Chapter 292 - : Return to Donglin County (1/2)
The Golden Sun Condor flew for several days and finally arrived in Donglin County. Along the way, Ye Chen saw that the surrounding counties had been conquered by the Nanman Kingdom, which filled his heart with rage.
From time to time, thick plumes of smoke rose into the air. Wherever the Nanman Kingdom army went, all the counties, towns, and villages were reduced to ashes. Dead bodies of ordinary folks littered the ground and every valuable item was plundered while houses were burned down. They were like a plague of locusts.
In every direction, there were dead bodies and trails of blood. The Nanman Kingdom army was truly inhumane and evil!
Ye Chen finally realized how cruel the war in this world was. Millions of people were slaughtered indiscriminately. This realization made a great impact on his perspective.
“Big Brother Ye Chen, are these people killed by the Nanman Kingdom?” Little Wingsy was also immensely shocked by the carnage below. In his mind, killing people was inherently wrong.
Ye Chen’s fists were so tightly balled up that his knuckles gave audible pops. Now, he truly understood what Great Emperor Mingwu had said before. The people of the Xiwu Empire would rather be ruled by Great Emperor Mingwu than be subjected to the Nanman Kingdom.
“They are a bunch of wild beasts!” Ye Chen cursed aloud. If only he had the ability, he would kill his way to Nanman Capital City and kill Tuoba Hongye, the Grandruler of Nanman with his bare hands! ‘I’ll let you live for now, but one day, I’ll take your life!’
Ye Chen quashed the anger in his heart and urged the Golden Sun Condor to fly toward the Ye Clan valley.
“I wonder how the clan members are faring. Hopefully, they are safe if they stay inside the valley.”
The Golden Sun Condor flew on. At last, they reached the sky above the Ye Clan valley. The Golden Sun Condor landed in a circular motion.
In the Ye Clan valley, a group of clan members saw the Golden Sun Candor in the sky and immediately knew that Ye Chen was back. The entire valley bustled with excitement.
“The Chief is back!”
“Great, the Chief has returned!”
As soon as the Golden Sun Condor had landed, a group of people gathered around them.
Ye Chen jumped down from the Golden Sun Condor’s back and noticed that the number of people in the valley had dwindled. With a slight frown, he glanced at Ye Moyuan and asked, “Uncle Moyuan, why are there so few people in the valley? Where’s my father and the others as well as Ye Meng and the rest?”
Upon hearing Ye Chen’s words, Ye Moyuan’s tears began to flow. In an anxious voice, he asked, “Chief, will you please save the Elders?”
“What happened?” Looking at the expression on Ye Moyuan’s face, Ye Chen’s heart sank.
Ye Moyuan hurriedly recounted the story. After Donglin County was attacked, countless people were dead or wounded. When Ye Zhantian and the others saw that the Nanman Kingdom army was about to conquer the city and that the messenger hawks they sent had failed to contact Ye Chen who was far away in the Capital City, they decided to gather all the combatants from Eighth Level and above. Together with some other prominent families in Donglin County, they evacuated the people from the city. However, the Nanman Kingdom caught wind of what they were doing and sent a large troop of soldiers to stop them.
As for Ye Meng, Ye Xuan, and the others, they were required to join the war. After being saved by Ye Zhantian and the others, they had been sent to the Central Empire.
All the clan members left in the valley were those who did not have considerable Celestial Chi cultivation base. They had been waiting for two days but Ye Zhantian and the others still had not returned. Naturally, they were anxious.
“Uncle Moyuan, I’m entrusting this place to you. Don’t allow the clan members to leave the valley. I’ll rescue Father and the others.” Ye Chen mounted the Golden Sun Condor once again and rose into the air.
“Yes, Chief.” Ye Moyuan and the rest looked into the air and saw that Golden Sun Condor had flown away in a hurry. They could only remain in the valley and pray for Ye Chen, Ye Zhantian, and the others to return safely.
Ganchuan County, Xilin Prairie.
Countless people were swarming toward the depths of Xilin Prairie like a colony of black ants.
Ye Zhantian, Ye Zhanlong, and the others soared across the sky on the Ashen Condors. Within the last few days, Ye Zhantian and the others had been escorting these people to safety. Initially, they headed north but they were intercepted by the Nanman Kingdom army. In the end, they had no choice but to head west, passing through the treacherous Yanshan Mountain Range and into the Xilin Prairie. Then, they would have to bypass Ganchuan and head north toward the Capital City.
This was the reason why, despite the fact that Ye Chen had just come from Capital City, did not see Ye Zhantian and the others.
In the beginning, there were only about two or three million evacuees, all of them from Donglin County. Later on, as they passed through a few counties, more people joined the evacuees until it became a huge, dense, horde of a billion people. There were so many evacuees that they covered more than half of the Xilin Prairie.
Along the way, people were dying. Some died due to exhaustion while others died of starvation. Although Ye Zhantian and the others kept distributing rations to the evacuees, due to the large number of people, it was no more than a drop of water in an ocean.