Miss Fairy, Please Hear Me Out

Xu Yuan pondered for a moment, then took two flawless, translucent crystals from his Sumeru Ring and placed them before General Wang.

The moment the two crystals appeared, the surrounding source qi instantly grew denser.

But Xu Yuan did not stop there. He continued taking things out. Several sealed wooden barrels appeared from his Sumeru Ring, and the sound of water sloshing could be heard from within.

“What is this?” General Wang’s pupils contracted slightly.

Xu Yuan liked taking advantage of a good deal, but he did not like taking advantage of men like General Wang.

“Source crystals and spiritual liquid. Consider these herbs bought.”

“But...” General Wang’s eyes showed a trace of temptation, but he did not immediately agree. “But these herbs are not worth this much.”

“General Wang.” Xu Yuan cut him off, speaking each word clearly. “You should know what the people left inside the array are about to face.”

General Wang opened his mouth, but no words came out. He understood what this Young Master Zhou meant. At a time like this, if the Sageridge border army attacked the illusory mist array, it would be practically the same as announcing to the Myriad Manifestations Sect that they already knew about the plan to slaughter the town.

As for how the Myriad Manifestations Sect would react, that went without saying.

Next, the Sageridge border army protecting the civilians would have to face the frenzied assault of tens of thousands of vicious demonic beasts.

Under such circumstances, Sageridge’s town protection array was undoubtedly their lifeline.

The town protection array had two sources of power. The first was the source qi between heaven and earth. During ordinary times, when the array was not activated, a specialized formation would gather and store source qi. The second source was heavenly treasures condensed from source qi, such as source crystals and spiritual liquid.

A wealthy great city like Stillwater would generally store plenty of source crystals for emergencies. But judging from Sageridge’s shabby state, it probably had no such thing.

With only the twenty percent of tampered-with energy left behind, the town protection array would probably last a few days at full power before petering out.

If Xu Yuan and the others succeeded in killing the Myriad Manifestations Sect expert controlling the array, then all would be well. But if they had to seek reinforcements, the round trip would take more than ten days at minimum. Without the town protection array, the ten thousand Sageridge border troops alone could never hold the town.

Xu Yuan raised his hand and pushed forward the two source crystals he had gotten from Xu Changge.

“Take them. The town protection array having even a little more energy is still better than nothing.”

General Wang stepped back, cupped his fists in both hands, and was about to kneel to Xu Yuan again. “Young Master Zhou, your righteousness is...”

Xu Yuan once again used the Sage’s soul power to hold him up, then waved his hand. “Enough. Prepare to break the array in one hour. I need to make some preparations on my side.”

General Wang nodded seriously and was just about to leave, but then his steps paused. In the silence, he asked softly, “Young Master Zhou, may I know your name?”

Xu Yuan’s eyes carried a hint of amusement. “What, are you planning to build me a living shrine too?”

General Wang said nothing.

Xu Yuan waved his hand and laughed. “I’m in the intelligence business. I don’t need things like that.”

General Wang left.

As the leader of a town, he still had many things to coordinate.

A cold wind swept through Xu Yuan’s long hair. He stood atop the town wall, looking at the misty grand array in the distance with quiet, unreadable eyes.

Time passed, second by second.

In the silence, the Saget’s remnant soul suddenly spoke in Xu Yuan’s heart, his voice full of teasing. “When did you become such a righteous brat?”

The sudden voice made Xu Yuan’s thoughts stall for a moment. Then he laughed softly and asked back, “Righteous? Giving a few source crystals and a few barrels of spiritual liquid counts as righteousness?”

”You could have chosen not to give them at all,” the Sage’s remnant soul said, his low voice carrying a smile.

Xu Yuan shook his head. His tone was very calm. “Do you think I lack things like that?”

“No,” the Sage’s remnant soul replied.

Xu Yuan looked in the direction General Wang had just left and said in a low voice, “I actually admire people like General Wang. He could clearly break out of the town and escape, but for the sake of Sageridge’s people, he still chose to stay and defend it. A defense with nine deaths and one chance of life.

“To me, source crystals and spiritual liquid are nothing much. But to them, these things really can save lives. Four hundred thousand lives. The more people like General Wang there are, the better it is for the Great Flame Empire. At the very least, it’s a good thing for the common people.

“Besides, this also counts as cleaning up the mess left by that foolish sworn little sister of mine. So the answer to this sort of choice is obvious, isn’t it?”

The Sage’s remnant soul’s voice was ambiguous. “I thought you would be a little more cold blooded.”

“I’m not a bloodless old fossil like you. My blood is still warm,” Xu Yuan shot back.

The Sage’s remnant soul sounded all smiles. “Xu boy, whether your blood is warm or not, we are actually the same kind of person.”

Xu Yuan was silent for a moment. He did not deny it. “Maybe. Enough about me. Old Luo, have you finished refining those soul herbs?”

He had gathered those soul herbs, of course, to replenish the Sage’s remnant soul.

The Sage’s remnant soul focused for a moment to sense his own condition, then said in a low voice, “I’ve recovered most of what I lost.”

Xu Yuan looked down at the military formations being deployed in orderly fashion and said quietly, “Then we’ll wait for General Wang to send someone to notify us.”

He then asked in a slow, drifting voice, “To be honest, what happened in Sageridge this time has really broadened my horizons. Hundreds of thousands of people. Hey, Old Luo, to extraordinary powerhouses like you, do ordinary people still count as your own kind?”

The Sage’s remnant soul did not answer him directly. Instead, he asked, “Xu boy. What do you think these demonic beasts throwing themselves at the town to die are to the demon race of Ancient Abyss?”

A single battalion in the Great Flame Empire’s army numbered five thousand men. Sageridge’s border army had two battalions, one command, exactly ten thousand men on paper. But years of constant fighting had long since left the Sageridge border army far below full strength.

In a crisis, the cohesion and efficiency of an army were displayed to the fullest.

They rotated the troops guarding the demonic beast exits of the illusory mist array, summoned the leaders of the town’s major caravans, wandering companies, and escort agencies for discussion, transported siege-defense equipment and supplies from the storehouses to the city walls, distributed specialized bows and crossbows for defending the walls, and arranged for batches of refugees outside the city to enter.

In the space of one hour, the Sageridge border army inside moved like a finely built machine, every part running in careful order.

Time slipped by, second after second.

Then, at a moment when everyone in the town was caught completely unprepared, the phantom of a hundred foot spear gathered without warning above the military formation outside the town. In the next instant, it struck the thick fog beyond with the force of thunder.

The moment that enormous spear phantom swept through the air and collided with the dense mist, the illusory mist array was torn open with a sound. A gap 30 feet wide split through it. Looking out through that opening, one could clearly see the bright, clean moonlight beyond.

Then, a graceful black figure wearing a veiled hat flashed across the sky like a white colt slipping past a crack in the wall. She passed precisely through that three-zhang passage and vanished.

A few breaths after her figure disappeared, the torn opening quickly healed again.

No. That was not quite right. The moment the mist in midair closed, the number of ferocious demonic beasts rushing out from within the fog suddenly doubled.

Standing atop the town wall, General Wang gripped his long saber and shouted, “Sageridge Army, form ranks! Prepare to meet the enemy!”