Chapter 411: Human Meat Wholesaler
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
"Is this the battlefield of Golden City and Flaming Valley? It's really terrible."
Several days later, Wang Lu and Lan have finally arrived at the battlefront of the war between Golden City and Flaming Valley after rushing all the way to the north from Eternal Tree. When they took a broad view of the place, the ground was scorched and the creatures burnt.
Of course, this was not a surprise, no matter what, the fierce and intense battle between this world's first and second most powerful forces would never be a peaceful one. The baptism of blood and fire was the only way.
"It's just that, if not witnessing it ourselves, this scene is really unexpected."
Looking at the cracked earth and the tens of thousands of rotting corpses, Wang Lu's eyes were first in awe then turned icy cold.
"I initially thought that Golden City and Flaming Valley were evenly matched, and Golden City might even be a bit stronger, but looking at the situation on this battlefield, nine in every ten bodies belong to Golden City… are the soldiers of Flaming Valley that elite?"
Wang Lu walked among the looming dead air in the battlefield. His eyes constantly swept around the dead bodies, and then he traced the details of the war from the remnants that were left on the battlefield.
He was not a warrior who was skilled in battle. Although he had been cultivating for many years, experiencing many big and small battles, he never really became a warrior. Therefore, tracing the details of the war from the remnants in the battlefield was actually quite inconvenient for him. However, with a strong calculation power, from the innumerable fragments, bit by bit, he pieced together the truth of the war.
"It seems that everyone underestimated the power of Flaming Valley. Sixty to seventy percent the strength of Golden City? I'm afraid even if they give their maximum power, the outcome of the battle is still difficult to say. And they have the nerve to say sixty to seventy percent?"
While sneering, Wang Lu stood beside a pile of corpses.
It was a tall, stout barbarian warrior corpse surrounded by ten corpses of gold-clad soldier. The corpse of the barbarian warrior was covered with countless scars and likely died due to exhaustion, but without exception, all the celestial soldiers around him were completely severed. Moreover, the weapon used by the barbarian warrior was merely a sharpened stone ax.
"In terms of wealth, Golden City is the number one in the world, then Harmony River and Eternal Tree. Even Grey Mountain who continues to decline can still be ranked as fourth. But in Flaming Valley, there are only stones, which comprised of obstinate stones and melted stones. These barbarians spend their lives on the mountain, and on weekdays, even stuffing themselves full are just extravagant hope. Therefore, civilization is always a strange concept to the Flaming Valley. When the granary is full, people know etiquette. When Golden City people are living in luxury, the barbarians of Flaming Valley are always struggling for survival… Such a harsh living condition trains them to be incomparably valiant, but it can also lead them to only have valor. These several thousands of barbarian crack troops, anyone of them is bold but not astute. Often, by other people's clever methods, they turn into a total mess."
Wang Lu muttered as he continued to walk.
Lan who walked behind Wang Lu said in a loud voice, "Grey Mountain once had a war with the Flaming Valley a millennium ago. If my ancestors weren't well-versed in the art of war, I am afraid this region would only have four forces left."
"But after so many years have passed by, people in Flaming Valley are still foolhardy. It's not that they are born stupid and do not understand the importance of intellectualism, but rather, a unique environment creates a unique civilization. For the barbarians of Flaming Valley, there's nothing more important than valor, and in such an environment, there's no way for wisdom to blossom. However, the situation now is different."
While speaking, Wang Lu had arrived at the high ground on the battlefield.
Scanning the scenery below him, Wang Lu saw even more things. In this battlefield, Flaming Valley only sent their lowest ranked soldiers to utterly defeat and route the gold clad soldiers of Golden City. On the battlefield, a ferocious soldier who could single-handedly deal with ten opponents couldn't even be regarded as a standard fighter for Flaming Valley. And only those with especially huge stature and could fight tens of opponents were the true Barbarians of Flaming Valley.
The barbarians who in the past only knew how to loudly roar were now subtly divided into multiple teams. At different times, they appeared in different positions. Perhaps by their own wisdom, they couldn't understand the mystery of these positioning and timing. However, under the control of a wise hand, these unique timing and location had caused these barbarians to display an unprecedented combat strength.
Although he was not excelled at the path of armed forces battle, Wang Lu could see how clever it was.
"The current Flaming Valley has obtained a pivotal leap."
Surprisingly, Lan keenly replied, "The fire spirit?"
"To be exact, it's Nine Regions… No, at the temple of blood, it's the one that is most adept at armed forces battle, the lead disciple of Royal Soldier Sect," Wang Lu murmured and then looked up. "What was the name again?"
Xiang Liang? Yes, it's Xiang Liang.
"Speaking of which, information about him is really sparse, but all in all, it's just a matter of calculating how much the Flaming Valley will evolve under the aid of this a-match-for-ten-thousand-enemies general. Compared to this, Eternal Tree, Harmony River and even Grey Mountain… are not worth mentioning. But, Senior Brother Xiang Liang, in everything, too far is as bad as not enough. In the end, how much confidence do you actually have that you dare to pick a fight against Shengjing Sect team alone? Now, with this triumph, your momentum is like the rainbow, aren't you afraid… that you would force Qiong Hua to come out?"
—
The frontline battlefield. In a piece of jagged rocky mountain, the chilly wind whistled and dispersed the warmth from the Flaming Valley; the disordered surrounding was the usual rule here. In this rocky mountain, the law of heaven and earth was distorted, the commonsense overthrown, and ordinary creatures found it difficult to survive. It was a daunting deathtrap that even the Flaming Valley warriors were not willing to approach.
