Chương 27: Chapter 26

It wasn't every day that Chen Liwei was distracted. The lifelong training her late and forever complained father, the unsurpassed Chen Yu, gifted her demanded absolute focus on the task ahead; and, in the three hundred years she had the honor of holding the title of Night General, Chen Liwei had never failed in upholding her upbringing. The family name, the Sect and her pride demanded nothing less.

Today, standing on the prow of the Fearless Thunderbolt, she found it difficult to do what should have been like breathing. Disgraceful. Unacceptable. And yet… The ground shook beneath her. The Night pulsed with will and cold intent. Battle raged, and yet, all she could see was the monstrous Shadow that roiled at the center of the darkness. She let out a slow breath, the air before her lips dancing with snow crystals.

"General?" Chen Liwei turned her head. She didn't move: military ethos demanded absolute poise from one of her rank. Her first son was named after her illustrious father. Chen Yu the Younger was stout and strong, but his mind lagged behind his body. It gave Chen Liwei endless grievance and it made her question his right to inherit, something he was very well aware of, as he should.

"The attack preparations are completed," the young man rumbled, clutching his fist.

"We await your order." Chen Liwei nodded sharply, and advanced. Her cloak fluttered as the noxious air of the Borderlands washed over her. Akin to light rain, tainted Qi peppered her aura, trying and failing to penetrate. Above her, the sky was a palette of reds, cherry and blood mixing in glowing strands. The bridge of the Fearless Thunderbolt was crowded yet silent. Hundreds of Godless Night soldiers formed disciplined rows that filled the deck from prow to stern.

Under the light of the barbarian lands, the silver and black of the Hand of Night flashed bright red and deep, rich matte. Sergeants wearing scars from the Siege made the last rounds, hands folded behind their backs as they scrutinized for lack of discipline. The Stonemancers tested their constructs and made last-minute adjustments. As she made her way across the bridge's edge, Chen Liwei allowed herself a moment of satisfaction.

Thanks to the glut of food the honored Founder had brought back from the Domain – part of her still rallied against the idea that the Immortal would have to lower herself to do a simple hunter's job -, it had been possible to spare more than half of the Sect's forces.

Chen Liwei commanded eleven thousand cultivators, of which six thousand were Shadow Warriors, skilled in martial arts and shadow-weaving of the Nightjar Wing School, each wearing stony half-armor over their right arm and half of their chest and wielding a weapon enchanted by the arts of the Blackflame Forge.

She had five hundred Talon Assassins, the elites from the Owl Talon Den, each an adept of the arts of stealth and murder; two thousand Stonemancers, each wielding Night Qi-infused obsidian mined in the Abyss and commanding constructs of living stone; among them, fifteen bore the title of Maker, and strode to war on armored golems that belched darkness, smoke and fire. One thousand and five hundred Seekers had been deployed by the Scavenger Moon, alongside the full complement of their experienced leadership.

Among them, there were expert appraisers of both bodies and materials, and War Rats used to battle their way to loot. The rest was support personnel, including recorders from the Mortal Corps, battle-medics from the Healer Brigades and maintenance, transport and array formation experts from the Blackflame Forge. Additional forces included two hundred beast-wranglers and warriors from the Devouring Horde, and one hundred mesmerizers from the Delightful Retreat.

Chen Liwei looked down on the pelt and silk-wearing outsiders, but, after the Founder's personal rebuke, she was putting her qualms aside. They would serve and be wielded for the benefit of the Sect. And then, of course, there was her command group. Household troops from the Chen direct and allied lineages, as well as members of the main branch, all of them Core Formation experts, veteran generals and warriors.

It had taken some wrangling to keep the Xing toadies away, but it paid off: none of those foul Sorcerers had found a place in the loading decks. It was a mighty army, the equal of any raiding force from the Sect's heydays. Chen Liwei could have taken apart a province of the Xi Empire with it, destroyed everything in the range of 500 Li and retreated before any organized retaliation. Against the smaller Sect, it was a tide fit to sweep the land clean. The spirit-wood creaked softly as she stepped on the bow.

The Thunderbolt was so vast that a smaller deck emerged from the main one, a soft-carpeted observation space for high officers; it jutted right above the figurehead, a tiger caught pouncing, its once colorful shades now weathered by time and fighting. It was lavishly appointed before, but Chen Liwei had it all taken away. Luxury had no place while on campaign. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

But she had retained a camp chair, and the small podium that let one with the eyes for it see the lands below and above. Beneath, the other ships kept a tight formation. Sleek and predatory, their slim prows adorned with beastly figureheads, they were raptors of their skies, rows of massive oars pushing them forward at a ferocious pace. On their decks, hundreds of Godless Night cultivators were arrayed in silent formations, waiting for the signal.

Behind them, the Zinwu Star, with its pot-bellied shape and vast sails, cut an almost harmless shape. Until one thought about the constructs waiting in its belly, that is. Chen Liwei stepped on the podium and let her aura flare. Immediately, the familiar sensation of thousands of presences, all focused on her, washed over her. Her Domain effect wasn't anything like the Founder's. She couldn't smother a whole nation in its grasp and change the world to her will.

