Earlier, Liu Banbi wielded his sword to rescue people across thousands of miles. The people in the great hall had actually hurried to various places. It was uncertain whether they could save those soldiers who were originally treated as abandoned pawns, but taking action was better than doing nothing after treating them as abandoned pieces.
Everyone in the hall departed. The old man who was the Great General of the Northern Frontier no longer forced himself to hold on. After sitting down, he coughed a few times, and a bloody stain appeared on his palm. As a war banner of the Northern Frontier, this Great General typically did not need to risk his life like other soldiers. But when circumstances demanded it, he naturally could not avoid it either.
In the previous few battles, the Demon King's Court intentionally tried to weaken this Northern Frontier Great General's body. Consequently, every time, they would send a great demon to engage in combat with this Great General.
This Great General was indeed one of the three most formidable martial artists in the Great Liang Dynasty. If he made up his mind to engage in a life-and-death battle, that Lord Warden Commander would undoubtedly die at his hands.
Considering this, the current Great General was likely one of the two most terrifying martial artists in the entire Great Liang Dynasty. The reason for saying "one of" was to give the Great Liang Emperor some face. Otherwise, stating that this Northern Frontier Great General was the number one martial artist would not be an exaggeration.
However, even heroes of great stature would grow old too. The present Northern Frontier Great General's body was not in good shape. Besides the injuries, the main reason was his old age.
Physical decline due to old age, and a waning blood vitality, these were things that no one could escape.
He was very old; he had already been the Great General of the Northern Frontier during the reign of Emperor Lingzong. He was naturally older than the current reigning Emperor.
Casually wiping away the bloodstain on his palm, the Great General looked at the map densely marked with countless locations. His thoughts drifted far away, contemplating who knows what.
After an unknown amount of time, a middle-aged man dressed as a confucian scholar entered from the outside.
Seeing this person, the Great General smiled. The planning of this great battle, and many aspects of it were actually devised by him and the middle-aged confucian scholar before him. In fact, long before this great battle, many strategic decisions in the Northern Frontier were jointly made by him and the Great General. Since this middle-aged confucian scholar arrived in the Northern Frontier many years ago, he had never left. Not only did he not leave, but he also did not accept any official position from the court. He was like a shadow, always standing behind the Great General, handling many affairs in the Northern Frontier for him.
The Great General smiled and said softly, "Yao Chang, you've come."
However, the middle-aged confucian scholar shook his head. He looked at the Great General and asked, "How much longer can your body hold out?"
The Great General sighed, "I won't dare to say about other things, but I'll be alive before this great battle."
The middle-aged confucian scholar nodded. He was naturally clear what this Great General meant by that.
"You can't go to that Bluestone Pass"
Looking at a specific point on the map, the middle-aged confucian scholar's expression turned serious. "I don't have anyone available. If Liu Banbi is willing to risk his life, he could count as one. But unfortunately, he has already set off elsewhere, and currently, there is no one available to send."
The Great General was taken aback, asking, "What are you talking about?"
The middle-aged confucian scholar ignored the Great General and continued, "We set up this chessboard together, but there's a flaw. When we devised the plan, I was betting that the other side wouldn't notice that flaw. However, judging by their actions, it was indeed unnecessary to deliberately cover it up. They have already discovered the problem; it's right at Bluestone Pass. If Bluestone Pass is breached, the entire situation will become terrible for us. The originally devised small victory will now turn into a major defeat."
Without hesitation, the Great General said, "I'll go!"
He stood up abruptly, as unyielding as a solid rock.
The middle-aged confucian scholar looked at him and said, "Do you think you can go just because you want to? Or do you believe your going will be of use? In your current state, whether you go or not won't make a difference. Even if you stake your life, it won't help either."
The Great General frowned, saying, "How could this be? Back then, didn't you say that the possibility of the demons discovering the flaw was minimal?"
"Not all clever minds in the world are on our side. The demons also have intelligent individuals. If it's discovered, it's discovered. Now, what we need to do is figure out how to resolve it."
The Great General fell into silence.
The middle-aged confucian scholar furrowed his brows and said softly, "There is a way to remedy it, but perhaps it's a bit slow."
"If it's really too slow, we will surely lose. This outcome... is hard for people to accept."
