875 The Academy’s Prediction II (1/2)
Fall in the Wilderness was a little colder, but the man standing in the foothills did not seem cold. The wind blustered around him, blowing the furs on his body aside to reveal a muscular physique.
His body seemed to contain immeasurable strength, almost as if he could move mountains and decimate cities with a wave of his hand. Now, he stood as motionless as a rock, not because he was afraid of unleashing this force, but because a small girl in a very small sedan was perched on his shoulders, and he was worried about jolting her unnecessarily.
He was Tang, a wayfarer of the Devil's Doctrine sect. The girl in the sedan, resting her chin on her hand in boredom, seemed to be twelve or thirteen. She was the teacher he had not seen in many years, the current Twenty-Three-Year Cicada and the leader of the Devil's Doctrine sect.
She was also the third senior student of the Academy's Back Hill, Yu Lian.
In the war between Chang'an and the Abbey Dean, Yu Lian had leaped into the sky to fight. Afterward, she fell into Snow Street. Although she had mastered the Devil's Doctrine technique, she still sustained major injuries. Her sturdy ankle was pulverised. It had not been easy for her to heal to the point where she no longer needed a wheelchair, but walking was still difficult. Thus, here in the Wilderness, she sat in the sedan on Tang's back.
She looked at the vast plains of the Wilderness that stretched out before her and the gorge that loomed in the distance, half-obscured. She said. ”You can't even accomplish such a simple task. You've disappointed me.”
The cold winds blew, making her long pigtails flutter behind her. The braids and her bright eyes almost made her seem adorable. At the same time, her face was emotionless, and she had the aloof air of a sect leader. This made her seem quite intimidating.
Tang said, ”The Golden Tribe Royal Court intends to attack Helan in deep winter. This news has already spreaded through the Wilderness. Even if our tribe wants to lend assistance, the tens of thousands of the Left Royal Court cavalrymen in the eastern regions of the Wilderness would be too much of an obstacle.”
Yu Lian said, ”It would be easy to pass through after killing all those stupid cavalrymen.”
Tang was confused. He asked, ”How do we kill them?”
Matter-of-factly, Yu Lian replied, ”Your wounds are all healed. In your current state of cultivation, would it be a problem for you to kill two hundred idiots on horseback?”
Tang thought about it for a second, then replied, ”It should be no problem.”
”If you kill two hundred cavalrymen a day, you only need a hundred days to kill twenty thousand cavalrymen. Even if the Left Royal Court still has forty thousand cavalrymen, they will still be killed by you eventually.”
Tang was speechless. He thought, Why would the troops just sit there like lambs to the slaughter? Why would they deliver two hundred cavalrymen to you every day, and what if they decided to send out ten thousand cavalrymen to you at once? War could not be solved by a simple formula. His teacher had not been around for years. Anyone would struggle to understand her logic.
”There's nothing to be confused about.”
Yu Lian said, ”That wastrel Long Qing is no longer in the East Wilderness, so the backbone of the Left Royal Court is gone. If you do as I say, dealing with these savage cavalrymen will be even easier than defeating wastrels.”
Tang felt that there was no need to continue this discussion with his teacher. He said, ”I want to go to Peach Mountain.”
Yu Lian replied, ”It's too late to go now.”
Tang paused. ”Teacher, why did you choose to come to the Wilderness instead of Peach Mountain?”
Yu Lian hugged her knees to her chest and said, ”My wounds have not yet healed, what's the point of going to Peach Mountain? Honestly, in the current situation, there's no point in anyone going there.”
”We have no knowledge of what the current situation is.”
”It's definitely chaos up there.”
”Who would have gone?”
”What kind of person is the Hierarch? As long as he's alive he, has an opinion about everything, and his opinion is always unsatisfactory to the Taoists. Now that I think about it, the branch from the South Sea should be there by now.”
”The Divine Priest of the South Sea's successor?”
”That's right. I think Liu Bai should be there too.”
”Why would he want to participate in the Rite of Light?”
”Because she wants to leave during the Rite of Light, but he doesn't want her to?”
”Liu Bai has that kind of courage?”
”It's lonely at the top. The strongest person is always the loneliest. It's unavoidable that they have some thoughts they shouldn't be thinking.”