Believe Me

According to the intelligence that followed, after Si Ming and the others retreated that night, the Demon Emperor immediately led his men to surround the rebel army and engaged in fierce fighting, which was only stopped when the Military God intervened.

However, after the Military God publicly admitted that he had defected to the Demon Race, many people showed expressions of disbelief, and the flames of war reignited.

Unfortunately, the Demon Emperor was accompanied by many powerful Demon Race this time. Apart from the Demon King Mengying, there were fifty Demon General and two thousand demon soldiers. Even though their numbers were fewer than the rebels, their overall strength was still superior. Especially after the Demon Emperor used his ultimate move to kill five thousand soldiers in one strike, the rebels finally chose to surrender.

Many people committed suicide on the spot, including some of the Military God's personal guards. They shouted "Loyalty and righteousness are hard to reconcile" and cut their own throats, dying in front of Huang Yan. The rest, even those who did not commit suicide, refused to follow Huang Yan. Only the masked female general Ruo Si stood behind Huang Yan without hesitation and chose to continue to serve him.

In addition, two of the eighteen Nascent Spirit Transformation Grandmaster in the rebel army escaped, eleven died in battle, and five surrendered. This news immediately shocked the countries of the Sea Continent. It should be noted that in the last war between humans and demons, only nine Spirit Transformation Grandmaster died in total. In fact, there had not been a war in the last hundred years in which so many Spirit Transformation Grandmasters had died in one go.

After all, Spirit Transformation Grandmaster have strong self-preservation abilities. If they are focused on escaping, even if their opponents are two levels stronger, they may not be able to stop them. This time, it was because the Demon Race was well-prepared. Not only did the Demon Emperor take action personally, but fifty Demon General also formed a defensive network, which allowed them to stop the vast majority of Spirit Transformation.

After defeating the rebels, the Demon Race took over their mission and attacked the imperial city. Without the War God in command, the Imperial Army collapsed after only an hour, the city gates were breached, and three more Spirit Transformation Grandmaster were killed in action. Two others escaped before they could defend themselves, having sensed danger when they saw the Demon Race attacking the rebels.

After occupying the palace, Huang Yan carried out a massive purge of all members of the royal family, killing them all without exception. However, he spared palace maids, guards, and other unrelated individuals. He even spared members of the royal family who lived outside the capital city, claiming that he was doing this to avenge the royal family for forcing his mother to her death years ago.

After hundreds of thousands of Demon Beast beasts broke through the defenses, stormed the capital, and joined forces with the Demon Emperor, everyone speculated that the Demon Race's next move would be to attack Zhenzhou, because as long as they could remove the banner of the War God, the Nation of Valor people's will to resist would be crushed.

However, what happened next was completely unexpected.

Chapter 811 Believe Me

"Did the Demon Race army turn north after leaving the capital?"

Everyone stared at the sand table in the room, momentarily bewildered.

It should be noted that Zhenzhou is located south of the Nation of Valor capital, and everyone was mentally prepared for a major battle. However, the Demon Race army made a 180-degree turn and marched in the exact opposite direction.

"What on earth are these Demon Race beasts thinking?" a Nation of Valor Spirit Transformation Grandmaster frowned. "Further north lies the Su Kingdom. Could it be that they intend to attack Su Kingdom?"

A general standing nearby said, "The Military God has already pledged allegiance to the Demon Race. I heard that he was even publicly appointed as their strategist by the Demon Emperor. We can no longer view the Demon Race with our old perspective, assuming that they don't understand military strategy and only know how to launch brute force attacks."

A scholar standing nearby sneered, "Becoming a military advisor? It seems he's listened to too many folk tales to do something like this. But Demon Race are all ignorant barbarians, no different from beasts, so it's not surprising they do such absurd things. But Huang Yan, bearing the title of 'Military God,' actually went along with this charade. I wonder if he felt any regret when he was publicly appointed as a military advisor."

"Once you're on a pirate ship and your reputation is ruined, what good is regret? You still have to grit your teeth and keep going."

