Chapter 1821: Under the Moon Before the Flowers
In the Black Tiger Gang’s base, inside Zhang Feng’s study, Zhang Feng was looking at the report in front of him. Then he turned to Hu Liangchen and said, “Uncle Hu, how is Little Hai doing?”
Hu Liangchen smiled and said, “The Heavenly Demons have retreated for the time being. The reinforcements from the other sects are still rus.h.i.+ng over. Earlier, you proposed to send 2.5 million troops and the sects agreed. Little Hai should now have enough troops in hand. All of the reinforcements would arrive within two days.”
Zhang Feng nodded, then he let out a long breath and said, “Since there’s nothing wrong with Little Hai, what about forming a second army? Do the sects have opinions about this?”
Hu Liangchen replied, “They don’t have any objections. However, they said that the commander of the second army shouldn’t be from the Black Tiger Gang.”
When he heard Hu Liangchen, Zhang Feng couldn’t help but stare. Then his eyes narrowed. He hesitated for a while before asking, “Uncle Hu, what’s your opinion?”
Hu Liangchen answered, “This is another test by those guys. They felt uneasy when they found out that the Black Tiger Gang has another immortal expert. They’re afraid that the sect would use this opportunity to grow bigger. So they want another army not under our control. I think we should agree to them.”
Zhang Feng stared, then he raised his brows and said, “Alright. We can’t have those guys be vigilant towards us. Otherwise, they won’t cooperate or even surrender to the Myriad Demons Sect. But Uncle Hu, if we do this, our sect will be losing a lot.”
Hu Liangchen smiled faintly and said, “It won’t be easy for those guys to make the Black Tiger Gang lose people. Little Feng, this time, I’m going to let Huaqian and Yuexia head out. Both of them have the same strength and have reached the transcending tribulation stage. Our Hu Clan’s combined attack is very famous. We have also taken care of the clan’s affairs over the years. Letting Huaqian and Yuexia go out won’t only preserve the strength of the Black Tiger Gang, he also won’t attract a lot of attention. What do you think?”[1]
Zhang Feng nodded and said, “Alright, we can send Huaqian and Yeuxia out. However, Uncle Hu, you have to make sure that they are careful. After all, this second army won’t be under our control.”
Hu Liangchen was moved by Zhang Feng’s words. He smiled and said, “Gang Leader, don’t worry. They will be fine. The Black Tiger Gang is the dominant power in the Freedom Alliance. Those people wouldn’t dare make a move on our key members. Although we aren’t in control of the army, we can choose a sect with a good relations.h.i.+p to the Black Tiger Gang to command the army. This way, we won’t need to worry.”
Zhang Feng nodded, “Alright. But I can’t bear to see the young couple go to the battlefield. But if Uncle Hu is willing, then I can only agree. Hahaha.”
Hu Liangchen also laughed when he heard Zhang Feng. The Hu Clan practice dual cultivation. This meant that they would only have one dao companion their entire lives. Moreover, because of their cultivation method, the pair of dao companions would have the same level of cultivation. It could be said that they would live and die together. Because of this their names would become somewhat strange. Take Hu Liangchen and his wife, for example. After marrying him, Hu Liangchen’s wife changed her name to Meijing. In the same way, Hu Liangchen’s granddaughter-in-law was renamed to Yuexia. Liangchen and Meijing(Beautiful scenery and a great morning), Huaqian and Yuexia(Under the moon before the flowers). These were their names.
Hu Liangchen looked at Zhang Feng who had a smile on his face and then said, “Gang Leader, it would be good to tell Little Hai about this. Let him know about the sect’s affairs. At the same time, remind him that the sects are still vigilant towards us. Let him be more careful.”
Zhang Feng nodded. Then he looked at Hu Liangchen and said, “Uncle Hu, just call me Little Feng like before. You’re too polite. With our relations.h.i.+p, calling me Gang Leader is too distant. As for Little Hai, there’s no need to worry about him. I reckon Little Hai already thought about this.”
Hu Liangchen nodded, “I’m not really too worried about Little Hai. With his methods, those people can’t do anything to him at all.’
Zhang Feng chuckled and said, “Little Hai’s method is indeed very good. Not to mention 2.5 million, even if they sent an extra 1 million troops, Zhao Hai wouldn’t have any problems.”
Hu Liangchen nodded and said, “Alright. Little Feng, I’ll go back and let Huaqian prepare. With the establishment of the second army, the Black Tiger Gang would also send some people to join the second army. Who do you think we should send for the second army?”
