Chapter 1979: Frontline Assembly

The Ceramic Flower Mountains, where breath freezes in the air. Peach blossoms had just bloomed on the branches by day, but by night they were coated with frost.

In the mountains lay an abandoned village, long deserted and nearly swallowed by wild vines and weeds, yet tonight its lights were on.

"It's so cold." The house was empty, but the hearth fire burned brightly, so Tao Ran and the others gathered around it to warm themselves.

Though they possessed cultivation, no one enjoyed freezing.

After the first round of battles ended, the Dragon God Army had already been reorganized, with adjustments made to the troops in each regiment. This secret meeting at Ceramic Flower Mountain Village was attended only by a few leaders of the Black Armor Army.

Of course, the Nine Abysses Great Emperor himself was also present.

Tao Ran and Lu Yaofei's two armies converged here, and He Lingchuan, leading the main force, had also plowed from the northwest to the south to meet here, to exchange intelligence and redeploy missions.

The commanders had already reported the battlefield situation along this route.

In fact, He Lingchuan had been monitoring frontline dynamics through battle reports all along; now, meeting with the commanders, he only wanted to know further details.

The details of battle and post-battle summaries—these are things a terse battle report cannot convey. He Lingchuan needed to promptly grasp the army's condition, identify weaknesses, and solve problems.

Tao Ran then pointed to the sand table to summarize and report: "At the end of the first phase, the Sovereign had confirmed eighty-one difficult points, which should have been the assault targets for the second phase, but during our training period, several dozen of them suddenly invaded Dragon God territory. Currently, the Black Armor Army, together with local garrison troops, has already persuaded surrender and eliminated eleven of them."

"Among these eleven targets, two surrendered voluntarily due to circumstances, while the other nine were taken only through hard fighting."

"Those willing to surrender had basically already surrendered in the first phase; the rest are holdouts. Thus, the Dragon God Army's progress has clearly slowed, suffering losses in several key battles, such as the recent Battle of Wu Tun."

"Among these several dozen targets, many show signs of mutual alliance, and they refuse to sit and wait for death—like the Rain-Calling Altar of Hui City, which has allied with the Kanxia and Chang'an tribes; the Xu Yuan Sect has also made peace with its former enemies, namely the three great demons Yan Ran, shaking hands. This has caused us much trouble."

"The Heavenly Demons will not stand by while we swallow Shan Jin; of course they will throw obstacles. They are now bewitching the remaining powerful figures of Shan Jin, providing these forces with money, grain, troops, weapons, and extra martial support." He Lingchuan analyzed, "But the Heavenly Realm is now in utter chaos, with the Lingxu gods each fighting their own battles, still unable to unite as one to oppose me; the support given to mortal believers should therefore be very limited."

Lu Yaofei laughed: "The Bai Shiliu we killed at Copper Tooth Mountain, before his defeat, even pushed out a woman, shouting loudly about welcoming some god's descent? It startled us badly, but in the end nothing happened—those who should scatter scattered, those who should die died."

"Song Jing Shen." Zhao Yibing reminded.

"Yeah, you all didn't see Bai Shiliu's face before death—from doubtful confusion to disbelief, then to boundless resentment; this bastard must have felt he was tricked."

"Song Jing Shen?" The crowd puzzled, "How come we've never heard of it?"

The gods in heaven are too many; often some obscure minor god's name pops up.

"That was once one of the attendant gods under Miao Zhantian, and there is still a statue of it in the Tian Shui City temple, though its position is rather rear." He Lingchuan still remembered, "After Miao Zhantian died, it defected to Duo Wen Tian."

To survive well, heavenly gods are just like humans—they also need to cling to a strong thigh.

"Bai Shiliu invited the god, so why didn't this Song Jing Shen come down?"

Zhao Yibing laughed: "Heavenly gods—no, Heavenly Demons aren't stupid either; seeing their defeat is certain, they probably just refused to descend."

When Heavenly Demons descend to the mortal realm, it consumes great energy; who would willingly come down to fight a battle they know they'll lose?

Lu Yaofei continued: "We captured that woman. According to her confession, she was originally the daughter of a merchant from Xiling, a devotee of Miao Zhantian. The Heavenly Palace's Dharma Protectors found her, saying she was a divine incarnation, and had Bai Shiliu bring her to Song Bo Po. Bai Shiliu had been maintaining her as such until defeat, when he pushed her out."

The crowd wondered: "So, is she really a divine incarnation or not?"

"Even after the battle, she still firmly believed it was because the Heavenly Demons looked down on Bai Shiliu and refused to descend." Lu Yaofei shrugged, "Since the Heavenly Palace's Dharma Protectors found her, perhaps she really is."

He Lingchuan, however, shook his head: "Divine incarnation failing—this isn't the first time. Qiu Hu sent a message reporting that when he attacked Hong Shan Cliff, the enemy, at the brink of defeat, also tried to invoke divine aid in battle, but to their death, they never managed to summon it down. However, that so-called 'divine incarnation' was fiercer than the one you captured—just after capture, it exploded, causing seven casualties."

"Qiu Ge really has bad luck." Lu Yaofei laughed in surprise, "Can divine incarnations even be fake?"

He Lingchuan continued: "Precisely because these 'divine incarnations' were bestowed by the Heavenly Palace's Dharma Protectors, this matter is especially suspicious."

The crowd all echoed in agreement.

Yeah, what kind of person is Qing Yang? Besides He Lingchuan and Shuang Ye, everyone else still hasn't found a third person whose mind is more intricate than hers.

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"After Miao Zhantian's divine manipulation, Qing Yang should no longer have so many divine incarnations in her hands, but she must still win over the Shan Jin magnates..." He Lingchuan mused, "Hmm, perhaps it's them approaching her, or the heavenly gods demanding it, and she, unwilling to do one thing but not the other, simply issued empty checks and empty promises, sending over fake divine incarnations to satisfy them."

Tao Ran wondered: "Can this be done? Isn't this deceiving people? Who will believe them in the future?"

"If we don't get through this round, does Qing Yang even have a future? Besides, divine incarnations are no different from ordinary people; the Shan Jin magnates can't tell real from fake at once. Though they'd show their flaws on the battlefield, Shan Jin is isolated, war-torn and chaotic, so other magnates might not learn of it in the short term."

Lu Yaofei immediately said: "We'll give her good publicity, so the Shan Jin people all know that the former National Preceptor of Between Between Between Beijia and the Great Dharma Protector of the Heavenly Palace just love to deceive people into dying!"

"Will they believe us just because we promote it?" He Lingchuan chuckled, "Qing Yang daily promotes that I'm a fake Dragon God—do you believe that?"

Everyone could only shake their heads.

"Still, this trick works in the short term, and that's enough. Besides, how do you know there won't be true divine incarnations on the battlefield ahead? One or two genuine divine incarnations—I believe Qing Yang can still produce them."

He Lingchuan understood: "She wants to take advantage of our large-scale training to win more comeback battles, thoroughly disrupting our rear base. But relying on her alone or Bai Tan again won't work, so she needs many cannon fodder to hold the front."

Zhong Li Zheng angrily said: "This old demoness is truly vicious."

"Heavenly gods still care about face; only Qing Yang could do something so shameless." He Lingchuan was also secretly wary—Between Between Between Beijia's former National Preceptor has actually discarded all bottom lines; what else might she do in the future? Just thinking about it is terrifying.

Next, we continue discussing military affairs.

"This phase is indeed unfavorable for us; the enemy is numerous and scattered, while our forces are clearly insufficient. But—our army's current advance speed is also below expectation, and this should not be!"