The Journey of Immortal Cultivation-Chapter 781 - 433: Turn of the Battle Situation
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October 18-20, for 3 consecutive days, asking for pink tickets thrice a night!
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From this point of view, this old guy’s motives are far from pure, he likely harbored thoughts of usurping the position a long time ago. Most importantly, the rumors Jiu Mo’an gave him lacked substantial evidence, and this female sect leader, accustomed to arrogance, forgot that rumors, if unsubstantiated by witnesses or physical evidence, are merely pale and powerless word play, incomparable to the large-scale, reasoned, and evidence-based accusations released by Elder He.
At this stage, Jiu Mo dared not send people to assassinate Elder He and Li Jianming anymore. It’s a joke, with so many eyes watching, let alone her arranging underhanded deeds, if these two old fellows were accidentally injured now, everyone would blame her.
In fact, if Ning Xiaoxian were in her shoes, the first thing she would do is to kill Elder He without regard for anyone’s objections, to avoid complications arising over time. Public opinion can always slowly be mended afterwards.
Moreover, it seems like even Heaven is unwilling to help Jiu Mo. While the top brass of Hidden Stream were delighting in their spat, the Northwest Alliance Army launched an attack, which really infuriated Hidden Stream.
The Northwest Alliance Army’s weapon this time is fire. In fact, Bashe Forest is not afraid of fire. Not to mention Hidden Stream’s mechanisms in place, even ordinary forests have their own fire defense mechanisms; otherwise, wouldn’t a wildfire in autumn or winter burn down tens of thousands of hectares of forest? Such a scenario has never occurred in history. Bashe Forest is the stronghold of Hidden Stream. The enemy’s tactic of using fire had been simulated countless times, and adequate defensive mechanisms had been prepared. Though vast, Bashe Forest was under constant patrol on its fringes by numerous forest guards, using trees as their eyes and ears, making this forest a forbidden zone for humans.
However, Zhuo Erxiu still figured out a way to deal with Bashe Forest, well, partially. Ning Xiaoxian heard this news while she was having lunch.
"What, there are really Palm Leaf Fans in this world?!" She was so shocked that she dropped her chicken leg onto the coffee table. Although she was traveling westward, this wasn’t a scene from Journey to the West! Changtian tapped the table discontentedly: "Young lady, could you show some restraint?"
"What is a Palm Leaf Fan?" Qi Zai and Qingluan, who had just come off the battlefield, arrived together, their white feathers scorched to a grayish black, with several feathers badly burnt. Qingluan also looked upset.
After Qingluan’s explanation, Ning Xiaoxian understood that the Magic Artifact Zhuo Erxiu had brought out was not the immensely powerful Palm Leaf Fan from Journey to the West, but was called the Divine Fan. Usually, a cultivator’s amount of Innate True Fire is very limited. Aside from Pill Masters who can control more True Fire, the Innate True Fire cultivators can unleash to confront enemies of similar realm usually won’t cause much trouble for mortals or demons, which makes Innate True Fire mostly used for Alchemy, Artifact Refining, and interrogation rather than combat; using it to burn down forests is unthinkable. Only demons with Fire Manipulation Divine Skills like Qingluan could burn parts of a forest.
And Bashe Forest simply does not fear ordinary fires.
The Divine Fan is just an Earth-grade Lower Magic Artifact, and its function is simple: command fire with wind. The "fire" included here also encompasses True Fire. To put it simply, allow cultivators to start fires in the forest and then produce a massive gust by waving this fan, aiding in the flame’s expansion. However, Zhuo Erxiu didn’t know how she obtained this fan; though its grade wasn’t high, its effectiveness against forests was remarkable.
Of course, Bashe Forest was too vast and had other Divine Skills mechanisms set up within it. Even if the Divine Fan was fanned until it broke, it couldn’t possibly burn the entire forest that spans several Great States. Zhuo Erxiu’s actions, in fact, were akin to slapping Hidden Stream’s face. Initially, hiding in the forest and self-mockingly claiming to be above engaging with the Northwest Alliance Army, now that the enemy was at the doorstep setting fires, any lack of reaction would invite mockery from the world.
The historically arrogant Hidden Stream, how could it tolerate such an incident?
So Jiu Mo deployed troops again and fiercely clashed with the Northwest Alliance Army several times. However, the latter was also cunning; seeing Hidden Stream emerging, they immediately retreated thousands of miles away to the Red Cloud Plateau, and once Hidden Stream retreated, they moved forward to harass again, mastering the essence of "advance when the enemy retreats, harass when the enemy is tired." After several repetitions, Jiu Mo had no choice but to send troops to pursue them, otherwise, after a few more times, their morale would be completely sapped. As one can imagine, the results of the battle were not wonderful for Hidden Stream.
