Chapter 1067 A Setback
The secular world, the martial arts world, the Kunlun Immortal World, the worldlets, and even the Outer Domain of the Ancient Mine were relatively uneventful.
A few years ago, countless talents competed for the t.i.tle “Immortal King”. In the end, Chen Changqing won the t.i.tle.
Since then, Emperor Qing was well-known all over the world, only his influence was not as stunningly great as that of Zhang Mu, the former Immortal King.
It was all because, in this generation, there was a man named Zhang Hanyang who surpa.s.sed all the rules.
He rose to prominence amid a crowd of heroes. Although many martial artists in the new generation were also eye-catching, they were much less amazing.
In contrast to the peace in these places, the King’s Domain was really in a mess.
Small-scale fights were going on at every moment. The only place that was not involved in the battle was the Black White Palace, which was above worldly considerations.
“Why hasn’t Zhang Hanyang given us any instructions yet?”
Lord Nan Shan, Lord Dong Gu, as well as nearly a hundred core subordinates of theirs were standing on the highest peak of Mountain Nan.
They had just received many pieces of news.
Lord Zhen Hai had already conquered the area with a radius of around 30 miles south of the Mountain Nan Domain. He had also set up a Heaven-earth Formation at each critical spot, which surrounded this area in a semicircle.
Lord Bei Huai’s force spread out horizontally for about 30 miles and took over a small portion of Lord Zhen Hai’s territory. On the map of the King’s Domain, his new territory was oval. It suddenly appeared in the north, like a giant rock that was about to heavily smash down on the south.
The Black White Palace was located in the central area, which was blank on the map. Battles were banned within a radius of three miles around it.
Lord Bei Huai’s force had kept heading for the south. His territory was about to stretch to the Mountain Nan Domain.
Lord Nan Shan was besieged from all sides.
At the border, Lord Zhen Hai and Lord Bei Huai had both sent out troops to launch some feeler attacks.
To Lord Zhen Hai and Lord Bei Huai, those might seem to be just feeler attacks. But to Lord Nan Shan, those were attacks that were crus.h.i.+ng his territory.
In merely a single day, the Mountain Nan Domain had decreased by a tenth.
At this rate, the Mountain Nan Domain would be taken away in less than three days.
Thus, these people were a little anxious.
“Is it that he no longer cares to help us?” Lord Dong Gu sighed deeply after being silent for a long time. “To survive this war is too hard for us. It’s like I can’t see any hope.”
“Hang in there. Zhang Hanyang may bring us a chance to fight back.”
As soon as Lord Nan Shan finished speaking, a figure flew toward them at high speed.
“Coming! They’re coming!
“Your Majesty, reinforcements have arrived.
“It’s Zhang Hanyang’s men. They’re forcing their way here from the southeast. There are about 100,000 of them.”
These words shocked Lord Nan Shan, Lord Dong Gu, and all the others.
“They’re here?”
Everyone perked up. They immediately flew in the southeast.
After flying for more than 10 minutes, they finally saw a large crowd ahead.
“With such a large army, the number of fighters on our side will exceed 300,000. The gap is no longer that big!”
Lord Dong Gu laughed out loud and said, “Zhang Hanyang certainly didn’t let us down!”
“He is a person who made the rules. How can he break the rules himself?” Lord Nan Shan sighed in relief. Then, he channeled his energy to his throat to make his voice spread in all directions. “I, Lord Nan Shan, extend my welcome to all of you!”
At a glance, Lord Nan Shan saw that Zhang Mu, Zhang Guangyou, Chen Changqing, Mu Xue, and others were leading the army. He was instantly more relieved.
Among the army, there were Zhang Hanyang’s family, disciples, and subordinates. Zhang Hanyang would not send those close to him to die. Thus, he must have a lot of confidence in them winning this battle.
“Greetings, Lord Nan Shan, Lord Dong Gu.”
When they got closer, Zhang Mu nodded to the two lords.
