Chapter 1075: Chapter 347: Emperor of the Great Song
He had stayed here for several years, just barely touching the edge of the Creation Jade Dew, so how could he readily leave?
"A rotten piece of wood cannot be carved!"
Mu Chutai watched the other still hesitating, stomped his foot anxiously, and finally came closer: "How about this, if you don’t want to leave, just send me and your senior sister away, how about that? Your sister Jiang is injured, she absolutely cannot stay here!"
"..."
Chen Sansi did not refute.
In the past six months, he had rarely seen the blind woman. Apart from occasionally appearing on Star Peak Mountain, she seemed to be in seclusion most of the time recuperating.
"Senior Mu?"
He couldn’t help but ask, "Why do you care so much about Second Senior Sister?"
"As your master, I have these Divine Skills that must be passed down, right?"
Lord Taishan gave the answer: "Jiang Xiyue is the successor I’ve chosen, as for you, at best, you are an outer disciple."
"I see."
Chen Sansi was half convinced and said, "But as for escaping, I’m afraid I can’t make a decision for Senior Sister, although next time I see her, I will definitely ask her thoughts."
Saying this, he bypassed Lord Taishan and left the Cave Mansion using Sword Control.
Upon reaching Star Peak Mountain, he found that the situation was indeed very dire.
After Xue Jingfeng was seriously injured, only two Golden Core cultivators were left to hold the fort, and the cultivator count was reduced to a little over eighteen thousand.
In contrast, although the Demon Cultivator army lost a single Golden Core to Dugu Ao, they reinforced their numbers and maintained four Golden Cores, with over sixty thousand cultivators, almost four times that of the righteous faction.
Star Peak Mountain’s Mountain Protection Array had become riddled with scars, and at this rate, it could only hold for another month before being overtaken, forcing everyone to retreat to Dragon Elephant City.
If no reinforcements arrived by then, the entire Si Xue Path would very likely fall.
"Mingquan Lake was once the territory of Sky Water Continent long ago."
Sitting uneasily in a patch of forest, Lu Zhiyong remarked, "After we lost it back then, tens of thousands of cultivators became blood meals for the demon cultivators. Do you think this will be another Mingquan Lake?"
"Yes, the Mountain Protection Array is about to give out too."
Someone echoed, "I heard that over where the Heavenly Killing True Monarch is, the situation is also tense. They might really abandon Si Xue Path..."
"Then what do we do?"
"..."
For a moment, panic spread among the people.
Chen Sansi eventually found the blind woman leaning on her sword by a creek and asked, "How are your injuries, Senior Sister?"
"Not fatal."
Jiang Xiyue’s calm tone held an air of cold indifference.
Long used to her temperament, Chen Sansi didn’t take it to heart and just said, "If you can’t hold on, maybe you could apply for a mission to return to the sect to deliver a message."
"If someone wants to escape, let them. I will not."
Jiang Xiyue immediately guessed his intention and gave a firm answer. When she spoke the word "escape," there was obvious distaste in her voice.
Hearing this, Chen Sansi understood that Lord Taishan must have privately tried to persuade her to flee.
From her attitude toward Lord Taishan, it was as if he were a bitter enemy.
If Mu Chutai truly only intended to pass on his Divine Skills, why would it be like this?
There must be a deeper connection between the two of them.
Now wasn’t the time to inquire. Chen Sansi suppressed his curiosity and advised, "Let’s put matters into perspective; don’t act rashly, Senior Sister. If it really becomes unbearable, I’ll find a way to send you away."
Using the Qi Observation Skill, he could clearly see a vermilion and ink-colored mysterious light flicker at her Dantian, much like the symptoms from before at the Bottom of Hundred Flowers Valley.
"Fellow disciples, no need to fear!"
A middle-aged man wearing a green Magic Robe and a gold medal at his waist appeared in the sky, his voice booming: "This current predicament is temporary, we just need to hold on for ten more days!
"In ten days, our Emperor of the Song Dynasty will personally lead the court’s elite Forbidden Army and march to Si Xue Path to face the enemy!
"By then, all troubles will be resolved!"
"..."
With this announcement, everyone immediately began discussing energetically.
