On the western front of Grand Xia, the invincible Martial Monarch finally came face to face with the undefeatable leader of the military marquis. This was the first clash between the Cult’s heavy cavalry and the Blackwater army, a true clash of general versus general, soldier versus soldier.
In his hands, the military marquis wielded Resplendence as he faced off against the Martial Monarch’s Heaven’s Desolation. Military blade clashed against divine halberd in a collision that caused the heaven and earth to reel in shock and the sun and moon to pale.
(TL: The author wasn’t specific about the type of blade the marquis was using and instead chose to the use the term military blade which could mean anything from a straight, katana-looking blade to the more polearm-like blades depending on the era.)
Finally, the unstoppable heavy cavalry of the Cult met its match in the Blackwater army and was forced to halt their advance. With no one able to gain a decisive advantage over the other, this gruelling battle finally came to an end with both sides having to call a temporary retreat after a full day of fighting.
In that time, the invincible Martial Monarch became wounded and the world received another shocking piece of news. The leader of the ten military marquis, Marquis Kaixuan, was actually an unrivalled expert despite not being in the ranks of the five masters of this world.
For that one moment in time, the whole world guessed: exactly what was hidden in the imperial palace of Grand Xia that could allow them to fool the eyes of the world.
When one ascended to the realm of Xiantian, a heavenly phenomenon that startled the skies and shook the earth would appear. Unless one had some kind of heavenly treasure, it wasn’t possible to hide the pillar of light that shot into the heavens.
Despite the marquis’ impressive strength however, the Martial Monarch was merely wounded but not defeated. Marquis Kaixuan wasn’t able to finish off the Martial Monarch, in fact, there probably wasn’t anyone in this world who could kill this man.
The strength of the Martial Monarch not only came from his incomparable martial strength but even more so, it stemmed from his nearly immortal body.
In this world, people who defied logic had always existed since time immemorial, the Martial Monarch just so happened to be one such person.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that, as long as they couldn’t kill the Martial Monarch, the Eternal Night Cult would never lose. That was the difficult problem Grand Xia had to overcome right now.
However, whatever the case may be, the western front was finally stabilized thanks to the appearance of Marquis Kaixuan, albeit temporarily.
On the northern front…
Compared to the Blackwater army who traversed 300 li (150km) in a day, the reinforcement army in the north was significantly slower. However, this was to be expected seeing as there was no way these ordinary soldiers could compare to the Blackwater army which consisted entirely of martial practitioners.
Within the army camp of the Mongols, an atmosphere of panic had begun spreading amongst the soldiers. The additional of the 250 000 strong reinforcement army to Marquis Taiping’s own 150 000 soldiers meant that the Mongols were severely outnumbered.
In the face of this crisis, the unconscious Lady Strategist became the sole hope in the hearts of the Mongolian soldiers. As long as she regained consciousness, she would surely lead them out of this quagmire.
To their disappointment however, the Lady Strategist never woke up even up to the point where the reinforcements from Grand Xia arrived.
The commander of the reinforcement army was Great General Zuo Qiusheng, a kinsman of the Xia Emperor. After arriving, he directly assumed control of the military and read out the Emperor’s edict which requested that Zhang Sun return to the palace.
Upon receiving the edict, she promptly set off for the Imperial City with the unconscious Marquis Taiping in tow. Before leaving, she made sure to remind the general once more to prioritize defending over offense. Wait for the Mongols to lose their patience and reveal whatever trump card Fan Lingyue left them before employing the appropriate countermeasures.
She had put her faith in Ning Chen’s judgement that, until the Mongols revealed their trump card, attacking them rashly would only result in severe losses.
With a respectful look on his face, he gave her an obligatory acknowledgement before sending her off. Only after confirming that she had left did he let out a cold harrumph before turning around to return to the camp.
This was his best chance at being conferred the peerage of a marquis so why would he ever turtle up in the army camp instead.
With the Lady Strategist out of the picture, he wanted to make use of this opportunity to wipe out the Mongolian army and accumulate an illustrious military record for himself.
On the second day of Zhang Sun’s departure, Zuo Qiusheng gave out the order to break camp and march upon the Mongols. At the head of this tidal wave of soldiers were 50 000 cavalrymen who acted as the spearhead of the army. Behind them were 30 000 shieldbearers and 20 000 archers who rotated as the situation demanded. Finally, there was the rest of the army who marched at the back.