Frowning slightly, the middle-aged confucian scholar murmured, "A way to remedy..."
The Great General looked at him and said resolutely, "This general will personally go to Bluestone Pass."
The middle-aged confucian scholar looked at the Great General before him, still wanting to repeat his previous words. However, he quickly saw the Great General wave his hand, directly saying, "There's nothing more to say. I know my own body. If I die at Bluestone Pass, so be it. At least it can buy you all some time."
The middle-aged confucian scholar remained silent. He just took a step back and bowed solemnly to the Great General.
"No need for this, it's just dying for my country."
Bluestone Pass had always been one of the most insignificant among the passes along the Northern Frontier's Great Wall. Due to its short construction time and overly ordinary location, it had never been a significant stronghold. However, in this great war, the seemingly insignificant Bluestone Pass carried a substantial burden. The strategic layout of the Great Liang created a large pocket, with the three passes in the southeast serving as the openings of this pocket. Bluestone Pass seemed insignificant, but it was the string that pulled these openings closed.
Given its crucial role, Bluestone Pass should have been heavily guarded from the beginning. However, based on the previous calculations by the middle-aged confucian scholar, regardless of how heavily guarded Bluestone Pass was, if the demons discovered its importance, they would surely send a large army. In that case, even with strong defenses, it would be difficult to hold.
Therefore, the middle-aged confucian scholar steeled his heart and chose the strategy of not deploying heavy defenses. Instead, he opted for soldiers to guard it as normal. However, with this approach, if the demons discovered the pass' significance, there was almost no chance of holding Bluestone Pass, unless reinforcements arrived at Bluestone Pass before the enemy did.
The commander of Bluestone Pass did not receive any intel either. H was patrolling the area as usual. However, when he moved from the east tower to the west, he saw a man inexplicably appearing on the city wall.
The man was tall, wearing a black robe embroidered with some exotic beast patterns, though it was unclear exactly what they depicted.
The commander of Bluestone Pass looked at the man, his face changing dramatically. He did not know the man's identity, but he just knew that this person could not be an ordinary soldier stationed within the pass. Since that was the case, he should not have appeared on the city wall at all.
However, he clearly did not sense any damage to the defensive array on the wall. How did this man arrive on top of the city wall?
The Bluestone Pass' commander pondered briefly. But before he could speak, he saw a burst of bloody mist in front of him.
He lost consciousness before he could react.
He was dead.
The man glanced at the commander of Bluestone Pass, and he died just like that.
But, the man paid no attention to this, looking very indifferently at the city wall. This insignificant Bluestone Pass had never caught his eye.
Quickly crossing the city wall, when he passed through this Bluestone Pass, it collapsed with a loud bang, turning into ruins. The blue stones, originally transported from the hinterland of the Great Liang, had given the pass its name. Now, as the blue stones shattered, it became a thing of the past.
Continuing his journey southward, there were many major and minor traps lying in between this insignificant Bluestone Pass and the Northern Frontier's Great Wall. This man was going to uproot all these so-called traps, ripping everything up and revealing the opening once again.
But after just half a day's travel, he had to stop.
Because on the desolate north wilderness ahead, another figure had also appeared.
It was a man dressed in emperor robes.
The moment he laid eyes on that man, the demon who was heading southward knew his identity.
Of course, the other party also knew his identity at the same moment.
The two exchanged glances and the world became quiet.
"You actually came from the Divine Capital! I never expected it!"
The man who came down from the North looked at the Great Liang Emperor with a horrified expression.
The Great Liang Emperor paid him no mind, simply walking forward. However, with each step he took, the terrifying pressure between heaven and earth increased. Martial artists did not cultivate daoist spells, so they had a relatively simple set of skills. But, when a martial artist's cultivation base reached a sufficiently high level, even without relying on any so-called daoist spells or techniques, they could also exert such pressure just by relying on their powerful cultivation realm.
In an instant, the powerful existence who could shatter Bluestone Pass with just a thought was now pale-faced and virtually unable to move before the Great Liang Emperor.
The Great Liang Emperor glanced at him indifferently. Then, the man's expression suddenly became ugly. A trace of blood flowed directly from the corner of his mouth.
It seemed like he would die here in the next second.
"Killing me won't lead to anything good!"
