Chapter 203 : The Meaning of “General”
Chapter 203: The Meaning of “General”
When that most agonizing night finally passed, the sky gradually brightened amid the sound of roosters crowing. Long Tao and True Person Mingzhu rushed out of the house at the first moment and headed straight toward the Banyan Tree in the center of The Village. Acrid Unforgiven, Du Yiluo, and the group of young people had already gathered there. Everyone’s face carried the exhaustion and vigilance of a sleepless night.
“Everyone, were you all alright yesterday?”
Just as Shi Wenyuan finished asking, he noticed True Person Mingzhu’s belly, which had grown noticeably larger. His expression instantly became rather strange. Just two days ago everything had been normal—how had it become this big so quickly?
Long Tao knew time was pressing, so he went straight to the point and laid out all their discoveries and deductions in full. When his words fell, even Acrid Unforgiven and Du Yiluo fell silent. Everyone present was shaken by this unbelievable truth.
“Although it’s hard to believe…” Shi Wenyuan gave a bitter smile as he tried to calm the uneasy companions behind him. “But… in this village, that kind of ordinary daily life earlier was what truly made people afraid. Now that sudden changes have appeared, it actually feels a bit more normal.”
Meanwhile, Du Yiluo appeared noticeably more relaxed than the others, since she had a backup method of resurrection. She directly asked,
“Then… we should seriously think about how to leave this place now, right? Although we don’t know who the mastermind is, judging from how many measures he suddenly used, the child in True Person Mingzhu’s belly must be his ultimate goal. As for the rest of us… we might all be expendable sacrifices at any moment. Look… he has already ignored the rules and taken the initiative to destroy the ‘ordinariness’ of this village.”
“But the clues all point to that so-called ‘General.’” One of the young men frowned deeply. “Where are we supposed to find him? We’ve searched for so long and still haven’t found even a trace.”
Hearing the word General, Long Tao began recalling all the clues related to that term. Most of them came from what the Village Chief had said when his personality suddenly changed before. At that time, the other party had said… they must remember what kind of place this was.
A place.
This place was The Village? No… this place was a Heavenly Court Fragment.
The Heavenly Court?
A general of the Heavenly Court?
Long Tao also remembered what Du Yiluo had mentioned during their earlier conversation—that when the Heavenly Court was at its peak, even Golden Core cultivators could only serve as Heavenly Soldiers.
Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals…
“True Person, Senior Xin, do you know anything about the Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals of the Ancient Heavenly Court? Especially the Heavenly Generals. Du Yiluo mentioned earlier that Heavenly Soldiers require Golden Core cultivation—then what about Heavenly Generals…?”
The two of them turned to look at him at the same time, but their expressions were different. True Person Mingzhu looked as though she had suddenly realized something, while Acrid Unforgiven wore an expression of as expected.
“Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals? You’re suspecting… that this so-called General doesn’t refer to a specific person, but rather a Heavenly General?”
“Yes. When the Village Chief suddenly acted like a different person, the first thing he reminded us was to remember where this place was. And since this place is essentially a Heavenly Court Fragment, then naturally…”
Before he could finish, Acrid Unforgiven continued the thought.
“Your line of thinking is good. When people talk about generals of the Ancient Heavenly Court, the first thing that comes to mind is usually many famous great powers. But in truth, every Heavenly General could be called a general. And most ordinary Heavenly Generals indeed possessed Nascent Soul cultivation.”
“Nascent Soul… meaning that as long as someone here can break through to the Nascent Soul Stage, we can leave—and bring everyone with us.”
After hearing this, True Person Mingzhu murmured to herself, though she clearly still wasn’t completely certain.
“Senior Xin, you had already guessed something earlier?” Long Tao asked.
“Yes, but I wasn’t certain. To be honest, even now I still don’t dare confirm it. Because if this line of thinking is correct, then the difficulty… is simply absurd.”
True Person Mingzhu nodded as well.
What a joke—breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage in a place like this. She could not imagine even the slightest possibility of success.
“Exactly. And right now we’re all mortals. Forget about the necessary materials—even if we wanted to break through, we can’t even shatter a Golden Core ourselves or summon Heavenly Lightning.”
True Person Mingzhu’s thoughts were tangled. She actually felt that Long Tao’s idea was the closest to the truth, but there were simply too many uncertainties.
At that moment, Du Yiluo also voiced her doubts.
