All Heavenly destiny reduced to ashes
Chapter 504 - 118 Bad News (3/3)

Chapter 504: Chapter 118 Bad News (3/3)

Although An Qianshan merely touched on the subject lightly, An Jing could tell that the tribe known as the Tagu Tribe had already established the most fundamental and precious order for a small power.

They had taken root in this land and were visibly continuing to grow stronger.

From this perspective, it seemed his own father, though not successful in either scholarship or martial arts, was quite the hand at farming!

If he could add just a bit of technology from another world, coupled with the support from inside and outside of Linjiang City, perhaps... after a few years, could he, An Jing, really achieve ’having my people in every corner of Da Chen and Dust Li’?

"Father, be careful not to expose yourself. Cang, there’s no hurry for you to return. I am already aware of the intel and will be on the lookout for the possible actions of the Tianyi Demon Sect and other forces."

Suppressing some of his more extravagant imaginations and calming down, An Jing finally pinpointed the source of his longstanding worries.

The situation in Northern Border was so complex, not merely a straightforward conflict between Dust Li and Da Chen. At the very least, there were six different forces jockeying for position in plain sight.

Firstly, the Five Sects of Dust Li. Within the Five Sects, there were various sects and factions that could be considered two powers to An Jing.

On the surface, this Iron Cavalry came to attack Broken Blade Mountain, apart from the Zuohuan Sect and Hong Fu Sect whose limelight he had stolen, the Taiming Sect was definitely involved.

Among the Five Sects, only three possess Pure Yang. Taiming as the leader, Bright Mirror as the second, Hong Fu as the third. Now, it seemed like the leader wanted to suppress the second, and the third wanted to replace the second. This Iron Cavalry came specifically to eliminate or suppress the Pure Yang bearing Divine Mandate, which was himself.

The Bright Mirror Sect naturally would protect its own. Apart from the humble merchant convoy on the surface, Chenyinzi’s Divine Thought Avatar could summon the power of his true self at any moment.

But he couldn’t rashly show himself; otherwise, Da Chen alone would be enough trouble for him. He needed to wait for the enemy’s forces to take the first out-of-line shot before he could counter-attack effectively. Therefore, he had to stand firm as Taiming, provoking the enemy into desperation.

Secondly, Da Chen’s Imperial Court and the civil and military officials. These were certainly two forces.

An Jing was no fool, from the Civil and Military Formation Plate, the death of King Jing, the Dragon Martial General’s attitude, as well as the peculiar chaos in Northern Border, it was clear that Da Chen had fallen into the classic ’officials versus emperor’ scenario.

Especially now, with Emperor Xuantian as a young emperor, the Imperial Court’s traditional advantage of ’personal power’ was lost—even before the emperor could reach Lingxiao status, the civil and military officials were sure to hold the greater power.

And according to the intelligence from Ruohui’s side, it was the factions of the civil and military officials who killed King Jing, which corresponded with the Late Emperor’s good relationship with King Jing.

The situation in Northern Border was clearly orchestrated by the civil and military officials’ faction.

Their goal was to create a power vacuum for the Da Chen Imperial Court in this area.

Whether it’s Divine Weapons or Earth Vein Formations, they were all directly controlled by the Imperial Court, but they forcibly removed these elements related to the Da Chen Imperial Court, replacing them with their own ’Civil and Military Formation Plate’ or other things to conduct various tests and experiments on Dragon Qi.

Meanwhile, the Imperial Court probably didn’t have enough strength left to influence the Dust Li situation.

Virtuous King could be considered half an Imperial Court figure, as in An Jing’s view, the Virtuous King was less a part of the Imperial Court and more about self-preservation: as the Town King of Northern Border, whether willing or not, he had already been dragged into the turmoil stirred up by various forces.

As for the fifth faction, the Tianyi Demon Sect, they were happy to see Da Chen and the Five Sects of Dust Li both descend into further chaos, so they were currently supporting the weaker side, providing the Iron Li with technology and resources.

