“Don’t let them advance.”

“Keep suppressing them with cannon fire! They can’t do anything to us if we stay outside of their range!”

“Concentrate on the shields, don’t let their attacks through!”

Zhang Dong listened to his commanders giving out orders while advancing through the air. Their large ships along with the vast number of flying cultivators threw a large shadow at the enemies below them.

‘We do have an advantage when it comes to air battles.’

The enemies they were facing were from various body refining tribes. While their elders that were at the level of the nascent soul could easily fly it wasn’t the same for the core formation equivalents. They lacked flying treasures like swords to keep them afloat and were mostly stuck on the ground.

On the other hand, the people from the United Element’s Sect that were participating in the current assault specialized in ranged Qi attacks. The large flying ships continued to use their massive cannons to rearrange the landscape. This made it hard for the demi-human forces to advance in any meaningful way, their capabilities to pierce the massive mobile defensive formations were also very limited.

‘While my people would certainly fail when confronting these demi-humans in close range skirmishes they are at an advantage.’

By lacking in spiritual energy the demi-humans had one fatal flaw, they could not produce battle or defensive formations. One of them had the strength of five to ten when it came to pure battle power but they could not combine this strength.

By contrast, the cultivators from the empire could combine it by forming various formations that strengthened their Qi. As long as these battle formations lasted the enemies were at a disadvantage and so they were desperately trying to invade their ranks.

‘As long as we can keep the Nascent Soul equivalent masters from breaking through the defensive barriers we should be able to advance without much difficulty.’

“Give me a report on our friends, how are they faring?”

“Yes, Patriarch! Our allies have managed to block the red-skinned demi-humans approach, thanks to their mounted combat they are managing to push them back. We have also sighted the mole men in that region.”

“Good, has any leader appeared?”

“We have confirmed that a large demi-human with a long horn has appeared, he is being held back by both Argus the Wizard and Knight Commander Lucius, the mole leader is hiding his presence but he had managed to kill some of the escorting knights.”

“Good, have Huo Qiang move out to help them out with the mole problem and continue to monitor the situation”

“As you command, Patriarch.”

Everything seemed to be going well as the red demi-humans were removed from the chessboard by the people from the magical kingdom. Even the mole people had entered the fray but with some help from Huo Qiang and some other elders, they would also be too busy to help the vampire lord out. Without any reinforcements to push into his flanks, he would be free to assault their castle.

‘It does look good for me but I can’t underestimate their forces. There could be other tribes lurking somewhere or even arriving through the bridge while we are fighting, it will be best if we get this over as fast as we can… but what’s with this fog?’

They had been able to slowly progress into the enemy territory without suffering much but the further they went in the thicker the miasma became. With time the whole area was consumed by this fog which reminded him of the time he helped the Divine Fist Sect. It was clear to him that this vampire tribe was somehow affecting the environment and changing it.

‘The fog has some evil energy in it but it's very low quality, it would not even be a problem to a Qi condensation cultivator, perhaps the reason is to block out the sun instead?’

While this thick fog would not affect living beings that much it was still hard to see through it. The bright sun rays from outside could not pierce through it which would give the vampire demi-humans some protection from their fabled weakness. These monsters were susceptible to concentrated solar energy that he could employ.

‘But not like we didn’t expect this.’

His people did their utmost effort in scouting out the area. While they did not venture too close to the fortress they gave reports about the dark mist. After analyzing it with his own spiritual sense he was sure that it would only slow down his plan slightly but as long as his ships survived he would have the upper hand.

“Patriarch, the enemy fortress is close, we are encountering resistance.”

“I’ll move out then.”

With that notion, he deactivated the communication device with his flagship and bolted forward where the rest of the vanguard was. At the helm of it all were bulky vessels that contained many core formation masters versed in protective spells. They were augmenting the formations on those ships and creating the mobile defensive array that allowed them to progress without suffering any damage to their armada.

It looked like something from an old horror flick. The castle was truly tremendous and reached up into the sky. It was composed of some kind of obsidian material that was radiating malicious energies. The whole thing looked like a giant spiky tower composed of more towers. The windows were eerie similar to ones found at a church, along with depictions of horrific acts on stained glass.

