Chapter 567 Soiled Plans and Eve of Battle
Chapter 567 Soiled Plans and Eve of Battle
Three weeks after the mansion in the Fantian Kingdom seemingly fell into silent slumber, an army of 50000 arrived at the town next to the Yin Yang Unity Palace.
The army was wearing linen cloth veils fully covering their faces that hung from metal helmets, clad in armor and holding Guandao spears which were of high tiers but quite roughly manufactured.
The town they arrived to, however was quite hollow, no residents in sight, and no auras of living beings could be detected.
"Heh, I guess if we march so openly there's no way they wouldn't have prepared for us"
One of the 30 Monarchs standing in front of the army chuckled.
"Hahaha, prepared or not, what does it matter?"
28 of them were in the Core Reformation Realm, and 2 of them were in the Mortal Transcendence Realm.
There were also around a thousand Golden Ox Mercenaries behind them, and in front of the veiled army.
"Heh, isn't this a small Sect? Did we really need a whole 50 000 of these brickheads here?"
One of the more high-ranking mercenaries said pointing his thumb behind him.
He was looking at a distant mountain that from this point looked still pale and faint on the horizon, towering over the forest of the Spiritual Land.
"Who cares? They're just cannon fodder anyway, and its not like 50 000 is a lot, you remember how many of them there are, right?"
Another mercenary answered with a chuckle.
"Hahaha, cannon fodder you say...
Just don't lose the command token, or you might get mowed down by that cannon fodder.
Even if they are a bit brick-headed, and their movements a bit wooden, their average cultivations are equal to ours.
In these numbers they are honestly quite a menace"
A third voice spoke with mixed laughter and a bit of wariness in his voice, quite understandably creeped out by the army behind him as none of them spoke or otherwise showed any human-like behavior.
"W-we won't run into the Troublemaker here, right?"
A voice came from among the mercenaries, creating a wave of murmurs.
"Even if we do, do you really think he stands a chance against this number?"
"Didn't he like bury a 100 000 in the Supreme Master Pavilion when he was in Qi Condensation Realm?
D-Doesn't sound like he'll struggle with half of that number now when he is reportedly much higher in cultivation..."
The higher-ranked mercenary who spoke first raised his voice to quell the unrest, but a response he did not count on came back to him from the crowd.
"Quiet there!
Remember, we are backed by Transcendent cultivators who are observing the situation from a distance!
Are there any reports back from the scouts?"
The Monarch with the highest cultivation silenced the talks behind his back, and then turned to one of the mercenaries, who shook his head.
"Complete silence"
The mercenary's tone was grim as he replied.
"Tch, got eliminated huh?"
The Monarch clicked his tongue.
"A smaller more elite force must have reached Fantian Kingdom's capital, and an even smaller one should have arrived to eliminate that princess in the Tingren Kingdom..."
Another Monarch in Mortal Transcendence Realm spoke without moving his sight from the semi-transparent glowing dome of the distant Yin Yang Unity Palace.
"Mm, though the Feng Family has evacuated the entire Capital a week before... so that Mansion is the only inhabited place there"
The commanding Monarch nodded.
"Tch, pthoo~!
Were it a bit more than a month before, they wouldn't be able to do large movements like this without us noticing and intercepting... they really did a number on our influence in the Six Kingdoms.
We couldn't even send any decent armies any further than here, only squads of Monarchs who travel faster and I am guessing Transcendents, though no one is really aware of their movements..."
Another Monarch spoke up after spitting on the ground.
"You already took out that stuff?"
The commanding Monarch looked with a bit of a frown at the chewing tobacco that the one before spat out.
"Who cares! We're about to start fighting anyway!
It just helps calm my nerves"
The one who spat snorted while taking another batch out from a small pouch.
"Just be careful not to end up like those brickheads behind us.
Anyway, the armies were sent out at precise timings so that they all arrive at almost the same time, so we should be getting a signal to begin soon"
The Monarch who spoke after the commanding one spoke with a bit of cautioning in his voice.
"Ready for battle!"
The commanding Monarch raised his voice to speak up again, followed by a thunderous noise of 50 000 troops slapping the poles of their weapons with leather gauntlets and gripping it with both hands instead of one.
---
A group of Monarchs 100 men strong arrived not far from the Capital of the Fantian Kingdom, with a whole 15 of them in Mortal Transcendence Realm, although about half of them showed signs of unstable aura distinct to those who just advanced in cultivation.
