Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)
chapter-1140-30041322

Chapter 1140 – Bird Mountain Bright¹

Xu Yourong silently gazed at the small bottle in her hand.

She still had a few of these bottles, some in her sleeve and some in the Tong Bow.

Countless eyes rested on her hands, their gazes fervent, nervous, or uneasy.

They had all guessed truly. This small bottle contained the legendary Cinnabar Pills.

This was the most important reason all the generals were urgently imploring Xu Yourong to return to the capital.

“These pills are Chen Changsheng’s, and what’s his is mine.”

Xu Yourong looked at the kneeling cavalrymen and said, “I know that many amongst you are unconvinced, but do not let me know, because that will make me unhappy.”

The cavalrymen went stiff, but they had understood something from her calm tone.

Unspoken words were important information that could be heard without being spoken.

She was replying to the entire world.

If she was not happy, perhaps this entire world would no longer have the Cinnabar Pill.

The cavalrymen bowed with the most respectful of postures and then left with the fastest of speeds to relay her words to the rest of the plains.

The South Stream Temple disciple looked hesitantly at her.

Wouldn’t it be better to go back?

Xu Yourong’s body and spirit were formidable, but even so, she was still rather tired.

But she would not leave.

Only here could she see the changes on the battlefield as they happened, get the most authentic understanding of the situation.

And it was only in this way that the people in the capital could get the most authentic understanding of the situation.

The situation was very complicated. The selection of commander-in-chief for this expedition had already served as a warning sign.

Xu Shiji, who had been pushed forward by many people, immediately shut himself up in his estate upon receiving a letter from her, firmly refusing with the excuse of illness.

Peng Shihai and the other Divine Generals who had learned from Chen Guansong currently held half the power in the Great Zhou Army, but choosing the commander-in-chief from one of them was certain to incur fierce opposition from the Western Army, represented by Xue He. The approval of the Li Palace would also have been very difficult to obtain.

And the candidates heavily favored by the Orthodoxy found it impossible to obtain the support of the ministers of the court and the princes of the Chen clan.

After racking their brains, everyone ended up casting their gazes to a long-forgotten place: the Divine General of the East’s estate.

Xu Shiji seemed like the candidate most acceptable to all sides.

But the Xu Estate soon received a letter from Holy Maiden Peak, causing its gates to slam shut and Xu Shiji to plead illness.

Everyone understood this to be the Holy Maiden, so they naturally had no means to force the issue.

The person finally chosen as commander-in-chief was extremely surprising.

When the Imperial Court’s decree was circulated throughout the empire, many people felt like they had never even heard the name.

Divine General He Ming, the former commander of the black-armored cavalry, was an incredibly inconspicuous character. One could even call him utterly obscure.

But he had sufficient qualifications and though he was a disciple of Chen Guansong, he was not at all close with Peng Shihai and the other generals from Star Seizer Academy. Moreover, in the battle of the Orthodox Academy ten years ago, he had led the black-armored heavy cavalry until he was stopped on the edge of the collapsed Mount Mo. His performance then had been very mature and steady, gaining the admiration of both the Emperor and the Pope.

To put it in other words, the most important reason for his assignment as commander-in-chief was that the various factions could accept him and he himself did not belong to any faction.

The problem was that this meant that he was neither Chen Changsheng’s man nor the emperor’s.

Even the most mature and steady of individuals might start having other thoughts once they began to wield great authority.

On the bitter fields of war, ambition would often grow alongside courage.

Thus, Xu Yourong would not leave this place.

……

……

The shadow of death finally left the plains.

Perhaps the demons had run out of that medicine that could stimulate one’s hidden potential and wipe away one’s fear of death, or perhaps Xuelao City finally found it hard to endure the vast number of deaths suffered by the low-class demons. But in short, on one early summer day, the human armies ceased to see those red-eyed, beast-like demon soldiers charging toward them.

As the demon armies retreated, a battle would occur here and there. It was obvious that these demon soldiers had not taken the medicine. Although they were still rather dumb, they no longer dared to charge straight into a rain of crossbow bolts, and they were certainly no longer fearless of death.

The plains were covered in different hues of blood, and when this blood dried, it would leave massive patches of color. From a distance, it looked like some sort of painting.

He Ming gazed at that painting on the plains. He recalled the words of that bishop invited by Chen Guansong from the Li Palace when they were studying demon culture and history.

“The demons are just this sort of strange species. The lower-class demons are not much different from birds or beasts, but the high-class demons possess an unimaginable appreciation for art. And these two are not completely isolated from each other. In fact, they exist closely with each other, influencing each other. Thus, in the paintings of Xuelao City, one would often see seemingly crude large patches of color…”

If the dukes and nobles of Xuelao City could drive around the lower-class demons like they were beasts and monsters, this war might become even crueler. If the demi-humans had still been the slaves of the demons, there would have been no chance of winning this war.