This wasn’t all, this castle was placed on elevated ground with a moat around it. This moat was not only composed of water but blood as well. Even from this location, he could feel the vengeful spirits gathering around it along with signs of decomposing bodies swimming in it.

‘Are they trying to attract more decrepit souls to feast on them by leaving all those bodies there?’

When looking from the outside he realized that the place was similar to a soul-attracting formation. Some kind of occult ritual had taken place to create a soul gathering location. It was somewhat similar to the one he first met these monsters in but here they weren’t consuming all of the souls by letting them fester and grow into stronger ones instead.

All the trees and lifeforms that resided here seemed to be dead. Nothing that could be considered alive was left behind as a wasteland had been created. This place was supposed to have been similar to a rainforest but the only thing left behind was a dried-up river filled with bones of various beasts.

“How quaint, a pentagram huh?”

With his ability to fly he put himself above his own flying armada. From this vantage point, he could see five large towers that were connected by large walls. Together they formed a pentagram that was visible when looking down. Even without getting closer, he could tell that some kind of occult spell was being sustained by those towers.

“Everyone stop!”

Zhang Dong moved his hand up into the air while shouting toward his people. Without missing a beat they all stopped instantly as if their lives depended on following that order. They wouldn’t be wrong in their assumption, if they decided to continue further their souls would indeed be in jeopardy.

“Don’t push in further, there is some kind of soul-sapping spell around this place.”

He had learned various soul arts and spells concerning them. While other cultivators could not see it there was a peculiar barrier there. It was not something that could halt their advance as anyone could pass through it but then it would already be too late. When inside anyone would have their soul energy siphoned away and soon die. This power would go through any conventional protective formations and even some strong soul-protective talismans that his people were equipped with.

“Execute the plan now and don’t pass through these coordinates.”

A lot of technology was created with the help of his crafting abode. The map in the system had a coordinate system that was now used by his sect, thanks to this he could safely locate the safe zone for his people. The ships under his command were now slowly moving to the sides and spreading out at various elevations. It was probably a strange sight to behold for the vampires inside this palace but soon they would see what Zhang Dong’s sect had in store for them.

‘They don’t seem to be throwing their best at us yet…’

While some of the demi-humans were tossing themselves against the protective barrier they weren’t coming in a big force. It seemed that they were either sure of his forces not being able to move forward or they had some kind of plan in motion. The second option was more plausible as the moment his ships started aligning with each other the castle started glowing.

The towers composed of multiple spikes started out giving out gray energy that slowly turned crimson. While most could not see what was happening Zhang Dong could feel the souls rising up from all of these dead bodies. The quantity and quality of those dead specters was truly immense.

‘If it was any other sect besides mine they would probably have trouble containing all of these spirits that can’t be contained with conventional means but…’

Zhang Dong raised his finger up towards the sky. The moment he did a thin ray of golden light escaped and traveled upwards. Without as much as a bang, the mist was spread apart to reveal the sunny sky above it. This approach was specifically calculated by taking the sun's location into consideration and now it was time to give their secret weapon against these vampires a test run.

The moment the sun appeared above them a loud noise escaped from one of the larger transport ships in the back. A large circular object was propelled up into the stratosphere and stopped in mid-air without falling down. It was a giant lens surrounded by golden metal that was procured from a certain Golden Palace. To the side of it there were strange runic patterns along with various gems that allowed it to float in one location without falling down.

Zhang Dong looked at this large magnifying glass that was slowly aligning itself to catch the sun’s rays. During this process of alignment, various ships revealed large panels with mirrors on them. These mirrors were pointing at an angle towards the massive castle occupied by the vampires.

“Here you go, enjoy your tan, you vampire bastards!”

He appeared behind the floating lens with one hand behind his back and the other pointing towards the sun. The solar rays were easy to manifest and all of them would be concentrated on the giant lens. With its help, he would bathe the entire place in bright light and with a pinch of his holy dao it would become the bane of both the vampires and decrepit souls.