Many people echoed and ridiculed this, simply because there is no such official position as "military advisor" in reality. The same goes for the "strategist" who is specifically responsible for devising plans. Those who play the role of military advisor in novels and historical fiction actually have other formal jobs. Devising plans is the task of the commander-in-chief, which has nothing to do with military advisors or strategists. If one had to find a similar position, it would be staff member, but staff members are not considered respectable.

For example, when Zhuge Liang came out of seclusion, his official position was "Military Advisor General," which was a tax collection position. Of course, tax collection was a very important position in ancient times. Without taxes, there was no money, and without money, it was impossible to support the army or manage logistics. Moreover, it was a great test of a person's abilities; whether someone was gold or stone could be found out in a test. This shows how much Liu Bei valued Zhuge Liang.

If Liu Bei promoted Zhuge Liang to be a strategist, it would be a sign of disrespect, implying that he was incompetent and was being kept idle as a staff member.

Of course, there were also people who did an outstanding job as staff members, such as Guo Jia. For this reason, Cao Cao specially created the position of "Military Advisor and Chief Instructor" as a stepping stone for promotion, since staff members were commoners and did not have formal official positions.

"Character is character, and ability is ability. With the wisdom of Military God, how could he devise such a simple plan? As the Fayun says, 'When the enemy is weak, make him appear strong; when he is strong, make him appear weak.' Perhaps he wants to lower our guard and launch a surprise attack."

Amidst the mocking laughter, a discordant voice suddenly rang out, immediately drawing angry glares from the crowd. However, when they recognized the speaker as "Mad Ink," they all swallowed their sarcastic remarks.

There was nothing I could do; the opponent's fists were hard enough, and he was a VIP guest among the foreign players, so I had no choice but to endure it.

Three years ago, even with his glorious record of "seven entries and seven exits" in the war between humans and demons, everyone would have regarded Si Ming as just a rising star among the younger generation, a genius martial artist with strength beyond his level. However, after the Demon Emperor appeared that night, this perception was completely overturned.

Impersonating the War God wouldn't be a big deal, but when Si Ming, while impersonating the War God, also utterly defeated a large number of Spirit Transformation Grandmaster under the Military God's command, the situation became completely different.

The reason he arrived late was not only because the female warrior Ruo Si was indeed quite skilled, but also because he had acted too enthusiastically while impersonating the War God, and his mockery was too much. Unfortunately, he accidentally gave himself away and was recognized as an imposter. As a result, the other party became furious and shouted on the spot, "There's no need to talk about justice when dealing with a swindler," and "He's only one person, let's all attack together."

Left with no other option, Si Ming could only retort, "I'll take on ten of them," and "I'm not targeting anyone in particular, but I'm saying everyone here is trash."

Killing a Nascent Spirit Transformation is difficult; even if one's strength is two levels higher, there's no guarantee the opponent won't escape. However, defeating a Nascent Spirit Transformation is not difficult. Si Ming immediately unleashed his "Mad Ink" technique, beating down more than a dozen Nascent Spirit Transformation cultivators. After making a few sarcastic remarks, he leisurely strode away.

In addition to this impressive feat, Si Ming single-handedly held off the Demon Emperor, buying time for Ba Shenhuang to escape, which was also a remarkable achievement.

No one doubted the Demon Emperor's strength. In just three days, more than a dozen Spirit Transformation Grandmaster had died at his hands. Although the Demon General blocked the retreat, it was enough to prove that the Demon Emperor's strength had reached the level of Void Returning Great Grandmaster. It should be noted that there were only about thirty Spirit Transformation Grandmaster in Nation of Valor. Now, a third of them had died. This blow was undoubtedly devastating.

Against the backdrop of this death list, Si Ming's feat of fighting the Demon Emperor and escaping unscathed was valued even more, so even though he appeared at the meeting that would determine the future of Nation of Valor as a member of the Mohist School, no one voiced any protest.

However, not being sarcastic didn't mean they couldn't refute it. Soon, someone said, "Everyone knows that the Military God has sided with the Demon Race. How could he possibly let his guard down? With the Military God's wisdom, he should know that the strategy of 'feigning weakness' is not effective. Besides, we've been keeping an eye on them. It's impossible for a nearly million- Demon Beast army to launch a silent counterattack."

