Zither Emperor

Chapter 36 – The War of Arcadia (II)

That war adviser, Shawese, looked at the distant and tall walls of Feir City. He couldn’t help but pucker his brows together. From a cursory glance, Eastliré seemed to be right. After all, he had graduated from the Military Academy. Regardless of the soldiers arranged into formations or the prior reconnaissance, it had all been comparatively well done. Yet, he didn’t know why, but confronting this so-called desolate Arcadia made the adviser feel that something was amiss the entire time.

What he couldn’t understand the most, however, was why the weak Arcadia unexpectedly dared to be unyielding against Wavast Kingdom. Unfortunately, he was a mere adviser. As a man on the verge of victory, Eastliré’s brain was too muddled to manage these hundred thousand troops as they grandiosely advanced toward Feir City to pressure them.

All of the mages of the Wavast Kingdom were in custom-built war chariots and preparing to cast their magic. Facing Arcadia, which lacked mages, Eastliré firmly believed that his mages could definitely inflict heavy losses upon the enemy. They may even directly blow the city walls to smithereens.

Like Eastliré had imagined, the assembled defenders of the Kingdom of Arcadia’s Feir City didn’t dare to attack, the city gates tightly closed. Eastliré looked proudly at the top of the city wall. He seemed to already see himself breaking through this strategic Arcadian border town, and the vision of the Arcadian royal family prostrating before his feet was prevalent in his thoughts.

At this moment, Eastliré suddenly realized that even though there were many Arcadian soldiers atop the city wall, only one of them was genuinely attracting his gaze—in a spotless white magic robe, his tall figure was illuminated by the sunlight as he stood at the centre of the city wall. This man had long, silver-white hair and a pure, holy aura. He did nothing but stand there, yet he still caused others to unavoidably take note of him.

“A mage? Such an old mage?” In his heart, Eastliré felt a little twitch, but he didn’t care too much about it. Even if the other side had a small force of mages, it was impossible for them to produce mages that could contend against the forces he’d brought: a hundred Fire mages of ranks as high as Indigo Rank and as low as Yellow Rank.

Quickly afterward, Eastliré saw the white-robed mage materialize a zither from nothingness. Due to the huge distance, he wasn’t able to clearly see the zither’s appearance, but the instant the zither notes rang out, Eastliré’s brain already sank into blankness.

✶

Qin Shang’s pair of crystal-clear eyes were like an abyss, but suddenly, those incomparably clear black eyes flashed with rays of light. His fingers lightly plucked the seven zither strings before him, drawing out a humming cry of voiceless consonants. A deep and resounding profoundness resided within this voiceless consonance. The haunting tune rose in spirals; in an instant, the air seemed to freeze as a dazzling violet light burst forth from between his brows. Everyone was washed over by this violet light. As one of the best on the continent as well as the sole Violet Rank Divine Music mage, Qin Shang began his performance.

✶

“Violet Rank, how can he be Violet Rank?” Eastliré had already lost all of his graceful bearing as he shouted out in alarm. He had completely forgotten that as the marshal, his mood directly influenced his troops.

Violet Rank; this represented the peak existence on the entire continent. Apart from Milan and Blue Dias, even if the other six kingdoms only possessed a single Violet Rank individual, that person would be their absolute and greatest pride. Eastliré never expected for Arcadia to have an actual Violet Rank, and a mage at that. His entire being shuddered. Even with powerful warriors beside him, he couldn’t calm down his panicked heart.

Staring at this Violet Rank, Eastliré was not the only one panicking. This panicked mindset spread as quickly as an epidemic among the Wavast Kingdom army. What did Violet Rank symbolize? Absolutely devastating power! Any Violet Rank could reverse the outcome of war. Think of the Heavenly Empire Blue Dias and Milan Empire; although they were unable to war with one another because of their separation by Falan, they could still fight openly and maneuver covertly against each other by relying on their powerful subjects to carry out missions.

Zither music was clearly transmitted to each individual’s ears. The Wavast Kingdom army naturally didn’t know that at this moment, atop the city wall of Feir City, a tremendous amplification spell had been cast behind Qin Shang. For the purpose of today’s battle, Arcadia had prepared for a very long time. This was similar to what Ye Yin Zhu had done in Konya City to wage war against the beastmen, different yet clever tunes were played with equal skill.

Qin Shang didn’t need to borrow spiritual force, however, as he was a true Violet Rank. Not only that, but even if the warriors on his side were weak, their strength was still vastly superior to Ye Yin Zhu’s side when he’d confronted the beastmen. Although the Wavast Army had a crowd of a hundred thousand, compared to the near hundred Behemoths leading four great legions of beastmen, well, this discrepancy didn’t need to be justified.

“Quick, every mage attack—attack that person atop the city wall. We absolutely cannot let his magic be fully brought out.” At this crucial moment, the war adviser Shawese urgently shouted at the troops. He already couldn’t prevent himself from exceeding his place and meddling in other people’s affairs.

But accompanying his loud shout was a dazzling violet light that suddenly soared up from the ground. A person rushed out just as the Wavast Kingdom Dragon Cavalry Legion tried to surround and protect those hundred Fire mages.

The tall figure with an aged face held a longsword in his hand, one that flickered with violet light, amply demonstrating his rank. He was a warrior. What was a Violet Rank warrior? This was a person titled a Great War Master. It was compulsory for a Violet Star Dragon Cavalry Commander to have this strength.

