Chapter Fifty-One: Sudden Realization

Flames, like serpents, slithered across the mountains. Many of the demon soldiers who had charged too deep perished in the fire, but their losses were negligible compared to those of the humans. Over six thousand of the two divisions of demon troops survived, while of the fifty-five thousand men from the Yingyang Army and the White Horse First Division, fewer than a few hundred escaped unscathed. The disparity was stark.

Within less than half an hour, the entire Fuling Mountain had been licked by tongues of flame until it was barren and charred as coal. Countless blackened corpses of humans, demons, and beasts lay curled in piles. A faint scent of cooked meat mingled with the stench of char and rot, wafting through the air and turning the stomach.

Only then did the old crone slowly reach out a hand and gesture. She muttered an incantation, and the gourd emitted a sharp sound. The fire surged in reverse; the flames that had been spewing outward were instantly drawn back into the gourd like a film played in reverse. The inferno turned into a rolling torrent, vanishing into the mouth of the gourd until all was still.

The gourd then rapidly shrank, landing in the crone's palm before being hung back on the head of her staff.

The crone descended slowly from mid-air. The demons on the ground immediately cleared a wide space for her. She then ambled toward the rear of the demon formation, walking until she reached a grove under the watchful eyes of the host. Upon a fallen tree trunk in the grove sat the demon girl in white and another old man.

The young girl was, of course, the flat-chested girl familiar to Liuchou: Tushan Qingmei. The old man beside her was Seventh Uncle, and the crone was naturally Ninth Granny—Tu Qi and Tu Jiu.

As Ninth Granny entered, Seventh Uncle was clutching the Jade Purity Vase to his chest with extreme caution, gripping it tightly. His old eyes, rarely bright, were fixed on the girl before him as if facing a formidable enemy. The girl was circling them, chattering incessantly.

"Good Seventh Uncle, just let me try it..."

"Absolutely not. Miss, please do not make things difficult for this old servant. If Master finds out, he will break my legs..."

"Oh, I won't tell! I absolutely won't!"

"It is not a matter of telling or not telling, but that you lack the demonic power, Miss. Not only can you not control it, but it will also harm your own body... Sister, you’ve come just in time! The young lady wants to use the Jade Purity Vase!"

Seeing Ninth Granny return, the old man cried out as if grabbing a lifeline. The girl finally stopped pacing, wrinkled her nose, and sat back on the tree stump with a sullen expression.

"Miss, I fear you will need more time before you can use this vase," Ninth Granny said, her toothless lips curling into a smile that made the wrinkles on her face bloom like a flower. "Both the Purple-Gold Gourd and the Jade Purity Vase are Dharma treasures. They cannot be wielded by any but Great Demons. Even with the blessings of our Master, my brother and I have only been able to use them with ease in recent years. Otherwise, without reaching the level of a Great Demon, using them by force brings only harm and no benefit. You must not be reckless, Miss."

"I know, I only wanted to try. If I couldn't, I would have stopped," Qingmei said, displeased. "Seventh Uncle, Ninth Granny, you always say that my brother and I are the only direct descendants of Tushan and possess the blood of the ancients. Why can the family treasures not recognize us as their masters? Why must we, like everyone else, become Great Demons before we can use them?"

Ninth Granny pondered this and said, "That is a difficult question for this old servant to answer. I truly do not know. If you wish to know, Miss, why not ask the Master?"

Qingmei sighed and said wistfully, "How could I not have thought of that? It’s just that my father is in seclusion and won’t be out for another eighty years. How can I ask him if I can’t see him?"

"Then... what about the Young Master?" Ninth Granny ventured to ask.

"My brother? Don't even mention him," Qingmei huffed. "He's still angry with me. Forget about telling me, he won't even have a proper conversation with me. How could he possibly tell me?"

The crone smiled gently. "I fear the reason the Young Master won't tell you is that he is afraid that once you know the reason, you will take the treasure and sneak off again."

Qingmei looked embarrassed, her voice dropping. "Who says so? He just doesn't want to tell me..."

"Miss, it is not that this old servant wants to lecture you, but you were indeed in the wrong last time," the old man interjected with a smile. "You argued with the Young Master, then went off under an assumed name to join the Great Golden Peng King’s plan, disappearing for over two years. You nearly frightened my sister and me to death. Fortunately, you were blessed with good luck. Had something gone wrong, my sister and I would never have been able to atone for our sins, even with our deaths."

Qingmei knew she was in the wrong, but she refused to concede. "He is the same! He left just as he pleased. Who says that wasn't a disappearance? Why can he do it, but I cannot?"

"How is that the same? The Young Master is already a Great Demon, a different realm from yours. He is capable of protecting himself, so naturally, he can go where he must," Seventh Uncle said calmly. "If you were a Great Demon, it would be the same, and I would not say a word."

"Don't I command an army now? How am I inferior to him?" Qingmei retorted, unconvinced.

"That is not the same. You are commanding this army because you are leading a long-distance surprise attack. You learned human strategy and stood out, which is why you can lead, but it is not commensurate with your own demonic power," the old man said. "Otherwise, the Young Master would not have had us bring the treasures along to guard you."

Ninth Granny nodded in agreement. "Indeed. Whether human or demon, one's own power is the most important. No matter how many soldiers you have, they cannot withstand the power of those who have attained immortality. You must—"

"Oh, stop bringing that up... enough! Let's talk about business!" Seeing the old man mention her cultivation level again, Qingmei grew annoyed and turned to Ninth Granny. "How is it outside? Did you destroy the manor?"

