Chapter 931
2 disciples!
Hearing the commotion inside, Guo Tianyou, who was outside the door, couldn't help but push the door open and come in.
"Sir, what are you talking about? The Qingyun Sect is broke?" Guo Tianyou asked in a gruff voice. "That's great! Let's strike while the iron is hot! Our Black Cloud Heavy Cavalry hasn't had enough fun yet! Since they're just an empty shell, let's gather our troops tonight and take over Qingyun Mountain!"
"Nonsense!" Elder Liu rebuked sharply, "Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse! Even if their resources are exhausted, the protective formation on Qingyun Mountain and those Golden Core cultivators in seclusion are still there! You're leading three thousand cavalry to charge up the mountain? What's the difference between that and throwing eggs against a rock!"
Guo Tianyou was speechless for a moment, then retorted with a stiff neck, "Then what do you suggest we do? Just stand here and watch them breathe?"
"No."
Zheng Yi's voice rang out in the study. Although it wasn't loud, it silenced everyone.
He slowly walked to the desk, placed his hands on the surface, and scanned everyone present: Guo Tianyou, Zhao Sanhuai, Han Wuhen, Elder Liu, and Tie Duyan, who had just returned from outside.
All the core members of Hongyun City have gathered.
"Fighting, killing, conquering cities and seizing territory. That's just reckless courage." Zheng Yi's gaze finally landed on Guo Tianyou. "Tianyou, do you know what the sharpest knife in the world is?"
Guo Tianyou paused for a moment, then subconsciously touched the horizontal sword at his waist: "It's... a steel sword mixed with black iron essence?"
Zheng Yi shook his head.
"It's time. It's despair."
Zheng Yi straightened up, put his hands behind his back, and spoke in an extremely calm and cold tone, as if he were pronouncing a death sentence on a vast empire.
“A behemoth that is used to eating delicacies and spending lavishly suddenly finds one day that its granary is empty and its spirit stones are gone. The offerings from the outside have stopped, and secular families no longer send tributes.”
Zheng Yi paced slowly in the study, his voice steady.
"Those high and mighty elders are used to using rare and precious materials to build up their cultivation. Those outer disciples are used to eating Qi Gathering Pills like candy. Now, they have nothing left. Guess what they will do?"
Han Wuhen's small eyes darted around, and he swallowed hard. "Would they rob us? Borrow us?"
"Whom to rob? Whom to borrow?" Zheng Yi sneered. "The fattest piece of meat in Dingzhou is our Hongyun City. But our city walls are covered with thorns. They took a bite and broke all their teeth. Baihe Fort was massacred, and the resource points at the outer gate were burned. Now they can barely even raise enough money to send people out to rob."
Zheng Yi stopped and looked at the crowd.
"If they can't get what's outside, they can only get what's inside."
Upon hearing these words, Elder Liu was jolted awake and suddenly understood.
"Does the gentleman mean... internal strife?"
“Indeed.” Zheng Yi’s eyes were sharp as knives. “Without external resources, in order to maintain the cultivation of those Golden Core cultivators and inner sect elites, they will definitely exploit the outer sect disciples like crazy. If the outer sect disciples can’t survive, they will start scheming against each other, and even rebel. The elders will tear each other apart over the last bit of spirit stones. In less than a year, or even less than half a year, this sect that has been passed down for thousands of years will rot from within due to the depletion of resources and completely collapse!”
The person in the study gasped in shock.
This kind of bloodless scheming is a million times more terrifying than the charge of three thousand Black Cloud Cavalry!
There's no need to send a single soldier to fill that terrifying mountain-protecting formation. We can simply watch quietly as that lofty immortal sect tears itself apart in hunger and greed, eventually turning into a pile of rotting flesh.
"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" Iron One-Eye slapped his thigh excitedly. "Sir, what should we do now? Just sit here on the city wall, eating sunflower seeds and watching the show?"
"Watching a play? There's no such thing as a leisurely trip."
Zheng Yi walked to the map, suddenly pulled out a short dagger from the side, and with a "thud," plunged it deep into the spot representing Hongyun City.
"Pass on my orders!"
The person in the study immediately straightened their back and became solemn.
"First, starting today, consolidate the defensive lines. All Black Cloud Heavy Cavalry are to withdraw into the city and cease all proactive attacks on any Qingyun Sect strongholds. Not even a single arrow is to be fired!"
Guo Tianyou became anxious: "Sir! How can you just back down after all the hard-earned prestige?"
"I told you, don't give them a chance to divert attention from their internal conflicts!" Zheng Yi gave him a cold look. "As long as we don't attack them, the anger they feel due to the shortage of supplies will be directed at their own elders and sect leader. Attacking them now will only unite them in their hatred of the enemy!"
