The Black Book: Seven Deadly Sins

"Hmm hmm hmm~"

The warm sunlight shone on the grassland, a young centaur boy lay on the hillside, a strand of dogtail grass in his mouth, humming a little tune without much care.

He occasionally glanced at the grazing cattle and sheep, and instinctively looked southward, a deep sense of longing surfacing in his eyes.

The adults in the tribe had all followed Commander Hong Jila to the south to raid, hoping they could bring back lots of good stuff.

The iron pots made by the two-legged sheep were very useful, and their clothes were particularly beautiful...

Just as he was fantasizing about using beautiful clothes to woo the prairie pearl and win her heart, a barely perceptible tremor came from beneath him.

Startled, the centaur boy quickly pressed his ear to the ground, listening intently.

Soon, he leaped up, joyfully racing to the top of the hill and peering into the distance.

The adults who had gone out were back!

However, when he clearly saw the "slowly" wriggling shadows on the horizon, the centaur boy's smile froze, squinting his eyes in doubt, trying to discern carefully.

Before long, his smile turned into one of shock and fear. He hurriedly ran down the hillside, stumbling and crawling as he dashed towards the tribe.

"It's bad! It's bad! The two-legged humans are coming!"

He rushed into the largest tent, found the elderly chief, and with terror described what he had seen.

"Hahaha, kid, you must be seeing things. Our pasture is thousands of miles from the south, how could those two-legged sheep possibly fly here?"

"Moreover, Commander Hong Jila is leading people to raid in the south, with countless tribes along the way..."

The chief chuckled and shook his head, but the young boy beside him was almost in tears with anxiety.

"Really, I really saw them!"

"Did you mistake a caravan or people from other tribes?"

But just then, a terrified scream came from outside the tent, making the chief's heart skip a beat, and he hurried outside.

Within seconds, he saw dense shadowy figures emerging in the distance, his pupils slowly contracting to needlepoint size.

It truly was the army of the southern people?!

How could they have appeared here?!

This place is thousands of miles from their border!

Are they not afraid of getting lost and dying on the grasslands?

In the past, there were expeditions from the southern empire to the grasslands, but most of the time, they would get lost in the vast sea of grass.

There's no need to attack; they would succumb to illness or starvation, and then retreat in disgrace.

Without guidance from familiar centaurs, other races simply can't find the right direction on the vast unmarked grasslands!

But before the chief could understand, the cavalry in the distance began to slowly accelerate.

Seeing this, the elderly centaur shuddered all over and let out a piercing wail to the elderly, women, and children behind him.

"Run! Quickly run!"

Then, he gathered the remaining few young and strong, and a dozen male centaurs armed with bows and arrows, marched heroically towards the distant army.

"We must hold them off..."

However, the encouraging words stopped abruptly as a menacing arrowhead pierced the old chief's brow, exited from the back of his head, bringing with it sticky yellow-white fluids.

"..."

Thunk~

Trembling pupils, the remaining centaurs watched the old chief's body fall to the ground, then dumbly looked towards the enemy still miles away, a thick despair surfacing in their eyes.

Born to draw the bow, they were raised with bowstrings since childhood, and naturally understood what it meant for an enemy to hit you accurately between the eyes from several miles away.

Can't hit them, can't escape...

Struggling is meaningless, they can only close their eyes and await death!

Yet the instinct to survive still drove them to turn their steps, trying to stay as far away as possible from the enemy.

However, a series of meteoric cold flashes tore through the sky, and the dozen centaurs were picked off one by one, suddenly losing strength in their flying hooves, falling to the ground, and bleeding into thick crimson pools.

On the other side, Zhu Haomiao put away his longbow, lightly tugged the reins, and the Wuzhui beneath him obediently slowed down.

Rumble~

The galloping cavalry quickly charged past the young man in black, leaving only a small group of people by his side.

"Great Commander, is it still the old rule?"

"Hmm... I'm kind-hearted and can't stand bloodshed, so handle it yourselves without letting me see."

The only native left, Dai Jinhong, nodded, offering a fist salute before wisely leaving.

"Understood!"

Once Dai Jinhong had walked away, Bai Linglong sighed slowly.

"Although I know that war is cruel, I still can't get used to slaughtering and silencing."

Upon hearing this, several of the descenders beside her nodded in sympathetic agreement.

They had no issue killing soldiers, but when facing the old, weak, women, and children, they couldn't bring themselves to act.

"We can't let them run back to report, can we?"

Zhu Haomiao stretched his neck to gaze into the distance, chuckling and shaking his head.

"Maintaining a moral baseline is a good thing, which is why I let the natives take action."

"They are different from us and can eliminate the enemy without any psychological burden."

"This is their 'fate'."

"And as for us descenders, it's best not to get involved in this cycle of cause and effect."

Slowly driving his horse, by the time Zhu Haomiao and others arrived at the leftover encampment area, the cavalry that had gone ahead had already returned.

"Sir."

"Hmm."

Dai Jinhong walked over to Zhu Haomiao, respectfully saluted, then discreetly followed behind him in silence.

One says nothing, the other doesn't ask; the two of them tacitly pretended as if nothing had happened.

"Slaughter all the remaining cattle and sheep for food, we will rest here tonight."

"Yes!"

"At our pace, we can raid the Golden Court tomorrow, and once we finish this battle, our attitude towards the grasslands will change from suppression to appeasement, and you won't have to engage in dirty work anymore."

Noticing the accumulation of dark negative emotions in Dai Jinhong's heart, Zhu Haomiao couldn't help but offer some comfort.

On hearing this, Dai Jinhong furrowed his brow: "Sir, if you don't eradicate weeds down to the root, they will regrow when the spring wind blows. We are not afraid of dirty work..."

Hearing these words full of murderous intent, Zhu Haomiao keenly felt the deep-seated animosity between the two native races and looked at Dai Jinhong with a complicated expression.

"You're a bit too extreme."

"..."

"Moreover, you don't have to worry about repercussions now. Da Zhen is on the eve of breaking the cocoon and turning into a butterfly, and it won't be long before the centaur threat disappears forever. They will become my good citizens, capable of songs and dance."

Understanding Zhu Haomiao's subtext, Dai Jinhong gave him a surprised look.

For thousands of years, the Central Plains Dynasty had defeated the Nomadic Empire several times, but never had they established effective rule on the grasslands, at most subduing it for a few decades before a new ruler arose and the cycle of love and war began anew.

"Sir, are you planning to rule the grasslands for a long time?"

"Not long-lasting - permanent."

"But you can't farm here."

"That's because you were too foolish to cultivate useful seeds. Soon it will be possible."

"Ah?"