Chapter 237: Waiting for the Moon to be Bright and Flowers to Bloom (Part 1)

Dingbian City.

When Chen Dao gently placed a piece, the board was already dominant. Yue Jinshan, sitting opposite the chessboard, had his brows locked tightly, staring at the chessboard fiercely, but he couldn't find the flaws in the white pieces no matter what.

Chen Dao's chess style was like his person; there was no hardness, no pestering, seemingly passive everywhere, and calculating every inch of real territory, but unknowingly, he had occupied the advantage.

Yue Jinshan's chess strength was not low, but compared to Chen Dao, who was at the level of a national player, he was still a notch behind.

Yue Jinshan suddenly abandoned the large game and stood a piece, starting to forcibly make a group of isolated pieces that had fallen into the white formation alive.

Chen Dao showed a smile; once this piece was placed, Yue Jinshan could be said to be doomed to lose.

He responded casually, but Yue Jinshan played extremely fast this time, just like a stubborn person wanting to make the isolated pieces alive, using all kinds of pestering and unreasonable methods.

With Chen Dao's seasoned experience, he would naturally not be coerced by such small means; he remained calm and composed, tightening step by step, and finally, a piece fell, killing the isolated pieces.

Chen Dao smiled and said: "Old Yue, you lost faster today. If there weren't these unreasonable moves, your chess strength could have gone a step further."

Yue Jinshan did not throw the piece to admit defeat, but said: "Not being able to make those pieces alive is because my chess strength is not enough, it doesn't mean those pieces were doomed to die. If someone else came to play, the result might be different."

Chen Dao said: "Those pieces shouldn't have existed in the first place; the general trend is like this, how can it be blocked?"

Yue Jinshan hummed and said: "If the so-called destiny and general trend were really irresistible, then Great Li should have lasted forever, and there wouldn't be these later dynasties at all, let alone Great Tang."

Chen Dao frowned and said: "These words are a bit rebellious."

"You guys who are full of loyalty, but are actually pushing Great Tang into the abyss bit by bit, are the ones who are truly rebellious; what do I count as?"

Chen Dao's face sank and said: "Old Yue, for the sake of our colleague friendship, I will pretend I didn't hear these words you just said. But if you are so reckless again and let others hear it and report it upward, no one can protect you."

Yue Jinshan placed another piece and said: "I am very grateful that you protected me from the eunuch faction; this matter is a personal favor I owe you. But speaking of friendship, from the moment you called me over to play this game of chess, it had already been consumed almost completely."

"Two tigers fighting, we sit and reap the benefits of the fisherman, what's wrong with that?"

Yue Jinshan said: "I can't argue with you guys; you always have a bunch of crooked reasons to talk about. I know that the lords in the imperial court have been saying that although Azure Void is good, it is not ours. Even if it is smashed and can only have two or three tenths of its original efficacy, if it is taken back, that is also the boundary stone of my Western Jin."

"What's wrong with saying that?"

"Saying that is naturally correct for Western Jin, but for Great Tang, for the entire human race, the shattering of Azure Void is a real loss of eight tenths of the realm!"

Chen Dao sighed: "We are Jin officials after all."

"Loyal officials of Jin, treacherous sycophants of Tang!"

Chen Dao was speechless for a time.

Yue Jinshan said slowly: "I have spent my whole life on the battlefield and was born with a cheap bone. There is really no way to watch others fight to the death with foreign races while I stand by and watch."

Yue Jinshan reached out and picked up a white piece from the chessboard and threw it into the chess box. With one less white piece, those isolated pieces suddenly became alive.

"Lord Chen, if your hand is raised slightly, these pieces are alive."

Chen Dao was thoughtful, but did not loosen his mouth.

Yue Jinshan stood up and said slowly: "No pieces are doomed to die by nature. If a master comes to play, they can live."

Yue Jinshan pushed the door and left; Chen Dao knew that the distance between the two was now like Yue Jinshan's back at this moment, drifting further and further away.

——

Azure Void.

The fighting between the two sides had reached the most tragic stage.

