~~~

What does it mean to obtain victory?

It might sound like a straightforward question, but the means through which one casts his foe into the pit of defeat are not always clear. If a swordsman bests a master archer in a duel of blades, does it matter? Maybe not if his aim is to prove himself the better archer, but if he just wants to remove the archer from the realm of the living, then he can be satisfied with the outcome.

The Temple of the Thousand Shadows seeks to prevent the Death Fashioning Scripture from ever obtaining his master’s teachings. Thus, they can only claim victory by killing him. They do not care about anything else. His empire, his people, and his army are all things that merely happen to be in their way.

In other words, this is not a war of conquest. They know that if they were to send all their strongest fighters and immediately overrun all his armies and claim all his territories, that would just lead to him hiding in the Storm Dragon Palace. That’s why all the reports so far have been of his army engaging in combat with puppets. The Temple of the Thousand Shadows is using numbers to slowly apply pressure and drain his army and country of resources in the hopes of forcing him out of the palace.

Liu Jin has no intention of obliging them. Even if he could beat back all their forces on his own, that's not what he is after. Defeating their army is not how he claims victory here.

“A report from the northern front! General Peng has made his way there! The enemy is being driven back as we speak!”

Cheers erupt in the war room. The figurines on the war map are quickly moved to reflect the changes. Such has been the norm this evening. While items such as the two-way mirror gifted to Liu Jin by the Divine Frozen Palace are quite rare, a network of sound-transmission jades enables them to receive messages from all fronts with a delay of mere minutes.

“The invaders managed to strike some food provisions,” a military advisor notes, frowning as he looks at the map. “The average soldier is not as impervious to hunger as their commander, especially after a battle.”

“That’s quite all right,” Liu Jin says. “We prepared for that eventuality. Our granaries are full, and our supply lines are strong. Our soldiers will not go hungry anytime soon.”

Nor will the population, Liu Jin adds mentally. He has prepared for this for some time. His country will not fall due to empty stomachs.

“Such foresight!”

“The Emperor is truly wise.”

Liu Jin resists the urge to sigh. His advisors mean well, but being praised for doing the bare minimum does not feel good at all. It is a bleak reminder of how bad things were in this country just mere years ago.

“That’s quite enough.”

General Nie Dan speaks, and the room quiets. It’s an enviable quality. Liu Jin wonders if he needs to wait until he is an Emperor to have that effect on people, or if it is a side effect of being the largest person in the room.

“You are soldiers, not gossiping hens,” Nie Dan reminds everyone. “We have a war to win, gentlemen. Let’s get to it.”

Liu Jin smiles as the room explodes with renewed activity. As an Emperor Realm cultivator, the general must be annoyed at having to remain here. However, it is because he is so strong that they cannot use him on the frontlines just yet. All things have their proper place and time, and for now, theirs is here.

Out there, it’s all up to them.

~~~

Bei Hong stomps, and the battlefield trembles.

In front of him, an army of countless puppets advances, cold and unfeeling dolls made of wood and metal. Bei Hong strides towards them without fear. He is the tip of the spear. The rock against which this army shall break. Behind him are all the soldiers placed under his command. Why anyone thought he should be in charge of other people is a mystery. So far, only two orders have left his mouth.

Stand back and watch.

Bei Hong is a cultivator who stands in the higher levels of the Earth Realm. At every moment of the day, his body is subjected to gravity that would reduce other people’s bones to dust. Even if the Eternal Flame Clan’s elixir allows him to better handle that strain, it does not remove it. Moving without destroying things around him or sinking into the ground is a dull and annoying exercise in Qi control.

At least, that is how he used to think about it until his fight with Chen Guo. Weaponizing the pull of the Earth Realm is not something that Bei Hong would have ever come up with on his own. However, after experiencing the brutal efficiency of such a simple tactic, it would not leave his mind. He was told that it was pointless to try it. His Dao does not lend itself to such tactics, and it will become useless once he enters the Heaven Realm. Those are very logical reasons not to waste his time.

