Chapter 638: War, Art

Firelight sprang up in all directions, explosion sounds never ceased.

Granary after granary was reduced to nothing amid the explosion sounds, and countless supplies were burned to ash by the flames.

Volley after volley of thin arrows darted through the wind, taking the lives of one colonel, commandant after another, even ordinary soldiers. The archers hidden in the dark ignored the senior officers of the Wei army, merely reveling in harvesting the lives of these mid- and low-ranking officers.

Commanders are like heads, officers like skeletons.

An army without its commanders will naturally fall into disorder; but without its skeletons, it will collapse.

Soon, the Wei commanders in the camp horrifiedly discovered they could no longer command their own troops. Aside from the personal guards surrounding them, they had actually lost contact with the lower-level units.

The army that usually obeyed like an arm to a finger, that feeling of effortless control, had completely vanished.

No matter how loudly they shouted and rebuked, countless soldiers ran about like headless flies from all directions, showing no response to their commands whatsoever.

With a deafening boom, another nexus of the camp's formation was destroyed by thunder law; the shattered nexus stored a vast amount of elemental crystals, gathering immense earth-vein yuan energy. Upon the nexus's destruction, the crystals and energy erupted, a crimson mushroom cloud slowly rose thousands of zhang high, and the camp within a radius of about one li was reduced to dust.

A large number of severed limbs were thrown more than ten li away; several Wei commanders near the blast staggered, wearing tattered armor, covered in blood, struggling out of the firelight.

A commander whose eyes had been blown blind screamed hoarsely: "Young Master Linghu... Young Master Linghu... Someone come, someone come..."

This commander's head rang with a constant buzz; he didn't know what he should do, what he was shouting, where to go, or what to do. Like several other unfortunate comrades, he staggered forward purely on instinct.

Several petite, slender figures darted out of the darkness.

A few wisps of cold wind sliced past almost soundlessly; these several fetal storage realm commanders, blown into severe injury and utterly unaware, had their heads sliced off by a few Chonglou realm rat-people.

On a dagger shaped like a ferocious fang, poison was applied from the Magic Chapter King's recent binge of eating and drinking countless spirit pills daily, fully stimulating his bloodline to secrete terrifying venom.

The Magic Chapter King's bloodline is terrifyingly potent, its poison extremely strong. When the dagger cut the throat, the deadly poison rushed straight to the brain along the blood vessels; the fetal storage realm commanders' divine fetuses had no time to escape their bodies, being directly obliterated by the poison, turning into wisps of rich, multicolored mist that sprayed from their seven orifices.

Several rat-people shrieked, leaping and bounding away at breakneck speed, vanishing into the dark in a puff of smoke.

The toxic mist formed from the commanders' divine fetuses spread rapidly in the cold wind; although the formation nexus explosion had only destroyed the camp within a one-li radius, as the mist spread, nearby troops within several li collapsed in droves.

In the high skies, Linghu Nine was already at the brink of life and death.

The dozens of guards beside him were utterly annihilated in a single strike; a terrifying old man exuding dreadful aura appeared out of thin air before him, and with a single punch, the layers of over ten defensive secret treasures on Linghu Nine's body shattered into fragments.

Just one strike, and these defensive secret treasures—each capable of withstanding five or six full-force blows from a peak fetal storage realm expert, theoretically able to endure a hundred fierce attacks from such an expert to keep Linghu Nine unharmed—were shattered.

Linghu Nine stared wide-eyed, fixedly gazing at the burly old man who stood more than twice his height.

"Xiang Feiyu! Old thief... you... shameless!"

Linghu Nine could only condemn the old man before him as "shameless"... In the past, Linghu Qingqing was the Left Minister of the Great Jin Divine State, commanding the military department and overseeing all generals under heaven; the records of all the state's generals were kept not only in the military archives but also in a copy at Tushan Hall.

Linghu Nine naturally recognized the old man before him.

Xiang Feiyu, an elder of the Xiang Clan and one of their hidden trump cards... Thirty thousand years ago, the Xiang Clan, at great cost, exchanged for a Heavenly God's Token from the Linghu Clan; Xiang Feiyu then used that token to smoothly break through into the Divine Manifestation Realm.

Thereafter, the warlike Xiang Clan offered a vast quantity of rare tributes to the gods, securing Xiang Feiyu's permanent residence in the clan and the privilege to oversee it.

