The area that Song Hongchang, the leader of the "Furious Tide Sect", defended was only one point on the long defense line.
The reformists had long instigated Zhang Guanglong, the deputy leader under his command, to defect. Knowing that this was the weakest point, they had deployed tremendous elites there.
The few rounds of charges just now were just feints. At this moment, when Song Hongchang's subordinates, especially the disciples of the Furious Tide Sect who were still in the dark, were shaken by the psychological tactics, the elites of the reformists jumped out and launched the most determined assault when a lot of people were truly having a 'battlefield uprising'!
The elites who launched the assault were mostly the backbone of the Deep Sea Fleet and the few veterans in the Imperial Guards, or the unaffiliated Cultivators who had bloody grudges against the four Kurfürst families. They were definitely not the weaklings who attacked just now.
Like a burning fang, they pierced through the defense line of the Kurfürst's army all of a sudden.
The Kurfürst's army that had been pierced through completely lost their fighting will. Collapse and chaos spread out like a chain reaction of crystal bombs.
Countless common soldiers in the Kurfürst's army, led by the bottom-level officers, really turned their blades and guns toward the middle- and high-level commanders.
It was especially so for Song Hongchang, the leader of the Furious Tide Sect, the highest commander of the defense area, who turned from a magnificent general into a rat that everybody hated.
"Song Hongchang is caught! Song Hongchang is caught!"
Cheers that were partly real echoed in the sky of the battlefield. The flags of the old Imperium that represented the four Kurfürst families were shaking in the barrage. Very soon, they were ripped apart into thousands of pieces and burnt into ash.
A brand-new flag of the reformists of the Imperium replaced them and slowly rose in the sky of the battlefield. On the flag, scorching flames licked the whole world!
Li Yao and the rest of them naturally wouldn't let go of such a great opportunity. Mixed in the overwhelming "debris flow", they marched into and passed the defense area of the Kurfürst's army together.
The entire defense line of the Kurfürst's army was almost a hundred kilometers long and dozens of kilometers deep. Song Hongchang was only in charge of one part of the defense line. Even if the defense line completely collapsed, it would still take some time.
In many trenches and bunkers, the head-on shooting and head-on battles were still going on, but the battle was obviously one-sided.
The reformists were unstoppable, and their warriors were as invincible as crazy devils. The Kurfürst's army, on the other hand, was demoralized and scared out of their wits. Many troops dispersed or kneeled on the ground and surrendered the moment they saw the flag of the reformists. They were even pointing their blades and guns at their commanders the moment they saw the flag of the reformists, in a "battlefield".
Li Yao observed the battle while he was crouching forward. He had mixed feelings.
Wasn't the Kurfürst's army of the Imperium right now a miniature of the Imperium?
In terms of comprehensive capability, the number of soldiers, and even the average quality of the soldiers, the Kurfürsten's army was obviously better than the reformists' army. The Imperial Guards, as the main force of the reformists, hadn't been through any bloody battles for hundreds of years. They were nothing more than appearances.
However, the biggest difference between the two was their "Dao Heart".
Belief was something that every Cultivator often talked about, but they might not be able to explain it clearly when asked. It was an unpredictable, mysterious thing.
In Li Yao's eyes, belief was very simple. It was nothing more than ideology, ideology, and spirit.
A Cultivator had to have a belief in order for their strength to move forward. In the meantime, an army made of countless Cultivators had to have their own solid belief in order to carry out their full combat ability.
The so-called Kurfürst's army, no matter how strong it was on paper and how glorious it was, was still a traditional, underdeveloped, and rotten army.
The leaders of the army were selfish, insatiable, and shameless. They could betray their country for their family, and they could betray their family for themselves. Ideology, ideology, and spirit were just a cover for their personal gains. Nobody would take them seriously.
As for the bottom-level soldiers, they were either fooled by their "cover", bribed by their petty interests, or enslaved by their violence and unwilling to work for them.
For such an old-style army, no matter how strong the experts were, how vast the territory was, and how many starships and soldiers it had, it was just a tray of loose sand that was mutually exclusive!
The reformists, however, were different.
No matter how much Li Yao despised Blackstar the Great and feared his schemes, Li Yao had to admit that Blackstar the Great, Li Linghai, and even all the reformists had and believed in their own beliefs.
At least fifty percent of the reformists were not fighting for their personal interests but for something of a higher level, for the new Imperium that they believed in.
It was a new army that boasted beliefs. When they encountered the old-style army that did not have beliefs, they were destined to crush the enemy like rolling wheels.
