Beichen Sword Sect's Headmaster's Secret Records

Chapter 261 The devil is one foot taller

So the next day, Liu Xiaoliu discussed with his fellow apprentices and decided that Wu Di and Shen Jianjia would form a team to patrol the mountains, while he would fly on his sword (legs), cross the Yanzhi Mountains, leap over the snow-capped ridges, and rush towards the north against the howling icy wind.

Looking in all directions, dark clouds rolled, demonic energy surged into the sky, and in all directions, in the sky and on the ground, there were demons, and in all directions, there were demon lords. There were demons everywhere, and there was blood everywhere. For a moment, I really didn't know where the main force of the demon nest was.

Yes, the demons from the Arctic ice field were moving southward like a tide. The country of Kan had actually been completely overturned and collapsed. The villages, horse farms, and castles inhabited by humans were in ruins and had all been destroyed. Looking around, all one saw was the loss of all lives and corpses everywhere.

Liu Xiaoliu made a gesture and flew his sword, descended from the clouds, and looked down at the village in the mountains.

This time, he actually came out to find this village.

When Xiaoliu first arrived at Pastor Garden a few years ago, he also came here once. The people in the village were herdsmen from the Kan Kingdom. They herded horses and sheep in their spare time. When there was a war, they would be conscripted, put on their armor and go into battle to steal some food and fodder for the winter.

The master of this mountain ordered his disciples to sweep in all directions. When they found such a village, they would chop off a few heads to serve as a warning to others. Then they would force the herdsmen to return to the pastor's garden to work, and those who refused to surrender would be killed.

But the village grandma made a bowl of milk tea for Xiaoliu, which reminded Xiaoliu of his grandma, so he softened his heart and went back to report, saying that they had migrated south.

But now they are all dead.

So Liu Xiaoliu could only remain silent and examine the bodies of the villagers.

Most of it was eaten, including the brain, internal organs, buttocks and legs. The human flesh was fatter than pork, and the softest and most tender parts were all eaten away, leaving only chewed and rotten bones on the ground.

Judging from these, it could be the work of wild beasts, as there are many wolves on the grassland. But there are also a small number of women who died from childbirth, so it must be a demon.

Well, humans are born from humans, animals are born from animals, but demons parasitize on humans and animals.

The woman's corpse had a bloody hole in the lower abdomen, and fragments of gelatinous cysts could be seen at the hole and in her internal organs. The inside was soft and the outer wall was hard. When put together, they looked like a bean pod, which was deeply implanted in the mother's body like the roots of a plant, absorbing blood, flesh, and essence to gain nutrients.

This is the demon's egg sheath. If it parasitizes on a human, it is called a demon fetus.

Although I didn't spend much time teaching at Benshan, he did teach these things seriously.

The flesh and blood that grows from the demon fetus will roughly look like the mother body that the egg sheath parasitizes in. So some demons look like humans, while others look like beasts.

The egg sheaths of some big demons are too powerful, and they need to parasitize repeatedly and absorb the essence and blood of multiple mothers before they can be fully developed, so they grow into strange shapes.

But no matter what, they are demons at heart.

Without enough blood and food, and without the conditions for hatching, the demons can hide the egg sheaths on their bodies and even eat them to supplement their nutrition. But once they reach the south, where there are abundant resources and countless blood and meat, they will start laying eggs after they have eaten and drunk their fill.

It can parasitize any living thing, but the best host is a pregnant female, because an overly strong individual may absorb the nutrients of the egg sheath, while an overly weak individual cannot provide the egg sheath with what it needs.

The pregnant mother has no way to resist the invasion of the egg sheath. At the same time, her body is ready to nurture a newborn and will produce some substances that are beneficial to the formation of the monster. Both the host mother and the fetus can serve as nutrients for the egg sheath.

Therefore, whenever there are monsters escaping from the Arctic Ruins, if they are not killed immediately, they will start laying eggs, parasitizing, and unsheathing like locusts, and finally they will become bigger and bigger, and finally they will become an out-of-control flood.

Where did the original demon come from?
Which came first, the demon or the egg case?
no one knows.

The instructor of the Sword Sect said that there are two theories in Taoism, one is that it is born from heaven, and the other is that it is nurtured by the earth.