Bei Hong is not a creature of logic.

His aura rises, and the earth shakes. The puppets falter as they are suddenly assaulted by a pressure that has little to do with his Qi. Bei Hong grits his teeth as his very soul pulls on the gravity of the Earth Realm. That Chen Guo can do this so casually is ridiculous. Bei Hong’s whole body trembles due to the unbearable strain. He pulls the dreaded Curse of the Earth Realm, draws it in, and harnesses it.

He lets it loose.

[Magnificent Golden Roar]

Bei Hong roars, and gravity ravages the land. The space distorts, and the land sinks due to its suddenly increased weight. Hundreds of puppets are flattened in the blink of an eye. Rain begins to fall. Bei Hong feels the awe coming from the soldiers behind him, yet he is not satisfied.

“Is this all you can do?” he shouts. More puppets appear on the horizon, but all it does is anger him. “Don’t insult me with these fakes!”

The puppets advance, but his roaring gravity tears through space once more, crushing the wooden intruders. Bei Hong spits on the ground. The puppets of the Temple of the Thousand Shadows are wholly unsatisfying opponents. They are creations made to overrun the enemy with numbers, but there is nothing else to them. No fire. No soul. His Qi washes over them, and there is no resonance. He might as well be punching trees!

“I know you’re out there!” he yells, his voice shaking the earth as thunder rumbles in the distance. “Will you really keep hiding like a coward?”

As excited as he was to volunteer for battle in the Storm Dragon Empire, Qing Jin was very upfront about what his expectations should be.

They will probably use their puppets first to overwhelm us with numbers. Those things might not be a threat to people like us, but it’s different for the average soldier.”

Unfortunately, Qing Jin has been proven right.

“Well?” Bei Hong shouts. Qi carries his voice across the whole battlefield.

There has to be a puppeteer hiding somewhere nearby. That is the way of those on the other side. They send disposable minions to their job, afraid of combat, afraid of bearing themselves, afraid of asserting their own truths. What a miserable place it must be! Bei Hong can only be glad he was not born there.

“Where are your monsters?” He shouts. “Where are your giants armed with clubs and blades?”

That had been a worthy battle. That had been a real foe. Not at all like these mindless puppets. That was their true face, the core of their very soul. A mighty power that quaked the heavens.

How can people who possess such strength be so cowardly?

“Fine!” Bei Hong says, breaking the neck of a puppet. It brings him no satisfaction. Gravity spreads around him, cratering the earth and bringing down the army. “I’ll break as many of your puppets as it takes to bring you out! Then I’ll break you too!”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

A sound like a heartbeat echoes throughout the battlefield.

It is not gravity that causes it. Bei Hong’s lips pull back in a savage grin as he watches the shadows pool in front of him. A giant with rugged, yellowish skin and powerful muscles rises from the pool. Its body is disproportionately wide and covered in odd black markings. Two horns grow from its forehead, and completely black eyes glare at Bei Hong. Its arms are so long they nearly touch the ground.

“I am the Tattered Shadow,” a voice echoes throughout the battlefield. “It shall not be me who is broken here.”

