It may appear to the participants that the battle had already taken a lot of time, but as Wu Guang and his assigned guards moved from their positions, the sun had barely moved.

And even though the enemy had taken some losses, the overall situation had only slightly changed...

________________________________________________________________________

"Lord! Our first men have landed, there is no resistance. The bowmen and a few others retreated away from the landing point, we have no idea of their cultivation" One of the invaders responsible for managing the influx of qi transmissions, glyphs, and even signal flares turned towards Lord Wang and informed.

"Losses?"

"Between 30 and 50, they can't say better until they check on the wounded"

"Understood, send an order... Jia'er is to take her followers and capture the retreating enemies" Wang Ling wasn't truly enraged by the death of a few of the weaklings he manned the first two rows with, but he could not allow anyone to know it. And whatever strength the men that had shot had, they could not be strong enough as to contend with his niece's group. After all, if they had the strength to win over ten beginner Soul realm cultivators lead by a 4th level one, they would never start retreating now.

________________________________________________________________________

"They fell for it, eleven Soul realm cultivators flared their auras and are beginning to follow our tracks" Having an advantage of over half a mile over the senses of any Soul realm cultivator, Wu Guang had no trouble to maintain the men following him a few steps ahead.

"Strenght?" Xiao Kang went to the important point right away.

"Seven... No, eight cultivators at the 1st level. Two on the 2nd one. The leader is a 4th level Soul realm cultivator"

"..." Xiao Kang would have loved to swear, but between the calmness that their commander, Chen Guang, irradiated as well that everything was going along their plan, he refrained from it.

"Xiao Kang, separate in two. The ones with me, release your cultivation and drop the pace by half. The rest, move out at full speed. We are reeling them to Lord Xiao's position" Wu Guang commanded.

"Yes!" Xiao Kang nodded and quickly made the planned arrangements.

Six 1st level Soul realm guards and the five peak Spirit realm bowmen would remain with Wu Guang, to allow the pursuers to locate, follow, and reach them. The rest, comprised of Xiao Fang, the other 2nd level Soul realm, five more 1st levels, and eighteen peak Spirit realm cultivators would rush forward, notify Lord Xiao's group and then ambush the followers.

***

"Lady Wang! The group we are pursuing is slowing down, I think they are preparing to send a signal" One of the cultivators affiliated to the Wang Family, still dressed in the green colors of the 'Shadow Leaf Sect' they had sold out notified.

"I can also sense them!" Wang Jia angrily rebuked. What need was to report something she already sensed herself? And at least a few breaths before her group could?

"..."

"Sorry, I'm just angered that someone dared to kill our men in front of me and escape"

"Don't worry, my lady, we are here to serve"

"...Yes. Everyone! It's time to repay them for the deaths of our relatives and friends from the first row. Full speed!" After making sure to rile up the group she commanded.

In truth, she even now did not understand why her Uncle commanded the family forces to take point and land first. Granted, he had moved her group to the 3rd row, allowing them to be safe in case of any sudden event, but... Why send them at all if they had a few hundreds of criminals from the 'Inverted Tower' to use?

But even though she could not understand, the overall idea was sound. The Wang's had experience in working together, as well they were banded into exerting themselves to the utmost. After all, they were far worse than criminals in the eyes of the Half-Island populace. And so even if the latter could be expected some quarter, any Wang family member or retainer would be definitively executed on the spot. No traitor deserved more, did it?

"But we are not traitors! We are just returning to the fold of our clan! Not that they would get it anyway" She cleared her mind from such thoughts and concentrated on the task at hand... And the task seemed easy enough, just 12 people with the strongest one being a 1st level Soul realm.

***

"Enemies!" Acting like if he sensed them just now, one of Wu Guang's men shouted and the group assumed something resembling a defensive arrangement.

Wu Guang had made sure to have released only a few strands of qi, making anyone believe that he was a Peak Spirit cultivator, and now he tucked himself behind the archers, keeping the enemies from seeing the runes on his cloak.

He was a bit surprised by the fact that the one leading the pursuers was Wang Jia, as with her being the niece of Wang Ling and someone who should be considered close to him, why would she be allowed to separate?

"Seems that Wang Ling isn't really trusted by the Eagles, or he intends to hog all the possible glory. If not, why would he send his men, and now even his relatives as vanguard?" Wu Guang allowed himself a brief thought before taking out his chakrams. When he was seen by Wang Jia last time, he wasn't even a Soul realm cultivator, so if he disguised his presence just a bit...

She should not be able to identify him.