But on the other hand, An Jing didn’t believe that Bai Qinghan coming to aid him was unknown to the rest of the Demon Sect.

At the very least, the faction infiltrated within the Imperial Court, such as the Northern Patrol Envoy and her collaborators within Da Chen, would definitely play their hand at a critical moment, causing the dominant Dust Li side to bleed, maintaining a balanced equilibrium between both sides.

And finally...

"The crowd of Heavenly Demons related to the Frost Calamity, who came to Broken Blade Mountain this time, certainly did so to release the Source of Demon Energy underneath Broken Blade Mountain, a Great Heavenly Demon whose specific identity is unknown."

An Jing carefully contemplated and discovered that there were unexpectedly many enemy forces he had to confront.

However, he wasn’t afraid because he also had many people on his side.

Moreover, there were his people embedded in the enemy’s logistics; as long as he could secure a retreat route, there would be no need to expose An Qianshan, and An Jing could come up with a thousand ways to cut off the Iron Cavalry’s food supply.

People like Cang Linzu stayed with An Qianshan, awaiting further instructions.

An Jing shared this intelligence with Hang Mofeng, who expressed caution for any potential surprise attacks from Tianyi Demon Sect and was well-prepared with special weapons to counter the Heavenly Demons.

An Jing wasn’t worried about Hang Mofeng’s raw power; after all, the other was an old warhorse who began fighting since the Hanhai Demon Disaster, and he was certainly adept at dealing with Heavenly Demons.

But he still had some worries in his heart.

According to intelligence, the marching speed of the Iron Cavalry had actually accelerated.

They still did not have a good solution for dealing with landmines, but as long as they were not afraid to die and willing to spend money, they could use puppets or auxiliary troops to scout for mines, and the problem could always be resolved.

But why exactly would the Iron Cavalry speed up their advance like this? The Earth Vein Formation of Linjiang City was still operational, with the Civil and Military Formation Plate and Virtuous King in place to reinforce it; they couldn’t possibly take down Linjiang City as they would other cities.

Unless... An Jing thought of a possibility.

And the bad news brought by Bai Qinghan confirmed this possibility.

"Eldest Senior."

Bai Qinghan came to the top of the city wall, her expression somewhat helpless: "My master... that is, the Northern Patrol Envoy, has just sent me some bad news."

"Yujiang City has been invaded and occupied by the True Demon Sect; they have surrendered."

"Just as I thought."

An Jing clicked his tongue and looked towards the northeast.

Situated along the Yujiang River, no smoke of war rose from Yujiang City, nor was there any news of movements, which in turn verified the authenticity of the news from Bai Qinghan’s side.

So that’s how it is. If Linjiang City’s Linlang Commerce Chamber is willing to cooperate with the Heavenly Demons, how could the other two cities among the three cities of Broken Blade Mountain be an exception?

The surrounding area of Broken Blade Mountain had already been divided up long ago; he managed to snatch one city for himself, but it was beyond reach to get the other two cities.

Moreover, it appeared that the one aiding the Iron Cavalry in replenishing their Vanguard Camp’s reconnaissance abilities, and identifying people like Cang Linzu, was precisely the True Demon Sect.

The reason for the Iron Cavalry’s acceleration was obviously not to march all the way just to face An Jing and the Martial Army in an exhausted state.

They aimed to occupy Yujiang City and engage in a protracted war against An Jing’s side!

"What about Yinbi City then?"

An Jing inquired, unbothered by learning of another piece of bad news, but Bai Qinghan’s expression became even stranger: "Eldest Senior, that is actually a piece of... good news that I wanted to tell you?"

"Yinbi City is now occupied by people under my master’s command from the Divine Sect... as you know, even though in Da Chen it is called the Demon Sect, in reality, it isn’t very close to the Heavenly Demons; they just make occasional use of them, similar to how it’s with Da Chen."

"I think, there’s no need to be concerned about them cooperating with the Iron Cavalry, but they are definitely somewhat interested in you, Eldest Senior. We must be prepared."