Far away-the other flanks of the battlefield were nothing like this.
Zhao Clan!
The mont the Demonic Cultivators descended in a massive swarm, they spread almost evenly.
Though it seed like they made more effort to destroy the Bai Clan, as the Demonic forces toward them were more than the others.
Everyone noticed that, and the Li and Zhao Clans were especially happy about that.
"Ha! Looks like the Bai Clan angered them the most."
"Good! This might be the start of the downfall for the Bai Clan."
"They'll take the heavy losses. We only need to hold our side."
They thought that they could take care of the Demonic Cultivators but wouldn't. They would act as if they were struggling and not be able to reinforce the Bai Clan.
They would hold on like that as long as it took for the Bai Clan to suffer heavy losses.
At least... that's what they believed.
The Zhao Clan wasn't stupid. Rather, they had so of the greatest strategists in their ranks.
They had co prepared for such a situation.
Despite already having a strategy, the Zhao Clan didn't fully depend on that and devised their own thod to deal with when the Demonic Cultivators joined the fight.
Their Formation Masters began constructing a Grade-6 Defensive Formation Barrier around their entire flank.
A hexagonal do of shimring blue qi slowly rose from the ground, patterns weaving across its surface like living runes.
A Grade-6 Formation was no joke, especially when done so by several Formation Masters.
Unless an Immortal Realm expert personally intervened, this barrier could withstand the assault of thousands of attackers for many hours.
With this, the Zhao Clan felt confident.
The plan was set:
Hold the barrier.
Finish off the Demonic Beasts.
Wait for their Reserve Unit to arrive.
Then handle the Demonic Cultivators at their leisure.
They were absolutely certain they could handle both Demonic Beasts and Demonic Cultivators this way without needing to suffer any damage.
And they fully expected the Bai Clan to be the one drowning in blood.
The Zhao Clan's morale rose.
"We've got this."
"Once the beasts are dead, the demonic filth will fall as well. Well, so unlucky clan might also be dead by then."
But then-
Everything fell apart.
Just as the final runes of the Grade-6 Formation locked into place-
Just as the barrier finished rising-
Just as the Zhao Clan felt safe-
SLASH!
"Ahhhhh!"
A scream tore through the ranks.
Silence hung for a heartbeat.
The Formation Masters froze, eyes widening.
"Wha-?"
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
One by one-the Formation Masters were cut down, their heads rolling across
the ground.
Their murderer?
A Zhao disciple.
No-an assassin disguised as a Zhao disciple.
His eyes glead crimson.
The entire unit reeled in shock.
"INTRUDER-!?"
"ASSASSINS?! HOW DID THEY-!!"
But it was already too late.
The Formation Masters who were maintaining the barrier had been killed, and without anyone maintaining it-
CRRRRACK!
CRACK!
The Grade-6 Formation Barrier shattered like glass.
The protective do collapsed instantly.
And the thousands of Demonic Cultivators waiting outside sprinted forward
with killing intent boiling like hellfire.
"Finally, the barrier is down!!"
"Hehe... Did they think that we didn't prepare for such a situation?"
"Hiding like a coward, as expected from the so-called righteous Cultivators."
The Zhao Clan wasn't prepared.
Because they had expected hours.
Instead, they got seconds.
And to make matters worse...
They were still surrounded by Demonic Beasts. Now, they were trapped from
both sides-Demonic Beasts and Demonic Cultivators.
The Zhao Clan's defensive lines collapsed instantly.
Cultivators died without even being able to retaliate. While others who decided
to deal with the Demonic Cultivators were killed by the Demonic Beasts who didn't miss their opportunity.
Blood ran across the plains like a river.
The corpses of Zhao disciples fell one after another, their screams drowned beneath the roars of the demonic horde.
What they thought would be a controlled, calculated stalling tactic beca a
massacre.
The Zhao Clan, who smirked at the Bai Clan's supposed misfortune, was now paying the price for their arrogance.
The Li Clan was no different.
On their flank, the battlefield moved according to their expectations or so
they believed.
Unlike the Zhao Clan, the Li Clan prided themselves on their strength.
They had prepared a simple but effective plan:
First, eliminate the Demonic Beasts.
Not caring about their qi, they needed to go all out and kill the Demonic Beasts
as soon as they could.