Guo Tianyou gritted his teeth, and although he was unwilling, he still lowered his head: "This subordinate obeys."
"Second," Zheng Yi said, looking at Han Wuhen, "Fatty, spread the word. Say that Hongyun City is going to undertake a large-scale construction project and will buy up any grain, iron ore, and even ordinary timber and stone without limit. The price will be 20% higher than the market price. Anything transported to Hongyun City will be accepted!"
"Sir, we have enough supplies in the city to last ten years. Why buy so much rotten wood?" Han Wuhen asked, puzzled.
"I want to suck all the flowing goods in Dingzhou into the belly of Hongyun City," Zheng Yi sneered. "I won't leave a single grain of rice for Qingyun Mountain. Those merchants who want to get rich will devour the surrounding area like locusts and then send their goods here. I want to make sure that when the Qingyun Sect goes down the mountain, they won't be able to pull out a single blade of grass!"
"Understood! I'll get right on it!" Han Wuhen nodded excitedly.
"Third, and most importantly."
Zheng Yi turned around, his gaze sweeping over Guo Tianyou and Zhao Sanhuai, his tone chilling.
"The city's defensive array will be activated 24/7. Don't be stingy with spirit stones. All heavy crossbows and eight-ox crossbows are ready to fire. The area within ten miles of the city is a restricted zone. Anyone who doesn't use the official road and possesses cultivation is to be shot dead without warning!"
Zheng Yi walked to the desk, placed his hands on the tabletop, and leaned forward.
“I won’t fight him. But if that ravenous beast from the Qingyun Sect dares to come down the mountain and bite me, if they dare to step even half a step into the Hongyun City’s cordon…”
Zheng Yi's voice suddenly rose in pitch, like a thunderclap.
"Then hold nothing back! I want you to crush them into mincemeat like you're beating a mad dog, using the most cruel and violent methods! Make sure they don't even have a chance to regret it!"
"Understood!"
Guo Tianyou, Zhao Sanhuai, and Tie Duyan roared in unison, their violent killing intent surging through the study.
This is a completely new strategy.
The ultimate form of forbearance is to allow the enemy to rot from within. The ultimate form of defense, on the other hand, is to crush anyone who dares to reach out, bones and all.
……
For the next two months, Dingzhou experienced the coldest period of winter.
Heavy snow sealed off the mountains. The entire Qingyun Mountain Range was covered in a vast expanse of white snow, seemingly isolated from the world. Yet, amidst this icy landscape, Hongyun City resembled a giant furnace radiating intense heat.
The snow on the city walls was melted daily by torches, and the armory inside the city constantly spewed black smoke. Caravans carrying supplies braved the wind and snow, pouring into Hongyun City from the official road, delivering countless grains, iron ingots, and timber into the enormous warehouses that seemed to never be full.
Just as Zheng Yi had predicted, the frenzied buying spree in Hongyun City caused prices to skyrocket over the surrounding thousands of miles. Those lower-level families who had originally relied on the Qingyun Sect discovered that selling grain from ordinary people was more profitable than growing spiritual herbs, so they all changed course and sent their last remaining supplies to Hongyun City.
The Qingyun Sect was completely isolated.
……
Qingyun Mountain, Chixiao Peak.
The once warm and spiritually vibrant main hall of Chixiao Peak is now as cold as an ice cave.
To conserve the spirit stones consumed by the formation, the entire mountain's cold-resistant formation has been shut down. The doors and windows of the main hall are tightly closed, but they still cannot stop the biting cold wind from seeping in through the cracks.
Mo Ku, dressed in a crimson robe, was curled up on the futon. His once gloomy face was now emaciated, and his sunken eyes were bloodshot. His arm, which had been grazed by the Eight-Ox Crossbow outside Hongyun City, was still aching due to the lack of high-grade healing pills.
"Elder..."
A disciple from the outer sect, dressed in a thin blue robe, walked into the main hall trembling, carrying a rough tray with a bowl of thin, watery rice porridge on it.
"Get out! Is this watery stuff for pigs?!"
Mo Ku suddenly went berserk, kicking the disciple over. The bowl of precious spirit rice porridge spilled onto the cold ground, instantly freezing into a thin layer of ice.
"Elder, please calm down! Elder, please calm down!" The disciple was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and kowtowed desperately. "The Hall of Affairs said that this is all the quota left for this month. Qi Gathering Pills... Qi Gathering Pills have been out of supply for half a month..."
"Cutting off supplies?! They're living the high life on that main peak while I'm stuck here drinking cold water?!" Mo Ku stood up and paced back and forth in the hall like a mad, trapped beast.