“Let’s head back now. Lord Liu, arrange accommodations for them.”
Since so many people had come, the houses in Lord Nan Shan’s territory were not enough, so they needed to build more right off.
However, the fighters were not picky about where to rest. As cultivators, it was normal for them to sleep without a roof over their heads.
Moments later, Zhang Mu, Deep Flame, and the others gathered at the highest peak. In addition to Mu Xue and the other youngsters, there were also representatives of several major forces. Although they served as subordinates, they still had to partic.i.p.ate in the discussions and meetings.
“What’s the current situation?” Deep Flame asked.
“Things don’t look good.”
Lord Dong Gu waved his hand and the map of the King’s Domain popped up in front of him. There were several regions marked on it.
“This blue area is the place taken by Lord Bei Huai. This brown one belongs to Lord Zhen Hai. The small dot in the middle is the Black White Palace. The big dot is where we are.”
For a while, no one spoke.
“The situation is this severe?”
“At present, Lord Bei Huai has one million soldiers, while Lord Zhen Hai has 600,000. We originally had 200,000. With your arrival, now we have 300,000 soldiers. It’s not like we don’t have the strength to put up a fight!”
Lord Nan Shan’s face was stern. His tone manifested his att.i.tude and status as an overlord.
“It’s time to teach them a lesson.”
“Battles are inevitable. But we still need to discuss the division of personnel,” Zhang Mu said coolly.
Now he had come here, he would not put himself under the control of others. If he was entirely at Lord Nan Shan’s disposal, regardless of whether he would agree on it or not, all those forces that had come here for the trial would not be at ease.
“Sure.”
Lord Nan Shan nodded and said, “You are the leader of this army, aren’t you? As a relative of Zhang Hanyang’s, I will not trick you or anything. I suggest that the troops of our Dark Shadow Clan mix with yours to carry out combat missions.”
“How about this? The chief commander will be decided by four people through negotiation. Lord Nan Shan and I are two of the four,” Lord Dong Gu looked at Zhang Mu and said, “and you and another representative of your alliance are the other two. What do you think?”
“Then let Deep Flame be the fourth one,” Zhang Mu said without hesitation.
After this issue was settled, Lord Nan Shan immediately said, “There is no time to lose. The borders of our region are shrinking continuously. What we need to do right now is to counterattack. We have 81 troops led by Real Kings, and each troop has more than 20,000 people.”
“We also have 30 troops. Each has 5000 to 20,000 people,” said Zhang Mu.
“So we have a total of about 300,000 people. We can divide them into 10 troops, each of which has 30,000 people. Then, we may expand our territory in these eight directions. First, we must guarantee that the Mountain Nan Domain is intact. After that, we can plan our next move. What do you say?” suggested Lord Dong Gu.
Zhang Mu looked at the map and pondered for 10 seconds.
Then, he asked, “Isn’t it a little abrupt to directly attack like this?”
“There shouldn’t be any problem. After all, this can only be considered a feeler attack,” said Deep Flame with a frown.
Although there were many people on the other side, only a small number of them were fighting here. Along the way, they met several of their squads. But those squads made way for them and did not stop them at all.
“Since it’s a feeler attack, it’s good for us to take the offensive.” Zhang Mu nodded.
“Isn’t it said that Lord Bei Huai has one million people and Lord Zhen Hai has 600,000? Either one of them can annihilate us if they want,” Elder Meng said dully.
In his opinion, it seemed very difficult to win this battle. However, the more challenging it was, the more interested he was. He became excited.
“It’s not a compet.i.tion for resources anymore,” Lord Nan Shan said in a deep voice. “Now it’s become a compet.i.tion for victory, for the ones who lose may be killed. Although Lord Bei Huai has an army of a million soldiers, if we work together with Lord Zhen Hai, we’ll have nearly as many people on our side. Besides, Lord Zhen Hai has more Real Kings. In that case, Lord Bei Huai’ll likely lose. Therefore, he also has many worries. Likewise, Lord Zhen Hai is also worried that we’ll team up with Lord Bei Huai. If so, Lord Zhen Hai won’t have any chance. But in fact, everyone knows that we can’t possibly join hands with Lord Bei Huai. Because our alliance wins, we’ll have to face Lord Bei Huai’s army alone. Now, we’re stuck in between the other two forces, striving to find a way out. That’s why they only mean to slowly exhaust our strength but don’t want to kill us immediately. Hence, this is our chance to resist. Let’s fight.”
