Summer of the twelfth year of Jian'an.
Xiren family's territory had been largely annexed. The Buzhihuo family's army entered Xiren territory to help Xiren family resist Cao family's army.
The allied forces stabilized their precarious situation and engaged Cao family's army in fierce battles for over three months, with intense攻守 offensives and counter-offensives.
The front line was pushed back to the northern regions of Xiren territory. Cao family's army retreated north of the Wei River, while the allied forces occupied the south of the Wei River.
Autumn of the twelfth year of Jian'an.
Cao family, seeking a decisive battle, consolidated its forces, abandoned all occupied territories, and regrouped its army at Jingyang Lake in the Wei River basin.
The allied forces, observing Cao family's movements, also gathered their armies. The allied forces, totaling eight hundred thousand, crossed the Wei River and assembled south of Jingyang Lake.
Winter solstice of the twelfth year of Jian'an.
The decisive battle,
began.
Cao family's army advanced on land and water towards the allied forces. The allied forces launched a full-scale assault, engaging in a decisive battle on and by Jingyang Lake.
This battle lasted for over a month.
During this time, Buzhihuo Fengqin, the head of the Buzhihuo family, along with Xiren Liu, the head of the Xiren family, and the Lava Phoenix, engaged in combat in the high skies.
Buzhihuo Fengqin was severely wounded and fled back to the Buzhihuo family. The Buzhihuo family army was then led by Buzhihuo Qingwu.
Xiren Liu, unable to withstand the onslaught alone, self-destructed, severely wounding the Fire Phoenix. The Fire Phoenix retreated, returning to the sea of fire to heal its injuries.
Xiren Liu perished. The Xiren family, leaderless and in disarray, was thrown into panic. Xiren Yuanjun was appointed to succeed Xiren Liu as the head of the Xiren family, leading the Xiren army to fight Cao family to the death.
Xiren Yuanjun and Buzhihuo Qingwu, fierce rivals, joined forces and, with a desperate surge, repelled Cao family's army.
A Pyrrhic victory.
The war, ended.
Buzhihuo Qingwu led the Buzhihuo family army and completely withdrew from Xiren territory.
The world praised the Buzhihuo family for repaying grievances with kindness, forgetting past animosities, and demonstrating great magnanimity.
The Xiren family had attacked the Buzhihuo family, yet the Buzhihuo family, when the Xiren family was attacked by Cao family, resolutely led their army to help their former aggressor against a common enemy.
Afterwards, they did not claim a single inch of land or station a single soldier in Xiren territory, withdrawing completely.
Such broad-mindedness and vision were admired by the world.
In reality, only the three parties knew the true outcome.
After more than half a year of war, the three parties had lost over a million soldiers and were all exhausted.
Buzhihuo Qingwu did not force Xiren family to cede land because she simply had no more soldiers to fight with.
The current troop strength was barely enough to defend their own territory. Further fighting would only give Cao family an advantage.
Moreover, Buzhihuo Qingwu led her army home with her own plans.
Winter solstice of the twelfth year of Jian'an.
Buzhihuo Fengqin's injuries suddenly worsened, and he passed away in the main residence three days later.
The entire Buzhihuo family mourned. Buzhihuo Qingwu succeeded to the position of family head and received the complete inheritance of Heartfire.
On the same day, Xiren Yuanjun fully inherited and absorbed the Nether Cold Flame left by Xiren Liu.
Two of the Four Great Powerhouses changed hands.
The donkey,
grew thin.
This donkey, named Lu Zi, was very particular and had a discerning palate.
It disliked dry hay, and even fresh grass, preferring only the tender crops in the fields.
Continuous warfare for a year had conscripted countless civilians as porters and auxiliary soldiers to the battlefield, and many more had perished.
The flames of war first burned on the western border of the Buzhihuo family and then spread throughout the northern regions of the Xiren family.
Countless fertile fields turned into scorched earth.
The land could no longer be cultivated, nor were there people to cultivate it.
Naturally, there were no crops for it to eat.
If people had no food, how could a donkey?
The donkey did not eat dry hay, but under the threat of starvation, it had no choice but to eat it.
But now, even dry hay was hard to find.
Because, it had started snowing.
Hunger and cold became the prevailing themes in the world of civilians.
Ruined walls and homes destroyed by warfare could no longer shield them from the wind and rain, nor ward off the biting cold.
A year of failed harvests left their stomachs empty.
The roadside was littered with the corpses of those who had starved or frozen to death, with no one to attend to them.
The war had claimed over a million lives.
But the cold and famine had claimed tens of millions more.
On a cold winter night, the north wind howled like the roars of hellish demons, inch by inch harvesting the meager lives of the refugees.
The old man pulled some dry hay and chipped off a piece of ice by the small river nearby, placing it before the donkey.
The ice was for it to lick and drink, and though it was not very effective, and its tongue often stuck to the ice, it at least moistened its throat.
The donkey's digestive system had always been robust; it could eat and drink anything without getting sick.
The old man clapped the hay debris off his hands and sat back down by the fire.
The fire was in a half-collapsed house. Although it could not block the cold wind, it could at least shield them from the snow.
Around the fire, seven or eight refugees were gathered, including the elderly, children, two middle-aged men, and the trio of Wan Lei.
The two men held sticks with several steamed buns impaled on them – their remaining meager provisions.
"I remember the Golden Immortal Secret Realm."
Fang Xiaoyu smiled slightly, leaned to the right, and nestled into Wan Lei's embrace.
In the Golden Immortal Secret Realm, it was also a desolate winter, with the land in disarray. The two of them had hidden in a small hut, warming themselves by the fire, just barely surviving.
"It is indeed very similar, but the state of mind is different. At least this time, we have cultivation, so we don't have to worry about starving or freezing to death."
"Yes, the Fire Immortal is much more benevolent than the Golden Immortal."
It was just a bit boring.
So boring that they had wandered from spring to winter without knowing what to do.
Without the worries of freezing and starvation, without the ailments of hunger, Wan Lei and Fang Xiaoyu were incredibly carefree.
Even though they had encountered too much human suffering along the way.
But joy and sorrow are not shared between people, are they?
"The four secret realms, in fact, have the same theme: people living in misery. I don't know what the Immortals truly want us to see?
Do they want me to be mentally prepared, so that when the Lei Feng Realm is invaded by demons and becomes like this, I can accept it more easily?"
"Actually, I think the Wood Immortal Secret Realm was better. At least it was simple to kill demon beasts and complete tasks. Even though there were some dangers in the end, the tasks were simple. They were completed in a few days.
But look at these three secret realms: the Golden Immortal Secret Realm took over two years, the Water Immortal Secret Realm over a year, and the Fire Immortal Secret Realm, nearly a year. It's such a waste of time. When you calculate it, we're almost thirty years old too."
"Isn't that the truth? The progress speed is indeed a bit slow. I heard Gouzi say that those Immortals took over ten years to cultivate and become Immortals. We can't be slower than them."
By calculation, Wan Lei had cultivated for almost ten years, and Fang Xiaoyu had been cultivating since childhood.
The refugees nearby could not understand what they were saying, but they knew that the three people in front of them must be very strong, at least of the wandering knight type, not like them, who could barely get enough to eat.