A Chaotic World 249 End of the War

"That's enough," Marshal Shengding sighed. "You have won, now let them go."
Across the sky in the distance, Marshal Xianming hovered in the air, clasping his hands behind his back in a leisurely manner. He remained well within the safety of the grand formation, a smile hanging on his aged face, and his wrinkled eyes brimmed with confidence.
"Am I hearing things? Do you actually expect me to just let them go?" Marshal Xianming asked bemusedly.
Marshal Shengding was naturally referring to the numerous Dragon Cauldron Army soldiers who were being held captive by the grand formation of monstrous grass, specifically those who were below the Origin Core realm.
It was because of their relatively weaker cultivation level that they had been helpless against the grand formation. Ironically, it was also because of their weaker cultivation levels that they had a chance of survival, at least as opposed to the Origin Core realm experts on their side.
Marshal Xianming understood where Marshal Shengding was coming from.
After all, it had been an unwritten rule for Origin Core realm experts like them to spare the lives of those with weaker cultivation levels during the war.
But not this time.
Time and again, the Dragon Cauldron had gone against this unwritten rule, threatening the talented youngsters of their Scarlet Moon Kingdom.
First it was Nanlu Tianzi, then it was Beimu Fei during this battle.
If he failed to take this opportunity to pay them back in their own coin, then he might just lose the respect of the many soldiers under his command!
"As I said before, those two incidents had been individual decisions made by rogue subordinates, and I deeply condemn their actions as well. If you wish to take their lives, I will not interfere. On top of that, it is not as if they actually managed to harm those talented younglings of yours, did they?" Marshal Shengding argued. "But if you are going to give the order to kill all these soldiers of my Dragon Cauldron Army, then I can only see this as the Scarlet Moon Army wanting to shred all cordiality, and report it to the Dragon Cauldron Overlord accordingly."
Marshal Xianming narrowed his eyes.
This Marshal Shengding truly was a cunning fellow. This way, he was effectively pushing all the blame to his subordinates, leaving his reputation untainted, at least on the surface.
Anyone who thought deeper into things would be able to tell that he must have at least given his silent consent to his subordinates' actions, but there was simply no way to prove that.
On the other hand, if Marshal Xianming chose to not to release the bound soldiers of the Dragon Cauldron Army right now, he would be the one directly responsible for the matter.
In fact, it would not even work for him to imitate Marshal Shengding and pretend as if he was not aware of the situation. If he did that, the talented Formation Master Beimu would have to be the one to take the blame.
Letting Formation Master Beimu take the blame would be equivalent to saying that the Scarlet Moon Army would not interfere if the Dragon Cauldron Army wished to go after her. That was something that Marshal Xianming could not afford to do, and it was not just him who thought this way.