Some monks have observed that, unlike humans, demons and wild beasts can practice by gazing at the stars and the moon. Whenever the Emperor's fluid, which is the essence of the sun and the moon, or meteorites and star iron, falls from the sky, the wild beasts will gradually develop spiritual wisdom and transform into demons. Therefore, they believe that demons are born spirits and cannot be destroyed. The only way to coexist is to find a way. Therefore, these factions do not shy away from adopting spirit beasts.

There is also a saying that the demons ran out from the cracks in the cave.

Even though the demons were driven out of the Nine Provinces by the Immortal Lord and guarded the Twelve Kingdoms, every now and then, even without the Emperor Liujiang, demons would still come out of the caves from time to time and wreak havoc on the world.

Some people suspected that this was because there was a channel in the ground that could connect to Guixu. Some people speculated that the beast had mistakenly entered the ancient withered tomb monster nest and came into contact with the remaining egg sheath. Others said that they saw some strange monster creatures in the secret realm, which constantly created new monsters. In short, there were many different opinions, and no one could come up with real evidence, so they could only try their best to kill it.

"Do your best to kill..."

Liu Xiaoliu counted the broken egg cases and calculated where they went.

"Can you kill me?"

But they had to be killed even if they couldn't kill them all. If one escaped, a group would spawn in the blink of an eye. These demons from Guixu were not favored by the spirits who were disciplined by the three major sects. They killed people without restraint. The Kan Kingdom was most likely destroyed. Once they fled to the Central Plains, it would be a catastrophe for the world.

Liu Xiaoliu followed the trail with his fingers, stepping across the snow with one foot deep and one foot shallow. He calculated that most of the monsters born in this village were attracted by the herd and went to Yanzhi Mountain. There was no need to worry about these monsters, as they looked like they were only Qi-refining monsters. As for Shen Jianjia, the killer, he would chop off heads from morning to night to get points, so he couldn't get through at all.

But there was one that seemed to be the last to be born. It was weak and could not keep up with the group. It took a detour and deviated into a small path.

So Liu Xiaoliu thought about it and decided not to let any of them go, so he deviated from the path and followed the footprints. He searched all the way until dusk, and finally found the demon fetus in a cave.

It was indeed a demon fetus. Judging from the footprints in the snow, it was still in the shape of a baby when it crawled out of the egg sheath. It went to the cave, cut open the heart of a hibernating bear, and ate most of it. Now it has grown into the shape of a little girl.

Liu Xiaoliu took out a sword talisman and injected the sun's sword energy into it to activate it, as if a ray of flame had lit up in his hand.

The demon fetus didn't dodge or evade, but just stared coldly at Liu Xiaoliu, still gnawing on his internal organs, his face covered with warm blood.

Liu Xiaoliu stared at her for a while, then suddenly spoke,
"Most newly born demons are driven by animal instincts. If they are hungry, they will definitely go for flesh and blood. Only when they are full will they think about other things.

But you seem to have developed a spiritual mind, and you can even endure hunger and thirst and come here...

Tell me, why do you take the small road? "

The demon fetus did not answer and continued chewing.

Liu Xiaoliu swung his hand and shot out the sword talisman. The demon fetus jumped up and jumped out from the bear corpse like a civet cat, clinging to the rock wall of the cave to avoid the sword talisman's stabbing. At the same time, it kicked its foot and was about to pounce on Xiaoliu.

However, Liu Xiaoliu only pinched his fingers, and the sword fire turned back and cut off the ankles of the demon fetus with one sword, causing the demon fetus to lose its balance and fall to the ground with a "bang".

The demon turned his head to look at his severed legs, and found that the wounds were burned by the sword energy and could not be healed. The sword fire was shining brightly, like a ball of fire hanging above his head, ready to kill him at any time. So when he turned his head, his eyes were filled with tears, and he sobbed like a girl who was bullied.

"Master, please be merciful and let me live. I just want to live. I swear I will never kill anyone."

Liu Xiaoliu looked down at it.

"That's pretty reasonable. You learn so quickly and are born so smart. It seems like you are a natural alien species, and intelligence has grown out of your egg sheath."

The demon child stopped crying and said coldly,
"What do you want me to do in exchange for your life?" Liu Xiaoliu raised his hand and swore.

"As long as you tell me the truth and answer honestly, I can seal your soul but not kill your spirit."

The demon fetus was silent for a moment.

Liu Xiaoliu asked,
"You went south this time. There were so many great demons and demon lords. They kept harassing us. When do you plan to attack Yanzhi Mountain?"

The demon fetus sneered,

"How could I know that? I was just born."

Liu Xiaoliu thought about it.

