Chapter 221: Su Qin Deploying Forces
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh
The official residence of West Field Headquarter was located right in the mayor mansion of Little Meng City. It was divided from the center into two halves. The west half belonged to Fan Yuqi, the general mansion where he used to draft out military operations, deploy army and so on. The east half belonged to Lu Chengfeng and Wu Qi, the chief supervisor office where they managed their daily tasks, assembled backup forces, distributed military resources, and handled the soldiers who had committed the offense to any military law.
Between the left and the right mansions stood the once grand hall of mayor mansion, which had now been converted to a huge hall that could host a meeting of over one thousand men at any given time. Countless restrictive formations were constructed in the hall, and there was a map of the eastern region of Meng Mountains, made using a 'Thousand Miles Water Mirror Technique', hovering midair in the center of the hall while emitting a brilliant glow. A couple dozens of advisers and generals were seen standing around the huge three-dimensional map that measured about one thousand feet in both width and length, busying themselves in plotting all kinds of markings on it.
This, was the command center of Great Yan West Field Headquarter.
When Wu Qi and Lu Chengfeng came into the hall, Fan Yuqi had already brought a group of generals standing around the map, frowning and looking at a region on the map flashing rapidly with a red dot. When he saw Lu Chengfeng, Fan Yuqi quickly pointed his finger at the red dot, as the map transformed very quickly. From a complete map, it zoomed into the detailed map of that particular region.
"The Imperial Advisor, He Qianqiu, had deployed his disciples in searching for any traces of Qin army. Two days ago, two of his Eagles found the activity of Qin army in the Great Dream Marsh. The Qin army had captured about one million barbarians and forced them to be their labor in building a city in that place." Fan Yuqi pointed at the map and briefed them about the situation.
Lu Chengfeng gasped with astonishment, "Why is Qin army building a city there? Are they planning to have a long-term stay in that place? Great Dream Marsh? What is that place?"
Fan Yuqi scratched his head, turned and gave a black-robed secret agent from Swallow a look. True enough, Fan Yuqi was an expert in fighting any battle, yet his ability in analyzing intelligence and summarizing the information was far weaker than those professional secret agents and intelligence officers.
The secret agent took a step forward and began explaining to them the detailed situation of Great Dream Marsh.
Although Xiong Wanling, He Qianqiu, Huo Wuyu, Jin Jia, Su Mei'er, the five great demon kings, were very famous in Meng Mountains, as Meng Mountains covered a very, very vast land, the regions controlled by them were actually, a small part of the eastern region of the entire Meng Mountains. Outside of the mountain ranges controlled by them were still many boundless mountain ranges which were ruled by some other powerful and formidable demon beasts. As a matter of fact, even the regions which they were currently ruling were also dwelt by a few very old and ancient demon beasts, whose cultivation base was no weaker than them, and had gathered a force of themselves to rule a land of their own.
It was the same situation in the Great Dream Marsh. The demon king who dominated the land of one hundred thousand miles circumference around the Great Dream Marsh was a Nine-headed Ice Earthworm - a hybrid demon beast with the bloodline of ancient Nine-headed Venom Worm and Ice Earth-digger. He had the cultivation base of Nascent Soul realm, and was very close to Nascent Divinity realm. Its look resembled a dragon, and he had nine heads. He had the ability to spray out cold air and ice frost, which could freeze the entire Great Dream Marsh if he wanted.
Although he only had the cultivation base of peak-stage Nascent Soul realm, because he had nine heads, all of which had their own soul and consciousness, each of these heads had attained the cultivation base of peak-stage Nascent Soul realm. Therefore, the overall strength of this Nine-headed Ice Earthworm was more than enough to fight equally against an almighty expert of Nascent Divinity realm. On top of that, he loved to dwell several thousand miles deep in the primordial black pond underneath the Great Dream Marsh, utilizing the poisonous black dirt and all kinds of poisonous miasmas for protection. So, no one could really do anything to him, even if it was to face joint attacks from two to three Nascent Divinity demon kings.