Yet, something happened that shocked the soldiers of Grand Xia. From the camp of the Mongols came an entire division of heavy cavalry, 10 000 strong. Like a tidal wave of iron and horses, they swept through the 50 000 cavalrymen and forcefully broke through the 30 000 shieldbearers.
In one devastating charge, the shieldbearers were scattered leaving the 20 000 archers behind them completely exposed and worthless. In the blink of an eye, these archers were instantly swallowed by the monstrous wave.
Following that initial charge, it was now time for the 100 000 iron horsemen of the Mongols to make their thunderous appearance. The soldiers of Grand Xia were thoroughly pushed towards the abyss of death as the murderous blades of the Mongols carved a bloody river through them.
Seeing that, the previously downcast Mongolian soldiers immediately rallied behind the 100 000 iron horsemen and maniacally began venting the fury in their hearts.
The fighting lasted for an entire day and night though it was mostly a one-side massacre throughout. At the break of dawn on the second day, the entire 350 000 strong army of Grand Xia was wiped out. Within a radius of 100 li, the grounds were littered with the corpses of these poor souls.
However, there was one notable corpse that was missing. Zuo Qiusheng had escaped from the battlefield with his life. In his terrified state, he had completely forgotten about Zhang Sun’s instruction to immediately burn the bridge should they lose.
With the winds of victory behind their backs, the 100 000 iron horsemen of the mongols tirelessly galloped for an entire day, covering the distance of 300 li and finally crossing the crucial checkpoint of Luyue Bridge. The mongols had finally taken the first steps into the heart of the Central Plains.
Still in the midst of rushing back to the palace, Zhang Sun’s face immediately turned a ghastly white when she heard what had happened. As she weakly leaned against the carriage walls, she found herself at a loss for words.
Grand Xia was in big trouble!
That was the thought that crossed the minds of the masses; no one expected such a sudden reversal at all. Initially, they assumed that the winds of war were finally starting to blow their way with the return of the Xia Emperor and the dispatch of the War God.
Grand Xia was supposed to have been in a position of invincibility but who knew that, at the northern front which had the least reason to fail, such an earth shattering event would take place.
Even though the Lady Strategist was still unconscious, the contingency plans she left to her subordinates were still able to deal Grand Xia a severe blow. Armed in heavy armor identical to the ones worn by the Cult, the 10 000 heavy cavalrymen were impervious to normal blades and even the average martial practitioner found it hard to resist them.
Grand Xia had lost. Terribly and humiliatingly. Yet, the most important point was that it lost the initiative.
Now that the grand army of the Mongols had entered the heart of the Central Plains, the issue of supplies which plagued them to no end, had mostly been resolved. Surrounded by the fertile lands of the Central Plains, the one thing they weren’t lacking in was supplies.
After that battle, the Mongols had a clear road ahead of them with no one daring to claim that they could stop these marauders with certainty.
For the Xia Emperor who had bided his time for so long, he ended up slipping once more because of his choice of subordinates. Zuo Qiusheng was a talented field commander but he was no general; his tactics were fine but his strategy was found to be severely lacking.
It was the only mistake this Emperor made so far but it turned out to be a crucial one that decided the fate of that battle.
Having returned to the palace, Zhang Sun directly left for Weiyang Palace without even visiting the Emperor. With regards to this imperial husband of hers, she didn’t want to see him nor did she have any words for him at all.
Within Revelations Hall, the wizened Emperor seemed even older in recent days with his eyes growing proportionately colder.
He wasn’t in the wrong. He was the Emperor of Grand Xia. No matter what he did, he was always right.
Upon being apprehended, Zuo Qiusheng was promptly sentenced to death by dismemberment. Atop the sentencing platform, his blood ran deep between the wooden planks as his flesh was slowly shaved off amidst horrific screams that lasted an entire day.
The Emperor had grown more temperamental in recent days, his ruthlessness eclipsing his past self by a mile. Within the courts of Grand Xia, no one dared to speak up fearing that a single misspoken utterance would spell the doom for them.
On the surface, the Third Prince and the Tenth Prince seemed to have reined themselves in but in the background, their maneuvering grew even more frantic. Both of them could see that the Xia Emperor’s days were numbered.
The Mongolian army was, without a doubt, a deadly sword hung right over the head of Grand Xia. The armies of Grand Xia rallied multiple times to try and stop the marauding Mongols but each and every time they did so, the Mongols evaded them. It was clear for all to see that the commander of the Mongols was trying his best to preserve their forces while they waited for the Lady Strategist to awaken.