"That makes sense. I guess you know which direction you came from and where you plan to leave."

Demon fetus,

"What's there to ask? It's from the north, so we should just go where the road leads."

"Oh, so you know which is north? Then why did you take the shortcut back? Why don't you go south?"

Xiao Liu sneered, made a gesture with his sword, and the sword fire immediately cut the demon fetus in half.

The demon fetus was also a little speechless.

"I have extra soul and brain to nourish myself. I was born with a weak body, so I dare not move with the large group, lest they be eaten as reserve food. Of course I have to take the small road."

Xiaoliu raised his finger again and cut off one of its arms.

The demon fetus said quickly,
"Guyan Mountain! They are planning to go to Guyan Mountain! Devour the entire territory of Kanzhou! Build a nest, gather a million people, and then march south in a group, rushing into Genzhou in one breath!"

Xiaoliu sneered and cut off another of its arms.

"Nonsense, do you think the demons have the intelligence to suppress their urge to eat humans and make such careful arrangements?

The demons that cross the Yinshan Mountains will definitely go south to the Central Plains to seize the most fertile land and reproduce. This is determined by instinct.

How could they stay in such a cold and bitter place like Kan Country? And even build a nest?

The climate here is not much different from Guixu, it’s freezing cold, there’s no grass growing, there’s no point in building a nest!”

Seeing that this man was not easy to fool, the demon fetus was helpless. His whole body was burned by the Sun Sword Fire, and the pain and itching were unbearable. In order to protect himself and survive, he had to confess.

"It was the order of the Spirit King, saying that the human race is fighting in Genzhou. Although the Immortal Palace was defeated, it still has some strength left. Let them kill each other for a while. Those who are brainless and don't obey orders can go south on their own. Don't worry about their lives. We who are born with intelligence will first stay in Kanzhou, lay a foundation, accumulate strength, and then make progress slowly."

Xiaoliu frowned.

"Where did the Spirit King Emperor come from? How could he restrain demons like you? And...how do you know that the Immortal Palace has been defeated?"

The demon fetus could not answer. It seemed as if it wanted to say something, but no words came out. Blood was oozing out of its mouth and nose, and it died silently in front of Xiao Liu.

When he died, his soul was gone and only a piece of rotten flesh remained.

Soul Technique? Demons actually have soul techniques...

Xiao Liu was silent for a moment, put down his sword and burned the demon fetus to ashes, feeling confused.

After thinking for a while, he decided to ignore the monsters that fled to Yanzhi Mountain for the time being and leave them to his fellow disciples to deal with. He then sent a letter to Tang Tong, telling him what he had seen and heard, and then continued to head north, no, northwest, to search in the direction of Guyan Mountain and the northern capital of Kan State.

If what this demon said was true, then the demon army gathered near Beidu would come from this direction sooner or later, and there would definitely be signs.

No, it's not a hypothesis, it's probably true.

Yes, because Xiaoliu actually knew it too.

Asgard has been defeated.

The Xuanmen disciples and inner sect disciples who had originally planned to sweep Kanzhou all went to Genzhou. What other reason could there be?
No matter how capable you are, if you have a bad teammate, you will have to run around and put out fires everywhere.

Although these things had actually been kept secret from the outsiders, and they were told to just focus on herding horses, Tang Tong still managed to get a lot of information from his fellow Taoists, so Xiao Liu also got a general idea.

At first, the situation seemed to be very good. Without the intervention of the Xuanmen, there was no need to worry about the future. The left and right armies of the Immortal Palace easily defeated the rebels and recovered the entire territory of the Southern Kingdom. So the Immortal Palace probably felt that they were doing well again, and Ziweiyuan issued orders to urge the battle. The three courtyards left the left army to sweep away the remnants. The right army went north and joined forces with the five schools of the northern army, and then joined the Zhenzhou Wang army. The Xiao clan leader Lanling Hou personally led the vassal army to cooperate. The three armies marched north together, vowing to kill the rebels!
The stone dragon was cruel and bloodthirsty to begin with, and he allowed the wolf cavalry soldiers to plunder and massacre at will, which had long aroused the wrath of heaven and the resentment of the people. Now that the heavenly soldiers had arrived, the officials and the people immediately rebelled, and they called for help everywhere and put out fires everywhere.

So, taking advantage of the opportunity when the rebels were moving to quell the rebellion, the main force of the royal army suddenly crossed the river, and the three armies marched northward to attack Genzhou. They advanced triumphantly all the way, with countless followers and unstoppable force. They gathered an army of 80,000 and attacked all the way to the city of Yedu, setting up camp at the Huan River!

