Slowly Wang Yuhei's expression calmed down. Before they knew it, he already back into his human form. Despite his defeat, he still had his aloof appearance.

"I could kill everyone of you here. Alone.", said Wang Yuehei.

"I'd like to see you try.", Zhang Hu replied.

A cold anger gleamed on Wang Yuehei's eyes, "Old man... don't tempt me to do it."

"Then don't brag too much. Now I know that even in my current condition I'm not your match, but there are tens of thousands of us here. I hope you don't think that I don't have special plan for the worst situation.", said Zhang Hu.

Wang Yuehei's expression went ugly, it took him a while to calm down, "You're lucky old man... if I don't have to worry about Wang Yuxue at Changsha..."

From the way Wang Yuehei held his anger, Zhang Hu, the grand elder and Yue Guang knew they won the gamble. They didn't want to taunt him further. If Wang Yuehei decided to forget his competitor at Changsha and went all out on them, they might won the battle but the casualties would be too high. As strong as Wang Yuehei was, both the fairies quite sure that his power wasn't unlimited.

Although their army might seemed like an ant in Wang Yuehei's eyes, with their number, they could exhaust him. Besides the grand elder still had something in his sleeve. He didn't want to use it, but if he had to then he would.

"I will leave, with one condition. You have to let my men retreat safely and give me your words that you won't invade any of my cities for the next one year.", said Wang Yuehei.

Zhang Hu, or the grand elder nodded his head, "Of course. Let's call it a temporary truce. A one year peace treaty. You won't attack my territories and I won't attack yours. Whenever we had our eyes at one same place, whoever reach it first will have the right to occupy that place. Once he failed, the right fall to the other."

Wang Yuehei didn't say anything for a while, the truth was he wanted to attack Zhang Hu as soon as he gathered enough strength to do it. But then, from their first battle, he realized that he shouldn't underestimate the fairies from Xichan temple. If he insisted on fighting them, then even if he finally won over them, he might lose too much time and unable to catch up with Wang Yuexue's progress.

Wang Yuehei finally nodded his head, "Deal..."

Yue Guang and Zhang Hu commanded their men to retreat. Wang Yuehei did the same. Without much words, Wang Yuehei led his army back to Ningde. Some of those who were left to defend Fuzhou and survived, began to gather and followed. Wang Yuehei left the arrangement to one of his commander and flew back to Ningde as fast as he could.

As they watched Wang Yuehei and his army retreated from Fuzhou, in Zhang Hu's inner realm, he asked the grand elder, "So are you going to put me inside that restrictive formation once more?"

The grand elder said nothing for quite some time and then replied, "I never thought that the demon lord would be this strong. Back then, even though I lost the fight and killed, I was weaker than usual and I manage to injured him, or so I thought."

"Now, with our souls combined, I grow a  few levels above my previous self. With Yue Guang help me, I thought we would be able to kill him. By then, your existence is of no use. But with the way it is now..."

"Now, after you see his real strength, you need me.", Zhang Hu completed the grand elder's sentence.

"Yes, now I need your strength. I have nothing to hide from you. There is no way for me to lie to you, since you already knew all my plan.", the grand elder answered honestly.

"Yes, I know your plan to possess my body and then your son or one of your fairy will possess my only son. Through my lineage your clan will rule the land. I know it all, so why would I lend you my strength?", Zhang Hu asked.

The grand elder answered, "Because that would be your only chance to save your family. Your beloved wife, your beloved daughter and son."

"That will be your only chance to save your clan as well. Because when the demon lords truly rule the land, there will be no place for any fairies in this land. Your kind and their kind are enemies since ancient times.", said Zhang Hu.

The times when their soul perfectly combined, he learned many things from the grand elder's mind.

"Yes ..., I need you as much as you need me.", said the grand elder.

The past few days, since the grand elder caught him within the formation and possessed his body, Zhang Hu was filled with anger and hatred. The most hurtful things the grand elder did was when the grand elder punished him through his wife. His pride as a man was deeply hurt. But as his soul combined and learned more of the grand elder's inner mind, although he still couldn't forgive him for what he did, the anger was lessened.

First, now Zhang Hu knew that the grand elder didn't really take pleasure in all he did to his wife.

A demon might get a pleasure out of it, but fairies didn't. That wasn't in their nature. The grand elder rather did it for a more practical reason, which was to weaken Zhang Hu's will. And since the news came of Wang Yuehei's rather rashly planned invasion to Ningde, the grand elder decided to do something extreme to quickly weakened Zhang Hu's will.

Another part of the grand elder that arose Zhang Hu's empathy was the fact that the grand elder did it all, for the survival of his kin.

