Chapter 1162: In Everyone's Heart There Is a Fire
Some time ago, Xiao Zhang had suffered two very severe injuries, and the ambush of the black-robed figure in the carriage had worsened his condition. This time, riding the kite to pursue and kill the Demon Commander was also a great strain. But the will and determination with which he thrust his spear were anything but strained—they carried an unstoppable momentum and an extremely fierce ruthlessness.
With a muffled *puh* sound, a bloody hole appeared in the Demon Commander's armor, and the bright gemstone shattered into icy shards.
He let out an angry, sharp howl, his right hand flipping over as his blade fell like a crescent moon, striking Xiao Zhang's shoulder.
Xiao Zhang landed on the ground, the white paper on his face soaked through with blood, and his arrogant, triumphant laughter emerged from beneath it.
He felt as if every bone in his body was about to shatter, the pain immense, but even greater was the exhilaration.
He was certain that no matter how powerful the Demon Commander was, he would have no strength to fight again in the short term. More importantly, he had fulfilled his promise to Shang Xingzhou.
He had delivered that painting to Snow Old City.
The demon wolf cavalry on the plain charged toward Xiao Zhang, the figure of the Second Demon General clearly visible among them. Just as everyone thought Xiao Zhang would die in the next moment, two brilliantly beautiful sword lights flashed, one after the other, then merged together into a gorgeous rainbow.
The kite crashed into the city gate, and the painting of the Burning of the Temple of Shambhala also drifted down onto the gate. Bathed in the setting sun, it suddenly burst into fierce flames.
The raging fire cascaded down the city gate like a waterfall, a spectacular sight.
The rainbow formed by the sword light forced back the Second Demon General and the wolf cavalry, while also fanning the fiery waterfall even more violently.
This great fire burned for a very long time, with more than a dozen explosions occurring in the middle. No matter what methods the demon soldiers used, they could not extinguish it.
From dusk until late into the night, the gate of Snow Old City continued to burn, looking like an immensely huge wall of fire.
That night, many lives could not sleep. The fleeing demon soldiers and the human cavalry tasked with pursuing them naturally could not rest, and neither could those inside or outside Snow Old City.
Old Master Tang and Shang Xingzhou stood on that small hillside, silently watching that wall of fire in the distance for an entire night, as if it were the most beautiful sight in the world.
Perhaps they were thinking of the Siege of Luoyang, of the Temple of Shambhala burned to ashes back then, or perhaps they were thinking of nothing at all.
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At dawn, the great fire finally began to die down.
The city gate had been burned down to just a few frames, its outline barely visible. Most of it had turned into true ashes, no longer able to block the enemy.
No one knew what secret lay hidden within that painting of the Burning of the Temple of Shambhala, why it had burned so fiercely. They only vaguely guessed it had something to do with the Tang family.
The entire battle strategy, however, should have come from Shang Xingzhou's hand, or perhaps also from Wang Zhice's.
When you want to do something and have been thinking about it for hundreds of years, the method you come up with is bound to be terrifying.
This was exactly why, back in Wenshui City, looking at the empty streets and that dog, Chen Changsheng had reached that conclusion.
Old people are truly terrifying.
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The greatest obstacle to entering Snow Old City had vanished. Yet on the morning of the second day, the human army did not take advantage of the situation to attack the city. Instead, they mobilized all their catapults and ballistae, aimed them at the now-vanished gate, and fired bolts and stones from time to time to prevent the demon defenders from repairing it.
The human army's casualties were also very heavy. Xiao Zhang remained unconscious. Even Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong were injured, unable to fight at full strength for a short time and needing a period of rest. Moreover, the two demon reinforcement armies that had traveled from afar also needed a breather.
In the main command tent, Chen Changsheng received the commanding generals of the demon reinforcements, only to find they were all acquaintances. The commander of the first demon reinforcement army was the chieftain of the scholar clan, with Xiao De as the main combatant. The commander of the other demon reinforcement army was the chieftain of the bear clan, but he did not see Xuan Yuan Po, which he found somewhat strange.
That afternoon, more detailed battle reports were delivered to the tent. After reading them, Archbishop An Lin was silent for a moment, then said, "The man-bear clan will be wiped out."
To distinguish them from the bear clan of the Red River basin, the bear clan of the snowy plains were often called the man-bear clan. Whether due to excessive interbreeding or their long history of trade, many spies had emerged from the man-bear clan. Years ago, when Chen Changsheng returned south with Su Li, and during Xiao Zhang's recent return, they had both been betrayed by man-bear clan spies.
Both the Great Zhou Dynasty and White Emperor City harbored a deep hatred for the man-bear clan. If they hadn't still needed the man-bear clan to keep tabs on demon movements, they might have dealt with them long ago. Now that the entire war situation was settled, the man-bear clan naturally had no good outcome.
Chen Changsheng understood that Archbishop An Lin was somewhat reluctant and wanted him to issue a pardon, but after thinking it over, he did not respond.
Because of his silence, Archbishop An Lin sighed and said, "The wolf clan chieftain and elders wish to pay their respects to you, but their rank is insufficient."