Second, regroup and form a defensive stance to stall the Demonic Cultivators.
No need to fight with full strength-not that they could, since they would be expending much of their qi to quickly deal with the Demonic Beasts.
So they would stall for ti and just hold on. Which should be quite easy after
they took care of the Demonic Beasts.
Third, wait for their Reserve Unit to arrive.
Once reinforcents ca, they would crush the Demonic Cultivators with
ease.
Everything proceeded exactly as they planned.
Their elites struck down the Demonic Beasts one after another. Blades flashed,
qi bursts rippled through the forest, and monstrous corpses dropped like rain.
Of course they had to expend a large portion of their qi to do it.
But that was fine.
They weren't expecting to fight imdiately afterward. Stalling only required discipline, formations, and defensive positioning.
And so, the Li Clan stood on the blood-soaked ground, breathing heavily but in good formation, as they faced the oncoming wave of Demonic Cultivators. "We only need to delay them. No need to force anything."
"By the ti our reserves arrive, these Demonic Cultivators won't even be an
issue."
But-that optimism shattered the mont the first Demonic Cultivator reached
them.
The Cultivator let out a maddened roar-and charged straight into the Li Clan's spearline, taking the spear through his abdon just to swing a pitch-black blade that obliterated three Li disciples behind the spearman.
"W-What?!"
Another Demonic Cultivator slamd into a sword formation, allowing his arm
to be severed only to drive his fist through an Elder's chest, crushing his heart.
More and more surged forward, eyes bloodshot, veins glowing with demonic
sigils.
"Why aren't they defending?!"
"They're not even dodging-!!"
The Elders felt a cold dread.
Demonic Cultivators usually fought with brutality, but even then they wouldn't be so cruel to themselves.
They seed to focus on attacking and didn't bother to defend.
This wasn't wild aggression. It seed like so kind of tactic to deal with the
Li Clan.
They didn't evade. They didn't retreat.
They simply took the hit and retaliated with sothing far stronger.
And because the Li Clan had expended so much qi on the Demonic Beasts, their
counterattacks lacked force.
Most of the ti, even if a Li Clan mber struck flawlessly, without much qi,
their attack lacked the power to finish off the Demonic Cultivators.
On the other hand, the Demonic Cultivators struck back with their full force,
which instantly killed many Li Clan mbers.
Clang! BOOM! SLASH!
Li Clan disciples were flung back like dolls, coughing blood.
"How are they still this strong after taking such damage?!"
"Why are they going all out like maniacs?!"
An Elder roared in frustration and disbelief as he parried another reckless
charge. "DAMMIT! These lunatics aren't worried about their Qi reserves!! They should
be conserving Qi-do they want to go all out from the start?"
But that was the cruel reality:
The Demonic Cultivators had no intention of stalling. They seed to know
that the more they waited, the more likely they were going to fail.
So, they were making full use of their sudden appearance and taking out many Cultivators before their reinforcent arrived. They were here to break the Li Clan now.
And their suicidal ferocity smashed the Li Clan's stalling tactics instantly.
Defensive lines buckled.
Disciples scread as the crimson tide surged into their ranks.
The Li Clan, who planned to wait, now struggled just to stay alive.
Massacre of Cultivators began, and the Demonic Cultivators had gone all out right from the beginning.
It wasn't until the Reserve Unit arrived that they were finally able to breathe in
relief.
Only after the Reserve Unit arrived did the Demonic Cultivators also stop
attacking like crazy as well.
"Damn! They finally stopped!"
Only then did the Li and Zhao Clan's forces get ti to breathe and look
around, where they saw many corpses.
Looks like Desolate Heaven Empire's forces had suffered many more casualties
than anticipated.
Li and Zhao Clan mbers' only relieving thought was that if they suffered so
much, then the Bai Clan-who was attacked by a much larger force-should
have suffered much more.
But when the Li and Zhao Clans finally looked over...
They saw...
The Bai Clan stood there with barely any casualties.
The shock was indescribable.
"...They're... fine?"
A Li elder whispered, numb. "...How...?"
A Zhao disciple muttered.
"... We've lost so many n but they... they look as if they didn't fight against
Demonic Cultivators."
Looking at their own force, which had lost almost 25% of their n, the Bai
Clan was almost like they didn't go through the sa disaster.
How can this be?
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