Chapter 317: Vicissitudes
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Zhang Han[1] was originally an unemployed young adult who loafed and idled around the capital of Da Chu. He came from a poor family and did not amount to much after he grew up, thus, he relied on shady acts for survival.
However, these few years, life in the capital became worse. The capital became emptier and he lost his livelihood. Coincidentally, the imperial army was recruiting and had very low requirements, hence, Zhang Han enlisted.
Zhang Han was doing guard duty at night.
"Recently, many of the lieutenants and generals have changed...Their eyes have a green glow, so creepy looking!"
The cold wind blew and Zhang Han still felt extremely chilly despite wearing his coat. As he shivered in the cold, he thought of the ladies in Chunfeng Brothel.
"Charge!"
Suddenly, shouts could be heard outside the city gates. Zhang Han came out of his trance and was alarmed by the noises.
"There are rebels attacking our city, quickly defend!"
Under the lieutenant's command, Zhang Han wielded his spear and rushed to the city gates. His hands were trembling in fear.
After he climbed up the city walls and looked down, he was utterly panic-stricken.
From the light of the flames, silhouettes of those below could be discerned. However, they were definitely not humans, each of them was oddly shaped and fully armoured. Some of them even had huge pincers as hands and were extremely vicious looking.
"What are you all waiting for? Kill them!"
The lieutenant hollered and a rain of arrows hit the crustacean soldiers' bodies. However, they were useless as only small sparks could be seen when the arrows bounced off their armour.
"The bow is useless, we have to use crossbows, logs and huge rocks!"
"Boom!"
Huge rocks were thrown from the tall city walls and blood splattered everywhere when these rocks landed.
Even though the crustacean army had scale armours, they could not withstand the logs and rocks crushing them.
"These... these are not humans, they are demons! I quit!"
Beside Zhang Han, a soldier was terrified by the scene and attempted to escape.
"Splurt!"
Blood spewed everywhere as Zhang Han's lieutenant smiled ferociously. With just a slash of his knife, the soldier's head rolled onto the ground.
"Those who try to escape will be killed immediately!"
The lieutenant licked the blood off his knife with enjoyment as he appeared extremely satisfied. The green glow in his eyes sparkled as he further commanded, "What are you waiting for? Continue!"
"Yes, Sir!"
Zhang Han immediately turned his head away as the scene reminded him of the hungry wolf he had seen before when he was young.
The look on the lieutenant's eyes was exactly the same as that wolf's, it was sly and savage looking.
"Kill them all!"
If the 20,000 strong troops were humans, they would have all died when they attacked the city at night.
However, this time around, it was different. The ones attacking were the water dwellers.
With the support of the two Dragon Gods, the water dwellers bravely rushed forward against the raining arrows and logs. Their hands turned into giant pincers or sharp claws as they arrived at the bottom of the city walls and began climbing up.
"Kill!"
One of the crab generals reached the top of the walls and began hammering the wall with his huge pincers. Moments later, part of the wall crumbled and made way for the water dwellers.
The water dwellers immediately rushed forward.
"Die!"
The lieutenant lunged forward and a black glow appeared on his knife, "Demon Wolf Technique, Moon Sword Flurry!"
"Swoosh!"
The knife was as radiant and as sharp as a waxing moon as it sliced the crab general. A large gap appeared on the crab general's chest at once, tons of blood gushed out and he collapsed onto the floor, revealing his original form which was a tiny crab.
"Hahaha!"
The lieutenant's eyes turned red from savagery as he howled to the moon. Black fur grew out from his face like an evil wolf.
"I'm right, a demon!"
Zhang Han's limbs turned weak. As he looked around, he saw many of them savagely howling. They transformed into dholes, wolves, tigers and leopards and fought against the crustacean army. As he watched the bizarre and motley beasts fought, he thought he was dreaming.
"Ah... haha, that's right, I must be dreaming!"
Even though Zhang Han had seen before the Demonic Beast Swarm that fought against Baili Xuandu's troops, he began to laugh crazily.
Zhang Han then threw his spear onto the ground and walked around aimlessly. Suddenly, a strong man with tiger stripes pounced on him and sank its teeth into his neck. Blood spewed everywhere!
...
While the capital was in chaos, Fang Yuan remained leisurely.
"There are indeed demons in the capital, but how many demons can the Queen possibly gather? 3,000? 5,000? We have 20,000 water dwellers, even if all of them were killed, it is not a pity!"
At that moment, many of the crustacean soldiers were severely injured or had died already. While the Golden Court Dragon God was worried, Fang Yuan was laughing beside him.
"What a cold-blooded and heartless young Dragon God!"
The Divine Demon Queen remained silent as she watched the events unfold.
Although she had powerful abilities, her elemental energy had been severely weakened as she had gone against the heavenly trend. Furthermore, she could not stand a chance against the two Dragon Gods.
"I will remember what happened today! Just you wait!"
Moments later, as she saw more demons were being killed, she could not bear it anymore, she finally let out a sharp shrill.
The demons were alarmed by the shrill and immediately transformed into black vapour as they retreated.
"Heh! The pettiness of women!"
Fang Yuan smirked as he saw such.
If a general could not view the soldiers under him as expendables and became irresolute during the key moment, he had failed as a general.
However, perhaps it was because demons were the ones dying in the brawl, there was no other choice for the Divine Demon Queen.
Nevertheless, Fang Yuan would not let this opportunity slip.
