The snow continued, and a faint glimmer of light fell on the bright red snow.

In the woods a few kilometers outside Su Ye City, the remaining Yayue people who were ready to respond had to return to their lair along the desert secret passage with the remnants of the defeated soldiers who had fled back.

Before dawn the next day, the heavy snowfall, which had been falling for several days and nights, finally stopped, and the sun peeked out of the eastern sky.

In the Xuanwu Hall in the center of Su Ye City of Xie Ning Kingdom, the young Xuanwu Emperor 16th Ye Lu sat on a high jade chair on the flower rock, and all the civil and military ministers gathered in the center of the hall to wait for the discussion. After a night of uproar, many people looked withered and listless.

"These bastards are so deceitful that they don't stop during the winter truce, they're just a bunch of lackeys of war!" said a minister who was past his sixtieth birthday. Ye Lu hurriedly responded and said: "Don't be in a hurry, there will always be a way to deal with them." "That submissive posture is like a subordinate begging the master.

The minister's angry roar gradually lifted everyone's spirits, and the Grand Ruler of the Bachelor's Pavilion, Wenchen Jing Yan, spoke first: "The sneak attack of the soldiers of Yayue on a snowy night has already shown their determination to take our country, and the whole world will have a truce in winter, but they openly resist. I, Xie Ning and him, one side of the month will inevitably be completely destroyed, this continuous war has been a hundred years, Your Majesty, we have endured once, and once again, I Xie Ning can not only resist in this way. Yichen suggested that it would be better to take the initiative to send troops to the end of the desert to eradicate them, and it would be a good thing to pacify this group of scourge and harm the other party within a radius of thousands of kilometers. ”

The general Tang An also immediately said angrily: "I agree with Jing Gong's opinion. Yayue City is located in the mountains, easy to defend and difficult to attack, coupled with the cover of the Gobi Desert and barren forests, which have allowed them to invade everywhere for many years, it has already been a country of enemies and widows. Destroying Yayue is not only the wish of the two generations of emperors but also many countries, and I, Xie Ning, am the central power in the north, and I have the reason and obligation to take on this task of taking the initiative to solicit it. If Your Majesty gives an order, many Gentiles will come to our aid, and Wechen will be willing to be the vanguard and lead the army to the complete razing of this demonic land. ”

After everyone was silent for a moment, another general, Si Rui, also stood up, "The minister is also willing to go with General Tang, and it will be a matter of time before Yayue is destroyed." I, Xie Ning, dominate the overall situation in the north, and we can't cross the Chaos Valley to the south, and the Shengya Kingdom to the west relies on divine power and never communicates with any country, and destroying Yayue will also help the Federation Ilyas and Pingning Kingdom by the sea in the east to concentrate on dealing with the sea devil Silas, and all the dangers in the north at the moment are indeed only one place. After Sirui finished speaking, several ministers also nodded their heads in support of the position of going to exterminate.

The young Xuanwu Sixteenth Ye Lu did not directly make a decisive decision, but after thinking for a while, he looked at the rising sun and said: "I also know the harm of Yayue City, it is indeed a heart disease of the first emperor, but the ancestral training can't be ignored, everyone, the first emperor has repeatedly warned me before leaving, don't take the initiative to conquer Yayue City, I think this must have his reason." Its entire territory of Yayue City is less than half of my Suye City, if it is so easy to send troops to exterminate it, why haven't the two generations of emperors sent troops?"

At this time, his close confidant Wenchen and uncle An Yang with a different surname took a step forward and said to the ministers: "The matter of sending troops is a major matter related to the safety of the country, do not make rash decisions, and I also know your resentment at this moment. From our Xie Ning Kingdom to reach his Yayue City, we need to climb over several mountains, and those barren mountains and mountains around Yayue City are also full of strange beasts, and these are not the saddest, to set foot on the mountains of Yayue City, you must first cross the Gobi Desert. The Yayue people have a vast secret passage in the desert, and the two generations of emperors have searched for it all their lives but have not found it, who dares to enter that desert easily without taking the secret passage. The odds of winning in this way are very small, the Gobi Desert has been rumored for hundreds of years that it will not come out alive, and the legend in the depths of the desert is that there is also the angry cry of the Gobi undead, the emperor means that when the time is ripe, the fall of Yayue is inevitable, why should we be so anxious. I think everyone should calm down first, and carefully consider the pros and cons of the gains and losses. ”

After An Yang finished speaking, many people, including Xuanwu XV, were taken aback by the desert undead. However, Jing Yan immediately stepped forward to refute An Yang, "I think An Xiang is scared." A mere desert my army can be leveled by one foot and one foot, the first emperor was mainly focused on conquering the country in front of him when he was alive, and he died before he had time to scruple in Yayue City. And you can also believe in the legend of the Gobi undead, and according to your meaning, if this is true, then the legend of the Divine Eye that has been circulating in the world for thousands of years is also true! Then how can no one have ever seen that red moon for thousands of years? The legend is false after all, can the living still be scared to death by the dead? If we wait for the day when we find the secret passage and then go to conquer Yayue, then Xie Ningguo will probably have already become a prisoner of Yayue. Your Majesty, this matter is not easy to delay, and I beg you to make a decision immediately!"

