In Sunmen Province's capital, Xiguan City, the Silver Wolf General was holding a war meeting. In the room, there were only men and women in full armor except for their helmets. The Silver Wolf General was Long Cheng. That man had hair as black as obsidian but bright silver eyes. Amplifying the glint of his eyes, his armor was also entirely made of a metal looking like silver. It was in fact an amalgamation of several metals with a bit of blood from a Silver Fanged Dragon Wolf. A Silver Fanged Dragon Wolf was a 9-core demonic beast covered in silver scales with a few patches of fur here and there. Like its name suggested, it indeed had powerful silver fangs. Compared with other 9-core demonic beasts, it was rather small, especially since it was referred to as a dragon. However its speed was so impressive it was very difficult to ever see more than just a streak of silver lightning.
There was an intimidating aura all around Silver Wolf General Long Cheng. Around the table, there was a familiar figure who looked exactly like Long Cheng but younger, his son Long Jian. By now, he had become a 4th-grade Mortal Warrior. When Cao Yun had first met him, he had been a 1st-grade Mortal Warrior. In five years, both men had progressed, even though Cao Yun had been way faster. Anyway, Long Cheng was clearly on his way to becoming a Spirit Warrior before turning forty like Cao Yun's father.
Long Jian was wearing his 'Nightly Wolf Hide' and on his waist he had his sword, 'Dragon Wolf Fang'. In the room, everyone had their weapons and their armor. However, they didn't have their helmets, and no spatial ring except for Long Cheng himself. On the table in front of them, there was a detailed map of the Sunmen Province and the nearby demon kingdoms. Everywhere, there were small tokens to represent the different forces as well as some characters here and there accompanied with flags. Those were the array formations in place.
Silver Wolf General Long had the responsibility of guarding the frontier of the Hongchen Kingdom. He was acting as governor as well as general. Recently, he had heard from General Yun Po about what had happened to the south, in the Subei Province. Governor Jiahe was really irritating. Unlike Long Cheng, he truly was a politician, in the worst meaning of the word. Along his hundred and fifty years, Long Cheng had met with great politicians, but he had also met many mediocre ones. The very first time he had met Jiahe Lan, he had known what kind of man he was, only interested in keeping his seat, trying to please everyone and disappointing everyone in the process.
The Imperial City could afford such a governor in the Subei Province because they had Long Cheng in the neighboring Sunmen Province. Indeed, the Sunmen Province was sometimes called the Demon Gate. This was the best place to invade the Hongchen Kingdom from the demon kingdoms. As such, it was the most heavily militarized province on the entire Hongchen Kingdom. Now and then, some demons tried to raid the villages. Most of the ties, they were either brigands, mercenaries or unmarked soldiers. Anyway, the demon kingdoms could always deny their implication some way or another.
But the defenses left behind by Emperor Nuwa and the Four Saints were still strong. No demon could pass through the border undetected. And the stronger they were, the stronger the barrier would repel them. Powerful Accomplished Demons had almost no way of going through the border without a tremendous effort and years if not decades of preparation. However, Silver Wolf General Long had never once thought of those defenses as unbreakable. Over time, everything could crumble. Unfortunately, many politicians didn't share his worries. Thus, having Governor Jiahe in the south wasn't a problem for them.
"General, the skirmishes intensified for quite some time. However, there has been almost no sign of attack for a few weeks now. I suspect that the demons are preparing something on their end."
"I concur. It's been decades since even an early Accomplished Demon tried to attack the border. There is something brewing in the demon kingdoms."
"It may be because of Empyrean Asura's conquests. Although the intel is lacking on what's going on exactly, he probably has still a lot of rivals or even enemies among the other kingdoms. Uniting all the demons is impossible. Since he's already conquered several kingdoms and annexed them to his theocracy, the others must be wary of him. I don't think he can spare too much strength attacking us right now."
"That would be a mistake to think like that!"
When Long Cheng spoke, everyone turned quiet. Even though he didn't shout, his voice was thunderous.
"Empyrean Asura truly desires to see our kind eradicated. I suspect that he is simply gathering his forces before attacking us. The next battle will probably be the fiercest since the Seven Treaties Era."
Around fifty thousand years ago, Demon God Da Mo had subjugated humans on the Piaolu planet, probably after a great war between humans that had left them too weak to retaliate. This was the Great Sorrow Era. Then, thirty thousand years ago, Emperor Nuwa led a coup against the tyrannic god. It lasted for ten thousand years during which they freed all surviving humans and officially founded the Hongchen Kingdom. This was the Blood and Dirt Era, when the Great War had happened. The day the Hongchen Kingdom was officially founded, after Demon God Da Mo's demise, was dubbed as the Founding Era. It only lasted two thousand years but it was full of danger. In order to stabilize the Hongchen Kingdom, many treaties were signed with the demons. That led to the Seven Treaties Era eighteen thousand years ago.
During the Seven Treaties Era, more than seven treaties were signed between the Four Saints and the demons. However, the name came from the seven most important ones. All the demon kingdoms had recognized the Hongchen Kingdom as an independent kingdom. In fact, a few demon kingdoms had even forbidden human slavery. After Demon God Da Mo, the demons had become completely scattered. And many Exalted Demons and Reborn Demons had been killed during the various wars, both against the humans and among themselves. For millenniums, the demons weakened themselves and humans could prosper under Emperor Nuwa and the Four Saints' guidance. Unfortunately, they eventually either died or ascended, leaving the Piaolu planet.
