17: Chapter 17 The Scent of Meat

"Blegh—!"

Behind Zhuge Jinyu, a young cultivator could no longer hold it in, leaning against a doorframe and vomiting violently.

She herself wasn't faring much better.

Her face was as pale as paper, and her stomach was in a state of upheaval.

This was even after Su Chen had sealed her sense of taste.

She jerked her head away, pressing her vermilion bird feather fan tightly against her nose and mouth to barely maintain her composure.

Even through the mirror's surface, Su Chen could feel her delicate body trembling violently.

It wasn't hard to imagine what kind of tragedy the commoners in the city had experienced when Jianging City was besieged!

To ensure not a single grain was left for them, the defending army had set fire to all the city's granaries before retreating.

When the grain was burned, what did they eat?

Two-legged sheep are still sheep.

The commoners who hadn't managed to escape the city, especially the elderly, weak, women, and children who were seen as "burdens."

They were the last of the... military rations.

Intermittent singing drifted from outside the government office.

It was the male cultivator from outside, who had gone completely mad, singing.

"The flesh of men is rank and foul, unfit for any dish; the skin of women, smooth as cream, with little sweat to wish."

"Three days of meat, then but a soul remains; where shall I seek my husband in the sunset's fading stains?"

"By nature, wives are best as 'vegetable folk,' allowing pairs to reach old age beneath the marriage yoke."

"Buried alive within the gut, how many did they feed? 'Tis lucky that the crows and kites weren't early in their greed!"

"Better to be a dog in times of peace than a human in times of chaos, hahahaha!..."

...

Zhuge Jinyu sat listlessly in a small courtyard that had been cleaned up, flipping through a small booklet without saying a word.

This was one of the few courtyards the Great Gan army found that wasn't soaked in blood; it was relatively clean, so it had been set up as a temporary command post.

Meanwhile, Su Chen, inside the mirror, was studying the battle situation on a map.

He fell into deep thought as he gazed at the mountainous area and narrow valley entrance to the west of Jianging City, and the vast plains to the east.

Logically speaking, Guo Wenzhuo had absolutely no reason to abandon Jianging City.

Because this city completely guarded the pass between the western and eastern mountain ranges.

Once Jianging City was abandoned, the entire eastern plain controlled by the Guo Clan would have no natural barriers left to defend.

Unable to find an answer, Su Chen looked toward Zhuge Jinyu.

What he saw made him laugh out of sheer frustration.

"The Ghost Realm is a collection of grievances. Many villages and castles, after suffering massacres, will become 'cursed lands,' breeding powerful..."

Suddenly, the young woman felt something tapping her head.

"Ouch!"

"I'm here studying combat plans, and you're actually huddled here reading supernatural novels!"

However, seeing that she didn't seem to be truly reading it, but was just using it to mask her uneasy heart,

Su Chen shook his head and didn't say anything more.

The young woman put down the book and sat quietly, looking somewhat lonely.

"Teacher, why do you think they did this?"

Though she knew war was cruel and political schemes were dirty,

this naked scene of turning humans into food had completely shattered her understanding of a "bottom line."

"If we hadn't attacked the city, would they have... not..."

"Not?"

Su Chen's voice was as cold as iron.

"As long as the war continues, even if nothing happened to Jianging City today, a Huting City would appear tomorrow."

"You may have pity, but for some people, there is no bottom line that cannot be crossed."

"If you are soft-hearted today, then in the future, your soldiers, or even you yourself, might become the 'meat' on someone else's chopping block!"

"If you truly feel pity for them, you might as well go and unify the Three Kingdoms."

"So that those who died in this war, no matter where they are reincarnated, can be born into a good family!"

"Teacher is right to lecture me."

Looking at the famished soldiers around her, Zhuge Jinyu nodded.

Jianging City didn't have the expected granaries, and she had no choice but to significantly reduce the fixed rations for each soldier.

For cultivators at the Golden Core stage or above, they could use Inedia to prevent hunger.

But what about those in the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages?

They were merely a bit more resistant to hunger than ordinary people.

If this continued, although a mutiny wouldn't occur with her presiding over them,

it was a certainty that the army's combat effectiveness would decrease.

Just then, a scout captain rushed into the government office, stumbling and crawling.

His expression was strange, containing both terror and a hint of excitement at having found a chance of survival as he reported stutteringly,

"Chan... Chancellor! An intact residence was found in the northern corner of the city. There seems to be cooking smoke inside, and the scent of meat is wafting out!"

The scent of meat?

In this dead city where even the rats might have been eaten clean, there was actually the scent of meat?

All the generals and soldiers who heard the report were stunned, and then their gazes became complicated.

Hunger surged like a tide, but they also remembered the nausea brought by the tragic scenes they had just witnessed.

The two feelings clashed repeatedly, and for a moment, everyone felt restless.

Zhuge Jinyu and Su Chen in the mirror instantly exchanged a look.

"Let's go! Let's take a look!"

Zhuge Jinyu flipped onto her horse and squeezed its flanks.

The white horse turned into a streak of white light, galloping toward the north of the city.

Huang Ying also led a squad of personal guards close behind her.

...

The north of Jianging City was a large expanse of wasteland.

This area was an agricultural zone with few residents, but correspondingly, the damage it had sustained was indeed relatively small.

If one were to say where in the entire city was most likely to have survivors, it was indeed here.

As they got closer and closer to the city's edge, even Zhuge Jinyu smelled that scent of meat.

In a corner of the city wall, there was a dilapidated thatched hut.

Under the eaves, someone could be seen vaguely busy with something.

The closer they got to that residence, the stronger that strange fragrance of stewed meat became.

The residence looked ordinary; after all, the roof was made of thatched grass, so it could hardly be called a wealthy household.

The courtyard gate was slightly ajar, and that enticing scent of meat was drifting out from within.

The female guards led by Huang Ying were as if facing a great enemy, their swords drawn as they cautiously pushed open the courtyard gate.

The courtyard was surprisingly clean, looking like a different world compared to the hellish scenes within the city.

A large iron pot was set up in the center of the courtyard, the firewood beneath it burning brightly, and a thick white meat broth was bubbling inside.

Several large pieces of meat with bones were bobbing in the soup; the fragrance originated from here.

The meat didn't look unusual.

Everyone present was a battle-hardened warrior; they could naturally tell what kind of meat it was.

A well-featured middle-aged woman wearing faded cloth clothes had her back turned to them.

She was slowly stirring the meat broth in the pot with a long-handled wooden spoon.

Her movements were composed, as if she were just preparing an ordinary dinner in her own backyard.

"This... seems to be real meat!"

A Foundation Establishment stage cultivator who had been hungry for a long time suddenly spoke up.

Hearing the commotion behind her, the middle-aged woman slowly turned around.

She looked very calm.

She glanced at the fully armed, murderous-looking soldiers.

That was absolutely not the way an ordinary peasant woman should look when seeing fully armed soldiers.

Finally, her gaze fell upon Zhuge Jinyu, who was surrounded in the center, dressed in clothes as white as snow.

An expression that was half-crying and half-smiling appeared on her face.

Putting down the wooden spoon, she knelt down with a thud toward Zhuge Jinyu's direction.

With her head touching the ground, she shouted in a raspy voice,

"...Welcome, Royal Army!"

Just as Zhuge Jinyu was about to step forward to help the middle-aged woman up, Su Chen's voice came into her mind.

"Don't move."

"Order the others to do everything according to my instructions. Do not act recklessly!"