Chapter 2728: Softening or Counterattack?

Among the Bega army were also the main forces of various vassal demon states, as well as the devout believers of the Heavenly Palace, and wave after wave of information bombardment similarly left them at a loss.

They had to ask themselves, with the country in such a mess at home, what meaning did their fighting on the front lines of the Panlong Wasteland still have?

The fighting here is so difficult it's almost deadly—why doesn't the general bring them back home to suppress those rebellions and conflicts?

Many soldiers' hearts have flown back home, worrying about the safety of their own families.

Rumors fly everywhere: the Panlong army grows more confident the more it fights, while the Bega army grows more irritable the more it fights.

As for why the Bega army's elemental power has weakened? The reason is also very simple: domestic turmoil and unrest among the people mean that, as the "gathered force," elemental power naturally weakens as well.

By this point, He Lingchuan knew that the turning point of the war had arrived.

He stood outside the tent, feeling the coolness of the rain striking his face.

Unlike the dry cold of the past few months, recent rains on the wasteland have been plentiful, yet the temperature does not drop; the air carries a warm, damp scent.

"Spring is just around the corner," He Lingchuan murmured to himself.

He saw that beneath the tent peg, a small clump of wild grass had sprouted tender shoots, and wildflowers a few feet away had quietly bloomed, their petals tender yellow like egg yolks, nodding and swaying in the early spring breeze.

At this moment, a personal guard came over and handed him a food box: "Commander, it's time for breakfast."

He Lingchuan lifted the lid with ease, picked up the meat patty inside, and sat down by the horse trough to eat.

The meat patties were five in number, each larger than his palm, glistening with oil from inside to out. The outer skin was made of coarse flour from sorghum and buckwheat—not soft, and it could catch in the throat—but once fried in oil, it became fragrant, and the filling was packed full: wild boar caught by soldiers on patrol yesterday, plus two bird eggs scooped from trees.

No matter how it's prepared, wild boar meat has a strong gamey smell and tough texture, but He Lingchuan ate it with great relish.

The Panlong army has long had no meat to eat, and now even normal food supply in the rear cannot be maintained.

While the army frequently engages in high-intensity combat, they can only eat one meal every two days, and the quality is not good either.

The commander's rations, of course, are the best in the entire army. General Hu Ying, as the brains and soul of the Panlong army, needs the most energy. He Lingchuan also eats with particular care—not a single bit of meat falls from the bun, and he even licks the oil off his fingers clean, embodying the principle of not wasting anything.

The food box also contained a large portion of steaming hot mixed-bean sticky cake, larger than his face, evenly cut into six pieces, plus several bright red water radishes that gave a satisfying crunch when bitten.

He Lingchuan ate while scanning his surroundings.

Not far from the camp, a few soldiers had just finished their night watch and were now sitting on wooden posts chatting.

They had smiles on their faces, though it was unclear what they were talking about; occasionally they reached out to shove each other playfully.

Further off, from behind some tent, the sound of a sanguqin echoed—this is an instrument from the western part of the Panlong Wasteland, ethereal and spacious, especially suited for playing in the open fields.

Although the war continues and remains difficult, the vibrant vitality displayed by the Panlong army camp is now completely different from what it was several months ago.

Where there is hope, there is inexhaustible strength.

As He Lingchuan was just picking up a water radish, a red shadow suddenly flashed low in the sky and landed on the wooden post beside him.

The red falcon has arrived.

"Urgent news, Bega urgent news!" it spat a small copper tube into He Lingchuan's hand.

Inside the copper tube was a scroll; when unfolded, it turned out to be a large sheet densely covered with small characters.

Recently, Bega has been unsettled, and He Lingchuan always receives a large bundle of messages each time—most often reports of chaos in the various halls, such as Lingxu City again clashing red-faced with some vassal demon state, or some originally radiant divine servant being exposed and dug up for blackmail, leaving people stunned, and so on.

What should be timely wartime dispatches have been turned into something like gossip sheets from a roadside tea stall.

So He Lingchuan sat on the horse trough, gnawing on the water radish while reading the intelligence.

"Crack," he took a bite, read two lines.

Took another bite, read another two lines.

But his expression soon turned heavy and solemn; he shoved the remaining water radish entirely into his mouth and finished reading all the intelligence in one breath.

A stunning reversal.

Oh no, this is serious trouble.

At this moment, Wen Daolun also came running madly from his own tent, black mud splashing onto his trouser legs from the ground.

He hurriedly said: "Commander, the king has sent word for us to come into the tent to discuss."

"Come on," He Lingchuan strode into the main tent, everyone knowing to withdraw, leaving only him and Wen Daolun inside.

Wen Daolun immediately used his divine ability to contact Zhong Shengguang of Panlong City, and the first thing the other side said was:

"Have you seen the latest intelligence from Bega?"

"We have seen it," He Lingchuan nodded, "this is the situation we least hoped to see."

Zhong Shengguang's face was cold and stern, with several wrinkles squeezed out between his brows: "The situation has reversed; the relationship between the Heavenly Palace and Lingxu City is easing, but the pressure on us will suddenly increase."

Before this, Lingxu City and the Heavenly Palace had been fighting fiercely, dragging the entire Bega into the conflict. Vassal demon kings were all pondering how to align themselves, civilians were thinking about how to preserve life and property, and even migration waves appeared—for example, due to recent excessive friction, many citizens and merchants of E'ling State and Yinsha State migrated south to Baoshu State.

Baoshu State is wealthy, powerful, and secure, with relatively lenient governance currently, making it the primary destination for many people's migration.

People move about for various reasons, the state begins to turmoil, public security issues become prominent—don't forget that Bega is first and foremost a demon state, and demon disturbances have historically been frequent occurrences; this year's numbers may need to be multiplied by three or five—people's hearts are also in chaos, leading to a decline in Bega's elemental power, and the front lines lose the will to fight.

These developments were all within He Lingchuan's expectations. If the conflict between Lingxu City and the Heavenly Palace continued to snowball rapidly, he optimistically estimated that the Pan-Bega war might even end ahead of schedule.

But today's paper intelligence reminded him that he had still been too optimistic—the game between the Demon Emperor and the Heavenly Demon is far from that simple.

What surprised He Lingchuan somewhat was that it was actually the Heavenly Palace that first softened its stance.

The Heavenly Palace issued a divine edict from the Holy Sovereign: the recent exposure of divine servant misconduct incidents throughout Bega has shocked the heavenly realm. The gods are furious, ordering the Heavenly Palace to self-investigate thoroughly; whoever is found guilty shall be arrested and returned to the palace to face severe punishment!

And to show that it means business, the Heavenly Palace, right after issuing the edict, consecutively arrested over fifty divine servants—from the lamp-keeper of the Mount Xushan Heavenly Palace to the officials of local god temples—and had these "sinners" publicly receive divine punishment in the most conspicuous places in the city, namely being burned alive by divine fire under everyone's eyes!

Local residents can gather to watch, to vent their hatred.

So far, the Hall of Ten Thousand Gods has received nearly ten thousand reports of misconduct, all lengthy documents, with total pages exceeding several million.

(End of chapter)