The Great Liang Emperor did not bother to acknowledge him, approaching him and delivering a palm. A vast and dreadful aura flowed from his palm. In an instant, he extinguished the man's life force.
The Great Liang Emperor withdrew his hand, appearing utterly indifferent.
As the Emperor of Great Liang, countless lives had perished under his hands. The fact that the current person before him was not a human but a demon made no difference to him.
Then, he reached the ruins. Without pausing, he continued his journey north.
The boundary between the human and demon race in the desolate north had never been clearly defined. The Northern Frontier's Great Wall served as the human race's final line of defense, but it was not recognized as the sole territory of the human race.
Instead, they had always felt that the entire thirty thousand miles of the desolate north belonged to the human race.
The Great Liang Emperor crossed Bluestone Pass and headed towards the desolate north.
In the many years of conflict between the human and demon race in the Northern Frontier, there had never been a case of a human venturing alone into the desolate north.
Now, the Great Liang Emperor was the first.
He traversed the vast desolate north plain, heading all the way north.
Soon, he encountered a large demon army.
A dense army of demons appeared at the edge of the horizon, a pitch-black mass resembling the night.
However, when the demon army noticed a man appearing before them, they quickly chose to stop.
The demon general at the forefront gazed into the distance, looking at the man clad in emperor robes with a solemn expression.
Beside him, the vice-general also sensed that powerful and terrifying pressure. The demonic beasts beneath them began trembling at this moment.
"Who is that, General?"
The demon army stood in silence, making no movements.
The demon general's face darkened, and he said very seriously, "He is the monarch of the human race."
The vice-general, upon hearing this, exclaimed in disbelief, "Then why don't we kill him!"
The demon general shook his head, desperately trying to calm himself. "If I had ten times more troops, I'd attempt to kill him. If it's five times more, I'd try to trap him. If I had two times more, I'd abandon you all and escape alone. But now... I can only stand with you all..."
"We will die here, at the hands of this human monarch."
The demon general said with a bitter smile, his eyes filled with unwillingness.
The vice-general frowned and asked, "Why are you so afraid, General?"
"Because I sense an aura on him that I've only felt from His Demon Majesty."
The demon general shook his head and closed his eyes.
Earlier, Liu Banbi wielded his sword to rescue people across thousands of miles. The people in the great hall had actually hurried to various places. It was uncertain whether they could save those soldiers who were originally treated as abandoned pawns, but taking action was better than doing nothing after treating them as abandoned pieces.
Everyone in the hall departed. The old man who was the Great General of the Northern Frontier no longer forced himself to hold on. After sitting down, he coughed a few times, and a bloody stain appeared on his palm. As a war banner of the Northern Frontier, this Great General typically did not need to risk his life like other soldiers. But when circumstances demanded it, he naturally could not avoid it either.
In the previous few battles, the Demon King's Court intentionally tried to weaken this Northern Frontier Great General's body. Consequently, every time, they would send a great demon to engage in combat with this Great General.
This Great General was indeed one of the three most formidable martial artists in the Great Liang Dynasty. If he made up his mind to engage in a life-and-death battle, that Lord Warden Commander would undoubtedly die at his hands.
Considering this, the current Great General was likely one of the two most terrifying martial artists in the entire Great Liang Dynasty. The reason for saying "one of" was to give the Great Liang Emperor some face. Otherwise, stating that this Northern Frontier Great General was the number one martial artist would not be an exaggeration.
However, even heroes of great stature would grow old too. The present Northern Frontier Great General's body was not in good shape. Besides the injuries, the main reason was his old age.
Physical decline due to old age, and a waning blood vitality, these were things that no one could escape.
He was very old; he had already been the Great General of the Northern Frontier during the reign of Emperor Lingzong. He was naturally older than the current reigning Emperor.
Casually wiping away the bloodstain on his palm, the Great General looked at the map densely marked with countless locations. His thoughts drifted far away, contemplating who knows what.
After an unknown amount of time, a middle-aged man dressed as a confucian scholar entered from the outside.
Seeing this person, the Great General smiled. The planning of this great battle, and many aspects of it were actually devised by him and the middle-aged confucian scholar before him. In fact, long before this great battle, many strategic decisions in the Northern Frontier were jointly made by him and the Great General. Since this middle-aged confucian scholar arrived in the Northern Frontier many years ago, he had never left. Not only did he not leave, but he also did not accept any official position from the court. He was like a shadow, always standing behind the Great General, handling many affairs in the Northern Frontier for him.
