Chapter 568: Chapter 568. Chasing Out the Invaders
Outside the city hall tower, Khode’s soldiers were fighting fiercely against the First Demon Army.
The First Demon Army held their line and prevented the enemy from approaching the tower. At first, they had no trouble, but more Khode soldiers arrived by the minute. Their battle turned the surrounding districts into rubble. Inside the buildings were civilians who were either non-cultivators or too weak to fight. They died from being crushed by the falling buildings or from stray attacks by the soldiers.
When Xuang Feng arrived, leading the Martial Realm soldiers who returned from the battle outside the city, the situation started to shift in Khode’s favor. Little by little, they pushed the defensive line held by the First Demon Army.
"Die, you Echos dogs!!"
Five Khode soldiers with cultivation at the Peak Mystic Stage surrounded Yong Baili. They wanted to pin him down so one of their Spirit Stage cultivators could deal the killing blow.
Yong Baili didn’t show any concern seeing the five. He spun at high speed. His five attackers took a defensive pose. They were prepared to defend if Yong Baili used an art. However, they didn’t see Yong Baili discharge any energy. He just spun in his place like a dancer.
When the five were confused as to what Yong Baili was doing, they sensed something alarming. Something invisible was behind them. It was already too close, and it was also happening too fast. Before they could react, their bodies split apart.
From an outsider’s perspective, the five were killed without anything touching them.
A flaming talisman flew toward Yong Baili, who was about to advance after slaying his five opponents. Yong Baili swung his arm, and the talisman stopped in its tracks. It burst into a maelstrom of flames, but Yong Baili was a safe distance away.
Xuang Feng was the one who threw the flaming talisman. He addressed Yong Baili, "You can extend your concealment art to your weapon. Impressive. It is as impressive as your thread weapon."
"If you can detect it from that far away, it is not impressive enough," Yong Baili responded.
"What material is it made of? To be so thin yet so strong that it can dissect a cultivator’s body. It is also resistant to the elements. Even in Khode, I never encountered such a weapon."
"It is an heirloom of my clan. It is passed down to me to repel invaders such as yourself," Yong Baili said.
"Heirloom? Interesting. Let me relieve that from you so Khode experts can study it." Xuang Feng used another talisman. The talisman exploded into many tiny starlights that flew toward and surrounded Yong Baili.
Yong Baili didn’t stay this time. He flew away while spinning his body. The frontmost starlights shook before they exploded like they collided with something, but the rest continued to chase him.
"Uncle, let me help you," Xuang Chao offered as he arrived.
"No. Take some people and force your way into the tower while I stop their strongest combatant," Xuang Feng commanded. "The transmitter inside is our priority. We cannot let them do anything to it!"
When his sentence ended, the thing he worried about the most happened. The soft hum that was heard coming from inside the tower was gone.
"No...," he uttered. He turned and looked at the armies battling outside the city. He looked back again at the tower and the armies battling inside the city.
Xuang Chao also understood what it meant when the humming sound was gone. He asked Xuang Feng, "Uncle... What should we do?"
Xuang Feng gritted his teeth. All the planning and effort to occupy this city was wasted. He didn’t expect the enemies to move so fast. It was as if the enemies already knew to target the city hall tower. Did someone from their side leak the information?
Nevertheless, things had happened. He had to save what he still had.
"Retreat!" He ordered.
"Uncle...?" Xuang Chao expected the command, but he still had trouble accepting it.
"Retreat!!!" Xuang Feng exclaimed louder. He also used another talisman. This talisman sent a bright yellow flare high in the sky. All Khode soldiers who saw this flare knew what it signified.
Khode soldiers started disengaging from the battle with trained discipline. They sacrificed their battle puppets to cover their escape.
The soldiers operating the Yuanxu Cannons, which were shooting at Jiang Tong’s army outside the gate, started disassembling the cannons. The Yuanxu Cannon was too large to fit inside their space rings, and it was too valuable to be left behind. Fortunately, the maker installed a quick mechanism to split it into two components. Once the cannons were stored, they retreated.
