Some time ago, Xiao Zhang had suffered two very serious injuries, and his ambush on Black Robe in the carriage had only worsened his injuries. It had also been very difficult for him to ride a kite to chase after the Demon Commander. But his resolve and determination to strike with his spear were not forced. It was imbued with an aura of no return and an extremely cold and ruthless energy.
With a thump, a bloody hole appeared in the Demon Commander's armor, the bright jewels shattering into shards of ice.
With a furious howl, the Demon Commander flipped his right hand and a crescent blade slammed into Xiao Zhang's shoulder.
Xiao Zhang landed on the ground, the white paper on his face drenched in blood. Arrogant and proud laughter came from below.
He felt like all the bones in his body were about to shatter. It was painful, but it was also exhilarating.
He was confident that no matter how powerful the Demon Commander was, she would not be able to fight for some time. More importantly, he had fulfilled his promise to Shang Xingzhou.
He had sent this painting to Xuelao City.
The wolf cavalry of the plains charged at Xiao Zhang, the Second Demon General's figure clearly visible among them. Just when everyone believed that Xiao Zhang was about to die, two dazzling sword glows lit up at the same time and then fused together, transforming into a beautiful rainbow.
The kite crashed into the city gate, and the painting of Sangharama Temple on fire also drifted down to the gate. Illuminated by the setting sun, it suddenly began to blaze.
Flames flowed down the city gate like a waterfall, a spectacular sight to behold.
The rainbow formed by the sword glows forced back the Second Demon General and the wolf cavalry, at the same time making the waterfall of fire even fiercer.
This fire burned for a very long time, with ten-some explosions occurring in between. No matter what the Demon soldiers did, they could not put out the fire.
From dusk into the night, the city gate of Xuelao City continued to burn, looking like a massive wall of fire.
On this night, many living beings found it impossible to sleep. The fleeing Demon soldiers and the pursuing human cavalry naturally could not sleep, and neither could anyone inside or outside Xuelao City.
The Tang Old Master and Shang Xingzhou stood on a small hill, calmly gazing at the distant wall of fire for an entire night, as if it was the most beautiful sight in the world.
Perhaps they were thinking of the siege of Luoyang, of the Sangharama Temple that had been burned to ashes, or perhaps they were thinking of nothing at all.
… …
… …
In the early morning, the fire was finally extinguished.
The city gate had been burned to the point where only its frame was left, and one could vaguely see its outline. Most of it had been reduced to ashes, and it could no longer block the enemy.
No one knew what secrets the painting of Sangharama Temple was hiding or why it would burn so fiercely. They could only guess that it had something to do with the Tang family.
The entire strategy for this battle had probably been devised by Shang Xingzhou, or perhaps even Wang Zhice.
If you wanted to do something and thought about it for a few hundred years, then the method you came up with would definitely be very terrifying.
This was also the reason why Chen Chang Sheng had come to such a conclusion when he saw the empty street and the dog in Wen Shui City.
Old people are really scary.
…
…
The greatest obstacle to entering Xuelao City had disappeared, but on the morning of the next day, the human armies did not take advantage of the situation to attack the city. Instead, they mobilized all their catapults and ballistae and aimed them at the vanished city gate. From time to time, they fired ballista bolts and catapults to prevent the demon defenders from repairing the gate.
The human armies had also suffered grievous casualties. Xiao Zhang was still unconscious, and even Chen Chang Sheng and Xu Yourong were injured. They would not be able to fight at full strength for the time being and needed some time to recover. Moreover, the two demi-human reinforcements that had come from afar truly did need to catch their breath.
In the Central Army Camp, Chen Chang Sheng received the commanding generals of the demi-human reinforcements and realized that they were all familiar people. The commanding general of the first demi-human army was the Shi clan leader, while Xiaode was the primary fighting force. The commanding general of the other demi-human army was the Bear tribe leader, but Chen Chang Sheng found it rather strange that he did not see Xuanyuan Po.
On the afternoon of the same day, an even more detailed report was sent into the tent. After reading through it, Archbishop An Lin fell silent, then said, "The Brown Bear tribe will be exterminated."
In order to distinguish themselves from the Bear tribe of the Red River valley, the Bear tribe of the snowy plains was often called the Brown Bear tribe. Whether it was because they had too many mixed-bloods or because they were constantly trading, many spies had appeared among the Brown Bear tribe. Many years ago, when Chen Chang Sheng returned to the south with Su Li and when Xiao Zhang returned, they had both been sold out by spies from the Brown Bear tribe.
Both the Great Zhou Dynasty and White Emperor City hated the Brown Bear tribe to the bone. If not for the fact that they needed to use the Brown Bear tribe to understand the movements of the demons, they would have long ago attacked them. Now that the outcome of the war had been decided, the Brown Bear tribe naturally would not meet a good end.
Chen Chang Sheng understood that Archbishop An Lin could not bear to see this and wanted him to issue an amnesty, but after some thought, he said nothing.
Because of his silence, Archbishop An Lin sighed, then said, "The Wolf tribe leader and elders wish to pay their respects to Sir, but their rank is not high enough."
In this war, the demi-human army that had performed the most outstandingly and accomplished the most was not the brave and powerful landowning households, nor was it the violent and warlike Bear tribe. Rather, it was the Wolf tribe that had always kept a low profile and rarely put their lives on the line on the battlefield.
