Ze Tian Ji

One: the Prince of Xiang was heavily injured and would not be able to return to the nine camps of the Western Army in the short term.

Two: Commander-in-Chief He Ming was ordering the entire Western Army to move out. In three days, they needed to enter the heartland of the Bunun Highlands and conquer Suluo City.

Xue He probably well understood the meaning of these two pieces of information.

And he had the guarantee of both Divine General He Ming and Xu Yourong.

Just as expected, Xue He went to the Right Camp on the same night and seized the Prince of Xiang’s martial authority, upon which he ordered all nine camps of the Western Army to begin moving north.

The Central Army and the Eastern Army began to move out at the same time.

The fastest was North Third Camp of the Eastern Army’s vanguard.

They marched throughout the night, bypassing Starstrewn Gorge, breaking through the Wutai River, and seizing the most important military pass on the southern border of the Bunun Highlands.

Using this as the breakthrough point, the human armies advanced with unimaginable speed, slicing the steely second defense line of the demons into three.

The most important factor was time. The seventeen days lost in the first phase of the campaign were completely seized back in this process.

Black Robe’s strategy could be considered to have completely failed.

…

…

Chen Changsheng put down the document in his hand and fell into a daze.

He felt like the words on the paper were too shallow.

The North Third Camp of the Eastern Army had marched overnight, bypassing Starstrewn Gorge and breaking through the Wutai River.

Just what sort of heroic epic of courage was contained in this short statement?

”The most important reason is that the North Third Camp suffered no losses in the demon attack.”

Gou Hanshi recalled the first three names on the list of meritorious soldiers and smiled.

…Not because they had accomplished a great feat and gained honor for Mount Li, but because they were still alive and well.

But the crucial question was why those several thousand vultures flying out of the cliff had suddenly dropped to the plains and burned themselves to death.

This was a question that none of the officers on the front line could solve. In his private letter, Liang Banhu had also expressed his doubts.

Seeing Chen Changsheng’s expression, Gou Hanshi vaguely understood what the truth was, but since Chen Changsheng was not mentioning it, it was not convenient for him to bring it up.

The story between the Pope and his Protector was not exactly the talk of the town, but everyone that should have known did know.

After all, no one had seen that black-clothed girl standing by Chen Changsheng ever since the autumn of that year.

Chen Changsheng felt rather mixed when he thought about how she had left the warm isles of the Southern Sea and gone to the snowy plains once traversed by her father.

Then, he noticed that Gou Hanshi was smirking at him.

He felt rather embarrassed, but he thought of one matter that let him change the topic.

”What was that demon freak in the cliff shouting before they died?”

”’Didn’t Su Li leave?’”

”Hm?”

Gou Hanshi smiled and explained, ”I’m saying that this was what that demons was shouting. They were probably a demon of the Ghost-Driving Tribe, experts in controlling monsters. They’re even more frightening than the shamans of the south. I heard that Martial Granduncle pursued them for many years and rendered them extinct. I didn’t expect that one of them was still alive.”

Why had Su Li hunted down the members of the Ghost-Driving Tribe?

There were no records in the Mount Li Sword Sect, Gou Hanshi didn’t know, and Chen Changsheng couldn’t guess.

They glanced at each other and thought of a possibility.

Perhaps, several hundred years ago, Su Li had seen the important role this tribe had played in the war?

Perhaps that really was the case.

Because before he left this world, Su Li had always been fighting with the demons.

It wasn’t a battle, but a war.

And where was that fellow who had fought the demons ever since he was born?

Chen Changsheng really wanted to know where Zhexiu was.

Gou Hanshi was also very concerned, because Zhexiu was currently the son-in-law of Mount Li.

The front line had methods for recording military merit.

All they knew right now was that Zhexiu had killed ten-some demon soldiers since the start of the war.

This was an achievement to be incredibly proud of for an ordinary soldier, but it was rather strange for Zhexiu.

This was not the extent of his abilities.