Chapter 1289: The War of the Tusi

The war came very suddenly.

The Yasha Langtai family gathered twenty thousand troops, while the Xia Zha and La Min families each contributed two thousand soldiers. Together, they launched an attack on a city in Pagyi family territory—Nahamu City.

Nahamu City was a crucial logistical hub for the Pagyi family. It housed many serfs and stockpiled a significant amount of supplies.

Although Deji did not expect a full-scale war that would crush the entire Pagyi family in one battle,

capturing Nahamu City would still deal a heavy blow to the Pagyi family, helping to offset the loss of several high-level combatants.

The war caught them off guard. Even though Pagyi Gesang had made preparations in advance, he could not predict the enemy's direction of attack.

Soon, the entire Nahamu City was engulfed in the flames of war.

Numerous armored vehicles surrounded Nahamu City, their powerful firepower blanketing large swathes of the city.

In an instant, the walls built of ice and snow were riddled with holes.

"Boom!"

A wall over thirty meters high was blasted apart, collapsing like an avalanche as massive chunks of ice and snow crashed to the ground.

After the apocalypse, ice and snow became the most readily available building materials.

Thus, houses and city walls were primarily constructed using ice and snow.

While easy to build, they were equally easy to destroy.

The Yasha Langtai family's artillery, mounted on armored vehicles, mercilessly bombarded Nahamu City, quickly turning it into a sea of flames.

Deji stood within his own camp, observing the battle situation through binoculars.

Watching his family's firepower ruthlessly destroying the Pagyi family's city and killing their private soldiers and serfs, he couldn't help but feel a surge of satisfaction.

He said to La Min Ouzhu and Xia Zha Gyatso beside him, "A city like this, our Yasha Langtai family can obliterate in the blink of an eye!"

"This is the price for disobeying my orders!"

Seeing this scene, La Min Ouzhu and Xia Zha Gyatso turned pale.

Like the Pagyi family, their own families, apart from the main urban areas which still used reinforced concrete as the primary building material, relied mostly on ice for construction in most other regions.

Today, the Yasha Langtai family could easily destroy Nahamu City; tomorrow, they could use the same method to destroy their families' cities.

The battle report from here was quickly delivered to the Pagyi family.

Upon receiving the intelligence, Pagyi Gesang immediately gathered the family's private troops to rush to Nahamu City's aid.

This city, of immense strategic importance, absolutely could not be handed over to the enemy.

However, for safety's sake, he first came to Zhang Yi to seek his assistance.

"I dare not ask you to take action directly, only hope you can provide support from the sidelines. If the Lord of the Charnel Ground makes a move, you would only need to help contain him."

Zhang Yi nodded. "That's easy enough."

He had witnessed the power of the Lord of the Charnel Ground; it was indeed formidable.

But with Zhang Yi, the world's number one defensive expert, here, the Lord of the Charnel Ground could do nothing to him.

A complete break was only a matter of time. If something really happened, he would have to protect Pagyi Gesang even if it meant exposing his own identity.

After all, he operated outside the major regions, was not subordinate to anyone, and therefore had far fewer restrictions.

Pagyi Gesang was overjoyed in his heart.

Zhang Yi then took everyone with him and followed Pagyi Gesang's forces to Nahamu City.

Not long after, they arrived at this city built of ice and snow.

However, upon seeing the scale of the war, Zhang Yi and his companions all fell into silence.

The imagined scene of raging artillery fire was not as intense as expected.

The combined forces of the three great families totaled 22,000 men. Their main weapons were modified snow vehicles equipped with small-caliber artillery.

After all, the Southwest Region lacked advanced military technology.

And currently, it was also difficult to transport large-caliber artillery quickly across the snowy terrain.

So, although the battlefield looked lively, after half an hour of fighting, they still hadn't managed to take Nahamu City.

To Zhang Yi, this felt like a warlord war from over a century ago, or perhaps even less intense.

Seeming to sense Zhang Yi's thoughts, Pagyi Gesang said to him,

"The Southwest Region does have large weapons, but due to transportation limitations and the environment, they can only be stored in warehouses."

Zhang Yi asked, "What about missiles? Your Southwest Region must have those, right?"

Although the Southwest Region didn't have launch control over the Death Reaper of Love, they certainly had missiles.

Pagyi Gesang smiled faintly. "Those things, only our Pagyi family has."

Before the apocalypse, the Pagyi family controlled the most powerful force on the Snowy Plateau.

Even the military of the Snowy Region was under the Pagyi family's management.

Pagyi Gesang's gaze grew serious as he slowly said, "If it weren't for this trump card, our Pagyi family would have been wiped out long ago!"

Only then did Zhang Yi understand why the Pagyi family had managed to hold out in the Snowy Region for a full two and a half years, despite having no advantage in timing, geographical position, or popular support.

He seemed to realize that as long as the other side didn't deploy the Lord of the Charnel Ground, the Pagyi family wouldn't use those most advanced modern weapons.

It was a relationship of mutual deterrence.

As they spoke, they had already arrived within Nahamu City.

The defending forces of Nahamu City were being pushed back step by step, having already lost more than half the city.

But seeing the reinforcements arrive, and with the Pagyi family head personally leading the support, their confidence surged.

"The family head is here! Brothers, let's give those Yasha Langtai bastards hell!"

After the Pagyi family's elite troops joined the battle, the situation immediately changed.

The Pagyi family's private soldiers were the most elite in the entire Snowy Plateau, with the most sophisticated weapons and equipment. Although Pagyi Gesang had only brought five thousand men, they managed to pull the situation back to a fifty-fifty stalemate for the time being.

In the opposing camp, Deji's face was dark. Thinking of all his powerful subordinates who had been killed, his heart bled.

"Pagyi Gesang, are you truly determined to oppose the entire esoteric sect?"

He sent a message to Pagyi Gesang.

Pagyi Gesang quickly responded, "The Pagyi family firmly supports the esoteric sect, but we also refuse to allow anyone to use the name of the esoteric sect to fulfill their own selfish desires!"

The current Pagyi Gesang made Deji very uncomfortable.

In the past, Pagyi Gesang always acted obsequiously in front of him, but now Pagyi Gesang had grown a backbone.

That's right, with Zhang Yi here, he could indeed do as he pleased.

If one set aside the BUG-level existence that was the Lord of the Charnel Ground, the Pagyi family's strength, even after two and a half years of suppression, could still give the Yasha Langtai family a run for its money.

Their past forbearance had given the Yasha Langtai family the illusion that they were weak and easy to bully.

Little did they know that the forbearance back then was only to catch them off guard now!

Deji said angrily, "By condoning your subordinates killing the esoteric sect's Dharma-protecting Vajras, you are betraying the esoteric sect!"

Author's Note