This Nine-headed Ice Earthworm only had very little disciples, merely about several thousand aquatic demons who had pledged their loyalty to him. But, by relying on the harsh natural environment and his own peculiar ability, he could still occupy the land of several hundreds of thousands of miles in Great Dream Marsh, shutting his door up and crowning himself as Patriarch demon king. Actually, Xiong Wanling and Jin Jia lived very close to his territory, but they were too lazy to argue with him. Furthermore, as this Nine-headed Ice Earthworm would always pay a large tribute of local products to Xiong Wanling and Jin Jia at every festival and new year, the three of them had always maintained a peaceful relationship.
As Great Yan Dynasty had dispatched their mighty army into Meng Mountains, getting ready for the final war with the Qin army, He Qianqiu and Huo Wuyu, the two flying demon kings, had also sent out their subordinates, searching for the traces of Qin army. Half a month ago, when the scouts of Qin army came assaulting Yan army, these flying demons had followed the retreating Qin army and found their base.
Without too many efforts, two Eagles had discovered that the Qin army was constructing a city near the edge of Great Dream Marsh. They immediately informed the discovery to their superiors, and at the same time, constructed a small teleportation formation in a forest near the site. After getting the intelligence, He Qianqiu immediately brought a group of his disciples and apprentices, using the teleportation formation to rush over to the place. He had the intention of getting a clearer picture of the situation, as well as contacting the Nine-headed Ice Earthworm, asking him about what was going on and why he allowed Qin army to build a city near the door of his house.
However, an unexpected event broke out. Right after He Qianqiu arrived, the Nine-headed Ice Earthworm had brought all his subordinates and launched an ambush at him, spraying out a mouthful of biting cold wind that contained a deadly venom to wound him. After that, led by Ying Zheng the Qin army came swarming in with several tens of thousands of soldiers, trapping He Qianqiu within and nearly killing him on the spot.
Among all five demon kings, He Qianqiu had just made his breakthrough into middle-stage Nascent Divinity realm, and his actual overall strength was just about ten percent stronger than the Nine-headed Ice Earthworm. When he was ambushed and wounded, his overall strength had dropped, and made him only slightly stronger than the earthworm. He was then trapped by the earthworm in Great Dream Marsh using the harsh natural environment, dragging him into a tough battle in which many of his apprentices and disciples were killed. In addition to that, Ying Zheng had brought many of his generals from Great Qin to attack as well. So currently, He Qianqiu was struggling in keeping his own life.
When the field headquarter received the distress call, He Qianqiu had already been trapped for fifteen minutes. Although the situation was in a stalemate as of now, without quick reinforcements, perhaps He Qianqiu would actually be killed by Qin army. The war had just begun, and if an Imperial Advisor were killed at this moment, it would be a deadly blow to the spirits of Yan army.
While they were exchanging intelligence and discussing solutions, from outside of the hall came clatters of hurried footsteps. Yan Dan had made an unexpected visit with many other men.
Huo Wuyu was seen following beside Yan Dan, laughing joyfully as he said, "Surely that Old White Hair is having a hard time now! Hahaha, two of his most beloved grandsons are killed, and many of his beloved apprentices and disciples are dead too! Aiyo, I think maybe they will pluck off all his white feathers? Tsk, and I will have to go rescue him from the calamity later, hehe!"
As the saying went, two of the trade seldom agreed. The two flying demon kings shared the eastern skies of Meng Mountains and were appointed as the Imperial Advisors of Great Yan Dynasty. Although there was not any bitter and deep-seated hatred between them, they did have some mild arguments during normal time. And conflicts would always break out between their disciples. Thus, when Huo Wuyu heard that He Qianqiu was trapped by Qin army and was schemed by the Nine-headed Ice Earthworm in Great Dream Marsh, he was greatly delighted and kept wearing a big smile on his face.
Xiong Wanling, Jin Jia, and Su Mei'er were following behind Yan Dan, none saying a word. The conflict between two flying demon kings did not concern the three beast demon kings at all. At most, they were shocked by the undaunted and reckless behavior of the Nine-headed Ice Earthworm, and felt a little bit sorrow for the unfortunate encounter of He Qianqiu.
Wearing a gloomy expression, Yan Dan came before the map, threw a look at the blinking red dot near the Great Dream Marsh, then said in a deep voice, "We can't let Imperial Advisor He fall in that place. We must deploy our men and rescue him. Ying Zheng, hmph, is he forcing me to fight the final battle with him now? It may not be a bad idea, and it has been many years since I met him."
