Chapter 800: Prelude to the Holy War (II)
Long Haochen smiled, “The Sa Demon Province is one of the furthest provinces from the centre of the demon’s territory. Unless the Demon God Emperor only leads his Devil Dragons and all the demon gods over, it will take at least twenty days to reach us from the centre of their territory. After breaching the army stationed outside the Dragon Resisting Mountain Pass, at least five or six of the nearby demon provinces had been exposed before us. Their defence will be extremely limited. Currently, what I’m most worried about is that the Demon God Emperor will lead his army to attack the Southeastern Fort and the Myriad Beasts Mountain Pass regardless of everything. As a result, we have to draw the serious attention of the Demon God Emperor.”
“As the greatest demon god, the Demon God Emperor will definitely sense the destruction of the other Demon God Pillars. Only I have the power to destroy Demon God Pillars within the union, so I’m sure the Demon God Emperor will be able to confirm that I’m near the Dragon Resisting Mountain Pass with the Tree Demon God’s death. The demon army here’s completely fallen apart as well, so if they want to return with the news of the battle, it’ll take five days at the very least. And that’s the most conservative estimate. Coupled with twenty days of travelling, we have ample time right now. In this time, we have to do our best to make the Demon God Emperor become aware of us.”
Xiao Huo asked, “Little Long, what do you plan on doing then? Do you plan on massacring the demons in the nearby provinces?”
Long Haochen shook his head, “No, large scale massacres are immoral and against the course of nature. And, pure demons only form a fraction of all the demons. I’ve met a demon organisation before. They’re composed of people of both demon and human descent. They’ve been secretly rebelling against the Demon God Emperor and they have accumulated some power. And, I heard the leaders of this organisation is an extremely important demon god. Perhaps this strength won’t be enough to influence the entire war, but if we can get their help, our chances at victory will increase slightly. If we engage in wanton massacre, this organisation definitely won’t make contact with us. They’ll antagonise us as well.”
Shu Yongxiao, “Are you sure this won’t go against their agenda?”
Long Haochen said, “It shouldn’t. The organisation’s actually more willing to merge with us humans. From the member I’ve had contact with, they said that if the humans defeat the demons in the end, they just hope that we can leave some territory for the people of mixed blood. It doesn’t need to be too large. Afterwards, they will remain in contact with the humans and gradually assimilate into the humans.”
Cai’er said, “Then what should we do?”
Long Haochen said, “War is brutal. Since we can’t engage in wanton massacre, we have to target the main forces of the demons, as well as find a way to deal enough damage to the demons as quickly as possible. As a result, I think we need to split up. Look.”
As he said that, he pointed at a few locations on the map. They were all capitals of the nearby provinces.
“The most powerful forces and most important resources of each demon clan should be gathered in the capitals. At the same time, the demons always put on a strong front which cannot be further from the truth. Their external defences will be powerful, but their true internal power will be rather hollow. Didn’t the Demon God Emperor transfer away a lot of the demon gods? We can use this opportunity to destroy their foundations. As a result, we should target the capitals of the six demon provinces near the Dragon Resisting Mountain pass and kill the major demon forces there, as well as cause some damage. We don’t need to kill a lot, but pillaging the resources gathered in the capital or causing damage will cause problems for the Demon God Emperor.”
“The demons have a total of twenty-four provinces. The six provinces in the north form a quarter of them. According to the special characteristics of demons, they will gather most of their resources in the capital of each province. If the plan succeeds, it’ll be very difficult for the Demon God Emperor to directly venture to the Southeastern Fort and Myriad Beasts Mountain Pass. The Demon God Emperor will have to consider how to attack the union as well as pay attention to the instability behind his army.”
Everyone nodded in agreement over Long Haochen’s battle strategy. Actually, they had already formed a rough strategy before the war had begun. Long Haochen only went into more detail now.
Cai’er said, “Let’s do that then. Once we have rested and reorganised, we’ll split into six groups and wage war deep among the demons.”
Long Haochen said, “The six groups need to maintain a close connection with each other. Once any of you discover any demon gods that have remained behind in a capital, contact me immediately and I’ll hurry there as quickly as I can to destroy the Demon God Pillar. Compared to resources, the Demon God Pillars are the origins of the origins for the demons. It’s also the very foundation of the demons.”
Lin Xin said, “What we’re most afraid of is the Demon God Emperor staking everything in a single attack. If he ignores us and continues to lead the army to the Myriad Beasts Mountain Pass or the Northeastern Fort, using it as an entry point to kill and pillage within the union, we will be in an extremely bad position. Most importantly, the resources of the union was much more abundant than the demons. We might be able to pillage, but they can do the same.”
Long Haochen nodded, “I’ve considered this question seriously. It’s possible that it will happen. However, the Demon God Emperor does need time in order to lead his army over. As a result, I’m assuming the Demon God Emperor will most likely split his army into two.”