Zhang Feng thought for a moment and said, “We should send people from all levels of cultivation. We cannot avoid sending troops. If something happens to them later on, we’ll make sure to take care of their family members. Even if they died for the Black Tiger Gang.”
Although Zhang Feng was biased against the second army, Hu Liangchen understood that what Zhang Feng said was right. Those who would be sent to the second army would have a higher chance of peris.h.i.+ng. After all, even if the other sects wouldn’t dare sacrifice the men of the Black Tiger Gang, the second army doesn’t have Zhao Hai. This caused Zhang Feng to lose confidence in it.
In fact, it wasn’t only Zhang Feng. Although Hu Liangchen was confident in his grandson, he had to recognize that his grandson was still too far from Zhao Hai’s ability.
At this time, Zhao Hai was reorganizing his army. With the arrival of the reinforcements, Zhao Hai now has nearly 2 million troops under his command. There were also about 50 immortal experts present. This shows how much importance the sects attached to the army.
However, this doesn’t mean that Zhao Hai could attack the Heavenly Demons once the entire army was complete. This was impossible. These newcomers still need to go through a period of training. Moreover, these newcomers would disrupt the status quo of the army. They needed to be rea.s.signed.
Naturally, Zhao Hai wouldn’t go too far in managing the newcomers. He would have the other sects manage them. However, these people would be briefed by Zhao Hai. These people would be those who fought with Zhao Hai before. These were the people who had been won over by Zhao Hai.
However, problems would arise with this method. The first people to be sent to the alliance army were those who didn’t have a good standing in their sects. And now, among the reinforcements were influential elders as well as core disciples. If an inner disciple orders a core disciple, it would be strange if conflicts didn’t arise.
Zhao Hai also realized this issue, but he didn’t take back his order. On the contrary, he doubled down and decisively dealt with a few core disciples. Naturally, he didn’t slap the faces of these core disciples. These were young masters in their respective sects. It would definitely cause a backlash if he touched their pride. Instead, Zhao Hai directly sent these troublesome core disciples back to their sects along with a message explaining the situation.
After expelling more than 20 core disciples, the others finally behaved themselves. They understood that only one person could be prideful in the alliance army, and that person was Zhao Hai. In the army, their status as core disciples was useless.
Three days after Zhao Hai’s second battle against the Heavenly Demons, all 2.5 million reinforcements finally arrived. At this point, Zhao Hai has 3 million troops under his command. There were also 100 large artifacts. Although the Black Tiger Gang has a lot of large artifacts, they would take a lot of them all at once. Doing so would just scare the other sects.
Each sect also sent immortal experts this time. There were 50 of them in total. These immortal experts belong to different sects. After their arrival, Zhao Hai immediately made things clear for them. They won’t have any positions in the first army. They would also obey all orders. Otherwise, they would be asked to leave.
In the Great World of Cultivation’s history, only Zhao Hai dared to speak to immortal experts this way. Although these immortal experts were angry inside, they didn’t say anything. After all, their sects had a lot of disciples in the first army. With Zhao Hai being in control over the entire army, these immortal experts also needed to consider these disciples whenever they made a move. If they get in conflict with Zhao Hai and get expelled, then it would bring no benefit to their sects. Moreover, who knows if Zhao Hai would find an excuse to cause their sects to suffer some losses.
Additionally, Zhao Hai’s strength wasn’t inferior to these immortal experts. There was also the Black Turtle Ancestor on Zhao Hai’s side. Even if the immortal experts wanted to get in conflict with Zhao Hai, they didn’t have any strength to pressure him.
And through various channels, they found out that Zhao Hai held back 50 immortal level Heavenly Demons. They didn’t know what methods Zhao Hai used, but they were sure that Zhao Hai wasn’t afraid of them. Therefore, these immortal experts could only acquiesce to Zhao Hai’s methods.
But this didn’t mean that the immortal experts didn’t hide any feelings of resentment in their hearts. They would find trouble for Zhao Hai sooner or later. As long as Zhao Hai dared to embarra.s.s their sects, these immortal experts would immediately target him. However, these immortal experts were soon disappointed. They found that Zhao Hai didn’t treat anyone unfairly. Instead, he organized the army properly and made sure to understand the fighting style of the sects. It was said that the Airblast Sect was a.s.signed by Zhao Hai to be scouts. Because of their cultivation method, disciples of the Airblast Sect had the fastest speed among the sects present.
Zhao Hai also divided sects according to their weapons. This way, they could use their strengths in the most appropriate way. Those with great defenses like the Great Strength Sect were also a.s.signed a defensive positions in the army.
Hu Liangchen’s grandson ‘Little Flower’ and his wife.