frightfiction #523 - Yama Banner
#523 - Yama Banner
Zhang Chen glanced at Chen Ping, picked up his wine and took a sip. How could he not understand Chen Ping's difficulties?
This journey south was thousands of miles away, not only with wild beasts raging, but also with various groups of humanoid monsters constantly chasing and intercepting, trying to trap everyone in the northern lands and keep them in captivity.
In Zhang Chen's understanding, these so-called humanoid monsters were similar to the Huns and Xianbei tribes of his previous life.
They used wolves, insects, tigers, and leopards as totems, and worshiped various great demons as gods.
These humanoid monsters were not lacking in horses, and they also had the power of various fierce beasts to help them. Especially the wolf cavalry and tiger-leopard cavalry, which used wolves, tigers, and leopards as mounts, were extremely destructive, causing heavy losses to the Dragon-Tiger Escort's three thousand iron cavalry. If Zhang Chen had not repeatedly helped in secret, the Dragon-Tiger Escort would have been slaughtered long ago.
"I'm already planning to recruit strong men from the refugees and intensify their training day and night to resist the invasion of those wild beasts. The northern lands lack everything, but they don't lack manpower. Now there are refugees everywhere, and many can't survive. As long as I provide a meal, I can get them to work to the death. As long as I train tens of thousands of troops, then it won't be us being hunted by those wild beasts, but us hunting those wild beasts." A cold look appeared in Chen Ping's eyes, and a murderous aura flowed in his eyes, making him look very sinister.
"I have three thousand armored soldiers. If each one trains ten people, that's thirty thousand. If each one trains a hundred people, that's three hundred thousand. When the time comes, we'll form an army, and no matter how many wild beasts there are, it won't be enough for us to kill. They'll only become our food. As long as the demon king doesn't come out, who can do anything to us?" Chen Ping's eyes were full of ruthlessness.
"If too many people gather, it will definitely attract the attention of the great demon king," Zhang Chen warned.
"It takes at least a hundred thousand people to be worth the great demon king's attention. As long as we control the number of people to be less than a hundred thousand, where would those great demon kings have time to pay attention to us?" Chen Ping poured a full cup of wine for Zhang Chen carelessly: "Besides, if we don't form a large army, I'm afraid we won't be able to get out of the northern lands at all."
Zhang Chen was silent when he heard this, agreeing with Chen Ping's words. Then, he picked up his wine cup and drank it all in one gulp. The two of them stopped discussing the situation in the northern lands and began to joke about various things from all over the world.
In the end, the two of them were slightly drunk when they suddenly heard Chen Ping sigh: "I haven't been home for three years. I miss home! I wonder how my daughter is."
Zhang Chen looked at Chen Ping in surprise. The other party was only seventeen or eighteen years old, but he already had a daughter?
"You have a daughter?" Zhang Chen asked in surprise.
"I got married when I was fifteen. On the third day after my daughter was born, I received a big order. I had to personally escort it to the northern lands. Who knew that when I was about to return, this kind of thing would happen in the northern lands?" Chen Ping cursed: "Damn Pingbian King, he actually allowed the demon race to cross the White Bone Great Wall. He deserves to die! I originally wanted to return by water, but who knew I would encounter water demons? Only three thousand of the ten thousand escorts are left…"
Speaking of this, Chen Ping's voice was full of melancholy, and at this time, there was a hint of sobbing: "Seven thousand people! Seven thousand families. How can I explain when I go back? How can I face that group of orphans and widows?"
Zhang Chen was silent when he heard this, and he thought of Pingbian King flooding the northern lands. He also had an inescapable responsibility for this matter. If he hadn't repeatedly ruined Pingbian King's grand plan, Pingbian King's mansion wouldn't have been forced to desperate measures.
But even if Zhang Chen was given the chance to choose again, he would definitely still be so firm and unwavering in attacking Zhang Shicheng again, preventing Zhang Shicheng from transforming into a dragon. After all, having a twelfth-order or eleventh-order opponent was definitely an extremely terrifying thing. Zhang Chen didn't want to be chased and killed, and his family to be implicated.
"By the way, what happened to Pingbian King?" Zhang Chen asked.
Chen Ping was a member of the escort agency with friends all over the world, so he might know some inside information about the pugilistic world.
Hearing Zhang Chen's question, Chen Ping gritted his teeth with hatred: "Pingbian King retreated all the way, abandoned Goulan County, and directly abandoned half of the territory, dividing the northern lands with the demon race into east and west. The experts of the demon race are all stationed on the front line, fighting against the experts of Pingbian King's mansion. Otherwise, how would we have a way to survive? This dog thief Pingbian King chose not to resist when facing the demon race, and directly abandoned the elders and folks of the northern lands. He is simply a sinner of our human race. If I have the opportunity, I will definitely cut him into a thousand pieces."
"Where are we now? Are we in Pingbian King's territory or the demon race's territory?" Zhang Chen continued to ask.
"We are lucky. We are on the dividing line between Pingbian King and the demon race. It is said that the people in the demon race's territory have already been imprisoned by the humanoid monsters and have become the demon race's rations. Human blood is naturally nourishing to wild beasts. As long as those wild beasts eat human flesh and blood, they will definitely awaken their intelligence. It is said that no matter what kind of wild beast it is, as long as it eats more than ten people, it will gain spirituality and open its wisdom," Chen Ping gritted his teeth.
