Chapter 285: City Breach! (Average Subscription Bonus 05)

The victorious royal alliance, contrary to their usual practice, did not pursue their advantage against the Morning Star Sea, as if they had never intended to crush them completely from the start.

This provided a much-needed breathing room for the demoralized Morning Star Sea Alliance; unlike the players of the Great Jin Country, once they suffered a crushing defeat, they lost the opportunity to rapidly increase their cultivation, for this was no longer a war that could be won by sheer numbers alone—with incomplete skills and dropped equipment, no matter how many men they had, defeat was absolute!

While intensifying the cultivation of their own forces, they were also contacting more factions from the Morning Star Sea to move in; almost overnight, the Half City shop expanded from one thousand computers to two thousand!

Fortunately, under the system's supervision, nothing went awry, otherwise Zou Mo would truly have been unable to keep an eye on everything by himself.

Similarly, major forces such as the Jiuhua City royalty, the Jiuhua Army, and the Cloud Ocean Sect were also silently expanding their armies, leveling up, and farming skill books.

They silently practiced their spells and combat techniques.

Half City and Jiuhua City, in a rare turn of events, actually coexisted in peace.

It was just like the calm before the storm.

...

In this world, there has never been inherent peace; it is war that buys peace.

One hundred fortune transport ships, twenty armored war vessels?

If anyone were to see the vast, sky-blotting fleet of dharma vessels crossing the border of the Yundian Region at this moment, they would realize how ridiculously incorrect this intelligence was!

With the capabilities of the Upper Yundian Region, it was naturally impossible for the Great Jin Country to grasp their intelligence with absolute clarity.

At the bow of a massive armored war vessel at the absolute forefront stood a pale-faced Taoist who appeared to be about fifty years old; it was precisely Gongyang Jun: "That young fellow Ji Wu is probably still gloating at this moment, thinking he has our movements completely under control."

A middle-aged cultivator wearing a black-and-white robe, possessing a broad forehead and a wide face, stood beside him; it was precisely Gongshu Kuo: "Back when Ji Xuantong was alive, he had to be completely respectful and submissive toward us. This brat's courage has grown quite large now, actually daring to ally with the Wuwei Daoist Alliance to challenge us?"

"He thinks we will march from the western Crescent Pass? Stationing a hundred thousand troops there? What a joke!" Gongyang Jun sneered, looking at the rapidly sailing transport vessels behind him and saying, "To us, whether we attack from the west or the east, is there any difference?"

Gongshu Kuo said fiercely: "Let us breach ten of his cities first! See how he responds then!"

In front of the Nanmen Pass in the southern part of the Great Jin Country, the soldiers on routine patrol suddenly raised their heads.

"What... what is that...?!"

They saw that within the sky, at some unknown point, a massive number of dharma vessels had actually appeared, and countless cultivators were scattering down from the vessels as densely as locusts, the spells descending from the sky blotting out the heavens like a torrential rain!

They seemed to appear in this sky all of a sudden, without a single shred of warning, as if they had been invisible before!

In this instant, the Nanmen Pass of the Great Jin Country resembled the end of the world!

"It is a cultivator army! A cultivator army!"

"It is the cultivator army of the Upper Yundian Region, how could they appear here?!"

"Quick! Quick, report this!"

"Ah—!"

In the face of an enemy they were completely unable to resist, even the well-trained border army of Great Jin began to fall into chaos, and the Nanmen Pass was soon filled with a vast expanse of wailing ghosts.

...

The Great Jin Country.

"Report! The Yundian cultivator army launched a sudden attack last night, and the fifty thousand border defense troops at Nanmen Pass can no longer hold out! Requesting reinforcements!"

"Report! Nanmen Pass has fallen! The fifty thousand reinforcements rushing from Crescent Pass have retreated to Changfeng City!"

"Report! Changfeng City has fallen!"

"Report! The Yundian cultivator army has breached ten cities in succession and has now advanced to Tianlang Pass!"

"..."

Listening to one urgent report after another, Ji Wu's face turned ashen with rage: "Bastards! The late emperor had a covenant with the Upper Yundian Region beforehand, yet now they disregard everything and directly assault our cities?"

Although he had long taken precautions, it was only when the Upper Yundian Region truly attacked that he realized how vast the gap between the two sides was!

A hoary-haired veteran general clad in silver armor with a golden blade hanging at his waist spoke with a solemn expression: "Marching from Crescent Pass to Tianlang Pass is too long a journey. By the time we arrive, I fear the Yundian cultivator army will have already retreated elsewhere. This battle..."

"Did Your Majesty not previously focus efforts on developing transport vessel transit?" A general spoke up, saying, "In this old servant's view, why not temporarily deploy those transport vessels over here, combine them with our military vessels, assemble thirty thousand elite troops, and rush to Tianlang Pass to defend it to the death!"

