Chapter 550: Military Orders are Like Mountains
The fiends only knew slaughter; they had no language.
Without maintaining formations, the so-called fiendish army was nothing more than a chaotic mess, a scattered rabble with no discernible order in human eyes.
Yet, even so, in the Great Wei Dynasty's millennia-long war against the fiends, complete victories were exceedingly rare.
For while they lacked order, they also lacked the concept of fear. Life and death held no significance for these individuals; their sole purpose was to inflict as much death as possible upon every living thing before them.
......
Divine-level beings served as leaders, Dragon-level beings as soldiers. In the Great Wei Dynasty's expeditionary army, there were no warriors below the Dragon-level. Soldiers below the Dragon-level would not only slow down the overall march but, on this battlefield, wouldn't even count as cannon fodder; they would simply be sacrificing themselves.
"The game, it's over," Star Torch repeated to Bai Mo.
Fifty Six-tier Divine-level beings, leading one hundred thirty thousand Four-tier and Five-tier Dragon-level soldiers, arrived at the perimeter of the light barrier, awaiting a single command to launch their attack against the invading force in their world.
"You're right, the game is indeed about to end," Bai Mo returned the statement to Star Torch.
Unless Bai Mo personally descended to flip the board, stubbornly enduring the Heavenly Tribulation for breaking the bet, and cheated by crushing all the pieces on both sides, Star Torch truly couldn't calculate any chance for the opponent to turn the tables.
Even if he truly could unite with the fiends, Hanluo City's forces were too weak. Even adding those seventy utterly irrational great overlords who only knew how to fight alone, they would be no match for the Wei Dynasty's army.
As the Heavenly Tribulation that upheld the rules and ensured the bet's fair and smooth progression, it was formed from the fusion of nearly eighty percent of Bai Mo's and Star Torch's combined power.
Any party that defaulted on the agreement would effectively face a destructive blow from a force equivalent to themselves, plus half of their opponent's. It was precisely because of this that Star Torch was willing to gamble with Bai Mo, who was a notch stronger than itself.
......
"Do you know what the biggest difference between humans and you is?" Bai Mo suddenly asked.
......
"You will faithfully execute your mission forever, but humans—they betray."
......
"There are many reasons for betrayal: coercion, temptation, and of course, simpler, more fundamental pursuits—such as freedom."
In the ancient Hundred Races War, the concept of betrayal didn't even exist.
It was more akin to a ceaseless, life-or-death struggle between wild animal species vying for living space.
Just like in a lion's hunt for wild buffalo, there was never any talk of a buffalo betraying its herd to join the lion pride.
......
"Freedom? I have never heard of such a concept." All four of Star Torch's faces showed signs of confusion.
Human rights, freedom—these were undoubtedly distant terms for the Manghuang Realm, a world that had been "time-capsuled" for thousands of years, its spirit still rooted in ancient times, so distant that no soil existed for their birth.
Moreover, Star Torch itself was a Law Spirit, an artificial intelligence that would faithfully execute its mission forever, making the concept of freedom even harder to grasp.
In its mind, leisure without a mission was practically no different from death; unending work was the meaning of its existence, and human entertainment was a complete waste of time.
All things should cycle on and on, according to the settings of the "Golden Age," performing this unending drama with their lives.
Satisfying the requirements of the highest directive etched into Star Torch's mind was their sole value for existence.
Otherwise, a pile of boring, weak bugs—to the high and mighty AI Lord, there was simply no need to keep them around at all.
......
As the two conversed, the fiendish army, surging like a tsunami, also arrived outside the light barrier, led by dozens of fiendish great overlords.
The Wei Dynasty's army and the ocean of fiends each occupied half, completely surrounding the light barrier, with Hanluo City at its core, so tightly that not even a drop of water could pass through.
"They're actually restrained?" The four leading patriarchs looked on in surprise at the fiends, who were coexisting peacefully with their own army, just as the secret intelligence had previously indicated.
The Four Great Bloodline Houses, which formed the uppermost stratum of the Wei Dynasty, had almost all their members present on the battlefield at this moment.
They might have been brutal, cold-blooded, pleasure-seeking, or disregardful of human life, but when it truly came to war with the fiends, rarely was there anyone among them who feared battle or death.
Because the Bloodline Houses, having risen during the ancient Hundred Races War, prided themselves on being the nobility of the human race. All their glory and power stemmed from resisting enemies and slaughtering foreign races.
Anyone who dared not kill foreign races had no right to be ranked among the nobility!
......
"Attack!" Star Torch, not wanting any more complications, began to directly order the patriarchs of the various great families on the front line.
As the "Old Ancestor" of all the great families, it believed itself to possess such qualifications and had always assumed the citizens of the Wei Dynasty would forever obey its will unconditionally.
This time, however, it miscalculated. The several patriarchs did not follow its command; instead, they sharply halted the restless soldiers behind them.
"Patriarch, why...?" A nearby Imperial Guard officer felt utterly confused.
They had all heard the Old Ancestor's command, and the killing factors in their blood stirred restlessly, only temporarily suppressed by reason.
"The spirits of our ancestors are calling to us!" several soldiers cried out, unable to contain themselves.
"Boom!"
Before they could even finish speaking, the Nanxuan family's patriarch slammed a palm towards the source of the voices. Instantly, a small hill-like mass pressed down upon the shouting soldiers.
A move that truly embodied "Military Orders are Like Mountains" made everyone else instantly shut their mouths.
......
"You should honor your promise now." The four patriarchs spoke in unison, facing the direction of Hanluo City.
The other Divine-level powerhouses also stepped out from the ranks.
The soldiers below instantly erupted in an uproar.
They weren't ignorant cannon fodder; ordinarily, each of them was a prominent Dragon-level powerhouse, a cut above the rest.
As soon as they heard such words and witnessed the leaders' abnormal behavior, they immediately realized: this was a setup; they might have been sold out!
Warriors could accept a death-defying charge against the enemy, but they absolutely could not accept becoming pawns in a high-level transaction.
......
"Listen to my words, everyone." Duan De Huai, the Emperor of the Wei Dynasty, clad in a purple dragon robe, spoke in a voice clear enough for the entire army to hear.
"Have you ever considered what the so-called 'Old Ancestor' in the sky truly is?"
"The Old Ancestor is the Old Ancestor! The source of our bloodline!"
"No, it is merely a Law Spirit created by our true ancestors! It only inherited their memories!" At that moment, Duan De Huai threw caution to the wind, shouting recklessly to the entire army.
If he hadn't learned the full scope of the bet and received Bai Mo's promise, he, who was doing so well as emperor, would absolutely not have had the courage to lead a rebellion against Star Torch.
One must know that even if he was one of the strongest among the Six-tier Divine-level powerhouses, facing Star Torch's annihilation, he still wouldn't last even an incense stick's time.
PS: Typhoon holiday; pushing out a chapter while cultivating.
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