On one side, they had numerous considerations. Whereas, on the other side, they had none. Thus, this showed that victory was already established from the start.
"Send down my command, chase after and kill all the remaining demons! Leave the humans alone and just chase them away will do!"
"Boom!"
As the demons retreated, the defences on the city wall fell immediately. A few crab general pushed open the city gates and a huge amount of water dwellers easily swarmed in.
The night in the capital would definitely not be peaceful.
The ruckus near the city walls was loud, lots of soldiers entered the city. They began searching for the demons and small brawls erupted everywhere.
Occasionally, some of the bold and daring families peeked from their windows and saw some odd sights.
For example, tigers and leopards could be seen dashing away as black vapour shrouded them. Many water dwellers were marching on the streets. It was a truly bizarre sight to behold, a sight that one might not even be able to dream of.
There were scholars who immediately recorded, "King Wu's army attacked the capital at night, the capital descended into chaos. Spirits and ghosts paraded the city walls... the commoners dare not leave their house. During midnight, they came into the streets, their presence was vivid, their smell was strong! Fishes, prawns, tigers and leopards could be seen!"
"You... are so vicious!"
The Divine Demon Queen was devastated at such and she almost retched up a stream of blood.
"Wipe out the enemy cleanly, leave no chance for them, the heavenly trend cannot be resisted, such are the vicissitudes of life!" Fang Yuan thought of a poem.
Fang Yuan decisively hollered as a beam of lightning appeared on his hand, "Divine Demon Queen! As you went against the heavenly trend, you must be punished!"
"Kaboom!"
Thunder could be heard as a flash of lightning cut across the sky. A large amount of electrifying lightning immediately surrounded the Divine Demon Queen. They then transformed into a sword and pierced towards her at the speed of light.
"Poof!"
Just when the lightning pierced her, it was as though it had pierced a soap bubble.
The silhouette of the Divine Demon Queen burst and disappeared without a trace.
"An illusion?"
Fang Yuan thought to himself, "After I have spent so much effort preparing for this opportunity, she managed to hide! This demon's cultivation is unpredictably strong!"
"The heavenly trend cannot be resisted, such is the vicissitudes of life..." the Golden Court Dragon God mumbled beside Fang Yuan.
After a while, the Golden Court Dragon God then added, "You should know better!"
Fang Yuan did not hesitate and rushed towards the imperial palace.
Da Chu Imperial Palace.
"Ahhhh!"
The young emperor woke up from his nightmare and shouted, "Grandma! Grandma!"
"What's wrong, my grandson?"
At that moment, it was as though the entire palace was empty, the curtains swayed and evoked a sense of uneasiness.
The shadow of a lady donned in a crown appeared and slowly walked into the palace hall. It was the fox demon transformed as the Empress Dowager.
"Greetings, Empress Dowager!"
The young emperor stood up and paid respects. He was only around 6 to 7 years old, his supple little lips were red and his teeth was flawlessly white. He was extremely cute and lovable.
"Ah... my grandson..."
The Empress Dowager went forward and carried the young emperor. Her eyes turned teary as she said, "We are not related by blood, and yet I feel so close to you after spending time with you. I have never felt this way before, even with the previous two emperors!"
The young emperor kept quiet as he sensed what the Empress Dowager said was very important.
"Sigh... although I was instructed to wreak the imperial palace completely... I can't bear to do so!"
The Empress Dowager caressed the young emperor's cheeks as she continued with mixed emotions, "Being so close to a human... is a sin, sigh... my innocent child! I have already killed and sinned so many times, I really don't wish to sin again!"
"Empress Dowager, what's wrong? Don't scare me..."
The young emperor was frightened and started crying. He immediately screamed for help.
Outside the palace hall, it was totally silent. There was not a single soul.
"Krong! Kong!"
Suddenly, the dignified noise of a dragon could be heard.
"Sigh..."
The Empress Dowager could only give a cold smile as hugged the young emperor, "My baby, you must depend on yourself from now on!"
"Empress Dowager?"
After they hugged, the young emperor called her softly. However, there was no response.
He pushed her away slightly and her whole body fell over. Her body was stiff and she had passed away!
Beside the Empress Dowager's corpse, a white glow emerged and transformed into a white-coloured fox. The fox turned back and look, its eyes were filled with emotions. Suddenly, a flash of lightning struck through the palace hall. The white fox immediately collapsed onto the floor, its fur was burnt and it had evidently died.
"Ahhhh!!!"
The young emperor's eyes turned white and fainted.
...
Fifth Month, 9th year of Yong An.
Xu Ting led his troops and surrounded the capital. On the second day, hundreds of officials in the capital urged the emperor to surrender!
It was a new page in the official historical records. As for other bizarre events, it was only detailed in non-official records of history, it was barely mentioned in the official historical records.
In the Sixth Month, Xu Ren moved his imperial court to the capital to prepare for the abdication.
In the Seventh Month, due to uncertain causes, Xu Ren suddenly fell very ill. Three days later, he passed away. Xu Ting then succeeded the position of king. In the Twelfth Month, the young emperor was forced to abdicate. Xu Ting succeeded the throne and formed the Wu Country. He honoured the late Xu Ren as the founding father of the empire and rewarded his officials and generals. He continued to bolster his troops in preparation to conquer the northern part of Da Chu and thus, defeat the last military occupied town of Da Chu. Hence, he would rule the entire Da Chu and step closer to ruling the world.
[1] This "Zhang Han' is a different person from the one who appeared in Chapter 288.