Chapter 962: Grace and Righteousness (2)

Clad in a blue-green robe and small cap, holding an iron ruler, Wu Tie stood properly outside the recently repaired city gate of Shanfeng City.

With a perfectly proportioned six-zhang golden body, Wu Tie towered over the nearby minor officials and soldiers by a large margin.

Those ordinary minor officials are no exception, averaging seven or eight chi in height; even the fierce generals in the army, those over one zhang tall, are only about one zhang one or two chi, still far shorter than Wu Tie.

Thus, clearly the uniform of a low-ranking minor official, when worn by Wu Tie, forced out an imposing, extraordinary bearing.

Even the refugees fleeing here, when passing Wu Tie, each unconsciously held their breath, lowered their heads, and dared not look directly at him.

The gate of Shanfeng City stood half-open, as large groups of refugees registered their identities in order and entered the city.

The walls on either side of the gate were being hastily repaired; the breach where Wu Tie entered the city a few days ago has been restored anew, and several skilled formation masters are setting up new defensive wards on the wall.

Several small swift boats shot out from the city, speeding toward the northern camp of Yinwu Shuang.

This is Shanfeng City's scout vessel; Yinwu Shuang has not attacked for several days, leaving the city's higher-ups uneasy, unsure what scheme the demon lord is plotting, and the scouts of the scout camp have been continuously dispatched to gather military intelligence.

Wu Tie narrowed his eyes, watching the vessel fly out of the city, and smiled as he shook his head.

These scouts are still somewhat timid; if they dared to truly approach Yinwu Shuang's camp, they would find it almost empty.

"What a pity my ambitions lie elsewhere; otherwise, leading a squad of scouts to charge in and torch that camp would also be a great merit," Wu Tie laughed brightly.

A few nights ago, he and Xiao Fang, along with a few others, became acquainted.

Shanfeng City is severely short-handed.

Wu Tie, who cultivates at the Embryo Storage Realm and practices a Buddhist technique that naturally counters demonic arts—a talent—was also recommended by several minor officials of the lord's mansion, and he easily obtained the post of city gate official.

As a city gate official, he is not responsible for defending the city in battle, but specifically handles these fleeing refugees.

Counting the population and registering households is an extremely easy job; of course, if one is somewhat ruthless, just like the other city gate officials, it remains a very lucrative position.

Fleeing refugees, the so-called 'poor family, wealthy on the road,' inevitably carry some portable wealth.

Especially when refugees leave their homeland and lose their roots, they become most vulnerable to bullying; these city gate officials need only employ a few tactics to easily extort benefits from them.

Regarding this, Wu Tie sometimes intervenes, sometimes lets them be, acting entirely on his mood.

One land nurtures a hundred kinds of people; Shanfeng City has individuals like Xiao Fang, Tang Bu Yun, and Li Feiyang, and of course there are also some ruthless, morally corrupt sorts.

Wu Tie observes Shanfeng City; through observing Shanfeng City, he observes the entire Fufeng Divine Dynasty.

The Fufeng Divine Dynasty seeks to draw the calamity eastward, leading the supreme demon state's disaster to Wuguo, which has earned Wu Tie's enmity; without a doubt, everyone is surely enemies.

But how to treat the Fufeng Divine Dynasty, Wu Tie has not yet made a firm decision.

Regarding land, subjects, and wealth, Wu Tie harbors little greed; given Wuguo's current territory and population, he already feels a bit overwhelmed—hasn't he handed over all state affairs to that chief steward, Pei Feng?

As for whether to annex the Fufeng Divine Dynasty, Wu Tie likely feels he will not do so.

But he also cannot let them off too easily.

If the Fufeng Divine Dynasty are 'good people,' then when dealing with them he should be gentler.

If they are 'bad people,' well… hehe, Wu Tie doesn't mind throwing that bunch of demons and monsters—Old Geda, Sha Jun, Old Mallet, and Ci Huang—into the Fufeng Divine Dynasty to specifically cause trouble for their royal clan, the Fufeng.

Leaning sideways against the city gate's doorframe, Wu Tie grasped the iron ruler and idly poked his nose.

"Hey, hurry up—they look like good people at a glance; what are you making a fuss about?" Wu Tie suddenly lifted the iron ruler and heavily struck the city gate several times, sending sparks flying, his rebukes echoing inside the gate tunnel.

A minor official in charge of registering refugee information shrank his neck, glanced at the dozen or so uneasy men and women standing before the table, resentfully looked back at Wu Tie: 'Wu Tie, you say they're good people, so they are good people? What if……'

"If they are demon spies, I'll gouge out my own eyes," Wu Tie glared at the minor official: "If they aren't, I'll gouge out your eyes—what then?"

