Chapter 1835: Attack and Defense Drill
Hua Wushang was a core figure of the Hundred Flowers Valley. Naturally, he knew why the Hundred Flowers Valley asked the Freedom Alliance for reinforcement. The Valley wanted the Freedom Alliance to bleed. So when the time comes, the Freedom Alliance would be easier to clean up.
But seeing that the troops sent by the Freedom Alliance were mostly at the spirit forming stage, Hua Wushang couldn’t help but be confused. He didn’t understand why the alliance sent these people. These cultivators would just die during battle. Most importantly, this wouldn’t have the effect of weakening the Freedom Alliance.
Li Xunhua looked at Hua Wushang and was about to say something when a heaven-shaking sound was suddenly heard. This was the army base’s alarm.
Zhao Hai stared, Hua Wushang also stared. Then his complexion changed as he said, “Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. They’re not finished yet. Senior Brother Li, Junior Brother Zhao, please excuse me. The Heavenly Demons are here again. I have to go and take a look.”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “There’s no need to be polite. If Senior Brother agrees, I can also go and take a look. Wan Zong, have everyone line up in formation. Don’t allow them to cause any trouble.”
Wan Zong that Zhao Hai referred to was a transcending tribulation expert that was sent by the Black Tiger Gang to help Zhao Hai. Zhao Hai already told the others that if he wasn’t present, then they would have to listen to Wan Zong’s orders.
Wan Zong immediately complied and began to form the ranks. The cultivators of the Freedom Alliance also began coming out of the transmission formations. All of them were lined up properly. These people wouldn’t dare tarnish Zhao Hai’s reputation.
Zhao Hai no longer minded the army and instead went with Hua Wushang and Li Xunhua towards the edge of the base. Troops of the base began lining up in formations. And all of them were gathered in the base. But looking at their lines, they were quite messy. They were far inferior to the troops that Zhao Hai brought.
Zhao Hai didn’t care about the cultivators of the Hundred Flowers Valley. What he was looking at were the Heavenly Demons opposite them. The Heavenly Demons didn’t send a lot of people this time, only about 1 million troops. There were also 50 large artifacts present. They had the same army formation where the troops were at the back of the large artifacts. They were currently rus.h.i.+ng towards the base.
Looking at the Heavenly Demons, Zhao Hai didn’t know what to say. The Heavenly Demons facing the first army definitely wouldn’t dare approach in such a huge manner. Battles would always be small groups against small groups. Mo Like was no longer sending millions of troops.
Mo Like knew very well how powerful Zhao Hai was. If he really sent millions of troops to Zhao Hai, even if Zhao Hai can’t swallow them all in one bite, he would at least kill one or two hundred thousand. Therefore, whenever Mo Like sent troops to fight Zhao Hai, the troops wouldn’t exceed ten thousand. He would be dreaming if he dispatches millions of troops against Zhao Hai.
But this Heavenly Demon Army did. They were so blatant and arrogant. It was as if they didn’t care about the cultivators at all.
Zhao Hai paid attention to Hua Wushang’s expression. Although Hua Wushang was angry, this anger wasn’t directed at the arrogance of the Heavenly Demons but instead on the fact that the Heavenly Demons attacked. Zhao Hai even saw a trace of fear in Hua Wushang’s eyes.
Zhao Hai couldn’t help but be disappointed inside. It seems like it was a mistake letting Hua Wushang lead the army. The trace of fear in Hua Wushang’s eyes clearly came from the time he partic.i.p.ated in the Heavenly Demon Trial. At that time, all cultivators, except Zhao Hai, had been chased down for an entire year. This should have buried a deep fear in the hearts of the survivors. And because these survivors were young masters of their own sects, their fear may have affected other people.
At this time, the Heavenly Demons Army was about to arrive at the base. Their large artifacts began to rampage. A lot of defensive formations were quickly destroyed. The Hundred Flowers Alliance sent 20 large artifacts not to attack the enemies but to contain them. They would dare go head to head with the Heavenly Demons. They just sent attacks so that the Heavenly Demons would no longer destroy the defensive formations.
The Heavenly Demon Army seems to be used to this tactic. When the large artifacts of the Hundred Flowers Alliance came out, the large artifacts immediately separated from the army to face them.
Following soon after, the Heavenly Demon Army began their full attack. They divided themselves into squads and charged towards the base. On the other hand, the Heavenly Demon Alliance already went into a defensive stance. Everyone went in defensive formations and didn’t dare clash with the Heavenly Demons.
Seeing this, Zhao Hai almost rolled his eyes. He discovered that the cultivators of the Hundred Flowers Alliance held fear towards the Heavenly Demons. They simply didn’t have any intentions of fighting back. They were simply satisfied with performing an offense and defense drill with the Heavenly Demon Army. Moreover, they seem to be the pitiful sparring partner of the Heavenly Demons.
Zhao Hai was left with nothing to say. He knew that the Hundred Flowers Alliance was in a defensive position. However, he didn’t expect them to be this defensive.
Strictly speaking, Zhao Hai’s first army was also on the defensive. However, their defense was active. They would even send people to hara.s.s the Heavenly Demons. Zhao Hai dares to bet that only his first army would dare to do this. The reason this was possible was because Zhao Hai has provided the cultivators of the first army with confidence. The cultivators of the first army weren’t afraid of the Heavenly Demons. They were simply enemies they needed to defeat.
Zhao Hai became bored of the offensive and defensive play of the Hundred Flowers Alliance and the Heavenly Demons. It took one hour before the Heavenly Demons decided to retreat.
Although Zhao Hai was bored, he didn’t show it in his face. Conversely, he looked at the battlefield like a child seeing new things. It seems as though he wasn’t willing to miss even a single detail.
