Chapter 60: Cataclysm

Many years later, an exceptionally brilliant human strategist appeared in the Divine Land. When examining his disciples on the historical event of the fall of Yang Pass, he inadvertently sparked a surge of scholarly interest among the human race in revisiting past events. For a time, opinions varied wildly, even causing the price of paper in Luoyang to soar. This frenzy lasted for three months until the strategist finally stepped forward, unifying the disparate views of the various philosophers and schools of thought into a generalized consensus:

First, though Yang Pass was mighty, prolonged fatigue leads to inevitable collapse.

Yang Pass had stood in a standoff against the demon race for hundreds of years. Having once been the sole gateway for demon invasions, the pass itself had been reinforced to towering heights, rendering it as unshakeable as a fortress of bronze and boiling gold. However, with the expansion of the western frontier northward—especially after the establishment of Hot Spring Pass—the strategic importance of Yang Pass gradually diminished, shifting from the primary frontline battleground to a defensive garrison used for stalling and prolonged standoffs.

Yang Pass was located in a distant and remote region, making supply lines difficult to maintain. Thousands of li outside the pass were entirely uninhabited, rendering the demon strategy of foraging off the occupied land impossible. Therefore, whenever the demons launched offensives, they increasingly chose Hot Spring Pass. The troop deployments of the Great Zhou shifted accordingly: across the entire western frontier, six armies totaling over three hundred thousand soldiers were stationed. The northern frontier held ten thousand men from the Huben and Yingyang armies, while the southern frontier held fifteen thousand men from the Feixiong, Chibao, and Mingkun armies. Only the central sector of Yang Pass held a mere fifty thousand men from the White Horse Army. Setting aside the strength of the military might, the sheer number of troops had been reduced to the absolute limit.

Under such arrangements, although the soldiers had been free of combat for a long time, they were denied the chance to rotate out. As days turned into months, exhaustion naturally took root.

Second, making a feint to the east while attacking the west, striking where least expected.

Aside from the repeated incursions against the northern line of the western frontier in recent years, all recent battles had been concentrated entirely in the north. In particular, the fall of several northern cities—including Black Fire City—further intensified the Great Zhou's focus on the northern line. Even one division of the White Horse Army had been redeployed northward as reinforcement, further exacerbating the depletion of troops elsewhere and creating an opportunity for the demon race.

Just as everyone's gaze was drawn to the northern line—and even as the demons went so far as to sacrifice a half-step Great Demon as bait to lure the Huben and Yingyang armies in the north into an ambush—the central line had already moved in secret. They launched their offensive before the Feixiong Army's reinforcements could reach Yang Pass, executing a surprise attack to capture the city and achieving success in a single stroke.

The demons deceived not only the officials in the Great Zhou capital of Haojing thousands of li away, but even the garrison commanders of Yang Pass itself fell under this illusion. With the demons acting repeatedly in the north and soon to launch a fresh round of offensives to clash with the human race, the roles of the central and southern lines were merely to provide support and transport supplies. Thus, even in Huang Chenyuan's military dispatch, the instructions conveyed to Yang Pass were sixteen characters: "Stockpile grain and fodder, re-equip the military, await orders for northern reinforcement, and maintain a steadfast defense." The preceding clauses spoke entirely of preparations for the northern war, with defense mentioned only at the very end. Unfortunately, this had already become the fixed formula for Yang Pass military orders, causing no one to pay the slightest bit of attention; it was not even mentioned when orders were relayed downward.

Third, luring the tiger away from its mountain stronghold to deliver the decisive blow.

Among the various post-mortem analyses conducted by the various philosophical schools of the human race regarding this event, the northward redeployment of the King of Hunting West to meet the enemy was undoubtedly a major factor in the instantaneous collapse of the entire defense line. Among the six enfeoffed kings of the Great Zhou, the King of Hunting West served as the pillar that calmed the waves for Yang Pass. Yet when a half-step Great Demon abruptly appeared on the northern line, the King of Hunting West marched north to meet it in battle. Although victorious, this left Yang Pass completely devoid of its most crucial protection, ultimately resulting in the loss of the city and a disastrous defeat after a single day of bloody warfare.

