War Between Two Races

In a colossal Shaman city thousands of li away, a pale-skinned Shaman lay reclined upon a couch, staring blankly at the vaulted ceiling. A Shaman Scholar hurried over and said, "Lord Frost Whisper, news has just arrived. The humans launched a surprise attack, and Rain Maple City has fallen." The pale-skinned Shaman took a long while before moving his head slightly. "When did this happen?" "Two days ago." After another long pause, the Shaman on the couch spoke slowly. "Who has gone there now?" "Lord Feilu and Lord Huang have already led their forces to rush there." "Oh. Feilu is quite capable. In that case, do not disturb me." "Lord Hongye's intention is for you to oversee the situation in person." Frost Whisper raised his upper body slightly and asked, "How many troops did the humans bring?" "According to soldiers who fled back from the front lines, their men are everywhere. Perhaps a hundred thousand." The pale Shaman had already closed his eyes. "Only a hundred thousand, not five hundred thousand. Feilu commands a hundred thousand troops herself. She is no good-for-nothing." The Shaman Scholar below opened his mouth to say more, but in an instant, he was expelled outside the palace. On the front lines, detachments of the Shaman army were converging from all directions, rushing toward the newly fallen Rain Maple City. Atop a small hill stood several Great Shamans, watching columns of Shaman warriors march past below. The Great Shaman standing in the center wore a wooden mask, with two short horns sprouting from his head. "We are moving too slowly!" A Great Shaman beside him said, "We will reach Rain Maple City by tomorrow. The other tribes will only be slower than us. The humans might fight a decisive battle with us there. Still, I never expected Rain Maple City to be breached by the humans in less than a day!" The masked Great Shaman in the middle said, "Lord Frost Whisper is unlikely to come right now. Take care of yourselves. It is said that many human experts have arrived this time. Once we reach Rain Maple City tomorrow, erect an altar first." The other Great Shamans seemed somewhat dismissive. Constructing an altar incurred immense expense and required at least three days. Against a mere tens of thousands of humans, why be so cautious? Far away, another Shaman army was on the march. They failed to notice a tiny figure perched on a distant peak, observing their encampment. Meanwhile, Wei Yuan's form was faint and elusive as he flew at high speed, scanning the surrounding terrain. Before long, he discovered a marching Shaman troop. After silently observing for a moment, the data of this Shaman force was marked upon the image. Half a day later, Wei Yuan returned to the Shaman City. The flying marten and the cat returned as well. The two spirit beasts conveyed the numbers and marching routes of the Shaman forces they had observed to Wei Yuan. It was now the third day since Wei Yuan had conquered the Shaman City. On the battlefield map, within a five-hundred-li radius around the city, six Shaman armies had already appeared, totaling nearly three hundred thousand troops. The Shamans' response was exceptionally swift, and the mobilized troops were all elites. To muster hundreds of thousands of reinforcements in under three days forced Wei Yuan to re-evaluate the strength of the Land of Rain. Yet as he looked at the several columns of Shaman armies advancing from different directions on the map, Wei Yuan's divine sense shifted. A moment later, projected marching routes materialized ahead of each Shaman force. Assessing the distances separating the columns and the differences in their marching speeds, Wei Yuan made a prompt decision: leave only a small garrison behind in the Shaman City and deploy the main army en masse. The thirty-thousand-strong army split into two columns. Twenty thousand mounted infantry moved against the leftmost Shaman army, while ten thousand cavalry under Wei Yuan's direct command lunged straight toward an adjacent column. Half a day later, a massive battle erupted. Wei Yuan personally led ten thousand iron cavalry in an initial surprise assault on thirty thousand Shaman infantry. With their ammunition fully replenished, the cavalry shattered the enemy in short order through ferocious firepower. Wei Yuan took on two opponents at once, wounding both Great Shamans commanding that column. With this battle breaking out first, both the leftmost and center Shaman armies began converging toward the engagement. However, the forty thousand Shamans on the far left immediately collided with Wei Yuan's twenty thousand mounted infantry. Upon clash, they likewise suffered grievous casualties under the relentless barrage. Not long after that battle began, Wei Yuan, having already routed his initial opponents, led his cavalry over to strike from the flank. In a pincer attack, they devoured this Shaman column as well. Among the fifty thousand Shamans in the center column were ten thousand lizard knights. They had broken away from the main body to operate independently, aiming to reinforce the other units as swiftly as possible. Yet the center Shaman army was somewhat far from the left flank. By the time the lizard knights finally reached the battlefield, Wei Yuan had already routed the flank force and was encircling and mopping up the remnants. Seeing the enemy cavalry charging in, Wei Yuan personally led three thousand iron cavalry to intercept them, trading blows evenly with the ten thousand lizard knights while the remaining troops focused entirely on finishing off the routed Shaman infantry. Sensing things were turning grim, the lizard knights attempted to flee, but the Qingming cavalry clung to them relentlessly. The seven thousand cavalrymen who had freed themselves swept straight around to cut off the rear, wiping out every last lizard knight. Wei Yuan separated his cavalry and infantry once more, advancing along left and right flanks. After personally scouting the movements of the center Shaman army, he ordered a sweeping assault. The infantry met them head-on while the cavalry outflanked their rear. Under fire from all sides, the center Shaman army met another crushing defeat. When Feilu arrived outside Rain Maple City with her main force of a hundred thousand and began constructing an altar, she received word that all three columns on their right flank had been routed. Fire flashed in Feilu's eyes. She immediately dispatched troops into the city to scout, only to discover it was already deserted. The small force that had feigned defending the walls had slipped away in the confusion. Her half-day spent erecting the altar had been utterly in vain. At this moment, the Shaman main force remained intact; Feilu's hundred thousand and Huang's eighty thousand were completely unscathed. They promptly joined forces while sending out numerous mounted scouts to