He waved his hand forcefully, Wu Tie said in a low voice: 'It's raining; there are old and young—if they get soaked and catch a chill, what then if they fall ill? Hurry and let them in……'

The minor official behind the table pursed his lips, looked at Wu Tie's hulking frame—twice the height of an ordinary person—his lips moved as he silently cursed a few words, then waved his hand, letting this household of refugees enter the city.

Opposite Wu Tie, leaning against the other side of the city gate's doorframe, similarly dressed in a blue-green robe and small cap but far more senior, a city gate official gave a light cough.

"Brother Wu Tie, doing it this way is not acceptable," the city gate official laughed with a sinister tone: "In these chaotic wartime times, brothers pocketing some personal gain is only natural—the emperor isn't even short of starving soldiers."

"You sure act like a good person…" the city gate official softly hummed, pointing at the row of minor officials seated at the gate entrance, and solemnly said: "But you've also offended the brothers."

Wu Tie rolled his eyes, lifted his head to look at the distant overcast sky of rolling gray rain clouds, and was too lazy to bother with this bunch of riffraff.

Seeing Wu Tie ignore him, the city gate official's face immediately darkened further.

He gave a cold snort, about to rely on his seniority to lecture Wu Tie a few more sentences, when in the distance several black-smoke-spewing flying vessels jolted along like leaves in the wind, swaying up and down as they sped rapidly toward this side.

From afar, a sharp whistle sounded from the flying vessels.

"Enemy attack! The demon army is coming! Enemy attack!"

Streaks of red light shot up from the flying vessels into the sky, then exploded in midair, blooming into crimson flames across the heavens, accompanied by thunderous booms; the crowds of refugees outside the gate instantly fell into chaos.

"Quick, let us in!"

"Sirs, let us in!"

"The demon brats are coming, let us into the city, into the city!"

The city gate official opposite Wu Tie's face suddenly changed, and he loudly shouted: 'Close the gate, close the gate, shut the city gate!'

Inside the gate tunnel, a squad of soldiers rushed out, a big man clad in copper armor sternly barked: 'Close the gate, quickly!'

This big man held a blue-green great flag and gave it a vigorous shake toward the outside of the gate.

A strong gust rose from the ground; the crowded refugees outside the gate screamed in panic, swept up by the wind and flung backward dozens of zhang, instantly clearing the gate entrance.

Amid a humming sound, the city's great defensive formation had already been activated.

On the walls, winding wind patterns like dragons began to glow; vast gales howled straight upward, condensing outside the walls into a heavy wind shield.

The minor officials dropped the tables, clutched the newly registered refugee household files, and sprinted into the gate.

The gate, several feet thick, slowly closed, and brilliant light blazed upon it.

The big man holding the blue-green flag roared at Wu Tie: 'Wu Tie, what are you standing there for? Hurry into the city… damn it, these days we haven't seen those demon brats, and they're indeed restless.'

Wu Tie pondered for a moment, stepped back a few paces, and retreated into the gate.

The city gate official who had just lectured Wu Tie glanced at him askance and gave a cold chuckle: 'Well, I thought you were a great benevolent, wanting to protect those refugees outside the city.'

Wu Tie lightly sighed, shook his head, and said nothing.

On the contrary, the commander glared fiercely at that city gate official: 'Old Jin, how are you speaking? Is it… our… incompetence?'

This officer's rank was far above Wu Tie and Old Jin; after being rebuked by the officer, Old Jin dared not say another word.

The city gates were firmly closed; a low, rending sound came from within the city as troops formed ranks, stepped on flowing clouds and surged onto the wall, quickly taking up their positions.

Wu Tie walked out of the gate tunnel, arrived at a watchtower behind the city wall, and gazed into the distance.

Several smoking, fire-breathing flying boats fled into the city; far on the horizon, hundreds of demon vessels up to a thousand zhang long loomed like a nightmare, slowly shattering the sky's rain clouds as they descended from extreme height to a low altitude barely two li above the ground.

The demon vessels formed a line and slowly flew toward Shanfeng City.

Still a hundred-odd li from Shanfeng City, the demon vessels spread out sideways in midair; their side decks silently slid open, revealing rows of antiquely styled rune cannons.

In the next instant, tens of thousands of rune cannons of various sizes let out a low roar; streams of light encased rune shells as large as water tanks and as small as bowls, screaming across a hundred li of void, they slammed heavily into Shanfeng City's still-unrepaired wall.