***

The range began to close, and a few arrows flew to meet Wang Jia's group to no avail. And how could it be different? Soul realm cultivators could control the qi around themselves, and so blocking a common arrow was child play. Still, the fact that arrows flew meant that they would not surrender - "Not that I would have accepted it" Wang Jia inwardly smirked and shouted before rushing forward

"KILL!"

***

"KILL!" as the shout from the opposing party was heard, Wu Guang's six Soul realm cultivators responded and braced to meet the charge.

***

Wang Jia was the first one to reach the enemies and easily deflected two spears with a flick of her elegant and long miao. She intended to continue on a counter-attack but had to deflect an unexpected flame covered disk that somehow evaded her senses until the last moment

*CLINK*

And before she could even think about it, her sword darted again, blocking an identical disk coming from the opposite side

*CLINK*

Afterward, she heard a commanding voice, one that was coming amidst the, starting to run, Spirit realm cultivators she did not even consider a threat!

"Concentrate on the others! I will deal with her"

***

Town guards as well as any military cultivators normally lagged far behind a Sect or Jianghu cultivator in what one-on-one combat was concerned. But on the other side, they had an almost engraved affinity for fighting in a group, allowing them to cover each other and weather an assault by a larger force, at least if their cultivations did not differ from the attackers.

In the current case, Wu Guang was more or less sure that the six could survive for the few, required minutes against the ten attackers... On the provision that he dealt with the most dangerous one, and the Spirit realm bowmen were not dragged into the mess.

While he threw the chakrams, using their respective technique and activating all of their runes, including the one that allowed him to cover them in flames, he had also sent an order for the bowmen to disperse, and send the signal for reinforcements.

"Now it's time for me to deal with her" He thought while announcing his intention as soon as she blocked the 'Sun Disks', albeit not without losing her chance to counter-attack at the two guards that had tried to skewer her with their spears.

________________________________________________________________________

"Signal flare!" Xiao Kang was the first one to notice the bright red signal that was meant for them to rush in.

"Acknowledged" Lord Xiao nodded before ordering

"Soul realm on me, the rest begin moving towards the beach"

Afterward, eleven Soul realm cultivators, led by the 4th level Lord Xiao started running towards where Wu Guang was currently fighting.

________________________________________________________________________

Wu Guang's predictions about the Soul realm guards were well on point, as the few glances he could spare at them while blocking Wang Jia proved that albeit they were hard-pressed, they still managed to remain without any serious injuries. Even more, a thrust meant to keep one of the assaulters, the only one dressed in the conspicuous green robes of the 'Leaf Shadows Sect' from entering the range of his short saber had been lucky and left a deep gushing wound on the latter's abdomen.

*Swoosh*

Dodging the miao's long blade by a hair width, Wu Guang sidestepped and launched a feint, one of the many he had already.

"Are you planning to jump like a monkey until your friends come?" Wang Jia spat out after missing another of her attacks.

She was enraged, not only did the man continue to conceal his cultivation, but he was also agile enough to not allow her even to touch a corner of his robes... Not to mention that every feint he threw at her with his fists and feet could very much turn into a real attack if she allowed him to. And somehow she doubted that it would be weak enough to ignore it.

"Why you are very much right my Lady Wang" Wu Guang suddenly spoke up in response, even though he had been silent until the moment.

And before she could voice anything, Wu Guang added

"Not that I need to do it for much longer"

"What?!" Wang Jia suspected that this may be an attempt to distract her, even so, her intuition told her that it wasn't so... Regretfully it was only partially right.

"Green Demon Claw" Wu Guang bellowed and lunged forward, diving right under the sword.

***

He had not lied about the reinforcements, as they indeed had just entered his senses envelope. And so when he finished speaking, they had reached Wang Jia's one as well. But she was neither a really experienced fighter, which was shown by the fact she didn't use any techniques at the start, treating this as one of the common cultivator duels during which everyone exchanged similar against similar; Nor she was used to maintaining a full watch of her surroundings during a fight, probably because she had been always accompanied by guards or an expert from her family.

Thus, when she decided that he did not lie and turned her attention towards her long-range senses, she gave Wu Guang an opening enough for him to finish the battle.

***

*Rip*

Wu Guang's martial skill had proved itself capable even against a defensive technique used by a Sage realm cultivator, so what could be said against a practically undefended Soul realm one?

Wang Jia's aura was partially scattered because of her senses, and so except her rune reinforced robe, Wu Guang encountered practically no resistance before reaching her flesh...

*Tear*

And tearing open an enormous wound that went from her left thigh and up to her navel.

"Y..." Wang Jia attempted to say something, but Wu Guang's claw had reached her dantian area, and the poison had already begun to interfere with her qi circulation, making her face the brunt of the damage with no ability to deal with it except grit her teeth and resist the pain.

