Fire

A few hours after that, Soujin was attacked by a person from behind him. Soujin easily blocked that attack and escaped a few steps to the side.

"Jun Min, I didn't mean to sneak inside your tent."

Jun Min was looking towards Soujin angrily. Since he cannot do anything when he appeared as Jun Hua, at least when he turned back to being Jun Min, he could fight Soujin. Originally, he wanted to beat him up, but the problem is, he doesn't have enough strength to do that.

"I know, you're not allowed to come again," Jun Min answered.

Soujin raised his eyebrows. "I'm afraid that even you cannot stop me from doing that."

Jun Hua truly wanted to tear up his calm face and kick him in his butt. How can he say that? That's his privacy he's invading!

Soujin didn't bother explaining anymore as his gaze went towards the faraway hill and a devilish smile formed on his lips. Jun Min can even feel chills going up his spine. The Soujin he was looking at now is different compared to the usual calm and composed man that he knew.

"The show is going to start now," Soujin said leisurely.

Jun Min directed his gaze to the hill. There was nothing at first, but then he noticed that smoke was starting to rise in that direction. After a while, the smoke started to spread through the forest and Jun Min realized what that is, it's fire.

"You plan to ignite the whole forest?" Jun Min said astonished. He too had thought about this way ever since Soujin told him about the painting. The easiest thing to do to destroy the landscape is to use fire. With fire, the entire forest will disappear.

"Not over here and the wind is supporting us today."

The wind is making the fire move towards the Kai Kingdom's lands. Although it's not strong, it's enough to make the fire move towards that direction. Not only that, Jun Min noticed another fire starting in the middle of the forest.

"Fighting fire with fire, you plan to extinguish the fire by igniting another one?"

"It will only work on a field. What I want is to flatten the whole area. The Kai Kingdom would surely feel immense regret from pulling us inside," Soujin said calmly.

Jun Min nodded. If pulling them inside means that they have to pay with thousands of trees, they might need to reconsider the plan once more. He stared at the forest before them which was already starting to burn.

"Do you think this loss would make them turn back?"

"Yes, they won't hesitate to turn around. The trees on that area are good trees for building furniture. There is also a village a bit further which probably had been using the woods as their source of living. If the Kai Kingdom doesn't want to lose a lot of money, they need to think of a way to stop the fire before it spreads out."

Jun Min cannot confirm whether what Soujin said is correct or not because he simply cannot see that far. What he can conclude from this plan is that Soujin is a wicked general that knows how to use his cards in order to make people move according to his wishes. In an ordinary forest, it might not succeed, but Kai Kingdom's natural environments are mostly forested areas. They relied on the forests and naturally wouldn't want to lose them because the fire might spread out very fast.

He turned to the sky and knew that the clouds are gathering. There is a possibility of rain pouring later on that day and may put out that fire. But if the Kai Kingdom relies only on the rain, the losses they might suffer would be immense. They need to try to stop it first before the fire spreads further.

"This is truly a wicked plan…"

"They won't receive mercy anymore if they try to do the same trick again," Soujin answered and stood up from his chair.

"What is it?"

"We need to return to the northeast border and make our way towards the north border."

Jun Min looked on in confusion. They have just arrived in this area and now this man already want them to move again? Isn't the reason why he chose to ignite the whole forest is to fight with the Kai Kingdom's army?

"Why do you think the Kai Kingdom lured us in here?"

Jun Min thought about it. The Kai Kingdom must have known from a long time ago that the one guarding this area is the Nanglong family and their young general is Nanglong Soujin. The achievements of Nanglong Soujin are big and there is not even a single war that this man has lost, even if they were only against the small kingdoms around Ming Kingdom.

When war broke out, Nanglong Soujin must have been chosen as the leader in this area. When the enemies pulled back and retreated into their territory, the soldiers chasing after them were led by Nanglong Soujin. Despite knowing that, they still chose to retreat, with the reason being?

Jun Min raised his head. "Luring you away from the real battle."

Soujin nodded. "I have seen the soldiers from the enemy army. They are mostly only second rate generals that I have never seen before. There is no one who can be considered as my equal or maybe even greater than me."

How can you recognize them when they have been staying so far away from you? Jun Min truly wanted to ask, but he needed to restrain himself.

"Aside from the first battle when they were fighting with me head-on, all they did afterwards is run away slowly and continue with some battle. From the report and how far we have gone in, it's easy to conclude that their motive is only to lure me away. They can hardly attack the northeast border with me in the way, so I can only think of a coalition army.

There are two areas which they can try to attack, the east and the north of Ming Kingdom. Because you have defeated the Mountain Kingdom, I assume that they won't return to the war which means, only the north alongside the Pan Kingdom is left."

Jun Min nodded at this man's explanation. It seems that he was truly capable of seeing everything very quickly.

"I will dispatch my troops first. Two-thirds of them are still on the border." Jun Min said with a smile.

"You have thought of this too?"

Jun Min shook his head. "I only thought partially and not as comprehensive as you. That is why I left some of them behind to wait for my orders."

Soujin nodded. "You're an interesting general, Jun Min."

"You too, Soujin."