Chapter 117: Puppet Army
Princess Shunde's arrival was much faster than they anticipated. The sky outside burned blood-red. Kongming frowned and immediately went out the door, Luo Jinsang following closely behind.
Soon after, countless demon masters and demons in the city floated up with the wind, assembled in the air, and headed for the southern border.
Ji Yunhe watched them through the window as Lin Haoqing snickered, "Worried? This attack was made by Shunde from a hundred miles away." She grew even more sullen.
"She's still a hundred miles away?"
"She saw me through Siyu, so naturally I saw her too," answered Lin Haoqing.
"But during the time of us talking just now, she is probably already a few dozen miles closer. The art of wind manipulation is much stronger for those who train in wood magic." Ji Yunhe glanced at the objects scattered in the house, then her gaze fell on Changyi.
"Shunde's power is even more unpredictable than we thought. I have to go to the border and guard the boundary. If she breaks through, I will lure her to the thunder fire cave. Help me protect Changyi until he wakes up." Lin Haoqing spoke as she turned to leave.
"Don't gamble with your life." It sounded like something that the family would say. Ji Yunhe smiled.
"Okay," she replied. Nine black fox tails appeared as she stepped out and soared across the sky, merging into the crowd heading south.
Lin Haoqing went to the side of the bed where Changyi was. Even though the jiaoren still had his eyes closed, his fingers started to quiver. Lin Haoqing reassured him, "She will be fine." The trembling fingertips calmed.
...
When Ji Yunhe arrived at the border, she saw a giant puppet army emitting an eerie green glow as far as the eye could see. The refugees had all disappeared. The expressions on the puppet soldiers were hollow and dull, and each one of them had a green thread attached to their forehead, leading to a point in the distant south. Like senseless ants marching forward at their queen's command.
And they were incinerated as soon as they touched the fire of the boundary, filling the air with burnt stench and flying ash. Ji Yunhe stood on top of the city wall and peered into the distance. A person dressed in bright red sat barefoot on a giant sedan chair, carried by dozens of people.
This suddenly reminded Ji Yunhe of the first time she saw Princess Shunde back in the Demon Valley. Arrogant, detached, and wanted to control everyone's life and death. But she looked much crazier now. She drank some wine, then casually threw the wine jug after she finished, seemingly at random. The jug flew through the air and crashed into the fire boundary with a loud boom.
The tiny wine jug smashed a big hole into the boundary, shaking up the entire wall. Luckily the flames below quickly burned up again and mended itself. But the people within the boundary were shocked. Shunde laughed hysterically. The wind carried her laughter across the northern city, shaking up everyone inside.
Her sedan chair stopped a hundred feet away from the boundary, and she flipped her hand holding the green threads.
The puppets below flashed green and accelerated their steps, eventually running into the boundary like mad. One by one, they hit the fire and burned like moths to a flame. Ash and dust rose up and covered the sky. The boundary successfully kept all of the dust and chaos from entering, but this desperate assault looked beyond terrifying.
Even though the demon masters and demons of the north were no strangers to blood and gore, they still could not help but feel chills.They were facing an army that seeked death over life.
Gradually, the corpses and ashes accumulated and built up layer by layer into a mountain outside the boundary. Its height now matched that of the black iron city wall.
"If they want to die, then let them come," said Ji Yunhe as she waved her hand.
Smoke rose up behind dozens of city gates across the border where Ji Yunhe had laid down her foundations, and black fox fire burned up into the sky like giant pillars.