"Lord! Another group of locals has appeared and engaged the men that have already landed"

"Again? That makes it what, the fourth group already?"

"Yes"

"Situation?" Wang Ling felt his anger rise with every report he received. Not only the initial landing plan was botched, and so most probably they would need to fight to actually reach the rear of the Clansmen in the pass, but now groups of 20-25 men popped up and attacked the already landed men.

"The Wang family cultivators and servants have closed lines around the beach, but there are severe losses on both sides"

"And has the identity of the attackers been confirmed?"

"...yes"

"So?!" Wang Ling practically roared the question. Not only the plan, which was his responsibility to see through having an issue on every turn but... even his aides were messing up and not informing him in time.

"...They are City Guards"

"Boundary Hill City?"

"A part of them should be from there, but the biggest amount of the ones we had seen until now seem to be far better trained and equipped"

"Hmm... Blue Tree City! The Xiaos have always been the lapdogs of the Sect, and even though the city is not the richest one, at least half of their guards come from the Sect"

"Lord may be right"

"Have any clansmen been seen?" Feeling the strangeness of the situation, Wang Ling asked.

"There have been no reports of any"

Hearing this, the previous thought that he had tried to forget, albeit to no avail. "Could it be that our landing was already known to the allied forces? If not, why they are sending only people that have a real bone to pick with us?" There was another possibility, one that he leaned more to right now, and that was that the arriving men were part of a patrol and camp guard system. After all, not even General Ou had information on how was everything set up.

His train of thought was interrupted by the shout of another man who shared the deck of the only ship accompanying the rowboats, which also served as Wang Ling's headquarters.

"Lord! A group of Soul realm cultivators just joined the battle. They did not advance towards the beach, but assumed a position half a mile from it"

"Hmm?" As he pondered what could it mean, he saw a glyph landing in the man's hand, and judging from the change in expression, the news was unexpected

"The men occupying the elevation are elites guarding a commander! A flag is being set up!"

"What?!" As Wang Ling exclaimed, for a dozenth time in the last hour, his mind raced "But how it can be? There was some kind of unit nearby? And why a flag? Is it's someone renowned or it's just part of some kind of a plan?"

"Black flag with golden character 'Chen'. Several signals were also sent out" As the information was updated, the receiver began reporting.

"Any signs of arriving reinforcements?" He quickly asked

"None yet, but..."

"But?"

"There are at least ten Soul realm cultivators with the Commander, and Wang Yang reports that he is the only Soul realm cultivator remaining"

"Damn it! Send a glyph to Wang Jia, tell her to return immediately. Even if she has to let the escapees go"

"Understood"

________________________________________________________________________

Wu Guang did not yet see Wang Ling, but the distance had between them had shortened to about five miles, and the only ship's of this invasion fleet outline was already visible.

He could not read the opposing party's mind, but the number of glyphs that were being exchanged between the beach and the ship, especially after their showy entrance, was enough for him to guess the state in which Wang Ling was currently. "Now we just need to give him a little push..." Wu Guang thought before singling out the only Soul realm cultivator present nearby, a tall and broad-shouldered man that carried an ax in one hand and had not yet entered the fray, concentrating on giving orders and informing his commander. Not that he could be blamed for this, as there was indeed not much he could do. About a hundred guards from Blue Tree City had arrived in groups and started to attack the Wangs, but they did not push much, following the orders that Lord Xiao had given them. Namely, create the image of a battle, and whittle down the enemies guarding the beach. None of them was above the peak Spirit realm, and so the Wang's current commander most probably felt no need to intervene, less he missed a movement of Wu Guang and his Soul realm guards.

"Xiao Kang" Wu Guang called out

"Commander?" Now that he had shown his capability, even the guard general voice contained a tinge of admiration.

"Take someone with you and take care of..." Wu Guang pointed at the target he had singled out.

"Understood, but..."

"No, no need to remain there. Just break through the weaklings, enter, kill or capture, and escape right away. You should have two incense sticks of time considering that the second wave of boats had just begun moving"

"It will be done! Luo and Rei, follow me! Pang, I leave the commander in your hands"

***

"Hmm? I wonder what did cross Wu Guang's mind now?" Lord Xiao muttered while observing three of his strongest guards rushing towards the beach. "In any case, if he felt the need to send them it means that he saw something I don't see from here. Even though the plan is partially mine and he is supposed to be a figurehead, Feng'er words were correct, Wu Guang is frightfully competent in anything he does" As he remembered his son words, who right now was waiting for the signal to enter the battle, Lord Xiao could not help but wryly smile.

