if he were still a boy.
But his eyes were incredibly aged, as if he had seen all the world's affairs and endured countless sufferings.
"Burn all their grain to ashes."
He looked at the wolf cavalry and said calmly, "Then die in the final charge."