Chapter 225: A Scene of Devastation

Chunzhi took a sip of water from Su Zhenzhen's hand, her expression remaining unchanged.

"Unless Huzhou is willing to fight to the death, they wouldn't be fighting so recklessly. And there must be something fishy going on."

Su Zhenzhen gazed at the raging flames below the city. The enemy army was indeed too excited, like tireless robots.

Speaking of robots, Su Zhenzhen knew of a puppetry technique that could turn living people into puppets. These puppets were no different from normal people, but they would repeatedly carry out their master's commands until they were exhausted and died.

However, the conditions for puppetry are very demanding; if the caster does not possess vast cultivation, they are likely to suffer a backlash.

Song Anbang is clearly not an insider; he probably has a powerful figure helping him.

Damn it, from Hu Yu'er's soul being summoned away by the sorcerer to this puppet master, just how many people in this world understand the mystical arts?

"High Priest of the Jiang Dynasty, have you figured out the key to this?" Chunzhi asked playfully. The news that Su Zhenzhen had revealed herself to be the High Priest of the Jiang Dynasty had reached her ears immediately.

Chunzhi might not know the High Priest of the Jiang Dynasty, but surely she knows Su Zhenzhen? If she really were the High Priest of the Jiang Dynasty, why would she hide behind Hensheng when the thunder was rolling?

Wasn't it said that the High Priest of the Jiang Dynasty was a god-like being? How could a god who governs the Heavenly Way fear the wrath of thunder?

Su Zhenzhen remained calm, closed the lid of the water bag, and hung it on her waist.

"To be honest, I can tell that there's something strange about the enemy, but I have no way to eliminate it."

There is only one way to break the puppet spell: find the person behind the spell and kill them. The spell will then be broken.

However, Su Zhenzhen doesn't even know who's behind the scenes, so where is she supposed to start a fight?

Chunzhi straightened her expression and said, "As long as Shanxian comes to our aid, the enemy outside the city is nothing to worry about."

That's what she said, but Chunzhi's hand, which was gripping the sword hilt, was trembling slightly.

Working without sleep for three days straight would make even the toughest iron rust.

The art of puppetry is not sophisticated, but it can make a person under a spell tireless, burn their life force prematurely, and maximize their physical potential.

The enemy attacked the city day and night, but our troops had to rotate shifts and rest, which immediately reduced our combat effectiveness by half.

All the pressure fell on Chunzhi.

Unlike the ongoing battles in Yangcheng, the journey from Shanxian to Yangcheng was remarkably peaceful, as an army was rapidly advancing eastward.

Interestingly, there was an old monkey riding a tall horse in the middle of the army.

If there were comments on the screen, they would definitely say that animals live more prestigious lives than humans.

The one-eyed old man was carried forward by two soldiers. It wasn't that he didn't want to walk, but he was simply too slow. As for riding a horse, his legs, which were beginning to atrophy, were simply not strong enough to support him and keep him close to the horse's belly.

"Hey, old buddy, you've really hit the jackpot. Even monkeys can ride horses now. You must be the only one of your kind in your monkey clan."

The old monkey bared its teeth, making its already ugly face appear even more ferocious. The soldiers were already used to it, and apart from a few greenhorns who averted their eyes in fear, none of them harbored any ill intentions.

A middle-aged soldier looked worried. "Uncle One-Eyed, nothing should have happened to the General, right? Aren't there still several thousand troops guarding those small towns between Yangcheng and Shanxian? Why not send them over to help them in the first place?"

The one-eyed old man glanced at the man who spoke with his only eye, his cloudy gaze filled with a deep sense of death.

The middle-aged soldier did not flinch, but met his gaze directly, awaiting instruction.

"A few thousand garrison troops are not enough to fill the enemy's mouth. Once they are sent out, the city will be left empty and vulnerable to exploitation. If Yangcheng is then separated and isolated, it will be truly a place where they die without a burial place."

The middle-aged soldier nodded, indicating that he had learned something.

The one-eyed old man closed his eyes. He remembered how spirited he was back in the mountains of Huzhou, boasting that he would live to be a hundred years old. But only two or three years had passed, and his health was not as good as before.

After another day and night of fierce fighting at the north gate of Yangcheng, Chunzhi now has to lean on her long sword to support herself.

Su Zhenzhen could go a whole day and night without sleeping, but Chunzhi was just an ordinary person, not to mention that she was middle-aged and her energy was no longer at its peak.

Su Zhenzhen wanted Chunzhi to rest, and she would help hold on for a while.

But Chunzhi said that there is no reason for soldiers to fight on the front while generals rest on the back.

The general must always stand in front of her soldiers.

"Open your mouth." Su Zhenzhen took out a Rejuvenation Pill, and Chunzhi opened her mouth without hesitation.

The Rejuvenating Pill is meant to save lives; using it to relieve fatigue is a waste of its potential and only treats the symptoms, not the root cause.

Chunzhi needs a good night's sleep right now. The Rejuvenating Pill can relieve her fatigue, but it can't completely eliminate it.

"According to the schedule, the one-eyed old man should be able to bring reinforcements today. Just hold on a little longer."

The city walls were littered with corpses and wounded soldiers; the enemy's attacks were too frequent, leaving no time to deal with them.

For a fleeting moment, Su Zhenzhen thought, why not just use the Thunderbolt Pill to blow all the enemy troops outside into the sky?

So what if she suffers all of this alone? What can Heaven really do to her?

But it's just a thought; the rules of heaven and earth cannot be violated.

Su Zhenzhen, you can't be willful, you can't be reckless.

Back when I was studying in the 90s and 60s, I only knew that "a scene of devastation" was a description of war. At that time, I only had a general outline. But today, I have truly witnessed the weight of this idiom.

Everywhere you look, there's no clean place; even the air is so sticky it makes you feel nauseous.

The smell of blood and corpses mingled together—that was the very essence of war.

Su Zhenzhen couldn't help but think of Miss Luo Liu tearing the heavens and earth apart. No one survived that catastrophe, yet none of them bled, and their lives came to an end.

On the contrary, Miss Luo was once tied to the Immortal Binding Pillar, enduring attacks from everyone in the world, bleeding profusely and covered in wounds, yet unable to escape in the slightest.

"Those still breathing, follow me to kill the enemy!" Chunzhi roared, and many wounded soldiers who were lying down struggled to get up, picked up the weapons left behind by some comrade-in-arms, and fiercely attacked the enemy who climbed the city wall.

Despite having several times the enemy's strength, not a single enemy soldier managed to scale the city walls under Chunzhi's command.

Knowing her own limitations, Su Zhenzhen didn't step forward to cause trouble, but instead helped move the wounded to the back.

The purpose of ferrying souls is to save people, to save those who died unjustly, and to save innocent people. And now, by helping to transfer the wounded, I am also saving people, saving those who still have hope of survival.

Perhaps the existence of necromancers is not just for summoning spirits, but more for saving people.