In less than a month, the war potential of the Blue Sea Oasis had been largely crushed. Qingming possessed ample transport capacity, shipping hundreds of thousands of young Liao women to the rear each day. At first, the Liao Clan had not reacted. By the time word spread, they realized too late that they should have hidden the women and young girls away, but it was already too late.
Once the second wave of reinforcements arrived, Wei Yuan reorganized his forces, leaving five hundred thousand behind to continue scouring the oasis while the remaining 1.5 million marched in a grand torrent toward the Frost Silver Steppe to the north.
Stretching over thirty thousand li from east to west and fifteen thousand li from north to south, the Frost Silver Steppe was the Silver Moon Great Khan's most vital natural pasture. Further north lay the Moon Sea, a lake spanning over a thousand li formed by meltwater from the snowy mountains, where Silver Moon's royal court resided.
Wei Yuan did not know what lay within Silver Moon's royal court, but he intended to go take a look. However, the journey appeared arduous; distance aside, the route was barred by numerous natural passes and perilous gorges.
Entering the Frost Silver Steppe meant crossing into the true heartland of the Liao domain. Having fought this far, Xiaoyu could no longer remain at the forefront, so the commander-in-chief was switched directly to Ji Liuli.
With Ji Liuli's mindscape world and her concealment within the military qi, even if Silver Moon himself came, he would find it hard to kill her.
On the Shaman-Liao front, several colossal figures clashed in the skies. At times they duelled one-on-one; at others, they abruptly broke away from their opponents to gang up on enemies in adjacent skirmishes, throwing the heavens into utter chaos. Vast stretches spanning thousands of li frequently erupted into seas of fire and molten lightning, resembling an apocalypse.
The canopy of heaven was starkly divided: dark green on one side, golden brown on the other, the two halves steadily eroding and grinding against each other. The Liao Ancestor, long silent until now, had finally taken action to confront the Ancestral Shaman. Their combined might ensured that this realm would not shatter, preventing extraterrestrial entities from coveting it.
In the sky, Heavenly Shamans and Liao Clan immortals battled with world-shattering fury, while on the ground, tens of millions of troops slaughtered one another along battle lines spanning thousands of li.
A colossal silver wolf plunged from the heavens and touched down in the sprawling encampment below. Clutched in its jaws was a black feather burning with netherfire, over a hundred zhang in length and seemingly belonging to no mortal realm.
This was a wing feather of Youfeng, torn off by Silver Moon's bite. Yet Silver Moon had fared little better; his body was covered in dozens of wounds of varying sizes, each entwined with dark qi and oozing pus continuously.
The silver wolf rapidly shrank, reverting to Silver Moon. Battered with wounds, he could barely stand, kept from collapsing only when his subordinates rushed over to support him. As his aides scrambled to summon healers, Silver Moon rasped, "An abrupt sense of panic struck me, so I returned to check. Has anything happened recently?"
His ferocious battle against Youfeng had lasted over a month. Though Silver Moon had been thoroughly disadvantaged, he had managed to hold on bitterly. Yet as the fight dragged on, an inexplicable sense of dread gripped him, prompting him to do everything possible to disengage and see what had gone amiss. Forcing a break from Youfeng, however, had naturally extracted a heavy toll.
Seeing Silver Moon ask, the subordinate generals handed him a stack of battle reports.
With every report he read, Silver Moon's expression darkened further. Upon reading the final one, he sneered coldly, "Fine. Tuli is truly extraordinary! Barely over a month, and the enemy has already breached the oasis! There were several million reserve cavalry there, tens of millions of able-bodied men and women—did they all drop dead? I—"
Before he could finish, a phoenix cry pierced the heavens across ten thousand li. On the distant horizon, Youfeng's massive form reappeared, hurtling closer at blistering speed.
Silver Moon barked swiftly, "Have Shuangya's people make a trip. Take six hundred thousand iron cavalry and head back to reinforce them!"
