Douluo Continent: Starting from Awakening the Vermilion Bird Martial Soul

"I hope to see Brother Di Hong again in Tian Dou City in the future." His voice was gentle, but it also carried a hint of anticipation. He truly hoped to see Di Hong in Tian Dou City, and it would be best if Di Hong could stay by his side.

"Yes, I will." Di Hong replied readily. He would definitely go to Tiandou City. After all, the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well was there. How could he not go?

"Oh?" Xueye was a little surprised. He was just saying it casually, but Dihong responded so readily.

"Very well, then I will wait for Brother Di Hong's arrival in Tian Dou City."

After resting for a while, the army set off immediately.

Along the way, Xueye told them about the current situation.

"Although the Star Luo Empire has 400,000 troops, most of them are troops from vassal kingdoms, with only about 100,000 being troops directly under the Empire's control."

"Their commander is Dai Yutian."

"Isn't the new crown prince of Xingluo a general surnamed Xu?" Di Yang frowned. The information they received indicated that the leader of Xingluo was a general surnamed Xu from within the Xingluo Empire, and not even from the Zhu family, which had always maintained close ties with the royal family through generations of marriage.

How come they're being told now, on a snowy night, that Dai Yutian is leading the army?

"Xu Zhong is the nominal commander of the Star Luo Empire's army, but the real commander is their crown prince, Dai Yutian."

"This battle is probably to establish the authority of the new crown prince. The Xingluo Emperor wants to use this battle to help Dai Yutian gain a foothold in the army."

Di Hong found it hard to believe: "Is it worth launching such a large-scale war just for this, causing countless people to be displaced?"

"There's no such thing as worth it or not, that's just how reality is," Xueye said calmly.

The lives of ordinary people are of no importance compared to one's own interests. Even if it means sacrificing the lives of a million civilians for a benefit that is advantageous to oneself, those million civilians will certainly be sacrificed because no one cares about their lives.

For these people, a million civilians are just a number.

Although he also felt sorry for the civilians who were displaced and whose families were destroyed, after all they were citizens of the Heavenly Dou Empire, he had no way to change the situation. He could only end the war as quickly as possible. As for the lives and deaths of the civilians of the Star Luo Empire, that was not of much concern to him, since he was not the crown prince of Star Luo.

Chapter 33 A One-Day Ceasefire

Through Xueye, Di Hong also learned that the reason he was chosen to lead the troops was entirely due to the machinations of Xueyu's faction, who hoped to use this war to weaken Xueye's power.

They hoped for defeat on the snowy night, preferably a crushing defeat.

Everyone knew that the Star Luo Empire would not wage war against them. This war would only last for a few months at most, and the Star Luo Empire would withdraw its troops immediately after seizing enough benefits.

That's why the Second Prince's faction persuaded Xue Yu to convince the Emperor to let Xue Ye lead the army. They hoped that Xue Ye would lose the battle, or even suffer a crushing defeat, as long as he didn't lose his entire army.

Xue Ye's cultivation talent is average, and he is powerless to fight against powerful Soul Masters. The battlefield is dangerous, and who knows what might happen? If Xue Ye dies on the battlefield, that would be even better, as Xue Yu can directly take over, saving him the trouble of fighting for power.

However, the old emperor was clearly not too confused. In addition to the 10,000 royal knights, there were also hundreds of soul masters and a soul master at the Soul Saint level. With them, Xue Ye's safety could be fully guaranteed.

Emperor Hong never expected that the internal strife within the royal family would escalate to this point in just one year.

The princes were vying for the throne, but it was these soldiers who suffered the most.

A few days later, the 200,000-strong army arrived at Jialing Pass.

Looking up at the hundred-meter-high city wall in front of him, Di Hong was filled with emotion.

"What a formidable pass!"

Di Yang said, "Jialing Pass is located in the central and strategic location of the Tianling Mountains. It is built against the mountain, with high walls and thick walls, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. There is also a moat several tens of meters wide around the pass. This pass is a strategic location that military strategists must fight for."

"However, taking Jialing Pass is easier said than done. Even if all 400,000 troops of the Star Luo Empire were wiped out, they still wouldn't be able to conquer Jialing Pass."

Although Jialing Pass is very strategically important, everyone knows that the Star Luo Empire would not attempt to fight it to the death. Their army is currently stationed a hundred miles away, while the armies of the Barak Kingdom and the Hagendas Kingdom are only fifty miles away.

The two armies were still very close to each other.

The wind blew across the Lima Plain, bringing with it a cloud of dust, followed by the stench of blood.

Standing on the city wall of Jialing Pass, I gazed into the distance at the boundless Lima Plain.

"Ah~" Di Hong closed his eyes and felt the wind blowing across his cheeks. The Jialing Pass doesn't look like anything now, but decades later, an earth-shattering battle will break out around this pass.