Each rune shell burst open, spewing clusters of highly corrosive, toxin-laden black clouds that corroded the wind shield outside the wall with a steady 'hiss'.

The city wall shuddered violently as terrifying shockwaves surged through the grand defensive formation wave after wave.

The grand defensive formation weakened over ninety percent of the shockwave's lethal force, but the shockwaves that penetrated still shook the troops on the wall until they vomited blood, stumbling back repeatedly.

Indeed, Shanfeng City's elite troops had suffered heavy casualties, and the reinforcements arriving from behind were all raw recruits with little combat ability.

Wave after wave of rune shells screamed in; no one appeared on the demon vessels, which simply kept pouring countless rune shells onto Shanfeng City's wall.

The city wall shuddered violently, and ferocious cracks appeared everywhere.

With a booming crash, a section of wall several dozen zhang long could not withstand such intense bombardment; it finally collapsed and shattered in an explosion of rune shells, and dozens of soldiers standing on that wall were instantly turned into a mist of blood without even a sound.

A muffled thud sounded.

Within Shanfeng City, the aura that even gave Wu Tie a hint of threat suddenly shot up into the sky.

A jade-green banana fan rose from the lord's manor, tens of thousands of zhang long, its entire body covered in countless runes and surrounded by curling smoke and clouds; it swept down forcefully.

A wicked wind surged upward.

Heaven and earth instantly darkened; flying sand and rocks turned into extremely penetrating arrows, whistling shrilly as they shot toward the demon vessels outside the city.

This wind was so fierce that many rooftops inside the city were lifted off, and large areas of buildings were flattened.

Wu Tie stared in astonishment at this scene.

It seems the ruined buildings throughout Shanfeng City are not only due to the demon army's assault, but also thanks to this banana fan.

The wicked wind roared like a dragon, surging out of Shanfeng City and leveling a thick layer of land outside; many fleeing refugees screamed as they were sucked into the wind and instantly pulverized.

Even Wu Tie didn't have time to act to rescue them.

The person controlling the banana fan inside Shanfeng City acted too decisively, too suddenly; Wu Tie hadn't expected they would use such an indiscriminate move.

The wicked wind swept across a hundred li, gulping down those hundreds of demon vessels in one breath.

Countless sand, stone, and tiles scoured those demon vessels at extreme speed; countless sparks flew off their surfaces as their defensive formation violently shook, throwing up blinding ripples.

Hundreds of such massive demon vessels were actually tossed about wildly by that fan, gradually drifting backward bit by bit.

As the huge demon vessels retreated, their defensive formations were continually destroyed by the wicked wind; over a hundred of the leading vessels spewed fire and thick smoke, accompanied by muffled explosions, as their massive hulls slowly fell from the sky to the ground.

Yin Wu Shuang's voice came from afar: 'Hey, if it weren't for this innate Ruyi fan, could your Shanfeng City have held out this long?'

Hehe, but let's see how many more times you can activate it.

We'll just wait and see!

One after another, the huge demon vessels retreated, taking advantage of the wicked wind's momentum; their retreat speed was extremely fast, and after just a few breaths they vanished from sight.

Wu Tie watched the retreating demon vessels and couldn't help but grin.

Yin Wu Shuang, is this you bringing in reinforcements?

Standing on the watchtower, Wu Tie's eyes flashed with clear light as he saw that in Yin Wu Shuang's northern camp, battalions of demon troops were moving in, and various large war machines kept streaming into the empty camp.

Not long after, three commander's banners were raised outside the central commander's tent in that camp.

Piles of bonfires blazed; demon soldiers laughed hoarsely, slaughtering pigs and sheep, pulling out countless drinks, and began to feast wildly in the camp.

Outside the central commander's tent, throngs of demon elite guards stood guard, continuously delivering various delicacies in a steady stream into the tent.

Under Wu Tie's astonishing eyesight, all of this was as clear as reading a book in his palm.

That night, outside the flat ground before a large manor, at a night-market stall, Wu Tie, Xiao Fang, and a few others sat down together.

'This time, I'm afraid Shanfeng City can't hold.' Tang Bu Yun's face was grim; as a minor official of the lord's manor, their information was undoubtedly the most reliable: 'The Prince of Yue and the city lord have already ordered the southern gate sealed; they intend to fight to the death.'

Wu Tie slowly said: 'Fight to the death?'

Tang Bu Yun gave a dry laugh, raised his cup and drained it: 'The Prince of Yue said, the city's inhabitants have received generations of grace from the Fufeng Divine Dynasty; therefore, they must die defending the city.'