Chapter Eighty-Three: Before Meeting the Enemy, He Had Already Suffered Heavy Losses

The chamber fell silent. No one spoke, for no one had ever dared to cross the Commandery Lady.

Xiao Lin was the first, and he had done so with outrageous insolence, before tens of thousands of soldiers.

Hong Lan fixed him with a hard stare, but Xiao Lin was no coward. He went on, “If Your Excellency insists on this course, then you should take the imperial city yourself.”

Hong Lan’s face went livid with fury, as though she wanted nothing more than to tear him apart or kill him on the spot. Yet she was still a commandery lord; she possessed at least some measure of dignity, and even if she lacked it at the moment, she had to pretend otherwise.

In a calmer tone, Hong Lan said, “General Xiao Lin, what do you think should be done?”

Since Hong Lan had set aside her pride, Xiao Lin was naturally not blind to the situation. He replied respectfully, “If the Commandery Lady truly intends to arrange things this way, then I request ten thousand soldiers to accompany me.”

Hong Lan said, “General, do you know how many Black Armor troops there are in Fallen City? Only three thousand, and most of them are not highly cultivated.”

Xiao Lin hurriedly answered, “Then does Your Excellency know who seized Fallen City?”

Hong Lan paused. Clearly, she did not know. She looked awkwardly at Xiao Lin and waited for his answer.

Xiao Lin said indifferently, “No one knows the exact name. They only say it was a man in gray robes, with unfathomable cultivation. The three thousand you mentioned is already an old figure. When I arrived, the messenger who delivered the letter said that the gray-clad man had taken three cities in succession by his own hand. By now, his forces number no fewer than ten thousand.”

Hong Lan was not especially shocked. She could also take three cities in rapid succession, though the time would have to be very short, so short that it would not even allow her to travel through all three cities.

Su Fan, however, thought differently. He found nothing strange in the fact that no one knew of the Gray Clad Man’s true identity. That man was no ordinary person; taking three cities in a row seemed only natural. What Su Fan was thinking about was the messenger. Who exactly was he? Or what sort of organization stood behind him?

Hong Lan strove to keep her expression composed, and said in a frosty voice, “Then give Su Fan another ten thousand Black Armor troops. But you must move quickly. Fallen Immortal City cannot be left undefended.”

The sternness in Xiao Lin’s face softened slightly. He smiled at Su Fan and said, “Though I cannot fight beside you, you must take care.”

Su Fan smiled back. “You as well.”

On the surface he appeared calm and placid, but inside, tumult surged like waves.

His cultivation and combat strength were not low, and with twenty thousand Black Armor troops at his side, he might perhaps still preserve his life against the Gray Clad Man.

But in terms of strategy and warfare, Su Fan had already witnessed that man’s methods. Without losing a single soldier, he had easily eradicated the two great powers of Fallen City, and then used Su Fan’s own hand to kill Erligou.

Erligou clearly possessed some treasure. The Old Man in Yellow could use it to identify the murderer, which was why the Gray Clad Man had not acted personally, lest he expose himself.

After enduring in silence for so long, he had finally taken action again with a fresh strategy. He must have prepared for this exceedingly well.

This battle, whether fought or not, would decide victory and defeat. Su Fan had long been ready to flee for his life, but would the Gray Clad Man still allow him to escape this time? Su Fan was stunned.

He had no choice but to accept the assignment, for the Old Man in Purple had said that all orders must be obeyed.

As the setting sun tilted westward, Su Fan led twenty thousand Black Armor troops out through the east gate.

There was no grand farewell lining the road, no crowd gathered to watch. People looked on as if it were the most ordinary of affairs.

Lowering his head, Su Fan silently counted the days since he had come to the Heaven-Origin Sect, and reflected on all that had happened during that time. He liked to think back on the past whenever he had nothing to do, to recall those old experiences. He found it quite interesting.

Not long after the army departed, the sky darkened. A black sky over a black marching column.

For some reason, Su Fan felt a flicker of irritation. Marching at night was dangerous; enemy ambushes could strike at any moment. Though the black armor helped conceal them, the enemy would also be clad in black armor.

Su Fan ordered the soldiers to rest where they were and continue at daybreak. He, meanwhile, spread out his divine sense and repeatedly searched their surroundings. The moment he left the city, he had felt an exceedingly terrifying danger.

He had always trusted his instincts, and so now he kept scanning their surroundings, trying to find what it was that made him uneasy, or who it was.

Yet all he found was the faint scent of rapeseed flowers from a village nearby. Suddenly, he remembered scenes from childhood, playing in the mountains with Old Man Wang.

Before he knew it, dawn was nearly upon them. Su Fan let out a long breath. Once daylight came, there would be no need to fear enemy ambushes.

Even if an enemy did strike, with twenty thousand Black Armor troops, Su Fan would not be afraid at all.

The soldiers were already fully prepared. Cultivators did not need much rest to begin with, only meditation to recover, and besides, they had not been out of the city for very long.

Now, all they had to do was get out of the gourd-shaped valley before the next nightfall. The valley was not large, but it was still spacious enough to hold twenty thousand Black Armor troops.

Though Su Fan could finally relax a little, he remained troubled, for that sense of danger still had not faded. On the contrary, it was growing stronger, as though it might erupt at any moment, perhaps even the next instant.

Then suddenly, the column stopped.

The problem seemed to lie in the middle of the formation. The Black Armor troops were strictly disciplined; even when facing an Nascent Soul cultivator, they would not break ranks or yield.

But they were also tightly united, never abandoning a single brother. So Su Fan guessed that the reason for the halt was that some Black Armor soldier had been unable to go on.

He quickly made his way toward the scene, and sure enough, one of the Black Armor troops was lying on the ground. Even from a distance, Su Fan could see that the man’s face was sallow and his arm was rotting away.

Cultivators generally did not fall ill. The man looked more as though he had been poisoned. Yet what poison could bring down a cultivator, and when had it been administered?

While Su Fan was still thinking, four Black Armor troops beside the man also collapsed for reasons unknown, showing the same symptoms: sallow faces, rotting arms.

Just as Su Fan was about to step forward and investigate, he suddenly felt some inexplicable filament drifting toward him.

He hastily retreated. The invisible thread gradually dissipated, and then vanished completely.

In truth, the filament existed only in Su Fan’s perception; it could not be seen at all. But the sensation of danger was exceedingly strong.

As Su Fan withdrew, several more soldiers within the Black Armor ranks fell. For the Black Armor troops, it was utterly inconceivable that dozens could die in the blink of an eye in such a manner.

Even more inconceivable was that, to this very moment, Su Fan still did not know how they had died. Could it be that mysterious filament? But what was it?

The orderly Black Armor troops were thrown into chaos. Several hundred more fell in quick succession, and the entire column became a disordered mass. The cause of the disorder was that the fallen soldiers had vanished, and even the Black Armor on their bodies had disappeared without a trace.

Su Fan suddenly looked up at the sky, and at last understood where the danger lay. His expression grew even heavier.

Looking at the soldiers in utter disarray, Su Fan felt deeply helpless. These people were either disciples of the Heaven-Origin Sect or the sons of the great noble clans within Heaven-Origin Commandery. Though he had no real affection for them, their lives now rested on a single thought of his.

“Scatter, or not scatter—the scent of rapeseed flowers...”

Su Fan murmured to himself. He guessed that if they moved away from the fallen soldiers, perhaps they would not be poisoned, but then the formation would inevitably disperse. Should the enemy attack at such a moment, they would be unable to withstand it.