Chapter 185: The Sparks
Chapter 185: Chapter 185: The Sparks
Zhu Ge fell silent.
To be precise, he was completely shut down by that one word: "anything."
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but didn’t know what to say.
His mind flashed with images: Li Hao’s seductive face, Liu Jianjian’s trouble-loving smirk, and finally, Hua Liusha’s breezy question, "Is she that pretty?"
’How unfair!’
’I really was just looking for the Kitchen!’
’But could he say that? Would anyone even believe him?’
Zhu Ge took a deep breath and decided to play dead.
He sat cross-legged back on the rock, closed his eyes, and pretended to enter a meditative trance.
The ’Double Happiness’ character in his mind trembled slightly, as if it were laughing.
Zhu Ge sighed in resignation. ’Alright, you know the truth. My only focus is on cultivating and getting stronger, not Liu Jianjian or Li Hao.’
Hua Liusha chuckled. ’I know!’
Hearing this, Zhu Ge said no more, but a wave of fear washed over him.
’It felt like I just narrowly avoided a bloodbath!’
Though his body had its urges, his heart wasn’t truly interested.
’He had finally arrived in this fantastical, magnificent world. What was the point of being controlled by simple hormonal urges all day instead of cultivating, growing stronger, and reaching the very peak?’
’Calm your heart, quiet your spirit.’
’Don’t be disturbed by desire.’
Taking a deep breath, Zhu Ge’s mind grew tranquil.
’I’m heading out tomorrow.’
The great tide of change was like a snowball. All Zhu Ge needed to do was give it a gentle push from the mountaintop, and it would roll down unstoppably, growing ever larger until it could sweep across the entire world.
And in the process, Zhu Ge might be crushed by the snowball, or he might be able to slightly control its direction.
But in the end, he could not stop it.
It was a snowball, and it was also a spark.
The world was a tinderbox, needing only a single spark to ignite a great fire.
After all, the world was now full of people like Bai Chi, and like Zhu Ge’s own thirteen disciples.
These people were all incredibly talented, yet they were barred from advancing due to sectarian biases, family politics, and blocked channels of promotion.
Once they joined the snowball Zhu Ge had set in motion, they would surely fight with a desperation that would consume them completely.
But at the same time, these were all living, breathing people.
Zhu Ge had to ensure he could clearly judge every situation, so that these lives would not be wasted in vain.
’I’ll read a bit more on the Military Dao. I have to perform well on the battlefield.’
...
In the early morning, the mountain forest was shrouded in mist.
The column of troops marched onward. The trees blotted out the sky, with only occasional rays of sunlight piercing through the canopy, forming golden beams in the mist.
Zhu Ge walked at the very front, his gaze vigilantly scanning their surroundings.
Although he had already had Hua Liusha scout the path ahead with her Yin Qi, there was no telling what unexpected dangers might arise.
"Master," Liu Jianjian sidled up to him and whispered, "There’s a village up ahead. I think it’s... Shayi Dam."
’Shayi Dam?’
Zhu Ge remembered. This was one of the villages Liu Jianjian had mentioned before, south of Qingshi Village.
"Let’s go take a look," Zhu Ge said.
The column continued onward, and before long, a clearing appeared ahead.
And then, Zhu Ge saw Shayi Dam.
Or rather, what he saw were the ruins of Shayi Dam.
The entire village had been burned to the ground. Weeds grew between the crumbling walls, and the air was thick with the mixed stench of char and rot.
White bones, both human and beast, were scattered across the ground.
Zhu Ge watched all of this in silence.
The troops behind him fell quiet as well. Everyone saw the ruins.
"It was the Demon Race," Liu Jianjian said softly. "From the looks of it, this happened at least a month ago."
Zhu Ge nodded, saying nothing.
He had long known this would be the case.
Of the Thirteen Cities of Red River Prefecture, six had fallen and four were teetering on the brink of collapse. As for the surrounding villages, barely one in ten survived.
Shayi Dam was just one of them.
"Keep moving," Zhu Ge said.
The column passed through the ruins of Shayi Dam and continued south.
No one spoke. Only the sound of footsteps and rolling wheels echoed through the silent mountain forest.
Zhu Ge had only given the men in his column some basic training. They had donned leather armor and taken up spears.
In truth, sending such men onto a battlefield was no different from sending them to their deaths.
Fortunately, they were all villagers who were used to facing various threats in their daily lives.
Furthermore, Zhu Ge had Hua Liusha place a wisp of her Yin Qi inside each man’s mind to make it easier to relay commands.
This way, he could at least ensure strict discipline.
After all, anyone who thought of disobeying would be terrified at the thought of Hua Liusha in their mind.
It was a desperate measure, but none of the men rejected it.
According to the village chief, Zhao Dehou, they were already living under constant threat. Now that their families were guaranteed safety, the men were not afraid of sacrifice.
No true man would fear sacrifice. A man who feared sacrifice wasn’t a man at all.
And so, these soldiers who were not quite soldiers finally possessed a sliver of combat capability.
The rest would have to be forged in the heat of battle.
Thankfully, Zhu Ge knew that the Military Dao of this world had the powerful property of uniting an entire army.
With Blood Qi as a catalyst, the entire force could be fused into a single entity.
At the level of a Grand General, a military formation of hundreds of thousands could merge into one, moving as an extension of the commander’s will. They could easily sway the outcome of a Great Level battle and effortlessly crush their foes.
That was the immense power of hundreds of thousands of soldiers fused into one. An ordinary Great Demon or Great Immortal would be killed in a single strike.
Although Zhu Ge’s Blood Qi was powerful and his Martial Arts Heart was exceptionally strong, he could, at most, command a battle formation of these two thousand men.
Fortunately, he could be considered to have the Power of the Third Realm when fighting alone, so this trip at least shouldn’t be too dangerous.
"Sigh, I think there used to be six villages here at Shayi Slope, right? I heard there were even five Second Realm experts among them!"
"Yeah! To think they were wiped out by a Demon Beast tide. What a tragedy."
"Good thing our families are all living near the Six Paths Palace. We don’t have to worry."
"We have to fight our hardest to repay Palace Master Zhu."
"That’s right! Even if I die, I’ll bite a chunk of flesh off a Demon Beast to repay Palace Master Zhu."
Seeing the tragic state of Shayi Slope, the marching troops whispered amongst themselves, discussing the scene.
Shayi Slope was so named because of its sandy soil, the several nearby streams that were tributaries of the Red River, and its terrain, which was high in the west and low in the east.
Because of its proximity to both river and mountains, the area was rich in resources, unlike the barren Jianshan Village.
This abundance brought wealth and power, but it also attracted the Demon Beast tide.
Now, Shayi Slope was in utter ruin. Only severed limbs, rotting corpses, and bloodstains could be seen among the rubble on the ground.
Most of the inhabitants must have met a terrible end.
But such were the chaotic times.
Tragedies like this were surely playing out all across Red River Prefecture.
"Huh? Look, it’s... it’s copper coins!"
Suddenly, someone cried out in surprise.
In the next moment, surprise, shock, realization, and then greed flashed in the eyes of countless men.
Before Zhu Ge could give an order, the "soldiers" rushed into the surrounding village ruins one by one.
Demon Beasts ate people, but they didn’t eat money!
Watching their actions, Zhu Ge fell silent.