Lord Nan Shan explained the situation quite clearly.
Everyone present understood that Lord Nan Shan might also have a good chance to win.
“Let’s move on to the personnel allocation,” said Lord Dong Gu.
Therefore, the people on the scene immediately began to make the arrangements.
Each troop had 30,000 people, consisting of both the members of the Dark Shadow Clan and the people from the secular world. Two leaders in each troop would consult each other and issue orders to the troop according to the circ.u.mstances.
Soon, the army of 300,000 people set off.
This immediately startled some people.
One by one, the informers brought back the news.
“Oh?”
At Lord Bei Huai’s camp, Lord Bei Huai was looking at a map with a hint of interest on his face.
“They want to fight back? Haha, even though they’ve had a reinforcement of 100,000 people, all they’ve got is 300,000 people. Now they’ve divided them into 10 troops. Are they preparing to seize the entire Mountain Nan Domain?”
“Your Majesty, how about I bring some of our men to wipe them out?” one of his subordinates said in a loud voice.
“No, no, no, I don’t want them dead for now.”
Lord Bei Huai shook his head slightly. “Wouldn’t it be more interesting to keep them alive? However, I’d like to make them see the situation. Lord Bu, take 200,000 men with you and divide them into five troops to stop Lord Nan Shan. Also, expand the northern battlefront by a third.”
“Yes!”
“Heh…”
Lord Bei Huai looked at the map and showed a faint smile.
He seemed to have seen the dawn of victory.
“Hold on!”
Another magnate said, “We’ve shown the portraits of Zhang Hanyang and his people. Be careful. If you meet those people, you’re allowed to defeat them but you can’t kill them. Let them breathe for the time being. We hope Lord Zhen Hai could be the first one to kill Zhang Hanyang’s people.”
“He wouldn’t do that, either.” Lord Bei Huai shook his head. “Lord Zhen Hai is a cautious person. As long as Zhang Hanyang’s att.i.tude is not clear, he wouldn’t hurt his people. For the time being, we should only wear down their strength until Lord Nan Shan is vanquished. Then, we’ll see what choice Zhang Hanyang will make. If there is no response, it will be the time to end the game.”
As they were discussing the battle, Lord Zhen Hai and the other magnates were also having a meeting.
“Lord Nan Shan has 300,000 people. He has sent all of them out in 10 troops to conquer the entire Mountain Nan Domain. I suppose Lord Bei Huai will teach them a lesson,” Lord Zhen Hai said.
“How do you know?” someone asked.
“Because I have the same idea,” Lord Zhen Hai remarked while looking at the map shrouded by layers of energy. “I’m considering whether to take advantage of this opportunity to bring down Lord Bei Huai’s force. But I’m also worried that he has a backup plan.”
“Now is not the time for us to fight Lord Bei Huai head-on,” another magnate cautioned. “I think we should do the same as Lord Bei Huai—wearing away Lord Nan Shan’s strength and holding our troops where they are for the time being. If we prepare to subdue Lord Bei Huai’s force, we shall subdue it big-time.”
“That’s also a good point.”
Lord Zhen Hai nodded. “Lord Yi, lead 160,000 men in four troops to block Lord Nan Shan’s force.”
“Yes.”
With the battle pending, the atmosphere was rather tense.
There was a troop heading for the south. More than 10,000 people in the troop were under Sect Leader Mu’s leaders.h.i.+p, including Mu Xue, Zhao Feng, and the members of the Luo Fu Sword sect. The rest of the troop, which consisted of more than 10,000 members of the Dark Shadow Clan, was lead by Lord Liu, who had just recovered from a serious injury.