The Great General smiled and said softly, "Yao Chang, you've come."
However, the middle-aged confucian scholar shook his head. He looked at the Great General and asked, "How much longer can your body hold out?"
The Great General sighed, "I won't dare to say about other things, but I'll be alive before this great battle."
The middle-aged confucian scholar nodded. He was naturally clear what this Great General meant by that.
"You can't go to that Bluestone Pass"
Looking at a specific point on the map, the middle-aged confucian scholar's expression turned serious. "I don't have anyone available. If Liu Banbi is willing to risk his life, he could count as one. But unfortunately, he has already set off elsewhere, and currently, there is no one available to send."
The Great General was taken aback, asking, "What are you talking about?"
The middle-aged confucian scholar ignored the Great General and continued, "We set up this chessboard together, but there's a flaw. When we devised the plan, I was betting that the other side wouldn't notice that flaw. However, judging by their actions, it was indeed unnecessary to deliberately cover it up. They have already discovered the problem; it's right at Bluestone Pass. If Bluestone Pass is breached, the entire situation will become terrible for us. The originally devised small victory will now turn into a major defeat."
Without hesitation, the Great General said, "I'll go!"
He stood up abruptly, as unyielding as a solid rock.
The middle-aged confucian scholar looked at him and said, "Do you think you can go just because you want to? Or do you believe your going will be of use? In your current state, whether you go or not won't make a difference. Even if you stake your life, it won't help either."
The Great General frowned, saying, "How could this be? Back then, didn't you say that the possibility of the demons discovering the flaw was minimal?"
"Not all clever minds in the world are on our side. The demons also have intelligent individuals. If it's discovered, it's discovered. Now, what we need to do is figure out how to resolve it."
The Great General fell into silence.
The middle-aged confucian scholar furrowed his brows and said softly, "There is a way to remedy it, but perhaps it's a bit slow."
"If it's really too slow, we will surely lose. This outcome... is hard for people to accept."
Frowning slightly, the middle-aged confucian scholar murmured, "A way to remedy..."
The Great General looked at him and said resolutely, "This general will personally go to Bluestone Pass."
The middle-aged confucian scholar looked at the Great General before him, still wanting to repeat his previous words. However, he quickly saw the Great General wave his hand, directly saying, "There's nothing more to say. I know my own body. If I die at Bluestone Pass, so be it. At least it can buy you all some time."
The middle-aged confucian scholar remained silent. He just took a step back and bowed solemnly to the Great General.
"No need for this, it's just dying for my country."
Bluestone Pass had always been one of the most insignificant among the passes along the Northern Frontier's Great Wall. Due to its short construction time and overly ordinary location, it had never been a significant stronghold. However, in this great war, the seemingly insignificant Bluestone Pass carried a substantial burden. The strategic layout of the Great Liang created a large pocket, with the three passes in the southeast serving as the openings of this pocket. Bluestone Pass seemed insignificant, but it was the string that pulled these openings closed.
Given its crucial role, Bluestone Pass should have been heavily guarded from the beginning. However, based on the previous calculations by the middle-aged confucian scholar, regardless of how heavily guarded Bluestone Pass was, if the demons discovered its importance, they would surely send a large army. In that case, even with strong defenses, it would be difficult to hold.
Therefore, the middle-aged confucian scholar steeled his heart and chose the strategy of not deploying heavy defenses. Instead, he opted for soldiers to guard it as normal. However, with this approach, if the demons discovered the pass' significance, there was almost no chance of holding Bluestone Pass, unless reinforcements arrived at Bluestone Pass before the enemy did.
The commander of Bluestone Pass did not receive any intel either. H was patrolling the area as usual. However, when he moved from the east tower to the west, he saw a man inexplicably appearing on the city wall.
The man was tall, wearing a black robe embroidered with some exotic beast patterns, though it was unclear exactly what they depicted.
The commander of Bluestone Pass looked at the man, his face changing dramatically. He did not know the man's identity, but he just knew that this person could not be an ordinary soldier stationed within the pass. Since that was the case, he should not have appeared on the city wall at all.