"How could thirty thousand be enough?!" Ji Wu gritted his teeth and said, "According to the battle reports, the cultivator army sent by the Yundian Region numbers at least thirty thousand or more!"

Even if it were thirty thousand cultivator troops of the Great Jin Country, they could not possibly defeat thirty thousand well-equipped cultivators of the Yundian Region who possessed profound cultivation; now, using a mixed army of cultivators and warriors, how could they possibly be a match for the Yundian Region?!

One must know that on the battlefield, the role played by a cultivator was several times greater than that of a warrior!

"There is no other way, Your Majesty!" The old general said with a trembling voice, "They have no intention of clashing with our main army at all. Now, even if they penetrate deep into our country's heartland, moving west to the imperial palace or east to the Wuwei Daoist Alliance would be an effortless task!"

The cultivator army of the Yundian Region, even before clashing, had already displayed an incomparably powerful mobility, a point on which the Great Jin Country could not compare at all!

Perhaps an army of two hundred thousand or three hundred thousand using human-wave tactics could make the Yundian Region halt its steps, but clearly, the Yundian Region had already anticipated this and had no intention of tangling with Great Jin's main army.

By relying on a large number of transport vessels, they needed only a few tens of thousands of cultivator troops to completely lead an army of hundreds of thousands of warriors around by the nose.

The only way was to likewise deploy transport vessels to give chase, and the transport vessels of the Great Jin Country were clearly only enough to transport tens of thousands of troops.

In this way, they would lose their advantage in numbers! Even the sole advantage of the warrior army would be gone!

"This old general is willing to lead thirty thousand death-defying soldiers! To check the enemy first!"

"This subordinate general is willing to be the vanguard!" A middle-aged general with a thick beard shouted loudly.

These two were precisely the two generals who had previously discussed the Divine Lightning Control Technique with Chancellor Zhang in the Golden Throne Hall; the white-haired veteran general was named Wang Tong, and the middle-aged general was named Li Kaishan, both veteran generals of the Great Jin Country. With both of them present, it could be said that more than half of Great Jin's military strength had been deployed!

"Everyone." Wang Tong pointed to the distant mountains that looked like a green screen, "Look over there, ahead lies the Yundian Region; it is beautiful, wealthy, and rich in resources, whereas compared to them, we are lacking in resources and our land is barren."

"They pride themselves on being a noble upper cultivator region, and we showed them the respect they deserved, yet they treat us like ants that can be crushed at will! Today, because things did not go their way, they attacked ten of our cities; if they have other thoughts tomorrow, will our kingdom be overthrown?! Are you willing to endure such humiliation?!"

"Today, this general shall take you to face death and check the enemy, is there anyone willing to go with me?!"

"I am willing to go!"

Almost in an instant, the mountains cheered and the seas roared, as if a wild, raging wave had been unleashed!

Ji Wu's expression was solemn, and at this moment, he finally made his decision: "You are all throwing yourselves into danger for the sake of our Great Jin Country without regard for your own safety; as the master of a nation, how can I sit by and watch?!"

"Where are my imperial guards?!"

"Where is the Jiuhua Army?!"

"Where is the allied army of the Wuwei Daoist Alliance?!"

"Present!" Behind him, two thousand people stood, their flags fluttering.

"Today, I shall take thirty thousand iron-armored troops of Great Jin, elite soldiers of the Wuwei Daoist Alliance, and the two thousand members of the Great Jin Allied Army, and fight a decisive battle to the death against them!"

"Your Majesty, you must not!"

"As long as you are here, the nation stands, how can you go with thirty thousand death-defying soldiers..."

"Hold them back? What if we hold them back?" Ji Wu sneered, "And then slowly let them consume the sons of my Great Jin until nothing is left?!"

"At least... we can hold out until the main army arrives!"

"And what of it? They come as they please and leave as they please, how can our army retain them?!" Ji Wu slammed his fist fiercely against the wall beside him, "I finally understand now; my Great Jin has plenty of soldiers and generals, but right now, the only force that can clash with them is this army of tens of thousands that the transport vessels can carry!"

If these tens of thousands of troops are gone, and the vessels are gone, Jin Country will have nothing left to defend except the imperial city!

Ji Wu had never been a monarch who sat back and enjoyed the fruits of others' labor; as the second-generation emperor of the Great Jin Country, although he had not experienced the era of expanding territory and fighting in all directions.

Ji Xuantong's achievements in the martial path were unmatched by anyone in the entire Great Jin Country, but precisely because he focused too much on his own martial path, it had constrained the development of the nation.

Ji Wu was different, but he desired a powerful Great Jin Country even more than the previous monarch Ji Xuantong, and now, this opportunity was placed right before him.

He could not compromise, much less surrender: "Without a powerful nation, I would rather embrace death!"

"My mind is resolved!" As his golden cloak billowed in the wind, the four words Ji Wu uttered cut through the air like a striking blade.

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