Chapter 942

Inside Long City, on the Investiture Platform, Bai Lang looked at the Investiture List, which already bore a long string of names. "There is still a long way to go before it is filled, but it should soon be time to initiate large-scale warfare." The membrane of the world had begun to rupture, and demons from the outer realms were pouring into this world—these demonic creatures were formless and shapeless, manifesting according to desires and attaching themselves to sentient beings to achieve their ends. They began with minor destruction—corrupting the human heart was the primary cause.

"Does this Great Wu Dynasty even need demons to corrupt it? Isn't it the other way around, with the dynasty corrupting the demons?" Bai Lang found this laughable; as far as he could see, there was no need for any damn demons to interfere with the Great Wu Dynasty, as the people in the imperial court were already black to the core.

These demons did not kill directly; they merely attached themselves to people to amplify their desires. Bai Lang's martial arts were such that demons could not possess him—it wasn't that they couldn't, but their level was insufficient. The moment they tried to attach themselves, they were instantly incinerated by a flash of his fire energy. In truth, these demons could hardly enter within a hundred zhang of him, but if they had already possessed a human heart, they would not be automatically destroyed by Bai Lang's divine skill unless they were within ten zhang, as he did not specifically prepare to repel them.

The Northern Barbarians were becoming somewhat impatient. It was said they were gathering a massive army in the far north, and the cavalry forces under the command of several Heavenly Experts were each assembling—the grasslands were far more loosely organized than the Central Plains dynasties; even the Great Khan could not possess the power of a Central Plains emperor, so the other two Heavenly Experts each possessed thirty thousand elite cavalry in their respective Leather-Tent Armies and Palace-Guard Armies. The Great Khan's own Kheshig Guard, conversely, only had ten thousand elite heavy cavalry.

The generals of the Central Plains did not have such large personal retinues. Although the Black Tortoise Army and the Flying Tiger Army each possessed over a hundred thousand troops, these were commanded by various subordinate generals, merely obeying the orders of the two Heavenly Expert Great Generals. Even a Heavenly Expert like Bai Lang only had the eighteen hundred riders of the Yeluhe.

Thus, the Black Tortoise Army and the Flying Tiger Army began to mobilize, sending eight-hundred-li urgent dispatches to the Capital, hoping to requisition more grain, military equipment, medical supplies, and preparations for reinforcements, not to mention silver for military pay. Once the war started, silver would flow out like the sea. Bai Lang's Yeluhe cavalry, however, were rather languid, lingering around Long City without mobilizing, instead frequently forming small squads to go hunting in their spare time.

It was just that the direction they headed was always toward the northern grasslands...

The punitive expedition toward the southwest moved quite quickly. Thanks to the grain supplied along the way, the army did not engage in looting, and military discipline was relatively good—that is, they only committed minor offenses like stealing chickens, ducks, pigs, and sheep from the villagers, or molesting the local women. As for the aristocratic clans along the way, they didn't dare touch them, so it could be called "strict military discipline."

At this time, Xiangpang was reorganizing the entire government structure. Previously, he had used violence to destroy local clans and most of the landlords, and he had also deprived the scholar class of their special status, so the trouble he faced was not small. In the territory he occupied, there were still hidden counter-attacks, and the government personnel who lacked sufficient awareness were corrupt, so he had no ability to continue expanding for the time being. He truly could not tolerate a grain of sand in his eyes; otherwise, if he had just turned a blind eye and given the scholar class some preferential treatment, or even more bluntly, coerced the masses, he would have already swept across the entire southwest by now.

How could he be stuck solving internal problems now, forced into a passive defensive posture against the arriving imperial punitive army before he could resolve everything? Xiangpang had an elite force absolutely loyal to him, who had long since despaired of the Great Wu Dynasty. He was currently using this force to complete most of the cleansing work, but unfortunately, he could not finish it all before the Wu army arrived.

The Great Wu army approached the rebels' position with great fanfare. Below the pass, a fierce rebel general rode a rather large ox, leading a group of elite soldiers who were also riding oxen, horses, and other animals, challenging the army at the pass. Seeing this, the nobles and civil officials were so angry their noses were crooked, and they immediately ordered their own brave generals to go out and challenge them, to behead the rebel general.

This fierce rebel general was named Huang Feihu—it was truly surprising, this was a Huang Feihu riding a wild ox. The weapon in his hand was also very strange—it was just a long pole with a heavy iron block at the top, lacking any sharp edge, possessing only heavy weight. Huang Feihu held the weapon with one hand and shouted his challenge. The wild ox beneath him ran no slower than a thousand-li horse, and its horns were as sharp as swords.

Fighting in this place also involved duels between fierce generals—after all, great power belonged to the individual. Ouyang Jie, a general in the imperial army whose cultivation was also that of a Grandmaster, went out to fight. He was killed in an instant; that heavy iron block, aided by the momentum of the wild ox, spun once and sent his long saber flying, then followed through to pierce his chest, smashing his bones and destroying his organs, knocking him off his horse dead.

This immediately angered another fierce general of the Wu army—Han Sui. This man held a large wolf-tooth club and shouted, his internal force manifesting as ice as he charged forward. As he swung the club, cold air overflowed, and his ice-attribute internal force manifested as long, sharp spikes. This was a match of equals; Huang Feihu and Han Sui fought fiercely, and soon the soldiers under their command also formed formations and joined the fray.

Military energy manifested; Huang Feihu's side appeared as a giant wild ox phantom, charging and trampling, while Han Sui's side was a world of ice and snow, the soldiers' blades and spears like countless ice cones blown in a storm. The two sides fought together, each using their own skills to fight for their lives. After dozens of rounds, the pass began to sound the gong. Huang Feihu swung his heavy iron block violently, and it suddenly seemed to grow dozens of times larger, crashing down with immense force.

Han Sui had no choice but to take the blow head-on, retreating several steps, and his troops' formation also wavered. At this moment, Huang Feihu led his troops in a rapid retreat. This was also one of the fierce generals under Xiangpang, who had three hundred Iron Ox troops. The pass gate opened, and Huang Feihu retreated inside and pulled up the drawbridge—after that, it would be a siege battle. Xiangpang only needed Huang Feihu to hold out for a while; after that, he would naturally lead his elites to arrive.

The imperial court naturally divided its forces, leaving thirty thousand troops to watch this pass, while the rest of the main army split into two routes, preparing to bypass this location and attack the cities occupied by the rebels. As for Xiangpang, the Heavenly Expert, he would naturally be dealt with by Heavenly Experts from the aristocratic clans. For this occasion, the imperial court had mobilized two Heavenly Experts, both old gentlemen of long-standing fame. It remained to be seen if Xiangpang could withstand them.