“They haven’t experienced a battle of this scale yet. Although they are nervous, they still haven’t had enough reverence for the matter.” Sect Leader Mu looked at the crowd behind him and shook his head, even though they appeared to be capable and well-trained.
“This is war,” Lord Liu said with a smile. “War is brutal. One won’t understand it until one experiences it in person. After that, one will understand that in war, the strength of an individual can hardly turn the situation around.”
“Who said that?” Mu Xue immediately retorted, “I’ve seen one person who killed a ton of people on his own.”
She recalled the scenes that she had seen in her master’s memory.
Corpses were everywhere, numbering in the tens of thousands.
“Haha, you are talking about the crus.h.i.+ng effect of absolute strength,” Lord Liu pointed out. He then laughed and said, “Now in our army, the backbone force is those at the Elixir Realm Early-Stage. There are even many in the Earth Realm or even the Heaven Realm. Don’t underestimate people like them. Some who know how to employ combat formations to jointly launch attacks can even fight those at higher levels.”
“What’s there to be afraid of? Just wait and see. We’ll be undefeatable.” Mu Xue was extremely confident. There were so many of them, while the troops on the borders only had about 30,000 people. Now that the enemies were at the same level as them, she felt that they would win.
“They’re coming!”
Lord Liu saw black ma.s.ses in the sky above a big mountain ahead. There were roughly 20,000 people. He couldn’t help but feel adrenalized.
“It’s time for us to win some battles. There are 20,000 enemies ahead. We can defeat them.”
“There are only 20,000 of them. Could this be a setup?” Sect Leader Mu said with doubts.
“Maybe, maybe not. Even when we’re fighting, we still have to be circ.u.mspect. The thing we must heed the most is the Heaven-earth Formations. Once the war starts, there will be all kinds of illusory formations and murderous formations. Formation masters had been underrated in the King’s Domain. But now, they have become the key figures of each force. Well, every new sovereign brings his courtiers,” Lord Liu said to Sect Leader Mu.
Then, he took a deep breath. In a booming voice, he announced, “Drumbeats dictate advance, while cries of the crane dictate retreat.”
These words were addressed to the 30,000 fighters behind him. Once everyone was in a tangle, there was no way to issue orders to them. The only instructions the leaders could give were to advance or to retreat.
This kind of large-scale war was kind of similar to the contention for domination in ancient times. It was also strikingly different. The fighters did not need someone to command them to switch formations. Everyone had their understanding and fighting methods. They could only advance or retreat. There were not many fighting strategies. Nor did they rely heavily on external instruments.
“It’s Lord Zhen Hai’s force.”
Lord Liu looked at the troop coming toward them.
When the troop was about 2 miles away, Lord Liu abruptly bowled, “Fight!”
“Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump…”
The war drums resounded through the heavens and the earth.
The 30,000 people pressed forward like a dark cloud.
The other party also rushed over very quickly, but they dashed to both sides and surrounded Lord Liu’s force.
“Eh?”
Seeing this, Lord Liu was slightly stunned and looked around in surprise.
It was quiet. He even felt a dead silence.
As the chief commanders, Lord Liu and Sect Leader Mu did not go to the battlefield in person, but the others all charged forward.
Seeing this scene, Sect Leader Mu said in a low voice, “The surroundings seem to be dreadfully quiet.”
“It’s indeed somewhat dreadful.” Lord Liu pondered for two seconds and said, “But we have to fight this battle. We are the weakest party, so in many battles, we must face enemies that outnumber us.”
“It’s their first time to partic.i.p.ate in this kind of war. I hope they can have a successful start.” Sect Leader Mu was also nervous.
He hoped they could win this battle.
However, sometimes things just went contrary to his wishes.
“Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang…”
The two troops collided.
All kinds of attacks filled the air, making it seem like there was no chance to dodge. Both sides started to strike when they were far away from each other. This kind of battle was shocking to watch.
