The time was up. Everyone tied red scarves around their necks, leaped onto their dragon steeds, and set off!
The sound of hooves thundered through the forest, and even the leaves rustled in the wind. Whispers could no longer be heard as the army marched. It was as though the army of over a hundred thousand had suddenly become obedient and obedient, going wherever they were told to go. None of them dared to show any resentment on their faces. The enforcers stood to the left and right of the army, glaring at them, afraid that they would be beheaded again if they showed the slightest displeasure.
They didn't dare to complain to their teammates anymore. The incident where someone was reported and had his head chopped off was still fresh in their minds.
The loss of a thousand heads made them understand what it meant to obey a military order!
Leading the army, Miao Yi circled around the small mountain of heads. This was something Miao Yi had Sikong Wuwei place on the path ahead of them.
Behind him, the troops also circled around the mountain. When they saw the pile of heads with their own eyes, they kept quiet out of fear. They didn't even dare to grumble in their hearts. They could only act cautiously, constantly reminding themselves that they might make a mistake and lose their heads. The Palace Lord's decree was' Five Decapitations'. Just this one decapitation alone had resulted in so many heads. In other words, this was no longer the same as before. They were fighting for real this time, with a whole pile of heads piled up here!
The Hall Masters and Manor Heads were speechless. They had never seen their subordinates so obedient before.
Clad in golden armor, Tao Qingli rode past the pile of heads on her dragon steed. She took one look and immediately felt nauseous. She quickly turned her head away.
Among the bloodied heads, some had their eyes wide open, some had their brows tightly shut, some had looks of pain on their faces, and some had their eyes rolled back. The stench of blood was thick in the air. She had never seen so many heads piled up together in her life. Only now did she realize that a real battle was far crueler than she had imagined.
Zhuang Youwen and Shang Liuhuan exchanged glances as they passed by the 'steamed buns'. They had already killed over a thousand of their men before the battle had even officially begun. It was clear how determined Traversing Water Palace was this time. The two of them then looked around at their surroundings. Previously, they had been on the verge of exploding, but now they were behaving themselves. It was truly a drastic change. It seemed like Traversing Water Palace wasn't as bad as they had imagined …
There was no way Traversing Water Palace wouldn't have sensed the recent abnormalities in Sun Palace, especially when they were mobilized on such a large scale. Even Traversing Water Palace had sent spies to the Sun Palace, let alone the Sun Palace.
News of Traversing Water Palace's movements had long since reached Sun Palace. Just like Traversing Wood Palace, Sun Palace had never paid any attention to Traversing Water Palace. No one believed that Traversing Water Palace would dare to attack Traversing Sun Palace. Everyone thought that Traversing Water Palace was only preparing for battle, and that there was nothing to worry about.
Even so, the Traversing Water Palace was still far more vigilant than the Traversing Water Palace. They were still prepared for a surprise attack. Troops were stationed at the border.
Traversing Water Palace's plan was to attack the Fourth, Xin, and Ninth Halls of the Traversing Sun Palace from the border between the two countries. They were only going to attack the three halls that were closest to the Traversing Sun Palace, and they weren't planning on fighting their way in. This battle was a show for Traversing Wood Palace, and they weren't planning on sacrificing themselves.
The Sun Palace had mobilized over twenty thousand troops from the Xin Hall and the Ren Hall to defend the Ren Hall. To the Sun Palace, gathering the forces of two halls to defend against a mere Traversing Water Palace was already giving them enough face. If a fight really broke out, with the Sun Palace's strength, they only needed one hall's forces and a few experts to wipe out the entire Traversing Water Palace. That was because they knew that Traversing Water Palace's strength couldn't even withstand a single blow.
Aside from being a precautionary measure, the twenty thousand troops stationed here were also meant to be the vanguard of the battle. Once Traversing Wood Palace and Sun Palace came to a conclusion, these two halls' forces would immediately charge into Traversing Water Palace's territory, while the Sun Palace's experts would charge straight for Traversing Water Palace's core. This way, they wouldn't have to waste time waiting for their forces to arrive.
"Milord! Sun Palace's scouts have already discovered us. We weren't able to stop them, and they managed to escape! "
A rider galloped over from the forest. The scouts they had sent out hurriedly came back to report to Miao Yi.
The enemy had gathered over twenty thousand troops from the two halls, and they had found out a few days ago as well.
After receiving the news and finding out that the enemy had made preparations … Was Tao Qingli's original intention to avoid the brunt of the attack and take a detour to attack another territory? It was only because she had some confidence that she could take Traversing Water Palace's forces by surprise. But if she were to fight them head-on, she had absolutely no confidence at all.
However, Miao Yi insisted on fighting them head-on. He wanted to defeat the enemy head-on! He even told Tao Qingli this. Not only would avoiding them severely affect their morale, once their morale was affected, the battle would turn out to be disadvantageous for them. Once they alerted the enemy, the twenty thousand troops behind them would be cut off from their retreat. Then, Traversing Water Palace's forces would truly be finished. Given Traversing Water Palace's attitude, the only thing you could do was show them a glimmer of hope. You mustn't let them down. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to salvage the situation even if you wanted to. By then, even if Tao Qingli managed to escape, she would be a Palace Lord without an army. Even if the Sun Palace didn't come after her, she would have no reason to stay in Traversing Water Palace anymore.
Besides, Miao Yi had reason to believe that the enemy might not even think that Traversing Water Palace would dare to attack them. There was still a chance that they would be caught off guard. Besides, they had so many people on their side. What was there to be afraid of?
