Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)
chapter-1125-30041322

Chapter 1125 – Black Robe’s Lethal Trap

The Daoist Canon had always contained records regarding the Eight Great Mountain Men, so why was it only today that Chen Changsheng became sure of their existence, and why was it that to the majority of human commoners and cultivators, the Eight Great Mountain Men were rumors of practically mythical proportions? Because it had truly been many years since this name had last been heard.

In the years of the northern expeditions, the Eight Great Mountain Men were still the primary fighting force of the Demon race. They had played extremely important roles in the battle near Xuelao City, and Mountain Men Qilian and Helan had even died in that battle, one after the other. But after that battle, they disappeared, and nobody knew where they went. As time passed, people even began to doubt their existence.

Tonight, Chen Changsheng finally saw with his own eyes these rumored existences, and so he naturally knew that those records he had seen in the Daoist Canon were true.

The appearance of the Eight Great Mountain Men was deeply related to Grand Scholar Tungus, and there was a high chance that it was also related to that Pope of the Human race, thus leading to the ‘Men’ in their name. Of course, as ancient experts, almost totems of the Demon race, he could not hope they would give up their loyalty to the demons and stand with the humans.

But why had they disappeared back then? And why had they appeared tonight?

Chen Changsheng’s spiritual sense fell on that massive figure to the north.

He sensed an invisible barrier that seemed to be solidified darkness. They were truly deserving of their reputation as ancient demon experts, as the Qi he sensed was even more formidable and terrifying than the Qi he had sensed from the second-ranked Demon General Hai Di in the snowy mountains. It was no wonder that even though Xiao Zhang had broken through into the Divine Domain tonight, he had still suffered such heavy injuries and fallen unconscious.

The frequency at which Xiao Zhang’s white paper trembled had already stabilized and his breathing was steady. He had just lost too much blood, making it hard to say when he would wake up.

Chen Changsheng looked back to that massive black silhouette and asked, “How should I address Senior?”

He wanted to use a conversation to buy some time, though he had no expectation of an answer. To his surprise, the mountain spoke once more.

This voice was like wind blowing from a cave deep in the mountains, the low drone seeming to contain extremely complex fluctuations.

Mountain Man Rouge? The Daoist Canon had not recorded the names or surnames of the Eight Great Mountain Men, and Chen Changsheng could only rely on the pronunciation to guess at the words. He did not know that this person was actually called Mountain Man Yanzhi¹. Soon after, two more voices came from the south, upon which he came to know that the other two demon experts were called Mountain Man Yichun and Mountain Man Jingbo.

“Do the demons intend to declare war today?”

Chen Changsheng asked Mountain Man Yanzhi, his expression earnest and solemn.

The place they were standing was the grassland of the Elf race.

For thousands of years, the Demon race, Human race, Demi-human race, and the Elf race that lived on this grassland had engaged in countless wars. The black soil on which this green grass grew was the result of the blood spilled from all these races. This fertility that rose from death was of deep significance to the three races.

Deep significance often meant greater sensitivity, which meant that it could easily start a war, so the three races had always been very cautious about this grassland. Even though the grassland ended up belonging to the Human race, it was mostly nominal. The Great Zhou Imperial Court had never stationed a garrison here. Tonight, the Eight Great Mountain Men who had been in hiding for so many years had suddenly appeared and pursued Xiao Zhang to this grassland, and now they were surrounding Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong. They clearly had grand ambitions, so how was this any different from a declaration of war?

“The war between our races has never stopped, so what need is there to make a new declaration?”

Mountain Man Yanzhi spoke this sentence slowly, his voice rather muddled, but his pronunciation was exceptionally precise, and it even seemed to carry the accent of Luling.

Chen Changsheng thought of the records in the Daoist Canon and found himself even more curious about that now-vanished period of history. The answer itself, on the other hand, left him confused.

Even the most ignorant child only needed to listen to stories in the tea houses and restaurants to know how the situation in the continent had changed over the last few years.

