The wall was impressive, I had to admit. Tall, imposing, very sturdy. Pity it was both a symbol of oppression and entirely pointless.

I jumped over it fairly easily, Li still on my back. I’m glad he was so gentle and appreciative, I did not let just anyone ride me.

Oh, take your minds out of the latrine, Xiang would have my pelt on a wall if I tried mating with her husband, and my own would desecrate the trophy with her blessing.

Oh… oh wow.

I nearly dropped my illusion when I saw the wasteland the east had been reduced to. The fortresses were garrisoned and watching the wall intently, but even well beyond them…

“Now you see why I had to move the timetable up.”

I just nodded, and swiftly went through every detection spell and half-baked cultivator’s senses on my way to the south and east. We passed the ruins of villages, fallow fields, unkempt orchards, dilapidated barns… all sorts of evidence that farming was a lost art to these people.

“How are they feeding themselves?”

Li shook his head. “They aren’t.”

I gulped, and accepted what that meant. There were no civilians left in the Dragon King’s lands, and everyone was living off what qi they could leach out of the nearly dead soil.

It took us only half a day to reach the Azure Citadel, and the famous combat arena that stood at its base. Here, cultivators of the Dragon King’s army fought for honor, glory, and position. The winners would often become highly-ranked officers. The losers almost invariably died.

And this year was a special one. Once every decade, it was said that the Azure King would give the winners of his tournament the “honor” of facing him directly. This inevitably resulted in their mass slaughter, as he established his dominance in his society then demanded his people become stronger.

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I was glad that, one way or another, this would be the last such event.

A few miles away, Li dismounted and I shifted back into a completely human shape. I used a minor illusion to change our clothing style to match the Dragon Army’s uniforms, then we moved quickly to reach the arena.

Just in time for the big event to have ended, mercifully. The stage was a horrifying red tapestry of bone, gore, and blood, with the Dragon King standing in the center of it all, broadcasting his manifesto to the fortresses.

“And so, before we begin our conquests on the morrow, I ask again: Are there any who would dare challenge the might of the Dragon King?”

Wait, tomorrow? Damn, I’m glad we decided to move early ourselves. This would’ve been a lot harder if we’d needed to go through an active war zone to- wait. What’s Li doing?

He’d dropped the illusion, and stepped onto the stage.

“I would challenge you. Fitting that you placed your arena directly on the nexus, that will make this easier.”

A scoff, and a torrent of water just missed Li. And disintegrated the wall behind him. My ears flattened, and I ran.

Li was on his own for this part, I needed to deal with the armies. Those fortresses were tough, but not meant to deal with a tricky fox striking from their rear and our own armies striking from the front.

Faster. Faster. It took me less time to get back without having to worry about a rider falling off, and I briefly wished I was as fast as Xiang. That murderbun barely touched the ground in her natural form, racing along at speeds that broke the air around her.

Yeah, the bad guys are already advancing. Got a cure for that. Burst of qi, and that ugly wall’s gone. Completely obliterated, only craters where it stood. Our own forces take the hint and advance, while I flash-fry every fortress in the line, one-by-one. Anyone in them is charbroiled instantly.

Completely annoying, I do so prefer being more subtle and elegant than that rabbit when I make my kills. Having to drop meteors on everything is just so crude and wasteful. I don’t even have time to play.

The sun is set by the time the battlefield grows quiet. Nothing’s left of the Dragon Army but ashes, burnt bones, and scorched stone. We’ve taken casualties, you just can’t fight a war without them, but our losses were minimal, and I’m doing what I can to heal up what’s left.

But since we’re not all dead, Xiang and Li won… right?

A distant roar gave me shivers, and I sincerely hoped I was.