Immediately after, Silver Moon soared skyward, transforming once more into the silver wolf to meet Youfeng.
The generals wore troubled expressions. Manpower on the frontal battlefield was already severely strained. They had originally counted on mobilizing more troops from the Blue Sea Oasis, but now hundreds of thousands of elite cavalry had to be diverted back instead.
The forces at Silver Moon's disposal currently numbered only five million or so, including the nine hundred thousand purchased from Wei Yuan. Although Liao tradition held that all able-bodied men and women could serve as soldiers, drafting too many would inevitably trigger a catastrophic famine the following year. Thus, Silver Moon had consistently minimized conscription, drafting just enough to withstand the Shaman offensive.
The catastrophe was far from over, and this grand war would drag on for a long time—not a matter of a year or two. Future production had to be considered.
The dispatch general flew toward an encampment of pristine white igloos in the distance and slipped inside the largest snow lodge at the center. A bonfire blazed within, around which three towering members of the Liao Clan sat drinking wine and feasting on meat. All three were bare-chested and possessed four arms—one male and two females. At the sound of the entrance moving, they all turned toward the general as though eyeing a walking slab of meat.
The general grew somewhat uneasy and said, "By order of the Great Khan, you are to lead six hundred thousand iron cavalry to reinforce the Blue Sea Oasis."
The Liao male was slightly surprised. "Isn't that deep in our rear? Did the Shamans push that far?"
"It is not the Shamans," the general said. "It is the humans."
One of the Liao females lost interest at once. "Just a few human worms, and they need us to take the field?"
The general offered a bitter smile. "You must. Tuli originally led troops to intercept them, but suffered a crushing defeat. Now the humans have pushed straight into the Blue Sea, and Tuli is nowhere to be found. The Great Khan's intent is for you to search for him as well, but do not kill him. Await the Great Khan to deal with him personally once he is free."
The other Liao female looked up. "Tuli may be weak, but he is still late Scenery Command, is he not? Killed by humans just like that?"
"It is unconfirmed whether he is dead. He has merely disappeared."
The Liao female said to the male, "Shuangya, shall we go take a look?"
Shuangya stretched lazily. "Works out well; I was getting somewhat tired of killing Shamans anyway. It seems there are formidable figures among those worms after all. Just right to capture and devour—perhaps I can seize his authority. Where are the troops? Lead the way."
The three Liao Clan members left the snow lodge, following the general to locate the relief force. As they prepared to depart, the general whispered, "The Blue Sea Oasis is where the Great Khan lived during his childhood, home to many of his close friends. Mind yourselves when you arrive. Do not feast recklessly, and it is best not to eat the nobility!"
A Liao female with four silver fangs jutting from her mouth said impatiently, "If we don't eat nobles, are we supposed to eat baseborn peasants? I prefer talented young boys and girls most; how could commoners have any?"
Shuangya said, "No matter. We will have the local nobles choose and offer them up themselves. They won't pick anyone with old ties to the Great Khan. Even if they do, that will be on their heads, nothing to do with us."
"That is a good plan."
Half a day later, hundreds of thousands of Liao cavalry departed the encampment, riding day and night toward the south.
Yet even as this relief force set off, Wei Yuan's army had already departed the Blue Sea, surging aggressively into the Frost Silver Steppe. Judging by the reaction of the Liao in the Blue Sea Oasis, they clearly had not anticipated Wei Yuan arriving so swiftly, leaving them unable to relocate the elderly, weak, women, children, or even their most precious breeding stallions, all of which fell into Wei Yuan's hands.
Wei Yuan promptly altered his tactics, dividing his 1.5-million-strong army into five routes that lunged straight toward the steppe's oases, settlements, and tribal encampments. Advancing at full speed across all five routes, they drove forward over a thousand li each day.