"Let's hope he keeps his head where it belongs and avoids making stupid decisions" He said in a low voice before turning towards one of the men behind him, who was showing that he had not heard anything and waved his hand, indicating that the next, Xiao Feng's team should be sent out.

________________________________________________________________________

"They did what?" Wang Ling could not believe what he had just heard. Three Soul realm cultivators had broken through the weaker cultivators in their path and ignoring everything else had rushed towards Wang Yang. And then, without even slowing down the three of them, with two being at the 2nd level of the Soul realm simply ganged upon the 1st level Wang, wounding him heavily and rushing back. Normally Wang Ling would not care much about someone on that level, but Yang had been one of his trusted men inside the Sect. Granted, he wasn't any kind of genius, being unable to make a breakthrough for the last six years, but that did not mean that his loss was acceptable.

"Has Wang Jia responded?" Forcefully calming himself he asked.

"No, Lord. And I can not sense that the glyph has been intercepted"

"That either she was goaded and moved too far, or..."

"Excuse me, Lord, that is impossible"

"What?"

"We used a tracking glyph, so if the Lady is still conscious" The guard avoided saying alive "She should be reached by the glyph even if she is more than fifty miles from here"

"...Sound the horn"

"Excuse me?"

"I said, SOUND THE HORN!"

"But Lord! The second part of the boats has just begun approaching the beach, they will require time to unload and then retire the boats!"

"You dare to question me?!" Wang Ling was enraged, and when his orders were double-guessed, he simply could not control himself...

His peak Soul realm aura flared, and the man that had just questioned him fell, first to his knees, and then sprawling on the boards of the desk under the pressure.

________________________________________________________________________

Even though Wu Guang's senses could not reach so far as to sense what was happening on the Ship from where Wang Ling commanded, he did sense an agitation of qi, which he correctly attributed to Wang Ling's losing his temper at something.

And as if to confirm his thought, the sound of a horn reached his position just a few moments later.

"Is that what I think it is, Commander?"

"Yes, they have just sounded a general advance. Seems that they will not orderly disembark and allow us to pick them by pieces anymore" Wu Guang confirmed and if his face would have been visible, anyone could have noticed the two emotions that flashed across it. One was a smile, acknowledging that the plan was working out. And the other was the glint of worry hidden behind the normally confident eyes of his. Indeed, whatever advantage they would gain during the chaos that will ensue when dozens and dozens of boats entered the straight, narrow, and shallow approach to the beach... It still would not change the fact that they will be meeting the entire enemy remaining forces directly. And judging from what he could count even now, they exceeded even Senior Rui's estimations.

"What are your orders, commander?" Xiao Kang snapped him from his thoughts.

"Send a glyph to Lord Xiao. Make him gather all the teams and quickly sweep the beach. Set off a golden flare and make the recovery teams follow right after Lord Xiao. We need to recover the wounded, move out any captives out of the way, and... if we have time, then the bodies as well. The front rows of the boats we see will slow down before charging, so we should have enough time"

"Understood, and what to do with Lord Wei?"

"His eight teams will remain as a reserve. I will take care of informing him and moving him closer"

***

Wu Guang did not move from his observation post during everything that followed his orders.

With Lord Xiao taking point, the resistance of the Spirit realm cultivators that had affiliated with, or were part of the Wang family was broken almost immediately. And no wonder it was, as a 4th level Soul realm could simply suppress anyone of their level inside his aura. Not that he did have to, as it was enough for him just to flare his aura for at least half of the still fighting cultivators to surrender.

The rest was more obstinate, either because of loyalty or some other reason, but regretfully for them, the option to surrender was given only once.

Lang Juan and Duqi, who were assigned to the relief and recovery teams swept across the field, moving out both sides wounded and storing how many bodies the holding pouches given to them could handle. It was no time to grieve or even sort people, and so cultivators from cities, families, and clans shared a common resting place, at least for now. Wu Guang expected a bit of an issue with the spoils, as cultivators were always greedy, but his worries were unwarranted. The men that comprised the teams that had fought until now, with over nine-tenths of them being from the Blue Tree City did not raise any questions while all the weapons, pouches, and other valuables were gathered. They believed that their Lord would uphold their shares after the battle, and as they did, the Boundary Hill City guards that complemented the teams went along it as well.

"Xiao Kang, send a blue flare again. Time to form up"

"Will be done!"

