"The commander escaped?!" As the soldiers from the Azure Sky Kingdom were happily talking to each other about their recent victory over the Heavenly Sky Kingdom under their commander's brilliant attack idea, the commander in question was starring furiously at the light blue robed man in front of him.𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖
"What can I say? I didn't expect for there to be 6 Nascent Soul Realm to support him, let's not forget the fact that he is also someone at the sixth stage of the Nascent Soul Realm! You merely told me he was at the third maybe fourth stage!" Not backing down in the slightest under the angry gaze of the commander, the light blue robed man answered back as he shrugged his shoulders provocatively in response to the commander.
"Hmph, let's not talk about this anymore! We still need to find a way deal with the South Mountain Pass to truly enter the Heavenly Sky Kingdom… At least most of their Nascent Soul Realm Experts from the frontline were injured and would at least need a few years to recover from the injuries they received in the initial attack…" Changing the subject, the commander focused back on their current objective, defeating the Heavenly Sky Kingdom.
For that to happen, he would need to deal with the South Mountain Pass standing between the Heavenly Sky Kingdom and the Azure Sky Kingdom!
"Why don't we just go around…?" Not really knowing why the commander was so into attacking a fortified location like the South Mountain Pass, the light blue robed man could not help himself from asking out of curiosity.
"Hah… I would if it were possible for us, but there is the Burning Mountain Range on one side and another kingdom on the other side. Either would be a bad idea to go through, with the other kingdom possibly thinking we are trying to drag them into the war or attack them, while walking through the Burning Mountain Range with an army would be the same as offering our army as free food for those demon beasts…" Shaking his head as he answered the light blue robed man's question, the commander felt the difficulty of breaking through the South Mountain Pass would bring him.
At the very least they had taken a control over a large part of the south area of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom. After all, more than half the of the south was located outside the South Mountain Pass.
"For now, we will stabilize the new territory and prepare for an assault on the South Mountain Pass. You can just go back for now; I will make sure to contact you before we begin the assault on the South Mountain Pass." Waving for the light blue robed man to leave, the commander sat down and began looking through the different reports coming in from the scouts as they explored the new land that they had manged to gain.
"I will take my leave then…" Not wanting to stay at the army camp any longer in the first place, the light blue robed man rolled his eyes a bit when he heard the commanding tone that the commander used before leaving the room.
…
"Elder, what did the commander say? Can we go back to the sect?" The moment the light blue robed man left the hastily built command centre for the Azure Sky Kingdom's commander, a middle-aged man dressed in a similar light blue robe came over and asked in a hopeful voice.
"We will return to the sect for now, it looks like the Azure Sky Kingdom does not need our help anymore in the short term…" Turning around, the light blue robed man made his way over in the direction of a small, isolated area of the army camp where the different sects were located.
The middle-aged man who heard the confirmation that they would leave and return to the sect happily followed behind him as both of them soon approached a small group of people dressed in similar robes as them.
"Elder White! How did it go? Did you manage to kill the commander from the Heavenly Sky Kingdom?" Walking up to the newly arriving Elder White, a young woman in her mid-twenties walked up and asked.
"No… I did not, the guy had the support of more Nascent Soul Realm Experts than expected and he had also reached the sixth stage of the Nascent Soul Realm… But the commander said that we could return to the sect and would only have to send support when they decide to attack the South Mountain Pass." Shaking his head, Elder White quickly reassured the rest of the members that they would still be able to return to the sect.
Their sect had honestly had quite a hard time lately with their Sect Master suddenly disappearing a few months ago, leaving only Elder White and a few other at the Nascent Soul Realm to guard the sect.
Normally, their sect would have been fine refusing the Azure Sky Kingdoms request for help, but it just so happened that the Sect Master who made that possible had disappeared and with no choice left other than helping the Azure Sky Kingdom or possibly having their sect destroyed, Elder White decided to lend the Azure Sky Kingdom a hand in their war.
Their sect, the Ascendant Frost Hall, was famous for both being strong in everything related to ice, be it obscure materials or certain artifacts.
The Ascendant Frost Hall enjoyed a relatively neutral status in the Azure Sky Kingdom due to the fact that their Sect Master was at the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm and had managed to keep the Azure Sky Kingdom at bay as only the current ruler would have the ability to deal with him.
Other than that, the Ascendant Frost Hall was located at the far north of the Azure Sky Kingdom's territory that was difficult to reach and bordered an area controlled by a powerful demonic sect.
The Azure Sky Kingdom viewed the Ascendant Frost Hall as a barrier of sorts against the demonic sect, with them around, they would not have to deal with it.
But this was only true if the Ascendant Frost Hall still had a powerful Expert like their Sect Master among them to serve as intimidation for the demonic sect… Without him, the Ascendant Frost Hall would fall with time and the Azure Sky Kingdom would have to deal with the demonic sect.
Even if they did not want to see this happen, they still had to find a way to deal with it when the time came and taking control of the north area's resources and the Ascendant Frost Hall along with it, could be considered a given as they would already have an idea on how to deal with the demonic sect and with the Azure Sky Kingdom backing them up, they would be able to serve as a shield for the Azure Sky Kingdom to defend against the demonic sect in the north!
The Ascendant Frost Hall on the other hand, did not really like the idea of ending up as a shield of the Azure Sky Kingdom while at the same time having all the resources in their territory taken away from them.