Tang An stepped forward again and added, "Your Majesty, I entered that desert with the Emperor a few years ago. The reason why the Gobi Desert is terrible is because there are often strong winds blowing in the desert, and the emperor was worried that Xie Ningguo had just leveled the northern position and not yet stabilized, so he did not go deep into the desert, and as for the so-called desert devil, it was just nonsense used by the predecessors to coax children. ”

Anyang was helpless, and Ye Lu was still a half-old child, and he had no opinions. After being in a dilemma for a long time, considering that he was young and needed the support of the ministers, he had to agree to the ministers. Xuanwu 16th Ye Lu led hundreds of civil and military officials to the ancestral hall to worship the statues of the previous emperors, and immediately issued an order, saying: On the day of melting ice after the end of midwinter, Tang An is the main general, Sirui and another hereditary military general, Mo Di, as the deputy general, commanded 30,000 soldiers and horses to attack Yayue City. After everyone left the ancestral hall, a black light flashed quickly in the eyes of the statues of Xuanwu 14th and 15th in the ancestral hall, and the light was mixed with helpless sighs and melancholy.

In order to win this battle, the 30,000-strong army began intensive training on the day of winter. After the news of the attack on Yayue spread, Tang An's words really came true, and many countries sent soldiers to support Xie Ningguo's actions one after another. In a few months, the expeditionary army had expanded by 10,000 men.

The cold weather gradually passed, the air had a little warmth, the snow that had been piled up on the dark blue city wall for a long time was slowly melting, the snow was ticking on the exposed green land, the sky was blue and cloudless, everything was indicating the success of the battle. Outside the Xuanwu Palace, there were bustling soldiers who were ready to set off, this army was named the Righteous Forward Army by Tang An, and Xuanwu XVI stood in front of the high hall and looked at the soldiers who were about to embark on the journey outside, and silently blessed them with a smooth journey in his heart.

"May you make the right decision. An Yang, dressed in a black robe, but a little haggard, walked unhurriedly from the depths of the hall to Ye Lu.

Ye Lu hurriedly looked back at An Yang and said politely, "Uncle, you are here." ”

An Yang walked up to him, his eyes looking at the soldiers who were gathering in the distance.

"Uncle, is that Gobi Desert really as terrible as you said?" Ye Lu asked with a puzzled and slightly childish face.

An Yang's expression instantly became solemn, he sighed deeply, and his eyes that were hidden in the years revealed some respect for the past. "Xie Ning is a country that has developed and grown in the war, and we have a deep hatred for the Yayue people. Yayue City is not a big city-state, and your grandfather and father have entered the desert to slaughter it. Hey, but, ah, they all failed, the 15th Emperor Xuanwu is your father, back then, he just took Tang An to the border of the desert to explore the traces of the secret passage, and he didn't have a deep meaning, so he didn't return because he was worried about the stability of the country. The legend that there are undead in the Gobi Desert is said by the scouts who escaped after following your grandfather into the desert for the first time. Emperor Xuanwu XIV claimed that they had gone mad after being trapped in the desert for too long, but I think it's far from that simple. Something outrageous does exist in this desert. ”

An Yang continued: "Why don't I want to exterminate the group of beasts who drink human blood in Yayue as soon as possible, they capture slaves and raise giant pythons with human flesh, killing people excessively, they are simply a group of living devils." After An Yang finished speaking, he gritted his teeth fiercely.

Ye Lu asked again: "But why do they always come to invade our country, isn't the southwest of the desert the great power of the West, Shengya Country, why do the Yayue people never cross the Shengya River to harass them?

"Since the founding of the country, the kingdom of Saint Ya has never been disturbed by any war, and the first holy king of the country of Saint Ya does not know what divine power he used to make the country of Shengya forever protected by a barrier. If there was no such barrier, according to the topography of the Holy Country, it would have been targeted by everyone. Hmph, he is a group of cowards who are reluctant to escape from the world, and the declining countries that ask him for support have never received a response. One day, when his barrier is broken, I see who will be willing to help them. An Yang said very disdainfully.

Ye Lu was silent for a while and then said, "Maybe they also have their own difficulties. By the way, what happened to the Red Moon and the Divine Eye that Jing Gong and you talked about last time?"

An Yang sighed deeply again, he was a little melancholy but replied with a smile: "Your Majesty has lived in the deep palace all the year round, and you know very little about some rumors, songs and legends outside. There are many legends in this world, and that is the oldest legend, which has been circulating for thousands of years, but no one knows where it originated, and of course no one knows whether it is true or false. ”

Ye Lu's confused eyes widened and asked, "You... Can you tell me?"