"Emperor of the Song Dynasty, the court’s Forbidden Army?"
"But I heard that army is only five thousand strong?"
"..."
Emperor of the Song Dynasty?
Chen Sansi didn’t know much about him, only that his reign was called Tianxi, so he could simply refer to him as Emperor Tianxi.
Emperor Tianxi was publicly acknowledged as being at the Golden Core Middle Stage.
As for the Forbidden Army, it consisted of five thousand cultivators.
Long ago, the Holy Sect mandated that the Song court’s directly controlled cultivator army could not exceed five thousand.
The Demon Suppression Department’s members were numerous across the Sky Water Continent, but according to Holy Sect rules, they couldn’t be concentrated in one place.
For example, the Demon Suppression Department members in Beiyang Path could not gather with those from the neighboring path without special circumstances.
Additionally, each Demon Suppression Department office had to have a Holy Sect disciple serving as Deputy Commander.
Furthermore, with sects and Cultivation Families everywhere, the power of the Demon Suppression Department was quite limited, mostly managing Mortal townsfolk at best.
Returning to the matter at hand.
If the Song Dynasty could indeed mobilize the Forbidden Army, while five thousand isn’t a large number, their Golden Core count would be noteworthy.
If more than two Golden Cores could be deployed, the pressure on Si Xue Path would drastically decrease. With a few more Golden Cores, defending it wouldn’t be a problem at all.
Upon receiving this news, the spirit among disciples of the sects lifted significantly, and they became more diligent in defending the mountain.
This was undoubtedly good news for Chen Sansi.
Only with stability in Si Xue Path could he think of ways to continue vying for the sole Creation Jade Dew.
Ten days might not be long or short, but the casualties among the righteous cultivators were increasing almost daily.
Moreover, eerie incidents were beginning to occur at their rear in Si Xue Path.
The occurrence of Dead Villages was becoming more frequent!
Initially, it was just a few scattered villages, then individual cities, and finally massive swathes of death spread like a plague throughout Si Xue Path.
Up front, there were the ravenous Demon Cultivator armies; at the back, Mortal towns were piled with the dead.
The psychological pressure on the cultivators grew day by day.
But just as everything reached a critical point, the court’s reinforcements from the Song Dynasty finally arrived as promised.
And moreover...
They were not five thousand.
They were...
Fifty thousand!
On this day.
Star Peak Mountain’s Mountain Protection Array was utterly destroyed. Just as the righteous cultivators, with no further defenses, were prepared for a desperate battle.
In the skies above Si Xue Path, an unexpected fleet of massive warships appeared, with the Forbidden Army densely arranged amidst the dark clouds.
The Emperor of the Song Dynasty, dressed in an entirely crimson Dragon Robe and a black crown, stood at the forefront of the great army.
The situation reversed in an instant!
Under the leadership of the Emperor of the Song Dynasty, thousands upon thousands of troops descended from the heavens, repelling the Demon Army near Star Peak Mountain and re-stabilizing the front line.
"Wonderful!"
The surviving righteous cultivators were all overjoyed.
"Fifty thousand!"
"A full fifty thousand!"
"Who would’ve thought, this Tianxi Emperor of the Song would gather most of the Demon Suppression Department Guards from throughout Sky Water Continent to Si Xue Path!"
"It’s solid now!"
"..."
"But if I remember correctly, the Holy Sect had a rule that the Song court wasn’t allowed to assemble such a large number of Demon Suppression Guards. Isn’t this against the rules?"
"Isn’t this a special situation though!"
"That’s true."
"..."
Contrary to their discussion, Chen Sansi felt there was something strange about it.
Assembling fifty thousand Demon Suppression Guards would require dispatches from all over Sky Water Continent. It would be impossible to gather them in such a short time and deploy them to Si Xue Path unless...
The Song Dynasty had prepared in advance!
They must have sent deployment orders to various places at least a year ago, so that when trouble arose in Si Xue Path, they could immediately come together from different regions here.
Of course...
This righteous versus demonic war had been ongoing for years, and it wasn’t impossible for the Song court to prepare in advance.
Yet, there were still aspects that were hard to reconcile.