Humans, no matter what level they were at, and no matter how powerful their combat ability was, they had to be spirited after all.
The Kurfürsten's army was destined to be no match for the reformists. Perhaps, only the Union Army, which also boasted beliefs and was even more determined, was able to compete with the "new army" under Wuying Qi's command.
At this time, the entire defensive line was like an avalanche mountain peak, emitting a deafening roar as it gradually retreated.
Countless soldiers of the Kurfürsten's army chose to kneel and surrender or have a "battlefield uprising", but a lot of people who owed blood or had tremendous interests in their family territories chose to flee back to the downtown area of Netherwind City, trying to seize the slim chance of survival and find a starship to escape.
The soldiers and bottom-level officers of both parties in the fierce battle were all equipped with the standard Crystal Suit of the Imperium, except that there was an additional emblem on the breastplate of the reformists. Li Yao and the rest of them secretly took off the emblem and switched to the mode of the identification system. Mixed in the messy, defeated soldiers, everybody was busy running for their lives. Who had the time to notice them?
Half an hour later, they successfully entered the downtown area of Netherwind City.
This place, on the other hand, was a hell on earth that was perhaps even more bloody and terrifying.
The news that the defense line had collapsed had long been sent over. The order of the city that had been maintained under the dominion of the big nobles for more than half a month had completely collapsed. Everybody was running toward the Netherwind Channel in a hurry.
Their eyes bloodshot, they shouted desperately, like hybrids of zombies and ferocious beasts, fighting for the last chance of survival.
There were also countless people who were too thin and knew that it was impossible for them to squeeze onto a starship. They simply stood or squatted on the street like the walking dead, looking at the sky and the surroundings in confusion, as if they were so lost that they did not know why they had come to this place or even who they were.
Li Yao saw a lot of such people. Most of them were graceful women in luxurious clothes and jewelry. Some of them were seniors who were obviously in power but were too old and feeble to do anything about it.
Xiaoming and Wenwen even recognized quite a few famous stars through facial scans.
"Those people who were standing on the street like walking dead turned out to be very awesome culture-type Immortal Cultivators. They are the big stars of the Imperium that everybody knows!"
Xiaoming and Wenwen said, "I didn't know that even they couldn't squeeze onto the starships."
"The culture-type, the admin-type, the research-type, and the creative type are all the same. They can only play their role when the social order is good."
Looking at the pale faces of the famous stars in the past, Li Yao sighed. "When the social order collapses and we return to the bloody forest where the strong prey on the weak, the purest and most straightforward violence will be the only strength!"
As he expected, some of the big stars or the powerful admin-type Immortal Cultivators, either tempted them with beauty, bribed them with money, or begged the battle-type Immortal Cultivators to fight their way out of the Netherwind Channel with them.
However, the battle-type Immortal Cultivators simply kicked them away without any mercy. No matter how many people had dreamed about their faces and how many huge contracts they had signed with their hands, they were worthless at this moment.
A lot of battle-type Immortal Cultivators, knowing that they would not have a chance to board the starships that were going to evacuate, simply made up their minds and gathered together into a rioting army, robbing, burning, and looting, while they chanted the slogan of "battlefield uprising and renewing the Imperium".
Now that they had made up their minds not to leave, the big stars and big bosses who carried tremendous wealth with them naturally became the best prey for them. Before the forces of the reformists really invaded Netherwind City, the city was already on fire, with smoke popping up everywhere. Screams, laughter, and the sounds of flesh being torn apart were echoing everywhere.
"I finally understand why Wuying Qi stayed in Netherwind City for so long."
Li Yao and Long Yangjun executed a team of rebels who were bold enough to rob them. They said to each other, "On one hand, it was for training, but on the other hand, he hoped that Netherwind City would fall into chaos first.
"The civil strife in Netherwind City is the epitome of the four Kurfürst territories. When a big noble leaves, ninety-nine middle- and low-level Immortal Cultivators will be left behind. Those 'abandoned' people, on the other hand, will certainly join the arms of the reformists in intense jealousy and hatred and become the most loyal reformists.
"Or rather, when everything that happens here is spread to every part of the universe by Wuying Qi and Li Linghai in various ways, especially in the territories of the four Kurfürst families, what will the middle- and low-level Immortal Cultivators in the territories think?
"It will be difficult to lead a team when people are not united. Wuying Qi surrounded Netherwind City for a month without attacking because he wanted to strike the hearts of the four Kurfürst families!"
"But right now, the city has been breached."
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