“Zhao Feng, let’s compete on who can kill more in this battle,” Mu Xue said.
“As you wish.” Zhao Feng chuckled, and his eyes flickered with cyan light. “Your starting point is much higher than mine, and your strength has always been stronger than mine. But this time, you may not be able to defeat me. My Big Dark Devil Shadow is quite mature.”
“Swoos.h.!.+”
In an instant, Zhao Feng turned into five figures and rushed to the front at an extremely fast speed.
“Huh, you are still very confident.”
Mu Xue curled her lips, conjured up the Demon Dancing Sword, and charged forward speedily.
“You can’t be faster than me. Of all the martial arts in the world, speed is the key!”
Suddenly, a cold voice rang in Zhao Feng’s and Mu Xue’s ears.
“Eh? s.h.i.+ Fenghou, why are you here?”
Mu Xue let out a soft cry of surprise.
She never thought he would also be here.
“Humph.” s.h.i.+ Fenghou gave half a sneer as usual and said lightly, “There is no place in the vast world that I can’t go.”
“Rumble!”
In a fraction of a second, his speed overtook the speed of sound by five times.
The wings on s.h.i.+ Fenghou’s back seemed almost solid. The wingspan was five meters. After spreading his wings, he barged into the opposite side and started to reap lives at an extremely fast speed like a sharp blade. He was obviously at the Elixir Realm Middle-Stage. The enemies who fought him were killed with a single move.
In just two seconds, the opposite troop was thrown into a panic.
“Kill!”
Finally, the disturbance drew three Real Kings over. They besieged s.h.i.+ Fenghou at the same time and eventually stopped his ma.s.sacre.
On the other side, Zhao Feng, Mu Xue, and others also began to display their skills.
Enemies seemed everywhere. The various strikes thrown at them caused their scalps to tingle and their minds to tense up.
They attacked, defended, then attacked again.
They did that over and over again.
After fighting for just one minute, Mu Xue, Zhao Feng, and even s.h.i.+ Fenghou were a little out of breath. Such a high-intensity battle was too energy-consuming.
“Fortunately, Master has given me some defensive treasures. Otherwise, I would’ve been injured by that strike from earlier.”
Mu Xue shot a cold look at the man in a long robe a hundred meters away to her right. “Can’t believe his strike almost got me. There are surely countless marvelous people in the large world.”
The war was completely on.
Every second, many figures fell from the sky.
Dozens of people died every second.
The speed of fighters being killed was terrifying.
“Wheeze…”
Two minutes later.
Many who had just experienced this kind of battle before felt the pressure on them multiply, as if they could die in the next second.
The fear was especially distinct when they saw that one of their comrades, who was fighting with them side by side a second ago, was suddenly killed in the battle.
A chill ran down their spines. They hated this feeling.
In a one-on-one battle, they would have to be so exhausted.
“Chirp!”
All of a sudden, a series of crane cries sounded on the battlefield.
“They want us to retreat?”
Mu Xue and Zhao Feng looked back.
Their expressions changed greatly.
To their horror, more than 20,000 people were coming from behind. They were enemies!
Lord Liu’s force had been encircled. This scene struck despair in many.
“Retreat!”
Lord Liu’s face darkened. “There’s really an ambush. I thought that the enemies wouldn’t be many. But it turns out that there are 60,000 of them in total.”
“Retreat now! We’ll break out of the encirclement from the east.” Sect Leader Mu clenched his fists and became a little edgy.
“No, we can’t go east. That’s where Mountain Rosy Clouds is. We’ll probably walk into the Heaven-earth Formation. We can only break out from the back. Although we will be attacked from both the front and the back, that way is safe,” Lord Liu said bitterly. “Now, we can only hope that the casualties will be as small as possible.”
“Then let’s make a sortie from the back.”
Sect Leader Mu nodded.
Their troop began to a.s.semble. Mu Xue and Zhao Feng quickly retreated as well.