Monster Chronicles: My Daoist Skill Comes from Mythology-Chapter 289 - 261: Tit for Tat, Not a Single One Left

Boom!

Flames soared three zhang high as rubble shot into the sky.

The towering city walls were blown apart by gunpowder.

The Yang Thunder Captain led a thousand Taoist Soldiers to breach the formidable Jinling City Wall.

The war had reached this critical juncture.

Those resisting were either cornered barbarians or demons.

The moment Jinling’s walls crumbled, countless demons swarmed out.

Under the pitch-black night, blood-red demon energy surged to the heavens.

The sight was both shocking and terrifying, causing the soldiers in the rear to hesitate uneasily.

Flooding out from within the city were zombies, walking corpses, ghosts, yakshas, dog demons, and many more.

They were innumerable, clustered densely together.

They even combined into a towering mass, forming a massive composite corpse.

"How dare you demons! Surrender immediately!"

In the air, Erlang God grew rapidly in size, swelling to over three hundred zhang tall.

The towering walls only reached the height of Erlang God’s ankle.

With his mastery of Fatian Xiangdi, not only did Erlang God’s size suppress the corpse mass, but his cultivation also advanced to the early stage of Core Formation.

With just a few strikes, he smashed the corpses into pulp, scattering their souls and spirits to nothingness.

Under the leadership of Erlang God and the Taoist Soldiers, the Xuan Army was the first to break through the demons’ defenses, followed closely by the Barbarian Army.

These were all cavalry soldiers, numbering around ten thousand. Leading them was the Emperor’s uncle, Prince Long, a burly man in a blue helmet.

The barbarians, having crossed into the territory years ago, had a mere three hundred thousand in population. Even with the recruitment of grassland banner soldiers and Han banner soldiers, their total force was only seventy to eighty thousand.

Leaving behind ten thousand troops to guard Jinling City demonstrated just how important this location was to Jing Country.

Seeing the city walls breached, Prince Long’s ferocity ignited.

Since escape was impossible, he resolved to fight to the death, vowing to take one down with him for every step forward.

"Men, charge!"

Prince Long led the charge, spearheading the assault.

More and more demons emerged from the earth, surfaced from the waters, and rose into the air.

Demons, like a plague of locusts, churned black clouds in their wake, shrieking with ear-piercing cries.

What happened next left the onlookers dumbfounded.

In the sky, a dazzling golden light flashed brilliantly.

A divine figure drove the Sun God Chariot, which was pulled by black serpents and flanked by three Divine Dragons.

The gale whipped up by the chariot swept the airborne demons into a whirlwind, funneling them into the mouths of the Divine Dragons one by one.

Prince Long was so shocked he fell off his horse, gazing blankly at the divine figure in the sky, murmuring to himself, "He truly is the True Heavenly Son..."

Soon, the tide of the army surged forward, swallowing the remaining defenders whole and capturing them all.

Witnessing this miraculous scene, the barbarians completely lost their will to fight. After losing over a thousand lives, they were captured by the Xuan Army.

"What kind of war is this?" Li Laiheng exclaimed in astonishment. "In all my life, I’ve never fought in such a well-equipped battle!"

Song Lin’s chariot hovered steadily in mid-air, absorbing the fanatical, reverent gazes of the surrounding crowd.

This time, they captured over eight thousand prisoners in total.

"Detain all of them and prepare to distribute porridge to aid the civilians."

This was an old tactic of the Xuan Army.

Everywhere they went, they would first capture the barbarians and collaborators. Then, under the guise of distributing porridge, they would gather displaced refugees and execute the barbarians publicly before the masses.

In this era, slogans were unnecessary; for Jing Country to control Shenzhou with just a few hundred thousand people, it was essential to instill deep hatred in the people against the barbarians.

By executing these barbarians, they would earn the loyalty of the civilians.

At that moment, a ragged old man emerged from a nearby house.

His eyes burned with searing hatred as he locked onto Prince Long, who was being restrained by soldiers.

"It’s him! This barbarian dog gave the order to kill! They slaughtered all the men, and the women were eaten by the barbarians!"

With that, the old man burst into loud sobs.

Song Lin had heard some rumors about this incident.

Reportedly, the barbarians not only killed people but also ate them. Disliking the taste of certain body parts, they would cut them off and discard them in piles, as high as small hills, according to witnesses.

Their cruelty rivaled that of demons.

The Xuan soldiers around them glared with fury, their faces flushed red as though haunted by some unspeakable memory.

Song Lin pondered momentarily before turning to Zuo Quan, who was approaching from not far away.

"Your Majesty, Prince Long’s entire family has been captured, a total of 121 people."

"Additionally, the entire clan of Governor Gua’erjia, and the General Xie Wei..."

Zuo Quan was swift, using the Thunder Mansion Ghost Soldiers to round up and detain all of them.

Song Lin thought for a moment before speaking: "Three days from now, parade the common barbarians around the city on horseback. As for these individuals—whatever they did to others, do the same to them, starting with their families and then to themselves."

"Yes, sir!"

Zuo Quan left to make the arrangements.

Song Lin usually did not advocate such methods of killing, but these people were far too brutal and hateful.

If they weren’t repaid in kind or with double retribution, how could future generations stand to read the history books without feeling aggrieved?

Three days later, in front of tens of thousands of refugees, the execution began.

Within the old Imperial Palace of Jinling.

Before Song Lin stood the members of the Qionghua Sect, surrounded on the left by military generals and the Imperial Guard.