However, he clearly did not sense any damage to the defensive array on the wall. How did this man arrive on top of the city wall?
The Bluestone Pass' commander pondered briefly. But before he could speak, he saw a burst of bloody mist in front of him.
He lost consciousness before he could react.
He was dead.
The man glanced at the commander of Bluestone Pass, and he died just like that.
But, the man paid no attention to this, looking very indifferently at the city wall. This insignificant Bluestone Pass had never caught his eye.
Quickly crossing the city wall, when he passed through this Bluestone Pass, it collapsed with a loud bang, turning into ruins. The blue stones, originally transported from the hinterland of the Great Liang, had given the pass its name. Now, as the blue stones shattered, it became a thing of the past.
Continuing his journey southward, there were many major and minor traps lying in between this insignificant Bluestone Pass and the Northern Frontier's Great Wall. This man was going to uproot all these so-called traps, ripping everything up and revealing the opening once again.
But after just half a day's travel, he had to stop.
Because on the desolate north wilderness ahead, another figure had also appeared.
It was a man dressed in emperor robes.
The moment he laid eyes on that man, the demon who was heading southward knew his identity.
Of course, the other party also knew his identity at the same moment.
The two exchanged glances and the world became quiet.
"You actually came from the Divine Capital! I never expected it!"
The man who came down from the North looked at the Great Liang Emperor with a horrified expression.
The Great Liang Emperor paid him no mind, simply walking forward. However, with each step he took, the terrifying pressure between heaven and earth increased. Martial artists did not cultivate daoist spells, so they had a relatively simple set of skills. But, when a martial artist's cultivation base reached a sufficiently high level, even without relying on any so-called daoist spells or techniques, they could also exert such pressure just by relying on their powerful cultivation realm.
In an instant, the powerful existence who could shatter Bluestone Pass with just a thought was now pale-faced and virtually unable to move before the Great Liang Emperor.
The Great Liang Emperor glanced at him indifferently. Then, the man's expression suddenly became ugly. A trace of blood flowed directly from the corner of his mouth.
It seemed like he would die here in the next second.
"Killing me won't lead to anything good!"
The Great Liang Emperor did not bother to acknowledge him, approaching him and delivering a palm. A vast and dreadful aura flowed from his palm. In an instant, he extinguished the man's life force.
The Great Liang Emperor withdrew his hand, appearing utterly indifferent.
As the Emperor of Great Liang, countless lives had perished under his hands. The fact that the current person before him was not a human but a demon made no difference to him.
Then, he reached the ruins. Without pausing, he continued his journey north.
The boundary between the human and demon race in the desolate north had never been clearly defined. The Northern Frontier's Great Wall served as the human race's final line of defense, but it was not recognized as the sole territory of the human race.
Instead, they had always felt that the entire thirty thousand miles of the desolate north belonged to the human race.
The Great Liang Emperor crossed Bluestone Pass and headed towards the desolate north.
In the many years of conflict between the human and demon race in the Northern Frontier, there had never been a case of a human venturing alone into the desolate north.
Now, the Great Liang Emperor was the first.
He traversed the vast desolate north plain, heading all the way north.
Soon, he encountered a large demon army.
A dense army of demons appeared at the edge of the horizon, a pitch-black mass resembling the night.
However, when the demon army noticed a man appearing before them, they quickly chose to stop.
The demon general at the forefront gazed into the distance, looking at the man clad in emperor robes with a solemn expression.
Beside him, the vice-general also sensed that powerful and terrifying pressure. The demonic beasts beneath them began trembling at this moment.
"Who is that, General?"
The demon army stood in silence, making no movements.
The demon general's face darkened, and he said very seriously, "He is the monarch of the human race."
The vice-general, upon hearing this, exclaimed in disbelief, "Then why don't we kill him!"
The demon general shook his head, desperately trying to calm himself. "If I had ten times more troops, I'd attempt to kill him. If it's five times more, I'd try to trap him. If I had two times more, I'd abandon you all and escape alone. But now... I can only stand with you all..."
"We will die here, at the hands of this human monarch."
The demon general said with a bitter smile, his eyes filled with unwillingness.
The vice-general frowned and asked, "Why are you so afraid, General?"
"Because I sense an aura on him that I've only felt from His Demon Majesty."
The demon general shook his head and closed his eyes.