One had to thank Emperor Taizong for his enlightened decision.

As he looked to the capital, Divine General He Ming felt a similar sentiment for the Pope.

The opening phase of this war had been particularly bitter, far surpassing their initial expectations.

From a certain perspective, this was a clash of resources, resolve and wills between the Human and Demon races that had been building up for the last one thousand years.

This clash ultimately rested on two specific medicines.

The demons had used the poison developed by the Longevity Sect. Given the amount that they had, Xuelao City had probably been preparing for this war for many, many years.

On the human side, the Cinnabar Pills that Pope Chen Changsheng had strenuously worked to stockpile over the last ten years had basically all been used up.

Now, the war was entering its second phase, and also its second-to-last.

The human armies continued to incessantly push northward, following the routed demon armies and breaking through two defensive lines. The plains had completely fallen to the Human race.

The temperature gradually climbed as summer set in. Midsummer had come, but the plains were vast, and the mountains before them that extended for several thousand li had many openings. The wind blowing through them meant that the army garrisoned here would not find the heat too unbearable. In the early morning, they might even feel somewhat chilly.

Early one morning, a swift red dot appeared in the overcast sky, dragging a streak of red behind it. It was probably a Red Falcon.

The moment the Red Falcon flew past the summit of a mountain, two vigilant sentinels noticed and blew on their warning bugles.

A party of cavalry swiftly departed the camp, though it was hard to say if their mission was to ensure the safety of the intelligence report or to pick something up.

The Red Falcon had probably discovered enemy positions around that mountain. Even though that imposing mountain several dozen li away had already been combed through many times and should have been free of ambushers, this was still demon territory, and no one knew what sort of strange methods they might have.

The Red Falcon was flying extremely fast and didn’t appear tired, but as it flew over a nearby precipitous cliff, it suddenly descended.

What was on that cliff?

A figure suddenly appeared out of a pile of rubble and lunged like a bolt of lightning toward the plain and the human camp.

This was a disciple from the Ten Thousand Years Pavilion, famed for its swift movement techniques. His assignment was the most dangerous advance guard.

When the Ten Thousand Years Pavilion disciple was still several li away, he suddenly groaned and dropped to the ground.

“Crossbows!”

A furious and sharp command issued out of the camp, followed by the twanging of crossbow strings. Several hundred crossbow bolts tipped with a divine radiance tore through the dim morning light. They rained down behind the fallen disciple, pockmarking a circle with a radius of several dozen zhang in a dense collection of holes, causing smoke to rise from them.

The human armies were already well-experienced. Those demon soldiers skilled in pursuit would often strike from out of the ground.

The party of cavalry quickly reached the Ten Thousand Years Pavilion disciple.

One of the disciple’s legs was covered in blood. It was evident that it had been severed.

He seemed to not care; all his mind was focused on shouting, “There are demons in the mountains! It’s not possible to determine what tribe they belong to, but there are a lot!”

The cavalry pulled him onto a horse and turned back to camp.

No one noticed that three cavalry continued to gallop toward the distant mountain, their mission unknown.

……

……

The morning mountain had still not awakened, and the cliffs that faced the human army were gloomy and dark.

Suddenly, the voices of demons began to rise from the cliffs, though it was impossible to tell exactly where they came from.

The soldiers had searched the mountain many times, so why had they never discovered any sign of these demons?

In the center of the several-hundred-zhang-high cliff were several dozen tiny caves. Much less demon soldiers, not even the thinnest human soldiers could squeeze inside.

During their searches, the humans had believed these caves to be bird caves and so paid them little attention.

They had not expected their foes to be hidden in precisely these caves.

Because their foes were not demon soldiers, but birds.

They were a sort of black vulture.

Several thousand black vultures poured out of those tiny caves and flew into the sky.

It was clear that these vultures had been trained, perhaps were even being directly controlled. So orderly were they that even when they flew into the sky, they still did not scatter.

The three cavalrymen were still a distance from the mountain. They appeared rather confused as they looked up at the sky, wondering. Even if these vultures had been trained to attack targets on the ground, to expect the sharp vulture claws to inflict losses on the human camp was just a tad delusional.

At this moment, the first ray of the morning sun emerged from the cracks in the mountains and fell on the plains.

The sudden light caused a vulture to panic and loosen its claws, causing a black object to drop.

With a boom, the grass in front of the cliff was engulfed by raging flame.

At this sight, the three cavalrymen glanced at each other with shock in their eyes. But instead of slowing, they hurried to the mountain even faster.

^{1. An interesting fact: the chapter title, 鸟山明, in Japanese is the name of the author of the manga ‘Dragon Ball’, Toriyama Akira.}