The Demon Lords-Chapter 575 - 72 Joke_1

While the Yan people celebrated the Wanfu Festival, in the King's Tent of the Wild People's army, a thin-faced man sat on a couch made from Snow Wolf pelts. He gently fingered a scar on his face, his eyes reflecting a thoughtful expression.

He was the king of the Wild People. It was difficult to determine his age from his appearance because he looked the same as he did over ten years ago, and he still looked the same now, over ten years later.

Even Angda, who had once adventured across the lands with him, already showed the frost of age at his temples. For the King, however, time seemed to have stopped.

The Yan people have arrived. Que Mu and Angda must have fallen in battle.

The King extended his hand, picked up the teacup before him, and took a sip of the cold tea.

The tea was of poor quality, a preference of the military leaders in Beifeng Prefecture. It was bitter and even somewhat scraped the throat, much like the sensation the wind and sand of the North gave people.

The King had learned to drink tea back then and had kept the habit. Even though many of his generals and chieftains now drank expensive tea, he maintained his habit of drinking this low-quality brew.

It wasn't to reminisce about past hardships or to appreciate present comforts; rather, once a habit formed, one simply grew too lazy to change it.

The curtain of the King's Tent was lifted, and an elderly man with a string of skulls around his neck walked in. He respectfully bowed, placed his hands before him, and said earnestly, "King."

The King nodded and gestured to the space beside him. "Sit."

The old man sat down.

The Wild People called themselves the Sacred Clan and worshipped the stars. They believed that within the brilliance of the stars lay the world of the gods, and every devout Wild Person would be guided there after death.

And the emissaries of the stars in the mortal realm were called Guides.

Each tribe had a Guide, similar to the shamans of barbarian tribes. Additionally, each tribe's Guide, beyond their usual charlatan duties, would often also serve as doctors, teachers, counselors, prophets, climatologists, and so on.

This was like how elementary school textbooks, when introducing historical figures, always appended a long string of titles: politician, thinker, some sort of scholar.

However, though Sang Hu wore the attire of a Guide, he was not one. On the contrary, he had once, in a fit of rage after his family was bullied by the tribal Guides, slaughtered every Guide in his own tribe. He then fled into the snowfields, living as an exile for over twenty years. He became a bandit; other Wild People might be spared if they obediently offered a portion of their livestock, but any Guide he encountered would be tortured and killed.

For this, he became the public enemy of many tribes in the snowfields, because he was openly challenging the ruling order of the entire snowfields.

Did the families of the great tribal chieftains truly believe in the legends of the Guides? They knew it didn't matter whether they themselves believed, as long as their clansmen did.

After the King rose to power, his radiance illuminated the snowfields. Sang Hu led more than a thousand of his old comrades, who had shared life-and-death experiences with him for over a decade, to pledge allegiance to the King.

Sang Hu said he was guilty.

The King said, "You are guilty."

Then, the King had him wear the robes of a Guide and become the representative of the Guides under the King.

Later, the King had asked him, "Do you still hate it?"

Sang Hu had replied, "Not anymore. It's just a joke."

He had spent half his life slaying Guides and committing such outrageous acts, yet now, he was on the verge of becoming the head of all Guides in the entire snowfield. If that wasn't a joke, what was?

After Sang Hu sat, the King spoke, "What is the reaction from the Jin people at Snow Sea Pass?"

Sang Hu replied, "There has been no reaction."

The King's hand continued to stroke the scar on his face as he said, "They were causing such a stir before, yet now there's no reaction at all."

"King, do you think the Jin people already know the Yan people have entered the snowfields?"

"Do you think all these tribes under us are of one mind with us? There will always be someone who leaks information."

"They should be killed."

"That's irrelevant," the King said. "It's not a significant matter. The Jin people have operated in the snowfields for centuries. If they couldn't even manage to pass on information, it wouldn't mean the Jin people are incompetent, but that we are too foolish, to have been suppressed by such inept people for centuries, unable to rise. Besides, even if they didn't inform them, since the Yan people have dispatched troops, how could they not notify the Jin people?"

"So, the Jin people are already aware the Yan people have come."

"Yes."

"Your subordinate truly cannot understand why the Yan people would travel thousands of miles to enter the snowfields. Weren't the Jin and Yan people just at war?"

The King laughed and said, "The various tribes on the snowfields attack and annex one another in normal times. But whenever the Jin people launch a major invasion, they quickly form an alliance to resist the Jin."

"Your subordinate understands half of it."

"And the other half?"

"That is, we Wild People unite only when facing annihilation, but the Yan and Jin people do not."

"Mm."

"King?"

"Therefore, although we call ourselves the Sacred Clan, outsiders call us Wild People. Because we are not yet civilized. And indeed, we are not."

Sang Hu lowered his head in silence.

This was racial discrimination. No one felt comfortable facing discrimination against their own race, especially when it came from their own King.

"Wild beasts hunt when hungry, drink when thirsty, reproduce in season, and migrate in pursuit of pasture and water. When they have eaten their fill, they do little more than bask in the sun. There truly isn't much difference between our Sacred Clan and wild beasts. We only think of forming temporary alliances when great disaster is imminent. The Yan people, however, face no such imminent disaster, yet they know to proactively make plans."

"Your subordinate understands," Sang Hu said.

