Chapter 648 - Calamity of a Countrys Destruction (1/2)
Chapter 648 - Calamity of a Country's Destruction
“New Moon City...” While softly muttering the name of the city where he was born and grew up in, the name that he should have been the most familiar with, Sikong Du’s voice was instead filled with a sense of grief and desolation. “There’s no longer a New Moon City anywhere... New Moon City was destroyed a long time ago... The entire Blue Wind Nation will be destroyed soon as well!!”
“...” Yun Che’s breathing suddenly became labored, and he forced himself to calm down. He kneeled while clutching Sikong Du’s shoulder and asked, “What exactly happened? While I was gone for three years... What exactly happened in Blue Wind Nation?”
“It was the Divine Phoenix Empire!!” The youth standing to the right of Sikong Du ground his teeth in anger as he exclaimed, “Three years ago, the Divine Phoenix Empire suddenly brought their armies to our borders and succeeded in breaching Southern Sky City in a single night, conquering the entire Southern Sky Region in less than two weeks... They didn’t declare war, there was no warning, nor was there even an explanation! Any envoys we sent would be executed immediately... Subsequently, the Divine Phoenix Army increased their numbers endlessly, all the way into the millions... They invaded our Blue Wind Nation like a pack of rabid dogs... New Moon City fell to their assault already over one year ago...”
“Wh… at?” Yun Che tightly clenched his fists, and he shook his head with great force, trying to calm himself down. He then asked in a heavy voice, “Why would the Divine Phoenix Empire suddenly invade? Three years ago... That’s basically right when I left! The Divine Phoenix Imperial Family should know perfectly well that the incident at the Primordial Profound Ark had to do with me rescuing Princess Snow from their Divine Phoenix Sect! Princess Snow is not only a princess to the Divine Phoenix Empire, she’s also an existence that stands above all else, and I am the prince consort of Blue Wind Nation... Just based on this alone, even if they’re not grateful to my Blue Wind Imperial Family, did not thank me or return the favor, what’s their basis for invading!!”
Sikong Du laughed wretchedly. “Everyone soon learned after your incident that you ‘perished’ in the Primordial Profound Ark in order to save Princess Snow of the Divine Phoenix Empire. Anyone with even the slightest conscience should remember the kindness you’ve done them... But the Divine Phoenix Empire... They don’t even have a shred of basic human decency! Grateful? What a joke! Not only have they invaded Blue Wind Nation’s territory, they’ve also destroyed our lands and castles and massacred our inhabitants... They’re just a pack of rabid dogs, a band of demons!!”
Just listening to the misery and revenge-fueled anger in Sikong Du’s voice would deeply engrave it into one’s heart, and the sixteen youths around him all showed flames of anger in their eyes while they grinded their teeth. Yun Che remained calm and said in a cold voice, “Wars on the Profound Sky Continent... have always been waged without harming the regular citizens! This is basic humanity! If nothing else, the Divine Phoenix Empire is the largest country on the Profound Sky Continent, and they’ve inherited the power of the phoenix... Why would they do such a thing!”
“I don’t know... I don’t know!” Sikong Du sounded like he was howling, and he shakily pointed in front of him. “Yun Che... take a look, see for yourself! This place, it used to contain a hundred kilometers of New Moon’s forestry and the New Moon Profound Palace, and we used to assess people’s proficiency levels here. But now... Nothing exists here! In order to break through our defensive lines quicker, they used phoenix flames to burn down the entire one hundred kilometers of the New Moon’s forest... leaving nothing behind!”
Yun Che: “...”
“Also... Our New Moon City,” Sikong Du pointed west, as his eyes welled up with tears, “they broke down the city gates and got into the city... In order to capture New Moon City quickly, they even went so far as burning the city... burning... and it was their Divine Phoenix Empire phoenix flames! Forty percent of New Moon City was burned to nothing but ashes... Forty percent! There were at least one million New Moon City residents that died to their phoenix flames! There were even more countless citizens that died to their swords... Anyone that resisted was killed, anyone that wouldn’t surrender was killed, anyone with profound energy was killed... In just three years, several tens of millions of people from our Blue Wind Nation have been killed by those Divine Phoenix dogs... Several tens of millions!!”