Zhang Hu's harsh criticism wounded and insulted the grand elder in many aspects. Part of the pain came from the fact that the grand elder must admit that Zhang Hu was right. Despite his hundred years of age, the fairies seemed less wise than they should be.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Now that the grand elder saw that there was actually a chance for his clan to survive, he wanted to amend for his mistakes. He did plan to possess Zhang Hu in his bad temper, like a child throwing tantrum. But Zhang Hu could understand why the grand elder did it.

Both men, one human, one fairy, silently watched the demon's army disappeared from their sight. Their mind wasn't on the demon lord. Rather it was of their future as two person in one existence.

"It will never be my body.", suddenly the grand elder spoke.

"Human body and their soul was a unique relation. It was two, but at the same time it was one. If your soul die, no matter how much energy I use to keep your body alive, it will wither away. If your body died, your soul will disappear too. Although it was also a mystery for us fairies where the soul go when your body die. All the knowledge of reincarnation, heaven and hell are beyond us as well.", said the grand elder.

"I could only possess you, but never take over it as my own.", the grand elder explained.

Zhang Hu sighed a long sigh, "For my family... let's work together."

The grand elder nodded his head and somewhat in timid fashion, which wasn't an expression that normally used for him, he said, "I promised, whenever you're alone with your wife. I'll lock myself out of your consciousness."

Zhang Hu didn't know whether he should laugh or cry. The thought of one old fairy, with white hair and long white beard, timidly talked about husband and wife activity, was somewhat absurd and weird that made it laughable. At the same time, the pain was too raw, for him to laugh about it.

Zhang Hu merely, mentally nodded.

He didn't know where this alliance would lead them. He still couldn't fully trust the fairies. Their personality was that of a prideful child. It was like sitting on a tiger's back. It would frighten your enemy, but at the same time, the tiger itself was a threat for the rider.

-------- o --------

Mean while at the same time, at Gutian Town, the battle took the most critical moment. The army from Ningde finally reached the defense line of the town.

Several hours ago, the progress had been reported to Huang Wen, which instructed their men to be prepared for the battle. As of now, 3,000 men hidden at the foot of that small hill, while at the top of that small hill, their leaders watched the battle below them seriously.

"We still heard nothing from Mi Fang.", Yan Chou couldn't hide his worries.

"We'll know his fate soon enough.", said Yu Heng shortly.

Jian Bao and Yan Chou turned their eyes toward Huang Wen, but Yu Heng quickly nudged them and shook his head. Sighing, both men kept their mouth shut. Huang Wen chose to focus his mind on the battle below. Of course he noticed Yan Chou's and Jian Bao's concern, but he already made up his mind. Anyway, if they wanted to do something about Mi Fang, it was already too late now.

Xia Bao felt responsible and wanted to say something, but he knew better than that. He noticed how Yan Chou and Jian Bao were dissatisfied of his advise to Huang Wen. Xia Bao decided it was better if he kept his mouth shut as well.

The tension could be felt around them.

Yan Chou's words only made the situation even more intense.

"We will see how that colonel act, when the reinforcement reached his town. Will he show his face sooner or wait for them to enter even further into his town?", Chen Fang wanted to turn their focus into something else.

Huang Wen said, "That colonel seem to be quite shrew,d that he might choose to let them enter the town before shows them his fang. But then, he seem like a coward as well that he might not have the courage to do so and choose to attack them before they enter his town."

"We'll know soon enough.", said Yu Heng as the army from Ningde moved even closer to their goal.

That was several hours ago.

Now, the army from Ningde had reached Gutian town.

Now, the moment they were waiting for was coming. They had the answers of their question. What was left, was their answer based on this situation at hand.

Unconsciously, Huang Wen straightened his back and made him appeared taller. His men's eyes all turned to his direction. 3,000 men stood with their heart beating faster by each every seconds.

With his eyes, fixed on Gutian town, Huang Wen raised his hand high to the sky and then with a strong movement, swiped down, pointed to the town.

"Attack !"

His captains quickly moved toward their men. Huang Wen followed by Chen Fang, Xia Bao, Zhang Xuan, Chen Yao, Xia Yue and handful of trusted guard, marched toward Gutian town.

"Zhang Xuan! Stay close by me!", Huang Wen growled as he marched toward Gutian town.

"Yes!", said Zhang Xuan.

"Sister Chen! Sister Xia!", Zhang Xuan called her sisters.

Soon Huang Wen's captains joined along with their men. With Huang Wen at the front, 3,000 men marched toward Gutian town.

A walk slowly turned into a jog, and a jog slowly turned into a run. Keeping their momentum, they paced themselves so that their morale would be at its height when they reached their enemies.