Wei Yuan had already retreated to the fifth line of defense, all the accumulated firearms and gunpowder had been exhausted, and now he was opening "Instant Shacha Shacha Zhongsheng" and fighting a bloody hand-to-hand battle with the Shaman army with knives and guns.

Underground in the six cities of Xuanwei, the auras of the Shaman army soldiers were disappearing at the speed of opening a sluice gate. In the underground tunnels, Azure Void warriors held heavy shields that were more than half a person tall; two people could completely block the tunnel, and then fire from the gaps above and from the sides. They would even fire from the gaps below.

Wei Yuan didn't know how many times he had ridden back and forth to charge; throughout the entire battlefield, he was always the most conspicuous existence, and no matter where he went, the commander's flag behind him always stood tall and did not fall.

Xu Yi held the commander's flag in one hand and a sword in the other, following closely behind Wei Yuan. Her task in this battle was to protect the commander's flag and charge with Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan wanted everyone to know where the human commander was and what he was doing.

Yanxin watched from afar and just sneered: "Idiot, as the main commander, charging into the battle yourself, are you afraid of not dying fast enough?"

A Great Shaman beside him said: "My lord, should we also go up?"

Yanxin showed a cruel and bloodthirsty smile and said slowly: "What's the rush, let the soldiers below die a few more. Only a little over twenty percent have died now, far from enough. Isn't the tribe under Lord Hongye's rule known as the elite of the world? They shouldn't collapse after dying three or four tenths, right?"

The expressions of the several Great Shamans were all very ugly. These warriors were the essence of their entire tribe, and many might be future Great Shamans, but now they had become corpses on the battlefield.

A Great Shaman suddenly changed his expression, sensing that the casualty speed underground in the six cities of Xuanwei exceeded expectations, with over half dead or injured. He immediately ordered another five thousand to be transferred from the center to support.

As soon as the order was given, Yanxin suddenly said: "Add another ten thousand."

"What?" That Great Shaman suspected he had misheard. Since the start of the war, Yanxin had not interfered with the command.

Yanxin said: "He put an elite force underground in the city; that is a dead end. If you send more people down, you can trap and kill that elite force. Oh, there is also a tunnel leading to the ground; I will tell you the location of the exit, and you send a detachment to guard it." That Great Shaman quickly went to deploy.

Wei Yuan rushed out of the Shaman formation again, covered in the blood of the Shaman tribe, and his warhorse, the Green Colt, had already been soaked through with blood. He saw from afar that the Shaman rear army pressing the formation had actually split off the majority to kill toward the six cities of Xuanwei, and his heart sank.

This time Wei Yuan had placed an elite force of two thousand people underground in the six cities of Xuanwei, unlike the previous time when most were ordinary people living in the city.

Clearly, the Shaman tribe had discovered that there was something unusual underground and began to split troops to kill them. It was just that they sent too many troops; they intended to kill everyone underground.

Fortunately, there was still one last escape tunnel, and Wei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. Although this tunnel was very narrow and could only accommodate two people side by side, and not many people could escape, at least it was a hope.

In the northern sky, the several Great Shamans were still watching, without the slightest intention of entering the field, sitting and watching the infantry of both sides fight a bloody battle on the ground.

The bloody battle was originally a strategy set by Wei Yuan, relying on firearms and "Instant Shacha Shacha Zhongsheng" to forcibly improve combat power, using those who were originally only beginner-stage Body Forging to exchange for the Shaman tribe's elite warriors. The Great Shamans couldn't fail to see that they were originally just ordinary people; this was actually a game of exchanging pieces at a ratio of one to more than ten or even higher, and they couldn't help but feel heartache.

But now, the Great Shamans were all indifferent, as if it should be Wei Yuan who felt heartache.

Wei Yuan suddenly felt a burning pain on his back, not knowing when he had been injured. But he couldn't care about the wound at all, pointed his spear, and killed his way into the Shaman formation again!

Every time Wei Yuan chose the timing and angle to charge, it was just right, which could shake the Shaman tribe's formation to the maximum extent, forcing the other side's commander's flag to shift several times.

