Chapter 86 — A Bold Plan
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 3
For Gao Yang, the most terrifying sight imaginable would be to stand upon the Dark Mountains, look south, and see no trace of that faintly shimmering barrier.
For the nations of the continent in this age, that would mark the final day of civilization.
But the barrier at the edge of the horizon still stood. Against the chaotic backdrop of the Corrupted Lands it rose like a rampart of light between heaven and earth. Though it had endured there for seven hundred years and many of its functions had doubtless decayed, so long as that radiance remained, the world was still safe.
"So that is the Great Wall..." Heddy's voice carried disbelief and awe. "I have only ever seen it in books..."
"A few centuries ago the people of the borderlands were still familiar with that wall, but over these hundreds of years the realm of civilization has retreated again and again—retreated all the way north of the Whitewater River," Gao Yang said with a rueful shake of his head. "The tide of monsters recedes, and yet you people recede as well. Truly ironic."
Heddy's face flushed with shame, but what could she do? A hundred years ago that great-grandfather of hers—brilliant of mind, fearless to the point of recklessness, and possessed of an unrivaled genius for rebellion—had been far too fond of stirring things up. One man had wrecked the entire foundation of the South. Who would dare take the blame for that?
"All right, all right. The wall's still there, which means that whatever-it's-called, the Sentinel Tower, has 'healed' itself, right?" Amber, though awed by the Great Wall as well, could not bear to linger another minute looking at that festering land to the south. "So those aberrations won't be getting reinforcements. Let's hurry back—hurry back and figure out how to deal with those monsters!"
Gao Yang gave a slight nod, turned, and leaped down from the boulder, remarking casually as he did, "I already have a rough plan."
Amber hurried after him, scrambling to keep pace at his heels while chattering away: "What plan, what plan? You really mean to take out over nine hundred of them with a single War Charge? I was joking with you... Don't tell me you're actually that powerful?"
Gao Yang thought to himself that Gao Yang Cecil of seven hundred years ago might well have been able to plow straight through that horde with a single War Charge, but if he tried such a thing today he would only ascend to the heavens in a spiral and die a second time. The plan he had in mind was certainly not to charge in alone and go on a rampage. "I made a rough calculation just now of the routes through the mountains and the movement speed of those monsters. They haven't yet sensed the camp's existence, so they're moving slowly. At their current pace, continuing north, they won't pose a threat to the camp for at least two days. That gives us two days to prepare."
Amber scratched her hair. "Prepare what?"
"Blow the entire north cliff on the western side of the camp," Gao Yang said, rapidly shuffling through the map in his mind as he spoke. "The rock strata there are unstable, and some sections have already cracked. And the road at the foot of that cliff... lies directly in the path of those aberrations."
Amber was struck dumb. Gao Yang's plan—bold to the point of madness, in her eyes—was utterly beyond anything she had expected.
In her mind she had already conjured countless scenarios of laying defensive lines outside the camp, fighting valiantly, falling back and resisting. She had nearly moved herself to tears with them. Never once had she imagined Gao Yang would propose a plan that so completely defied convention...
And then she began to doubt its feasibility: "Can you really pull that off? Blow up a mountain! How could that possibly work!"
Gao Yang glanced at her. "Not blow up the mountain—blow down a section of the rock strata. Trust me, I've observed the terrain there. It'll be easy. And we have something capable of blasting it apart."