Chapter 1030: Chapter 1024: Our Losses This Time Were Too Heavy
The Deston Prefecture was plunged into war in all directions.
Spear Saint Gu Fenghua led a massive invasion into the Shadowfell Prefecture, igniting the flames of war on all fronts.
Even Body Integration realm experts could not escape the brutal fighting.
Such an unprovoked attack ironically plunged the entirety of Deston Prefecture into a state of chaos.
In the cloudy sky.
A team formed by experts was currently rushing toward Highsun City.
Every single one of them was a top-tier expert, and all were using treasures to accelerate their journey.
At the very front was Ba Siyu’s subordinate, Zhou Chengli.
This scholarly cultivator advanced anxiously. A Void Refinement cultivator beside him said in a deep voice,
“Mr. Zhou, there is no need to be so anxious. Otherwise, even when we reach Highsun City, our forces will be exhausted, which would conversely put us at a disadvantage.”
“How can I not be anxious? If Highsun City falls, our rear will be defenseless.
Once the Wu tribe’s Body Integration experts arrive, the Wu tribesmen scattered throughout the dynasty will converge on Deston Prefecture.
When that time comes, we will face a pincer attack from both the front and the rear, and then it will be the Central Plains’ turn…”
Zhou Chengli’s old face was filled with worry.
It was also Ba Siyu’s fault for being a poor judge of character, trusting the Yun Clan and Bi Shihu.
Ba Siyu was too eager for quick success and instant benefits; he wanted the Earth Virtue so badly that he went mad.
He placed his trust in a “thief” and a “deserter,” refusing to listen to any advice, ultimately reaping such a bitter harvest.
Having followed Ba Siyu for many years, this was the first time Zhou Chengli realized that Ba Siyu was so “incredibly brilliant.”
Carrying a heart full of anxiety.
The reinforcements finally arrived at Highsun City.
However, there were no battle cries in Highsun City; all that remained were ruins and lingering Spiritual power filling the sky.
The Spiritual power from the battlefield had spread to every part of Highsun City, leveling the area outside the city to the ground as well.
“It’s over.”
Zhou Chengli’s expression turned ugly. Not only were there Wu tribesmen here, but also… Demonic Cultivators!
At this moment.
The Old Drunkard held his wine gourd. The Divinity Transformation demonic technique within his body sucked corpse after corpse into his wine gourd to be refined.
The Old Drunkard licked his lips.
“Good, good, good. Refining these corpses will yield at least a century of cultivation base each. Haha, a world in chaos truly is an excellent place to do whatever one pleases…”
Just as he smiled, the Old Drunkard’s expression changed.
He looked up, only to see a group of useless dynasty cultivators charging toward him.
“One of our own! Don’t shoot, I’m on your side!”
…
Atop the ruins of Highsun City, one could see the Azure Cloud Army, clad in black armor, cleaning up the battlefield.
There were some experts among them—old veterans from the Azure Cloud Region who had fought the Wu tribe back in the day—instructing the younger soldiers in the army who had only undergone training and hadn’t experienced many actual battles.
“Strip off anything valuable from the Wu tribesmen; don’t let it go to waste.
Strip these bastards naked and see if there are any inscriptions painted on their skin.
If there are, cut that piece of skin off. That is the source of the Wu tribe’s Spiritual power.
Use it to refine your artifacts; there might be an unexpected delight.”
“Use your Spiritual power to sense their bodies. The Wu tribesmen rely on their physiques; their origin essence comes from their Wu bones.
If you find a Wu bone, you’ve struck it rich. You’ve killed a genius; even if they aren’t one now, they definitely would have been a core member of the Wu tribe in the future.
Wu bones cannot be refined, but you can display them at home—they work even better than a Spirit-Gathering Array Formation for increasing spiritual Qi concentration.”
“Hearts can be used to refine medicine, eyeballs to refine artifacts. The liver? You can steam it if you like.”
“What are you keeping the meat for? We aren’t Demonic Cultivators! There must be something wrong with your head.”
“…”
Zhou Chengli, who had returned from Shadowfell Prefecture, stepped into Highsun City under the guidance of the Old Drunkard.
His two thousand experts drew sidelong glances from the Azure Cloud Army.
The scene of two hundred thousand Azure Cloud Army soldiers cleaning up the battlefield, with the older generation instructing the younger ones, entered their eyes.
The Azure Cloud Army soldiers after the great battle lacked their awe-inspiring presence from the battlefield; the younger ones were filled with restraint and awe in front of their seniors.
If they weren’t presently flaying skin and extracting bones, they would actually look somewhat simple and honest.
