Chapter 442 - Goguryeo Campaign
Zuo Ci returned to his abode with a wide smile. However, Lilim watched the entire event unfold with an annoyed expression.
"Too bad, Goddess Lilim. He refused."
Lilim groaned, "He has postponed. It hasn’t set in stone yet."
"Well, I’ve just sensed that he has the same potential as Zhang Tong. I think he will surpass me soon."
"..."
"I suggest you forget about the silly idea about reincarnating into your dimension. I thought you are satisfied with only 10 wings."
Lilim glanced at her 10 black wings. She might have stopped cultivating or trying to gain the 11th sin, but it would be a lie to say that she did not want to grow stronger.
Her greed for power and the existence of two taboo immortals inspired her that she could reincarnate by using a body of someone with an angel and demon’s bloodline. Then, she could get to 20 wings, which would be more than her 16-winged mother, Lilith.
If Lilim’s memory served her right, the creator’s real body also had 10 angel wings and 10 demon wings!
The absolute god, the goal that no one dared to dream or pursue, was right in front of Lilim.
Zuo Ci could sense the immense greed and desire in Lilim’s aura. He shook his head and sighed.
’This is why I said immortals are so different than mortals. You were born into power, but you’ve never experienced hardship. You will never reach the creator’s level. Heck, Zhang Tong and Li Feihong will surpass you soon.’
Zuo Ci turned his attention to Tong and Li Feihong.
’A repented demon king to be and a hidden savior. These two will be the pillars of our dimension.’
The future was hopeful, but it was also clouded with uncertainty, such as irregular entities like Sun Quan, Sun Shangxiang, and Zhang Ying. Zuo Ci could only hope that they would work together as one when their paths crossed.
Moreover...
Zuo Ci glanced at the records of Tong’s previous lives and counted the times that Tong had gone through the circle of reincarnation in his dimension.
His death as a police officer was destined. His suffering in his last life was also fate.
In Tong previous life, that circle was meant to torture Tong as he had committed many grave sins in this Han Dynasty era.
’Karma tribulation is cruel, but you will get through it soon, Zhang Tong. You are doing well.’
’Or should I call you by your true name...’
.
.
March 1st, 194 AD.
Tian Yu and Gan Ning settled their 30,000-man army in Lelang Commandery, replacing the Gongsun’s family duty to expand eastward to the Korea peninsula.
Lelang Commandery covered northwestern part of the modern-day North-Korea and its capital city, Pyongyang. As for Xuantu, it connected with to border of Xiangping, north of the commandery.
In this world, only Xuantu commandery remained under Han’s control since Gongsun Du had died before he could take over Lelang Commandery in like in other world’s history.
Without the Gongsun clan’s influence, these commanderies were being occupied by the Goguryeo Kingdom. As a result, it was Tian Yu’s job to repel these invaders and finish off the threatening empire northeast of the Han Dynasty.
Upon arrival at Lelang, they could see the tension as Goguryeo’s armies also stationed within Lelang Commandery. They had 20,000 professional soldiers, glaring from Pyongyang from afar.
"This is going to be tough," Tian Yu had a bitter smile on his face, "Well, if we can take over that city, construct a proper fortress, get our hwachas and cannons in position, and then we can reinforce Xuantu later."
Gan Ning grimaced, "Won’t they take Xuantu when we’re busy here?"
"No need to worry. The Silver Axe Legion is there, and they will take care of the rest."
Tian Yu took it easy in this campaign as ordered by Tong.
Instead of attacking Pyongyang and securing the city right away, he constructed a fortress right in front of the wall, intimidating the garrison forces.
Yet, the loud sound of gunshots could be heard from inside the fortress once in a while. Sometimes, garrison soldiers on top of the wall fell after the mysterious sound.
Nobody noticed the new weapon in Tian Yu’s arms.
.
Gungnae City, the Capital City of Goguryeo Kingdom.
This place becomes one of China’s territories in modern days. Gungnae, aka Guonei in Chinese Mandarin, was still the old capital city of Goguryeo that stood against the Han Dynasty for ages in this era.
The relationship between the two kingdoms was not friendly. As the previous emperor Wu of Han had established four commanderies in the peninsula, the conflict between Goguryeo and Han was frequent.
Now that Gongsun Du was gone, Gogukcheon, the current Monarch of Goguryeo, planned to annex Xuantu next.
The monarch was the inventor of the famous grain loaning system in Goguryeo. Although he was a benevolent king, he was also an ambitious king, who sought to occupy the peninsula and annex the three southern kingdoms.
Unfortunately, they gathered their forces too slow. By the time they were ready, Tian Yu had already come for Lelang’s capital city, Pyongyang.
Now, Han Dynasty jumped into the fray of the beginning of Korea’s Three Kingdoms period.
"Those fools don’t know what’s best for them. Send our immortals to Xuantu and cut their supply route! Teach them a lesson!"
Tong and others were not the only ones with wings. The Goguryeo’s monarch also had 4 white wings, and all of his generals possessed at least 2. However, all of them had black wings.
Five demon generals stepped forward and accepted the command tokens.
"Bring me the heads of those Han!"
.
Xuantu Commandery
Xu Huang’s Silver Legion had a private meeting between the commanders. Jia Xu, the venomous strategist, took charge of this gathering.