Bei Hong rushes at the monster.

~~~

Music plays over the battlefield. Each note unleashes a soft yet powerful strike, dismantling the countless puppets assembled before them. The soldiers are in awe. They do not know whether to look at the spectacle in front of them or to watch the small girl responsible for it. They knew her cultivation level was far higher than theirs, yet seeing her unleash such destruction by merely playing her instrument makes them truly understand the difference.

Huang Shing scratches his ear.

“Is there any point to me being here?” he asks.

“Several,” replies Fan Binging without missing a single note. “If their aim is to tire us out, it’s best to have someone who is always well-rested. Besides, this area requires special protection.”

Huang Shing looks at the empty area behind him with heavy skepticism.

“There’s nothing there,” he says. “It’s all forest. Everyone in those boring meetings agreed that this is the one area we can afford to cede.”

“Everyone was wrong,” Fan Bingbing says. Her playing grows agitated but no less precise because of it. The head of a puppet goes flying and lands near a soldier, who promptly falls on his butt. “The ruins in the forest are of great importance to the Eternal Flame Clan. It is best if they are not damaged.”

Huang Shing hums. When she says the Eternal Flame Clan, he knows she actually means the Division of Exploration.

“Haven’t you already spent two years looking into those ruins?”

“...It’s complicated,” Fan Bingbing says. “Many of the writings left behind have been damaged over the centuries. Reconstruction efforts have proven difficult. However, pre-war history is of vital importance to this war.”

“Is it really?” Huang Shing asks. Fan Binging might be his friend, but he cannot keep the doubt out of his voice.

“To you and I, it is ancient history,” Fan Bingbing says. “To those who stand at the top of the hierarchy beyond the Dead Plains, they are events they lived through.”

Her playing continues.

“The Temple of the Thousand Shadows and the Death Fashioning Scripture are factions that were born during the war,” Fan Bingbing says. “Their arts were born from necessity. Their existences are defined by the conflict with demons. Maybe that’s why they act the way they do.”

“And the Peerless Heavenly Sword Peak?”

“From what we can tell, they were here even before that.”

~~~

“Retreat!” Colonel Liu Jin shouts at the top of his lungs. “Retreat!”

Three years ago, he was the leader of a band of rebels struggling under the cruel reign of General Murang Bang. It was a miserable life. Every day, he saw his father grow weaker and the people hungrier. No matter how much they struggled, nothing changed. Sometimes, it just felt like they were just delaying the inevitable.

Then, the nephew he never knew he had appeared, Murong Bang was killed, the nation was saved, and his father passed away peacefully.

In the blink of an eye, he became uncle to the Emperor. His band of rebels was incorporated into the army and became a renowned fighting force. It was all too much for someone like him, yet how could he possibly turn away from the opportunity to do good? The only path acceptable to him was to play his part as best as possible.

Thanks to his immensively-talented nephew, his cultivation has improved by leaps and bounds, yet he is still barely in the Earth Realm. It is a sad truth that such a level makes him one of the strongest people in the Empire, yet that’s nowhere near enough. The youths from the Eternal Flame Clan make him all too aware of how lacking he is.

Without a doubt, he is the Empire’s biggest fraud, yet that is a shame he must bear for the good of the nation.

Even if it means losing. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

His soldiers engage the puppets with the roar of thunder. The skirmish is fast and furious. His men attack with wild frenzy, viciously stabbing any puppet that gets close. However, for every one they destroy, two more take their place. It’s a never-ending cycle. There is no choice but to order a retreat.

It’s a messy thing. The heavy rain has turned the battlefield into mud. Horses and soldiers alike fall as they cede ground. The puppets chase after them. Unlike those who are flesh and blood, those things will never know tiredness or hunger. They cannot possibly escape them.

And so, they are forced to engage once more. It’s a furious battle, tinged with desperation. As soon as his soldiers have gained enough breathing room, they pull back. The puppets give chase, and the pattern repeats itself. To anyone looking, it is nothing more than the picture of a faltering resistance.

That’s exactly what they want.

Colonel Liu Jin feels it in his bones. There is hunger in the air. It comes from the puppets but does not belong to them. They are the emotions of the puppeteers. They are the emotions of a hunter growing closer to his prey.

“If you understand the risks of staying outside the Storm Dragon Palace, so be it. I will no longer try to convince you. Instead, I will ask you to do something with your position."

Although he is not a Qing, he is the Emperor’s uncle. That makes him someone who can be used as a hostage against the Emperor, and the enemy is not unaware of that. The moment he stayed outside the Storm Dragon Palace, he shone a beacon on himself. The one controlling the enemy army most likely has orders to capture him.

His patience must be nearing its limits.

