In truth, the territory of the Great Jin was far more vast than that of any dynasty that came after. But once the young emperor chose to relocate the capital, it was equivalent to voluntarily abandoning everything in the north.

Not long after the young emperor left the imperial capital, the demon army had already begun its march south.

They swept forward unstoppable, like a raging gale, trampling the northern lands at will and slaughtering the people there without restraint.

Countless common people were forced to leave their homes, hiding deep in the mountains and forests, hoping to escape this great calamity. Their faces were sallow, their bodies emaciated. Moving through the wilderness, they no longer looked like humans/

More like wild beasts.

Their expressions were vacant, their eyes devoid of light, like walking corpses.

They were already powerless. When even the rulers of the dynasty could not resolve the crisis, there was indeed nothing the common people could rely on themselves to do.

They had always been the weakest on this land.

Yet in a small commandery city in the north, people kept pouring in.

Calling them common people was not entirely accurate, because among this group, many wore armor and carried sabers, though the armor was broken and the blades were chipped.

But they were very different from those who had fled into the mountains. In their eyes were many emotions - pain, helplessness, anger.

No matter what the emotion was, at least they still had emotion.

They gathered in this small commandery city. From morning until dusk, their numbers kept growing.

By nightfall, torches were lit, illuminating faces smeared with blood.

A general clad in tattered armor stepped out from the crowd and stood upon a raised platform. Looking at his compatriots below, he said with apology, “I’m sorry, everyone. We lost. We couldn’t stop those beasts.”

From the crowd below, a commoner shouted, “General, are there no more troops in the north?!”

The general nodded, ashamed. “The frontier army was utterly defeated. The prefectural army also collapsed at first contact. Now there are deserters everywhere. We can no longer organize an army to continue resisting.”

Chaos.

Utter chaos.

This was the state of Great Jin’s north. The people fled in all directions. Army after army marched to the frontlines, only to be shattered. Countless routed soldiers scattered. In the present north, all people had become food for the demon race. Once discovered, there was only one fate - to be eaten.

“His Majesty and the court officials have already gone south. The capital has been moved. No one will come to save you anymore. To be honest, I feel deeply ashamed. As soldiers, it is our duty to defend the land and protect the nation. But we failed to hold it and we can no longer hold it.”

The general lowered his head, looking at the saber at his waist, already broken in half. Recalling the earlier battle with the demons, he shook his head in pain. The disparity had been far too great. They had barely been able to resist before their army was scattered at will by the demons. What followed was nothing but a one-sided massacre.

“Now, we can only head south. With so many people, at least some may reach the south and preserve their lives.”

The general took a deep breath.

A voice suddenly rang out from the crowd. “Can’t we continue resisting?”

A young man in the crowd looked at the general and asked seriously, “Can’t we continue resisting?”

The general looked at him and said helplessly, “The army has already been scattered...”

The young man said firmly, “If General has no soldiers left, then I will be your soldier. I don’t want to go south. Going south means I might live, but I’ll have no home. My home is here. I don’t want to leave. Even if I die here, I won’t go south!”

The young man’s voice wasn’t loud, but everyone heard him clearly. As they listened, more people began to speak, “I don’t want to go south either. My parents’ graves are still here. If I leave, who will tend their graves and burn paper offerings?”

“General, I won’t leave either!”

Soon, voices rose one after another, people who were about to lose their homeland, people who refused to lose it.

The general trembled as he said, “You don’t even have weapons. Even if you stay, what can you do? You’ll only be throwing away your lives.”

“We may not have weapons, but we have this!”

A commoner raised the farming tool in his hand - it was a dung pitchfork. Holding it high, he shouted earnestly, “General, lead us to kill those beasts and avenge our families!”

“Lead us to kill those beasts and avenge our families!”

The people grew agitated, shouting loudly. They waved their farming tools, anger blazing in their eyes.

Seeing this, the general clenched the broken sword in his hand and gritted his teeth. “Alright! Then we will go kill those beasts and avenge our families! Even if we die, we will die here!”

With the general’s words, whether routed soldiers or common people, everyone became stirred. The blood and spirit they had never truly lost were reignited. They shouted excitedly, their bodies trembling as if their blood were boiling, impossible to suppress.

At the general’s command, this hastily formed army left the commandery city and began heading north. They were going to fight a battle they were destined to lose. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Not far away, Chen Chao and Lu Ji silently watched the scene. Neither spoke.

After a long while, Lu Ji said, “You know that no matter how firm their resolve is, they still can’t change anything. The situation is already lost. If they go, they are only going to die.”

Chen Chao nodded. Of course he knew.

“So what meaning is there in doing this?”

Lu Ji lamented, his expression grim.

