Chapter 236 - 234: Viewing the Sky from the Bottom of a Well

Chapter 236: Chapter 234: Viewing the Sky from the Bottom of a Well

Yang Yanxing’s sudden interjection made Feng Wushang’s expression turn ugly, but in the end, he said nothing more.

In truth, his seniority was greater than both Li Tiancheng’s and Yang Yanxing’s, and his status was half a rank higher.

But at present, it was his White Tiger Hall that had requested aid, and the others were here as reinforcements. He had no choice but to give them face and stop bothering Chen Yuan.

A cold glint, however, appeared in Chen Yuan’s eyes.

’This Feng Wushang has really dropped the act. Even at a time like this, he hasn’t forgotten to target me.’

"Everyone, the Hu Yan Tribe and the Ten Thousand Demon Sect have attacked with overwhelming force, and my White Tiger Hall has already suffered grievous losses."

"Fortunately, the Grand Commandant has taken this matter seriously and specially dispatched the Celestial Martial Guard and the Po Jun Guard to assist us. Now, the time has come for us to counter-attack!"

Feng Wushang stopped bickering with Chen Yuan and finally got down to business.

Feng Wushang was deeply troubled by the White Tiger Hall’s current losses.

Of course, he wasn’t troubled by the deaths and injuries among his subordinates, but by the fact that he was on the verge of retirement, only to run into this mess.

The White Tiger Hall couldn’t hold on any longer, so the Po Jun Guard and Celestial Martial Guard had come to provide support.

If they still couldn’t handle the Hu Yan Tribe and the Ten Thousand Demon Sect with the support of these two guards, they might need aid from the other three halls, or even intervention from the Grand Commandant himself.

But by then, he, Feng Wushang, would most likely be unable to keep his position as Hall Master of the White Tiger Hall.

The rule of the Zhenwu Hall was that merit would be rewarded and failure would be punished.

Since he couldn’t defend the White Tiger Hall, he was naturally unqualified to remain its Hall Master.

Glancing over the men below, Feng Wushang said in a low voice, "The Hu Yan Tribe and the Ten Thousand Demon Sect’s arrival was sudden, and we were caught completely off guard."

"Our counter-attack must be just as swift. We have to crush the Hu Yan Tribe as quickly as possible. Ignore the Ten Thousand Demon Sect for now."

"The Ten Thousand Demon Sect was brought in by the Hu Yan Tribe for support. As long as we deal with the Hu Yan Tribe, the Ten Thousand Demon Sect will naturally retreat."

"My White Tiger Hall’s White Tiger Guards, the Po Jun Guard, and the Celestial Martial Guard will strike out together. We will attack from three directions, then converge to encircle and completely annihilate the Hu Yan Tribe!"

Just then, Chen Yuan suddenly spoke up. "Hall Master, if we follow your plan, our Zhenwu Hall will inevitably suffer heavy losses again."

The moment Xu Feizhou saw Chen Yuan speak, he immediately reprimanded him. "Chen Jiutian! I see you have no respect for your superiors!"

"It was one thing to contradict the Hall Master before, but now you intend to defy his direct orders?"

Feng Wushang waved a hand, silencing Xu Feizhou, then stared at Chen Yuan. "What? Do you have a different opinion?"

"Of course. We cannot ignore the Ten Thousand Demon Sect. In fact, we must prioritize them over the Hu Yan Tribe!"

Chen Yuan said gravely, "The Ten Thousand Demon Sect was indeed brought in as aid by that Demon Monk, Yang Lianzhenjia. Normally, if the people they came to help are gone, what reason would they have to continue fighting?"

"However, that is how normal people think. You can’t use conventional logic to predict the actions of those madmen from the Ten Thousand Demon Sect."

"This time, the Ten Thousand Demon Sect sent one Primordial Pill Realm Grandmaster, and the rest are all elite experts of the younger generation. The Ten Thousand Demon Sect is using our Zhenwu Hall as a whetstone to temper their young disciples."

"Whether the Hu Yan Tribe is around or not is irrelevant to the Ten Thousand Demon Sect. Why would those lunatics care about a single tribe?"