Through various deductions by the schools of thought and subsequent analyses, historians later summarized the grand strategy devised by the Great Golden Peng King back then—a plan that bore an uncanny resemblance to the flash of inspiration and subsequent musings of Qingmei after she led her troops to capture Cloud-Nest Manor...

This was a interlocking stratagem, with its ultimate military blade pointing directly at Yang Pass, which had not tasted the flames of war for decades.

The Great Golden Peng King dispatched forces to harass the various cities on the northern line, while secretly having Qingmei lead an army to attack Black Fire City, cross Black Fire Lake in stealth, and scale the Qinling Mountains. This created the false impression that the demon race was preparing to launch a surprise attack on Xiyi to steal human mechanical armor, thereby triggering a human troop mobilization and even prompting the temporary secondment of White Horse Army mechanism masters as auxiliaries with the intent of annihilating them.

Once they drew close to Xiyi and exposed the presence of a half-step Great Demon within their ranks, Huang Chenyuan had no choice under the hasty circumstances but to turn to the King of Hunting West for help. This further depleted the defenders of Yang Pass, reducing its combat power yet again. When faced with the overwhelming pressure of the demon army, they fought a bloody battle but were outmatched, ultimately leading to the fall of the pass.

Under such a meticulous plan, one can well imagine the degree of shock felt by the White Horse Army soldiers atop the city walls when the demon army suddenly appeared outside Yang Pass. Panic-stricken garrison soldiers frantically struck the gongs to sound the alarm, but even before the commanders and soldiers within the camp could rush over, the demons had already scaled the walls, engaging the human forces in close-quarters melee combat and rendering various human siege weapons and mechanical beasts utterly useless.

The White Horse Army quickly rallied to launch a counterattack, but before they could reach the scene, they encountered the demon vanguard. Upon seeing that the demons had already entered the city, the morale of the ordinary soldiers plummeted instantly in a matter of moments. Faced with the demon charge, they collapsed at the first touch, and the hastily assembled army scattered in rout, instantly spreading the news of defeat to every corner of the city.

The demons and the human race engaged in protracted urban warfare within Yang Pass. Fires blazed on all sides within the fortress, and the flames consumed the lives of countless individuals amidst the bloodshed. Fleeing soldiers and commoners looked around in panic, their shrill screams echoing endlessly as they fell one after another beneath the claws and fangs of the demons.

Two hours later, two of Huang's descendants organized a final counterattack. Nearly five thousand men set out from the Yang Pass military camp and began launching an offensive toward the interior of the city. The White Horse Army's last unit of mechanical beast tamers and nearly thirty Qi practitioners joined the fray as well.

The initial battle went relatively smoothly; small squads of demon soldiers were quickly annihilated upon encountering the enemy, and the advance was extremely rapid. However, when the army penetrated the center of Yang Pass, they met fierce resistance from the demon counter-offensive. The two younger brothers of Pi Han Great Drill Wind—Pi Chen and Pi Shu—led troops to pierce through the center, cutting off the mechanical beast tamers in the front from the infantry in the rear, and surrounding them in separate pockets.

Under this critical emergency, human Qi practitioners stepped into action, but the remaining three Great Drill Winds of the demon race also met them head-on, quickly shattering their formation. As the situation developed, the human defense perimeter began to shrink. After over an hour of fierce combat, the entire army was wiped out; including Huang Chenyuan's two nephews, not a single one of the more than five thousand men survived.

Following this, the entirety of Yang Pass completely became the domain of the demon race. Led by the five Great Drill Winds, the demons began a sweeping and ruthless purge of the resistance forces within the pass. The combat was brutal and intense, featuring numerous instances of human soldiers fighting to the death as martyrs, but to no avail. The combat prowess of individual demons inherently surpassed that of humans, and having lost their weapons and tactical formations, almost all human resistance amounted to nothing more than a futile death march, devoid of any suspense.

When a full day had passed, all organized resistance was thoroughly crushed. The remaining human captives were all dragged to the encampment outside the pass to be imprisoned. Not a single living human being remained within the entirety of Yang Pass; there were only the excited howls of the demon soldiers, punctuated by the ceaseless screams and shrieks of agony as captives were torn apart and devoured alive.

