Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 73 The Appearance of the Blazing Fire

In October of the 31st year of the Tianxu calendar, just 10 days after Wu Fei recovered from his illness, Lingjiang South was in complete chaos.

The various tribes who knelt before the Li Huo Sect witnessed firsthand the millennium-old sacred land plunged into darkness, all the lights extinguished. This scene of collective darkness resembled a massive power outage in modern society. To these fire-worshipping barbarians of the Southern Frontier, it was as if a chilling wind had swept through, extinguishing all the flames.

Although the brutality of the Li Huo Sect's rule by lighting lamps was beyond the comprehension of the Da Yao people, the sudden disappearance of this rule would be unsettling for the barbarians, who were accustomed to the illumination of lamps.

The pain of being burned by the flames of the Li Huo Sect is known, but the fear after the flames go out is unknown.

Narrator: This is a characteristic of religious rule that has evolved in all societies in harsh and cold regions; compared to the uncertainty of the future, the emperor's lash is a form of mercy.

After the lights went out, terror gripped the various tribes of Lingjiang. The tribal chiefs went mad, relentlessly slaughtering their own kind. As the killings continued, the Gu worms within them flared up, tearing through their bodies and burrowing menacingly into the nostrils, eyes, and ears of others. Meanwhile, in the bushes outside the tribes, sharp, jagged teeth appeared on the grass, biting people as if they were alive.

…a dividing line yearning for the brilliance of fire…

At this moment, south of Lingjiang, Angri and Zhao Tu were teaming up to explore.

With the wind howling in the sky, Aori looked toward the direction of Cloud Cutting Valley, where the Yang Yao was once supported by the blazing Vermilion Bird Fire, but now it was completely unbalanced, and the jungle below was writhing.

In places where the bushes were shaking violently, the screams of the indigenous people could be heard, and the trees and vines were moving, as if the jungle had grown teeth and was chewing up flesh and blood.

Zhao Tu: "It looks like there are people there."

Zhao Tu pointed to a stream where a group of clawed people were fleeing, pursued by a group of mandrills that had become symbiotic with tree branches.

Angri opened a magical bottle. As Angri slightly broke the seal, every feather of the Taiyue Luan beneath him trembled, a mixture of fear and excitement.

Before it arrived, this Taiyue Luan had already consumed the fire pill refined by Jiamude, but the dust that fell off Wu Fei's body could only be considered as embers.

Now, this bottle contains a drop of Wu Fei's blood. It's a drop of blood that pierced his fingertip when Wu Fei fully unleashed his "strong oxidizing power," that is, activated the Vermilion Bird bloodline.

…Scene dividing line…

Two hours ago, in the central army camp.

Taiyue Luan and Griffin sat obediently in a row to the side, while Wu Fei gave instructions to Ang Ri and Zhao Tu respectively.

Wu Fei: "Be careful, retreat if things look bad." After saying that, he took the needle and pricked his finger.

As a drop of blood left Wu Fei's body, it emitted an inextinguishable flame. After giving it to him, Wu Fei sucked on his wounded finger while carefully instructing the dazed Ang Ri.

Ang Ri carefully placed the blood droplet into his "Primordial Qi Bottle" for preservation. This wisp of holy flame was no longer something that could be collected by ordinary objects; even the finest fire jade would be instantly burned into a pool of liquid jade upon touching this blood droplet.

That Hunyuan Bottle was the container that Yue Hou gave him to store "Bi Fang Yuan". After it came into contact with Wu Fei's drop of blood, the originally blue bottle instantly turned red.

The blood that Wu Fei shed from the "strong oxidation" state that pushed his body to its limit was also the first time the young lady had ever been in a sedan chair. She watched helplessly as the drop of blood she squeezed out almost burned down the entire military tent.

As for the item that Angri gave to Wu Fei, it was described in only one word: "Vermilion Bird Essence Flame." This item was of a much higher grade than the precious velvet used as a lamp wick by the Fire Ancestor.

…Back to the present…

After this thing appeared, the jungle that was still devouring the monster trembled, and then the jungle for dozens of miles became still. Of course, it was not dead. Ang Ri could feel the trembling of the hidden demonic veins in the bodies of each demonic tree that was pretending to be dead.