Zhang Chen was silent when he heard this and was speechless for a moment. He just picked up his wine and took a big gulp. His eyes were a little red, but he didn't say anything.
He could imagine how desperate those humans living in the demon race's territory must be!
The only good news was that the demon race would not eat the northern human race to extinction. They still had to keep the human race in captivity so that they could eat them for a long time. This could be regarded as the only good news.
Zhang Chen drank a large jar of wine, his whole body was covered in alcohol, and he was a little drunk. He staggered back to the donkey cart, feeling indescribably uncomfortable.
If you said he had no responsibility?
He knew in his heart that he had a large part of the responsibility. If you said he had responsibility, he had no choice but to act like this, because he had no room to choose. He didn't want to die, so he had to stop Zhang Shicheng from transforming into a dragon.
Zhang Chen was muddled and hazy, and he fell asleep on the donkey cart. Just as he was snoring, a strange wind suddenly came from afar. The strange wind blew so hard that the sky was dark and the sun and moon were dim. It was mighty and vast like a nuclear explosion, sweeping towards the direction where the large group of people was.
In the storm, there were three figures fighting a huge black skull. The skull held a black flag and was unwilling to show weakness in the face of the two figures, fighting so hard that the sky was dark and the sun and moon were dim. Seeing the strange wind and the two figures in the strange wind, Chen Ping's face was horrified: "Ninth-order experts are fighting. That's Gu Mingyue of the Yellow Heaven Dao. He doesn't know what terrifying evil thing he's fighting. Everyone, hide!"
But before Chen Ping could finish speaking, the overwhelming black wind had already covered down, instantly enveloping the entire escort team. Countless escorts, goods, and carriages were swept up by the strange wind and rushed into the clouds. Behind them, countless refugees were also blown directly into the clouds like fallen leaves.
Only Zhang Chen's carriage seemed to sense the storm was coming. The Wind-Fixing Pill automatically emitted light, covering a radius of twenty meters. All the strange winds encountered the power of the Wind-Fixing Pill, and in an instant, they quieted down, turning into a gentle breeze.
The carriage stopped, and the people inside could not see the scene outside the wind and sand. At this time, the whole world was dim, and even the roars from outside were blown away by the wind and sand.
At this time, Zhang Chen was still drunk and hazy. When he woke up, he found the carriage empty, and his younger sister, younger brother, and others were gone. The air outside was eerily quiet.
Zhang Chen was shocked. The escort team gathered, so how could there be such a dead atmosphere?
So he quickly lifted the curtain, and then his whole person couldn't help but be stunned. What came into view was a piece of yellow sand, without a trace of green. A layer of yellow sand was piled on the ground, and it looked as if he had arrived in the desert.
In front of the carriage, his younger brother, younger sister, stepmother, and others stood in front of the yellow sand with worried faces, looking at the yellow sand without speaking, their eyes filled with worry.
"Where are the people from the escort agency?" Zhang Chen asked.
"You're finally awake. Something big has happened!" Cheng Yu turned to look at Zhang Chen when he heard this: "An hour ago, a strong wind blew here, blowing so hard that the sky was dark and the sun and moon were dim. After the wind subsided and we got out of the carriage, everyone from the escort agency was gone, and even the refugees were gone."
Zhang Chen was shocked when he heard this and quickly jumped out of the carriage. He carefully sensed the surrounding environment, and then his expression changed: "The yellow sand on the ground is probably a meter thick. What kind of strong wind is this that blew the yellow sand so thick? It even blew away all the big trees?"
Zhang Chen swept across the distance, where were the shadows of the big trees? What came into view was all withered yellow, turning into endless yellow sand.
As for why the carriage was not blown away, it was because of his Wind-Fixing Pill.
Zhang Chen was a little confused. He had only slept for a while, so how could the world have changed? Everything had changed?
The yellow sand had blown a meter thick, so the people from the escort agency must have been blown away, and the refugees were probably blown away as well.
"What do we do now?" Zhang Shi was distraught and had no idea.
"Are we missing anything?" Zhang Chen asked.
Zhang Shi gave a wry smile: "The gold and silver jewelry you collected before and the stone statue (Han Suzhen) were placed in another donkey cart, and now they have also been blown away."
The statue was so big and heavy, of course, it wouldn't be placed in the small carriage where everyone was sitting and lying down.
Zhang Chen was shocked when he heard this. The gold and silver jewelry were nothing, but his master's statue could not be blown away. If his master's statue was blown away, how would he explain it to Chen Sanliang in the future? Wouldn't that old thing fight him to the death?
Zhang Chen quickly jumped out of the carriage and said quickly: "Where was the donkey cart parked before?"
He could only hope for the best, hoping that the stone statue was heavy enough and would not be blown away by the strong wind.
Zhang Shi also knew the importance of the matter and quickly pointed to the back of the donkey cart: "A porter was driving the donkey cart before. When the strong wind came, we couldn't care about it. After the strong wind stopped, we came down to check, and everything was blown away."
Zhang Chen quickly walked towards the place where the donkey cart was parked. After approaching, he used the authority of the earth to sense it. The next moment, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He saw the yellow sand wriggling and pushing out a stone statue, but the gold and silver jewelry he had stored had been completely consumed.