Chapter 2727: The Most Exhausting War He Has Ever Fought

He Lingchuan said without hesitation, "The Demon Emperor has painstakingly built up momentum to this point; he will surely seize this opportunity to push upward with all his might!"

Where is "upward"?

Naturally, it is the Heavenly Palace.

Striking the snake at its seven-inch mark is done to kill the snake. If the Demon Emperor is truly shrewd, he should seize the current favorable situation and, in one vigorous push, topple the holy image the Heavenly Palace has long erected among the common people.

So-called unwavering resolve forever belongs only to a minority. Once the masses suffer a huge psychological gap, they easily turn from love to hate, from extreme love to extreme hatred.

He continued, "After the 'Qinchang' formula was leaked, the Demon Emperor and the Heavenly Palace must have wrestled over this matter for many rounds; neither side got the result they wanted, which is why the secret medicine incident has brewed into today's situation."

Zhong Shengguang sighed, "Indeed, it is so."

He knew very well that the conflict between Lingxu City and the Heavenly Demon had existed for a long time; the leak of the 'Qinchang' secret medicine formula was merely a catalyst.

He also knew clearly that it was the Demon Emperor who seized this opportunity, worked hard to expand the incident, and launched an attack on the Heavenly Demon; the two sides clashed openly and secretly many times before the present outcome emerged. But he could not help but marvel — He Lingchuan's luck was truly too good!

Speaking broadly, it was Panlong's luck that had finally turned for the better.

If the Demon Emperor did not have such an unyielding personality, if he wavered and compromised;

If the Heavenly Demon were willing to better appease the Demon Emperor, willing to concede some tangible benefits, perhaps the conflict between the Demon Emperor and the Heavenly Palace would have eased, the whole matter's trajectory would not be the current wave-upon-wave crisis, and perhaps the resolution of Panlong's crisis would still be indefinitely far off.

For this to succeed, heaven's timing, earth's advantage, and human harmony — not one can be missing.

Zhong Shengguang continued, "The Demon Emperor not only refuses to ease the conflict; his actions even aim to directly shake the Heavenly Demon's foundation of faith. The Lingxu Saintly Sovereign absolutely cannot tolerate this. Next, the two will likely fight even more fiercely. I just asked Lingshan; they may contact Lingxu City recently."

The enemy of one's enemy can become an ally. Lingshan has also seen the chance to intervene.

"We shall wait and see."

The two discussed the frontline war situation a bit more.

There is no doubt that actively contracting the defense is an extraordinarily difficult decision, but at least it is orderly — far better than being unable to hold the line when the time comes and retreating passively in a rout.

Due to the excessive pressure of fighting on two fronts simultaneously, Panlong was now prepared to abandon the southern and eastern parts of the Wasteland; large numbers of soldiers and civilians were retreating north and west, drawing closer to Panlong City step by step.

To cover the retreat, the fighting on the frontline actually intensified.

Zhong Shengguang examined He Lingchuan closely and found his eye corners full of bloodshot veins, his body thinned by a large circle, the angles of his face more prominent, a ring of stubble on his chin.

The Tiger Wing General had always been vigorous and energetic; he had never been this haggard.

The pressure and responsibility he carried on his shoulders — Panlong truly had no second person who could bear them.

Zhong Shengguang sighed inwardly.

"Also, mirages and earthquakes have both been appearing more frequently recently." He mentioned it in passing, "I asked the Special Envoy; when the Panlong Wasteland earthquakes, the entire Beijia feels the tremors extremely violently as well. Other regions besides Beijia are likewise. Heh, I've never heard of an earthquake that can affect half the world — truly a bizarre affair."

Earthquakes are usually regional.

He Lingchuan fell silent, correcting in his heart: it is not half the world that is shaken, but the entire Panlong world!

That is naturally no ordinary earthquake. In the entire Panlong world, only he knows the truth — the chaos inside the Great Square Pot is growing increasingly violent; it yearns to break free of the Panlong Secret Realm's confinement and rush into the real mortal world.

This is the general trend.

He Lingchuan even wondered whether that might be the destiny the Great Square Pot itself is rushing toward.

……

Morning brought a light rain; the fields gave off a wild fragrance of earth and green grass.

This bit of wilderness warmth temporarily eased the killing aura on the battlefield.

The Panlong Wasteland has nearly been stirred into a pot of porridge; although the royal armies of the twelve vassal demon nations have not all arrived, the pressure on Panlong's soldiers and civilians is unprecedentedly immense.

Even though He Lingchuan had unified the entire Shanjin Plain in reality and commanded the complex Dragon God Wars, in the Panlong world every order issued and every troop deployment still left him feeling a thousand threads and ten thousand ends, still requiring him to exhaust his mind and energy.

The Imperial Twin Stars were split between the front and rear battlefields, each with their own mission. Therefore, the overall command and defense of the entire Panlong Wasteland fell completely on the Tiger Wing General's shoulders.

Every day upon opening his eyes, the war on this plain continued.

The Panlong army's will was exceptionally firm, their Yuan Qi exceptionally powerful, but aside from these two aspects, in national power, wealth, logistics, equipment, and so on, they were thrown several streets behind by the Beijia Grand Army.

This is an objective fact, not something that changes according to human will.

Were it not for General Hong desperately intercepting and disrupting Beijia's logistics transport on the Ma River Plain, Panlong would have been unable to hold on long ago.

Even so, the Panlong army's overall defensive perimeter is contracting; the Wasteland is being nibbled away step by step by the enemy. This was originally part of He Lingchuan's plan: trading space for time. But as the actually controlled territory shrinks, Panlong's pressure in grain, people's livelihood, and logistics support is also growing exponentially.

At this time, the margin for error left to He Lingchuan and the Panlong army is very small.

He is the Panlong army's Grand Marshal of Troops and Horses; he must control the direction, adjust strategy in time, ensure every subordinate general is placed in the proper position...

Because the Panlong army is in a relatively weak position in this war, even if he commits a trivial mistake, it could very likely evolve into uncontrollable consequences.

The strong can make many mistakes; after repeated battles and repeated errors, they can still fight again after erring again, because their capital is deep enough, their health bar thick enough — in the end they always win.

The weak are the opposite; no matter how many times they won before, losing just two bouts means total ruin, family destroyed and people dead!

This is absolutely the most exhausting, most cautious, most difficult-to-gauge war He Lingchuan has ever fought!

Now He Lingchuan finally understands why, with Zhong Shengguang's cultivation, his white hair is still growing wildly.

It is simply that his mind and spirit have been depleted too severely!

Fortunately, Beijia's violent turmoil lets Panlong's soldiers and civilians all know there is light ahead; as long as they unite and rush straight there, perhaps they can break out into a new lease on life!

On the contrary, the opposing Beijia Grand Army's recent battle state is not too good.

Even though Beijia's commander-in-chief Huaiyuan is doing his utmost to control the situation, the Panlong army can clearly feel that the opponent's combat ability has indeed declined — not only has the Yuan Qi on their bodies become somewhat meager, they also fight a bit absent-mindedly, not like the former howling, barbaric ferocity.

Although Lingxu City would not deliberately spread it here, Beijia's internal strife has inevitably become gust after gust of rumor wind, blowing toward the Wasteland frontline.