Albeit the respite was brief, it still allowed the beach to be more or less cleared, and the almost 200 town guards under Lord Xiao's command to close ranks even before the first boat crossed the border between the dangerous deepwater, and the more or less tame shallow water of the gorge that led towards the beach.

There was no reason for Wu Guang to continue concealing his cultivation now that he had presented himself as a target, and so his aura flared, enveloping the beach and its surroundings. He had another reason to do so, as he wanted to count the numbers for both sides before the clash...

________________________________________________________________________

Lord Xiao had brought with himself 400 guards, of which 300 were in teams under his command, and 250 had fought already. From this 250 men, about fifty were wounded and had to retire from the battlefield, at least for now, and twenty had died. A few dozens presented some kind of small injury, which did not prevent them from fighting. Still, most of them had already burned through a good chunk of their qi, and so would be far from their peak condition.

Because of this, Lord Xiao had rotated the most tired 50 for the 50 from the reserves and now had assumed his position as the first line of defense alongside 180 men. Between them, Wu Guang could sense the Kuang siblings and Xiao Feng, with each of the three leading one of the teams. Additionally, Wei with a group of 40 volunteers from the cultivators that joined the Allied forces complemented the first 'line'. The average level of the guards and cultivators was in the higher intermediate Spirit realm. The only Soul realm exceptions were Lord Xiao and two of the elites he had recovered from Wu Guang.

The second line, one which had yet to present itself to the enemy, and located just a mile behind Wu Guang was comprised of four 25 men teams from the rest of the Blue Tree City guards as well a few Boundary Hill City veterans. Their leaders were Ren Ah, Liang Chin, Lan Yanzhi, and the commander of the Boundary Hill City guards, Tian Ning who like the other tree was a Soul realm cultivator. Albeit she could be said to be the weakest, even when compared to the recently ascended Lan Yanzhi. The leaders being the only Soul realm cultivators, the average strength of the teams was around the lower intermediate levels of the Spirit realm.

Lord Wei, along with the 200 of his initial 320 guards that were under his command had been ordered to move closer, and now was about 3 miles to the south from the beach. With Yuan Taotu accompanying the group and serving as Wu Guang's eyes and ears. Their average strength was also around the lower intermediate levels of the Spirit realm, with only Lord Wei being a Soul realm cultivator. And though he was supposedly a 3rd level one, Wu Guang did not consider him a real asset. This wasn't because of anything else than Lord Wei's absolute lack of combat experience.

A reserve of 75 men that were technically subordinate to Xiao Kang was hidden almost ten miles behind Wu Guang's position, to be called only in the case of an extreme need. And the 50 men led by Duqi and Lang Juan, who were made up of the weakest guards and served as a relief force complemented Wu Guang's forces.

At least if one did not include the commander himself, and the seven Soul realm cultivators that accompanied him, standing right in the middle of all the forces, just half a mile from the water's edge.

The opposing side numbers were still a mystery even to Wu Guang, but until now he had managed to count 79 boats and the commander's ship. He could not individually sense the strength of everyone, especially with them being more than a mile and a half from him, but overall he sensed they were more-or-less on the same levels.

At least if he did not include Wang Ling, who was a peak Soul realm cultivator, and the three cultivators near the latter that were currently concealing themselves.

With each boat carrying ten people, Wu Guang's side would be at a severe numerical disadvantage if all of them managed to land at the same time, but it wasn't like they could do so. Even with a full advance, the sheer size of the gorge leading to the beach would prevent more than five boats at the same time, and even that five would be rubbing sides. Granted, as they would ignore the damage to the boats, and most probably begin hopping from one to another, Wu Guang still considered that no more than one hundred cultivators could land at the same time. Lord Xiao was of the same mind, but to make things a bit more controllable, they plan included forming their line just a thousand feet from the water, leaving less than a tenth of a square mile of sand for the landing cultivators.

After finishing his estimates as well recounting all that had happened until now, Wu Guang imprinted all the information in a message glyph and sent it to Rui Qinkai. Finishing with a small note

"Considering that I make about 850 cultivators on the water, and adding the 400 or so captured and killed until now, I am forced to doubt Senior's source. Even if they liberated all of the capable prisoners of the 'Inverted Tower' and brought in all the people from the Wang clan, it's impossible for them to reach such a number. If there are Eagle Kingdom troops in there, or my estimates are wrong, or there are even more boats behind my senses coverage, we will not resist the assault without reinforcements"

As he threw the glyph, Wu Guang turned towards the now almost closed distance and muttered

"Let's just hope I am worrying about nothing..."