An Yang paused for a moment and looked at the distant sky. "A thousand-year-old legend of the Divine Eye from the Creator. Legend has it that this world was created by a great god with life and seven eyes of different colors, and after the creation of the world, the seven eyes were hidden in some seven corners of the world. Legend has it that when a red moon appears in the night sky, the Divine Eye will be revived, and the Divine Eye can merge with the human eye and transform into each other, and those who have the Divine Eye can control everything around them. ”

Xuanwu XV asked again with great interest, "Why can you control the world by getting the Divine Eye?"

An Yang also said: "Because there is a strange ability beyond nature in every divine eye, this ability is also the 'divine power' in mythological stories. The Seven Divine Eyes are derived from the seven one-eyed demons, whom the Creator deified and imbued with power. The seven eyes are red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple, and each eye resembles an amber spar in the outside world, but it can blend in once it comes into contact with the human eye. The Creator's Red Devil's Eye, also known as the Invisible Eye, will gain the ability to become invisible without a trace. The Orange Devil's Eye, also known as the Penetrating Eye or Clairvoyant, can see through any matter that is thousands of miles away. The Eye of the Yellow Devil, also known as the Eye of Destruction, is said to cause a person's eyes to emit lightning that is as hot as the sun. The Green Goblin's Eye, also known as the Eye of Summoning, hides the thousands of troops of the Black Samurai Legion in that green orb. The Eye of the Blue Devil, also known as the Eye of Leitation, is capable of controlling everything in front of it, making it float and move at will. The Eye of the Blue Devil is also known as the Eye of the Sky, which can give birth to the wings of the sky on the back of a person to dominate the blue sky. The Eye of the Purple Devil, also known as the Eye of Immortality, can make people live forever. If all this is true, then the world will really be completely in chaos, and human beings will kill each other far more than they are now. But fortunately, this is just a legend, although it has been passed down for thousands of years, but no one has ever seen that red moon for thousands of years. ”

"Is it necessary to collect these seven eyes to conquer the world?" Ye Lu became interested in such myths and stories, and he kept asking.

An Yang, who was nearly sixty years old, laughed kindly, he looked at this nephew and patted him on the shoulder and said, "At the end of the legend, after collecting these seven divine eyes, you can get the Creator's Divine Sword that opened the world, and then you can reshape the world." ”

Ye Lu also laughed, and he said jokingly: "If it is obtained by the good people, it will be the blessing of mankind, and if it is obtained by the bad people, it will be the catastrophe of mankind." ”

The two looked at each other and laughed, and An Yang and Ye Lu turned around and prepared to return to the hall. An Yang said to Ye Lu beside him as he walked: "It's rare that Your Majesty can have such a heart to save the world. It's just a legend, and even if it's true, it's impossible for anyone to collect it. Some places have added such a part of this legend: the red moon has a red moon covenant, which lasts for thirty years, and there will be a red moon in thirty years, but it is a nightmare night, and the legend says that the seven monsters that protect the god's eye will revive at noon that night, they are called demon spirits, and the demon spirit's body is as high as a mountain, and whoever has the god's eye will definitely die at the feet of the monster. Your Majesty still puts the management of the country in the first place, these folklore are just oral stories, Your Majesty should not let these nonsense disturb too much. ”

Yeats sighed and said, "There are still such strange legends in the world! ”

An Yang smiled and said: "There are many, many more, I can't tell your majesty these interesting stories after I use up this old life." The two of them laughed and disappeared into the darkness of the Xuanwu Hall.

At this time, the sun had risen high in the sky, and the 40,000 army had been assembled in Suye City. Tang An, dressed in silver armor and holding a gold-scaled long blade, stood at the front of the army to make a final speech, and he spoke impassionedly: "Soldiers, you must always remember this sentence in your hearts: we are fighting for the peace of our families and our descendants, and we are not going to conquer human beings, but a group of bloodthirsty devils. Along the way, we must work together to overcome all obstacles and eliminate all obstacles that stand in our way. In order to understand the stability of Ning and their respective countries, the soldiers took up your weapons and went to fight to the death with the Yayue people. We can't destroy them, and we won't turn back. After Tang An finished speaking, he pulled out the sword at his waist and raised it high, and everyone shouted and raised their weapons to show their determination to shed blood.

After the oath was taken, the 40,000 righteous marchers walked out of the gate of Suye City in an orderly manner and embarked on this journey, and countless men, women and children stood on both sides of the street silently making a send-off salute.

At this time, thousands of miles away in the Gobi Desert, the wind blew a large area of yellow sand dozens of feet high, and the harsh wind roar was mixed with bursts of terrifying laughter.