Marshal Xianming was sure that the Scarlet Moon Overlord would never agree to it either.
As compared to the life of Formation Master Beimu, the lives of all these ground soldiers of the Dragon Cauldron Army were simply too worthless!
There was no doubt that Marshal Shengding had seen through this point as well.
"Fine," Marshal Xianming nodded. "But only those below the Origin Core realm."
It was almost certain that his reputation would suffer a hit in the eyes of the ground soldiers, but there was no helping it. What mattered most was to act according to the Scarlet Moon Overlord's intentions.
"I will prepare a suitable ransom for those of the Origin Core realm," Marshal Shengding added.
"There is no need for that," Marshal Xianming declined immediately. "Their primordial Slaughter Essence is the best ransom."
Marshal Shengding frowned. "I won't be so sure if I were you. I will send a messenger within a week. We shall see what we can do then."
"Let's see if they are still alive by then," Marshal Xianming answered.
Marshal Shengding no longer responded, only shooting a final glare at Marshal Xianming before turning to leave. "Retreat!"
Under Formation Master Beimu's command, the monstrous grass from the grand formation released the ground soldiers, or at least those who were still alive.
These soldiers felt like they had been pulled back from the brink of death, and could only feel endless gratitude towards Marshal Shengding who had negotiated for their release. Still, they dared not linger for long, all of them scrambling to escape as fast as they could.
"Should we really just let them escape?" Nanqing Haowen could not help but ask out loud. "We could win the war right here if we eliminate them all!"
"Why don't you go ask Marshal Xianming that?" Nanlan Qianxue answered impatiently. In her heart, she was indignant about the matter as well.
Watching the departure of these people, the same ones who had been filled with killing intent towards them just a moment ago, no one would feel comfortable, and Nanlan Qianxue was no exception.
Still, when her gaze shifted from the ground to the sky, she could not help but feel a certain degree of pride.
The ground soldiers, the line of Thornback Tortoises, all of them made their way out of the area of the grand formation, joining those who were left outside as they took their leave under the watchful eyes of the two marshals.
But up in the sky, the Origin Core realm martial artists of the Dragon Cauldron Army remained trapped. Their expressions were crestfallen, having resigned themselves to their fates. They knew in their hearts that their fates were sealed, and Marshal Shengding's words about a ransom might not even have entered their enemies' ears.
Faced with such a sight in the sky, the ground soldiers perked up once again.
That's right.
So what if the ground soldiers were allowed to leave?
More importantly, they had taken down this many Origin Core realm martial artists in one go.
With that, the battle was won!
In fact, with this many Origin Core realm martial artists taken down, it would probably be tough for the Dragon Cauldron Army to contend against them in the battles that were to come either!
"Victory to the Scarlet Moon Army!" General Mojian yelled as he raised his fist into the air.
"Victory to the Scarlet Moon Army!" the other Origin Core realm experts cheered.
"Victory to the Scarlet Moon Army!"
"Victory to the Scarlet Moon Army!"
The atmosphere was raised to a high as everyone seemed to be infected by the cheers of the Origin Core realm experts. Before long, the ground soldiers found themselves chanting along in excited as well.
Adrenaline from the battle quickly faded away, and the joy of victory finally sank in.
Everywhere, ground soldiers repeatedly punched the air as they cheered with pride. "Victory to the Scarlet Moon Army!"
Lu Tianzi could not be bothered to cheer along with them. He dragged his exhausted body across the battlefield, heading towards a certain person who had just regained consciousness.
"Are you all right?" Lu Tianzi asked as he walked up to Mosha.
"Yeah," Mosha answered lethargically, still feeling weak all over.
He had just regained consciousness, but what was this scene that had greeted him?
Victory to the Scarlet Moon Army…?
Already?
The last thing he remembered before blacking out was none other than Longshao Wenqin's powerful strike.
Right, Longshao Wenqin!
"Where is he?" Mosha asked.
"If you mean Longshao Wenqin, he escaped," Lu Tianzi answered with a tinge of regret in his tone.
"He escaped?" Mosha narrowed his eyes towards Lu Tianzi, as though unable to believe what he just heard.
Back then, there were only him and Nanlu Tianzi fighting against Longshao Wenqin. If Wenqin escaped, did that mean Nanlu Tianzi won the fight all by himself?
Or was it some other senior who had come over to save them?
Or did the formation happen to activate just in time?
Mosha shook these thoughts out of his head.
No matter, it was fine as long as they had won. As for the specifics, he could easily find out by asking around later.
After the relatively long period of cheering finally ended, the Scarlet Moon Army got to work once again.
They first sealed the cultivations of the trapped Origin Core realm enemies and cleaned up the bodies of the dead. After which, they promptly retreated from Rockfall Plain, back to the small mountain to the east.
Over the next few days, things remained relatively peaceful as they tended to the wounded while continuing with the construction of the fortress.
During this time, many had asked their commanders why they did not just continue to occupy Rockfall Plain, or why they did not pursue the enemy and invade the borders of the Dragon Cauldron Kingdom like how the enemy had done in the past.
The answers given by their superiors varied little. It was either that all of them had similar understandings of the situation, or that they had all been told what to say by the upper echelons of the Scarlet Moon Army.
For the first point, it was always mentioned how much more difficult it was to defend an open land like Rockfall Plain due to the geography. After all, a grand formation like the one before cannot be sustained forever, and Formation Master Beimu cannot always remain here to guard the borders either.
In comparison, a small mountain was simply much easier to defend.
As for the second point, the answer given was unexpectedly demoralising to the ground soldiers.
It was said that the enemy they had been facing up till now was only the original Dragon Cauldron Army. If they pushed their luck, the Dragon Cauldron Kingdom might opt to gather all of their experts and retaliate, just like how the Scarlet Moon Kingdom had done in preparation for this war.
Those who heard were all shocked.
The original Dragon Cauldron Army was already capable of contending evenly against the full force of the Scarlet Moon Kingdom. If they gathered all their experts, just how mighty would their army become?
Should that happen, the conflict might just reach a level that exceeded what the Scarlet Moon Army is able to handle!
This piece of news spread quickly among the Scarlet Moon Army, and many of them shuddered when they thought about how powerful the Dragon Cauldron Kingdom truly was.
They had actually been fighting against such a mighty entity?
This was not communicated to them before this!
Since that was the case, what if the Dragon Cauldron Kingdom decided to retaliate even without having their borders infringed?
Wouldn't they just crumble to the enemy's offence then?
Right at this juncture, the Dragon Cauldron Army sent a messenger over.
Marshal Xianming directly received the messenger in his command tent, making sure that the talks were carried out in absolute secrecy. Most of the Origin Core realm experts who did not belong to the original Scarlet Moon Army were not even allowed in the discussion.
Everyone waited with bated breaths, curious as to what would be the result of the discussion.
And then the news spread.
The messenger had brought with him the terms for the release of the Origin Core realm martial artists, just as Marshal Shengding had promised.
For the captured Origin Core realm martial artists, all of their belongings would be forfeited to the Scarlet Moon Army. In addition, the Dragon Cauldron Army would use five Origin Core rank treasures to redeem the freedom of each of them.
Origin Core rank treasures were incredibly rare items, each of them requiring precious time and effort to forge. This was why some Origin Core realm martial artists did not even have any on them.
Due to the value of these items, even the mighty Dragon Cauldron Kingdom could only afford to redeem the freedoms of ten people in this manner. Of course, they had carefully selected the ones whom they wanted to save.
Marshal Xianming agreed.
After all, that was less than half the number of Origin Core realm martial artists captured by the Scarlet Moon Army.
But that was not all.
Along with the terms for the release of the Origin Core realm hostages, the messenger also brought with him another request.
It was a request for the ending of the war, and to no surprise, Marshal Xianming agreed to it as well.
The Scarlet Moon Army had set out on this campaign to reclaim their borders and, at the same time, send a message to the Dragon Cauldron Kingdom. Now that they had accomplished both their aims, there was no longer any reason left to prolong this war.
With that, the war between the Scarlet Moon Kingdom and the Dragon Cauldron Kingdom finally come to an end.

Chapter end

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