Chen Chao said, “As long as the backbone remains, as long as the blood and spirit remain, the human race will not perish.”

Lu Ji said nothing. He merely thought of his old friend, facing the same circumstances, the same situation, who had made the same choice as these people.

Chen Chao said, “Great Jin does not deserve people like them.”

Dynasties rose and fell again and again. More often than not, it was the state that failed the people, rarely the people who failed the state.

Lu Ji looked at the young man before him and sighed. “Do you ever fear that this might become the future of Great Liang?”

Chen Chao shook his head. “Perhaps Great Liang may fall, but it will never abandon its people like this. As long as I am alive, I will not allow such a thing to happen.”

Lu Ji said nothing more, only staring at a set of exquisite tea utensils discarded on the ground not far away, his thoughts drifting.

......

......

That so-called army left the commandery city, heading not south, but north. The outcome was naturally not good. They caused no real trouble for the demon race. Upon encountering them, they were quickly defeated. But no one fled, they all died on that land.

Many became food for the demons. That general used his broken sword to cut off the head of a demon, but after exhausting his strength, he could only watch helplessly as another demon tore out his heart and devoured it.

The general widened his eyes, staring fixedly at the demon before him, and died just like that.

Like this army, there was a second, a third... countless such armies were formed, doing the same thing across this land, but the result was the same, they accomplished nothing.

They only caused many more people to die.

When these people had almost all died, an envoy of the Great Jin rode in a carriage from the southern capital to the demon army camp in the north.

That envoy was the very court official who had previously urged the young emperor to relocate the capital. Now, he had become the envoy and arrived here.

Looking at the demon camp before him, looking at those terrifying demon faces, the envoy’s face had already turned completely pale with fear.

Within the camp, he even saw the mutilated bodies of his compatriots, with flies swarming over them, and internal organs already beginning to rot.

The envoy’s stomach churned violently.

Unable to hold it in any longer, he vomited to the side.

A demon centurion looked at him and sneered, “Maybe you’ll become something like that soon. What’s there to be afraid of?”

The envoy’s face was deathly pale, but he did not dare say anything.

After he had finished vomiting, he shakily got to his feet and made his way to the central tent.

Inside, a tall demon general was leisurely using a small knife to peel the skin off a woman hanging beside him.

Blood dripped continuously onto the ground, the sound of droplets falling echoing without end.

Seeing this scene, the envoy who had already emptied his stomach, felt it churn again.

The demon general glanced at him and said casually, “What did that child send you here for?”

In the eyes of the demons, that young emperor was nothing more than a child.

But if one thought about it, there was nothing wrong with that. After all, he truly could do nothing against the demons.

Suppressing his nausea, the envoy lowered his head and said, “His Majesty the Emperor has sent me to negotiate peace with you.”

Hearing this, the demon general suddenly laughed. “I don’t know what qualifications you have to talk about peace. If this continues, wiping out your human race is only a matter of time. Since that’s the case, how do you still dare to speak of negotiations?”

The envoy said, “If you continue fighting like this, we certainly cannot stop you. But the cultivators in the south will not just stand by. They understand that if the lips are gone, the teeth will grow cold. When they begin to resist, you may still win, but you will also suffer heavy losses. General, do you think such a thing is worth it?”

The demon general did not respond. Instead, he cut off a piece of flesh from the woman beside him and tossed it into his mouth, chewing.

Hearing the sound of chewing, the envoy’s stomach churned again, but he held it in and forced himself to endure.

“What you say has some truth... Of course, we could wipe you out at will, but it indeed wouldn’t be worth it. Creatures like you, ten of your lives wouldn’t equal one of ours.”

The demon general looked at the envoy before him. “But if you want a ceasefire and negotiations, it’s not just something you can say. You must bring something that satisfies us.”

The envoy did not dare look at him and nodded. “That is only natural. We must satisfy you.”

After a pause, the envoy continued, “You may state your demands. As long as we can fulfill them, we will accept. In addition, we are willing to cede thirty thousand miles of the desolate north to you first.”

“Thirty thousand miles of the desolate north? That land is already beneath our feet. Why would we need you to cede it?”

The demon general sneered. “That child is quite sensible, but in my view, he doesn’t even have as much backbone as this woman. Do you know? Just now, this woman tried to kill this general with this small knife. What a foolish act. And yet among you, you can hardly find a few such ‘fools’ anymore.”

The envoy lowered his head and said, “She overestimated herself. She deserved to die, truly deserved it!”

The demon general narrowed his eyes, said nothing, and merely laughed.

Inside the great tent, there were two figures no one could see.

Chen Chao looked at the demon general, undisguised killing intent in his eyes.

While Lu Ji's face was filled with sorrow.

But they were destined to only watch.

That, in itself, was a cruel thing.