As Lu Xiaoya was leading the retreat, she didn't care at all about the demons left behind. Everyone could hear their distress and despair as they were being ripped to shreds by the former slaves they had tormented. Even the humans were appalled by such violence. However, they also imagined the scenes that had happened with their forefathers when they got freed by Emperor Nuwa. The Great War against the demons had probably been as brutal, if not more. Moreover, they had very little empathy for the demons of the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, who simply wanted to wipe them out with extreme prejudice.
Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan looked at the scene. He was torn apart between his oath to Empyrean Asura and his duty to his forces. This battle couldn't be won, it was obvious. But if he disobeyed Empyrean Asura's orders, his Langyin Region could suffer for it. On the other hand, the Empyrean Asura had shown weakness. Unfortunately, it might also force the Empyrean Asura to exert even more cruelty in order to save some face. As such, Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan was hesitating. Full of doubts, many ideas went through his mind. He even thought about challenging Silver Wolf General Long Cheng to a duel.
If he were able to kill this great hero of the Hongchen Kingdom, he might be able to give the Empyrean Asura enough face to spare his Langyin Region. After this great failure, Empyrean Asura would be forced to make an example. In order to spare his people from that, Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan had to bring him even a tiny amount of success he could boast about. Unfortunately, despite his strength, Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan was absolutely aware that he couldn't face Silver Wolf General Long Cheng right now. He would have to face around seventy thousand human soldiers and almost as many demon slaves, blinded by rage and fury. The only way he could actually hope to fight his enemy was to send his forces back, but they were too busy retreating.
The Silver Wolf Marshal was staring directly into the Silver Wolf General's eyes. Both men were separated by a long distance, but they could distinctly see each other, as if they had been standing next to one another. Without a word, they were still able to communicate. Long Cheng could see that Shanyin Guan wasn't acting out of his own volition, he was being coerced. Shanyin Guan could tell that Long Cheng wouldn't chase him or his men, he had a path to retreat safely. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. In the end, Shanyin Guan retreated.
He abandoned the last few demons loyal to Empyrean Asura as they were begging for help and salvation. Their only hope was now a quick death. Knowing that their fate was sealed, they fought back with all the energy of despair.
When the carnage was over, the land was covered in fresh blood. The very air was tainted by a red mist, and a powerful killing intent had spread across the border and the territories of both humans and demons. The former slaves had exhausted themselves completely. Now, they came back to their senses and realized how violent they had been. Their bodies were covered in blood. Most of them had injuries and severe wounds they had not even realized until now. It had been as if they had been in a trance. Now that they witnessed their handiwork, even they were surprised by their ferocity. A few of them fell to the ground, having sustained too many injuries.
Although their carnage was shocking even to them, the former slaves had no mercy for their masters of yesterday. They could remember the terrible and obscene treatments they had suffered through. Even if some of those demons were innocent of these, this still made no difference in the eyes of the former slaves. However, there was now a very strange and eerie atmosphere. Indeed, the demons covered in the blood and organs of their own kind were being watched by the humans. The emotions in the eyes of both humans and demons were extremely complex. No one knew what to do or what to say.
Everyone was waiting, fearing that another battle would break out.
After this terrible battle, around thirty thousand humans had died, and the same number of demon slaves had also been killed. Among the demons who had fled, those loyal to Silver Wolf Marshal Shanyin Guan, it was probably the same. When it came to the demons loyal to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy, it was the opposite. At most, thirty thousand of them had survived out of the hundred thousand who had come to fight. Most of the survivors had either been able to flee with the Silver Wolf Marshal's forces or had scattered anywhere they could, both within the Hongchen Kingdom and the demon territory. Of course, humans would hunt any demon who had entered the Hongchen Kingdom. That being said, it was impossible to catch all of them.
For a few long minutes, humans and demons were just staring at each other. They quickly realized that the demon slaves were just too weak to fight back. In their carnage, they had spent all of their strength, and many were injured. Some were even on the verge of dying.
Since no one knew what to do, time had stopped. Slowly, a human, an older man stepped toward an injured young woman. Her throat had been sliced open, and she was holding it closed with all her strength, to the point of choking herself. While humans and demons had been staring at each other without doing anything, the older man had watched her fight for her life and was slowly losing it. He couldn't wait any longer. With very cautious steps, he got closer to her. Some demons in the distance stared at the scene. Other humans were tightening the grip on their weapons, afraid of what the demons might do.
The older man got to the young woman and applied pressure to her wound. He tore apart his own clothes and began to work on a bandage. Although he wasn't a physician, he had enough experience on the battlefield to know how to mend many wounds. Unfortunately, he couldn't save her life, but he was certain that he could keep her alive a bit longer. Hopefully, an actual physician could help her.
"Physician! We need a physician!"
He shouted as loudly as he could. All onlookers were surprised by his actions. Even the young woman realized what was going on and was shocked. He shouted and shouted, but no one moved. Suddenly, an old woman appeared from the sky. She was a 4-star Heaven physician. Without saying anything, she sent her spiritual senses throughout the demons and took a few powders from her spatial ring.
"Keep her from moving. It will be painful, bear with it."
She quickly gave her orders to the two of them. Honestly, she wasn't sure the woman demon spoke Nuhua. She probably didn't. However, she was able to understand the physician's meaning in her tone and her eyes. The old man grabbed her hand, and the demon squeezed it, knowing what was to come. The physician opened the bandage for an instant, just long enough to put powders on the red skin of the demon. The very next instant, the bandage was back in place, even better and tighter than before. However, the demon suddenly screamed like a slaughtered pig. The pain was intense. That being said, she could tell that her flesh was healing. Her throat was closing under the effect of the powder. There would always be a deep scar, but she would stop bleeding to death.