“Little Brother Long Tao, your idea definitely has some merit—it makes sense. But there’s one thing you’re forgetting. This place is essentially a formation. As long as it’s a formation, there must always exist a Life Gate and a path to survival. If leaving this place requires someone to reach the Nascent Soul Stage, then it means there must always be at least one Late Golden Core cultivator present here. Otherwise the condition for the Life Gate couldn’t be fulfilled.”
At this point, Du Yiluo herself could only smile helplessly.
“Right now we’re just lucky. We happen to have Big Brother Xin and True Person Mingzhu, two Late Golden Core cultivators. But at other times, that might not be the case. And… if a Golden Core cultivator were to accidentally get themselves killed, then the Life Gate condition would fail, which could even cause the entire formation to collapse. So… it’s probably not the way you’re thinking.”
After hearing this reasoning, Long Tao almost immediately prepared to abandon his earlier idea about the Heavenly Generals. Just as he was about to change his train of thought, something suddenly occurred to him.
“If there always has to be one Golden Core cultivator… then… right! It’s the Village Chief! He’s the one who has always existed as that Golden Core cultivator!”
“…Even if you want to argue with me, there’s no need to force such a reason.”
Du Yiluo wasn’t angry—she simply looked rather helpless, feeling that Long Tao sounded like a child stubbornly trying to argue.
“No, it’s true. Back then, when the Village Chief suddenly changed personalities in front of me and the True Person, the last thing he said was… ‘I’m going to become a General!’ That’s right—if we follow the line of reasoning just now, he was actually hinting that he himself is also at the Late Golden Core Stage.”
Now that his thoughts flowed smoothly, excitement appeared on Long Tao’s face as he continued.
“Miss Du, what you just said is correct. This place must always have a Golden Core cultivator present to keep the formation’s Life Gate functioning. Therefore… some existence turned the Village Chief into what he is now—neither human nor ghost. Of course, it’s best when other Golden Core cultivators are present. But if there aren’t any, the Village Chief’s existence can still ensure the formation continues to function.”
“That’s why only the Village Chief is so special—he can remain in the village in this puppet-like state, while everyone else can only be expelled as Drifters.”
“So that’s why the Village Chief occasionally seems to wake up suddenly and change personalities?” True Person Mingzhu immediately grasped the idea and continued.
“Exactly. That existence didn’t completely turn him into a puppet in order to maintain his special state. So occasionally he can regain clarity for a moment, letting the formation know that there is still a living Late Golden Core cultivator here.”
This line of reasoning left Du Yiluo and Acrid Unforgiven unable to find any immediate way to refute it. As for Shi Wenyuan and the others, they didn’t even possess basic cultivation knowledge. They had no idea how to join the discussion and could only listen in complete confusion.
“Alright. Let’s say what you’re saying is true. But… how do we prove it? And besides, as we said earlier, your bodies are now mortal. You can’t even shatter a Golden Core or summon Heavenly Lightning—so what do you do?”
This… Long Tao truly had no answer for the moment.
At a time like this, it would be great if that elusive Village Chief could suddenly appear and say something—even if it was in his puppet-like state.
Wait.
Elusive?
Long Tao suddenly decided to gamble.
Before anyone else could react, he shouted toward the sky,
“Village Chief! I already understand what you mean! If we want to leave this place, someone must break through to the Nascent Soul Stage! If I’m right, can you please show yourself now!?”
Just when everyone thought Long Tao had gone a little mad, the familiar hunched old man appeared among them.
This time he didn’t walk out from a house or from behind a tree. He simply appeared in front of everyone as if he had teleported.
At first, the Village Chief still wore that pseudo-human, kindly smile. But soon his face began to twist into something terrifying, as though he were suffering unbearable pain. Even so, he struggled to speak.
“That’s right… find… the formation… ahhh!!”
Before he could finish the word formation, the Village Chief—whose personality had shifted again—seemed to experience immense agony. He let out a shrill scream, yet still forced himself to continue.
“Find… the method… of a General’s advancement… it’s on… this land… as long as you find it… even ordinary villagers… can have… a chance… to become a General!”
After saying these words, the Village Chief’s expression once again returned to that kindly, amiable smile. He then said cheerfully,
“Oh my, so many people gathered together. The village is rarely this lively. This old man won’t disturb you young people’s gathering, haha. Off I go, off I go.”