Ze Tian Ji

Edited by: Michyrr

The night sky was cut apart by the extremely close eaves into a black cloth.

The stars were truly very bright tonight. It was like someone had used golden thread to weave many tiny flowers into the black cloth.

This place was the deepest hall within the Li Palace, and also Chen Changsheng’s residence.

He was currently eating, accompanied by Gou Hanshi.

Qiushan Jun remained to guard Mount Li, and Qi Jian had failed to obtain permission to follow Zhexiu to the north.

Guan Feibai, Liang Banhu, and Bai Cai had gone to the front line.

But Gou Hanshi had been kept by Chen Changsheng.

After they concluded their very simple meal, An Hua and several priests came in with a file that had just been sent over. They laid the contents out on the desks placed in front of Chen Changsheng and Gou Hanshi.

The only sound in the hall was the gurgling of flowing water.

The Green Leaf had been taken somewhere else.

After some time, Gou Hanshi raised his head and rubbed his rather fatigued face.

An Hua, who was standing on the side, offered a long-prepared hot towel.

Gou Hanshi paused for a moment before softly expressing his thanks and taking the towel to wipe his face.

Chen Changsheng had also finished reading over the documents, so An Hua hurried over to him.

After a while, he and Gou Hanshi began to softly converse with each other, discussing what they thought and analyzing the contents of the documents.

The opinion they reached would be sent to the Imperial Palace in the shortest time possible for the emperor’s consideration.

At the same time, Star Seizer Academy would be offering its own opinion.

The emperor would convene with the prime minister and the heads of all the other ministries to arrive at the final conclusion.

Everything in the current Great Zhou Dynasty revolved around the progress of this war.

As for the ordinary matters of the court and the welfare of the people of the counties and provinces, they had all been handed over to Mo Yu.

One had to admit that the emperor had a deep trust in Mo Yu.

And based on the reaction from the court and the people, she had not let down the trust placed in her or the teachings of the Tianhai Divine Empress.

This life had already persisted for quite a few days, but Gou Hanshi still found some things impossible to get used to.

For instance, why were the towels An Hua offered so hot? Was she not afraid of her hands getting blisters?

He was a very meticulous person, so he had already noted that An Hua’s hands were truly not injured.

Another question on his mind was, how was the Li Palace able to get the reports from the front line even faster than the Ministry of the Army?

This was especially the case for several important pieces of news. It was often the case that the Li Palace would find out immediately when an incident took place on the front lines.

Gou Hanshi found this impossible to understand.

Compared to this, the methods of the demons were not that shocking at all.

"The seventh investigation report from the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green was sent back. It confirms that the hearts of the demon soldiers have swelled. They’re one and a half times larger than usual."

He said to Chen Changsheng, "Our conjecture was correct. They’re using a medicine to increase their strength, but at the same time, it destroys their intelligence and deprives them of their instinctive fear of death."

Chen Changsheng asked, "Is there an antidote?"

He shook his head right after he said this. He knew that this was an extremely stupid question.

Even if they could find an antidote, they had no means of making those tens of thousands of lower-class demon soldiers take it.

If his and Gou Hanshi’s conjecture was correct, this medicine used by the Demon race actually originated from the Human race.

Ten thousand years ago, the Longevity Sect had controlled many demi-human servants. It was said that several of their eccentric yet extremely talented elders enjoyed using these demi-human servants to study the berserk metamorphosis of the Demi-human race. No one knew what they turned up in their research, but they had managed to create a medicine that could stimulate the hidden potential of living creatures and forcefully trigger berserk metamorphosis.

So strong was this medicine that using it once would cause the heart to explode. There had been no exceptions, so the Longevity Sect quickly sealed it away in a restricted area.

The medicine the demons were using now was very similar to the medicine used by the Longevity Sect.

Coupled with the fact that the Longevity Sect had colluded in secret with the demons, the truth was right before their eyes.

Fortunately, the Longevity Sect was in decline, and Su Li’s attack twenty years ago had dealt them another heavy blow.

"The Demon race has always been inferior to us in numbers, and now it takes two or three demon soldiers to exchange for one of ours."

Chen Changsheng said, "This method is too insane. There’s no reason for it."

Gou Hanshi countered, "Reason depends on the specific circumstances. The lower-class demons are very important to the reproductive capacity of the demons, and if too many of them die, it will affect the future prospects of the Demon race in the long term. However, their utmost priority is survival. If they can frighten us into retreating, they might even be willing to endure four out of every five lower-class demons dying."