The Human race had welcomed a generation of blooming wildflowers while the Demon race declined at unimaginable speeds. Whether it was the bitterly cold climate, the sudden famine, or the internal conflicts between the tribes leading to a decrease in the number of potential soldiers, these factors were all slowly dragging this mighty race that had once dominated the continent into the abyss.

At this moment, the demons should have been thinking about to protect themselves, not launching an attack on the humans. This was how the young Demon Lord had reigned over these last few years, not changing regardless of how many nobles in Xuelao City criticized him for being too conservative, some even going so far as to say that this was shameless. So why was Mountain Man Yanzhi so firm today?

Chen Changsheng said, “There is no chance of victory for you.”

Mountain Man Yanzhi replied, “But tonight might be the Divine race’s last chance.”

Chen Changsheng asked, “What chance?”

Mountain Man Yanzhi explained, “Your Holiness the Pope is the fourth person to defy the heavens and change fate. We also want to try.”

Chen Changsheng asked, “What do you want to change?”

“The momentum of an entire race’s fate. The Divine race’s momentum weakens by the day. If they do not gather their vigor, I am afraid that they will go extinct.”

Mountain Man Yanzhi added, “What we want to try is defying the heavens and changing this momentum.”

Chen Changsheng said, “In White Emperor City, I spoke with your noble lord. Something like the extinction of your race will not occur.”

Mountain Man Yanzhi shook his head and rocks rustled down, gradually piling up on the grassland.

“No matter how warm the sunlight is, it cannot shine on every corner of the world. No matter how merciful Your Holiness is, you will not bestow it upon the people of the Divine race. You and the Emperor of the Great Zhou are Daoist Ji’s students and the Holy Maiden is the Tianhai Divine Empress’s student. Xuelao City will not trust any of your promises.”

At this point of the conversation, the situation was plain to see: tonight, the demons did not want to kill just Xiao Zhang, but Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong as well.

Xiao Zhang had spent these last few years in the snowy plains, but he had not truly spent his time in complete hiding. At certain intervals, he would go and fight with the experts of the Demon Army. In battle after bloody battle, many demon experts, including several Demon Generals, lost to him, and some were even killed. He had also lost before and had been pursued many times. But Xuelao City had never sent any of their strongest experts, ones that could stand level with human experts of the Divine Domain, to kill Xiao Zhang. The primary reason was that they were worried that the Great Zhou Imperial Court might use Xiao Zhang’s trail to lay a trap.

…Just like how Shang Xingzhou used the temptation of Chen Changsheng to lure the old Demon Lord into his trap in Mount Han.

But several dozen days ago, while Black Robe was observing the Southern Cross Constellation, he was taken by a sudden impulse. As if responding to something, he managed to calculate a shocking conclusion.

The Human race was about to welcome another expert of the Divine Domain.

In the campaign of White Emperor City, Bie Yanghong and Wuqiong Bi fell in battle, but the Demon race had paid the agonizing price of two Angels of Sacred Light. But in the last few years, the Prince of Xiang, the Mount Li Sword Sect Master, and Mao Qiuyu had all broken into the Divine. And last autumn, Daoist nun Huai Ren of South Stream Temple had encountered a fierce downpour while traveling the Eastern Sea and broken through. Coupled with the fact that Cao Yunping had regained his intelligence, in terms of number of Divine Domain experts, the Human race had already reached the number from its golden age. If they gained another Divine Domain expert, how could the demons endure?

According to Black Robe’s calculations, that newly ascended human expert was in the snowy plains of the demon realm, making their identity obvious.

Thus, the young Demon Lord had crossed the abyss to the lands of arctic cold and sincerely requested for those three secluded experts from ancient times to come forward. A trap was laid.

They would first kill Xiao Zhang before he broke through, and then they would kill the human experts that would come to receive him.

The names of the latter were clearly written in Black Robe’s plans.

It was precisely Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong.

^{1. The words 胭脂 and 焉支 have the same pronunciation, which is ‘Yanzhi’. The former, however, means ‘rouge’ while the latter is the name of a mountain.↩}