Chapter 1403: Chapter 1403: 1388: Cow Heart Mountain
Capítulo 1403: Chapter 1388: Cow Heart Mountain
Two days later, amidst torrential rain, Ye Zhen returned alone to the County City of North Sea, his face ashen.
This scene immediately frightened County Captain Tang Biao, Governor Qiao Hong, Gu Tieqi, Liuu Feng, and others half to death.
Especially Tang Biao and Qiao Hong, they saw Ye Zhen returning alone and thought that all the guards around Ye Zhen had perished, causing cold sweat to break out due to the fright.
Because if Ye Zhen were finished and no one deliberately dealt with their Divine Souls confiscated by Ye Zhen, their lives would be finished too.
Upon learning the truth, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Heavenly Patrol Divine General Fengg Jiumo and others did not die to protect Ye Zhen but were sent by Ye Zhen to carry out important tasks.
At present, these people can be considered Ye Zhen’s confidants; there was no need for Ye Zhen to hide some things from them.
Ye Zhen sent Fengg Jiumo and others to deliver military armaments to the other four armies of North Sea County, along with orders to counterattack and leave no survivors.
Whether Ye Zhen’s plan to eliminate the flood disaster succeeds or not, the troops under Ye Zhen must launch a counterattack. Only by severely wounding and devastating these water demons will they remember before the next plunder.
As for where Ye Zhen’s military armaments came from, Ye Zhen did not say, nor did anyone dare to ask.
Due to the strong defensive structures of the County City of North Sea, and with five Sky-Breaking Dragon-Slaying Crossbows stationed there, there was no occurrence of water demons besieging the city.
However, it was evident that within a river course twenty miles south of the County City of North Sea, a water demon army of about two hundred thousand was also concealed.
This water demon army would occasionally emerge from the river course to flaunt their power but never leave, making the over seventy thousand troops stationed at the County City of North Sea highly tense.
Under these circumstances, the purpose of this water demon army was evident.
To restrain!
It was to restrain the county troops of the County City of North Sea, making them dare not step out from the defending North Sea County City, thereby keeping them tied here, facilitating other divisions of the water demons to plunder.
This arrangement was quite clever.
In other words, either the Dragon Prince executing this plundering had some abilities, or there was someone of great skill backing him.
“Tang Biao, with these, do you have the confidence to annihilate that two hundred thousand strong water demon army?” Ye Zhen suddenly handed over a few storage rings and asked.
Merely glancing at the storage rings, Tang Biao’s eyes were filled with unavoidable shock, “My Lord, defeating them poses no issue, but the weather, coupled with that river course, greatly enhances the water demons’ strength, making total annihilation difficult!
Moreover, according to the reconnaissance, there are quite a few Dark Palace Realm experts within this two hundred thousand strong water demon army. Generally, we can contend with them, but with this continuous heavy rain and fighting within the river course, I fear…”
“The County City of North Sea has five Sky-Breaking Dragon-Slaying Crossbows; I’ll provide you with five more. Total ten, is that enough?” Ye Zhen stated bluntly.
“Ten?” Tang Biao was taken aback, not expecting Ye Zhen to have such forbidden objects as the Sky-Breaking Dragon-Slaying Crossbows.
“Then there’s no problem at all, My Lord. Rest assured, for these ten Sky-Breaking Dragon-Slaying Crossbows, I’ll make sure they are controlled by trusted personnel.”
“Go prepare; within half a day, I want to see the results!”
Over seventy thousand county soldiers, who held their ground in the County City of North Sea, began to prepare for action. Ye Zhen, like a piece of wood, stood atop the city wall of the County City of North Sea, drenched by the downpour, with eyes closed, subtly sensing.
Although the Soul-locking Technique had absolute control over those whose Divine Souls were captured, with a mere Divine Sense movement, it could cause their instant death regardless of the distance, spanning millions of miles or even between worlds.
However, in terms of spatial perception, the farther the distance, the blurrier the sense, only providing a rough direction.
Ye Zhen was currently striving to sense the positions of Dragon Fish Water Lord and his trusted water demons.
To be safe, Ye Zhen had captured the Divine Souls of dozens of water demons imprisoned at the training field. On that night, the water demons that successfully escaped with Dragon Fish Water Lord had all their Divine Souls captured by Ye Zhen as well.
Anyway, the Soul-locking Technique consumed little of Ye Zhen’s energy; capturing a few more or less made no significant difference.
About two hours ago, Ye Zhen suddenly noticed that the several water demons, including Dragon Fish Water Lord, halted abruptly.
They were still alive, but their activity area had stabilized within a certain range.
This situation indicated a limited number of possibilities: Dragon Fish Water Lord and his entourage had reached their destination, had found that Dragon Prince, raised their flag in place, or hid themselves.
“Map!”
Ye Zhen called softly, and Liuu Feng’s Spiritual Power emanated around him, instantly forming a rainless canopy covering dozens of meters. Dozens of massive Jade Scroll Spirit Maps were handed to Ye Zhen, and once activated by Spiritual Power, the mountains and rivers within the Jade Scroll Spirit Map were vividly projected before Ye Zhen’s eyes.
Ye Zhen pondered, carefully contemplating on the Spirit Map. After a while, he circled a spot on the map, “Niu Er, deploy a search within this range. I need to know if there is a massive water demon presence in this area as soon as possible, and if that Dragon Prince of the Blue-scaled Dragon King is here!
You may order the Heavenly Patrol Divine Hunter to assist you!”
“Yes!”
Nodding lightly, Spirit Scout Niu Er seemed to merge with the rainwater, vanishing in an instant.