Chen Changsheng had nothing to say.

The situation presented in the field reports was truly rather hard to deal with. The war had just begun, but the demons were already acting like they were fighting the final battle. Although no experts had appeared, anyone would feel their courage fleeing them if they saw tens of thousands of demon soldiers heedlessly charging toward them.

Many human soldiers really had collapsed in the face of these frenzied and suicidal assaults. On some of the battlefields suffering from the most pressure, they had even been routed. If Linghai Zhiwang and the Orthodoxy cavalry hadn’t been passing through and killed a hundred-some demons, the situation might have been impossible to stabilize.

If the demons wanted to use this method to frighten the human armies into retreat, or at least damage their morale, he had to admit that they had succeeded.

Liang Hongzhuang supported this line of thought, as did Gou Hanshi, though Gou Hanshi was thinking a bit further.

"I don’t know if this is the Demon Lord’s plan or Black Robe’s strategy, but it’s clear that their more important goal is to wear us down."

Gou Hanshi stood up and said, "They want to wear down our courage, spirit, and most importantly of all, our time."

A map condensed from light was floating in the air.

He pointed at the three lines on the map and said, "Based on the primary focuses of their attacks and the time it takes for them to transfer, their goal is clear. They want to use these three waves, use the thirty thousand li of the plains and their lives, to buy enough time."

The human armies were already seventeen days behind their original plans.

If they continued to proceed this slowly, even if the human army could break through each layer of the demon defense and eventually reach Xuelao City, it would probably be late winter by then.

This situation would be so perilous that it would be impossible to imagine.

"What should we do?" Chen Changsheng asked.

Gou Hanshi thought for a while, and then he declared, "It’s fine if we just proceed according to the original plan."

Puzzled, Chen Changsheng asked, "Just act like nothing happened?"

"In truth, nothing really happened. We always knew that the demons would pay any price to resist."

Gou Hanshi added, "On the contrary, I think that no matter if this was the Demon Lord’s scheme or Black Robe’s, it’s a massive mistake. It’s been many years since the last great war, and at least half of the soldiers in our armies at the front lines have never stepped onto the battlefield. The demon offensive this time is so pressing and rapid that it conveniently serves as a trial, a tempering that can make these soldiers into true veterans."

Chen Changsheng said, "It’s very hard to pass this kind of trial and tempering."

Gou Hanshi asked, "If we can’t even make it through this pass, why should we even talk about attacking Xuelao City?"

Chen Changsheng argued, "Even if we can make it through this pass, we will suffer many unexpected losses."

"Yes, many people will die this time. They might be people that we know, people who, in our eyes, shouldn’t have died so soon."

Gou Hanshi stared at him and said, "But everyone will die. We will also go over there, and we will also die, so I request that you please remain calm."

Chen Changsheng walked to the edge of the pool. As he watched the flowing waters slowly spin the wooden ladle about, he thought about the Green Leaf, thought about how, ten-some years ago, his martial uncle Pope stood in the ruins of the southern district of the capital, holding the Green Leaf and fighting a bitter battle with the Divine Empress. He softly said, "I don’t want to stay in the capital."

"No."

Gou Hanshi spoke without hesitation.

Chen Changsheng said, "Since we have to go sooner or later, why can’t we go sooner?"

Gou Hanshi said, "You are the Pope, so you must remain in the capital to keep the people at ease. Only when we can see Xuelao City are you allowed to leave."

When they saw Xuelao City, it would be time for the final and decisive battle.

Only if Chen Changsheng left the capital would the believers and people not worry about the state of the war. Instead, this would only strengthen their belief that victory was certain.

This was an accepted arrangement, or perhaps it was better to say that this had been negotiated before the war had even begun.

When the human armies invaded Xuelao City, it would be Chen Changsheng and not the emperor who would be present.

The documents were taken away by the priests while the summary of their opinion was speedily delivered to the Imperial Palace.

Gou Hanshi took a hot towel from An Hua, expressed his thanks, and then covered his face with it, somewhat alleviating his exhaustion.

When he opened his eyes, he realized that Chen Changsheng was no longer there.

He suddenly heard the sound of a sword.

Gou Hanshi went to the stone room.

Chen Changsheng was quietly standing inside.

There was no sword in the stone room.

It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Gou Hanshi noticed that something was strange about his mood and asked, "What happened?"

Chen Changsheng replied, "Liang Hongzhuang died."

A little surprised, Gou Hanshi said, "Liang Hongzhuang?"

Chen Changsheng answered, "Yes, a person I know."