Finally, fourteen thousand years ago began the current Forsaken Dao Era. For some unknown reason, not a single cultivator was able to become Sage anymore. Even the demons were unable to become Exalted Demons. With time, even those who had already reached those realms were unable to progress. Some even regressed and died sooner than they should have. Many hypotheses had tried to explain it but no one had been able to completely understand the phenomenon. Some theorized that all the wars had hurt the planet so much that it was now lacking the qualities required for that. But they were not very convincing. Some argued that too much Qi had already been consumed by the previous cultivators. Maybe the connection with Dao itself had been exhausted. However, there was a lack of evidence.
Silver Wolf General Long's words had caused even his own officers to be silent. They couldn't outright refute his speculations. Indeed, they were all holding those same worries. Although there was nothing concrete, their instincts told them that something was going on.
Suddenly, someone interrupted the meeting. It was a young woman, a servant. Just by looking at her and hearing her ragged breathing, it was clear that something major had happened. After all, a servant wouldn't dare to interrupt a war meeting in such a manner. Immediately, before she could control her breathing, she knelt and presented a piece of parchment.
"General, this is a most important letter from the Imperial City, directly from the Main Hall."
Her words were difficult to make out because she couldn't breathe properly but General Long had understood it the moment he had seen the seal on the parchment. Without any delay, he took it from her hands. It levitated toward and opened in front of his face. He didn't show much expression, but his son knew him enough to see a glint of surprise and even fear in his eyes. Something terrible had happened.
"The Imperial Palace is under attack by demonic cultivators. Get our men ready! We might be forced to send reinforcements there as soon as we can."
"But, General, it would take us months to get to the Imperial City..."
"Then, we must prepare as soon as we can. If the Imperial Palace falls, we must be there to take it back. And it it stands, we must prevent the demonic cultivators from scattering all over the Hongchen Kingdom."
The mere fact that he imagined the fall of the Imperial Palace showed how serious the situation was. Everything else was forgotten. They had to prepare for the worst eventuality. At the same time though, they couldn't leave the border unprotected. For many hours, they talked about their course of action. Indeed, they would need at the very least two to three months to reach the Imperial Palace even by going at full speed. Unlike Cao Yun, they could disregard all the administrative procedures during such a crisis.
-
Just as they were discussing their response, another servant arrived with a similar parchment. Of course, they were all hoping that it meant the threat had been neutralized, but they were worried that it meant something else. This time though, there was another seal on the parchment. Xiao Xuefeng had added her own seal. From the Main Hall, she had been able to send words to Sect Leader Xuan. But she didn't stop at him. Her information was just too important for the security of the entire kingdom. As such, she had sent everything she knew about the demonic cultivators and the demons everywhere.
Reading the new letter, Long Cheng couldn't hide his worries from his son.
"We are under attack by the Empyrean Asura Theocracy!"
"What?!"
"I want full reports about our entire Sunmen Province. Find anything suspicious! Anything at all! I want full reports from every small village, be as quick as you can!"
"Yes, General!"
Although his officers didn't really understand what was going on, they knew him well enough. Considering his tone, that was the real deal. Suddenly, he had completely forgotten about the Imperial Palace. And so did his officers. In the next hours, they sent orders to every corned of the Sunmen Province. Considering the area, it could take a lot of time. Unfortunately, they didn't have luxurious array formations to send messages across large distances like the Main Hall. However, they had many smaller array formations to speed things up. Instead of sending a message over a large distance, they could send many messages across small distances, bridging the gap.
After several hours, they had an answer. General Long had stayed in his war room with some officers to prepare for many eventualities. On the map in front of them, they were constantly moving the tokens around to imagine all the scenarios. What truly worried the officers were the fact that some of the red tokens, the demons, were now on the other side of the border. Long Cheng was ready for anything. For months now, he had felt something was odd on the border. And after hearing about Cang Yin, he was worried by the idea of having human traitors in his own province. Xiao Xuefeng's report was trustworthy enough for him to act in such a paranoid manner.
"General! We lost contact with a few villages in the south-east. We dispatched some men with demonic beasts to investigate further. Apparently, no one got any news from them in more than a week."
"Ready all our troops! This is the real deal! We are under attack!"
"General!"
It would take a day or two for all the troops to be ready. Then, they would need at least one week to get there. In the meantime, the traitors could do whatever they wanted. Thus, Silver Wolf General asked the Major Hall of Xiguan City to relay everything to all the armies throughout the Hongchen Kingdom. They all had to be wary of human traitors among their midst. Not only were demonic cultivators betraying them, now they had insiders loyal to the demon kingdoms. Although Long Cheng didn't know what they wanted, he was certain that it couldn't be good.
Immediately, he sent a few scouts to determine what had happened to those villages. But at the same time, he got his army ready to march there. However, he couldn't leave the border unprotected. Most likely, the demons would try to weaken them from within in order to launch a massive attack on the border. Thus, Long Cheng had to be ready for the two threats. As such, he had to send some forces to the south-east while retaining enough men to fight on the border. Unfortunately, he had no idea how big the threat to the south-east was yet. Anyway, he decided to get ready before receiving the reports from his scouts. He would have time to decide on how to split up his forces later on.
Looking to his side, he watched his son Long Jian. After losing his first wife and the children he had had with her, Long Cheng had married another woman who had sadly passed away too. He couldn't bear to see his two last children die as well. However, they had both chosen a life in the military like he had. As much as he didn't want to see them die, he couldn't go against their wishes and he knew it. However, in that moment, he was pondering where to send his son, not to optimize the strength of his army, but to avoid his death...