It was still a long wait. This time, Ye Zhen waited even longer. The sounds of battle cries outside the city rang out; it was the army under Tang Biao’s command launching a counterattack. The slaughter was underway.
The river where the Water Demons were stationed directly turned into a Blood River, with the deafening sounds of battle. No one would notice the mysterious figure hidden among the clouds in the sky.
Occasionally, someone noticed that the Innate Divine Souls of the fallen Water Demons all floated towards one direction in the sky, but there was no time to investigate further. In this moment, who had the time to ponder such things?
The battle outside the city ended quickly. The combat determination of the Water Demons was even more fragile than Ye Zhen had imagined. After leaving seventy thousand corpses behind under the sudden attack, they retreated at the fastest speed.
With the speed of the Soldiers of North Sea County, they could not catch up with these Water Demons who moved smoothly through water.
Originally, there were Spirit Boats available for use.
But once these Water Demons fled into the intricate waterways, the Spirit Boats were useless. County Captain Tang Biao could only watch helplessly as the Water Demon army retreated.
“Master, in this battle, we annihilated over seventy-one thousand Water Demons, but our forces also suffered over four thousand fatalities and more than twenty thousand seriously injured!” Tang Biao reported the battle results with some excitement.
This figure, compared to previous encounters, was indeed impressive.
Of course, he understood clearly that a significant part of the credit went to the military armory bestowed by Ye Zhen. Without those armaments, the casualties this time would have been several times higher, perhaps even resulting in their total defeat by the Water Demon army.
The main reason was the overwhelming firepower suppression of the Wind-Fire Crossbow, and those ten Sky-Breaking Dragon-Slaying Crossbows, making even the elite of the Human Demon Battlefield seem ordinary.
“Clear the battlefield, treat the wounded, and tell the brothers to seize the time to rest!”
The order Ye Zhen casually gave tightened Tang Biao’s expression because it seemed from Ye Zhen’s words that more battles awaited!
Just before dawn, Ye Zhen received intelligence from Niu Er.
With just one glance, Ye Zhen’s expression turned inexplicably strange, “Cow Heart Mountain? Why gather over five hundred thousand elite Water Demons here at Cow Heart Mountain? Even the Dragon Prince is stationed there?”
Following Ye Zhen’s instructions, Niu Er personally went to verify and discovered that around the area marked by Ye Zhen on the Spirit Map near Cow Heart Mountain, there were indeed countless Water Demon armies, all elite, with the lowest cultivation at Mid Establishment Realm.
Moreover, in a daring move, Niu Er found that the Dragon Prince Ao Zheng of the Blue-scaled Dragon Palace was stationed near Cow Heart Mountain.
Ye Zhen wasn’t surprised that Dragon Prince Ao Zheng was accompanied by five hundred thousand elite Water Demons.
What puzzled Ye Zhen was why they had gathered at Cow Heart Mountain?
Cow Heart Mountain indeed had several mineral veins, but at most, Water Demons would plunder some minerals; they wouldn’t mine them.
As soon as the words ‘Cow Heart Mountain’ were mentioned, Prefectural Governor Qiao Fu’s expression turned tense, and he quickly stepped forward, “Lord, I might know the reason.”
“Speak!”
“Population!”
“Cow Heart Mountain is part of the Two-World Mountain Range nearby. Though the terrain is complex, the resources are abundant, making it suitable for survival. It has always been a gathering place for refugees, bandits, and runaway slaves from North Sea County and the neighboring two counties.”
“Hmm? How many people?” Ye Zhen’s eyes suddenly flashed with intense light.
“This isn’t very clear, but at the very least, I fear there’s a population of millions!”
Ye Zhen was startled by the number mentioned by Prefectural Governor Qiao Fu. At least a million; and at most?
“Returning to the Lord, at most, it’s hard to say, but it could be five to six million, or even possibly as high as ten million!”
The words ‘ten million’ directly shocked Ye Zhen, “Ten million people, how is that possible?”
Governor Qiao Fu’s expression turned somewhat difficult, and finally, under Ye Zhen’s intense gaze, or perhaps out of a deep-seated fear of his lord, he spoke directly.
“Lord, amid the flood, demon trouble, and military threats in North Sea, those hiding in the deep mountains mostly escape the brunt. The refugees at Cow Heart Mountain trace back to a thousand years ago.
After millennia of reproduction, plus the annual influx of escapees, it’s accumulated significantly.
But there’s no King’s Domain there, so….”
“With so many refugees, why not bring them under control? Even if the refugees are organized, with bandits and strong military power, they still can’t match the Soldiers of North Sea County, right?” Ye Zhen questioned harshly.
This time, County Captain Tang Biao spoke, “Lord, the terrain of Cow Heart Mountain is complex and vast. To drive these refugees out of the deep mountains is as hard as ascending to the heavens.
We have conducted raids a few times, but once they retreat into the interior of the mountains, we are helpless.”
Ye Zhen pondered for a moment, “Let’s discuss this matter later! Continue discussing the issue of the flood.’
“Since we have located the main force of the plundering Water Demons in this county and the person behind the scenes, we must deal with them, but the issue is the troops.
The military forces of North Sea County cannot be drawn from too many places. From where can we find additional forces to borrow?” As he spoke, Ye Zhen pointed to the Spirit Map, “This garrison camp here, they have at least two hundred thousand troops, right? Can we ask them for assistance?”
The question had no sooner been asked than both County Captain Tang Biao and Prefectural Governor Qiao Fu, as well as Liuu Feng and Gu Tieqi, showed ugly expressions on their faces.