Chapter 476: Turning the Tables
Bai Longjia nodded with a solemn demeanor.
Bai Longjia was very clear as to their recent suppression of the Zhao clan, to which he had also expressed a strong objection. But this was a major affair related to both the Zhang and Bai clans. How could there be any leeway for questioning? In truth, Bai Longjia’s voice had only traveled as far as Bai Aotu—it wasn’t even conveyed to the elders of the Bai clan.
Earlier on, the Zhao clan was indeed caught unprepared and lost a third of their combat squads. Many clan descendants also fell in battle. However, Zhao Jundu had broken through the siege alone at the northwestern war zone and rescued the remaining survivors. This was like a big slap to all the aristocratic families’ faces.
Afterward, Zhao Jundu suddenly left Evernight, and when he returned to the Iron Curtain, he was already a champion whom no one could contend with. This brazen thousand-mile assault and the retreat of the dark race ancient clans proved that no one was his match under the Iron Curtain, whether they were from the empire or Evernight.
A single Zhao Jundu had turned the tables around the Zhao clan war zone in less than a month. The elders from every party, including the person who had been orchestrating things behind the curtains, were likely in extreme distress right now. They probably knew not what to do.
Meanwhile, Zhao Jundu’s identity was special—he was virtually the next clan lord. Even the Zhao clan wouldn’t have anything to say if one could beat him fair and square. But if he were murdered in a plot, the enraged Zhao clan would likely retaliate with full force. Moreover, Zhao Jundu had already proven during this ten days in the Dark Nation that traps were useless against him under the Iron Curtain.
Under such circumstances, the experts overseeing the bloody battle whose levels exceeded the restriction couldn’t move against Zhao Jundu. General Zhao Gongcheng—whom the Zhao clan had dispatched after their second regroup—was eyeing everyone from outside the Iron Curtain. The fuse of civil war would be ignited once things went past the bottom line.
The Zhao clan was a magnificent clan with flourishing military might. It would be an absolute disaster if they were to ignore all consequences and start murdering the younger generation of every family. Should things deteriorate to such a point, even those behind the curtains would be powerless to clean up the mess.
Bai Longjia sighed internally as he thought of this. A single Zhao Jundu was already troublesome enough, and now, the Zhao clan had actually produced another genius. Moreover, from Liu Xiangyun’s description, this person’s combat strength might not be inferior to Zhao Jundu.
Bai Longjia calmed down entirely and instructed, “Issue my command, all combat squads are to retreat to base. The units planned to set out will standby for further orders. Send out all our scouts to search for traces of that combat squad. I want to see corpses even if they are all dead.”
Liu Xiangyun sighed in relief as he lay back on the bed.
Bai Longjia indeed possessed the manners of a famed general. He was capable of judging the situation and didn’t lose his calm for a single moment. His strategy was to contract and consolidate the defensive lines on all fronts, almost giving up on all the strategic points in the war zone. It was a wise move and a necessary one—at least until there was a powerful expert to hold the fort. Facts had proven that spreading their forces was seeking death before this person.
But who would come to restrict this emergent expert? Bai Longjia’s first thought was Bai Aotu, but then he shook his head. Her responsibilities were too great. She not only had to stabilize the situation in all of the Bai clan war zones but also needed to threaten the dark race experts at the same time.
Moreover, her combat strength exceeded the limits, and there was a risk of attracting Sky Demon’s avatar if she were to take action. Bai Longjia wasn’t willing to let her take this risk no matter how powerful she was or how accurate her origin power control. This place wasn’t the Iron Curtain border. Once Sky Demon’s avatar had been attracted, she would either die or be heavily injured.
But Bai Longjia couldn’t think of any other suitable candidate, either. He himself was already past the limit and couldn’t control his power as well as Bai Aotu. It was basically impossible for him to make a move. As for the so-called young geniuses from the various major clans, only a handful of those who had passed the limit dared enter the Iron Curtain, and the combat strength of those who had not were easily imaginable. Meanwhile, the Zhang clan’s attitude was ambiguous and would likely avoid stepping into these muddy waters.
Liu Xiangyun saw Bai Longjia’s dilemma and said after some thought, “General, this matter has already surpassed the scope of your abilities. Why don’t you report it and let those people worry? After all, this is something they stirred up.”
Bai Longjia nodded after a moment of silence. “Very well.”
Being forced to defend was a great discomfort to the proud Bai Longjia. But since this person was from the Zhao clan, it was only natural that he would attack the Bai clan combat squads in retaliation. Moreover, Liu Xiangyun had made it very clear that this person had refrained from finishing him off after seeing his Broken-Winged Angel rank—this made Bai Longjia quite rueful.
Bai Longjia believed that it definitely wasn’t out of fear for the Broken-Winged Angels that this person had let Liu Xiangyun go. He didn’t have any suitable countermeasures at the moment, either. He could only observe the reports while contracting his defensive lines. At the same time, he sent people to investigate when the Zhao clan had produced such a young expert. However, all of this meant that he had to forget about earning military contributions for this month.
In his distress, Bai Longjia suddenly felt that it was ridiculous. He had always laughed at the dark races for their cruel infighting. But now, how were their actions any different?
Bai Longjia couldn’t help but let out a stifled sigh at the thought of this. His thoughts were only on killing the dark races. The many things taking place at the moment were actually against his will.
There were many other people feeling similarly depressed in recent days, but their ambitions were vastly different from Bai Longjia’s.
At this moment, there were two documents on Nangong Yuanwang’s desk. The thinner one was the statistics for military contributions, while the thicker stack was the casualty list. The latter wasn’t that thick, but it became quite hefty after adding the battle descriptions and compensations for the remaining family. Nangong Yuanwang was naturally clear that they had lost a third of their current forces in less than a month.