"We can't be too certain. What if the other side has prepared a large-scale spatial teleportation array?"

Si Ming was better able to break free from conventional thinking than anyone else present. His ideas were imaginative and unconventional, and he didn't dismiss something as impossible just because it had never happened before in history.

"Even the largest spatial teleportation array cannot rapidly move an army of millions, and there is no spiritual energy source in the world capable of sustaining such a feat."

"They don't need to transfer all the Demon Beast. Just the Demon Emperor, Demon King, and Demon General, along with ten thousand Demon Beast, will suffice. That's equivalent to transferring half of their strength."

The role of the strong is far greater than that of ordinary soldiers. This is a universally acknowledged military fact in the Sea Continent. Therefore, no one refuted Si Ming's statement. In fact, many people felt that the proportion was too small. The remaining million Demon Beast combined were not as good as the elite squad that included all the high-ranking members of the Demon Race. At least they could come up with a military strategy to deal with the million Demon Beast, but they did not know how to deal with the Demon Emperor and the four Demon Kings.

The Nation of Valor generals and Spirit Transformation present gave Si Ming such face because, with the War God still recovering from his injuries, they would have to rely on Si Ming to defend against the Demon Emperor's attack. In a sense, Si Ming was their lifeline, and even Nation of Valor's lifeline. Compared to life and death, the minor conflict between the Mohist School and the Military School was nothing.

"Mad Ink's idea isn't impossible. We should still be cautious, just in case. If we're wrong and the Demon Race army really is going to attack Su Kingdom, it won't necessarily be a bad thing for us; at least we'll have a chance to catch our breath."

From the Nation of Valor perspective, they naturally hoped the Demon Race army would leave as soon as possible to avoid harming the Nation of Valor people. If they could divert the trouble eastward, that would be ideal. At worst, they could offer incense and burn more paper money for the people of the Su Kingdom.

From Si Ming's perspective, there is no difference between the two; eliminating the Demon Race is the primary task, not driving them away. However, with reinforcements not yet arriving, he has no better option but to wait and see.

At the end of the meeting, everyone reached the same conclusion as Si Ming: to remain unchanged in the face of all changes, strengthen defenses, and send more spies to investigate the surrounding area and report any suspicious activity immediately.

Although Si Ming considered himself a wise man, he at least understood that professional matters should be handled by professionals. Dai Yue was merely exposing his own shortcomings, so he did not interfere with the specific methods of troop deployment and left everything to the generals to decide. His current task was to stabilize morale and reassure everyone that if the Demon Emperor attacked, they would have someone to hold him off and prevent the enemy from wreaking havoc.

Throughout the Sea Continent's history, there have been numerous instances of a Spirit Transformation Grandmaster using their mobility to drag down an entire army with their "ultimate guerrilla tactics." If one's own side lacks top-tier combat power to contend with the enemy, one must be prepared to lose the initiative; one has already lost two points before the battle even begins.

Leaving the conference room, Si Ming went to the training platform and saw Ying Zhou and Xia Guanxue fighting.

Xia Guanxue unleashed a torrent of swords that swept across the land, the continuous, dense, sharp light relentlessly targeting Ying Zhou's vital points, thrusting, slashing, and hacking without mercy, forcing Ying Zhou into a steady retreat.

Ying Zhou roared repeatedly, not retaliating with fierce sword energy, but Xia Guanxue already knew that he was very strong, so she adopted a hit-and-run approach, refusing to engage in close combat, and only responding with Sword Qi from a distance. In addition, Ying Zhou was not good at Movement Method and could not close the distance between them, so Xia Guanxue firmly grasped the direction of the battle.

"Huh, Xia Guanxue is using neither the Ghostly Gloom Sword Art nor the Continuous Linked Mountains Sword Art, but a Swordsmanship I've never seen before. Yet it seems to incorporate features from both Swordsmanship. Could it be a self-created Swordsmanship? But it also seems somewhat familiar, like I've seen it somewhere before..."