In this war, the most outstanding and meritorious among the demon army were not the scholar clan, known for their bravery and strength, nor the bear clan, famous for their ferocity and love of battle, but the wolf clan, which had always kept a low profile and rarely fought on the front lines.
Especially half a month ago, when the wolf clan was tasked with ambushing demon reinforcements from Lelang Commandery, they encountered a thousand wolf cavalry. The battle was extremely brutal. If the wolf clan hadn't fought desperately and paid a terrible price to annihilate that wolf cavalry unit, the enemy would have broken through, alerting the demons to the presence of the demon reinforcements.
Although, at Zhe Xiu's request, Chen Changsheng had given the wolf clan a portion of the Xiuling tribe's grasslands, whenever he thought of the pitiful image of Zhe Xiu being driven out of the tribe by the wolf clan elders as a child, wandering through wind and snow, he still felt some anger toward the wolf clan, especially its upper echelons.
Today, in consideration of the wolf clan's military merits, he agreed to receive their chieftain and elders, but he did not intend to give them much time.
The wolf clan chieftain and elders entered the tent and, without a word, knelt down, appearing extremely devout.
When they raised their heads, Chen Changsheng was stunned, not only because their eyes were very sincere, but also because they were very young.
How could the wolf clan's chieftain and elders be so young?
Where did that heartfelt affection and respect come from? Was it just because they knew the grasslands the wolf clan now possessed were granted by Chen Changsheng?
Chen Changsheng studied the chieftain and elders, observing their attire, and suddenly understood the answers to these questions.
In the early autumn weather of Snow Old City, it was already somewhat cold. The wolf clan chieftain and elders were still dressed very thinly, and their sleeves and pant legs were especially cut very short.
Many years ago, when Chen Changsheng first saw Zhe Xiu under the morning sun outside the Li Palace, he had looked just like this.
He then realized what kind of influence Zhe Xiu had over the wolf clan.
The current wolf clan might have countless Zhe Xius; no wonder they were so powerful.
That the wolf clan chieftain and elders were so young was also understandable—they were all followers of Zhe Xiu.
Their rise to power represented countless battles and ruthless purges.
In this process, who knows how many wolf clan elders had died or been forced to relinquish their authority.
But where was Zhe Xiu now?
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Good news came from everywhere.
Whether it was the demon reinforcements, the two border armies moving south toward Snow Old City, or the third batch of cavalry that had just arrived from the south, they were all achieving continuous victories. Demon cities were being breached one after another, and many tribes had secretly sent people to contact the human army, inquiring about how to surrender.
Snow Old City was isolated and without support. The human army gathered beneath its walls, preparing for the assault, but they did not form a siege posture, ignoring the several northern gates. This was because the human army did not have enough troops, and also because they hoped to reduce the demons' will to fight to the death.
According to scout reports, not many demons had fled the city through the northern gates, and there were no organized groups of soldiers.
It seemed the demons were preparing to make their final stand within Snow Old City.
No one wanted to see such a scene, but no one was worried either, because everyone knew that humanity would surely win.
The fall of a dynasty was imminent; the end of an era was not far off.
The demons had once ruled this world, appearing to other races like gods, forever exalted, possessing unimaginable wisdom and civilization. Yet now they were gradually sinking into the dust, falling into the abyss, never to crawl out from the depths again.
Not even the demons themselves, let alone their enemies—many generals among humans and demons—could understand why this was happening. They felt a faint sense of melancholy. With millennia of accumulated heritage, such profound foundations, and such an advanced civilization, could it really end so abruptly?
Like that gate of Snow Old City, which seemed as if it would never collapse for tens of thousands of years, yet was reduced to smoke by a single fire.
"It's always swept away by wind and rain."
Xu Yourong stood on the grassy slope, a white cloth tied around her injured left shoulder. Her face was somewhat haggard, but her expression was calm.
"There are many examples of civilization being conquered by barbarism, but we are the civilization. The demons' problem lies within themselves; they can no longer adapt to this era, so they are beyond saving."
Between the high demons and the low demons, there were immense gaps in innate aspects like intelligence and in their treatment in life. Yet, paradoxically, in terms of racial reproduction, the demon seeds of the low demons played an indispensable role. This sense of fragmentation and the inseparable reality inevitably led to the demon society becoming more and more deformed.
Many years ago, the great scholar Tong Gus had already recognized this problem. After long contemplation, he placed his hopes on humans, because in his view, humans shared a similar appearance with high demons and, more importantly, a similar level of intelligence. Based on this idea, he collaborated with that Pope to carry out a series of works, ultimately creating new lives like the Eight Great Mountain Men. Unfortunately, his ideas were never ultimately realized.
Chen Changsheng understood her meaning, but he still felt some emotion.
At that moment, many people in the surrounding camps looked up at the sky.
The calls of wild geese rang out, forming streaks in the air as more than a dozen red geese and red eagles flew in from the south.
What major event had occurred that required mobilizing such a large number of red geese and red eagles?
People's expressions turned grave, some tension in the air.
The red geese and red eagles brought a shocking piece of news.
The Prince of Xiang had rebelled.