Book 7, Chapter 5: Flying Moon

War was very complicated.

War was also very simple.

It was complicated because there was a dazzling number of different strategies that could be used. The different divisions of power in those armies and the ability of some Origin Qi Scholars to fly had greatly increased the variety of tactics that could be used in combat.

It was simple because no matter how many different tactics were available,the foundation that decided victory and defeat was strength!

Strength was the source of everything!

When the gap in strength reached a certain level, no amount of scheming could compensate.

This was why the three Emperors had all chosen to flee without second thought. The same thing was taking place to the north - Sky City’s invincibility had caused the other Demonic Emperors to flee. The city was basically a gigantic armored weapon that was carving a path through Beast territory.

One one side was an invincible army, and on the other was an invincible armored weapon. The two groups simultaneously invaded Beast territory from two different starting locations, quickly sending them packing.

Demonic Beasts were fleeing from the forests, the wilds, and the mountains.

A giant wave of retreating Demonic Beasts swept towards the northwest of the continent.

This was a sight that had not been seen on the Primordial Continent for tens of thousands of years. The Beasts had always been the ones forcing the Intelligent Races to retreat, but today was the day that the Intelligent Races was turning the tables on them.

“We have never been humiliated like this before!” a red-eyed Demonic Emperor with a large horn roared unwillingly as he retreated along with the rest of the Beasts.

The speaker was the Red-Eyed Demonic Emperor, whose body was that of a giant python.

“So what if we don’t want to retreat? The humans are too powerful. If we don’t want to die, we can only run. Even if the sky falls on us, we have someone strong to hold it up for us. Everything will be easily resolved as long as we can reach the Flying Moon Emperor,” a Demonic Emperor with a slightly purplish face said.

This speaker was the Purple Heart Demonic Emperor, a purple-blooded fox.

The creature that was floating in the sky and seemed to be shrouded in darkness was naturally the Crow Skyking.

At that moment, the Crow Skyking suddenly said, “We’re not going there.”

Hm?

The two emperors glanced at him.

Even though the Crow Skyking was one cultivation realm lower than them, his strength and intelligence made him their de facto leader.

The decision to retreat had been given by the Crow Skyking.

The Red-Eyed and Purple Heart Demonic Emperors knew that the Crow Skyking wouldn’t say this without a good reason, so they waited to hear what he had to say next.

The Crow Skyking continued, “The humans have mobilized en masse. A Sovereign alone will not be able to withstand their might. When you factor in the Boundless Sect’s sudden rise to power, and the fact that even the Astrals were defeated, even a few of our Sovereigns joining hands might still lose.”

The Red-Eyed Demonic Emperor spoke up. “But even if the Sovereigns can’t drive them back, surely the Desolate Beasts can. Right?”

The Desolate Race that the Red-Eyed Demonic Beast was referring to were naturally the Demonic Beasts.

Even though Desolate Beasts could be found hibernating almost anywhere, most of them were concentrated in Beast territory.

No one could say for sure just how many Desolate Beasts and Origin Beasts were slumbering in their half of the continent, but the number was definitely not a low one.

During the height of the Illustrious Divine Dynasty, they had attacked the Demonic Beasts many times, defeating quite a few of them and penetrating deep into their territory.

However, they were always forced to retreat.

Because of the awakening of the Desolate Beasts.

Of the nine Desolate Beasts that the human race had managed to slaughter, seven had died under these kinds of circumstances.

Without the protection of the Desolate Beasts and the Origin Beasts, the Demonic Beasts would have been wiped out a long time ago.

Both the Arcana Kingdom and the Illustrious Divine Dynasty had both had a few opportunities to destroy the Demonic Beasts, but they had all failed because of these slumbering Beasts.

It was hard to say how many Desolate and Origin Beasts were still hibernating in Beast territory, but until they had all died, the Demonic Beasts’ stronghold would remain unshakeable.

Perhaps they were not able to utilize this power to attack, but their defenses were virtually impregnable.

As such, the Demonic Beasts didn’t really mind the attacks of the Intelligent Races. They were well aware of just how many Desolate Beasts were still alive in their territory.

There were more than enough to make those who were arrogant enough to try and invade their territory regret their foolish decision.

Even so, the Crow Skyking didn’t seem to care. He said, “So what? You and I don’t even have our own territory anymore. If we try to join the Flying Moon Emperor, what do you think he will do to us? If we station our armies with his, he will probably just use us as cannon fodder. We will just be their footstools if we go there. Without our territory, we have no prestige to speak of.”

The Red-Eyed Demonic Emperor was greatly agitated. “Weren’t you the one who gave the order to retreat?”

The Crow Skyking shot him a glance. “Are you blaming me?”

The Red-Eyed Demonic Emperor froze.

The Purple Heart Demonic Emperor hurriedly tried to smooth things over. “Alright, alright, let’s not squabble with each other. Crow, you know what Red-Eyed is like. He has a hard time controlling himself.”

The Crow Skyking harrumphed.

The Demonic Beasts would develop a human-like intelligence after becoming Demonic Emperors, but their unique upbringing would usually result in all kinds of strange temperaments.

Some Demonic Emperors were easily angered, some were extremely lustful, some were impulsive, and some were lazy.