A Divine Manifestation Realm expert... an elder who attained the Divine Manifestation Realm thirty thousand years ago... actually launched a sneak attack on Linghu Nine from behind!

Shameless, how utterly shameless!

What drove Linghu Nine to collapse was that the Xiang Clan's style of warfare was not like this.

The Xiang Clan's commanders prefer grand, open-frontal battles; often, when their troops are still tens of thousands of li from the enemy, their war drums and bugles have already thoroughly shaken the enemy.

The Xiang Clan's commanders have never before carried out such a deep strike into enemy camps, beheading enemy commanders.

Never before!

Shameless, shameless, simply ruining the family tradition!

You, a venerable Divine Manifestation Realm old monster of the Xiang Clan, actually dared to sneak-attack a young adult who has just come of age!

"Shameless!"

Linghu Nine's body, its protective secret treasures shattered, his close-fitting robe torn to rags by the blow, naked he stood in the high skies, howling like a cuckoo bleeding, wildly shouting and cursing at Xiang Feiyu.

"What is face?" Xiang Feiyu slapped Linghu Nine, sending him stumbling; Linghu Nine's mouthful of teeth shattered, and with a spurt of old blood he snarled: "My whole family nearly got sent to the executioner's block by your clan's emperor... do I still need face?"

Linghu Nine raised his head, spat out a mouthful of blood, and mumbled indistinctly: "Does Linghu Qingqing want to kill you? Because of your defeat? Rather, Elder General Xiang, you Xiang Clan commanders, why not surrender to this young master?"

Linghu Nine's eyes glittered with flashing green light, he was excited, extremely excited: "This young master is currently in need of talent; if the Xiang Clan defects, once I take Linghu Qingqing's position, I will grant your clan the post of Left Minister."

Linghu Nine trembled with excitement, shouting: "I know the Xiang Clan youths' dispositions; you control the military department and will never rebel... you lack that fickle heart, so I can trust you completely and employ you heavily... whatever fief Linghu Qingqing gave you, I will give you tenfold!"

Xiang Feiyu was left dumbstruck by Linghu Nine's words, unable to speak for a long moment.

How are all these Linghu Clan people so fickle and tangled?

I was ordered to behead... whether capture alive or kill, I came to behead, not to haggle over price!

"You little brat... you..." Xiang Feiyu felt a bit confused.

"Young master, I sincerely invite the elder general and invite the Xiang Clan commanders." Linghu Nine bowed deeply with a solemn face: "Young master, I thirst for virtuous talent!"

Xiang Feiyu fell silent for a while, then shook his head and lunged to grab Linghu Nine's throat.

"Ah, I also want to, but how can I, with so many clansmen and children now confined in the Xiang Clan mansion and fief, while we old generals fighting outside follow you, the entire Xiang Clan of millions, plus those in-laws, would all be ruined."

After a long sigh, Xiang Feiyu muttered: "Especially, the concubine I married three years ago just bore me a son of extraordinary talent, better than my own; I cannot bear to have that little one's head chopped off."

Linghu Nine watched Xiang Feiyu's large hand slowly approach him, hastily retreated while shouting sternly: "What does a true man lack a wife for?"

Xiang Feiyu suddenly shuddered with a chill, then fiercely swung a wheel-sized axe backward. A low dragon's roar came from the axe, and a pitch-black, red-eyed black-dragon aura shot out, slamming heavily into a silent steel spear thrusting from behind.

With a tremendous boom, ripples spread through the void, waves of explosive blasts burst outward, sending Linghu Nine flipping head over heels as he drifted backward over ten li.

Thousands of heavy-armored guards rose from the ground, swiftly surrounding Linghu Nine in the center. Among them, seven or eight had exceptionally strong auras; their expanding and contracting breath could faintly stir the tide of heaven-earth yuan energy around them, clearly the same as Wu Tie—flesh inscribed with the Dao's patterns, near unity of heaven and man, half-step Divine Manifestation Realm experts.

Then a bronze great bell descended slowly from the sky, emitting rings of circular light that enveloped Linghu Nine.

Also, twelve flying vessels no longer than thirty zhang in length, their bodies flowing with radiant colors, made of what seemed like red glass; through their semi-translucent hulls, countless fine runes could be seen flickering within, as these strange craft sped forward and formed a small fleet around Linghu Nine.

The Great Jin Divine State's national treasure, the Four Spirit Warships, famed across the three states; the Great Martial Divine State has many reckless warriors, paying it little heed.