The traitor Shi Jiao made a strategic mistake and miscalculated! The army was trapped in all directions and had to hastily lead 20,000 cavalry to turn around, exhausted! They retreated to the Huanshui River in a panic! The nine border towns also responded to the news. For a while, the rebels were trapped in a dilemma of being cut off from their retreat and collapsing everywhere, and they were in danger of being wiped out in one fell swoop. The situation in Hebei is very good!
Then the Asgard was defeated...

Well, Tang Tong's Taoist companions also went to the battlefield to watch the show. The previous letter also praised the army of the Immortal Palace for being awesome, saying that the Three Enclosures Royal Army was the best in the world, with spears and halberds like a bundle, and after the order was given, they whistled like a whistle, advanced and retreated in an orderly manner, with strict discipline of infantry and cavalry, and silent. Moreover, the five schools of the Northern Army were the pillars of the country, and the best soldiers in the world were all brave and the best of the time. Each of them was wearing armor and weapons, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the men and horses were equipped with embroidery and decorated with gold and silver. The light was dazzling, and the murderous intent was soaring into the sky. Looking at it, it was frightening. How could the Northern Barbarians be able to match this magnificent army?
So Xuanmen didn't care.

Then within a few days, I said I was defeated...

It was not explained how they were defeated. It was only said that the two armies confronted each other for a while across the Huan River. This time the Huan River was not as wide as the Gen River. So when the Lieutenant General of the Northern Army saw the appearance of the enemy army with his own eyes, he refused to fight at all costs. Instead, he built sieges and trenches, set up camps, and put on a posture of strict defense.

The eunuch who was supervising the army didn't understand. It was obvious that the flying dragon was on the front, 80,000 against 20,000! I had the advantage! Why did we have to wait for the left army to arrive! He urged them repeatedly, but none of the generals listened to his orders. Finally, the eunuch was so angry that he reported it to the court, saying that the Lieutenant General of the Northern Army built a high fortress and didn't fight, which made the army lazy and the generals afraid of the enemy! It was a waste of national food and money, and it was clear that he was nurturing the enemy for his own benefit! He had ulterior motives!
The emperor was furious and replaced his generals before the battle. He put the Northern Army's Lieutenant General in prison and shackled him in a prison cart, brought him to Luoyang, and reduced his death sentence to one level. In this way, the royal army was finally forced to cross the Huan River, and they had a head-on battle, but were then defeated.

Well, it was a clean defeat, the battle lasted only one day. It is said that Shi Jiao first retreated and let the king's army cross the river, and then returned to join the battle, braved the arrows and led the soldiers and cavalry, as well as various tribes of captives, cavalry and guards, charging from all sides, breaking the formation and attacking from both sides, breaking through the formation and destroying the camp. The battle lasted from dawn to sunset. The king's army was exhausted and could not resist anymore. They saw smoke and dust rising, captive cavalry advancing, and reinforcements arriving at the battlefield one after another. The morale of the army collapsed and they were defeated.

The sounds of throwing away armor and weapons shook heaven and earth. The vanguards of the five camps of the Northern School, as well as the armies of Longxi, Huben, Shenwei, Shenjie and Gongchen, were all trapped in front of the battle array and almost all killed. From the battle array to the Huan River, there were corpses everywhere, blood was flowing and floating on the oars, and broken flags and spears covered the ground. Thirty thousand heads were beheaded on the battle array, and countless people jumped into the water. Eight thousand horses were captured, as well as seventy thousand pieces of armor and weapons, and countless baggage, curtains, property, and slaves, all of which became the property of the bandits. Marquis Xiao and several dozen generals, including the military supervisor, fled across the Huan River at night. A total of 485 people, including the general of the Central Army and other military officers, were captured and cooked. The rest who surrendered were all drowned.

In the end, the Fairy Palace concluded that the defeat was all due to the feud between the eunuch commander and the General of the Household, who made false accusations when his bribery failed and almost delayed state affairs. He was recalled to the palace and locked up. Then, the General of the Household of the Left Army was urgently summoned to the north to guard Guandu, and no one was allowed to cross the river to fight without an imperial order.

As a result, the entire Hebei region was lost in one battle, and disciples from the nine major Xuanmen sects all flew to Genzhou to put out the fire.

This happened last month.

(End of this chapter)