Given the sheer vastness of the empire, there was no way anyone could restrain them at a moment’s notice if they focused on evasion.
Sending out three edicts in unison, Marquis Buyi, Marquis Ziyang and Marquis Liyu were urgently recalled to the capital. Leaving behind the troops needed to man the garrisons, each of them led an army of 100 000 troops back to reinforce the mainland.
The simultaneous summons of three military marquis hadn’t been seen since the founding of the empire. Just based on this alone, one could see that Grand Xia was truly anxious.
Within the Mongolian army, the atmosphere amongst the troops was becoming tenser by the day. Now that these three military marquis were recalled back, they were faced with the prospect of fighting against an army that grew to over 500 000 strong with the additional of these new forces. That was an extremely disadvantageous position for them.
Even so, they didn’t dare to rashly march south. Standing in their path if they did so, would be the stalwart fortresses of Grand Xia whose defenses were nigh impregnable. Should they try to take these fortresses by force, their 300 000 strong army would be whittled down to nothing before the Lady Strategist even woke up.
In this world, not everyone had the intelligence to manipulate the world like the Lady Strategist.
In the eastern region of Grand Xia, within the First Shrine of the Eternal Night Cult…
The Martial Monarch sat atop his towering throne in the center of the main hall. Below him were the prostrated figures of three of his generals. Each of them exuded an aura at the peak of Ninth-grade which were even beginning to show signs of a breakthrough.
After their heavy cavalry conquered two cities of Grand Xia, they razed them to the ground and torched whatever inch of land they traversed.
Because of his injuries, the Martial Monarch temporarily retreated back to the First Shrine to recover. His three generals accompanied him as well, along with their 30 000 heavy cavalrymen.
Marquis Kaixuan and his Blackwater army were stronger than he had expected and this led to their impasse a few days ago. This War God of Grand Xia rarely took to the field so all he knew of the man was that he was formidable. He never imagined that the marquis was actually that strong.
However, the monarch’s injuries weren’t that severe and only took a short while to recover thanks to his unique constitution which blessed him with unbelievable regenerative powers. The only reason he returned was to ensure that the next time he sortied, he did so at his full power.
Marquis Kaixuan was a formidable rival that required his serious attention.
“That Mongolian woman still hasn’t woken up yet?” Asked the monarch.
“Reporting, Martial Monarch, according to our sources, Fan Lingyue has sustained critical injuries and most likely won’t awaken in the short term.” Answered one of his generals in a respectful tone.
Hearing that, the Martial Monarch frowned. Without that woman, the Mongols weren’t any different from a toothless tiger and that didn’t bode well for the Eternal Night Cult.
The moment Grand Xia seized this opportunity to wipe out the Mongolian grand army, their next move would definitely be to focus their troops on the Eternal Night Cult’s invasion. In a headon battle like that, their losses would be immense.
“Retrieve one of the Divine Heavenly Pill and send it to the Mongolian camp, have them speed up her recovery.”
“Understood!” Having received his order, the generals dressed in red promptly rose to their feet and left.
After the departure of the generals, the monarch closed his eyes and in a soft voice, muttered to himself “Lady Strategist, don’t disappoint this Monarch!”
The Cult still wasn’t prepared for a full-on war with Grand Xia so, at least for now, the last thing he wished to see was Fan Lingyue getting into trouble.
……
Within the Mongolian Empire, a blue flash of light descended from the distant horizons before promptly transforming into another flash of light and disappearing into the distance.
Half a day later, in one of the freezing wastelands of the Mongolian Empire, that same blue light appeared once more. With a wave of his hand, he tossed the person he had been carrying all this while into a pool right in front of him.
He had heard stories about the Divine Pond in the Mongolian Empire, thus he came.
As for whether or not it could really save the boy’s life, he can consider that problem once he has tried it out.
*boom!*
It was at that moment that the skies suddenly darkened and a terrifying will could be felt descending from the skies at a rapid pace as if it had been angered by this intruder.
“You, state your name!”
A distant voice boomed, seemingly originating from outside of the nine heavens themselves. Its formidable aura caused the surrounding winds to stir and shook the fabric of space itself.
“Prince Yan of Grand Xia!”
It was a simple answer devoid of any shock or fear. Standing amidst the howling winds, his youthful face remained as calm as always, not at all affected by the terrifying phenomenon.
Blue shirt fluttering and black hair dancing, that was the current legend of Grand Xia.