As evening approached, the demon general commanding this campaign, General Hundred-Eyes, stood upon the summit of the Yang Pass tower, gazing out with beaming joy at the prosperous world far off to the east. He laughed heartily and addressed the five Great Drill Winds at his side:

"Fellow Drill Winds, our demon race has been driven to West Ox Prefecture for a millennium, and at last, we have once again set foot upon the land where our ancestors once lived. Everything within your field of vision was once the hunting grounds of my forebears. From this day forward, the entirety of South Jambudvipa shall soon return once more to the embrace of our demon race! The human race shall perish, the demon race shall flourish, and all things shall be renewed!"

"Ten thousand victories for the Great Demon!"

The roars of the five Great Drill Winds thundered like drums, shaking the earth and shattering the heavens.

"Ten thousand victories! Ten thousand victories!" Inside and outside the pass, more than one hundred thousand demons joined in a wild roar, their blood surging. The echoes reverberated across the skies above Yang Pass, gradually drifting away...

On this very day, Yang Pass—which the human race had stubbornly defended for a millennium ever since its establishment during the War of the Investiture of the Gods, and which had never once fallen—changed hands for the very first time. The demon race became the new masters of this mighty pass.

The Great Zhou was shaken to its core, and the realm fell into chaos. A calamity for the human race was impending, while the demon race immediately issued a Demon-Summoning Decree across both the Western Ox and Southern Jambudvipa prefectures, calling upon all members of the demon race to gather together and completely annihilate the human race.

Yet none of this had anything to do with Li Chou. At this very moment, Li Chou and Qingmei had reunited and were on their way galloping toward Mount Mei...

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The carriage swayed distantly along a treacherous mountain road. Li Chou and Qingmei were hidden inside the carriage as it proceeded eastward. The route gradually began to trend northward, bringing them back toward the territory of Yan.

News of the demon race capturing Yang Pass arrived, causing unrest to stir across every corner of the Great Zhou. Weapons were sharpened and horses fed; ordinary garrison troops were promoted to regular military status, and common citizens from the fields were conscripted as foot soldiers. Meanwhile, the other six armies stationed far to the north, south, and east, alongside the four domestic armies within the nation's heartland, were undergoing massive expansions, mobilizations, and re-equipments. Complying with Haojing's directives, they marched westward to deploy successive layers of defense lines to stem the advance of the demon race.

Precisely because of this, the flight of Li Chou and Qingmei became exceptionally smooth. Not only did the King of Hunting West fail to pursue them, but even the wanted posters had not yet reached the various localities. Relying on the travel credentials of the Tianshan Escape technique, Li Chou easily passed through all checkpoints and headed northward.

However, Li Chou's mood was far from high, because he was well aware that the war between the human and demon races had already broken out. Yet at this crucial juncture, he was heading in the opposite direction of the human race, standing in direct opposition to them. If the human race emerged victorious, his subsequent fate could well be imagined.

Unless the demon race could win!

Unfortunately, the hope of a demon victory was even slimmer than the probability of Li Chou transmigrating back to his original home—it was infinitely remote and desolate.

Ever since the War of Investiture of the Gods, the status of the human race had been cemented by the Conferment List, allowing them to rule the universe. The demon and monster races still retained a sliver of living space merely because the human population was not yet large enough; everything simply shifted according to human needs. If a day came when the human race desired the entirety of West Ox Prefecture, then without a doubt, the heavens themselves would grant them the opportunity, causing the current territories of the demon race to entirely change their names and allegiance, becoming human domains.

Or perhaps, it would be yet another War of Investiture of the Gods!

The very reason the demon race was launching this war was precisely for this purpose. If Li Chou wished to survive, aside from pinning his hopes on a demon victory, there was yet another path he could walk, and judging by the present circumstances, it was his only remaining option!

To become stronger!

To make himself incomparably powerful—so strong that neither humans nor demons could look upon him directly, and even immortals would not dare to treat him as an enemy. Only thus would the outcome remain identical regardless of whether humans or demons triumphed!

Undoubtedly, although there were many paths to gaining strength, the Summoning Banner mentioned by the cicada-like monk was bound to be one that could not be ignored. After careful consideration, Li Chou still decided to take the risk and make a trip to Mount Mei.

If he went, he might not necessarily find any clues; but if he did not go, he certainly would find none!

One in a thousand versus zero in a thousand—the gap might seem insignificant, but the final outcome could well be as different as heaven and earth!