"Don't speak, and don't even think of moving" Wu Guang calmly said. And then, without moving himself, still half-kneeled before her and with his claw deep in her torso loudly shouted

"Wang clan cultivators! Surrender or die"

Normally such words would be met with ridicule, but... Neither of the present people was even close in strength to the Lady that they followed, who was already defeated. Which meant the one who had just spoken was stronger than her!

And as soon as their minds wavered, eleven auras at least as strong as theirs enveloped them - Lord Xiao had arrived!

________________________________________________________________________

To say that the newly arrived reinforcements were surprised would be to severely undermine their emotions. Not only the commander's plan, at least as most of them thought, had been working out perfectly, but the same commander also defeated a 4th level Soul realm cultivator without suffering any injury!

"Commander Chen" Lord Xiao, one of the few people to know Wu Guang'sidentity approached and slightly bowed, before moving on to qi transmission

"It seems that we weren't needed at all"

"You jest, Lord Xiao, if not for your arrival I could not convince them to surrender, could I?"

"Mmm, now what to do with them?" The posed question was a serious one as even after surrendering, the nine standing men and women that served the Wang's could actually put up a serious fight, especially if the numerical advantage of their captors thinned out.

"I will seal their cultivation and then we will send them towards Lang Zheng accompanied by the five bow-wielding guards" Wu Guang had already discussed what to do in case such a situation arose with Rui Qingkai, and detaching the five Spirit realm cultivators would not affect his own strength at all.

"Understood, and what do we do with the traitor Wang Jia?" The question was equally important as the previous one, as she was seriously wounded and so she should be either treated, in which case her cultivation could be not sealed, or killed on the spot.

"Do not worry about that Lord Xiao, Senior Rui loaned me a pair of 'Three Moons Death' pills, and my own poison will block any resistance to the effect. So she will be far less dangerous than her men.

***

It took Wu Guang 10 minutes to seal both the cultivation and voices of the 9 prisoners. The latter is a precaution against any attempt to bribe, convince or otherwise influence their escort. For the same reason, their holding pouches and weapons were confiscated and now were safely stored inside Wu Guang's storage ring.

He also fed the unconscious Wang Jia one of the aforementioned pills. The 'Three Moons Death' effect was by far not so macabre as the name implied, being simply a very strong sleeping drug. One that could knock out even a Soul realm cultivator for three entire days, hence the name.

The remaining soul realm cultivator, the one that was wounded heavily by the guards at the start had suffered a few other wounds during the combat that followed and could not be treated presently. In the end, he was killed, almost as mercy, and his body stored into a golding pouch, to be later returned to his family. If he had one.

"Commander, we should make haste to the beach" With everything settled, Lord Xiao impatiently nudged Wu Guang.

"Agreed, by now they should have finished landing at least the remaining rows of what we saw. But there are four teams on the lookout and no signals were sent, so that means they decided to wait until the entire force makes landfall before moving out"

"I agree, but giving them time to prepare isn't in our interest, is it? After all, we don't even know their exact numbers. And assuming that their vanguard is a third, and that's already a high number, from their entire force we may be overrun if we allow them to land everyone. So we may need to start with the next step already"

"I do agree Lord Xiao, even though I would have loved to engage in a hit and run with our elites, we still do not know how many Soul realm cultivators are being kept back"

"Mmm, so then..."

"Yes, as soon as we return, Lord Xiao will be tasked with leading the teams into battle and I will assume the position of commander, at least for the enemy to see"

________________________________________________________________________

15 minutes later, Wu Guang group comprised of the six soul realm cultivators and Xiao Kang after separating from Lord Xiao's men stealthily reached a spot from where the beach was visible. Until now, Wu Guang's side had only suffered a few light injuries, but that was soon to change.

This time, there would be no way to ambush or play the enemy into surrendering, after all, more than two hundred cultivators from the Wang family and its allies had already disembarked and filled up the surrounding mile or so around the landing point.

These men were mostly Spirit realm cultivators, and some of them had hardly reached a level above the 6th, but Wu Guang's own forces were also far from being the strongest possible. Until now, he had only used the elites, namely Soul realm cultivators and peak Spirit realm ones. But now, before the new rows of boats on the horizon reached the coast, there was no other choice than begin the third part of their plan, namely sending the 25 men teams in waves, feigning the arrival of reinforcements. And this meant that guards that hardly could be called true cultivators, being so low as the 2nd level of the Spirit realm would need to be thrown into what would become a massacre.

"Haa..." Wu Guang exhaled before commanding

"Fire the blue flares. Xiao Kang, prepare to rush towards 'our' mound"