As soon as the bleeding was over, the physician gave her a pill to promote blood production in her body. Although it was meant for humans, humans and demons had close anatomy. After all, they were close enough to have fertile offspring. Indeed, all demons on the Piaolu planet were in fact part human and part asura. Even asura, just like deva, were very close to humans. According to the legends, all three species were in fact only one species that had been split apart, the Three Jade Saints.
Humans and demons watching the scene were astonished. It was as if a dam had broken. Many humans began to assist the injured demons. The former slaves didn't know how to react, they were staggered and just let the humans do their thing. No former slave spoke Nuhua, and most humans only knew very few words in Moshenhua. Thankfully, Silver Wolf General Long Cheng knew enough to address the crowd. His accent wasn't very good as he wasn't used to speaking this language, but his grammar was perfect. After all, it was his duty to fight demons, so he knew the language most of them on the Piaolu planet spoke.
"No harm will come upon you. You are recognized as refugees by my Sunmen Province, under the authority of Emperor Weide."
As he was speaking, Long Cheng received a message from the Huang family. He wasn't completely sure, but he decided to say it out loud. After all, the Huang family had always had great intel, and Huang Cixi knew what she was doing.
"High Mother Lisha, successor to High Mother Qin Xue, asks you to accept our hospitality in the name of the Weaver of Souls. A small altar will be prepared for you to pay homage to the Weaver of Souls."
Although the demons were a bit shocked, they understood the thick accent of Long Cheng. Hearing the name of the High Mother of the Sisters of the Abyss, they immediately started to trust the humans some more. The slaves weren't aware that High Mother Qin Xue had died and had been replaced by High Mother Lisha, so it still came as a shock. But, to be fair, they had no love for High Mother Qin Xue, who had not done anything to stop them from being sold to insane heretics. The demons became more docile. Even if they didn't fully trust the humans, they weren't looking at them in the same manner and followed their commands as best they could. On the other hand, the humans were actually helping them and bringing them to areas where they could find shelter.
Of course, some humans didn't like to assist demons. However, they all fell behind Silver Wolf General Long Cheng. Not a single soldier would disobey his orders. Moreover, the Huang family was supporting him. Their influence was great as well. Humans and demons probably couldn't coexist for very long, considering their past history. However, the demons would still be welcomed long enough for them to recover.
-
In the Imperial City, the situation was as tense as it had been between humans and demons. But it was going in the opposite direction, it was getting tenser and tenser.
Because of the emergency, Cao Yun had answered the call for help as soon as the soldiers near the border had been able to contact the capital. But now that this crisis was over, Cao Yun was looking at the corpse of his sister, Cao Huiying. Close to him were his brothers Sun Liao, Ren Chao, his sister Mei Hua and his lover Feng Yingyue. Spirit Master Hua and Spirit Master Xiao were also nearby with the other alchemists. No one knew what to say or do. Mei Hua remembered her own past. Unlike her, Cao Yun had suffered the death of his sister. It was even worse as she had given her very soul to him so that he might live instead of her.
Cao Yun was on his knees, holding his sister's hand and crying without making a sound. His tears were red as he was still covered in his own blood after his brutal breakthrough. Feng Yingyue herself wasn't sure what to do. She extended her arm to touch his shoulder, but stopped herself. Somehow, it felt out of place. She felt as if she had to let him mourn longer without disturbing him at all. Everything was silent. Even Ren Chao was quiet, although his nails were piercing his skin as his rage drove his fingers in his palms.
Around this group, many guards didn't understand what was going on but could feel a powerful sorrow. It was emanating from Cao Yun along with an aura and smell of death. Cao Yun's powerful aura was silencing them completely. They were all feeling his pain, at least a fraction of his pain. Some even had tears running down their cheeks without knowing why.
Among those around Cao Yun were, of course, Emperor Weide and Jian Zhenli. Very recently, they had transmitted Silver Wolf General Long Cheng's message to Cao Yun through Xiao Xuefeng. Despite his condition, the young man had answered. Long Cheng's name made him remember his friends of the Wubei Sect. Although he was torn apart by his loss, Cao Yun could not abandon the Hongchen Kingdom. Thankfully, he didn't have to think a lot about what to do as he had already planted the seeds for the liberation of most slaves near the border.
After this level-headed and clear decision, Cao Yun had almost immediately fallen back to a catatonic state. He couldn't even enjoy the new way he was perceiving the world around him. Right now, he was only feeling loss and sorrow. But he also knew that he had to make a decision. He didn't want to think about it all because he wanted to solely focus on his sister. Somehow, he felt as if getting rid of his pain and sorrow would be a second death for her. As such, he was suppressing his anger and even his thoughts about Emperor Weide. Indeed, Cao Yun knew that a mere thought about this man would drive him over the edge. And he still wasn't sure what to do about him at all.
Cao Huiying had sacrificed her life for her brother, but also for the Hongchen Kingdom.
If Cao Yun listened to his anger, he would rip Emperor Weide and Jian Zhenli to shreds. In fact, he probably wouldn't stop there. Deep down, Cao Yun had faint images from Axiu Qian's life. He could see himself slaughtering countless men and women to get his revenge. To be honest, it didn't sound so bad... Cao Yun would love to lose himself in his own fury and rage, as it might dull the pain. However, he had a responsibility to his sister, and he couldn't abandon his brothers and friends. Later, he might indulge in it, but not now.