He presented the map of the northeastern region beyond Liaodong, where they were not familiar with. Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang had trouble adjusting to the new layout of the foreign land.
However, Xu Huang had acquired enough experience from his previous life. He could adapt to the changes without problems.
"Gentlemen, I hope all of you are ready for what I’m suggesting," Jia Xu grinned.
"... I hope you’re not planning something crazy."
"Oh, nothing much. We’ll just be force-march for a few days, that’s all."
Everyone looked at each other, "That’s it?"
"Yup. That’s it! We’ll march straight to Gungnae and bombard those shitty bastards to smithereens ASAP!"
"..."
"I need our men to reach that city within this week."
"And your reason for that rush?"
"Well, you’ll know when we’re there."
.
.
Gogukcheon and his five demon generals marched toward Xuantu County using the standard marching. 30,000 Soldiers from Gungnae sortied, hoping to score some achievements.
One of the demon generals floated in the sky, scouting the surrounding areas for his men.
He was a general with 4 black wings, using his soul power to fly.
Goguryeo’s soldiers, generals, and officers were different than the Han Dynasty’s officers as their country had suffered from frequent war with neighbors, so they united as one. Their disciplinary and upbringing were upright, which was compatible with demon and angel cultivation.
As a consequence of their culture, they had many talented cultivators even though Zuo Ci only allowed a handful of people to obtain the cultivation technique.
There were others with angel wings, but the Goguryeo monarch used them as supporting officers instead of using them in war. The reason for that was their abilities, the souls, and their curse.
Demons could curse the opposition soldiers with their souls of sin, but angels were barred from harming mortals.
This was how Goguryeo utilized his people!
March 3rd, 194 AD.
The flying general spotted an approaching army from the horizon. He flew down to report his king.
"Your majesty, we have spotted an army. The distance is about 20 li (10km)."
Gogukcheon nodded, "And their number?"
"I can’t see. We have to get closer. Please give me a thousand man, so I can survey and cast a few curses on them."
"You go, then."
One of four two-wing generals accepted the order. He took a thousand horsemen departed.
As they rushed to spy the incoming force, they encountered the opponent’s scout company as well.
They were heavy cavalry group of 1,000 men in white clothes, wielding war axes.
The demon general sneered, "Foolish mortals. Reveal your true desire, [Envy]!"
The two-wing general cast a curse spell on the 1,000 knights.
All riders froze and pulled the reigns in chaos, but one rider was unaffected.
The white knight with a decorated silver armor slowly exhaled.
"[Honesty] and [Humility] is the difference between learned people and scums. None of you should waver by this cheap trick."
Four white wings spread behind the white knight’s back as he gave a blessing to his scouts. The two of Xu Huang’s virtuous souls canceled the effect of the curse.
The minds of all knights were cleared of wicked thoughts, and they regained their composure.
.
Xu Huang, the legion commander, watched the demon general at a distance before him.
"As his majesty has predicted. There are other immortals in foreign lands."
Without hesitation, he reported his founding to the clan chat.
Xu Huang: "I’ve encountered a two-wing demon. Requesting permission to engage."
Jia Xu: "Kill him ASAP. Don’t let those guys curse our men!"
Jia Xu: "Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang, you two take the rest of our men to Gungnae. Ignore all battles on the way!"
Receiving the order, Xu Huang galloped forward, charging at the demon general with his giant steel axe.
With the reinforcing soul aura, the axe glowed in silver light.
The demon general saw that Xu Huang was challenging him. He glanced at Xu Huang’s white wings with a mocking sneer.
"Angels are not inefficient in war regardless of how many wings you have, fool! Now, I’ll show you the difference in strength!"
The demon gathered his dark aura. He grabbed his spear, injected his power into the weapon, and threw it at Xu Huang.
A sharp whistling sound of breaking wind came with the dark spear, arriving before Xu Huang.
"Double Accel!"
*BOOM*
Xu Huang swatted the spear away, but the contact between the holy aura from Xu Huang and the demon aura caused an explosion.
The shockwave pushed Xu Huang backward and killed his horse. However, the rider was unharmed.
The demon general took another spear from his subordinate. He enhanced it with his demon aura and threw it at Xu Huang once more.
The spear was faster than the previous one. Xu Huang parried it, and the explosion occurred again.
*BOOM*
Xu Huang took another step backward, but the demon general followed up with more dark spears.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
By sidestepping, Xu Huang dodged all empowered explosive spears from the ace Goguryeo’s general.
"Interesting. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to savor this duel."
Xu Huang sighed in pity as he never wanted to use Tong’s modern weapon.
He took an S&W magnum pistol, which created by Medusa, and pointed at the demon. The silver aura entered the gun and reinforced the bullets and the long chamber.
He pulled the trigger.
*BANG*
The bullet contained Xu Huang angelic power, which arrived in front of the demon general in less than a millisecond.
The demon snorted and used his aura to block the bullet, believing that this peanut shell could not possibly hurt him.
*PU*
The bullet went through his brain and left a giant burning hole, revealing his inner skull and brain.
Watching the death of this two-wing demon, Xu Huang snorted.
"The fool here is you. Regardless of cultivation methods, two-wing immortals can’t be a match for a four-wing immortal."
He waved his hand, and all knights brought out their desert eagles, aiming at the panicking Goguryeo soldiers.
*BANG*
*BANG*
*BANG*