"Rest and reorganize for ten days. After that, we’ll have the final battle to capture Yangzhou City and finalize the framework for the north-south divide. When that time comes, Jing Country’s demons and cultivators will gather. Are you afraid?"

Song Lin asked.

He was already aware of the recent righteous pursuit order issued by Emei.

"Not afraid! We’ll fight to the death without retreat!"

"Good. There’s something I need your help with. Lu Bowen, you will handle the arrangements shortly."

What Song Lin needed was simple: the creation of a sword array.

The Mount Heng Sect specialized in sword arrays.

An array could amplify the power of a divine sword or even create a domain.

Within this domain, the power of the divine sword would increase significantly.

Song Lin possessed the Eight Sceneries Divine Sword and needed eight sword arrays.

The arrays could be constructed either with inanimate objects or with people forming the array.

Given their offensive position, using people was the most suitable option.

This meant that most of the Qionghua Sect members would have to form the arrays, while Song Lin would single-handedly face both the Righteous Path and the demons.

...

Yangzhou City.

This city had suffered the deepest harm from the barbarians.

Due to the massive loss of population, it had transformed into a ghost city.

Even during daylight, the place was shrouded in impenetrable darkness, brimming with an eerie ghostly atmosphere.

Inside the city, there were bizarre and monstrous demons, as well as five-zhang-tall Yakshas and Ghost Kings.

The Barbarian Army stationed there numbered up to thirty thousand.

Outside the city, two hundred thousand Han soldiers were camped.

The newly enthroned Emperor Kang Zheng placed immense importance on this decisive battle.

This battle would determine the framework of the north-south divide.

Within the City Lord’s mansion.

The White Banner Commander, Blue Banner Commander, Yellow Banner Commander, Southern Expedition General, General of Fuyuan, and other famed generals had all gathered here after crossing into this territory.

Kang Zheng did not trust the Han people, so he had sent his most elite commanders to oversee the battle.

However, the true focal points were not these men.

Instead, they were the members of the Righteous Alliance, led by Chenhua of Mount Emei and Zhengxin of the Taizhen Sect.

In the grand hall, cultivators gathered in droves. Most of them wore long queues—an indication of allegiance to the New Dynasty.

A handful, including some Emei cultivators and overseas practitioners, retained their traditional attire.

"The East Sea Three Elders, Strange Taoist, Master Qingling, Master Baojing, Huangshan Hermit, Abbess of Yunshui Nunnery, and Master Miao Kong of Wutai Mountain! It’s truly been a long time! Seeing you all respond to the invitation today leaves me deeply grateful. I trust you are all aware of the matter with the demon thief Song Lin."

Chenhua greeted each one in turn.

In addition to these renowned figures, there were also those from minor sects trying to ingratiate themselves.

The hall was packed to the brim.

These were all famous Earth Immortals, sect leaders, or independent cultivators.

"Sect Leader, there’s no need for thanks. Eliminating the demon thief who wreaks havoc in the Mortal World and seizes the Divine Artifacts is a duty for people like us to act on behalf of Heaven."

A fat monk with a big round head intoned a chant of "mercy."

"Exactly! Eradicating the demon thief is our sacred mission!"

The crowd echoed, their voices overlapping.

The gathering subtly divided into two factions, led respectively by Emei and the Taizhen Sect.

Those with long queues and shaved heads aligned with Taizhen, including Huangshan Hermit, Abbess of Yunshui Nunnery, and Master Miao Kong of Wutai Mountain.

The rest allied with Emei.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

At that moment, heavy footsteps sounded from outside.

A colossal figure emerged into view.

This individual was as massive as a pig, standing a full zhang tall. As he walked, his fat jiggled with each step. His skin was an ashen black, his ears were broad as fans, his eyes glowed red like stars, and his teeth resembled blades.

He was carrying two large jars.

Behind him was a red-skinned Yaksha emanating flames of red fire from his head.

The moment these two demons appeared, an overwhelming surge of demonic qi engulfed the room!

"Esteemed Immortals, may I introduce the Ghost Power King and Rama Yasha King."

Everyone’s hearts tightened.

These two demons were both Earth Immortals, and their cultivation levels were not insignificant, exuding an intensely oppressive presence.

Chenhua was the first to break the tense silence.

Faced with such a formidable enemy, even collaborating with demons could be permissible under the circumstances.

As everyone assembled, outside, Jiangnan’s Great Scholars, under the leadership of Sun Jixue, were busy mobilizing the people.

In Champion Building, within a luxurious private room.

Having adopted a new hairstyle and donning fresh hats of rank, Sun Jixue was entertaining the attendees.

"The court has deployed its full army; the demon thief won’t live long now!" Sun Jixue downed a cup of wine with gusto.

Hmph!

This is the price for disregarding me, he thought. At least this wise ruler appreciates talent.

Some guests seemed sullen, absentmindedly rubbing their shaved heads.

"The demons outside... ah, there’s no heavenly sign here..."

The comment implied the New Dynasty lacked the heavenly mandate to rule.

The thought of the barbarians’ ruthless methods made the speaker instinctively swallow his words.

"Indeed, the current administration has its shortcomings, which we must correct. Over time, things will improve. Besides, how much better was Fake Qi compared to us?" Sun Jixue dismissed the remark nonchalantly.

"The Grandmaster is wise!"

"In a few days, we’ll personally head to the city wall to witness the demon thief’s defeat!"

"Let’s drink to that!"

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