Chapter 1382 - 698: The Hidden Stream Army

She seemed oblivious until Ahua meowed a few times, waking her from her reverie. She reached out and brushed the snow, carefully covering the two small corpses again. To the crowd of demons behind her, this was quite redundant. Spring had arrived, and soon enough these corpses would either decay or end up in the stomachs of stray dogs or vultures.

Besides, here tens of thousands of souls have already been taken away, Taiwei Village won’t turn into a Ghost City like Wu Family’s granary, why does Lord Ning worry so much?

"Let’s go." She stood up and said quietly.

The Jade Boat flew steadily, and she did not utter a word until reaching the Black Blade Army’s encampment.

The atrocity of massacring the city, hearing rumors is completely different from witnessing it firsthand. Hearing the news of the Hidden Stream massacre in Xinyu City, she had mentally prepared herself, yet upon visiting Taiwei Village herself, it felt like her Divine Soul was struck directly, causing exceptional pain.

She knew it was a strategic necessity, she knew more civilians would die during the campaign if the Black Blade Army didn’t act ruthlessly.

Yet, even though she understood rationally, emotionally she found it hard to accept. Those mortal corpses exposed to the wilderness, being gnawed by scavengers, were once her fellow humans; seeing them die so painfully and humbly stirred a sense of shared grief within her.

Not to mention, she knew that during the Hidden Stream’s expansion, such scenes must have repeated countless times. Every inch of territory gained accompanied countless carnage.

Three years ago, on her journey from Hidden Stream to Mirror Sea, she saw droughts falling from Heaven, lives withered, that was a natural disaster; now, it’s a man-made calamity.

Hei Hao, seeing her sorrowful expression, softly said: "Lord Ning, casualties are inevitable in warfare. Though we struck hard in battle, we treat civilians within Hidden Stream Territory quite well." Why mourn these dead civilians? In this world, whether cultivators or demons, they regard mortals as ants. Even those mortals themselves are already desensitized. Why bother?

"I know." She replied, gazing at the scenery on the distant ground, "I know."

In the distance, there was a thicket of thorny bushes, guarding the dense black military tents in the center.

...

When the group arrived, the western sun had just fallen below the horizon, the weather not yet darkened. From high above, even separated by dozens of miles, cultivators could see a strong purple aura swirling and rolling above the entire Black Blade Army camp, steaming into a faint giant snake shadow.

This is a tiger and wolf division bolstered by Hidden Stream’s might and Qi Fortune, engaging with such a force, the enemy’s Divine Skills would be suppressed to a certain degree.

The Black Blade Army camped in an open valley, where the slopes were gentle, not offering opportunities for ambushes. As the Jade Boat neared, surrounding the outside of the army’s tents grew an entire circle of robust, broad thorny wall, the vines were each thicker than a human’s thigh, covered abundantly with barbs and sharp thorns, constantly writhing to remind people they were alive.

This is the Blood-sucking Vine, a distant relative of Meat Ball’s shoe, originally widely growing in Bashe Forest. Now, whenever the Hidden Stream army ventured out, they would carry seeds of Blood-sucking Vine modified by Pill Masters of the Immortal Plant Garden. Just by watering the ground adequately and scattering the seeds below, within an hour, a thorny wall up to six feet tall and two yards wide would grow! With special mixture preparation, this quick-grow version of Blood-sucking Vine’s life is short-lived, depending on the amount of absorbed water, they could live twelve, thirty-six hours, if irrigated with fresh blood, their lifespan could extend to over seven days!

Each vine has considerable flexibility, the Blood-sucking Vine wall doesn’t fear the charge of light cavalry, but rather stretches out tendrils to bind the enemy within, likewise, this plant doesn’t fear mortal fire attacks, making it a highly effective defensive structure, as long as the army carries a few Pill Masters, it can be operated expertly.

The Jade Boat landed outside the thorny wall, then Hei Hao led the group through customs, handed over their identification tags, and verified the passphrase, only then were they allowed past the guards.

By this time, the sky had darkened, evening meal time had arrived, with cooking smoke already dissipated, the entire camp was filled with the aroma of food. Along the road, demons could often be seen hurrying to get their meals. Although cultivators and demons could have forsaken mortal smoke and fire for a long time, in the army, they still ensure the troops have a meal of Spirit Rice every day, due to rapid replenishment of depleted Spiritual Power needed after a forced march or major battle, and besides, many wounded could heal much faster by ingesting Spirit Power-rich grains and elixir.