Zhao Hai was indeed paying attention to the battlefield, but he wasn’t looking at the fighting strength of the Hundred Flowers Alliance. In Zhao Hai’s mind, these cultivators who were terrified could no longer be regarded as cultivators. Even if they’re strong, the fact that they lost their courage meant that they would no longer be able to go against the heavens.
Instead, Zhao Hai was looking at the performance of the Heavenly Demon Army. But after seeing them, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but be disappointed. This Heavenly Demon Army wasn’t any better than Mo Like’s army, they might be even worse. Although Mo Like repeatedly suffered losses against Zhao Hai’s army, Zhao Hai was able to figure out that Mo Like was a wise commander. He continued to learn from the battles and had improved compared to when he first met Zhao Hai.
Meanwhile, the Heavenly Demon Army in front of Zhao Hai was two steps lower than Mo Like’s army. Although they weren’t worse than in terms of strength, if they were placed in front of Zhao Hai’s first army at this time, Zhao Hai could easily eat up a million of this 6 million Heavenly Demon Army with his 3 million troops. Zhao Hai can’t do that against Mo Like.
After the Heavenly Demon Army retreated, Hua Wushang relaxed. Then he immediately arranged for people to repair the defensive formations and cure the wounded. As for the cultivators who died, n.o.body went to deal with their bodies.
Zhao Hai shook his head when he saw this. Taking care of the corpses of those who died has a tremendous impact on an army’s morale. If Hua Wushang didn’t care about those who died, then what would those who still lived think? How could they possibly sacrifice themselves fighting the Heavenly Demons?
Li Xunhua wasn’t talented in this aspect, so he didn’t see anything wrong with Hua Wushang’s action. The Great World of Cultivation was a very selfish place. Even if a cultivator was strong, he would have no value once he died.
It took a while for Hua Wushang to deal with the post-battle arrangements. Then he went to Zhao Hai and Li Xunhua and then said, “Senior Brother Li, Junior Brother Zhao, I didn’t expect the Heavenly Demons to attack at this time. I have bothered the two of you.”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “Senior Brother is too polite. We’re in a war, there’s no such thing as a bother. To be honest, I have been inspired by Brother Hua’s defensive tactics. Our Freedom Alliance clashed too hard against the Heavenly Demons. Although it seemed like we’re not losing, the people we lost are too many. We’re now on a heavy defensive stance. The Heavenly Demon Invasion came too sudden. This caused the Great World of Cultivation to suffer great losses. Our Black Tiger Gang made preparations, so we’re able to hold ground against the Heavenly Demons. But even so, we aren’t able to push the Heavenly Demons back. We thought that we prepared enough and underestimated the Heavenly Demons, causing us to suffer huge losses.”
Zhao Hai was now running his mouth with false words. In any case, n.o.body would know if he was lying or not. Although the Freedom Alliance was known to have won against the Heavenly Demons, these huge sects didn’t take them too seriously. This was because they still have the Soaring Dragon Realm as a final card. In their minds, the reason the Freedom Alliance was able to win was because they were fighting with all they had. They didn’t believe that the Freedom Alliance would be strong enough to defeat a Heavenly Demon Army.”
Zhao Hai words confirmed the suspicions of these sects. And none of them would doubt it. People were strange sometimes. They would rather ignore what’s real and instead believe in a lie that they thought was true. All because it was what’s reasonable in their minds.
After hearing Zhao Hai, Hua Wushang showed a smile on his face. Meanwhile, Li Xunhua’s eyes flashed a glint of understanding. It was clear that they believed Zhao Hai’s lies.
Li Xunhua replied, “Junior Brother, this isn’t the place to talk. Let’s go to Junior Brother Hua’s room first. I heard that Junior Brother Hai likes to drink wine. I have prepared first-cla.s.s spirit wine. I’m just waiting for you to taste it.”
Hearing Li Xunhua, Zhao Hai stared. Then his eyes shone as he said, “Is it Hundred Flowers Wine? The wine you gave me before is fantastic. It has been a long time since I drank wine that good. I’m starting to feel greedy towards it. But because of the current situation of our frontlines, I wasn’t able to ask the Hundred Flowers Valley for more.” Naturally, Zhao Hai was referring to the seductress wine. He only pretended that he drank it before. And of course he couldn’t reveal the fact that he was aware of its effects, so he needs to act well.
When he heard Zhao Hai, Li Xunhua immediately understood what he meant. So he smiled and said, “I just want to inform Junior Brother that the wine I gave you were the best of the best. It takes some time for a Hundred Flowers Wine to be brewed and we don’t have a lot in storage. So I’m afraid I won’t be able to get you more of them at this time. But Junior Brother can rest a.s.sured, I’ll gift you a couple of bottles when you go back.”
Zhao Hai smiled and said, “That’s good. That’s good. Then I’ll impolitely accept it.”
Naturally, Hua Wushang knew about the wine that Zhao Hai was talking about. Hearing the conversation between the two, a happy expression appeared on his face as he said, “The Hundred Flowers Wine that Junior Brother Zhao drank is a special one. I can’t bring one out for you. I only have ordinary Hundred Flowers Wine with me. I hope that Junior Brother Zhao will still drink it.” After he said that, he made a gesture of invitation towards Zhao Hai.
Zhao Hai returned the gesture and said, “Senior Brother is too polite.” Then the three flew towards Hua Wushang’s cave residence. Before long, they entered Hua Wushang’s room. Hu Wushang’s place was very big. Moreover, there were several women inside. When the three sat down, Hua Wushang immediately ordered several women to serve wine. Before long, Hundred Flowers Wines were brought over.
After the three drank one cup of wine, Hua Wushang said, “The frontline is now a meat grinder. We need as many people as we can. And because the Heavenly Demons have more high-level experts, we can only defend with all we can. Therefore, our losses are extremely heavy.”