He walked to the window, pushed it open a crack, and looked out at the vast expanse of white snow.
"Two months...two months!" Mo Ku gritted his teeth, his voice filled with endless resentment and despair. "White Crane Fortress is gone, the mines are gone, the medicinal fields are gone! That old codger of the sect leader keeps saying he needs to be patient and go into seclusion! Patient my ass! If I keep enduring this, I'll drop in cultivation level!"
"Elder...outside...outside people are saying..." The disciple knelt on the ground and spoke tremblingly.
"What are you spreading? Speak!" Mo Ku suddenly turned his head.
"Rumor has it...rumor has it that Hongyun City is now incredibly wealthy, they use mid-grade spirit stones as the foundation for the city walls, and the mortals in the city eat better than us inner disciples..." The disciple swallowed hard. "And quite a few outer disciples, unable to endure it any longer, secretly went down the mountain in the middle of the night to seek refuge with the surrounding mortal families..."
"Traitors! This is treason! They all deserve to die!"
Mo Ku roared in fury, slamming his hand on the window frame and shattering it. A gust of wind and snow instantly swept into the hall, whipping his long hair wildly.
But after he finished roaring, a deep fear flashed in his eyes as he looked at his slightly trembling hands.
He knew that the disciple was telling the truth.
In the past two weeks, several bloody clashes have broken out among the disciples of Crimson Cloud Peak over a single low-grade spirit stone. Two stewards even fought over a low-level spirit herb, both sustaining serious injuries.
People's hearts have already fallen apart.
The entire Qingyun Sect was like a wrecked ship about to sink in an icy sea. The people on board were so hungry that their eyes were green, and they began to examine each other's flesh and blood.
"Zheng Yi..."
Mo Ku uttered the name, letting out a low, beast-like growl.
He had assumed that the mortal would press his advantage and attack Qingyun Mountain. He had even set up countless deadly traps halfway up the mountain, just waiting for Zheng Yi to come and die.
However, Zheng Yi did not come.
Hongyun City was like a giant turtle that had tucked its head into its shell. No matter how much the Qingyun Sect shouted and provoked them on the mountain, they wouldn't step out of the ten-mile warning line.
They didn't fight; they simply drained everything around them, then watched as the Qingyun Sect starved on the mountain.
This feeling of being unable to exert any strength is ten thousand times more painful than being directly killed by a knife!
"We can't wait any longer... If we wait any longer, I'll go crazy before they even have to fight!"
A glint of extreme madness, even hysteria, suddenly flashed in Mo Ku's eyes.
He turned around abruptly and looked at his disciple kneeling on the ground.
"Go! Go and secretly invite Elder Yin Feng, as well as those elders from Blazing Fire Peak and Black Water Peak, all of them here for me!"
"I don't care what that old turtle of a sect leader thinks, we have to go down the mountain!"
Mo Ku's face, distorted by the wind and snow, looked like a real demon.
"To starve to death is death, to die in battle is also death. Since they won't come out, then let's risk our old lives and storm into Hongyun City! Even if we have to bite with our teeth, we'll tear a piece of bloody flesh from Zheng Yi!"
A final frenzy, fueled by utter despair and hunger, is about to erupt amidst the snowstorm.
Meanwhile, in Hongyun City, three hundred miles away, the torches on the city walls still burned brightly, illuminating the three thousand cold, heavy crossbows with their bows already strung and arrows gleaming with a ghostly blue light.
The wind and snow intensified.
Guo Tianyou stood atop the city wall, letting snowflakes fall onto the dark red bone armor. He exhaled a soft breath, his hand stroking the cold crenellations.
"Come on. My knife is almost rusty."
At the highest point of the Qingyun Mountains, the Taiqing Palace, which symbolized supreme power, was now sealed off by thick ice and snow.
The plaza outside the main hall, originally paved with fine white marble, was now covered with a layer of dark red ice. This was the blood left behind from a few days ago when several groups of outer sect disciples fought each other, swords drawn, over the last few dozen kilograms of spirit rice in the storeroom. The weather was too cold; the blood froze into red lumps before it could even seep into the paving stones.
The wind howled like a ghost's wail, whipping up snowflakes that stung people's faces.
Mo Ku stood at the bottom of the ninety-nine steps outside the Taiqing Hall. His signature crimson robe was torn in several places, and the edges were covered with ice crystals. His cheeks were deeply sunken, and his once sinister eyes were now filled with madness, hunger, and a desperate urge to collapse.
Behind him stood a dense crowd of nearly two thousand Qingyun Sect disciples. (End of Chapter)