Zhao Fei and Sikong Wuwei also agreed with Miao Yi's opinion. The two of them had fought for many years as well. When a battle was imminent, there was only victory and defeat. There was no such thing as fear.
Since all three of them agreed with Miao Yi, what else could Tao Qingli say?
"The enemy has already discovered our tracks. Tell the rear that there's no need to hide any longer. Let's move faster!" Miao Yi gave the order. He swung the Inversed-Scales Spear in his hand and took the lead to charge forward. The troops behind him immediately followed suit.
Behind him, Miao Yi continued, "Move faster!"
Over a hundred thousand troops immediately sped up and galloped through the forest …
In a certain forest between the Sun Palace's Ninth Hall and Traversing Water Palace, over twenty thousand troops were living in caves in the mountains. The valley was quiet, and the trees were dense.
On top of a large rock by the side of a flowing stream, the Hall Master of Suppressing Heart Hall, Tao Junjun, and the Hall Master of Suppressing Ninth Hall, Nan Zha, were playing chess around a chessboard.
Tao Junjun was a married woman, while Nan Zha was an old man. Both of them were completely focused on the chessboard.
Their handmaidens were frolicking by the stream. Some of them were brewing wine, while others were fishing for wild fish.
It was clear that even though their troops were stationed here, none of them were paying any attention to Traversing Water Palace.
However, the sound of hurried galloping broke the tranquility of the valley, attracting the attention of the people by the stream. They saw a scout galloping over, then coming to an abrupt halt. The scout jumped off his dragon steed, cupped his fists, and reported, "Hall Masters, something bad has happened. A large number of Traversing Water Palace troops have invaded our Sun Palace's territory!"
"What?" The two Hall Masters practically stood up in unison. Nan Zha quickly asked, "How many troops are there?"
The scout replied, "The head of the troops in the mountains is nowhere to be seen. I don't know how many of them there are, but I'm guessing there are at least fifty thousand of them!"
Tao Junjun said gravely, "Are you sure they are not stationed here, but have invaded our Sun Palace's territory?"
The scout replied, "There's no doubt about it. Their scout even took the initiative to chase after me. If I hadn't escaped quickly, I would have lost my life to them!"
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack … "Nan Zha immediately raised his head and invoked his arts as he shouted.
In an instant, the sound of dragon steeds' hooves thundered through the forest, scaring the birds away. Traversing Water Palace's troops were indeed no match for this kind of reaction speed.
The chessboard, fishing gear, and the like had already been put away in an instant. The two Hall Masters and their handmaidens quickly donned their battle armors and mounted their dragon steeds. Their mounts rumbled as they left the mountain.
"Nan Zha, something's not right. Why would Traversing Water Palace's troops attack our Sun Palace?" Tao Junjun, who was riding beside Nan Zha, suddenly transmitted her voice to him.
Nan Zha replied, "What do you think?"
Tao Junjun replied, "Traversing Water Palace doesn't have the guts to do so. Given their strength, they wouldn't dare to do such a thing. There's something fishy about this. We need to send a report back to Sun Palace and ask the Palace Lord to send reinforcements as soon as possible, just in case!"
Nan Zha frowned, "Are we supposed to avoid a battle?"
Tao Junjun sneered, "Avoid a battle? Are you kidding me? The Palace Lord sent us here to be the vanguard to wipe out Traversing Water Palace. If we don't fight when we encounter Traversing Water Palace's troops, not only will we lose face, will we still be able to keep our positions as Hall Masters? Not only do we have to fight, we have to make a name for ourselves. I suggest we immediately head to the Nine Bends River Plains and get into formation. If it really is Traversing Water Palace's troops, there's really nothing to be afraid of. There aren't any Purple Lotus experts there anyway. If the situation doesn't look good, it's not too late to act then! "
"You're right. Alright!" Nan Zha nodded. The two of them quickly led their troops out of the mountains.
Outside the mountains was a vast plain with a wide field of vision. A large group of troops wouldn't be able to escape their line of sight, so they had chosen a good place to stand guard.
On the slightly undulating plains where the weeds were green, a winding river flowed like a ribbon.
The twenty thousand strong army broke the silence of the plain as they rushed to the riverbank. Dragon steeds leaped across the river, and soon, everyone crossed the river and spread out on the other side, getting into formation!
Nan Zha and Tao Junjun rode at the very front. Behind them were six Advisors, twelve Deacons, and twenty Manor Heads.
Yan Beihong's figure suddenly emerged from the treetops in the distance, revealing half of his body as he scanned his surroundings with his transcendence vision. Six people had also emerged from the trees beside him. They were the six Advisors of the two Halls he was in charge of. It seemed like they wanted to help Miao Yi. They actually brought six Red Lotus cultivators with them.
If they really did join the battle, then his actions would be against the rules. Why would the people of the First Earthly Branch come all the way to the Fifth Earthly Branch to join the battle?
On the plain, the two armies had yet to meet, but the scouts sent out by both sides were already running back and forth to report on the situation. This was the prelude to a huge battle.
After a while, the plains began to tremble, and a mount with a black cape fluttering behind its back charged out from the horizon. It leaped over a mound in the sky, and soon after, groups of troops surged out like a tidal wave.
When they were only a thousand meters away from their opponents, Charcoal, clad in a fearsome armor, hurriedly reared back. Miao Yi swung his spear horizontally behind him, and the troops chasing after him immediately split up and ran to the sides.
Sensing the tense atmosphere of the impending battle, Charcoal was exceptionally excited. It constantly neighed and raised its hooves, exuding a strong desire to charge. If it weren't for Miao Yi suppressing it from behind, this bastard would definitely have charged out and killed Miao Yi without a care in the world.
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