Chapter 240 - I Will Help You
"Big Brother, Master said we just need to help him buy some time for three days. During these three days, we can retreat continuously, or even completely retreat from the war between Qi and Wei."
Zhang Ji's voice was solemn.
If the news about the Seven-Slaughtering Demon Lord's absence from the camp were to spread, the Water Qilin Clans' Divine Snow Demon Emperor would be able to kill the human cultivators here in an hour's time.
By then, they wouldn't be able to even buy two hours of time.
Chen Chen nodded slightly, and asked, "Do the others know about this?"
"I don't know. Master is very careful and I'm the only person who knows about this. He didn't tell the higher-ups of the human race either. And you're the only person I informed, Big Brother!"
"Good. Word about this matter must not be spread around. If everyone finds out that the Seven-Slaughtering Demon Lord is not in the camp, I'm afraid the morale of the army will be lowered. Besides, there may be some snitches among us," Chen Chen said with a serious expression.
He didn't say those things for no reason. For example, there were half-demons hidden among the humans.
If the news of the Seven-Slaughtering Demon Lord heading to the demons' territory were to be leaked, the demons might lay traps and the Seven-Slaughtering Demon Lord might not be able to return.
"Big Brother, I understand," Zhang Ji nodded solemnly.
Seeing this, Chen Chen patted his shoulder. If nothing went wrong, the Seven-Slaughtering Demon Lord should have given Zhang Ji the authority to command.
"Don't worry, I will help you."
Zhang Ji was slightly stunned but he smiled radiantly.
'Yes. With Big Brother by my side, what should I be afraid of?'
Both of them looked at each other and smiled. They had a tacit understanding.
...
Everything was going on as usual in the camp.
The diabolic cultivators were healing quietly while the cultivators of the other forces were getting ready to fight.
The strength of their reinforcements was not weak. There were three who were in the Essence Soul realm. Although there were no elites who were above the mid-stage Essence Soul realm, it was a difficult task for three Essence Soul realm experts to appear.
Half a day later.
Be it the humans or the demons, there was no movement on either side.
The reinforcements from the human side were a bit restless.
They reckoned that the demons should have already found out that they were there to provide aid.
Logically speaking, the demons would probably send their reinforcements over too.
During this period of time, the demons had yet to send their reinforcements, and it was rare for the humans to overpower the demons. If they didn't seize the opportunity to get an advantage now, it would certainly be more difficult to do so once the demon reinforcements arrived.
The cultivators who came to provide support were holding up well, but the cultivators of the imperial dynasty were panicking.
They were very alert when it came to things like war opportunities, and in their opinion, the Seven Lethal Demon Clan was delaying the war opportunity by holding back its troops.
"Fellow Daoist Zhang, does the Seven-Slaughtering Demon Lord have other plans in mind?"
In the afternoon, a few imperial dynasty cultivators met up with Zhang Ji.
Due to the excessively baneful aura of the Seven-Slaughtering Demon Lord, Zhang Ji became his spokesperson, one whom everyone would go to when they couldn't find the Seven-Slaughtering Demon Lord.
Zhang Ji shook his head and said, "That battle last evening was too tragic. My master intends to take a day off."
"One day... Fellow Daoist Zhang, one day is enough time for the demons' reinforcements to arrive at the battlefield. By then, we will no longer have any advantages. Will we be able to convince the Demon Lord to attack sooner?" an imperial dynasty cultivator asked anxiously.
Zhang Ji stayed silent. Of course, he knew that now was the best time for attacking, but since his master wasn't around, he didn't dare to attack recklessly. If he were to trigger the Divine Snow Demon Emperor, the consequences would be unimaginable.
At the thought of this, he subconsciously looked at Chen Chen, who was not far away.
Chen Chen seemed to be put in a spot for a certain reason.
Zhang Ji quickly followed suit.
Seeing the expression on Zhang Ji's face, a few leading imperial dynasty cultivators panicked.
They began to let their imaginations run wild.
'Could it be that the Seven-Slaughtering Demon Lord got injured yesterday? Does he need a day to recover?'
'If that's the case, it's indeed not the right time to attack.'
Zhang Ji did not state the details explicitly. What he did was normal, as the morale of the troops would be greatly affected if their leader was injured.
"We want to meet the Seven-Slaughtering Demon Lord! I'm not afraid of being jinxed..."
The subordinates behind him were still forcing Zhang Ji, while the cultivators of the dynasty hurriedly stopped him.
"Stop it. Since the Seven-Slaughtering Demon Lord has already come to a decision, let's just obey him."
"Uh, Lord, that's not what you said before we arrived..."
"Shut up! Fellow Daoist Zhang! I'll excuse myself now, bye!"
The few leaders ignored the confusion of their subordinates and turned around to leave.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Ji was extremely bewildered.
