Chapter 453: Brother, All Is Well

The scene that followed.

Left Jie Yu completely shocked.

As the first streak of fire shot into the sky, more explosions followed. One after another, deafening. The fire outside the farm became mere background. The fire inside the farm became everything that illuminated the night sky.

Following closely were the people in the farm, twisted, terrified, and desperate from the burning...

Following closely, too, were the screams of the Liangshan People who wanted to flee the farm but were quickly swallowed by the flames.

The larger the fire, the more people wanted to flee.

The more people wanted to flee, the more intense the attacks Huobu Quli's side faced.

The more intense the attacks he faced, the more satisfying and vigorous his killing became.

Kill!

Don't let a single one of them get out!

The fire burned quite rapidly. Mud, light rain—none of that existed. Quelehuoduo could burn even in water, let alone this light rain. The Quelehuoduo splashed out by the explosions landed on those Nanzhao Army soldiers and Liangshan People like maggots on bone, impossible to shake off.

This was a great fire.

It was also a great flower of fire.

An incredibly eye-catching, incredibly stunning flower of fire. There was almost no place in the entire farm that the flames did not cover.

At this moment, looking from afar.

This flame ignited in Daliang Mountain was so dazzling, so bewitching, so surging, so eye-catching.

It was very clear.

One could see the people clawing and thrashing within that massive spark; their lives were frozen forever at this moment, their final struggle, before turning into a pile of dust... Imprinted in this firelight would be the obsolescence and decay of Liangshan.

After a brief, intense struggle.

Slowly, as the soldiers with big trouser legs and medium trouser legs were burned to ashes one by one, the pressure on Huobu Quli's side began to drop sharply.

"Let me out! Huobu!"

"Let me out!"

Shama Zhuoyi and Naibao Rize saw the flames spreading over at this moment, and their faces began to twist. At first, it was roaring, then pleading, and finally, they were kneeling on the ground begging for mercy.

"Huobu... from now on, you call the shots in Liangshan!"

"Let me live, and I can give you what you want! Everything, everything! Huobu!"

But no matter how the two pleaded, Huobu Quli only looked at them coldly.

Let you go...

Can you bring the people of the Alu Clan back to life?

Or can you bring back to life those poisoned by the opium?

The new order of Liangshan does not need you.

In the end, you must depart together with the darkness of this night.

Without his order.

They remained blocked inside the farm. The walls of the farm had already collapsed. The people in the farm had also gone mad. Over a hundred thousand, a full hundred thousand, nearly two hundred thousand people, struggling and trampling in the sea of fire...

Chen Ran was already in despair.

He was shouting, but his throat was already hoarse.

He, who was usually bossy and arrogant, was still issuing orders, but who would listen to him anymore? Everyone is equal in the face of death. At this time, whatever Prince, whatever King, were all nonsense. No one cared about him anymore, no one listened to him anymore. Some even shoved him as they passed by; he quickly fell from a high building, broke his legs, and then he stared at the fire just two steps away, screaming and yelling.

His voice was once again drowned out by the wailing of ghosts and howling of wolves all around.

The fire was slowly closing in on him.

"Viscount Liu, this, this..."

Jie Yu had been stunned since this great fire began.

She had exhausted the processing power of the Great Archive Technique to calculate that the Nanzhao Army was hiding an elite force in the farm, but she had absolutely not calculated the existence of Quelehuoduo.

Liu Zheng chuckled, leaning his arm against the railing, and took a sip of wine without turning his head: "Is it cruel?"

Is it cruel?

Jie Yu did not know how to answer.

Looking at the scene, it was indeed cruel. A great fire burning over a hundred thousand people to death. But when Jiangzhou was burned, this scene had already played out. At that time, no one called it cruel, because those burned were all invading Southern Barbarians.

At this time, by what right could she speak?

Liu Zheng smiled: "If I hadn't guessed that there was Quelehuoduo inside, the ones being burned now would be my hundred thousand people. Tell me, how do you choose?"

Jie Yu was speechless.

Liu Zheng shook his head: "Liangshan needs a new order; you can tell from the relief and joy on the faces of Huobu Quli and his clansmen. They crave a new order, but as long as this group of people is still alive, there will be no new order, understand?"

"A new society requires iron and blood."

"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun!"

Liu Zheng laughed: "War is just so fascinating..."

"But, but..."

Jie Yu wanted to say something, but felt she was at a loss for words.

But...

Can't everything be solved through peaceful means? Must so many people die?

Liu Zheng continued: "Jie Yu, war is never caused by a few simple factors. It isn't, and it won't be. I said before, war is an escalated version of conflict between people; as long as people are alive, there is conflict, and as long as there is an accumulation of conflict, war will form."

"You may not advocate violence, but violence has always been a spiritual attribute of humanity."

"Accept reality."

Liu Zheng chuckled: "What you see is merely the surface of the war. What you have not seen are the people behind the war. For example..."

"The King of Shu?"

Jie Yu's eyes suddenly lit up.

Liu Zheng smiled: "He should be here, too."

Sure enough.

Liu Zheng's voice had just fallen.

"Who dares to harm my sworn brother?"

Another massive army came rushing from the direction of Qionghai.

By this time, it was already dawn.

The heavy rain throughout the night seemed to only ever choose to cease at the break of dawn. The air in Liangshan after the rain was fresh, yet today it was permeated everywhere with the scent of blood. Of course, this bloodiness was also filled with freshness, save for that farm which had been burned to charcoal...

In the mountain forests, on the plains.

A full one hundred thousand Shu Army soldiers appeared suddenly.

The great banners inscribed with the character "Shu" fluttered in the wind. The man at the lead was none other than the imposing King of Shu, Xie Zhen. He looked travel-worn, as if he had been galloping the entire way. When he saw the great fire at the farm, he was stunned for a moment, then continued to shout while leading his army forward.

Reinforcements?

The Liangzhou Army and Huobu Quli's side all turned their heads to look.

One hundred thousand troops...

Another one hundred thousand.

But arriving so late at this moment...

Are these reinforcements, or enemy troops?

Liu Zheng chuckled and turned around: "Brother, I trust you have been well since we last met."

【Author's Note】

Still haven't written about the Academy, it stings; continuing to add one more chapter.