Yet, her Icy Night, the result of her Night-oriented Bloodline, let her feel much and see much. Now, she felt her soldiers as pinpricks of light into her consciousness. She felt their tension, their controlled fear, their dutiful nature. Sustaining it all, she felt the same thing her mind stubbornly kept returning to The Night. The True Night. Coming from on high to crush the invaders. Crushed, stabbed, devoured, erased. All of them, worms squirming in a dark abyss. Chen Liwei was dearly acquainted with fear.

It was as familiar to her as her spear's grip. Only lazy, fat fools who had never strode the battlefield forgot its cold touch, and they stopped being warriors altogether when they did so. No, fear was a constant presence for a true soldier, another tool to shape and use. The fear she felt now was both new and old.

It was the same fear she had felt when she had taken her first steps through the Great Path, when, as a young girl, she would raise her eyes to the sky and marvel at its depths, and one she had never felt, the dizzying sensation of having witnessed what was once but a vague feeling. Fear. The same she saw reflected in her soldiers' souls. But also marvel, awe, relief, joy for being part of something larger than yourself. Fierce vindication for faith proved right, and a fervent desire to prove yourself worthy.

Chen Liwei identified herself entirely with the Hand of Night. Yet, it was a rare moment when she felt so close to her soldiers, when she understood and was sure to understand as clearly. There was a driving energy behind all of them, a shadow wider than the sea, as deep as the abyss. Fear, awe, devotion; they all mingled together to form a mix that put wings to their feet and made war as effortless as walking in the breeze. Energy. Hope. A trust for tomorrow. Despair, erased and forgotten.

It hummed in the spirit-wood of the great ship; it radiated from the Core lodged in its wooden innards, blessed by the Founder's touch. It washed over them, a reminder of duty and honor. Embodied in a single, exceptional person. Chen Liwei let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She felt… young. Like the bright-eyed recruit who had stepped through the headquarters' gates so long ago. The grim determination that had settled over her during the Siege was gone, banished like a nightmare by the dawn.

All that remained was the solid wood beneath her boots, and the feeling of the great, absolute power behind her. Her armor, a marvelous piece worn by the Chen patriarchs and matriarchs since the lineage's inception, flashed, each scale reflecting the red light with a deeper sheen.

"The Ancestor's gaze and trust are upon us!" She called, her amplified voice booming over the fleet.

"Shall you prove yourself unworthy of it, o Nightborn?" Thousands of weapons crashed together in reply. Thousands of voices rose together; they joined into a crescendo, wave after wave of Qi rippling together, until a great beast was roaring into the red skies of the Borderlands. Chen Liwei felt an excited grin pulling at her lips. How long had it been since she felt like this? Since the feeling of being part of something great and powerful and rising had stirred her blood? Nobody saw it, of course.

The Night General had to show herself composed and poised at all times.

"Let us fight!" She roared, raising her spear. The weapon's blade, shaped as a wave, gleamed with a sanguine light.

"Let us fight! In the Founder's name! In the Night's name! Like the phoenix, let us rise from the ashes!" Her reply was deafening. Stonemancers smashed their flying obsidian together. Warriors slammed the butt of their weapons against the deck. Their voices blended in a furious roar of approval. Chen Liwei turned to gaze beneath. The stronghold of the Writhing Flame had just come into sight.

Leaning against the slopes of an active volcano, the great edifice looked to have grown from basalt and ash into the molten approximation of a bastion. It was massive, all leaning against the mountain like a supplicant came to drink from its boiling caldera. The fortress was in alarm. Great bells carved out of stone rung dully. Elementals of fire shambled out of moats filled with lava, while bridges were pulled up to close doors like maws. Small figures swarmed the battlements. Chen Liwei didn't sneer.

Her face remained an expressionless mask. But she judged it all unworthy. They would shatter these walls and plunder the riches hidden behind. Each of her proud soldiers was worth five of those pathetic excuses for cultivators, and their organization and coordination trumped everything those fools could hope to master. They would be defeated. For the glory of the Sect and their savior.

Chen Liwei opened her mind to the aether, connecting with each of her commanders, making sure her instructions had been understood and would be followed.

"A short speech, general," said Xian Shi through the connection. The Scavenger Moon leader's presence felt elusive even when he wasn't physically present before her.

"Have you been hoarding your words for a later occasion?" Chen Liwei scowled. The scavenger was an unwelcome presence on her ships, always clinging to his foolish attempts at demeaning her and her own. He was fortunate that he was always shy of true offense.

"Casual communications at this juncture are forbidden," she reminded him. Without waiting for an answer, she cut the connection. She despised the Scavenger Moon. As useful as they were, the rats' loyalty to the Sect was a mercenary one. They dealt in power and riches, and that was the beginning and the end of their morale. The Hand of Night rejected such assumptions. Their bond with the Sect and one another was forged in loyalty, duty and the honored knowledge of serving greatness.

If they received compensation, it was earned with their blood and sweat, as it should, and they took the greatest pride in their work. Men were greedy and disloyal, but that ethos had held during her tenure, and would continue for ten millennia more. She would make it so. For herself, and each of her soldiers. It was what separated them from barbarians. She pointed her hand toward the fortress.

"Attack!" And the sky rained death.