As for those that didn't have time to "stay still" and pretend to be dead, they had already carbonized and were floating in the air, emitting smoke.

…Cut the perspective downwards…

The fleeing clawed man suddenly sensed that the mandrill chasing him had stopped moving. He turned around and froze.

The mandrill stood frozen in place, its petrified form transformed into burning charcoal, the fiery red glow spreading across its body. Looking around, it seemed as if the entire jungle was shrouded in the scent of smoke.

Suddenly, the clawed man smelled something, looked at himself, and saw black smoke rising from his body. He quickly rubbed it, and some sparks fell off, but there was no pain, only warmth.

This scene resembles the aftermath of a nuclear flash, where objects within the radiation zone ignite. However, it only applies to evil entities.

Strands of charred smoke spread, and the eerie howls that had been playing in the background suddenly disappeared.

The fleeing Claw people quickly abandoned their futile efforts, for a gentle warmth was approaching from above. The lights of the Li Huo Sect also made them feel protected, though with a burning sensation. This approaching "fire," however, was immense. Before they could even clearly see Ang Ri and Zhao Tu's faces, the Claw people collectively knelt down.

…During the worship…

Angri was somewhat taken aback by the sight of these southern Xinjiang tribes kneeling before him, but felt it was only natural.

Angri: "A race that has no sense of the aura of the sacred fire is not worthy of continuing to exist in the Southern Frontier."

After learning about the chaos in the southern border from these kneeling, clawed people, Angri ordered Zhao Tu to send them to Jiangbei for questioning by the army, while he continued to explore the direction of Yunqie Valley.

And so, Zhao Tu led these "tongues" toward Jiangbei, the sun drawing a red trail across the sky as it marched straight into Yunqie Valley.

The evil spirits in the vast jungle along the way were ignited by the Vermilion Bird's aura, much like a magnetic pulse specifically targeting electronic products in the 21st century. The evil spirits that were frenzied in the shadows one second were now emitting smoke the next.

…as the Taiyue Luan flapped its wings…

In the Cloud Cutting Valley. What used to be a chilling religious atmosphere is now eerily bustling. The darkened Cloud Cutting Valley is shrouded in mist, and upon closer inspection, the surging mist appears to be the surging of countless wronged souls.

With the Fire Ancestor's personally overseen Silent God Curse failing, the sins committed by the 102 slaves whose birth dates matched Wu Fei's, after their curses failed, began to backfire.

When Angri arrived here, the clouds of vengeful spirits parted to make way for him, or more precisely, to make way for the fiery red bottle in his arms, which allowed him to reach the original sacred site of Cloudcut Valley, the "Fire Cave," with great ease.

The cave is no longer hot; instead, countless vengeful spirits in a misty state move in and out, crawling around like maggots.

At the bottom of the cave, as if sensing Angri's arrival, an ugly, mud-like monster stood up in the mist and looked up at Angri.

Angri knew that this was the Fire Ancestor, who was now struggling to raise his head in his extinguished state.

Upon seeing the fiery red bottle in Angri's arms, it let out a raucous howl, its words indistinct, clearly a desperate plea. A multitude of vengeful spirits then clung to it, mocking and ridiculing it. These spirits, like octopus tentacles, writhed and clung tightly to the Fire Ancestor in the fiery pit.

Angri glanced at the man and said coldly, "Those who do evil will not live."

Then he rode away on the Taiyue Luan. The Fire Ancestor below roared, but was quickly overwhelmed by the vengeful spirits.

…in the northern camp of Lingjiang…

Wu Fei looked at the animal hide maps, which were brought up by the prisoners from the southern border.

Zhao Tu and Ang Ri brought news of the southern tribes and the Li Huo Sect, forcing the Wu family army, which was marching south, to confront a completely new problem: the currently disorganized southern tribes were not only unable to hold off their own army, but also created a power vacuum. In the tent, the generals discussed the situation animatedly, while Gongshu Wang, after some divination, suddenly said to Wu Fei, "My lord, in every place under heaven, the virtuous reside. The southern barbarians have been disobedient to the king for three hundred years. Today, with the arrival of your army, this is a golden opportunity. If we do not seize this opportunity, we will surely suffer the consequences!"

Wu Fei stared at him, while Gongshu Wang smiled.