"Previously, the young martial artists from the Ten Thousand Demon Sect specifically targeted our Inspectors and Guardian Envoys in surprise attacks. Many were killed, caught completely off guard. The remaining White Tiger Guards were then routed, having lost their leaders."

"If we don’t guard against the Ten Thousand Demon Sect this time, the result will be the same."

"Nonsense!"

Feng Wushang snorted. "Our Zhenwu Hall has no quarrel with the Ten Thousand Demon Sect. Once we destroy the Hu Yan Tribe, what reason would they have to cause trouble for us?"

Chen Yuan sneered. "Hall Master, you probably haven’t paid attention to news from the Jianghu for a long time."

"The Ten Thousand Demon Sect has always acted with reckless arrogance. Trying to reason with them is pointless."

"There’s more than one sect in the Jianghu that holds a grudge against the Ten Thousand Demon Sect. You can ask them if they had any prior conflict."

In his youth, Feng Wushang had followed Chao Hongtu in rebellion and was considered quite valiant.

But now, in his old age, he had become more and more like a frog at the bottom of a well, completely oblivious to the wider Jianghu, only able to see his own little patch of land.

Just as Feng Wushang was about to say something else, the Commander of the Po Jun Guard, Yang Yanxing, suddenly interjected, "Chen Jiutian has a point. I’ve had some dealings with the Ten Thousand Demon Sect. You truly can’t judge those madmen by normal standards."

"Never mind our Zhenwu Hall; the Ten Thousand Demon Sect has even picked fights with top Daoist and Buddhist Major Sects like the Vajra Prajna Temple and the Heaven-Encompassing Daoist Sect."

"As for a reason, there isn’t one. They just do it because they feel like it."

"Since the Ten Thousand Demon Sect wants to use our Zhenwu Hall to temper their disciples this time, why would they give up so easily if they haven’t succeeded?"

The Commander of the Celestial Martial Guard, Li Tiancheng, also chimed in from the side, "That’s right. Those lunatics from the Ten Thousand Demon Sect must be handled with caution."

"The Hu Yan Tribe are just a bunch of Barbarians of the Grassland; we can overwhelm them with sheer numbers. The real problem is the Ten Thousand Demon Sect."

Feng Wushang could ignore Chen Yuan when he spoke up.

But now that both Yang Yanxing and Li Tiancheng had said as much, he couldn’t ignore their opinions.

"Fine. In that case, we’ll split into two forces. The main army will be led by Commander Yang, with the Po Jun Guard as its core, supported by the White Tiger Guards and the Celestial Martial Guard. They will attack the Hu Yan Tribe and be responsible for wiping out their soldiers."

"The remaining elites will follow me and Commander Li of the Celestial Martial Guard. We will disperse to deal with the members of the Ten Thousand Demon Sect."

With Feng Wushang having made these arrangements, Chen Yuan didn’t say anything further.

The Po Jun Guard was unparalleled in their sharp assaults; they were perfect for charging the Hu Yan Tribe’s cavalry.

The top-tier strength of the Celestial Martial Guard was slightly greater than the Po Jun Guard’s, so it also made sense to have a portion of their elites handle the Ten Thousand Demon Sect.

Neither Yang Yanxing nor Li Tiancheng had any objections. Time was of the essence, and with no moment to waste, the forces immediately prepared for battle and marched toward Western Ning Province.

Chen Yuan’s objective was naturally Kaiping Prefecture. The prefecture had already fallen, and the extent of the damage was still unknown.

Feng Wushang knew he couldn’t control Chen Yuan, so he let him go wherever he pleased. After all, the most important task at hand was to repel the Hu Yan Tribe and the Ten Thousand Demon Sect.

Among the Po Jun Guard, Chen Yuan spotted an acquaintance: Jiang Xibai.

Chen Yuan was aware of Jiang Xibai’s strength. Now, Jiang Xibai had also stepped into the Condensing Truth Realm, and his own power felt even sharper and more consolidated.

"Brother Jiang, could you speak with Commander Yang and ask him to let you go to Kaiping Prefecture to provide support?"