“A three hundred thousand-strong Wu tribe grand army, entirely annihilated?” Zhou Chengli looked blankly at the Azure Cloud Army in all directions.
That was three hundred thousand men!
Moreover, the Wu tribesmen possessed methods of affinity with heaven, earth, and nature.
Through their Wu Spiritual power, they could turn stones and wood into soldiers.
The Wu tribe’s totems could control beasts and spirits.
Every single one of them was a natural-born warrior, a darling of the forest.
If it weren’t for this, they wouldn’t have caused such massive chaos and trouble for the dynasty after invading the Central Plains.
Completely annihilating a three-hundred-thousand-strong Wu tribe grand army—this was a merit unseen in decades.
In the face of such merit, Zhou Chengli, a scholarly cultivator harboring kind thoughts, entirely disregarded the Azure Cloud Army’s demonic methods of using body parts for refinement.
“Yeah, annihilated ’em.”
The Old Drunkard grinned, took a gulp of wine, and secretly muttered a curse under his breath.
“Popping up out of nowhere, you almost scared this old man to death. Good thing my reaction was fast.
Damn it, didn’t see you guys when we were fighting, but now that the fight’s over, here you are.
Don’t even think about snatching our spoils of war, or I’ll definitely go tattle to Holy Maiden Yaoqing.”
He then casually spun a lie.
“It’s like this: our Azure Cloud Army heard that Bi Shihu was colluding with the Wu tribe. A grand army of a million men rushed over, but the journey was far.
Sigh, to save Highsun City in Deston Prefecture, eight hundred thousand of our grand army sacrificed their lives just to deliver us here.
We have a few tricks up our sleeves and used some array formations… You know how it is, our losses this time were too heavy.”
“It seems Your Lordship’s status is quite high. When the time comes, please put in a good word for us with the higher-ups so we can get more rewards.
I, Old Liu, am an honest man, so I can only shamelessly come and ask. You can’t let our Azure Cloud Army’s hearts turn cold, My Lord!”
“Take this lowly one, for example. In order to kill the enemy, I lost a Spiritual Treasure! That was a precious artifact!
This lowly one only hopes the dynasty can compensate me with a Dharma Treasure; that would be enough.”
“…”
The “lowly one” chattered endlessly.
As Zhou Chengli listened, let alone being shameless, this crazy old cultivator had thrown his face entirely out the window.
How on earth was this suffering heavy losses?
Looking at the ruins everywhere in Highsun City and the scattered corpses of the Wu tribesmen, it was clearly a scene of them fleeing.
It was evident that the Wu tribe cultivators inside Highsun City had fallen into a trap. This was an out-and-out massacre!
“It was an array formation.” The Void Refinement cultivator beside him sent a solemn voice transmission to Zhou Chengli.
“The people of Azure Cloud premeditated this. There are corpses of both the Wu tribe and Bi Shihu’s tiger-wolf army in the city.
They managed to lure both the Wu tribe and Bi Shihu’s grand army into the city.”
This cultivator pointed at the military and civilians of Highsun City who had newly returned to the city.
“I went to inquire. Most people kept their mouths shut about this great battle, but I still managed to get some information…”
As the intelligence reached his ears, Zhou Chengli’s expression changed.
The battle of Highsun City was a trap!
The people of the Azure Cloud Li Clan had long prepared escape tunnels to lure the Wu tribe and Bi Shihu into the city.
Subsequently, the Golden Toad Divine Palace arrived, and a two-hundred-thousand-strong grand army completely surrounded Highsun City.
What followed was an absolute massacre.
The people of Azure Cloud used an array formation to trap Highsun City.
Even the Wu tribe cultivators and those on Bi Shihu’s side didn’t dare to fight back within the city.
Then, the Void Refinement experts of the Azure Cloud Li Clan and Highsun City pulled them into Void Refinement Spaces one by one to fight.
Using the wealth accumulated over hundreds of years, the Azure Cloud Army began a frenzied bombardment of Highsun City.
The “Spear Forest Array Tactics” was used three times—those were the three long spears slung across their backs.
After that, the Azure Cloud Army drew their longbows, firing nine volleys of arrows.
Following that came talismans, artifacts, and even poisonous powder developed by the “Ghost Eye Sect” of the Azure Cloud Prefecture.
Even then, it was the Spirit Puppets of the Azure Cloud Prefecture’s Artifact Sect that paved the way.
This wasn’t a battle; it was a display of the Azure Cloud Prefecture’s foundation to the world.
Every single soldier in the Azure Cloud Army was a miniature reflection of the Azure Cloud Prefecture itself.
