Chapter 406: The Third Fire

The northwestern corner of the largest landmass in Great Marsh Prefecture, separated by a thousand li of waterway, has an island roughly triangular in shape.

The island's three sides are each about seven to eight hundred li long; the island is filled with barren mountains and evil waters, many swamps and streams, everywhere poisonous grasses and trees, conditions extremely harsh—even a Life Pool Realm cultivator could be struck down by the miasma here and perish directly.

At the island's center, dozens of stone mountains formed a natural sealing grand formation; the wholly black stone mountains were riddled with countless strange holes, from which strands of black smoke spewed out, forming a black net that enveloped a swamp spanning a dozen li around.

A blurry silhouette slipped into the black net.

All around sounded a strange 'hiss-hiss' noise; soon a muffled voice came from the net: 'Heavenly Centipede King, I mean no harm—I've come to discuss a bit of business with you.'

……

After a long while, that blurry silhouette left the area shrouded in black smoke; a crimson centipede a hundred zhang long, its whole body scarlet, swaying head and tail, as if escorting or monitoring, conveyed him out.

Remember, Huo Xiong is going to suppress the Black Phoenix Army…… Don't attack him on his way there; wait until he clashes with the Black Phoenix Army before striking—this will save you considerable effort.

Remember to remind the Heavenly Centipede King, that Golden Ginseng Fruit, hehe, is the key to his complete transformation!

……

At the same time, in the center of the Great Marsh, at the deepest part of the Weak Water, a human silhouette split the waves and burst out of the water surface.

An elegant silver flood dragon swayed its head and tail, stepping on water clouds as it flew out slowly; its two large silver eyes emitted a bright gleam, fixedly staring at that silhouette.

Remember, when Huo Xiong goes, do not attack him. Wait until he returns from the Black Phoenix Army's mine before you act. Remember, remember—we only need Huo Xiong dead; you must not harm a single hair of that Black Phoenix Army commander.

Otherwise, you dragon kings, forget about obtaining the Golden Ginseng Fruit.

……

South of Great Marsh Prefecture, in the boundless forests, a vibrantly colored large parrot perched on a huge branch, impatiently flapping its wings; with one strike it sent a blurry silhouette flying seven or eight li away.

I know, I know…… the damned Golden Ginseng Fruit, how could such a treasure be in your hands?

Okay, okay, the woman named Pei Feng, we won't touch…… as for Huo Xiong, I'll pull out his bones one by one.

Ah, the flesh and blood of you human cultivators is far tastier than the fruits of the mountains and forests.

……

Zhang Xibai kept his word; he indeed mobilized his thirty thousand elite troops, selecting fifty unlucky fellows from Great Marsh City and sending them into Wu Tie's camp. As Wu Tie demanded, when these unlucky fellows were sent over, every bone in their bodies was broken.

To show sincerity, Zhang Xibai specially asked Huang Lang for the ledger, making up for the supplies Wu Tie had previously consumed in building the city.

'Strong troops, sturdy horses, ample provisions—General Huo Xiong's expedition this time to suppress the rebels will surely be victorious.' The Prefect of Great Marsh, Bo, with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, clasped his hands toward Wu Tie as he brought the supplies to the camp.

'Strong troops, sturdy horses, ample provisions…… Prefect Bo's meaning is, if I lose, I'll have no excuse to shirk responsibility, right?' Wu Tie likewise looked at Prefect Bo with a smile that didn't reach his eyes: 'Hmm, Great Marsh City is terribly unsettled; throughout this city are vile evil men and women… Prefect Bo, when walking at night, watch out for ghosts!'

Zhu Bo stared, then gave a forced smile, flicked his sleeve hard: 'General Huo Xiong's words…… these petty specters, we cultivators…… hehe.'

Zhu Bo raised his head arrogantly and said coldly: 'Especially, I cultivate the Ancient Buddhist Sect's Great Might Heavenly Dragon Sutra, which specializes in subduing demons and evil spirits; these petty specters, hehe.'

With hands behind his back, Zhu Bo led the soldiers who had brought the supplies away quickly from Wu Tie's camp.

From afar he tossed out a sentence: 'The Prefect has me remind General Huo Xiong: you want troops, I'll give you troops; you want supplies, I'll give you supplies…… if General Huo Xiong still loses like this, then it really won't be easy to explain.'

Wu Tie, hands behind his back, watched the departing Prefect Bo and let out a 'hehe' laugh.

Over the next three days, in the camp completely sealed off by the formation, anguished howls shook heaven and earth, yet each day was likewise filled with the aroma of wine and meat, and a large quantity of spirit pills used to aid cultivation gave off a strong medicinal fragrance.