But there were too many Shaman tribes, and the number of troops in this unit was already equivalent to the entire population of Azure Void. No matter how many Wei Yuan killed, there were always more Shaman tribes in front.

!.

The battle had been fought until now, and the Shaman tribe had suffered over twenty thousand casualties, while Azure Void had suffered less than ten thousand. But there was no luck in the subsequent fighting; it was purely a comparison of will and bloodiness.

Wei Yuan killed his way out of the Shaman formation again and returned to his own camp. He swept his spiritual sense, found Cui Yu, and flashed over.

Cui Yu was holding a knife and shield at this time, covered in blood, and was panting with the knife propped on the ground. A cultivator beside him was treating a newly added wound for him.

The two looked at each other and felt that the other was unprecedentedly disheveled, so they laughed together. But after laughing once, Cui Yu touched the wound and his face twisted in pain.

He didn't say a word, took out a pill and took it. This pill was also made by Sun Yu, stimulating potential, fearless of pain, and having great strength. This was already the third one Cui Yu had eaten since the start of the war, and the medicinal effect was shorter than the last.

Wei Yuan pointed to the Great Shamans in the sky in the distance and said: "Can you scold them down?"

Cui Yu was stunned: "The Shaman tribe doesn't have a face, how can you scold them?"

Wei Yuan thought for a while: "They should be under the management of a Ghost Shaman named Shuli; why don't we scold Shuli?"

Cui Yu was in pain all over his body at this moment and had no inspiration at all: "Born without an asshole?"

Wei Yuan pondered: "Do they have that thing?"

"Scold him for not daring to enter the field himself, not a man?"

"He wasn't a human to begin with."

Cui Yu said angrily: "This won't work and that won't work, then you scold!"

"Forget it, I'll go charge another round." Wei Yuan picked up the spear and killed his way into the Shaman formation again.

Underground in the six cities of Xuanwei, the guard troops had been compressed to the lowest level; at this moment, in an empty hall, Yun Feifei was half-naked, and a young master from a noble family beside her was trying hard to block the wound on her back. But the wound was too deep, and he desperately input Dao power, but the blood was still gushing out, and soon soaked the robe pressed on the wound.

He was so anxious that his eyes were filled with tears, looking around, but the surroundings were all wounded who couldn't get up, and there had been no medicine for a long time.

Yun Feifei groaned in pain and woke up from a semi-comatose state. She regained consciousness and said, "How many people do we have left?"

That noble family young master said: "There were four hundred just now, now there might only be three hundred and seventy, and half of them are lying here."

Yun Feifei listened carefully and said: "They really think highly of us, actually sending another ten thousand down. You rest here, I'll go kill a few more!"

That young master suddenly said: "Are we not retreating?"

Yun Feifei shook her head slowly: "If we retreat up, this ten thousand enemies will also follow up, and then it will be even harder to fight."

That young master looked at Yun Feifei's back and suddenly gathered his courage and shouted: "Sister Feifei, I... I like you! If we can survive after this battle, I want to report to my family and marry you home!"

Yun Feifei turned back, looked into the eyes of the noble family young master, and asked softly: "Do you really like me?"

That young master's gaze was firm: "From the first time I saw you, I liked you! I know the one you like is the Realm Lord, but I was afraid that if I didn't say it, I wouldn't have the chance!"

Yun Feifei opened her arms, hugged him gently, and said in his ear: "If you really like me, then die with me."

Yun Feifei picked up a steel pipe and threw it into the escape tunnel.

The young master watched the steel pipe roll into the depths of the tunnel, and dozens of seriously wounded people in the hall were also watching; there was only calmness and perseverance in their eyes, and no one stopped it.

With a boom, the escape tunnel collapsed.

Yun Feifei's voice rang out in the dust: "This is my home, I'm not leaving, I'm not going anywhere!"

The earth suddenly trembled, the six cities of Xuanwei sank one zhang as a whole, and the original city turned into a deep pit, burying the ten thousand Shaman tribe northern elite underneath.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 238 =====