Ye Li wasn’t a Violet Star Dragon Cavalry Commander because he didn’t have a dragon. This in no way influenced his strength as a Great War Master, however.

A warrior near a mage, what result would this produce? As a Violet Rank, Ye Li absolutely wouldn’t allow the mages before him to have any opportunity to summon magical beasts. As for instantaneous magic, that to him would fundamentally have no effect.

His hidden emergence from below was actually very simple; prior to the Wavast Kingdom Army’s approach, Feir City had already dug tunnels in the area in front of their wall, a tunnel system that couldn’t be regarded as highly complex. With Ye Li’s strength, he could clearly judge where the Dragon Cavalry was from their sounds even underground. His ambush target was naturally the core that the Dragon Cavalry was guarding.

When Ye Li had burst forth from underground, innumerable mages were shredded to pieces by his tyrannical Bamboo Dou Qi. The next moment, he was floating in the air, resembling a gigantic hedgehog in appearance. Countless sharp, powerful rays of violet light shot out viciously, and a fog sprung into existence.

The center of the Wavast Kingdom’s hundred thousand troops became a sad and colorful display of blooming flowers. When the Bamboo Dou Qi attack swept through the hundred Fire mages, there was only one outcome: instant death.

Dying to a Violet Rank Great War Master’s ambush, their deaths couldn’t be considered unjustified.

Ye Li laughed loudly, as if the boredom that had slowly accumulated in his heart for ten long years had been completely vented. Facing this Wavast Army, he had no fear at all as he threw himself into the fray. His body floated in the air and was like violet bamboo leaves, razor sharp and briefly continuous. As a violet phantom, he skewered through the enemies before heading back in the direction of Feir City.

Violet Rank Bamboo Dou Qi; shuttling through the hundred thousand troops and sweeping everything before him, even if it were the Dragon Cavalry, they were completely unable to catch his silhouette or obstruct Ye Li for even a moment.

Shawese was completely lifeless. This was the first time he had seen how frightening a powerful figure could be on the battlefield. He muttered to himself, “Taking the lives of the mages amidst an army of a hundred thousand as though he was merely plucking them out from his pocket, how strong is this Great War Master?” At this very moment, he finally realized why the Kingdom of Arcadia would suddenly become unyielding. If the acquisition of a Violet Rank Great Magister was still not enough to give them confidence, then with a Violet Rank Great War Master included, they would absolutely be a hundred percent confident.

While Shawese became lifeless and the panicking Eastliré had no clue about what to do, Qin Shang’s zither song drew glittering violet halos of light around him.

The effects of the song were beginning to fully manifest.

Far exceeding Ye Yin Zhu’s zither magic in profoundness, the results of this war were far better than when Ye Yin Zhu had faced his enemy. The war’s outcome had already been foreordained when Ye Li had flashed forward and slain the hundred Fire mages.

✶

Ye Yin Zhu and the students of Milan Institution for Magic and Martial Arts were being escorted by a large body of troops back to Sacred Heart City. The Autumnal Defensive War this year had already been completely finished. The beastmen that had proceeded with their crazy assault had been resolved into an all-army retreat, falling completely back to the incomparably fortified and rumored strongest stronghold on the continent—Mjolnir Stronghold.

Unexpectedly, Maldini didn’t take advantage and attack. Mjolnir was still too fortified, and with the lack of preparation, a war between the beastmen would be described as the enemy casualties being a thousand, themselves being eight hundred. Most of all, five hundred of Maldini’s prized Falcon Dragons had actually been completely wiped out, dealing an equally tremendous blow to the Milan Empire’s military. To both sides, this was the best choice for the war’s outcome.

✶

Sacred Heart City, Commander’s Tent.

“The matter is like this. Apart from the two Gold Behemoths that used some unknown method to take away all the Behemoths, the other forty thousand beastmen troops were completely annihilated. And as for our tamed dragons, well…” As he said this, Oliveira couldn’t help but lower his head sadly.

There were currently many people within the Commander’s Tent, with Prince Fisichella and Princess Xiang Luan having the highest status. Maldini sat at the head of the table, silently listening to his third grandson Oliveira’s report. The Milan Empire’s twenty other legion-level or higher generals along with Silver Star or higher Dragon Cavalry Commanders were all present. Of course, there was also the hero of the Battle at Konya City—Milan Institution for Magic and Martial Arts’ first-year student Ye Yin Zhu of the Divine Music division.

Hearing his grandson’s report, Maldini’s expression didn’t change in the slightest, but his right hand was already unconsciously gripping his wooden chair with a tight grasp.

Why wouldn’t he feel distressed? The Falcon Dragons could be said to be the absolute elite that he had personally trained, playing countless critical roles on the battlefields. It could be said that every single Falcon Dragon Cavalry Knight was a hero of the Milan Empire, even possessing at least a noble title of ‘Knight.’ And for the first time, they were completely defeated without a single one left alive.

The Battle at Konya City, from any other perspective, was a complete victory for the Milan Empire. They had annihilated the enemy’s four legions, and even more importantly, they had ruined the enemy’s intended strategy. Maldini easily reasoned out why the beastmen plundering legions forced their way through Brenner Pass. He also deeply understood what this victory meant to the Milan Empire…