However, according to military strategy, it was a strategic location for the war between Golden City and Flaming Valley.
The two sides have fought against each other. There were more than one hundred battles in all sizes. The result was that, Golden City successively retreated and already appeared in decline. However, if Flaming Valley wanted to completely establish their advantage, truly dragging the throne down from the dominant power in this region in thousands of years, they still needed a decisive crucial battle.
This chaotic place was the battlefield chosen by the Flaming Valley. And on the battlefield, the army of Flaming Valley was strongly advancing.
In the middle of the army, dozens of red skinned giant barbarians that were as muscular as rock surrounded a general who mounted a strange lava beast. That general was no doubt the supreme leader of the army. It was just that, compared to his tall and muscular soldiers, his appearance seemed to be undistinguished.
His stature was thin, with four slender limbs, wrapped in the red-brown hide as the symbol of the general of Flaming Valley. However, that animal hide was sewn by the barbarians of Flaming Valley, so it wasn't quite fit with his stature. At the same time, surrounded by the tall barbarians, the general seemed even smaller and thinner.
However, although his stature was small and slender, he had an inviolable imposing bearing while marching.
When the troops arrived at a certain place, the general suddenly stood up from the back of the strange beast. And after looking around for a bit, he finally made a decision.
"The front army stop here, recuperate, and guard this place. The left army goes along the mountain path and does not stop until further order. The right army will go with me along the right side of the mountain. These are the orders."
This faint command sound instantly passed into every warrior's ears. During the march, the soldiers who had been talking quietly immediately went silent. After listening to the order, many of them were actually confused.
"Is the army going to be divided into three?"
"It's so troublesome to split the army again. Since this Fire Spirit became the general, whenever we go into battle, he always split the army again and again. Obviously, we can just kill the enemy, why would we need to trouble ourselves?"
"Yeah, there are front army, left army… How do I know which army I belong to?"
"I heard that Golden City people are completely pleasure-seeking incompetents. To fight with them, we just need to give vigorous effort and that's that. But by dividing our force, wouldn't it appear that we Flaming Valley are afraid of them?"
"Humph, look at how thin and weak this Fire Spirit is, how could he be worthy to be the general of the army?"
These barbarian soldiers were the best soldiers handpicked by the Master of Flaming Valley. They were the youngest but also the most powerful fighters in Flaming Valley. However, these soldiers haven't had a battle under the fire spirit, thus they refused to obey him. They openly talked loudly without the slightest consideration toward the commander beside them. And upon hearing it, the fire spirit general who issued this command knitted his brows.
Was this too much trouble for them?
However, this dividing the thousands of elite fighters into three, was there any simpler military tactic in this world?
These warriors of Flaming Valley only have valor. They were just elite warriors, but not qualified soldiers. Even under him, they couldn't even display a tenth of their full combat capability. If these were truly tempered soldiers, he would direct each of these soldiers to carry out his command. Even if there were thousands of them, they could still be organized. As long as the soldiers could follow the command, they would display incredible combat strength.
In Royal Soldier Sect, many people used the game go as a metaphor for a general commanding his soldiers. The general in the battlefield was like the go player, and the soldiers were the pieces on the board. For ordinary go players, if the pieces that they have to manage exceeded that of ten, they would immediately be thrown into confusion. Consequently, if they wanted to command tens of thousands of soldiers, they needed layers of officers who would substitute them in commanding the soldiers.
For a more skilled player, their pieces would be handled better, and the more in depth the command that he could give. And this type of skill was called micromanagement in Royal Soldier Sect.
And as the lead disciple of Royal Soldier, among his peers, he had the unrivaled micromanagement skill. However, now, even dividing the troops into three was not feasible, so he had no way to display his amazing skill.
However, Xian Liang was not angry. He looked at the barbarian warriors who sneered provocatively at him and lightly said, "Before leaving, the king has authorized me as the commander-in-chief. Military orders are strictly obeyed and can't be violated."
A barbarian soldier took the lead in stepping forward. He pointed his huge stone ax towards Xiang Liang. "I have actually heard that the king has fallen under your, this sinister villain's scam, that's why he appointed you as the commander-in-chief. In combat, us heroes of Flaming Valley have always been upright. Sinister and deceitful tricks are the things that we disdain!"
Upon hearing it, Xiang Liang could not help but gawk. He had been in Flaming Valley for quite some time, but this was the first time he heard such splendid words.
Then, even more miraculously, this sentiment was echoed in the eyes of the other soldiers.
Perhaps for those skilled in politics, they could think this through. However, at this time, Xiang Liang only remembered the words of his Master when he was cultivating in Royal Soldier Sect.
"People who only know how to line up their soldiers do not qualify to be the commander-in-chief. The genuine first-class general must let the officers and soldiers under him to be sincerely convinced in heart and by word, and have the perfect command of them."
Compared to his Master's instruction, right now, this army was not sincerely convinced in heart and by word, and he did not have the perfect command of them.
Xiang Liang didn't care why they dared to rebel, nor did he care about the intention of the king of Flaming Valley in handing over such an army to him. As the lead disciple of Royal Soldier Sect, there was only one thing to do about this.
"Since that's the case..."
After thinking about it, Xiang Liang raised his right hand and then a halo light spread from his fingertip, which then swept through the whole army.
A moment later, the glow dissipated and the initially noisy sounds within the army were all extinguished. All the barbarian soldiers stood still, and their originally blazing eyes became detached and indifferent.
"Very good."
Xiang Liang satisfactorily looked at this dissenting-no-more army and readily commanded these thousands of soldiers.