Shi Luo Ye

Chapter 116 A Gift from My Senior Brother

When Lin Zhao returned to the mountain peak villa, Dong Cang produced a grey bag and handed it to him, saying respectfully, "Young Master, this is what your third senior brother asked me to give you before he left."

"Oh?"

Lin Zhao was startled. The moment he took the bag, he felt it was unusual. He probed it with spiritual energy and found that the space inside the bag was actually very large; it was a storage bag. He walked to the table, circulated his spiritual energy, and poured the contents of the bag out. He only felt a blur before his eyes, filled with golden radiance. A large pile of coins poured out of the storage bag with a clatter.

And it was the most valuable Jin Zi coins on the human race's mountains! One Jin Zi coin could buy an entire street in a prefectural city!

"Ah!?"

Dong Cang was dumbfounded. "Th-this much Jin Zi coin? The most I've seen before was only one. Here… it's such a huge pile…"

Lin Zhao reached out and gently stroked the Jin Zi coins. They were all real, a full ten thousand of them. Senior brother was truly generous!

"Miss Dong Cang…"

He asked with a smile, "Did senior brother leave any message when he gave you this Jin Zi coin?"

"He did."

Dong Cang blinked her large eyes and said, "He said these coins were obtained through proper channels and were for your future cultivation. You shouldn't be stingy with your cultivation expenses, especially sword cultivators. In the future, buying sword tempering stones, sea god rocks, blue fire rocks, and the like will incur huge expenses. This sum of money is enough to support a sword immortal of the Upper Five Realms. By the time you reach the Upper Five Realms, you'll have the ability to earn money yourself."

"Understood."

Lin Zhao smiled knowingly and said, "Then I'll accept it?"

"Naturally!"

Dong Cang nodded repeatedly and smiled, "How could you not accept senior brother's kind intentions?"

"Indeed!"

...

In the afternoon, the Snow Domain Heavenly Pool was peaceful.

At the foot of the mountain, a flying cavalry with purple eyes galloped up. In his hand, he held a scepter, and on his back were two battle flags, one for the demon race and one for the devil race. His warhorse was magnificent, carrying hundreds of pounds of devil race cavalry and armor up the mountain with ease. After handing a war declaration from the Northern Four Races to a captain guarding the main gate, he descended the mountain.

Not long after, in the human race's command tent on the Snow Domain Heavenly Pool, there was an uproar.

Old Marshal Chen Wanli held the war declaration, his expression uncertain.

"Marshal Chu arrives!"

Outside the large tent, Chu Huaixi, along with Lin Zhao, Huang Tingyu, and Chen Yu, strode into the command tent. He glanced at the war declaration in Chen Wanli's hand and couldn't help but frown. He already knew that something big must have happened.

"Marshal Chu!"

Chen Wanli rose and handed the war declaration to Chu Huaixi. At the same time, he gently patted Lin Zhao's shoulder and chuckled, "Kid, do you still remember me?"

Lin Zhao nodded happily. "You were half my master, of course, I remember. Lin Zhao thanks Old Marshal for teaching me boxing!"

"Haha, you're too kind, just treat me to a drink sometime."

"Alright!"

At this moment, Chu Huaixi, along with Huang Tingyu and Chen Yu, were already reading the text on the war declaration. This declaration was from the Devil Emperor himself, written in a few lines with powerful strokes, extremely imposing:

I bear the grand mandate, with heaven's decree to punish the wicked.

Where my banners point, Yue Hao shall fall.

The northern lands shall be ours.

Now, commanding a million devilish cavalry, united with ten demon army camps,

I wish to meet you at the Heavenly Pool,

To capture the rebels together and forge an eternal alliance.

I hope you will submit to heaven's will.

Lest you bring ruin upon yourself.

...

"Hmph, 'capture the rebels together'! Well said!"

Chu Huaixi angrily slammed the war declaration onto the table, a complex cold smile on his face. "In the devils' eyes, who are the rebels? Could it be me, Chu Huaixi?"

Shao Shiyu chuckled from the side, "In the devils' eyes, anyone who dares to raise arms against the devil race is a rebel."

Chen Wanli nodded. "Precisely. This war declaration is merely to demoralize our human race's morale, to crush our psychological defense with the might of a million devilish cavalry and ten demon army camps. What they want is for our human race to be defeated without a fight, and they even hope to use this war declaration to divide us internally, sparking conflict between the war party and the peace party."

"Old Marshal sees through it all."

Chu Huaixi frowned. "What is the current situation? Has the court of the Great Shang decided to fight, or to continue with Marquis Wen's proposal? To make peace with the Northern Four Races?"

"Quite the opposite."

Chen Wanli smiled faintly. "With the death of Marquis Wu, Yue Hao, the court has unanimously supported Marquis Wen. And Marquis Wen is now a staunch advocate for war, vigorously advocating at court for the human race to station a million troops at the Snow Domain Heavenly Pool and fight a decisive battle against the demon and devil races!"

"..."

Chu Huaixi's eyes lit up slightly. "Really?"

"Yes."

Chen Wanli said solemnly, "However… the forces are too disparate. If we mobilize all our available troops from the six central and southern provinces, we can muster at most 1.5 million soldiers. The combined strength of the Six Hall Divisions is around 700,000. That brings the total to 2.2 million. In contrast, the Northern Four Races…"

The old marshal pondered. "Our spies continuously send Flying Fish transmissions from the north. The demon race's reinforcements are still pouring south. Although there are only ten army camps now, it will certainly not be the case later. Their true strength should be around twenty army camps, a total of four million elite troops. The devil race's total strength is around 1.5 million. The ghost race's puppet legions are numerous, at least three million. The Jing Mei race has no army, but there are many cultivators of the Upper Five Realms, so we cannot afford to be careless. Overall, the Northern Four Races, at their maximum strength, have over eight million troops, plus a swarm of Upper Five Realm cultivators, which is an absolute crushing advantage."