He had been mimicking Chen Chen's expression and words, but he was actually clueless about what he meant.
However, the cultivators merely chose to leave after seeing his expression, which was unbelievable to him.
'It turns out a mere expression can be so significant and impactful.'
With that thought, he looked at Chen Chen, who seemed completely unaffected. He was full of awe and admiration for Chen Chen.
The admiration he had for Chen Chen now was exactly the same as when he saw him using his Dharma powers for the first time.
He thought that he had learned a lot during his stay in the Seven Lethal Demon Clan lately, and that it could minimize the gap between him and Chen Chen.
To his surprise, the more he learned, the greater the gap between them became.
...
Chen Chen still had a heavy heart.
He could fool his fellow humans, but not the demons. The Divine Snow Demon Emperor had been contending with the Seven-Slaughtering Demon Lord for so many years, Chen Chen reckoned that he must be intelligent.
'At this moment, he should be setting up a defense.'
If the defense had already been set up and the humans went to attack, he would immediately sense that something was wrong.
Although he might not necessarily guess that the Seven-Slaughtering Demon Lord had left the campground and gone to the demons' territory, he would definitely think of something along the lines of the Seven-Slaughtering Demon Lord being injured.
If the Demon Emperor was resolute, he might attack before the reinforcements arrived.
With that thought Chen Chen sighed, then turned to look at Zhang Ji.
He asked, "Zhang Ji, if the Demon Emperor comes to attack tonight or tomorrow, you shall lead the cultivators to fight and retreat. Do you understand?"
Zhang Ji had some doubts in mind. 'Big Brother can just give me these instructions when the time comes. Why bring it up now?'
However, he did not ask more questions because he trusted Chen Chen.
...
Late at night.
The entire human camp was unusually silent.
In fact, very few cultivators were sleeping. It seemed quiet only because most of the cultivators were meditating and cultivating.
Zhang Ji sat cross-legged in a big tent, his eyes tightly shut and a grave expression on his face.
There were two Essence Soul realm powerhouses beside him who were under his master. In addition to the cultivators who came to provide support, there were now five Essence Soul realm powerhouses in the entire camp.
If the Divine Snow Demon Emperor did not attack, the five Essence Soul realm powerhouses would be enough to suppress the demons.
However, if the Divine Snow Demon Emperor attacked, the five of them wouldn't be his match, even if they joined forces.
That was the difference between the top Essence Soul realm and the ordinary Essence Soul realm cultivators. Usually, strategies and conspiracies were not the deciding factor of the outcome of a battle, nor was it the amount of manpower of both parties. Rather, it was the strength of the strongest person on each side.
While Zhang Ji was being secretly worried, a breeze suddenly rose outside the camp and made the tents rustle.
Hearing this movement, Zhang Ji suddenly opened his eyes, as did the two Essence Soul realm experts beside him.
"What I was dreading the most has happened!"
Seemingly sensing something, Zhang Ji stood up abruptly with a sullen expression.
The two Essence Soul realm experts subconsciously wanted to leave the tent to fight the enemies, but Zhang Ji stopped them.
"Uncle-Masters, start the array! Defend!"
Surprised to hear his words, the Essence Soul realm diabolic cultivators asked, "Is the Demon Lord really injured?"
"I said, start the array!" Zhang Ji yelled, causing the two Essence Soul realm diabolic cultivators to be stunned, but they quickly flew away without uttering another word.
In just a moment, the entire camp was shrouded in the defensive array.
After the array was fully activated, there was a burst of laughter in the world.
"Seven-Slaughtering Demon Lord, I didn't expect that even you would choose to hide in the array, like a coward. I really didn't expect it."
The human cultivators in the camp had already left the tent and were looking into the sky.
There was blue light flickering in the sky and a Water Qilin that had a crystalline body that was dozens of meters long was staring at them coldly.
"He's the Divine Snow Demon Emperor!"
"The top expert below the Void Refinement realm!"
Many of the newly arrived cultivators were secretly frightened because the terrifying might of the Divine Snow Demon Emperor was overwhelmingly morbid and too overbearing for them to resist.
However, they didn't panic because there was also a top expert that was below the Void Refinement realm among them, and he was the Seven-Slaughtering Demon Lord.
Looking at the huge Water Qilin above his head, Zhang Ji turned pale and his nails dug deep into his flesh. Without his master around, he was extremely stressed!
In a moment of nervousness, he subconsciously scanned the crowd and tried to find the figure that he could rely on, but all to no avail.
"Is Big Brother still cultivating?"
Zhang Ji took a step out and arrived in Chen Chen's tent.
However, there was no one inside, though there was a letter on the table in the middle of the tent.
He didn't expect that… Chen Chen had already left the camp a long time ago!