track Wei Yuan's whereabouts. Yet apart from the grounds of the three major battles, not a trace of a large army on the move could be found. Every clue left behind indicated that the human forces had dispersed into multiple small detachments. From the routed soldiers they gathered, the Great Shamans also learned that the humans numbered only thirty thousand in total. When these reports were delivered, both Great Shamans, Feilu and Huang, felt a deep headache. This meant the original plan to raid the Qingming Domain and force a human withdrawal was no longer viable. Qingming still held at least a hundred-odd thousand troops; with the Shaman forces at hand, they could not take it at all. After a long period of contemplation, Feilu finally said, "The humans have been deep inside our Wu domain for a long time. Sooner or later, they must return to replenish their military qi. Since they have split into small squads, we shall also divide our forces to search and pursue. However, keep the units close to one another and maintain constant communication. Furthermore, with this initial setback, we must mobilize more troops from the rear. And notify Lord Frost Whisper. He will likely have to make the journey after all." Over the next few days, both sides split into multiple small detachments, engaging in a mutual hunt. Yet the humans moved with extreme fluidity. Every soldier was either cavalry or mounted infantry. The moment they spotted a superior Shaman force, they would instantly withdraw. Conversely, several small human detachments would suddenly materialize around an isolated Shaman unit, converging into a large force of over ten thousand. Once they wiped out the enemy, they would disperse and vanish once more. On the topographic image within Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, numerous forces were in motion at every passing moment. Every Shaman unit that appeared had dedicated personnel analyzing its likely path. Wei Yuan's forces were not evenly distributed; some units were large and others small, some swift and others slow. At this point, every individual with military aptitude was working at full capacity, and several people originally assigned to other tasks joined in as well. In the first few days, they adhered somewhat strictly to convention, mainly waiting for opportunities to mass troops against small enemy forces. Yet as several days of fighting progressed, the plans they proposed grew increasingly proactive, and even wildly unpredictable. They would use small, fast units to bait and maneuver the enemy, causing Shaman columns that originally marched abreast to drift apart, suddenly exposing the middle force until it was encircled and swallowed whole. Right up to the moment they were wiped out, that force still could not fathom where their friendly units on the left and right had gone. After several such battles, the mortals grew even bolder. They would intentionally use a formidable unit to attack a Shaman force, and once nearby enemy units closed in, they would counter-encircle them with an even more substantial force, taking a massive bite out of the enemy in one gulp. Later, there was an even more elusive maneuver: after complex movements and skirmishes, several of Wei Yuan's units happened to form an encirclement just as several Shaman units happened to blunder right into it, making the outcome entirely natural. A few days later, many Qingming units had expended their ammunition. Yet several supply convoys had set out from Qingming days prior, bypassed Shaman interception forces, and reached the edge of the battlefield. Just then, one or more Qingming units would happen to maneuver over, complete their resupply, and plunge back into the fight. In this manner, the thirty-thousand-strong Qingming army engaged the tenfold-larger Shaman host in continuous maneuvers, playing hide-and-seek across a vast battlefield of a thousand square li. During this period, Shaman Great Shamans had attempted to track Qingming forces relying on their individual prowess, but after Wei Yuan—equally elusive—ambushed and killed two of them in succession, no Great Shaman dared to act alone again. Even when two Great Shamans traveled together, they did not dare stray from the protection of their military qi. On the ninth day of the tangled war, ahead of Wei Yuan, a pale-skinned Shaman measuring twelve feet in height descended from the sky, barring his path. The moment his eyes fell upon Wei Yuan, crimson flames ignited within them, and he spoke in a drawling voice: "You are still very young. To die like this is somewhat of a pity." Wei Yuan said, "I heard Hongye is greatly revered among the Shamans. Seeing you now, that truly feels unbelievable." The flames in Frost Whisper's eyes surged instantly. He said coldly, "Slandering Hongye will only make your death far more agonizing!" Wei Yuan said, "As a Nether Shaman, aren't you ashamed to cross hands with me?" "This is a war between two races." Wei Yuan spoke no further. He fixed his gaze upon Frost Whisper, his aura steadily mounting. Frost Whisper sneered. "Have those two companions of yours come out. No need to hide—by all means, attack together." The cat and the flying marten ceased concealing their auras, building their momentum to its peak to unleash their greatest combat strength. Frost Whisper slowly rolled his neck. His movements were stiff, like those of a walking corpse, the joints popping and cracking as he slowly raised a hand. The fur on the flying marten's back and tail suddenly bristled completely. Like a streak of lightning, it shot forward in a full-force pounce! The cat was only an instant behind, claws raking toward the nape of Frost Whisper's neck. Frost Whisper flickered forward abruptly, leaving behind only an ice-sculpted duplicate of himself, which the flying marten and the cat instantly shattered to pieces. Yet his aura diminished by only a fraction as one of his hands reached toward Wei Yuan. Before his fingertips, a long river of frost manifested, extending thousands of zhang in a flash and engulfing Wei Yuan entirely! Within Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, the world instantly turned into an expanse of bitter ice. Vitality plummeted by more than half, and every immortal plant unleashed its distinct luminescence to shield the small patch of land around it. The earth was instantly blanketed in thick snow; many mortal dwellings were buried to their rooftops. Many mortals had taken shelter beneath the immortal plants in advance, managing to secure protection. Only a few along the outermost rim who had failed to squeeze into the perimeter turned into ice statues, then crumbled into frosty powder. There were also several dozen people who disregarded Wei Yuan's prior orders and rushed toward Wei Yuan's immortal statue seeking protection. Every one of them was reduced to dust, along with the statue itself.