Chu Huaixi frowned and remained silent. After a long while, he said, "Without a miraculous strategy to reverse the situation, it is almost impossible for the human race to win this war."

"That's right."

Shao Shiyu said, "But if we win, it will at least bring hundreds of years of peace."

"This battle must be fought!"

Lü Fengxian clenched his fist. "We have no other choice!"

"Indeed."

Chen Wanli nodded. "We must fight, but more importantly, how to fight. I summoned Marshal Chu today precisely to discuss this matter. If we are to fight, we must first have a battle plan and implement it before the demon race's reinforcements arrive. Otherwise, a poorly prepared major battle will surely lead to our defeat."

"What does Old Marshal mean?"

"Everyone is invited to offer their advice!"

Chen Wanli said calmly, "Regardless of rank or status, anyone can offer advice for this unavoidable major battle. All generals, all strategists and advisors from the great tents can write down a battle plan. Afterward, I, Marshal Chu, and the five Hall Masters, and even Marquis Wen of White Emperor City, will decide which strategy to adopt."

"Understood!"

Shao Shiyu cupped his fist and nodded.

Lü Fengxian, Qin Yushan, and others also cupped their fists. Chu Huaixi turned to the three generals of the Heavenly Pool Army. " Old Huang, you don't need to write one. You don't understand strategy. Your Highness Yu and Lin Zhao, you two will each write a plan, and I, Chu Huaixi, will write one. Our Heavenly Pool Army will submit these three."

"Yes!"

Chen Wanli cupped his fists to everyone. "Submit your completed plans directly to my command tent as soon as possible. There's no need to forward them through anyone. The future prosperity and disgrace of our human race depend on all of you!"

Everyone cupped their fists again and then dispersed one by one.

...

Late at night.

Lin Zhao, still carrying his ancient sword, remained in the command tent of the Deathly Resistance Camp. Since Little Stone and Little Jiu'er were not around, he couldn't think of any reason to return to the mountain peak villa. Under the candlelight, he stood by the sand table of the Deathly Resistance Camp, staring at the deployment of troops between the human race and the Northern Four Races. He did this for over an hour.

"Sir."

Beside him, Xu Zhi frowned slightly. "If it's impossible, why not rest for a while?"

"No need."

Lin Zhao waved his hand. "If you're tired, go to sleep. I'm not tired."

"Mmm…"

Xu Zhi, Luo Yang, and Mu Yuan cupped their fists together. "Then we… shall take our leave."

"Go ahead."

After everyone left, Lin Zhao was the only one left in the vast command tent. In fact, the moment Old Marshal Chen announced the call for battle plans, a very vague strategy surfaced in Lin Zhao's mind. But the more he thought about it, the more his head ached. It seemed that the memory of this strategy belonged to the original Lin Zhao, not the young man from Heavenly Pool Town. But he had to force himself to think. The more he thought, the more he might be able to change the future pattern of the world.

In the early morning.

Lin Zhao's memories of this strategy gradually increased, and he even recalled other memories. He seemed to have a cousin, named what? He forgot… And the reason he came to this world, to be born into the body of young Lin Zhao, seemed to be because of someone called Little Jujube, but who was Little Jujube?

He couldn't remember. The more he thought, the more his head hurt, so he stopped thinking.

Fortunately, the battle plan was beginning to take shape. Lin Zhao picked up a brush and paper and quickly drew diagrams on several sheets and wrote descriptive text on others. At this moment, his thoughts were racing, and he was in an extremely excited state. By noon, he had filled five pages of text. He had also drawn six detailed maps of the defenses around the Snow Domain Heavenly Pool.

"Hoo…"

He took a deep breath, tidied up the papers, sealed them in an envelope, and then called Xu Zhi in. He asked Xu Zhi to personally deliver the letter to Chen Wanli's command tent. After that, Lin Zhao went to sleep.

...

In the afternoon, Chen Wanli's command tent was already piled high with various strategy letters. He read them one by one, continuing until nightfall. Then, he took one of the strategies and reread it, his head aching. He tossed and turned in bed. It wasn't until late at night that the old marshal suddenly sat up and said, "Someone, go summon the five Hall Masters and Chu Huaixi."

"Yes, sir!"

In the dead of night, there were only seven people in the entire command tent. Qin Yushan of Jade Bamboo Garden set up a formation that isolated the entire tent from the world. Chen Wanli rose and smiled faintly. "I have read all the strategies you have written. Marshal Chu's strategy is too cautious; I fear it will ultimately be broken through by the demon race. Shao Shi's strategy is too hasty; I fear it will end up like Marquis Wu Yue Hao. Lü Fengxian's strategy is quite moderate, but I fear it will still not achieve a miraculous effect."

Chu Huaixi frowned. "Old Marshal… did you find any that caught your eye?"

"There is one."

Chen Wanli gently pushed a strategy towards the front of the command table. "Only this one is considered a miraculous strategy. It shows me a glimmer of hope of using weakness to overcome strength and turning defeat into victory."

Chu Huaixi's gaze fell upon it, and his heart couldn't help but tremble slightly. The envelope was clearly marked with the name "Lin Zhao."

Eighth chapter completed, brothers, give me your recommendation votes!!!