"As I thought, no soul in sight except that Mansion which cannot be seen through"
Their leader narrowed his eyes.
"The group that went to Tingren Kingdom sent a report, apparently the Princess has slipped away, and the capital there was evacuated as well.
It is likely that the princess fled to this mansion, so their squad essentially failed. Though it is entirely possible she fled somewhere else, but it is impossible to look for her now"
Another spoke holding his Communication Jade.
"Huh? A dud huh?
Tch, I guess we'll have to pick up their slack here.
Damn it! We lost our eyes and ears almost everywhere, now we have to go in blind, no wonder it's a mess!
Contact the headquarters and try to have them circle back here"
"Understood"
The leader exclaimed with a bit of annoyance as this whole operation was far different from what was initially a perfect plan.
This sentiment was shared by everyone on Gu Zhen's side, especially in the last month.
The Monarchs in the back were also murmuring.
"Haa~ if the Sects we took over all over the continent were not scattered during the time we locked ourselves in the headquarters of the Alchemy Tower, we might have had quite a substantial support wherever we went by now.
Those that managed to retreat only got away with the most senior members, leaving the Disciples and Sect Protectors, who scattered as their leadership fled"
"Mm, to be honest this all went slightly differently than planned"
"Who cares? We will be pissing on the graves of our enemies anyway"
"True that.
Though the Frozen Garden Palace moving out of the Yin Yang Unity Palace a few days ago was unexpected.
Lord Gu speculated they were after the Eversnowing Valley, so he only sent a bit of reinforcements there"
"Kuhahaha, as expected of Lord Gu, why waste resources on helping those women?
Since we found out you can't even fuck them without it killing them, they are much less attractive now! What 'Garden of Forbidden Flowers'?! More like, garden of useless wenches"
"Hahaha! No doubt about that!"
"Still, far more surprising is that those bald monks from the North Islands moved inland to approach the Profound Martial Arts Valley, though no one seems to have bothered sending the latter any reinforcements"
"Well, the business of Five Great Sects should be the business of Five Great Sects, right? Hahaha!"
"Exactly! Hihihi! Let those imbeciles fight among themselves for now, once we win the war whoever of them is left will have to bow down to us anyway!"
"Still, shouldn't we have intercepted those movements? What if they do something unexpected?"
"Intercepted? Our scouts only saw the Frozen Garden Palace leave the Yin Yang Unity Palace, and lost them shortly after, as if they disappeared, while the Brilliant Sun Temple was only noticed once in the vicinity of the Profound Martial Arts Valley, also disappearing like phantoms. And also by scouts.
Do you want scouts to intercept? Think with that head of yours before speaking"
"He is right, so don't puff out your chest, you're not going to start fighting before the war anyway, so stop the useless posturing.
On the other hand, what can they do to us? Attack our headquarters? And then what? They'll not only fail, but even if in some fantasy they succeeded, there's nothing there of value to us, as we would just retake it and kill them all after"
The Monarchs who were bored of just waiting exchanged a small conversation in the back as the leader of this group studied the barrier dome activated around them mansion.
"Hmm, while we weren't exactly super careful, we were still far more discreet about moving here than the army at the Yin Yang Unity Palace, but they are still prepared for us"
He noted, as the Protective Formation was fully activated instead of idle.
"Well, given the timing of the two Sects siding with the enemy moving out, they predicted the timing of our attack as soon as we started moving to align the moment of battle to ours.
Not that it was hard to do given that we moved out in large armies hidden within the Spiritual Lands of the Alchemy Tower behind the headquarters.
Even Azure Eagles fully fortified their Capital a few days ago"
His second-in-command spoke standing beside him.
"Haa~ if only Lord Nuo didn't disappear during reconnaissance a few weeks ago, we wouldn't have had to deal with that Formation... it looks a bit troublesome to be honest~"
The leader nodded to the words spoken by his second-in-
command, and then sighed.
"We should be able to overwhelm it, after all, I haven't heard of a single Formation able to withstand even one Mortal Transcendence expert, let alone so many.
Oh, it's almost time"
Another Monarch who held the communication jade spoke.
"Alright then, get ready everyone!"
The leader nodded, and raised his voice to signal everyone, as their Spiritual Qi started circulating faster.