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At the foot of Bright Rock Hill, Echos’ soldiers struggled to survive against the human puppets’ onslaught. There were just too many of them.
A growing sense of dread gripped the hearts of Echos’ soldiers on the front line as they continued to get battered by the suicide explosions. Their defensive art might have helped them survive the blast, but some still received wounds. Even those with powerful defensive arts that let them resist the blasts couldn’t do this indefinitely. They were running low on aether. Yet, the enemies seemed unending. The worst blow to their mental dread was that the enemies didn’t show any care for their own demise. They just kept coming and happily blew themselves up.
At one point, one part of the defensive line finally gave in. The suicide mob rushed inside and hit the soldiers inside their inner formation. Those were soldiers with inadequate defensive arts. When that happened, they started suffering casualties at an alarming rate.
"Close the gap! Close the gap!" Liu Xun shouted.
Echos’ soldiers tried their best to carry out the command, but it was easier said than done. Once the flood spilled in, it was very difficult to stop. Not to mention, they were also running low on those with good defensive arts.
Liu Xun commanded the Martial Realm soldiers near him to aid him in stopping the enemies pouring from this gap. But as they did, he saw another gap occurring not far away.
"Fuck!" He cursed.
When he was at a loss about how to deal with the crisis, something weird happened. The human puppets that rushed at them slowed, before stopping altogether. The frontmost human puppets still exploded and harmed the soldiers in their vicinity. But since they stopped moving, Echos’ soldiers easily moved away from them and kept a safe distance.
Jiang Tong was amid the human puppet army. The human puppets near him never exploded because the handlers knew triggering explosions on him was useless. The explosions would just help him destroy the other human puppets nearby. So, he realized it later than the others when the human puppets stopped moving. He was still rampaging, cutting the human puppets left and right, before he finally noticed the enemies had come to a complete stop.
He was similarly confused by this turn of events. He flew up and looked around the place. All the human puppets were still as statues, while the few Khode soldiers assisting the human puppets were moving away.
His confusion finally abated when he remembered Amon’s promise. He looked toward the city. The enemies there also seemed to be leaving the city. He didn’t know how Amon did it, but the guy had successfully pulled off what he promised.
He turned back and issued orders to his army. All Martial Realm soldiers were to follow him, while the Human Realm Soldiers were to keep their distance from the human puppets. There was still a chance those human puppets might explode if someone approached. He told his landbound army to circumvent the human puppets before heading for Bright Rock City.
He then flew toward the city at high speed, not bothering to wait for his followers.
When he entered the cities, battles still occurred in a few spots, but most of those battles were against enemy battle puppets. Most of Khode’s soldiers had retreated to the Northern side of the city. They were evacuating from there.
Jiang Tong charged to Bright Rock City’s Northern Gate. By the time he arrived, the enemies were already outside. They were marching to the West, back to Khode. They didn’t bother waiting for those who were late in retreating.
"Xuang Feng...!!" Jiang Tong shouted as he arrived.
Xuang Feng was guarding his army’s rear, so he saw Jiang Tong approaching.
"You have already won, general. Why pursue us?" Xuang Feng asked. He prepared five large talismans in his hand. Each of them had a different color.
Jiang Tong originally wanted to kill as many of the retreating Khode Soldiers as possible. However, he had an inkling as to what was contained within those five talismans in Xuang Feng’s hand.
He pondered whether he should go all out. If he did, he could only last for a short amount of time. The enemy was already retreating, so this wouldn’t be a long battle. Still, he was alone. If the enemy decided to stop retreating and throw everything at him before his army arrived, he might be in trouble.
After careful consideration, he decided to be prudent. "Will you and your army leave this kingdom?" He asked Xuang Feng.
"We have failed our objective. There is no point for us to stay," Xuang Feng answered.
"My army and I will be on your tail. If we catch you within Echos’ territory when we reach the border, we will kill every last one of you," Jiang Tong threatened.
"Duly noted, general," Xuang Feng replied.