Wu Fei knew the reason why he was being advised against it. When Gongshu Wang came to him for help, Wu Fei had already secretly investigated the reason why the Mo family had been declining for hundreds of years: it was because of the scarcity of spirit wood. Without materials, the art of mechanical puppetry was like cooking without rice.

Three hundred years ago, almost the entire sect was unable to continue its lineage. This was due to the rebellion in the southern border, which meant the last channel for obtaining thousand-year-old spirit wood was gone. Gongshu Wang came to the sect seeking to rebuild it, so now, for personal reasons, he also had to persuade himself to fight back.

In the end, Wu Fei nodded to him, at least showing his attitude. He didn't keep his "bad" thoughts to himself.

After thinking for a moment, Wu Fei drew the command arrow.

The drums of the three large camps north of Lingjiang resounded like thunder.

The malevolent aura surged forth, stirring the very energy of heaven and earth. South of Yongji Pass, there were no prefectures or governors to regulate the energy of the mountains and rivers. Yet here, there was a ruler, Wu Fei. Thus, Wu Fei's military orders could mobilize the power of the mountains and rivers.

The way of Heaven is to take from the excess and give to the deficient. Now the mountains and rivers south of Lingjiang are too badly damaged, so the mountains and rivers north of Lingjiang are indeed in favor of the influx. The Lingjiang River has also received orders, and part of its riverbed has begun to rise, causing the river water to flow back into the tributaries on the south bank of Lingjiang, with a large volume of water bypassing the main channel.

Downstream of the Lingjiang River, where the Wu family army was stationed, the river turned into a shallow shoal with a gentle current.

The various armies who were preparing bamboo rafts suddenly discovered that they could now swim across directly.

Therefore, after the officers of the three Wu family armies sent people to observe the upper reaches of the river, the entire army launched a surprise attack and crossed the Lingjiang River.

Fifteen hours later, the army advanced unimpeded to the south of Lingjiang.

This expedition sent about ten thousand men to the southern frontier. The number of troops was not large; if it were four years ago, this small force would have been completely wiped out by the various tribes of the southern frontier within ten days.

But now, having just crossed the river, the various tribes of southern Xinjiang are trembling with fear and obediently prostrating themselves before them.

After careful questioning, it was learned that before the army arrived, the tribal leaders had either been blown to the head by unknown parasites or mutated. With the tribes leaderless, the courage of these remaining people had been ravaged by the terrifying mutated creatures in the mountains and forests.

Narrator: Just like a baby parrot that sees a falcon eating its own kind alive outside, it can't wait to crawl back into its cage.

But when the army arrived, this terrifying moment suddenly stopped. So these remnants of the southern border tribes were now truly kneeling in submission. Outside the camp, some tribesmen who had mutated to an unsightly state even knelt at the gate, and the soldiers couldn't even pull them away with their whips. Even when they saw the soldiers carrying shackles, they would come over and handcuff themselves, obediently crawling into the cages.

Clearly, the various indescribable encounters in the jungle during those ten days were far more terrifying than kneeling down as a slave.

Wu Fei then ordered a legion of 300 men to continue exploring, advancing deeper into the southern border. Along the way, the legion saw various remains, such as corpses with branches growing out of their seven orifices, or skeletons torn off alive and hanging as "lanterns" on trees.

It is worth mentioning that in the past, there was no distinction between humans and demons in southern Xinjiang. Because humans mutated into "monsters" and wild beasts mutated into "spirits," both sides had intelligence and limbs but were not like humans, so they lived together.

It could even be said that the roles of humans and animals are reversed. For example, the big creatures like the mountain monsters were originally a different species born from bears, while the clawed and horned people were humans. Humans tamed bears, but the mountain monsters tamed humans.

In the midst of these changes, the mountain spirit lineage has become extremely brutal through mutation; for example, the mountain spirit and trees now coexist almost in symbiosis.

Therefore, in the past, the "spirits" in the southern border regions were generally more prone to becoming evil than the monsters, because they had already undergone the survival of the fittest among beasts and could bear more "evil" energy after the changes in the mountains and rivers.

The "monsters" that mutate from humans must undergo even more horrific mutations to survive in this new round of harsh conditions.

The deterioration that began after the lights went out was interrupted by Wu Fei's army. After all, the lights were out, but the torches had arrived.

