Chapter 1711

"Commander, please give your orders." "I want you to pull three thousand elites and rush to the northwestern front!" Zhong Shengguang said, word by word, "Coordinate with General Hong and attack the capital of the Xianyou Nation!"

He Lingchuan's breath hitched, and his heart pounded wildly for a few beats.

He could finally go to the northwestern front! He pressed his hands on the table and stood up abruptly:

"Yes!"

It was rare to see him lose his composure, and a hint of a smile appeared in Zhong Shengguang's eyes, though he immediately straightened his expression: "Although Xianyou is resisting desperately, causing our progress to slow down, the battle has ultimately been pushed to the capital of Xianyou. Didn't you just say that General Hong is sparing with her troops? You and your three thousand elites will serve as reinforcements to help her out, and see if you can break the current stalemate and chew through that hard bone."

He Lingchuan said firmly: "You will certainly not be disappointed!"

"Don't be happy too soon. Xianyou's survival is at stake; Beijia will likely intervene personally, and even Baling might tear up their secret agreement with us and send reinforcements to Xianyou." Zhong Shengguang casually opened a sand table, which was the map of the Xianyou Nation, "You and General Hong will have to face enemies from three directions, which is an unprecedented challenge for Panlongcheng."

If they win, there will be endless battles ahead; if they lose, the upward momentum that Panlongcheng has worked so hard to achieve might be stifled.

But the Xianyou Nation must be fought; Panlongcheng must cripple the opponent's claws and teeth before Beijia can deal with them with all its might.

He Lingchuan was full of fighting spirit: "The harder the challenge, the more generous the reward! As long as we can win, as long as we take the capital of the Xianyou Nation, more countries will immediately come to negotiate with you, and not just limited to the south."

These children are truly optimistic, Zhong Shengguang laughed, patting his shoulder: "Good."

As for how to fight on the front lines, He Lingchuan would discuss that with General Hong when the time came; Zhong Shengguang only provided the policy and requirements, not specific guidance.

He Lingchuan had long been able to handle things on his own.

However, the smile on Zhong Shengguang's face quickly faded, and he pondered for a good while before saying:

"Since you've come back, there is one more thing I must warn you about."

Using the word "warn" indicated the gravity of the matter, and He Lingchuan nodded, waiting for the rest.

"Some time ago, Lingxu City thought I would surrender, so they frequently corresponded with me. One of the letters contained the content regarding the destruction of the Yuan Nation, and it was attached with materials. Do you know about the Yuan Nation?"

He Lingchuan nodded: "I know. I heard it was a vassal demon nation of Beijia that rebelled more than a decade ago; they resisted for three years, and the outcome was very tragic."

Even more than a hundred years later, the former land of the Yuan Nation remained barren, and the descendants of the Yuan Nation remained slaves, unable to rise again.

"When I was young, I studied in Beijia and stayed in the Yuan Nation for a long time. I had a very pleasant conversation with the later Yuan King; not only did we become confidants, but we also made great vows together. Brother Shao was a man of great talent; he was the first vassal king not crowned by the Heavenly Gods, and also the first human king of Beijia. His sacrifice left me deeply shocked and regretful." Zhong Shengguang sighed long and hard, "The Great Fang Hu, the treasure of Panlongcheng, was sent to me by him before his nation was destroyed."

He Lingchuan nodded silently.

"So many years have passed since the Yuan Nation was destroyed, but I have always been puzzled; Brother Shao was a man who planned before acting, why would he rise up when isolated and helpless?"

The Yuan Nation was in the middle of Beijia, surrounded by enemies on all sides, and there was an incomparably powerful Lingxu City to the north; once they rose up, there was no backup at all, and they could only fight until they were exhausted! This was a desperate situation.

Later historical facts also proved that the Yuan Nation was heroic but reckless, bringing disaster to their descendants.

Beijia had remained stable for six hundred years, indicating that its internal strength was powerful and not easily divided. The Yuan King was not stupid; why did he lead the Yuan people to commit national suicide?

Zhong Shengguang couldn't figure it out, and He Lingchuan couldn't either; they could only infer that there was more to it.

"The materials sent by Lingxu City mentioned that Brother Shao had close dealings with Ling Mountain, and before he rose up, Ling Mountain promised him that they would support him with all their might. But I didn't want to believe it, thinking it was a sowing-discord scheme by the Demon Emperor to alienate me from Ling Mountain." Zhong Shengguang said slowly, "Besides, the Yuan Nation perished long ago, and those materials cannot be verified."

Hearing this, He Lingchuan frowned: "You have obtained evidence now?"

"Mr. Zhang's cousin has worked in the archives of Ling Mountain for many years. Through Mr. Zhang, I asked him to collect materials for me, which were the records of people and items sent by Ling Mountain to the Yuan Nation during the war."

Mr. Zhang? He Lingchuan was startled, only then remembering the big octopus in the pool of Panlongcheng. Mr. Zhang's cousin, that couldn't be a squid, could it?!

Working in an archive, and having nine brains and eight legs, it seemed... indeed very qualified for the job of a librarian.

Zhong Shengguang continued: "From the data, Ling Mountain did indeed support them with all their might, sending many people to the Yuan Nation and transporting countless magic tools, at least in the early and middle stages. However, in the later stages, especially after two immortals fell, the support given by Ling Mountain became less and less. Half a year before the Yuan Nation was slaughtered, there were no relevant records."

"The other two demon kings who had agreed to rise up with Brother Shao, one suddenly stepped down, and the other went back on his word and watched coldly from the sidelines." Zhong Shengguang sighed when he said this.