"There's no rush. A meal must be eaten one bite at a time, a road walked one step at a time. Our clan has been trapped in this snowfield for too, too long. So long that the vision of our people has also become overly narrow."

"Then the Yan people..."

"The Yan people are not easy to deal with. The ones who have come this time are Yan's Jingnan Army, and it's their Southern Marquis personally leading them. The Yan people have two great cavalry forces: one is the North Border Army, the other is the Jingnan Army. The Yan people have two great marquises: one is the Earl of North Border, the other is Lord Jingnan. But to be frank, the Earl of North Border is formidable because the North Border Army is formidable. The Jingnan Army, however, is strong because Lord Jingnan is formidable. Beifeng Prefecture borders the desert. There, the young men of Yan are armored and mounted early, ready to fight the barbarian tribes directly. A blade honed for a century is naturally incomparably sharp. The Jingnan Army, on the other hand, had never experienced major warfare. Yet, after Lord Jingnan took charge and forged it for over a decade, it proved no less inferior to the North Border Army in the war to invade Jin. Alas. Therefore, this King has always believed that while on the surface, the Earl of North Border is paramount in the Yan State military, in reality, that Lord Jingnan is the true god of war in Yan State."

"Why would the Yan people help the Jin people this time?"

"The Yan people wish to become the next common sovereign after the Great Xia. Initially, this King sent a message to that old master of the Situ Family, expressing willingness to join hands with him to resist the Yan people. That old fool agreed. Unexpectedly, Situ Lei directly summoned the Sword Saint of Jin State, led him into the imperial palace, killed his own father, and seized the throne. Immediately after ascending the throne, he ignored the Yan people and instead personally led an imperial expedition to the snowfields. Whether Situ Lei knew he couldn't defeat the Yan people and so decided to act recklessly out of despair, or if he deliberately wanted to display a posture of 'brothers resisting external threats together' towards the Yan people, this King does not know. Perhaps no one knows besides Situ Lei himself. But Situ Lei's attitude is already very clear. He does not want to go to war with the Yan people. He is even willing to be subordinate to that Yan Emperor in Yanjing. To put it nicely, it's called 'guarding the northeastern snowfields for the remnants of the Great Xia.'"

"Then why did he still ascend the throne?"

"For convenience in future bargaining, of course. Business is always done this way. When this King used to travel with merchant caravans, these were the kinds of tricks employed."

"So, the Jin people at Snow Sea Pass will come out to support the Yan people?"

"They will certainly come out. The Jin people are not yet qualified to watch the fire from the other bank. According to reports from the tribes that fled back from the west, the Yan people have been burning, killing, looting, and plundering in our western snowfields, committing every atrocity. Many large tribes have been crushed by the Yan people. The Jin people understand that if Yan's Southern Marquis falls in the snowfields, they will face two consequences. Firstly, the Yan Emperor's wrath. Secondly, with the Yan people having eliminated the disobedient large tribes in the western snowfields for this King, this King's power would completely control that region. The pressure on the Jin people will then be even greater. Most importantly, the so-called Dacheng State was founded less than a year ago, and the emperor, leading his troops personally, has suffered successive defeats. In truth, even if the Yan people didn't come, the Jin people would be eager to continue their expeditions out of the pass. In their eyes, face is more important than livestock, sheep, and the lives of their warriors."

"King, your subordinate will lead your most loyal warriors to hold the line at Snow Sea Pass for you. You, King, can then free your hands to deal with this Southern Marquis of Yan."

"How many troops have we gathered here now?"

"Nearly forty thousand. By tomorrow, we can gather another twenty thousand. All are the King's most battle-hardened warriors."

"Good. Starting tomorrow night, withdraw in batches. Leave ten thousand warriors here for this King. You and the others go to Snow Sea Pass. When the Jin people come out, annihilate them all."

"King, with only ten thousand warriors left here, how can you possibly defeat the Yan people? This..."

The King yawned and said, "This King's Tent is here. Add to that ten thousand warriors. For that Southern Marquis of Yan, this should count as a substantial main course. It's a sufficiently respectable way to entertain the Yan people who have come from afar. That Southern Marquis of Yan wants to kill people, so this King will send them up for him to kill. As for us, as long as we devour the Jin army that dares to sally out this time, Snow Sea Pass can then be broken in due course. No matter how skilled the Yan people are in warfare, they cannot exterminate our Sacred Clan. Only by breaking Snow Sea Pass can the sky for our Sacred Clan become vast once more."

"King, this is too... for you."

"Relax. I am not those two fools, Que Mu and Angda. At the critical moment, I will have these ten thousand warriors cover my retreat."

"But..."

"Leave."

"Your subordinate understands! King, please take care. Your subordinate will definitely break through Snow Sea Pass and await the King's return!"

Sang Hu left.

Inside the King's Tent, only the King remained alone.

The King reached under his pelt couch, took out an exquisite small box, and opened it.

Inside the box was a little girl's embroidered shoe.

The King carefully cradled the shoe in his palm, brought it to his nose, and took a deep sniff. An intoxicated look immediately appeared on his face.

"So fragrant..."

Immediately, the King subconsciously reached up and touched the scar on his face, a scar more than ten years old. He murmured to himself, "I hear you're about to be married."

There wasn't the slightest trace of dejection on the King's face. Instead, he chuckled, "HEHEHE," and muttered to himself again, "Wait for me. I'll come to snatch you away."