Jiang Xibai replied directly, "No problem. Before we left, the Commander said the various teams could be assigned their own objectives. I just need to go speak with him."

He was the adopted son of the Breaking Army Divine General, Xie Wenyan, and Yang Yanxing was Xie Wenyan’s sworn younger brother. The relationship between the two was exceptionally close.

In fact, Yang Yanxing himself had designated Jiang Xibai as the next leader of the Po Jun Guard.

So, as soon as Jiang Xibai made the request, Yang Yanxing agreed. He even assigned him additional troops: a full three hundred elite Po Jun Guard, who, along with the five hundred-some White Tiger Guards under Chen Yuan’s command, headed straight for Kaiping Prefecture.

「Meanwhile, in the southwest of Ning Province, on the border Grassland.」

This area had once been home to several small Grassland Tribes, with populations ranging from dozens to a hundred or so people. They made a living selling horses and sheep and even had some trade relations with the Celestial Star Ranch.

But now, all of them had been trampled flat by the Iron Cavalry of the Hu Yan Tribe. The men were forced to become Slave Soldiers, tending to the warriors and their mounts, while the women were all enslaved, to be later given as rewards to the Hu Yan Tribe’s warriors.

Inside the main tent, a burly, bearded, middle-aged man of the Grassland Alien Race, clad in black Iron Armor, laughed heartily. "A message just came from Tamuha! We’ve taken another city! These Central Plains People are so useless! To use their own phrase, our Hu Yan Tribe is advancing like splitting bamboo. They’re utterly powerless to resist."

"If I had known it would be this easy, why would we have been so wary of that brat Bo Gudun? Who cares if he’s a descendant of the Golden Horde? We should have just taken this land from the start!"

This middle-aged man was Nihachu, chieftain of the Hu Yan Tribe.

The Hu Yan Tribe’s sudden southern invasion to attack the Zhenwu Hall was, in fact, related to Chen Yuan.

Previously, the Chi Shu Tribe had roamed the border between Ning Province and the Grassland. The Hu Yan Tribe, wary of Bo Gudun, dared not advance south.

In terms of strength, the Chi Shu Tribe had been crippled by the Hachal and Lin Khanate. With only a few hundred members left, they didn’t have a single expert comparable to a Primordial Pill Realm Grandmaster.

The Hu Yan Tribe, on the other hand, had tens of thousands of members. Nihachu himself was in the Primordial Pill Realm, and the Demon Monk Yang Lianzhenjia also possessed power comparable to that realm.

It was not Bo Gudun’s strength they feared, but his status.

Bo Gudun was, after all, a descendant of the sixteen kings of the Golden Horde. His bloodline was pure, and he still had many supporters on the Grassland.

The Hu Yan Tribe, though powerful, had lowly origins, its people a conglomeration of countless smaller Grassland Tribes.

On the Grassland, the prestige of the former Golden Horde lingered. Countless Grassland Tribes still viewed the Golden Horde as the orthodox power of the plains, the descendants of Chi Na Cang Ling.

If the Hu Yan Tribe chose to annex the Chi Shu Tribe and harm Bo Gudun, even some of its own members from smaller tribes would rebel, and its reputation across the Grassland would be utterly ruined.

The Hachal and Lin Khanate could afford to disregard the Chi Shu Tribe’s status; they could even have wiped them out completely.

But a tribe with lowly origins like the Hu Yan Tribe lacked the standing to do so. As long as the Chi Shu Tribe stood in their way, the Hu Yan Tribe dared not move south to contend for their territory.

Now that Chen Yuan had destroyed the Chi Shu Tribe, the Hu Yan Tribe had nothing left to fear, which led to the events of today.

Across from Nihachu sat a middle-aged foreign monk, cross-legged on the ground. He had an aquiline nose, deep-set eyes, and an unnaturally pale, death-like complexion. Around his neck hung a string of Prayer Beads made from infant skulls.

This was the Demon Monk, Yang Lianzhenjia. He shook his head and said, "Chieftain, it’s about time we stopped. Let’s take a few more cities and then retreat to the Grassland."

Nihachu looked astonished. "The Central Plains People here are so weak. Why should we retreat now?"