Xiao Huo’s eyes lit up, “Why into two?” Long Haochen’s simple assumption matched up to what he was thinking as well.
Long Haochen said, “The Demon God Emperor wants to eliminate me, and we’re creating a mess up in the north as well. He will never let go of this opportunity to deal with us. As a result, I think it’s very likely for him to lead a group of the strongest demons to hurry over here as soon as possible to fight us. This group will likely include some of the fifty-four demon gods he has gathered as well as a part of the Devil Dragons, Moon Demon clan and Star Demon Clan. The Demon God Emperor has complete confidence in his own strength, so he won’t bring too many demon powerhouses with him. The total number won’t even exceed a thousand. Under normal circumstances, a group like that will be enough to defeat us, because the Demon God Emperor won’t know about the addition of the predecessors.”
“The Demon God Emperor will probably have his other group target the Southeastern Fort. Perhaps the demons already know that we’ve mobilised our forces, but they won’t know some of the important deployments within the union too well. They will definitely believe the Southeastern Fort guarded by the Warrior Temple will be the weakest. They won’t know that we’ve spread the forces of the six temples evenly. And, before we set off, we’ve even sent additional forces from the Assassin Temple to reinforce the Myriad Beasts Mountain Pass and Southeastern Fort.”
“The size of the army that the Demon God Emperor has mobilised this time is terrifying. He’ll leave at least twenty demon gods to command the army. If they directly go for the Southeastern Fort, it will pose as a huge threat to us, but it won’t be that easy for them to take the Southeastern Fort. After the holy war last time, all of the forts have strengthened their defences. And, once we find out about the exact direction the demon army is heading in, the Myriad Demon Pass and Tombal Mountain Pass which are the closest will send reinforcements immediately. Most importantly, every fort is being watched over by nine predecessors. Once a fort is attacked, the predecessors can reach there in one to three days with their strength. There will be over forty predecessors together. Even if the enemy army is powerful and is further lead by over twenty demon gods, it won’t be easy for them to breach our forts. They might even suffer heavily when trying to.”
Everyone could not help but become visibly moved by Long Haochen’s analysis.
Xiao Huo’s expression did not change, but the admiration and appreciation was clearly shown in his eyes. He thought, little Long really didn’t become the greatest in the union at such a young age through luck! Not only was he extremely talented in cultivation, he was level-headed and meticulous in his thinking. With that child controlling the union, they would have a much greater chance at defeating the demons. Long Haochen had thought exactly the same as him, so he did not have to add anything. All he did was watch Long Haochen set up arrangements.
With the battle strategy and tactics determined, they had to split up now.
The human army split into six groups, which were led by Long Haochen, Cai’er, Chen Ying’er, Wang Yuanyuan, Han Yu and Zhang Fangfang. Every single group was further protected by three Eternal Heroes. Sima Xian went with Chin Ying’er, Lin Xin went with Wang Yuanyuan, Duan Yi went with Han Yu, Yang Wenzhao went with Zhang Fangfang and Yating followed Cai’er. The six groups set off at the same time.
Long Haochen was responsible for the province that was in the centre of all the provinces. That way, he could hurry off to other provinces that had demon gods as quickly as possible to destroy their Demon God Pillars.
Although Long Haochen did not have another companion with him, he was the strongest and he also had Xiao Huo helping him. As a result, their overall strength was no weaker than the other five groups.
After the army that had amounted to over ten thousand had split up, they became even flexible. They were like six sharp blades, stabbing into the northern territory of the demons.
The gamble between the Temple Union and the demons over their survival had finally unfolded completely.
…
Demon Race, Demon Emperor Palace.
“The Tree Demon God Purson’s dead and his Demon God Pillar’s been destroyed as well.” The Demon God Emperor’s expression was warped.
He sensed the pillar’s destruction the moment it had been destroyed. This was the third Demon God Pillar they had lost now.
Several dozen demons stood in a tight crowd below. Every single one of them gave off a powerful aura. They were the foundations of the demons, as well as the most powerful group among the demons, the demon gods!
However, these powerful existences that usually dominated among the demons had all become submissive in that moment. They quietly stood there, even afraid to look directly at the Demon God Emperor, apart from the few at the very front.
The Tree Demon God Purson had died. He was responsible for watching over the Dragon Resisting Mountain Pass. His Demon God Pillar had been destroyed as well. Without a doubt, it meant that Long Haochen had taken action.
“Your majesty, I’ve already passed down orders for accurate news of the situation there as soon as possible. However, the Sa Demon Province in just too far away from the core city. It’ll take three days at the very least for us to receive reliable information,” the Moon Demon God Agares replied politely. He knew very well that the Demon God Emperor wanted to know about whether it was Austin Griffin or Long Haochen who destroyed the Demon God Pillar. If Long Haochen had only used the power of Austin Griffin’s bloodline to destroy it, then the issue would be slightly smaller. However, if Austin Griffin was still alive, then there would be a major problem.