From the start of this battle, the puppets have been superior to his Brotherhood of Thunder, yet no matter how much they fight, they are unable to claim victory. Every time the puppets look like they have the edge, the Brotherhood of Thunder musters its resolve and manages to create an opening to retreat. The pattern has repeated itself several times already. Being so close to victory only to be denied again and again by a foe he considers so far beneath him must be maddening.

The roar of Qi that suddenly washes over the battlefield is expected yet still surprising in its intensity. Colonel Liu feels himself almost knocked off his feet as a green ogre rises in front of his army. It is a fearsome thing with a protruding jaw and lower fangs that almost reach its yellow eyes. Each of its six mighty arms holds a giant cleaver.

With its first strike, dozens of his soldiers are blown away. They are nothing to it. Its yellow eyes look straight at him, and Colonel Liu knows fear. Orders leave his mouth as golden lightning is channeled through his spear, yet his attack splashes like water against the ogre’s skin. A mighty cleaver whistles through the air, aimed right at him.

A spear of bone surges from the ground.

It breaks the cleaver and strikes the monster on the chest. Though it cannot pierce its hide, the impact still knocks him back nearly a full mile.

“Now, now, now, we can’t have that,” says an unmistakably female voice.

“Hold!” Colonel Liu shouts as a cloaked woman rises from the ground, and his men immediately turn their weapons to her. “Do not attack!”

“Good,” the woman says. It is the one his nephew told him about, Serene End. It has to be. “I can see you are a man with sense. Just like your nephew.”

In the distance, the ogre rises and roars in defiance. The hooded woman shakes her head.

"Savagery, how unsurprising," she says before dashing towards her foe. Colonel Liu's eyes grow wide as he sees her body change shape. Her legs and arms become like curved blades. Her body turns into an armor of bone and coiled muscles. Even her head became a flat helmet of bone.

Nothing about her looks human anymore.

The two monsters clash, and a shockwave rocks the land. Two of the ogre's arms go flying off. The woman's body is a mass of deadly blades that tear apart everything. The ogre's cleavers cannot possibly compete.

And yet, the ogre does not turn back. Its arms regrow in an instant, blurring as it launches blow upon blow to its foe. Colonel Liu's eyes can barely follow what is happening. Arms are cut and regrow at an incredible pace. The relentless attack never stops.

"You stubborn failure!"

A curved blade becomes a spear. The green ogre's skin cracks and breaks. A howl of pain leaves its mouth for the first time as the spear breaks through. A kick from the woman's bladed legs follows, targeting the wound. A single fragment of bone falls in.

Bones explode from the ogre's back. In that instant, his form becomes like mist. It disperses only to reassemble a few yards back, its wounds gone. It howls and punches the ground. The impact seems to awaken the many puppets still around them. They do not attack the woman, but instead charge towards the army. Serene End tries to stop them, but the ogre gets in her way.

However, there is no need for her to help.

Colonel Liu barks an order, and the Brotherhood of Thunder obeys. Unlike every other time they have clashed, this time it is his soldiers who gain the advantage. Dozens of puppets fall as his men fight as a coordinated unit. As that happens, the green ogre is once pushed back by Serene End. Her featureless head turns to him.

“Annoying,” she says as she looks at the state of the battlefield. “I cannot help but think I have been used.”

He does not say anything. Even if it is already happening, he’d rather not give away his nephew’s plan.

“If it looks like the Temple of the Thousand Shadows is about to capture you, the Death Fashioning Scripture will not be able to stand by and let it happen. Understand that I’m asking something incredibly risky of you. There is no guarantee they will have someone near you, but if it works...”

But if it works, they'll have forced the Death Fashioning Scripture into open conflict with the Temple of the Thousand Shadows. His life is a small price to pay for something like that. To begin with, they cannot possibly defeat the Temple of the Thousand Shadows. Even if they could, that's not what his annoying nephew is after.

The only thing that matters is forcing the Temple of the Thousand Shadows and the Death Fashioning Scripture into open conflict.

That’s how they win the war.

~~~