This was especially the case half a month ago, when the Wolf tribe was responsible for ambushing the Demon reinforcements from Lelang County, they ended up encountering one thousand wolf cavalry. The battle was extremely bitter, and if the Wolf tribe had not risked their lives and paid a grievous price to completely exterminate the wolf cavalry, they would have broken out of the encirclement, causing the demons to be wary of the demi-human reinforcements.
Although Chen Chang Sheng had given a portion of the Elf grasslands to the Wolf tribe at Zhexiu's request, every time he thought about how Zhexiu had been driven out of the tribe by his elders as a child and had to wander through the snowstorm, he would always feel some anger towards the Wolf tribe, especially those members of the upper echelon.
Today, for the sake of the Wolf tribe's military achievements, he agreed to meet with the Wolf tribe leader and elders, but he was not prepared to give them too much time.
The Wolf Clan's Patriarch and Elder walked into the tent and knelt down without saying a word, appearing extremely pious.
When they raised their heads, Chen Chang Sheng froze, not only because of the sincerity in their eyes, but also because they were very young.
How could the Wolf tribe leader and elder be so young?
And where did that heartfelt affection and respect come from? Was it because they knew that the grasslands the Wolf tribe currently possessed were bestowed upon them by Chen Chang Sheng?
Chen Chang Sheng took measure of the tribe leader and elder. Seeing their attire, he suddenly understood the answer to these questions.
The weather of early autumn in Xuelao City was already rather cold. The Wolf tribe leader and elder were still wearing very thin clothes, especially their sleeves and trousers, which had been cut down to a very short length.
Many years ago, when Chen Chang Sheng saw Zhexiu for the first time under the morning sun outside the Li Palace, he had been like this.
Only now did he understand what sort of influence Zhexiu had on the Wolf tribe.
The current Wolf tribe probably had countless Zhexiu's, so it was no wonder they were so powerful.
With how young the Wolf tribe leader and elder were, they could naturally understand. They were both Zhexiu's followers.
Their successful ascension represented countless battles and cruel purges.
In this process, countless elders of the Wolf tribe had died or been forced to relinquish their authority.
But where was Zhexiu now?
… …
… …
Good news was coming from everywhere.
Whether it was the demi-human reinforcements, the two border armies approaching the south of Xuelao City, or the third wave of cavalry that had just arrived from the south, they were all gaining victory after victory. Demon cities were being broken one after another, and many tribes had already sent people to contact the human armies to ask how they could surrender.
Xuelao City was isolated and without help. The human armies had gathered at the foot of the city and were preparing to attack, but they did not encircle it. They paid no attention to the several gates to the north, as the humans did not have that many soldiers. At the same time, they hoped to use this opportunity to lower the demons' will to fight.
According to the reports of the scouts, not many demons had escaped from the northern gate, and there were no groups of soldiers.
It seemed like the demons were preparing to fight their final battle in Xuelao City.
No one was willing to see this sight, but no one was worried, because everyone was keenly aware that the Human race was certain to win.
The destruction of a dynasty was right in front of them, and the end of a period of history was not far away.
The Demon Race had once ruled this world. In the eyes of other races, they were like gods, forever high and mighty, possessing unimaginable wisdom and civilization. But now, they were gradually falling into the dust, until they fell into the abyss, never to climb out of the ground again.
Let alone the demons themselves, even their enemies, the humans and demi-humans, were confused as to why this was happening. They felt a faint sense of disappointment and frustration. Countless years of accumulation, extremely deep resources, and such a developed civilization … Was it really going to come to such a sudden end?
It was just like the gate of Xuelao City. It seemed like it would not collapse for tens of thousands of years, but in the end, it had been reduced to smoke by a single fire.
"It's always being battered by the wind and rain."
Xu Yourong stood on the slope, a white cloth tied around her wounded left shoulder. Her face was rather haggard, but her expression was very calm.
"There are many examples of civilization being defeated by barbarism, but we are the true civilization. The demons' problem lies with themselves. They are no longer suited to this era, so there is no medicine to save them."
Whether it was in terms of innate intelligence or acquired treatment, there was an enormous gap between the high-level demons and the low-level demons, but it just so happened that the demon seeds of the low-level demons played an indispensable role in the reproduction of their race. This sense of division and the fact that they could not be separated assuredly caused demon society to grow more and more deformed.
Many years ago, Grand Scholar Tungus had realized this problem. After a long period of thought, he placed his hopes on the humans. In his view, the humans and the high-level demons were similar in appearance, and more importantly, they had similar levels of intelligence. It was precisely based on this idea that he and the Pope worked together to carry out a series of tasks, ultimately creating a new life like the Eight Great Mountain Men. Alas, his idea ultimately failed to be realized.
Chen Changsheng understood her meaning, but he still felt somewhat sorrowful.
At this moment, many people in the surrounding camps raised their heads to the sky.
The cries of geese could be heard as streaks of lines appeared. More than ten Red Geese and Red Falcons flew over from the south.
Just what major event had occurred for so many Red Geese and Red Falcons to be mobilized?
Everyone had solemn and nervous expressions.
The Red Geese and Red Falcons brought shocking news.
The Prince of Xiang had betrayed them. (To be continued …)
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