Martial Cultivator

After finishing the roasted sweet potatoes, Xie Nandu still asked the question Chen Chao knew she would definitely ask.

“How many will come exactly?”

Chen Chao had actually already talked about this question at the General’s Office before, but he had only mentioned it in passing and had not gone into detail.

Xie Nandu looked at the sweet potatoes on the brazier and slowly said, “This time the demon race sent three, and the pressure was already tremendous. But you and I both know very well that, for the demon race, this is by no means the end. More likely, it’s only the beginning. The demon race’s foundation should be far deeper than we imagine.”

Chen Chao glanced at Xie Nandu and said, “There are some old daoists in the Infatuation Daoist Temple. It’s impossible to say exactly how many, but they’re definitely all above Nepenthe. Apart from the Infatuation Daoist Temple, whether places like the Myriad Heaven Palace still have a few Fuyun cultivators is also impossible to say.” “And besides those, it’s also impossible to say how many Fuyun Realms are living in seclusion throughout the world.”

“In the thousand years that have passed, even if only three or five such existences appeared every hundred years, there still wouldn’t be few Fuyun powerhouses in the world today.”

At this point, Chen Chao gave a bitter smile. “Since the human race has produced so many powerhouses, the demon race will only have more. Cultivation comes more easily to them by nature, especially once they reach a certain realm, where their advantages become enormous. Take White Jing for example. After leaving the Demon Domain, he swept all the way through with hardly any opponents.” “Although that was because the human race’s true powerhouses never made a move, it still shows the gap between us.”

Mentioning White Jing, Chen Chao opened his mouth and said, “Back on the city wall, I didn’t kill him directly. It looked like it was because time was pressing and I had no time to bother with him, but in truth, him staying alive is more useful to us.”

Xie Nandu nodded and calmly said, “He’s highly ambitious, and he holds an exalted position in the northern Demon Sea. You’re thinking that if the opportunity arises, he’ll definitely contend for the position of Demon Emperor.”

The human race and the demon race had dealt with one another for over a thousand years, but they had never understood each other as well as they did now.

Great Liang wanted to know the demon race’s movements at every moment, but in those previous years, they had not even been able to deal with the foreign lands, so naturally they had had no spare effort to concern themselves with matters in the north. Only now had they finally gained that ability. As for the demon race, they had once disdained such things, but now they could no longer afford to.

Know your enemy and know yourself, and you need not fear a hundred battles. Such a simple principle could not be ignored.

Chen Chao glanced at Xie Nandu. “But if he doesn’t die at the Demon Emperor’s hands, then he’s destined to die at mine.”

The reasoning was simple. If someone wanted to kill Xie Nandu, then that person’s life no longer belonged to them.

Xie Nandu smiled.

After talking about those other things, they ultimately returned to that original question.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Chao said, “The Sword Sect’s Sect Master and I have always shared one understanding: among Fuyun cultivators, the gap between the strong and the weak is enormous. Just as it’s difficult for the Sword Sect’s Sect Master to defeat the Demon Emperor by his own strength, among those three Fuyun great demons, aside from the one called Xu Li, who could cause me some trouble, the other two were actually manageable.”

“The demon race definitely has many more Fuyun great demons like that. We have some on our side too, but our numbers definitely can’t compare.”

At this point, Chen Chao smiled. “Actually, there are three battlefields. The first is the battle for the city wall. If the demon race wants to march south, they have to reach the city wall and completely bring down this Northern Frontier Great Wall. So both sides’ soldiers and those cultivation powerhouses are all on that battlefield... Actually, there’s no need to explain it in such detail. You understand all this already.”

Chen Chao glanced at Xie Nandu. Xie Nandu did not speak and merely looked at him.

“The other two battlefields are all the Fuyun cultivators apart from the Demon Emperor, and then the battle between the Demon Emperor and me.”

“But you also know that on any one of those battlefields, we’re the weaker side. To win this great war, we have to win on all three battlefields.”

Chen Chao smiled bitterly and shook his head. Some things were difficult. Just thinking about them made them seem difficult, yet they still had to be accomplished, which made them even harder.

Xie Nandu smiled. “I asked you one question, and you ended up pouring out all your grievances. You were only one step away from crying.”

Chen Chao was a little embarrassed and merely scratched his head.

There really were a few too many words.

Some difficulties, or hardships, were certainly impossible to tell everyone about, but they could not all be kept bottled up in his heart either, so he could only tell the woman before his eyes.

“It’s so difficult.”

Xie Nandu muttered to herself, “But it seems that we just know this matter is the most difficult thing in all under heaven, and still have to do it.”

“Just like you saying so much here, but when that time really comes, whether it means saying you’ll hand over your life, then you’ll hand it over.”

Chen Chao said, “There’s no way around it, who asked my surname to be Chen?”

Xie Nandu did not speak, only stood up, came before Chen Chao, and then slowly sat down on his leg, just like this sitting into his embrace.

She turned her head to look at Chen Chao, and the two looked directly into each other’s eyes.

The woman’s breath was fragrant like an orchid.

For once, Chen Chao actually blushed a little, and he did not know what to do.

Clearly, this kind of thing was not happening for the first time either, yet this time he seemed to feel somewhat guilty.

Xie Nandu smiled and asked, “Could it be that you thought of another woman?”

Chen Chao shook his head. That was certainly impossible.

How could he think of another woman in front of the woman he liked most?

Xie Nandu also did not continue joking with him, only reaching out to caress his cheek, and said softly, “I know you’re very tired.”

Chen Chao shook his head.

“If you had never met me, would you have stayed in Wei Prefecture your whole life?”

Facing this question, Chen Chao did not know how to answer. Perhaps he would have. He had never had any thoughts about the so-called imperial throne. As he had said before, all under heaven had never belonged to him, so there had naturally never been such a thing as someone taking all under heaven away from him.

Since that was the case, perhaps staying in Wei Prefecture all along was not something he could not accept.

“I don’t want there to be such an ‘if.’”

Chen Chao looked into Xie Nandu’s eyes and said, “How could something like meeting you have never happened?”

In this lifetime, being able to meet a woman he liked, and that woman just happened to like him as well, how rare a thing was that?

What was more, they were virtually a pair chosen by Heaven.

Xie Nandu looked at him, thought for a moment, and said, “Chen Chao, if we win this time... I’ll marry you.”

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