“They trained their army for hundreds of years.” The corner of the Void Refinement cultivator’s mouth twitched beside Zhou Chengli.
“Perhaps the Azure Cloud Army truly is the most powerful immortal army on the entire Deston Prefecture battlefield.
Over these past few decades, these bastards actually only followed behind Bi Shihu to pick up cheap victories, not revealing their true strength until Highsun City!”
“And the people of the Li Clan…”
The two suddenly looked up.
In the cloudy sky, experts emerged from the void one after another. They were the Void Refinement cultivators returning from their pursuit battles outside.
“Motherfucker,” muttered the Void Refinement cultivator of the Imperial Protectors Guard.
Space trembled.
City Lord Feng Tu of Highsun City appeared, bringing along two scar-covered Void Refinement cultivators, alongside the five members of the Li Clan.
The Old Drunkard, tears welling up in his eyes, instantly flew into the cloudy sky.
Hiding behind Li Yunbing, he pointed viciously at Zhou Chengli and the others. “They were bullying me!”
…….
“Li Yunbing, Li Tianqi, Li Changyao, Li Xinnian… mid-stage Void Refinement…”
After the several members of the Li Clan returned, it was time to celebrate their victory.
The Azure Cloud cultivators gathering the spoils of war—this was their celebration.
Thirty percent of the spoils belonged to them and was recorded on the register, while the remaining seventy percent was handed over to the military armory.
On the general’s platform built from Spiritual power amidst the ruins, Zhou Chengli watched the members of the Azure Cloud Li Clan, his eyes darting back and forth, his expression mostly filled with bewilderment.
His heart was full of disbelief, especially regarding Li Changyao and Li Tianqi; he found it even harder to believe.
These two had stayed in Highsun City for decades.
Although they had rarely shown themselves over the past thirty years, they were previously only at the peak of the Divinity Transformation realm!
Zhou Chengli quickly thought of several possibilities in his mind: a Void Refinement cultivator passing on their cultivation, miraculous pills, special Dharma Treasures, or… they were faking it.
And the last one clearly became the most optimal choice.
Passing on cultivation by a Void Refinement cultivator didn’t even need to be mentioned; its conditions were overly complex.
Miraculous Pills? How could pills above Grade 4 be so easily concocted?
Those capable of concocting such pills had extremely low success rates, often requiring the right time, the right place, and the right people.
Without exception, they were the precious treasures of major factions, making it exceedingly difficult to beg for even a single pill.
As for special Dharma Treasures or Spiritual Treasures capable of forging a Void Refinement expert out of thin air, they were incredibly rare.
“They were hiding it.”
From the various possibilities, Zhou Chengli selected the most incorrect answer.
His expression turned a bit stranger, only feeling that the Li Clan members had bitterly deceived everyone in the world.
“There are four Void Refinement experts here, plus Li Yunlin, some of the older generation of the Li Clan, and the Li Clan’s guest elders. Hiss…”
Zhou Chengli only felt a chill run up from the soles of his feet.
A single clan with over a dozen Void Refinement experts… even a Body Integration realm cultivator would have to weigh how to treat the Li Clan.
The Azure Cloud Li Clan was already comparable to hidden factions that had existed for tens of thousands of years.
At this thought, the corner of Zhou Chengli’s mouth twitched.
He secretly cursed himself for learning from that bastard Ba Siyu to weigh the pros and cons.
Look at what Ba Siyu’s weighing had resulted in; he had nearly weighed Highsun City and Deston Prefecture into oblivion.
“Wait, no. Over a dozen Void Refinement experts… two guest elders from the Azure Cloud Prefecture came here, as well as Li Yunlin.”
Zhou Chengli’s heart skipped a beat.
“Why have they laid hidden until now? With such strength, coupled with their actions over the years, how could they fail to see through Ba Siyu’s character?
Even if they had killed Yun Manlou and Bi Shihu right in front of Ba Siyu’s face, Ba Siyu would have only blamed them on the surface.”
“The people of the Azure Cloud Li Clan have always been decisive.
Over these years, Ba Siyu and Yun Manlou have frequently suppressed the Li Clan. How could they possibly endure until today to reveal their true strength?”
“In such a great battle, fighting Venerable Elder Yuanliang and Bi Shihu—neither of whom are easy to deal with—the Li Clan should logically gather all their experts to annihilate them.
That would be the most secure method. If they weren’t so cautious and calculating, how could they have remained hidden for decades?
To split up and act separately… they must be plotting something else.”
“Where are… the rest of the Li Clan members?!!”
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