V13 Chapter 75 – Open the Gates

“Take your army and leave, conqueror! You aren’t welcome here!” shouted an obese man.

Sen thought that the man wasn’t as obese as he might once have been, from the loose way his robes hung on him. The bellowing man had identified himself as some kind of messenger from the king. Sen had mostly stopped listening once the posturing began. He’d let the generals handle the conversation for now. He was far more interested in what was happening in the city. He let a bit of his spiritual sense spread out. What he found was, unfortunately, about what he expected to find. There were plenty of mortals alive in the city, along with a comparatively small number of cultivators. It took a moment before the realization set in. The spirit beasts had probably killed most of the cultivators. Since it was someone from the court talking and not a general, most of the soldiers here had probably also been killed.

Even if we do take this city and fend off the spirit beasts, the army will gain nothing, thought Sen. Not that keeping the rest of the people in the city alive was a bad thing. His growing empire would need those people to be merchants, run noodle shops, or do countless other things. That didn’t make the immediate aftermath any better for him. While he could sense people in the city, he couldn’t sense any of the animal life he was used to feeling. There were no chickens, pigs, or even oxen. Either that, or they were so few and far between that they were being obscured. Sen was sure that they had all been slaughtered for food in what had probably been a long siege. He couldn’t blame the people in the city. You ate what was available when times got hard. He knew that better than anyone.

But, no matter how he looked at it, this would end up bleeding his army. First, he’d lose people in the battle to come. Then, he’d lose people to the ongoing defense and governing of this place. Then, there was the problem of food. The army could probably afford to give the city some food, but not a lot. They’d need to set up more of those glass buildings that allowed for fast harvesting. While the farmers could probably grow some crops with the assistance of cultivators, a critical planting period had been missed. The harvest would be light on a lot of things, which meant that the next winter would likely be lean times without outside intervention. Nor was the rest of the empire in a good position to send food. There were, sadly, fewer mouths to feed, but also far fewer farmers to feed them.

Sen was, once again, impressed by the trap. Even if he won this fight without losing a single person, he’d still face the next battle with fewer soldiers and cultivators. He would very much like to find the spirit beast that came up with this plan and kill them. They were frighteningly competent. Certainly, more so than Sen himself. Given enough time, he might have thought up a trap like this. Unfortunately, his thinking didn’t naturally turn in that direction. That took his mind in a direction he’d been avoiding. The notion that it might be time to include the foxes a bit more in planning. They could likely think up traps like that without any trouble if they were pointed that way.

Then again, he wasn’t sure it was a good idea to turn their minds in that direction. After all, it was very hard to unlearn things, and the foxes could live a long time. If they ever got organized and abandoned their silliness, they could prove a much worse enemy than the rest of the spirit beasts. Their ability to blend in with humans, along with their illusion magic, would equip them to hide in plain sight. All while carrying out assassinations virtually at will. It was a chilling thought. It was also one of the main reasons that Sen had made a point of recruiting some of them into his service. They could be so damned useful. Like a finely honed blade. Unfortunately, like most blades, it could turn in his hand if he used it badly.

Of course, that only became a problem if he was foolish. As long as he held up his end of things and let them live in peace in his empire, it shouldn’t be a problem. And we’re clearly going to need the kind of deviousness they excel at, he admitted to himself a little grudgingly. The war that had, until then, consisted almost entirely of straightforward battles seemed to have entered a new stage. The generals and cultivators might not want to see it, but Sen couldn’t ignore it. If that meant giving the foxes ideas, so be it. The sound of raised voices drew his attention back to the conversation in front of him. General Hu had a hand raised as though he meant to strike the messenger across the face.

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“You dare speak of the emperor that way!” bellowed Hu.

“He isn’t my emperor,” snarled the messenger.

“Whatever gave you that ridiculous idea?” asked Sen, having decided to intervene before the general actually struck the pompous little messenger.