These were their instinctual temperaments that were virtually impossible to restrict even after they gained intelligence.

The Red-Eyed Python was one of the easily angered types. Sometimes it didn’t even take a spark for him to explode.

The Crow Skyking was more than aware of this flaw of his and dropped the matter. All he said was, “The humans are advancing in a straight line. It doesn’t seem as if they are planning on turning aside until they run into a powerful opponent. If that’s the case, they will reach Flying Moon very soon. Our avoiding him is actually avoiding the battle.”

Purple Heart was delighted. “Yes, we should let the humans and Flying Moon devour each other while we attack from a different direction.”

“Retreat?” The Crow Skyking shot him a glance. “No, we are not going to retreat.”

What?

The two Emperors were stunned.

The Crow Skyking glanced at the Beasts assembled below and said, “We are going to advance. We’ll go around to human territory.”

“To human territory?” the Red-Eyed and Purple Heart Demonic Emperors cried out simultaneously.

“Yes, to human territory!” The Crow Skyking nodded. “Since the humans have mobilized en masse to attack, their territory must be lightly guarded. We will topple their old home!”

Upon hearing this, the two Demonic Emperors were overjoyed.

“What a brilliant plan!”

“Now we will have lots of tender human meat to eat!”

All of the Beasts began to laugh.

While the three Emperors were discussing their secret plan, the human armies were continuing their relentless advance.

Even though they were on the offensive, all they seemed to be doing was walking.

Any creature with or without intelligence had fled before the might of this staggeringly powerful army.

There was nothing Su Chen could do about this - the human army’s strength was simply too great and impossible to conceal, and he would never split up their forces so that the Demonic Beasts wouldn’t be afraid. All he could do was send out a few scouts before the main armies arrived.

However, the Demonic Beasts had quite an elaborate network of information, and some even had certain kinds of observation skills that allowed them to sense the movements of the humans very early on. As such, each successive wave of Beasts fled more quickly than the last.

Of course, not everyone was able to escape.

Some never got word, some reacted too slowly, some were unlucky, and others had foolishly decided to stand their ground...... The army encountered all kinds of different Beasts, who were then swiftly discarded like leaves in the wind.

This feeling of mowing through the enemies was actually quite satisfying.

The human army continued to steamroll anything and everything that got into their way, no matter how powerful or strange or grotesque. Some soldiers did in fact feel it was a pity that there weren’t enough Beasts to kill.

Cloud Rising and Greatwind’s soldiers were the most excited.

They had fought with the Beasts for countless years, suffering from their attacks annually. In fact, they had almost instinctual physical reactions to the phrase “Beast Wave”.

Now that they had a chance to retaliate and turn the tables, it was only natural that they were so excited. They were finally able to exact revenge for the countless loved ones they had lost to the claws and fangs of these damned Beasts. Not a single one was spared.

No large-scale conflicts broke out, but there were plenty of skirmishes that didn’t attract the interest of any of the higher-ups.

All of them felt a bit bored.

Some even joked that this offensive was more like a race - whoever ran faster would be closer to victory.

Of course, they knew that this was only a joke.

The Demonic Beasts would never allow them to continue unopposed like this forever. The only difference was when the counterattack would begin.

But one thing was certain - this counterattack was not going to be a stopgap measure. The retreating Beasts were constantly increasing in numbers, and they would definitely try and fight back at some point. As such, the battle would definitely be great as soon as it broke out.

The commanders continued to make their preparations.

Would the Flying Moon Emperor attack on his own? Would he try to run? Would he join up with the other three Emperors to attack them together? Would he awaken one or more Desolate Beasts? The discussion was seemingly endless.

Some people even began to place bets on the possibilities.

The odds of the Flying Moon Emperor taking them on alone were one to four.

The odds of him running were one to two.

The odds of a Desolate Beast attacking were one to twenty.

It was statistically unlikely that they would run into a Desolate Beast during the first encounter.

The reason for this was very simple: when Desolate Beasts were awakened, they would begin to die. As such, Desolate Beasts would never be awakened unless the Beasts were in dire straits.

A Desolate Beast would probably squash the Beasts that had tried to awaken it if they didn’t even try to fight first.

Flying Moon Emperor was most likely to run.

After all, he was only a Sovereign. There was no way that he would be able to withstand the human army’s onslaught.

Not to mention that the humans had quite a few Sovereign-level powers on their side as well.

Su Chen was one, the old Gu Clan Ancestor Gu Huiming was another, and Gu Changsheng and Gu Feihong were also qualified to be considered at that tier as well. Including the Void Seahorse, that made a total of five Sovereign-level powers.

A single Sovereign paled significantly in comparison.

Even so, not everything would always go according to plan.

After traveling for about twenty days or so, the human army arrived at the Moon-Gazing Mountain.

This was the Flying Moon Emperor’s territory.

The Flying Moon Emperor’s main body was that of a rabbit. It lived on top of the mountain for most of its life, gazing at the moon in the sky.

Below him were countless Demonic Beasts gazing up at him in similar fashion.

This was where the name Moon-Gazing Mountain came from.

When the human army arrived, they saw that the Beasts had gathered in extremely high concentrations and were arrayed in formation against them.

This Flying Moon Emperor had chosen to stand his ground and fight!

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