The devastation in Sikong Du’s voice kept increasing in magnitude, and each word contained enough hatred to pierce one’s soul. With his misery and howling, tears had started trailing down the cheeks of the sixteen youths around him long ago. One youth to his left slowly said, “We, were all disciples of the New Moon Profound Palace... But now, New Moon City has been destroyed, and the New Moon Profound Palace is gone as well. Instructor Sikong’s father... To buy time for us to escape, Instructor Sikong Han personally... personally... Right now, we haven’t even been able to find his remains.”
“None of us have families, or even relatives anymore... Our only goal in life, is to follow Instructor Sikong, and kill all Divine Phoenix dogs!” The youth that spoke up only seemed seventeen or eighteen years old, but there was an adamant will and... hatred in his eyes that didn’t seem befitting of his age.
“The Divine Phoenix Army is too strong, and our cultivation is too weak. There’s no way for us to fight them head-on. We can only hang around New Moon City and ambush Divine Phoenix soldiers that happen to be alone... Killing even one is fine, we want to kill as many of them as possible... There was quite a distance between us, and we vaguely saw a golden flame emblem on you, so we thought you were from the Divine Phoenix Army and attacked you.”
Yun Che slowly released Sikong Du and felt his vision going blurry. He took a look at the people around Sikong Du... The oldest among them was probably no more than twenty, and the youngest was around sixteen or so. Their clothes were tattered beyond repair, filled with bloodstains, and there were even more injuries than bloodstains on their bodies. One person was even injured to the extent where a third of his body was covered in blood-soaked bandages.
During his time in the Illusory Demon Realm, even though he wanted to return home as soon as possible, in his subconscious, he wasn’t really that worried about the safety of the people he cared about. That’s because the royalty would protect them in the Blue Wind Nation, and even if an incident really occurred, he also happened to be a disciple of the Frozen Cloud Asgard, so the Frozen Cloud Asgard would definitely defend them. Xia Qingyue wouldn’t ignore the relationship they had with each other.
The Divine Phoenix Sect that resented him should have only felt gratitude after he used his life to save Princess Snow, without wanting vengeance. As for Ye Xinghan, who he had angered so much... Ye Xinghan wanted him dead more than anything. Ye Xinghan didn’t have any reason to vent his anger out on other people after Yun Che was supposed to have died.
But he never dreamed that when he returned to the Blue Wind Nation, filled with joy after thinking about it for so long, what he witnessed was like an armageddon.
A burned city... Destruction... Massacre... Several tens of millions of Blue Wind citizens losing their lives...
Every word, every number, was as if they had been soaked in the bloody pools of hell, wriggling about with a vivid red.
Just why... did the Divine Phoenix Empire do this... This shouldn’t... This shouldn’t have happened!
His heart, was pounding fiercely. Even when he was forced into dire straits in Golden Crow Lightning Flame Valley by Duke Ming, his emotions weren’t this chaotic. He took several deep breaths and said in as calm a voice as possible, “Senior Brother Sikong... What’s the current situation like in Blue Wind Nation? Is Blue Wind Imperial City alright?”
Sikong Du coughed violently, then said in a pained voice, “The invasion from those crazy Divine Phoenix dogs was so fearsome that they used such a large military force and would stoop to any tactics in order to conquer our Blue Wind Nation in the shortest amount of time possible... If it wasn’t for our empress, being so wise of judgement, placing seven ingenious lines of defense to allow us to defend against their numerical advantage with a force several times smaller, Blue Wind Nation might already have...”
“Empress? What do you mean by empress!!” Yun Che was suddenly shaken to his core, and his pupils dilated for an instant. He grabbed Sikong Du’s collar and growled, “Where’s my royal father, the emperor... Why is it empress?”
“The late emperor...” Sikong Du laughed bitterly. “The late emperor was assassinated, just two months after those Divine Phoenix dogs invaded.”
“~！#￥%…” Yun Che’s hands listlessly let go of Sikong Du, and his eyes went blank as his body shook and he fell over backwards.