This degree of loss had dragged troop morale to its lowest. Some squads were even seen avoiding battles, so much so that one unit that had run into Zhao Jundu immediately surrendered without any resistance.
Dealing with Zhao Jundu had already become a big problem for the commanders of the various aristocratic families. The widely-accepted solution was to have experts above the level restriction like Bai Aotu or even Nangong Yuanwang take the field and restrict Zhao Jundu.
It was just that Nangong Yuanwang wasn’t willing to accept this mission after experiencing Sky Demon’s attention that one time.
Moreover, General Zhao Gongcheng was looking on from the side. As a proud member of the Zhao clan, he simply wouldn’t enter the Iron Curtain and was only there to suppress the dark race’s guardian experts. However, he might not just sit idly by if people at the level of Bai Aotu or Nangong Yuanwang moved openly against the Zhao clan descendants. Even though Nangong Yuanwang was only one step away from the divine champion level, he really didn’t want to fight with Zhao Gongcheng outside of the Iron Curtain.
On top of all this suffering, there was Qianye.
Nangong Yuanwang didn’t just have a deep impression of Qianye—the latter was almost like a thorn in the old man’s heart. He knew Qianye had returned the moment he glanced at the descriptions in the report. Moreover, he was now a champion.
Qianye and Zhao Jundu possessed similar fighting styles. They both liked to act alone and would frequently launch long-distance assaults. They were extremely fierce and tyrannical. Their ruckus aside, the Nangong family’s squads were scattered in many areas, and the battle situation was in complete shambles.
With the Iron Curtain undergoing changes, the bloody battle might be coming to an end anytime soon. Both factions were already fighting a total war on a smaller scale, and the scale of troops being mobilized was growing larger and larger. Battles for cities and territories were erupting one after another. The empire’s side evolved from individual hunters to group expeditions—now, they usually required several squads working together in order to win.
How was the Nangong family going to snatch contributions in a battle situation where everyone was fighting for their own?
Nangong Yuanwang smashed the table with a loud bang, sending ripples out in all directions which destroyed the greater half of the study.
The alarmed guards rushed in to protect him but were met with a furious roar, “Scram!”
As such, everyone scattered like animals, not daring to remain. Nangong Yuanwang’s temper was becoming more and more violent in the recent days. He had a history of killing people at every turn, so who would dare stay behind to seek death? Soon, only Nangong Yuanwang’s frowning figure remained amidst the rubble. No matter how he pondered, there seemed to be no better idea than to have the rear lines form more squads and replenish their military strength. As for the direction of the new forces...
Nangong Yuanwang’s gaze wandered around the map and landed on a place further out. He was subconsciously trying to avoid the two murderous stars, Zhao Jundu and Qianye.
At this moment, the many of those who had received the latest reports were first shocked then furious before finally becoming helpless and pensive. The soaring casualty numbers had completely surpassed the bottom line they had in mind, but they had no way to deal with it.
The culprits for all of this were Qianye and Zhao Jundu.
Very soon, Qianye’s information had also reached these people along with the enmity he had formed with the Nangong family at Blackflow City. They soon discovered that they had no way to deal with Qianye, either—just as they couldn’t handle Zhao Jundu.
Any force that had moved against the Zhao clan would be completely wiped out the moment they encountered Zhao Jundu. Every appearance of the Blue Firmament would result in an area-of-effect massacre with rarely any survivors. Comparatively, the ones who encountered Qianye fared much better—although they were all defeated, those willing to give up resistance were left as captives.
The lord of an inferior aristocratic family burst out in rage after reading the report. He crushed the paper into fine powder and said furiously, “Two juniors actually dare act so insolently! Do they still have the empire and its laws in their eyes? They actually dare act so brazenly!”
His roar was like thunder which caused the surrounding aides to fall into fearful silence. The Widefield Liu Family had attached itself to the Bai clan and invested five combat squads. Their rewards were bountiful at first—some descendants even broke through in battle and their futures looked bright.
That was until Zhao Jundu and Qianye charged over across long distances. The Liu family squads didn’t know when to retreat and, in the end, four out of their five squads were completely wiped out. It could be considered a great calamity for their family.
After roaring for a while, the clan lord instructed, “Prepare an airship for Scarlet. Sire Bai Longjia has just garrisoned there. He’ll definitely be able to seek justice for us!”
The aide believed the same and immediately left to handle matters, his movements extremely efficient.
Similar scenes were playing out in several places. Many people gradually noticed that the latest military contribution rankings were about to undergo drastic changes.
At this moment, Qianye had no idea about the great waves emerging in the rear, and he couldn't have cared less even if he did. He arrived atop a mountain and gazed into the distance. Beyond this mountain region was zone a3 where Bai Kongzhao was rumored to be operating in.
At the same time, a3 was a border region in the bloody battle. It was an area rampant with dark race members who had gained a foothold here. Qianye had yet to go all out in a satisfying massacre since his advancement to the champion rank. The reason he was willing to listen to Twilight’s report and try his luck here was because he had his eyes on the dark race settlement in this area. He was planning to clear the entire area in passing and try to comprehend his domain powers in a bloody battle.
Qianye leaped down from the hill and traversed the woodland with unchanging speed, heading straight toward the northwest.
He had traveled for the greater part of the day when his ears suddenly twitched slightly. He heard indistinct wolf howls in the distant mountains. Several dark figures were leaping through the forest and fast approaching.
Qianye halted his steps and, with a calm expression, allowed the werewolves to surround him completely.