Over fifty-three thousand prefecture troops each day laughed then cried, cried then laughed; they wept when beaten, laughed when eating and drinking, and then at night, after suffering a thrashing and taking medicine to cultivate, they were a mix of tears and laughter, each one nearly driven mad by Wu Tie's torment.

The miraculous effects of the Cave Heaven Secret Treasure were fully revealed in these three days.

This active camp was like a huge black hole, each day frantically drawing in the surrounding heaven-and-earth primordial energy.

The heaven-and-earth primordial energy in the camp was concentrated to the extreme, already turned into thick white mist swirling around; the Pulverized Bone Myriad Tribulations Scripture is an extremely cruel demonic path cultivation method, and since these troops already had some cultivation foundation, plus Wu Tie spared no cost in forcibly infusing them with large amounts of spirit pills to aid cultivation, it directly crammed the heaven-and-earth primordial energy into their bodies……

In just three days, many of the over fifty thousand troops broke through their realms, many advancing from the Sensing Mystery Realm to the Life Pool Realm.

Although they grasped no supernatural abilities and their offensive power hardly increased, their abilities to endure blows and preserve life each increased severalfold.

Plus the uniforms, armor, and assorted weapons issued by Wu Tie, these fellows ended up looking fairly presentable.

However, just like Li Er Haizi and the others, they were all placed under Wu Tie's soul seal.

Wu Tie figured it out—there's nothing good in Great Marsh City, and these troops are utterly unreliable.

Three days later, at the first light of dawn, the camp already reeked of wine and meat; Wu Tie exerted himself to let the troops eat their fill of food and drink, then scattered handfuls of gold coins, forcibly boosting their morale to a decent level for the time being.

Wu Tie released several dozen large and small galleys, packed up the active camp, all the troops boarding the galleys; Wu Tie alone remotely controlled all the galleys as they drifted slowly toward the western mountains.

Flying this way, the speed simply couldn't be increased.

But Wu Tie had no choice; after searching through the over fifty thousand prefecture troops, not one was of normal birth, nor anyone who could pilot these galleys.

Huang Lang, Huang Yu, and the hundred-odd staff members, though they had formal educations, came from such good backgrounds that they'd never done the lowly work of sailing these galleys; thus they also couldn't pilot the galleys.

The sizable fleet set off slowly.

As they passed the newly built stretch of the western wall of Great Marsh City, Wu Tie saw Zhang Xibai leading a large retinue, setting up an incense table on the wall and laying out three animal sacrifices.

'General Huo Xiong, may you return victorious soon!' Zhang Xibai raised a huge wine jar, like offering libations at a grave, his smile not reaching his eyes, and poured the entire jar of fine wine from the city wall down onto the base below.

'The lord surely wants him dead!' At some point, Huang Lang edged up behind Wu Tie, muttering quietly.

'You guessed it exactly—I really do want to kill him now…… how do you know what I'm thinking?' Wu Tie looked curiously at Huang Lang.

'That's the way of an official.' Huang Lang looked smugly at Wu Tie: 'If you can't gauge the intentions of your superiors, how can you be an official?'

'If your tricks really worked, wouldn't you have been exiled with your whole clan to Great Marsh Prefecture?' Wu Tie didn't care that Huang Lang was already a bitter old man; he flicked his forehead hard with a finger: 'How did you offend that 'villain'—do you still remember?'

Huang Lang's face instantly turned marvelously colorful.

'Well, your son, daughter-in-law, and those grandsons and granddaughters—no doubt they were snatched by impostor bandits of the Black Phoenix Army; I'd guess they still don't know which mine they're digging tunnels in.' Wu Tie patted Huang Lang's shoulder and murmured: 'I'll help you get them back…… as long as you wholeheartedly serve me, I'll guarantee the prosperity and wealth of your Huang family.'

Huang Lang's mouth twitched a few times, then he gave a dry laugh: 'I'm afraid it's not easy…… remember what Zhang Xibai said? Great Marsh Prefecture ought to have over three million inhabitants, yet now only a few hundred thousand remain…… the Black Phoenix Army, sucking marrow from bones, how could they possibly return the people?'

Wu Tie crossed his arms over his chest and murmured: 'Don't worry, Zhang Xibai's been jumping around these past few days—I at least know the Black Phoenix Army's having a rough time…… hehe, if they're having a rough time, then we're in good shape.'

The fleet drifted slowly toward the western mountains.

Wu Tie had no worries about time.

Zhang Xibai gave him five days to pacify the Black Phoenix Army?

If within five days he couldn't have those 'rebellious Black Phoenix Army commanders' beaten to death, he would file an official complaint upward, really laying into Wu Tie?

