Chapter 608: Arduous Perception

The darkest moment before dawn.

Luoyang Marshal's Residence.

Chen Wen was alone, returning to that watchtower that could overlook the whole city.

The military report brought by the grey falcon, those shocking words and data, were like a red-hot branding iron, searing into his mind.

But he needed a more direct, clearer 'sense'.

He needed to use his own ability to confirm, to measure.

On both sides of that light curtain, the darkness pressing in simultaneously—just how deep had it become?

He sat cross-legged.

He closed his eyes.

He focused his mind.

First, it was 'Shi Yong'.

This ability, unlocked at Lv. 2 and now greatly enhanced with his level increase, was like invisible ripples, centering on him and extending eastward—toward the direction of the Chen Dynasty—with all its might.

As his sense penetrated the invisible light curtain, it felt the familiar resistance and sluggishness.

But compared to before, it was much easier.

The Lv. 5 efficiency allowed him to more clearly 'touch' the vast and complex national fortune 'force field' of his homeland.

Majestic.

Heavy.

Like a continuous mountain range, it bore the vitality and order of hundreds of millions of people.

This was the foundation painstakingly built over 180 years by Zhang Cheng, Zhao Lao Nian, Shi Dun, and the others.

However, at this moment.

On the northern edge of this 'mountain range,' a huge and ferocious 'wound' was continually expanding and festering.

The black 'turbid current,' carrying the aura of violence, plunder, and death, madly scoured and eroded the edge of the 'mountain range'.

Each scouring caused violent turmoil and decline in the 'force' of that region.

Chen Wen could even 'hear' the heavy, painful 'groan' coming from the foundation of that 'mountain range'.

Not an onomatopoeia, but a direct impression on his sense, representing the damage to the national fortune.

What weighed even more heavily on his heart was.

Deep within the core of that 'turbid current,' several extremely condensed 'threads' bearing the Iron Crow Army's unique cold authority fluctuations, like puppet strings, were deeply embedded in the 'turbid current'.

They not only guided the direction of the 'turbid current's' impact.

But also continuously injected a filthy yet powerful 'energy' into the 'turbid current,' accelerating its expansion and erosion.

The intensity of this 'injection'……

Chen Wen carefully discerned.

It far surpassed any previous record.

Even, compared to when the Iron Crow Army used authority fluctuations to overturn the 'Wind Wave Pavilion' node years ago, it was several times stronger!

They were 'feeding' this steppe evil wolf without regard for cost.

All so that it could tear into Great Chen faster and more viciously.

His sense turned toward the rear of the 'turbid current,' deep into the steppe.

A expanse of chaos and darkness.

But he could faintly feel that an even larger, more terrifying 'vortex' was slowly forming there.

Like the eye of a storm.

It was absorbing everything around it.

That was likely the source of the horrifyingly large 'catalytic ritual' mentioned in Zhao Lao Nian's report, now underway.

Chen Wen took a deep breath.

He withdrew his sense, slightly alleviating the almost bursting pressure in his head.

Then.

He turned southward.

False Song world.

The 'force' of this world as a whole presented a suffocating 'sinking' and 'disintegration'.

In the direction of Lin'an, where the False Song Imperial Court resides, that clump of corrupt 'ooze' was accelerating its decay, emitting a nauseating 'odor'.

But that was not the point.

The point was further north.

Above the airspace originally belonging to the Jin State's territory.

A brand-new, dark 'vortex' was no longer just a 'sprout'.

It was expanding and rotating at an astonishing speed!

The will of destruction and violence emanating from its core was icy and pure, like a flame deep in the polar ice.

It greedily devoured all surrounding 'force'.

The remnants of the Jin State, the northern False Song, and even the drifting remnants from the far western frontier……

All who came were not refused.

All were crushed, absorbed, and transformed into nutrients for its own growth.

In Chen Wen's sense, the expansion speed of this dark 'vortex' even surpassed the erosion speed of the 'turbid current' in the Chen Dynasty's northern border by a notch!

Moreover.

In the core of this "vortex".

He likewise sensed the fluctuation of the Iron Crow Army's authority.

More concealed.

More……efficient.

Not like the direct "feeding" and "guiding" of the steppe "turbid current".

More like a "setting" and "acceleration".

To set boundaries for this "vortex", inject initial impetus, then……let it, in the accelerated time stream, rely on its internal terrifying logic, grow wildly on its own, clearing all obstacles.

"Yuan".

This "concept" bearing an ominous portent again surfaced in Chen Wen's consciousness.

Clear.

And heavy.

He endured the severe headache and nausea from sensory overload.

Attempting to overlap the two "perception scenes" in his mind.

The eastern "mountain range" eroded by the "turbid current".

The southern "heaven and earth" submerged in the "vortex".

The two dark shadows are not isolated.

Between them exists a faint, almost imperceptible "connection" stemming from the same chilling authority.

As if the same chess player, on both sides of the board, simultaneously placed mutually responsive killing moves.

And he himself, as well as Luoyang beneath his feet, and Yue Fei and others……

Seemed like a piece that had just fallen in the center of the board, yet already simultaneously targeted by killing moves from both sides.

Isolated.

And perilous.

"Not enough……"

Chen Wen gritted his teeth, veins jumping on his forehead, cold sweat already soaking through his heavy clothes.

He needed more concrete "information".

He needed to know, just how far the Iron Crow Army's frenzied two-front operation had eroded the Chen Dynasty's national fate—what critical point had it reached?

And how far had the "acceleration" of that "Yuan" vortex progressed?

This required "Script Reading".

