Martial Cultivator

As the demons around the General's Office ceased their attacks, along the entire frontlines of the Northern Frontier Great Wall, the demon army began sounding the gong to withdraw their troops, temporarily suspending the fighting.

Over at Moon Viewing Terrace, Gao Xuan and Li Changling, who had come to reinforce this place, looked at each other, each seeing the unconcealable exhaustion in the other's eyes, though it was obvious that Li Changling was in much better spirits.

"Your Father fucking told you, those demons can't break us!"

Although this cavalry commander was older and had fought alongside those cultivators on the city wall for a long time earlier, perhaps because he thought less, his sense of exhaustion was far less than Gao Xuan's.

As for Gao Xuan, although he had never personally gone onto the battlefield to kill enemies, as the commander of the battle at Moon Viewing Terrace, the burden he carried was far greater than anyone imagined.

Watching the demon race withdraw like the ebbing tide, Gao Xuan did not speak in a hurry, but merely waited quietly. It was only when footsteps soon sounded beside him that his eyes moved slightly.

"General, the battle report from the General's Office. The demon race has withdrawn and established camp thirty miles outside the Great Wall."

Reaching out to take the battle report, Gao Xuan nodded. Only then did he let out a sigh of relief, before merely turning to look at Li Changling and shaking his head, "General Li, this is only the beginning."

Li Changling smiled, not particularly concerned, "Since we were able to drive them back the first time, there'll be a second time, and a third."

Gao Xuan glanced at the soldiers on the city wall who were receiving treatment and said softly, "Our soldiers won't always number this many."

Li Changling was taken aback. Before the cavalry commander could say anything, Gao Xuan added another sentence.

"Neither will the cultivators."

After hearing those words, Li Changling fell silent.

As for the soldiers who had died in battle, the prefectures were stepping up training, and those soldiers who had left the Northern Frontier Army in previous years would also be recalled. That was still manageable. But what about the cultivators?

The number of cultivators in this world was more or less fixed. Every one who died meant one fewer remained. It was hardly possible for a new cultivator to begin cultivating and be ready to step onto the battlefield in only a year or two.

This went without saying.

With a complicated expression, Gao Xuan said, "It would be best if this doesn't become like the tides of the sea, rising and falling again and again."

The sea came and went as it pleased, but the dike could only stand there.

"Once the casualty report from Moon Viewing Terrace has been compiled, send it to the General's Office immediately."

Before turning and leaving the city wall, Gao Xuan left behind those final words.

......

......

A great battle in which both sides had committed considerable forces, when it ended, was never truly marked by no one dying anymore. After all, that was only the visible end. Once the battle was over, there was still a whole series of things that had to be done.

Counting the casualties and military equipment, repairing the damaged areas, including sending the final battle report from the Northern Frontier to the Divine Capital, and even reviewing this great battle afterward, all had to be done.

Until these matters were completed, it could never truly be said that a great battle had ended.

In fact, as early as the moment the demon race withdrew, the General's Office had already begun arranging these matters. At the same time, the General's Office sent orders recalling Gao Xuan, Li Changling, and the commanders guarding several important passes.

Once these people arrived at the General's Office, a council meeting was convened there.

However, this time, inside the main hall, the arrangement of the seats was already different.

Previously, the Great General's seat had been placed at the very front, with rows extending to the left and right, everyone seated according to military rank.

But today, in the General's Office's main hall, there were two chairs at the very front.

Great General Ning Ping walked into the main hall. The other generals had already been waiting for quite some time. Ning Ping looked around before smiling and saying, "Good. This general had thought that after this great battle, one or two of you would have gone from living men to memorial tablets before my eyes. Luckily, none of you have made this general burn incense for you today."

The generals all smiled faintly.

Ning Ping sighed. "But incense should still be burned, for the soldiers and cultivators who died in this battle. They were all fine men."

As he said this, Ning Ping glanced at a deputy general not far away.

The deputy general understood and nodded. "The matter of compensation will be sent together with the military report to the Divine Capital. It's still the old procedure. The Divine Capital will take the compensation silver from the national treasury and then order each prefecture to handle it."

Ning Ping smiled bitterly. "No idea how much money it'll cost again."

"It's not that this general begrudges that bit of money. If spending money could buy a lifetime of peace, then from His Highness the Crown Prince down to fellows like us, everyone would gladly see it happen." "It's just a pity that no one is willing to sell such a thing. Even if someone really dared to sell it, I'm afraid we wouldn't have the courage to buy it."

Ning Ping looked at everyone present and said softly, "No matter when it is, once you hand the choice of your fate over to someone else, it always leaves people feeling deeply uneasy."

"Move one of those chairs away."

Ning Ping pointed at the two chairs standing side by side and smiled as he told the soldiers there to carry one of them away.

The generals looked at their Great General, not knowing why he was doing this.

After they carried one of the chairs away, Great General Ning Ping stood beside the chair that remained where it was and smiled. "Let our Lord Warden Commander sit there instead. Without him, it would have been very hard to say whether we could have held the line this time."

In this great battle, everyone could actually see that the three Fuyun great demons had been the most important factor. If Great Liang had not had someone able to step forward and stop those three Fuyun great demons, then once the three great demons joined forces, it would only have been a matter of time before the city wall fell.

Therefore, Lord Warden Commander Chen Chao, who had fought one against three and even killed one Fuyun great demon, was the greatest contributor.

The two chairs from earlier had been prepared by the generals for Ning Ping and Chen Chao, and by doing this, Ning Ping was also telling the generals that he was willing to take the lower place.

Only, the generals still had differing opinions. After all, this place was the Northern Frontier. They had all seen Chen Chao's contributions with their own eyes, but contribution was contribution...

After saying those words, Ning Ping gave no one any time to react or object before he had already sat down in the first chair on the right.

He smiled as he looked toward the entrance.

Chen Chao, whose complexion was somewhat pale, stepped over the threshold and entered the main hall. After greeting the generals present with a nod, he noticed the vacant chair, narrowed his eyes slightly, and this overly young Lord Warden Commander walked straight over.

Just when everyone thought he would naturally take the seat, he instead sat down in the chair on the left.

The two locked eyes.

Ning Ping looked somewhat helpless.

Chen Chao smiled and said, "In terms of official rank, this official is not much higher than Great General. In terms of seniority, this official was once Great General's subordinate, so there's really no reason for me to sit there, is there?"

Just as Ning Ping was about to speak,

Chen Chao continued, "Merit isn't calculated like that either. Whether someone can be called truly remarkable isn't determined by what they accomplished, but by what price they paid to accomplish those things."

"Some people lost their lives."

Chen Chao said softly, "But I'm still alive."