“I don’t care who you think you are, tyrant. You do not rule here,” sneered the messengers.

“You’re right,” admitted Sen.

The sneer of triumph on the man’s face lasted for exactly two seconds. That also happened to be the length of time it took before Sen spoke again.

“The spirit beasts rule here.”

“What?” spluttered the messenger.

“It’s obvious. This city, as far as I can tell, is the last place in this entire kingdom where human beings live. That means your king has long since given up any rightful claim on the rest of his lands. This kingdom and his authority ceased to exist the moment that happened. Now, all that remains to be seen is whether I will claim this territory back from them, or if the spirit beasts will kill all of us. Your king’s desires and intentions are meaningless.”

“How dare you—”

“And even if none of that were true, you are a mortal. I am a nascent soul cultivator. That can only lead me to one inevitable question. Have you lost your mind?”

“What?” asked the flummoxed messenger.

“That is one of the very few explanations for why you dared speak to me as you have done. Or do you simply harbor a desire to die? I’m sure the good general would be happy to fulfill that desire.”

“I would,” agreed General Hu, resting his hand on the hilt of his dao saber.

“I—” started the messenger.

“Your excuses mean nothing to me. You will have them open the gates. You will do it now, or I will, by the heavens, stand aside and let the spirit beasts destroy this city.”

That drew a few sharp looks from the generals, but Sen kept his gaze locked on the obese man.

“We have kept them at bay without you,” said the messenger.

“You were left as bait in the trap. This city is not fortified enough, nor is it defended by nearly enough people to have driven off the spirit beasts if they wanted you dead. Now that we’re here, you no longer serve a purpose. They will not continue to spare you.”

For all the man’s bluster, it seemed his mind still worked. Sen watched as his words sank in. The almost haughty look on the man’s face vanished as a growing expression of alarm transformed into one of panic.

“The spirit beasts aren’t here!” shouted the messenger in defiance.

In defiance of what, Sen couldn’t guess. Him? The truth? The unfairness of living in these desperate days? It might have been all three.

“Again, whatever gave you that ridiculous idea,” said Sen, pointing to the top of the wall. “Look at your cultivators. They can see the destruction that is about to fall onto you.”

The messenger looked up to where Sen was pointing and saw the frantic behavior of the people on the wall. Mere moments later, someone came running out of a small door near the gate, eyes wild. While the new person gesticulated wildly and ranted incoherently about countless spirit beasts, the generals all eyed Sen. He nodded.

“Yes, they’re coming. I can feel them in my spiritual sense from here. We still have time to get everyone inside the city. Maybe even enough time to set up a few ugly surprises to welcome our new guests.”

“If they let us into the city,” said a skeptical General Hu.

“We’re going in,” said Sen. “They don’t have the strength or the will to keep us out. I’d just prefer not to kill anyone if we can avoid it. After all, we’ll be fighting next to them in a few hours. Why breed unnecessary resentment? There will be plenty of earned resentment once they realize that this city and kingdom are now part of my empire.”

“Lord Lu,” said the messenger in a voice that sounded like someone was strangling the man.

“Yes?” asked Sen.

“It seems our situation has changed. Our king would like to invite—”

“No,” said Sen. “My people aren’t shedding their blood as a favor to your toothless king. When we enter this city, your king steps down off the throne. It won’t be his anymore. He can do it willingly or at the end of a blade, but he will do it.”

The messenger’s mouth moved, but he seemed lost for words. Sen looked over his shoulder to his aide-de-camp in all but name.

“Xu Xiao Dan, if those gates aren’t open in the next five minutes, have the cultivators go inside. Tell them to kill everyone in the way, and then open the gates.”

“Yes, Lord Lu.”

Those words seemed to bring the messenger out of his stupor. The overwrought man seemed to realize that events were about to outpace him in a bloody way. He turned on his heel and started waddling toward the city, shouting at the top of his lungs.

“Open the gates! Damn you, open the gates!”