As for the West-Hill Divine Palace coalition army, the Emperor of the South Jin Kingdom had stayed in Capital Cheng while the Crown Prince personally led the troops into the Wilderness. The troop had suffered great losses in the previous battle. Several powerhouses from the Sword Garret had either been injured or killed while the Great Divine Priest of Revelation had been severely injured. However, the true strength of the forces was not greatly affected.
There were also many Haotian Taoism visiting professors like those from the Black Ink Garden of the Great River Kingdom who chose to wait silently.
The Great Divine Priest of Judgment, Ye Hongyu who was waiting in the blood-colored chariot had not yet made any moves today. In a battle several days earlier, she had killed three leading Desolate warriors and exhibited her terrifying true cultivation state. It was important to note that the leaders of the Desolate warriors were close to the Peak state of Martial Arts.
The tall figure of the West-Hill Divine Palace’s Hierarch remained in the massive chariot. The Tang cavalry did not demonstrate all their strength in their multiple assaults.
The senior statesmen of the Desolate Man’s tribe were being killed and wounded. The First Elder had died on the spot while their most powerful fighter Tang, was seriously injured. There were more than ten commanding warriors who were either injured or dead. The West-Hill Divine Palace coalition army was still just as powerful and had many cards in their hands. How could The Desolate not feel despondent?
The battlefield gradually rested for a little while. Then, the Divine Palace coalition army sounded their drums once more and the troops regrouped, prepared to launch their final attack against the Desolate Man’s tribe in the north.
Tens of thousands of Desolate warriors were severely injured or dead. Despite to their strong bodies and will, the majority of them were gravely injured and could no longer fight. Their tribesmen watched Tang, who was kneeling on a single knee in the middle of the battlefield. They knew that the time for their extinction had finally come; their struggles over the millennium and their dreams were all about to vanish.
All was silent in the Wilderness. Then, someone led the masses through a song. The mournful tune floated in the air while rough voices echoed throughout the Wilderness.
“The sky turns cold; the earth becomes cold too. Goshawks daren’t look northward.”
“The Hot Sea ebbs; the Hot Sea rises. Snow wolves are being hunted by the Hot Sea.”
“Snow wolves are being chased; Snow wolves are dead. All day busy searching for deer.”
“Where to live; where to die. Where to bury white bones.”
“Min Mountain was grand; Min Mountain was majestic. Min Mountain was the real hometown.”
“Walk through the vast snow; step on the thick frost. All day looking southward.”
“Walk through the vast snow; step on the thick frost. No longer looking southward.”
“I go first, and you come after me.”
“I fight first, and you come after me.”
“I die first, and you come after me.”
“The homeward journey is near; the homeward journey is far. It’s on my way.”
“I have gone, and you ought to come soon.”
“I have fought, and you ought to come soon.”
“I have died, and you ought to come soon.”
“I have died, and you ought to come soon.”
…
…
This was a song about their homeland passed down for millennia in the Desolate Man’s tribe. After thousands of years of snowstorms, they had finally left the Cold Region of the Far North, the Hot Sea and the snow plains to return to their homeland. However, they were not greeted by flowers or passionate welcomes. Instead, they faced indifferent gazes and bloody battles, resulting in their extinction and the tragedy they faced.
In the past, The Desolate would sing the song solemnly and stirringly. Sometimes, it would be majestic and calm. However, the tens of thousands of Desolate warriors who were dead or injured sat on the blood splattered plains pooled with blood; their voices were hoarse and their singing messy. When their voices rose and fell, it seemed especially mournful, rushing straight into the sky.
Suddenly there was the sound of horse hooves and wheels. The rumbling sound of movement made its way into the Desolate’s mournful song. However, their rhythm was not disrupted as their song no longer had a joint rhythm. Instead, it gave the song some sort of stable rhythm that was calm, steady and indifferent.
Clouds covered the sky in the northern Wilderness as a black horse carriage headed towards the clouds.
The Desolate looked at the carriage and helped each other up with difficulty. The old veterans with white hair, young soldiers, strong men with broken legs and serious injuries and women covered in blood all looked at the black horse carriage with awe and fear. Then, hope emerged in their expressions.
Proud knees fell on the blood-soaked grounds. Where the black horse carriage passed, the Desolate knelt and kowtowed. Some of the seriously wounded Desolate soldiers could not get up anymore once they knelt, and passed away.
Tang knelt on one knee on the middle of the battlefield in Wilderness. His left knee had sunk deeply into the mud, squeezing out numerous streams of black liquid. It might be the milk of the Wilderness or the blood of his tribesmen. He stared at the massive chariot in silence and at the barely discernable tall figure on the platform as he adjusted his breath.
The Desolate were facing extinction. As the World Wayfarer of the Devil’s Doctrine and the leader of their fight, he could not accept this fact. He had to make the West-Hill Divine Palace pay a terrible price before he died.
At this moment, in the Wilderness, the most important and noble person to the countries in the Central Plains was naturally the Hierarch Lord of the West-Hill Divine Palace who was on the massive chariot. He was Tang’s ultimate goal in life.
Then, he heard the singing of his tribesmen wavering behind him. He heard the clopping of hooves and the rumbling of wheels. He turned around and saw the black horse carriage.
There was a thin layer of frost on the black horse carriage while the insides of the carriage were covered with a thick layer of ice. The Fire Fu in the brass basin froze in the cold and looked like a ghost fire that could extinguish at any moment.