He needed to actively, deeply "probe" the fragments of the "set trajectory" that the Iron Crow Army painstakingly guarded.

He adjusted his breathing.

His mind sank into the system.

He locked onto the "Script Reading" ability unlocked at Lv. 5.

Target: the crucial "node" of the Chen Dynasty's northern frontier war.

Energy, like a floodgate opened, surged wildly.

In his vision, not real scenery, but countless broken, distorted, flashing "causality fragments", like snowflakes in a gale, blowing straight at him.

He struggled to focus, to capture.

Fragment one: a blood‑red dusk, the walls of Zhenbei Pass ablaze, a tattered "Chen" banner slowly falling from the ramparts……

Fragment two: endless black cavalry, like a locust swarm, sweeping across the plains; wherever they passed, villages turned to white earth, cities rose in thick smoke……

Fragment three: inside a dim tent, several figures hunched over a map, fingers tracing the Yin Shan, then the Yellow River, finally landing on the two characters "Xijing", emitting a low, greedy laugh……

Fragment four: Zhang Cheng's weary face, under flickering candlelight, brush in hand drafting a memorial, the tip trembling, a drop of ink staining the characters "The nation's peril is as precarious as a stack of eggs"……

Fragment five: Shi Dun, battered with wounds, dragged onto a horse by his personal guards, looking back to see his troops swallowed by a black tide, his eyes nearly bursting, he let out a beast‑like anguished roar……

These fragments were bloody, oppressive, despair‑inducing.

But they were not fixed.

Merely a "possibility" in the "script" that the Iron Crow Army hoped for and was desperately pushing toward.

Chen Wen could feel that deep within these fragments, other "threads" still struggled, flickering with faint light.

That was Shi Dun's steadfastness, Zhang Cheng's strategizing, Zhao Lao Nian's wondrous skill, the blood‑courage of countless Chen Dynasty soldiers, and the resilience of the dynasty's foundations not yet utterly shaken.

But the dark "turbid current" and the authority's "injection" kept suppressing those "lights", making those tragic fragments ever clearer, ever closer to "reality".

The cost was enormous.

Chen Wen felt a sudden wave of weakness, his vision darkening in bouts.

He quickly halted his "reading" of the Chen Dynasty side.

Took a brief respite.

Then.

He turned his target toward the False Song world, the future of that dark "vortex".

Energy surged again.

Fragments emerged:

A warped banner, embroidered with ferocious beasts, snapping in the gale; beneath it, boundless, silent‑as‑iron cavalry ranks……

Familiar cities, under the impact of the black flood, walls collapsing, defenders falling like straw……

The decadent court of Lin'an, amid despairing wails and flames, reduced to ruins……

Finally.

A relatively clear yet heart‑stopping image appeared before Chen Wen:

That black flood, after unifying the north of the False Song world and devouring the False Song Imperial Court,

It did not stop.

The flood's sharp edge gradually turned.

It aimed east.

It aimed at that intangible light curtain spanning heaven and earth.

Within the flood, countless cavalry raised their heads.

Their gazes were empty, icy, imbued with a programmed pure desire to destroy everything beyond the light curtain.

The duration of this 'scene' was longer than that of any other fragment.

The conveyed message was also exceptionally clear.

When the Yuan, in the False Song world, fulfilled the mission given by the 'script'—clearing all 'variables' and unifying the realm—

Its next goal.

Was to cross the light curtain.

To bring the same destruction and 'purification' to the Chen Dynasty.

To the source of all 'variables'.

And when that time came.

What the Chen Dynasty would have to face would not merely be the catalyzed grassland 'turbid flow'.

And would also gain a, having unified the entire False Song world's resources, been accelerated to peak maturity.

And the Yuan Empire, granted 'cross-curtain' permission by the Iron Crow Army!

A dual-front crisis?

No.

It is the impending confluence of an all-devouring raging flood!

Pfft—

Chen Wen jerked his eyes open, a mouthful of blood spraying out, staining the floorboards before him red.

His head felt like it would split.

A constant buzzing filled his ears.

His body violently trembled from overexertion of energy.

But he couldn't attend to these.

He leaned on the cold railing, supporting his body, gazing eastward at the faint fish-belly white of dawn.

In his eyes, there was no longer a hint of hesitation.

Only a cold resoluteness remained.

The dual information from 'Shi Yong' and 'script reading' was already sufficiently clear.

The Chen Dynasty's fortune was being substantively and swiftly eroded.

The False Song's Yuan was being frenetically accelerated, its future threat far beyond imagination.

The Iron Crow Army's goal has never been to defeat Yue Fei or to break Luoyang.

What they want is, fundamentally, to erase the soil in which all 'variables' exist.

Luoyang's gains and losses, the survival of the False Song world, on the Iron Crow Army's grand chessboard, might be merely a single move.

But the Chen Dynasty's survival is fundamental.

It is the chessboard itself!

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

The System Interface surfaced in his consciousness.

The Growth Progress Bar, because of that all-out effort just now,

Even the deep perception and reading, with its self-harming nature, leapt forward by a large margin.

It was already very close to the edge of Lv. 6.

But at this moment, he felt no joy in his heart.

Only a heavy realization concerning the lives and deaths of hundreds of millions.

He turned around.

His steps were somewhat staggered, yet extraordinarily resolute.

He descended the watchtower.

The Marshal's Office Main Hall.

Yue Fei, Lin Chong, Wu Yong and the others should have already arrived.

It is time.

Tell them everything.

Tell them, the cruel truth of this world.

And what they must do.