Heh, Wu Tie now also has a backer.

It mentions Mr. Li, Zhang Xibai, Wu Tie (already in the glossary), the Forbidden Demon Palace (a sect/organization), and the title Hall Master of the Great Marsh Prefecture Sub‑Hall of the Forbidden Demon Palace, noting that Zhang Xibai is a person's name.

It mentions Wu Tie again.

It mentions Wu Tie and a fleet (generic term), with no other names.

It mentions Huang Lang and the ship's bow (generic term), with no other names.

The unit led by Wu Tie didn't look like a fighting army at all; it seemed more like a band of refugee bandits!

The "march", shrouded in gloom, dragged on slowly for four days before the fleet finally entered the deep mountains and arrived at the narrow entrance of a valley.

It mentions Pei Feng and describes a black flame lion (a creature), with no other proper names.

It mentions Pei Feng again, plus Huo Xiong and Zhang Xibai again.

At the bow of the flagship leading the fleet, Wu Tie and Huang Lang stood frozen.

"Are you blaming me for coming too late?" Wu Tie widened his eyes and countered Peng Feng.

It mentions Pei Feng, Zhang Xibai, and the Black Phoenix Army (a faction/army) multiple times, and refers to the army's logistics (generic term), with no other names.

"I originally thought he would personally bring people to cause me trouble… but I never expected it to be you, this scapegoat!" Peng Feng said angrily: "You have such a large tower ship accompanying the army, coming from the city; at most three or five hours' effort, how did you drag it out for seven or eight days?"

Wu Tie looked at Peng Feng and said honestly: "Isn't it to your advantage that I'm moving slowly?"

Wu Tie chuckled and said: "Coming slowly makes it convenient for you to mobilize troops to deal with me, or you could simply evacuate everyone in the valley; whether fighting or fleeing, having an extra seven or eight days isn't good?"

Peng Feng's expression turned extremely strange.

She took a deep breath and sneered: "So you're still with Zhang Xibai's group… You know the Black Phoenix Army's supplies are nearly exhausted, and you're deliberately stalling to let more of its soldiers starve to death—your intentions are heinous!"

With a long laugh, Peng Feng raised his spear, arcing a black streak of light, and howled as he charged at Wu Tie.

The black flame lion beneath her let out a fierce roar, continuously spewing large clumps of black flame shaped like lotus blossoms from its mouth, like heavenly fire meteors falling from the sky, heavily bombarding the flagship that Wu Tie was aboard.

Wu Tie waved his hand, and the tiger-head shield, which had suffered severe damage on the Three Kingdoms battlefield and had not yet been repaired, spewed smoke and radiant light and shot up, rushing toward Pei Feng.

"Pei Feng army commander, let's talk properly; I came here not to fight you."

Wu Tie shouted loudly, but Pei Feng completely ignored his words; with a point of the spear, the tiger-head shield let out a mournful cry, pierced by a single strike of the spear. Then dozens of clumps of black lotus-shaped flames swooped down, with a few booms the shield exploded into countless streams of molten red metal spraying outward.

Pei Feng shook his spear, and a sky-full of spear blossoms carrying scorching black flames enveloped Wu Tie's entire body.

Wu Tie let out a light sigh, then suddenly roared to the heavens; his body flickered and transformed into a wholly crimson Yingdragon that soared into the sky.

Three hundred zhang long, with huge wings on its back, the mighty, miraculous Yingdragon, its whole body ablaze with raging heavenly fire, waved its gleaming dragon claws and slapped down at Pei Feng from head to face.

The Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique inherently possesses the Seventy-Two Earthly Evil Transformations; Wu Tie's incarnation as a Yingdragon is lifelike, indeed like a true primordial god dragon revived, and the ineffable aura it emanates caused Huang Liang's face behind him to turn deathly pale as he staggered backward continually.

With a loud clang, after incarnating as a Yingdragon, Wu Tie's physical strength surged a hundredfold; a single blow sent Pei Feng's spear flying.

Wu Tie's force at this moment was too fierce; his blow not only sent Pei Feng retreating but also his flame lion mount, causing them to withdraw several dozen li, nearly crashing into the rear cliff.

"Now, can you hear me out properly?"

Wu Tie loudly roared: "Your Black Phoenix Army's logistics have run into trouble, I also guessed that…… but I here have enough supplies of a million elite troops to last years of consumption, you have a million elite soldiers…… if we join forces, great things can be accomplished."

Wu Tie suddenly froze.

The master behind Mr. Li, who exactly gave him all these supplies, perhaps had already foreseen today?