Wu Qi was surprised. Could Yan Dan really deploy all his available forces and fight the final battle with Ying Zheng now?
But after he gave the situation a further consideration, it seemed to him that this was what was going to happen. No matter it was Yan Dan or Ying Zheng, they were not the same Yan Dan and Ying Zheng as many ages ago. The forces held in their hands were no longer the forces of mortals, but the magic spells and mystic techniques that could topple the mountains and overturn the seas. Rather than employing the strategy of consuming the forces of both dynasties bit by bit like what Qin army did half a month ago, causing a great number of ordinary soldiers to turn into nothingness in the revenge assault, why not just assemble all the high-end powers and decided the fate of both dynasties in one final battle?
As long as they could kill Ying Zheng, Great Yan would be able to obtain a strategic victory.
Likewise, if Yan Dan were dead, Great Yan would definitely fall into a great confusion. Ying Zheng would just have to seize the opportunity and launch the final assault, and he would be the final victor.
If the top men of both dynasties could decide the future trend of the war, then it would be unnecessary to drag so many soldiers and innocent civilians into the war of cultivators, a seemingly bottomless meat grinding machine. Wu Qi looked at Yan Dan, and he could vaguely understand the emperor's mind. The construction of outposts and the assembling of soldiers were just a backup plan. What Yan Dan really wanted was a head-to-head battle with Ying Zheng.
Su Qin walked out from behind Yan Dan's back, clasping both hands behind as he said with a brief smile on his face, "According to the latest military intelligence, the Nine-headed Ice Earthworm had joined Qin army and launched an ambush at Imperial Advisor He. I am afraid my junior brother is behind this. Sigh, he does have a silver tongue that does people great harm! Since this is a plot designed by my junior brother, then I'll have to find ways to solve the situation."
He kept quiet for a brief moment, then replaced Yan Dan and began giving out military orders one after another. Those who had received their orders could no longer stay in the hall, but had to leave immediately and execute the order right away.
Surprisingly, Wu Qi had also been given a military order. He was told to wantonly distract Qin army with the method he used previously, and was told that no matter how nasty his method was, no matter how great the damage he would cause, he was free to do anything, as long as he could complete the mission of distracting Qin army.
Wu Qi was speechless upon receiving the order. Could these people think that he was a man who specialized in knocking someone's head from behind?
On top of that, with him alone, how much of troubles could he cause to the Qin army? Nevertheless, a military was like a mountain, it could not be disobeyed. Su Qin had ordered him to come out with an actual plan within six hours, with detail steps of how he was going to bring real threats to Qin army. Even if he found it near impossible, Wu Qi would still have to do it.
He frowned and pondered for a while, then quickly asked someone to find where the catfish-flood-dragon was. It appeared that she was lying comfortably and dozing off in the lake inside the mayor mansion's backyard garden, and was very reluctant to come out. In the end, Wu Qi came and gave her a few fierce kicks, threatening her that he would sell her over to Ying Zheng. Only then did she hastily and nervously spring out from the lake and transformed into human form, unleashed a clump of demon cloud and brought Wu Qi rushing towards Longyuan River.
Wu Qi was going to convince Wanying Dragon King to send his army into the battle. This was the only method that Wu Qi could think of now, which could bring a real threat to the Qin army.
As a matter of fact, it was because of Wu Qi's relationship with that old dragon that made Su Qin give such a military order to him.
The demon cloud flew swiftly, and soon, catfish-flood-dragon had brought Wu Qi to a large river branch that flowed straight into Longyuan River. She then dragged Wu Qi and plunged into the river, and through the water channels that could be found everywhere in the Longyuan River region, both of them had come to the front gate of Wanying Dragon King's residence.
While looking at the dazzling and magnificent residence of the dragon king, Wu Qi only hoped that Su Qin did prepare some follow-up plans. Because even if all the aquatic demons in the entire Longying River were sent out, Ying Zheng could always kill them easily with the Cauldron of Yu.
Suddenly, a couple dozens of aquatic demons rushed up to them, then shouted and yelled aggressively, "Who are you? Why are you trying to force your way into the residence of Dragon King? Are you tired of living?"
Catfish-flood-dragon immediately transformed back to her true form and gave these ignorant aquatic demons a big slap on their faces, making their teeth fly out from their mouths.