The Spirit Hall, which should have been called the Spirit Empire at that time, fought a bloody battle with the million-strong army of the Heaven Dou Empire here. There were even three gods, or rather four gods, engaged in a divine war here.

Blood flows into a river.

The result of the battle of the gods was one death and one crippling: Qian Renxue's divine status was shattered, and Bibi Dong lost her life.

However, the battle here now is between two great empires, but it's not centered around Jialing Pass.

The garrison at Jialing Pass is not large now, only over 30,000 men, but there are quite a few wounded soldiers, all of whom were sent down from the front lines.

After resting for a short time at Jialing Pass, the army immediately headed to the front lines to join forces with the armies of the two great kingdoms. The closer they got to the front lines, the stronger the smell of blood became.

According to the latest news, the two great kingdoms and the Star Luo Empire fought a fierce battle yesterday. The Star Luo Empire defeated the armies of the two great kingdoms, and the armies of both countries can only defend passively and dare not take the initiative to attack.

Instead of heading directly to the military camp, Xue Ye led a dozen cavalrymen to the closest point to the battlefield to observe and understand the situation. Di Yang and Di Hong also followed him to the battlefield.

Upon reaching a hillside, Xueye reined in the reins and stopped.

Smoke billowed across the plains not far away, corpses littered the ground, and blood nearly stained the land red.

Di Hong frowned slightly upon seeing this, clearly somewhat unaccustomed to it. It was the first time he had witnessed such a horrific scene. Blood, corpses, and severed limbs were scattered throughout the battlefield, belonging to both the Star Luo Empire and the kingdoms of Barak and Häagen-Dazs.

"It was truly a tragic scene."

"That's how war is." Xueye sighed, then raised his riding whip and pointed into the distance.

"Do you see that? That's the Star Luo Empire's military camp."

From their positions, they could see camps standing in the distance, stretching endlessly.

Then the snowy night pointed in another direction.

"That direction leads to Yelin City. If we attack from there, we can directly strike the flank of the Star Luo army or harass their logistics."

"We can send more Soul Masters over there."

“However, their supply lines will definitely be protected by Soul Masters, so it won’t be an easy task to attack them,” Di Hong said.

Xueye nodded slightly: "That's right."

After watching for a while, the group turned and left.

The news brought by Xueye quickly reached the Star Luo Empire's military camp.

Inside the main tent of the Xingluo Army camp.

Dai Yutian sat in the main seat. He was a little younger than Xue Ye and looked very young and masculine, with blond hair and sharp eyes.

Looking at the sand table in front of him, his mind raced.

"The reinforcements from the Heavenly Dou Empire have arrived, led by Xue Ye."

"A crown prince has arrived," Xu Zhong, sitting in the first seat on the left, sneered.

Dai Yutian snorted coldly, his tone full of disdain: "I hope this swan doesn't get eaten by this tiger."

A soldier entered the main tent.

"Report! An envoy from the Heavenly Dou Empire has arrived. He says he has a letter for His Highness the Crown Prince on this snowy night."

"Oh?" Dai Yutian was somewhat surprised.

"Letter to me?"

"Bring it here."

He wanted to see what the Crown Prince of the Heavenly Dou Empire could say to him.

The soldier respectfully handed the letter to Dai Yutian.

After opening the letter and reading it for a while, Dai Yutian laughed.

"What did the letter say on this snowy night?" Xu Zhong asked curiously, as did the other generals.

Dai Yutian handed the letter to Xu Zhong.

"On this snowy night, we hope for a one-day ceasefire so that both sides can collect the bodies of their fallen soldiers."

After reading the letter, Xu Zhong handed it to the general beside him.

"Your Highness, should we agree?"

"I agree with them, after all, we also have many soldiers who have died on the battlefield."

After stretching his neck, Dai Yutian left the tent. Taking advantage of the day's truce, he needed to plan his next move. It was impossible to completely defeat Tian Dou's reinforcements unless the heavens intervened.

They were operating deep inside enemy territory, so they had to be very careful; a slight misstep could result in heavy losses.

The next day, soldiers from both sides arrived at the battlefield to collect the bodies of the fallen soldiers and clean up the battlefield. Neither side carried weapons, but there were still many soldiers standing guard not far away to prevent either side from backing out.

The atmosphere immediately became tense when the soldiers from both sides met, and collisions occurred frequently. If it weren't for the ceasefire, they probably would have already started fighting.

The cleanup of the battlefield lasted from morning until evening.

As the sun set, the soldiers on the battlefield returned to their respective camps.

Looking at the bodies being brought back by truck, everyone, including Di Hong, felt a mix of emotions.

After a simple ceremony, Xueye ordered his men to send them back to Jialing Pass.