All the corrupted mountain spirits were burned to death, meaning that the race that came to seek refuge were all human-monsters.

Unwittingly, southern Xinjiang has been subjected to a wave of racial selection.

…two days after crossing the river…

The Wu family army began to mobilize more supplies to cross the river, and the remains of the evil spirits burned to death along the way were counted.

Scene: A soldier who had temporarily broken away from the ranks to "let loose" poked at the charred remains hanging from the treetops with his sword. After the swords clashed, there was a sound of scraping sand. With a little force, the skull of the charred remains, baring its teeth, came off with a "bang" and shattered. After losing the skull, the rest of the remains turned into ashes, which covered the soldier's face. Feeling that it was bad luck, the soldier quickly patted himself off and ran back to his own ranks.

Although Wu Fei, the main commander of the military camp, already knew the full picture from Ang Ri, he was still somewhat surprised that it went so smoothly.

Wu Fei muttered to himself: It feels like the Qing army entered the pass and won a victory for nothing.

Wu Fei gazed at the magnificent riverbanks across the river, now filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers. He pondered his next move: how to advance his pawns. Three days after crossing the river, Wu Fei issued the order: the entire army should raise the large banners. He also commanded the Dragon Horse cavalry to mark prominent locations along the mountains and rivers north and south of the Ling River.

In the next military operation, Wu Fei will need to pick up a pen and begin exploring the territory, drawing regional boundaries.

As a lieutenant general appointed by the imperial court, currently holding the highest military position in the southern border region, Wu Fei decided to use this identity to establish the legal basis for his military operation.

Wu Fei had heard too many tribes in the southern border region chanting his name, all of which were spread by these ignorant fools after the soldiers boasted about it.

Wu Fei's traditional self-reflection: This is not good! If the achievements are exaggerated too much in those "conquered" areas, then when these achievements are spread to those civilized and enlightened areas, they will have the opposite effect and be criticized as "arrogant and ignorant".

In order to gain wider acceptance of the legitimacy of this expedition within the Great Wall, Wu Fei adopted a humble and cautious attitude.

As Wu Fei's brush tip touched the mountains and rivers on the silk scroll, defining the potential of fertile areas, roughly equivalent to two or three counties of Da Yao, the human path within the mountains and rivers began to be shaped.

Outside the tent, sparrows foraging for food raised their heads and then took flight, heading towards the point indicated by Wu Fei's pen. As the tiny birds soared through the wild jungle, the leaves of trees within a hundred feet of them swayed in their wake, and when they sang, foxes, rats, tigers, and wolves all looked up to listen.

…This human path is guided by the Great Yao…

In the capital city, within the central palace, Emperor Xu gazed at the landscape map beneath his feet. He strolled to the southwest of the map, for within the past ten days or so, the geographical fog in the south of the map had begun to dissipate, though not as clearly as the inner land of the Great Yao. However, the main rivers and the scale of human habitation in the region were now visible.

This is the first time this land has reappeared on the landscape map since it was separated from the Great Yao's supervision four hundred years ago.

Emperor Xu asked his inner courtier, "Is that boy in the south?"

The courtier said, "Yes, Your Majesty, it's that brat from the Wu family."

Emperor Shu had long been aware of the situation in the Southern Frontier. After all, when Wu Fei was investigating the secrets of the Li Huo Sect a few years ago, he touched upon some matters concerning the Dayao royal family. Most people would have stopped there, but Wu Fei, relying on the fact that the emperor was far away, continued to send people to investigate, which is why he was targeted by Emperor Shu's inner guards.

However, the Imperial Guards could tell that Wu Fei's purpose in investigating was to teach the Li Huo Sect a lesson in the Southern Frontier, and that he was constantly attacking the Southern Frontier's allies. It was not that he was colluding with the demons and monsters within the Li Huo Sect to overthrow the royal family, so they decided to wait and see.

Now, on the map of mountains and rivers, the ulcer of the Li Huo Sect has begun to heal. Wu Fei has lived up to expectations, conquered the root of the Southern Frontier, and raised the banner of the Great Yao.

Emperor Xu nodded and said to the summoned Sima, "Draft an imperial edict."

A divine will condensed and began to fly south.

(End of this chapter)