Chapter 1872: Chapter 1865: Shadow of the Skylark

The Advance Team is still on the way back to West Outer Heaven. Lately, they have noticed that things are becoming increasingly unsafe within Kyushu, with various vagrant bandits running rampant. They alone have solved over ten waves of troubles.

Just as they were about to leave Qi State, they finally heard shocking news. The Emperor Wu of the Dongsheng Empire, also known as Bailong An, was assassinated in the palace.

It is said that the assassin was a person from the Anxiang Liang, and this matter has caused an uproar in the Imperial Court and among the public. Anxiang Liang has been imprisoned, and the entire Anxiang family has been forced to cut ties with the Wu Family’s power. Various aristocratic families have stepped forward to distance themselves from the Anxiang family.

And this is not even the most critical issue. The most critical issue is that, due to the Anxiang family mobilizing elite forces to capture the Advance Team and failing, their military strength has been severely impacted, coupled with negative political news. Various places in Qi State have betrayed them, cooperating with the vagrant militia entering the region to begin eliminating the Anxiang family, which is the main reason the Advance Team continuously faces attacks.

Luo’er has every reason to believe that the assassin of Emperor Wu might not necessarily be from the Anxiang family, but more likely arranged by the Wen Family.

However, in any case, for the Anxiang family, the most steadfast supporter of the Wu Family, the end was licking their wounds and coming away with nothing.

They fully believed that as long as they were loyal to the Wu Family unto death, they could gain supreme benefits. But in the end, they fell into the trap set by the Wen Family.

The Wen Family seemed to take a step back, but in doing so, they set up a trap and broke several legs of the Wu Family. The Wen Family seemed to suffer great losses, yet they swiftly took away the ruling foundation from the Wu Family.

At this moment, the Throne is vacant, and the Wu Family does not have a successor competent enough to win over the masses. Therefore, under the guise of mourning, the armies of Yunbei States rapidly mobilized, targeting Shengyuan Qilan. As long as they can occupy Shengjing, they can completely crush the reactionary rule of the Wu Family and establish a new order.

It can be expected that a grand-scale civil war is about to erupt. Though the Gaofeng Family and the Jiuyun Clan may not favor the rule of the Wen Family, they dislike even more the chaotic governance under the Wu family.

Moreover, not only are the two major border clans mobilizing, but the vagrant armies of other states and counties have also received the news. Under the pretext of marching to aid the king, they are advancing in vast numbers towards Shengyuan Qilan, exceeding one million at one point.

It’s hard to imagine that in the cultivation-prioritizing Kyushu, an army composed of common people could seize territory and strike the Wu Dynasty’s court repeatedly.

First of all, credit goes to the Wen Family for the development of military technology and the adjustment of the household registration system. Additionally, the vagrant armies include not only ordinary people but also agile cultivators.

Apart from some solitary cultivators joining the vagrant armies, it can be speculated that various Cultivation Sects may have played a significant supporting role in this.

Speaking of the various Sects, it always makes people subconsciously think of them as staunch supporters of the Wu Family. But actually, due to the Wen Family’s policies of division and a series of others, there are significant differences between Sects, no less than those between the Wen and Wu families.

Therefore, not all Sects are staunch supporters of the Wu Family. Some Sects, although not openly expressing their stance, it’s obvious to everyone that they secretly hope the Wen Family continues to govern so that their interests remain unaffected.

War revolves around politics, politics revolve around economy, economy revolves around production.

It can be said that the reason why the Wen Family makes the people of Kyushu reminisce is mainly because the Wen Family represents the most advanced productivity currently.

Whether it be the various aristocratic families or the Cultivation Sects, if they wish to maintain their current living standards, they certainly hope for the Wen Family’s return to power because the Wu Family does not possess advanced production methods like the Wen Family, and may even cause productivity to regress.

People may not necessarily rely on magic, but they definitely need to eat. Therefore, who possesses strong military force, who has a formidable army, these are not important.

What matters most is who can make people have enough to eat so that they don’t starve everywhere. This is the key reason why the clans and Sects choose the Wen Family.