Though advancing along divided routes was often deemed a cardinal taboo in military strategy, its efficacy depended on how it was employed. Although the Qingming army was a heavily armored force, it possessed extraordinarily high mobility. Under their high-speed thrusts, the enemy could not even attempt to defeat them in detail; instead, they were caught completely off guard by Wei Yuan, unable even to assemble their ranks.
Thus, like five red-hot blades, the Qingming armies sliced ever deeper into the steppe. The tribes on the steppe had no chance to muster; often, messengers would arrive with warnings in the morning, only for Qingming's war chariots to follow the tracks by afternoon. The entire tribe would then be rooted out lock, stock, and barrel, with scarcely a single horse escaping.
Wherever the Qingming army passed, they executed almost every Dao Foundation cultivator on sight, without even asking whether they surrendered. As for Dharma Idols, the moment one showed its head, specialized anti-idol artillery carriages were summoned. Even if the artillery carriages could not arrive in time, there were dedicated Golden Pellet hunter squads. The suits of armor worn by these Golden Pellets were themselves magical artifacts, granting them extreme flying speeds, and even faster when flying in formation. Once spotted, rare was the Liao Dharma Idol who could escape.
Thus, the Frost Silver Steppe—originally mirror-like and silvery white—seemed to sprout vast mold patches from the south that spread at astonishing speed.
In merely a dozen or so days, the blight had already consumed half the steppe.
Wei Yuan hovered in the air, watching throngs of Liao fleeing in disarray across the steppe, yet the pursuing Qingming forces were visibly faster. Squads of Liao cultivators resolutely turned back, fighting desperately to delay the pursuers. Wave after wave perished in battle, yet none retreated.
Yet when all the cultivators had fallen and only the elderly, weak, women, and children remained, what met them was not slaughter. The Qingming troops merely confiscated all their portable supplies, left behind tents and essential livestock, bypassed them, and drove deeper into the steppe.
The Frost Silver Steppe earned its name from a dark silver forage that grew there, a premier supplement for Liao warhorses. Grazing on this grass drastically reduced the warhorses' need for meat, allowing several times more warhorses to be reared.
Such a vital strategic territory had been under Wei Yuan's assault for over ten days, yet Silver Moon had still failed to appear. Wei Yuan deduced two possibilities: first, Silver Moon was bound to be pinned down by a powerful foe; second, the main theater of the Shaman-Liao war was likely far from here, making communication back and forth exceedingly slow.
That being the case, Wei Yuan would show no restraint. He immediately ordered the unit that had penetrated furthest to take half a month's supplies, ignore any tribal settlements along the way, and drive north at maximum speed, pointing their spearhead straight at the seat of the Silver Moon Khanate: the Moon Sea!
At this moment, west of the Moon Sea, six hundred thousand Liao cavalry were rolling southward. Looking at the shimmering streak of silver on the distant horizon, a peculiar gleam flashed in Shuangya's eyes as he said, "I truly never expected such a splendid place in these frontier wastelands! This is... a land for attaining immortality."
"Why don't we just seize this place and relocate all our clan members here later?"
A look of wariness flitted across Shuangya's face. He glanced back toward the north and shook his head. "Better not. For some reason, whenever I look at Silver Moon, my heart trembles."
The taciturn, exceptionally hideous Liao female suddenly spoke up: "When Silver Moon was wounded by Youfeng and fled back that time, I saw many phantoms upon him! One looked rather familiar, though I can't recall where I saw it."
Shuangya's expression hardened. "It seems that fellow hides many secrets within samsara. If we were to make a move, there's no telling what enemies we might encounter. Someone by our side might even stab us in the back!"
He cast a glance toward the silver steppe in the distance and said, "Let us pick up the pace. Once we cross the steppe, we reach the oasis. If we arrive too late and the oasis suffers too much destruction, Silver Moon will surely be enraged."
"And what if the Frost Silver Steppe is destroyed?"
"Then he will probably go mad! Hahaha—"
Chapter 1380