He Lingchuan couldn't help but say: "How were the supplies sent over? The Yuan Nation was in the middle of Beijia, and the location was not good."

"Through the Baoshu Nation." Zhong Shengguang explained, "The Baoshu King placed many clones throughout the country, and his control over the country was very strong. But this old demon would go into seclusion and sleep every so often, and couldn't be woken up even if you shouted. During that period, although his tree demon clones were still on duty, many supernatural abilities could not be used. The territory of the Baoshu Nation was too large, and there were always oversights; Ling Mountain had many methods, so transporting supplies across the border was not difficult."

"In short, the last half year of the Yuan Nation was the most tragic, but Ling Mountain was absent. I don't know the reason for that, and I'm afraid I'll never find the truth." He sighed leisurely, "I think, like Beijia, Ling Mountain is not monolithic internally."

He Lingchuan was speechless, but felt comforted in his heart.

He knew that Zhong Shengguang was also on guard against Ling Mountain.

Zhong Shengguang added: "Keep an eye on Xin Yi. I haven't told Old Xu yet; he and Xin Yi get along too well, and I'm afraid that if his attitude changes, Xin Yi will notice."

He Lingchuan nodded in agreement.

At this moment, a knocking sound came from outside the door, and a guard said in a low voice: "My lord, the time is almost up."

Zhong Shengguang immediately switched his expression: "Let's go, to the Nanchengmen. There is a good thing today."

Zhong Shengguang not only brought He Lingchuan, but also the main officials and generals of Panlongcheng.

The Nancheng Square was packed with people, and commoners also gathered to watch the excitement.

Zhong Shengguang walked onto the high platform himself, took out a cold jade treasure box from his storage ring, and placed it on the table.

He Lingchuan noticed that this box looked like a large ice cube; as soon as it was taken out, the crowd within three zhang could feel the temperature drop by six or seven degrees, and even breath turned to ice, showing its biting coldness.

What kind of treasure was in the box that required low-temperature refrigeration? Panlongcheng's style of doing things was not to keep people in suspense. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Zhong Shengguang simply said: "From this day and this hour, the two words 'Panlong' of Panlongcheng will truly live up to their name!"

Then, he lifted the lid of the cold jade box and took three steps back at the same time.

What shot into the sky was not cold air, but firelight!

The onlookers all looked up and let out an "oh," because something floated out of the cold jade box—round, red with gold, spinning on its own.

It was only the size of a kiwi fruit at first, but with every rotation, it grew larger, and the firelight became more intense.

It wasn't until it was as big as a football that its size stabilized, but the soaring firelight forced Zhong Shengguang to retreat another three big steps.

It was hot; what was felt around the table this time was all hot wind, even hotter than the scorching sun of mid-summer July.

It burned to its heart's content for more than ten breaths, and then the firelight retracted—

Suspended in mid-air was a red treasure bead, its surface covered in complex cloud patterns with faint dark gold flashing, as if dark flames were burning inside the bead.

On the surface of the red bead, there was also a complete symbol.

He Lingchuan had good eyesight and recognized it as the Li hexagram from the Eight Trigrams, whose hexagram image was "fire."

Just as the flames contracted and the treasure bead stopped spinning, the ground suddenly trembled, accompanied by a rumbling sound, and the gravel at He Lingchuan's feet kept jumping.

The Chiyan Plateau hadn't experienced an earthquake for a long time, and everyone was startled.

But He Lingchuan had already judged that the vibration didn't actually come from underground, but was driven by the high wall in front!

Under the gaze of thousands of eyes in the South Gate Square, the black dragon statue on the city wall suddenly moved, detaching itself from the outer wall, and its huge head hung down, watching Zhong Shengguang and the fiery red treasure bead.

The whole scene was silent.

This black dragon statue was usually majestic, but suddenly coming to life, the pressure unique to the dragon race rushed toward them, making people afraid to look up.

Zhong Shengguang cupped his hands and bowed respectfully to it.

Only then did the black dragon statue turn its head and swallow the fiery red treasure bead on the stone table in one gulp!

Immediately after, it swam back to the city wall, but didn't stay in its original position; instead, it began to patrol along the magnificent high wall of Panlongcheng! The wide and vertical wall surface seemed like a calm sea surface to it; the black dragon swam freely on the city wall, passing through the wall at will, completely unaffected by gravity. A guard on the city gate tower lowered his head and happened to see the huge dragon horns brush past the tip of his nose, giving him a big scare.

It took more than a quarter of an hour for the black dragon to swim through all the city walls, triggering successive exclamations all over the city.

Then it returned to the Nanchengmen, returned to its original position, and buried itself back into the wall, motionless.

Still at the same height, still in the same posture.

But the difference from before was that it held the fiery red treasure bead in its mouth.

From He Lingchuan's angle, he could clearly see the red-gold dark patterns on the treasure bead still glowing.

However, probably because it was held in the black dragon's mouth, the heat of the treasure bead no longer radiated outward, and the people under the city gate would not feel the hot wind.

Zhong Shengguang said loudly: "This is the Shadow Dragon Treasure Bead presented to Panlongcheng by the Wutu Nation, also known as the Great Expansion Heavenly Bead. The black dragon statue activated by it will henceforth defend against foreign enemies and guard Panlongcheng!"

After the black dragon's grand tour just now, everyone cheered.

This dragon looked very divine and was worthy of being the guardian god of Panlongcheng!