"Yes. The thousand miles around Fuling Mountain are now scorched earth. Fewer than a hundred escaped, and the Great Demon Bi Han has already sent men in pursuit," Ninth Granny replied, setting aside the small talk. "What is our next move?"

"The next move... that is tricky," Qingmei furrowed her brows, looking at the two elders with a trace of worry. "The appearance of the human army here makes me think our plan has been exposed!"

"Exposed?"

The old man and woman’s expressions darkened. They looked at each other in confusion. While both humans and demons had existed for ten thousand years, humans were adept at learning and thinking. They were always progressing, not only making great strides in mechanical beasts, weaponry, armor, and transport, but also developing various sub-disciplines in strategy and military doctrine. In recent years, schools of thought had emerged—Legalist, Confucian, Mohist, Agriculturalist—each following its own path.

Conversely, the demon race had achieved nothing in ten thousand years, relying forever on a few simple tactics like surprise attacks, encirclements, and flanking. That was why the Great Golden Peng King had initiated the infiltration plan, sending demons to blend into human society to learn their arts while bribing and recruiting human traitors as spies.

Only since then had the demon race paid sufficient attention to human mechanical beasts, military strategy, and intelligence.

Over the years, demon spies had infiltrated human academies everywhere. The only place they couldn't penetrate was Guigu. That was why, years ago, the Guigu policy was implemented: gathering dead-men to infiltrate and study. It was also then, while arguing with her brother, that Qingmei had hidden her identity and infiltrated, leading to her meeting with Liuchou.

Thus, when Qingmei mentioned exposure, even experts like Seventh Uncle and Ninth Granny were confused.

Qingmei was neither annoyed nor angry. She explained to them, "The army sent by the humans is the Yingyang, one of the Upper Four Armies. This army is permanently stationed at the Hot Spring Pass. For the entire army to suddenly appear at Yunzhan Manor, they were clearly not here to hunt for sport. Their target must be us. Therefore, I believe our plan to raid Xiyi must have been discovered by Huang Chenyuan, and he set an ambush!"

"An ambush? But if it were an ambush, why would they be the ones annihilated?" Seventh Uncle asked, puzzled. "There wasn't even a decent Qi practitioner among them. How can this be?"

"That is because the humans did not know you would be coming. They only expected a standard military raid, which is why they were reckless," Qingmei said. Seeing the old man and woman listening dutifully and nodding with admiration, she felt a fleeting sense of satisfaction. But it vanished instantly, replaced by the worry in her heart. "Truly, when it comes to open and hidden schemes, the humans are the masters. My demon race is still far behind!"

Seeing Qingmei distressed, Ninth Granny steered the conversation back to the main point. "Then, according to your wishes, Miss, what shall we do? Shall we press forward with a rapid raid, or withdraw to the Qinling Mountains and return to Xiniu Hezhou?"

Qingmei shook her head, muttering to herself as if in thought: "Withdrawal or advancement, neither is the main issue. The biggest issue is that it has been exposed that there are half-step Great Demons in our army. If this attracts an Earth Immortal-level Qi practitioner, what are we to do?"

Tu Qi and Tu Jiu’s expressions changed. They knew well that although they had just wiped out fifty thousand human soldiers, even fifty or a hundred thousand ordinary men could not compare to an Earth Immortal Qi practitioner. Moreover, the humans possessed guardian Qi practitioners. If they truly provoked one, even with the Jade Purity Vase and the Purple-Gold Gourd in hand, they would likely fare poorly!

The power a Dharma treasure could exert in the hands of a true Great Demon versus a half-step Great Demon was vastly different—this was the main reason the two old servants were worried.

"If that is the case, we should withdraw!" Seventh Uncle decided firmly. "We will escort you back, Miss. Such a mission is far too dangerous; it is not worth it!"

Ninth Granny nodded urgently. "Exactly! Let us leave at once!"

Qingmei remained silent, neither saying they would leave nor stay. She frowned, lost in thought, her expression flickering as if she were wrestling with a difficult dilemma.

She had already decided to leave, but following her previous line of thought, a question was fermenting in her mind—an inexplicable, vague worry.

How had the news leaked?

The plan was meticulous. The demons were divided into two parts: one to attack cities to draw human reinforcements north, and the other to follow her to attack Black Fire City, using the demons' ice-casting techniques to freeze the lake and enter the Qinling Mountains, then traveling a hundred miles to raid Xiyi. She had simulated this plan in her mind countless times without a single flaw. Yet, just before they emerged, she encountered Liuchou’s scouts, and following them, discovered the human encampment.

Clearly, not long after they attacked Black Fire City, the Yingyang Army had begun to mobilize. That was how they were able to arrive at Yunzhan Manor ahead of her. If Liuchou hadn't exposed his tracks, Qingmei would never have guessed that such a massive army was lying in wait outside the mountains!

She began to meticulously recall the deployment of the human western forces, their recent arrangements, the Great Golden Peng King’s troop movements, and every move made...

Wait!

She shuddered!

A spark of inspiration flashed, and suddenly, an incredible thought occurred to her, illuminating the chaotic mess of her thoughts!

The idea was mind-boggling, almost unbelievable, yet under the current circumstances, it was the most logical and strategically sound move!

But what about herself?

Tushan Qingmei’s face instantly went pale. "Quick... retreat at once!"