150 A New War (1/2)

”Your Highness, we're expecting to reach the border between the southern capital and Upper South State soon. Please tell your subordinate of your Highness has any other instruction.” his faithful guard, Ming Qiang kneeled behind Zhao Ying, the ninth prince.

”Ming Qiang. I remember that you mentioned about the border war between the Crystalline River County and Seven Star County. Any updates on this news?” Zhao Ying asked.

”Reporting to your Highness, the most recent report said that the Seven Star County obtained a fierce momentum not long ago, and successfully forced the troops from Crystalline River County to retreats.” Ming Qiang reread everything written in the letter he received.

”That's better. This means my visit to the Seven Star Master Hall can be arranged without disturbance?” Zhao Ying added.

”Yes, your Highness. If that's your instruction, I will order them to proceeds toward the Seven Star Master Hall.” Ming Qiang waved his hand towards his subordinates to reroute.

”Ming Qiang... Put some faith in the people I have chosen. They're my best lineup to help me in obtaining the right to be crowned as the Crown Prince of the Southern Imperial Kingdom.” Zhao Ying said.

”Subordinate understood!” Ming Qiang can only reply in agreement.

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”Fire your weapons!” a captain ordered his men to ignites the Yuan-Tie Assault Cannon to harass their opponents outside of their City Wall. Although the repairing works are conducted without stopping, sometimes, one to two blind shots is enough to take down a group of Stone Mason.

The harassment continues, while Zhang Wu Ji leads a smaller team to follow him towards the direction to Jie's County. Because it was lead by the well known Jie Hu, Zhang Wu Ji decided to temporary disturb them from participating in this harassment battle.

But, the issue did not lie on his appearance, but his tricks.

Zhang Wu Ji formed a Caravan Line that allows the merchants to swarm into Jie's County with the Materials robbed during their takeover of the Fortress and the Mining Vein belonged to the Upper South Merchant Corporation.

Stuck in between attacking or waiting, the attempt to stall the troops from Jie's Clan is a success, with Zhang Wu Ji maintaining his alter ego, Qian Long, to sneak into his enemies camp.

The chances to release the Daynight Poison is here once more, with Zhang Wu Ji now enjoying the process to harvest his fruit of labor. Those weaker subordinates are assassinated on a daily basis, and more attention is placed in hunting for the retreating soldiers.

At the same time, the Tamed Beast idling inside the System Realm is given full freedom to move inside the forest, which helps in hunting for team leaders and veteran soldiers.

On the fifth day, Zhang Wu Ji pulled his troops back to the fortress and allowed the caravans to conduct their business and start spreading rumors about Jie's Clan incompetence in this fight.

The harassment on the outer city also stopped, because the number of their Yuan-Tie Assault Cannon is limited. But this retreat is their third and real retreat tactics, where the first two attempts successfully lured their enemies out for mass slaughter.

After the two previous failure, there's no longer any people dare to act recklessly before the troops belonged to the Seven Star County. Once, under the instruction of the Upper South Mercenaries, a squadron of cultivators in their Inner Qi Soldier lead by two Inner Qi Master head out to stop the harassment.

Unfortunately, the squadron was slaughtered when the Middle Wing fired two Celestial Bombing Quivers and turned all of them into a human-sized porcupine. This defeat stopped them from taking action, but then, Zhang Wu Ji ordered a complete retreat, with his troops planting a row of Mulberry Trees to differentiate their captured zone and Crystalline River County Zone.

His action enraged the people, but nobody from their older generation can make a move, because the instigator of this war is Zhang Wu Ji, a cultivator in his 17th Stage of Inner Qi Warrior. With each Inner Qi Grandmaster in their 41st Stage and above are treated as treasure and lifeline of their Corporation, it is impossible for them to be dispatched into the fight.

Because nobody knows if Zhang Wu Ji may possess weapon strong enough to kill a cultivator in Grandmaster Tier.

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”Hateful! How can a junior like him possess such a dangerous weapon? There must be some conspiracy in between the Ninth Prince, the Zhang Family, and the Seven Star Master Hall!” an Inner Qi Lord vent his anger on the table before him, but it survived his slap with full strength.

”The Jie's Clan failed to provide us with support, and the Herb Valley Sect seems to be taking the neutral position to see which party he should support at the end. I'm sure the Mystic Engineer Establishment will stand with the Seven Star Master Hall because of their friendship, which means, we're alone in this matter!”

”Stop guessing! Worst of all, we just need to join and get absorbed into the Blood Art Sect!”

”Corporation Elders, bad news! Bad news!” a member of their Upper South Merchant Corporation came in as he was given the authority to enter without knocking the door can to report.

”Maintain yourself! Speak!” the First Elder said.

”We lost a tenth of our Crystalline River County to the Seven Star County. As I report now, the people from Seven Star County is busy migrating their resident and workers to start erecting weird buildings!” the member reported.

”What's their completion rate now?” the Second Elder questioned.

”Estimated around 70-80% completion.” the member replied.

”If they finish their building in two to three more days, it will be much more difficult for us to recapture the land. Recall our people from the Northern Zone to help us.” the Second Elder ordered.

”Understood! Please excuse this subordinate!” he left without turning back.