Even on this day, the Advance Team is still traveling. Sitting idly on the carriage, Hu Daoke rests his face in his hand and glances upwards, seemingly noticing something, then nudges Cheng Ziang and asks, “What’s flying in the sky?”

Cheng Ziang looks up, following suit, and sees a black shadow sweeping across the sky, roughly three to four hundred meters above the ground.

“Probably a bird, like an eagle…” he answers perfunctorily.

Upon hearing their voices, Baiyue also looks up, but her sharp eyes quickly sense something amiss. She promptly raises her sniper rifle to aim.

“Should we shoot it down?” Hu Daoke asks, somewhat surprised.

Baiyue doesn’t answer him but frowns and stares for a while, then suddenly her expression relaxes into excitement, exclaiming, “It’s a Skylark reconnaissance aircraft!”

“Skylark?”

Hu Daoke and Cheng Ziang are a bit stunned, exchanging glances with each other.

“You forgot?” Baiyue looks at them, speaking excitedly, “The High-peak people’s Skylark reconnaissance aircraft, when we were in Ronisca, they were chasing us, remember?”

“The High-peak people’s fighter jet nearby implies…” Hu Daoke begins to get excited too.

“During the West Outer Heaven war, the High-peak people did have a few aircraft landing in Demon Clan cities, thus narrowly escaping disaster. However, considering the aircraft’s flight range, they wouldn’t likely fly over Fengyu into the Dongsheng Empire’s airspace, so there’s only one possibility…” Cheng Ziang coolly analyzes.

“The mothership should be nearby, Helrandum’s sister ship should have already reached East Continent…” Baiyue says excitedly.

“Then hurry, signal it down.” Hu Daoke says as he prepares to lift the machine gun.

“Calm down, don’t shoot it down,” Cheng Ziang restrains him, turning to Baiyue and says, “Fire a signal flare!”

A signal flare flies up, emitting a sharp whistle, but perhaps due to the flight altitude, the aircraft seems not to notice the flare, continuing along its predetermined route.

“Don’t let it get away, hurry up and stop it,” Hu Daoke pats his leg and says excitedly.

“Hold on, hold on, calm down…” Cheng Ziang takes a deep breath, thinks for a while, then suddenly raises his head to call out, “Fula, Xiao Fula!”

“What?” Fulajie’er appears before him, squinting and asking.

“What, hurry and chase, delay any longer and the plane will disappear,” Cheng Ziang shouts at her impatiently.

Being yelled at like this, Fulajie’er seems to realize her fault, glares at him fiercely, and disappears from the spot.

“Why all the ruckus?” With Fulajie’er gone, Luo’er pokes his head out, asking confusedly.

“Yue’er spotted a Skylark fighter passing overhead, most likely a High-peak people’s carrier-based aircraft,” Cheng Ziang replies.

“Skylark Fighter…” Luo’er tilts his head thinking, then ponders, “If I recall correctly, when we left West Outer Heaven, the deployed Skylark Fighters there had mostly lost their ability to take off.”

Luo’er has a deep impression of the Skylark Fighter, as back in Ronisca, they were shot down by two Skylark Fighters and nearly drowned in the lake.

“Yes, which is why I suspect there’s a High-peak people’s mothership nearby,” Cheng Ziang nods.

“It seems Lord Xia Yue was right,” Luo’er says relievedly, “The High-peak people’s Helrandum-class second ship has already been refitted and completed. Considering the time, they should have arrived.”

Thinking about this, he takes a deep breath and loudly commands, “Stop and light a fire here!”

Upon hearing his order, Feng, who was steering the carriage, stops and turns to look at him. Luo’er jumps off the carriage, giving orders as he walks: “Go find firewood, both dry and green, prepare to ignite and create smoke.”

“Understood!” Hu Daoke jumps down from the carriage, saying excitedly.

As they prepare, Fulajie’er suddenly appears among them, standing with hands on her hips and saying, “I’ve already notified them, the plane should soon turn back…”

Saying this, she couldn’t help but mutter, “Luckily those two fools understand Tasta language, or else there’d be no way to communicate…”

Luo’er looks up, seeing the nearly disappearing aircraft begin to turn back, evidently Fulajie’er’s notification worked.