The cold aura within Sangsang had long been aroused and had finally erupted. However, both she and Ning Que did not know what the Yama’s imprint in her would evolve to.
Frost clung on to Ning Que’s lashes. The faint light streaming through the windows were refracted by it, turning into seven rays of colored light. He listened to the song of The Desolate coming through the windows and said, “I go first, and you come after me.”
Sangsang hummed in agreement and laid her head on his chest. She said, “I die first, and you come after me.”
Ning Que shook his head and said, “I die first, and you come after me. Or maybe, we will die together.”
The West-Hill Divine Palace coalition army descended into silence when they saw the black horse carriage appearing in the Wilderness. The allied forces which were gathering grew somewhat chaotic while the powerhouses with terrifying cultivation states were silent.
The entire world started to go after the black horse carriage since the Light of Buddha erupted in the Lanke Temple two years ago. The war on the Wilderness had started because of the black horse carriage. However, they were at a loss about what to do when the black horse carriage finally appeared before them today.
No one gave any orders, and the tall figure on the large chariot looked up in silence. The West-Hill Divine Palace coalition army stopped in their tracks, waiting for the final military order.
The black horse carriage stopped in front of The Desolate.
There was a creak as the snow and ice on the carriage shook and peeled off.
The door opened and Sangsang, who was dressed in black fur, stepped out.
She looked at the West-Hill Divine Palace coalition army in the south and took a few steps forward. With every step she took, the ground in contact with her soles froze, forming into a mass of ice and snow.
It was as if she was walking on pure lotus flowers made of snow.
Dark clouds covered the vast skies above the Wilderness. There were more than ten black crows circling the skies above Sangsang, making the whole situation seem strange.
Everyone in the West-Hill Divine Palace coalition army in the south watched on and began to feel an odd emotion. It was a negative emotion that was the combination of horror, awe, aversion and destruction.
In the blood-red divine chariot, Ye Hongyu propped up her jaw with her hand and looked quietly at the north. She looked tired. Unlike the ordinary soldiers, she was not shocked by the black horse carriage and the Daughter of Yama. She felt many warring emotions, and also confusion. Where was Ning Que?
Suddenly, her eyes brightened, and like a waterfall, her black hair floated up sharply. She bent back without hesitation, following the lead of her wildly dancing black hair and fell heavily like a tree that had been cut.
Ning Que was not by Sangsang’s side or inside the black horse carriage.
He had already left the horse carriage discreetly, using the song of The Desolate as a cover to appear at the frontlines of the Desolate Men. He stood in the middle of the kneeling crowd of pious and respectful Desolate.
When everyone was looking at Sangsang, he knelt on the ground with a knee and pulled on the string of his bow with his right hand. His iron bow bent sharply as he aimed at the West-Hill Divine Palace coalition army several miles away in the south. Then, his bowstring sagged.
The Primordial Thirteen Arrows were made with the collective intelligence of the Academy resources of the Tang Empire. In terms of power, it was comparable to legendary weapons of the previous generation.
The Primordial Thirteen Arrows could ignore space and would not lose any power no matter the distance they had to cross. That was why the further the enemy was from him in a battle, the better it was for Ning Que.
That was because it would be difficult for his enemies to make predictions based on his movement and his eyes.
Because of these characteristics, the Primordial Thirteen Arrows were best suited for ambushes on the battlefield. It could be said that it was invincible and had no disadvantages. However, its only limitation was whether Ning Que could see his target and aim at them.
At this time, the two armies were separated by several miles and were so far away that ordinary arrows and flying swords could not be of use. However, Ning Que could see all the details of the opposition’s frontline that stretched more than 20 miles and could aim better than anyone.
Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh!
Ning Que knelt on one knee, hidden amongst The Desolate. He moved quickly, shooting five arrows in a flash.
He knew that there were not many opportunities left for him today. He had to seize and make full use of this opportunity, which meant that he had to achieve sufficient goals in his first wave of attack.
The first arrow was the most sudden and most difficult to defend against. It had the greatest chance of success. The target he chose was, of course, the most important person and the person who could cause the greatest change in the direction of the war.
It was an easy choice to make. Just like how Tang had chosen to kill that person using his last breath, Ning Que had unhesitatingly chosen to shoot the first arrow at the West-Hill Divine Palace’s Hierarch.
It all happened according to Ning Que’s expectations. The battlefields were far apart. It was different from the confrontations where he used the Primordial Thirteen Arrows in the Lanke Temple and in Chaoyang City. No one could predict his actions.
At least, no one would know that an iron arrow had left the bowstring when the first smack of string reverberated in the Wilderness. Logically speaking, no one could avoid the arrow as the Primordial Thirteen Arrows traveled forth, disregarding time and space.
Not even the Hierarch of West-Hill Divine Palace could.
A visible white current sprang behind the string, not yet completely formed. The darkish iron arrow had already disappeared. It appeared the next moment on the massive chariot in the south, in the top chamber behind layers of gauze curtains, striking the tall figure in the head.
The layers of gauze blocked the light.
The iron had pierced the figure’s skull but seemed to have hit its shadow. The arrow passed silently, and then, the arrow appeared, tearing through countless layers of heavy curtains and disappearing into the distant sky of the south.
The tall figure leaned forward slightly and looked toward the north of the Wilderness. He seemed uninjured and interested, wanting to see how the person who sent the arrow looked like.