Whereas the Great Wei Divine State excels in literary refinement, its formation masters, artifact refiners, talisman crafters, pill makers and other technical talents are supreme among the three states; under the Wei Divine Emperor's direction, using the nation's full strength, its artifact refiners have repeatedly attempted to copy the Four Spirit Warships.

Heaven-born supreme treasures are not so easily copied, yet in the process of repeated imitation, the Wei Divine State's shipbuilding skills advanced by leaps and bounds; its military's standard warships far outperform those of the other two states in performance.

Especially, some privately commissioned small warships of the Wei Divine State spare no expense, their cost extraordinarily high, yet their combat power is likewise extremely strong.

These twelve micro flying vessels before our eyes are the 'Guard Treasure Vessels' purchased at astronomical cost by the Martial Divine State from the Wei Divine State, specially used to shield important figures; a fleet of twelve such vessels has defensive strength comparable to a low-grade innate spirit treasure, able to perfectly withstand a single blow from an expert newly entered into the Divine Manifestation Realm.

Especially, the guard treasure vessel's escape speed is extremely fast, and it can even briefly shuttle through the void—most convenient for fleeing.

As soon as the twelve guard treasure vessels appeared, Xiang Feiyu let out an unwilling roar.

Behind him stood a great divine warrior of the Great Martial Divine Realm, clad in black armor and a black fur cloak, with dark yellowish skin and a full beard, wielding a speckled steel spear; in the snap of a finger, tens of thousands of spear images surged forth mightily, thrusting at Xiang Feiyu.

Xiang Feiyu's axe moves were extraordinarily heavy, but his speed was far inferior to that of the enemy before him.

As their bodies crossed twice in the void, they both heard a piercing tearing sound; Xiang Feiyu's armor was pierced with over a hundred holes, each spewing fresh blood, while the Great Martial deity also took an axe blow to the lower abdomen, his abdominal armor shattering completely, the muscles on his belly exploding into a blood mist, revealing his gleaming five viscera and six bowels, as if carved from crystal.

Both were wounded at the same time, they glanced at each other, then simultaneously greeted each other's old mother in a familiar way, then turned and left.

The three kingdoms have warred for countless years; Xiang Feiyu, a veteran powerhouse who broke into the Divine Realm thirty thousand years ago and also one of the few families that paid a huge price to obtain from the gods the divine privilege of permanent family residence, naturally has many old rivals in the other two kingdoms.

This Great Martial deity wielding a speckled steel spear is one of Xiang Feiyu's long‑standing rivals, namely Wu Nu Lei of the Great Martial royal family.

Both entered military service upon reaching the Chonglou Realm, meeting on the battlefield where they fought countless times, each inflicting heavy wounds on the other; after years of fighting, they both broke through to the Divine Realm almost back‑to‑back, and then on the battlefield they clashed again many times.

They are old rivals, extremely familiar with each other's tactics, knowing they cannot overcome the other.

Thus, at the slightest clash they both get wounded and retreat— they are already gods whose lifespans can be called infinite; could one really expect them to fight to the death?

Outside Linghu Jiu's camp, Wu Tie stood on the Four Spirit warship, gazing far off at the movements here.

Seeing that Xiang Feiyu's beheading operation had been declared a failure, Wu Tie couldn't help but shake his head.

"Ah, crude, too crude… Lao Tie is right; the transmission of civilization is not just poetry and song, not just craftsmanship; even war is an art, a discipline."

"The generals of the three kingdoms, their methods of marching and fighting, are too crude, too barbaric, too… open and aboveboard."

"Such an openly displayed army, head‑on hard‑resisting way of fighting… is merely convenient for those high‑and‑mighty to harvest souls and essence blood." Wu Tie raised his head, looked at the pitch‑black sky, and shook his head.

"However, how the war is to be fought from now on will be done my way." Wu Tie let out a cold snort.

"Xiang Feiyu's poor performance in battle—clearly he could have beheaded the enemy commander, yet he delayed the fighter… if we drag this on, a thousand lashes, and let Xiang Zhan, this clan chief, personally carry out the execution." Wu Tie swiftly issued the order, pointing at the retreating Xiang Feiyu who was quickly withdrawing this way.

"Under my command, no matter whether you are a Divine Realm powerhouse, a top‑level veteran, or how high your former status was—if you perform poorly in battle, you will be punished. Remember, remember!"

Wu Tie waved his hand forward and coldly said: "Follow the death‑defying battalion, all‑out assault."