Curo and his Squad flew for several hours straight before their faces changed to serious. They could feel immense Qi fluctuations up ahead, indicating that there was a big battle going on. The Earthly Saints exchanged a glance before they looked at Curo. Curo raised his hand to indicated for them to stop.

When they had stopped, the Heavenly Saints narrowed their eyes as one of them asked, “Weren’t we supposed to go and help?” Curo looked at him with a confused gaze and asked in response, “If you wish to die, go on ahead. If you don’t then rest up for half an hour and recover the depleted Qi.” Hearing this, the man was first startled then let out an embarrassed laugh. Curo looked over at the man and had a frown on his face as he asked, “Have any of you people ever been part of a war?”

The people had already sat down cross legged and when they heard the question, they could only shake their heads lightly. Curo let out a sigh as he said, “First thing to remember, just because you lose a battle, doesn’t mean you lose the war. Second of all, tired troops are dead troops. We will only go to die if we charge in there with only half of our Qi remaining and having just flown for half a day straight.” Hearing this, the four people had a serious expression on as they listened intently.

None of them had any more belittling thoughts about Curo. Although he was young and had the lowest cultivation of them, he was most experienced in the art of war. They had grown up in cultivation clans and the closest thing to a war that they had encountered, was a feud with a rival Clan or a Sect. A full blown, all out war…. They had never experienced anything like this. Curo sat down cross legged as well and started calmly explaining, “Even though we are a guerilla troop, we need to follow orders. Without a chain of command, there is chaos, where there is chaos, the enemies can easily capitalize on it to kill us.”

He took a breath as he passed his gaze over the four and continued, “In the past month, you have still been in the mentality of an ordinary cultivator. This is war, here, no one is going to announce that they want to exchange pointers or kill you. They will do everything to kill you swiftly, quietly and with the least damage to themselves.” Hearing this, the four people could only bitterly nod their heads. They had learned their lesson with the ten man Saint Squad that had been trailing them.

If it hadn’t been for Curo always keeping guard and observing their surroundings, they would have died back then. Although, they had not seen Curo’s strength for themselves, a Heavenly Saint showed fear and dread towards the man. This was reason enough to listen to him, as he had proved himself to them. None of them treated his words as a joke any more. Seeing the serious expression, Curo nodded as he continued, “Always keep a look out of your surroundings, just as we are trying to kill all of them, they are all trying to kill us. We are a lone squad of five; if we run into some dangerous situation, we can only rely on ourselves as there is very little chance that back up could arrive in time.”

The four people exchanged a grim glance before Curo sighed, “Were it normal times, you could scare the other a bit with your background however, this is a situation where one side will be annihilated in the end. There is no being cautious about the others background.” Hearing this, the four people looked down in thought. Curo’s words had struck them deep as he ruthlessly berated them on their short comings.

However, Curo’s voice was calm and he didn’t show any signs of contempt or malice in his words. These people knew that Curo was only saying this to make them see that if one is careless, they can die at any moment.

When they thought back to their actions form the past month, they could only bitterly gulp. It had been as Curo had said, they were far too complacent as they had no idea how wars truly went. They had been alive for hundreds or thousands of years and had grown used to intimidating people with their backing. However, currently, their backing meant nothing as one side lived and the other died.

If Five Academies lost, what would those people have to fear about offending their backgrounds? The same applied to if they lost; If they lost, they would already be dead, what is there to fear?

Curo then said, “A war is a bloody and messy affair. The only people you can count on are yourself and your Squad.” Hearing this, the four exchanged glances once again and then Curo stood up and asked, “If you truly will follow my orders, I will do my up most to bring you back from this war alive. However, if you still wish to butt heads, I suggest you transfer Squads as soon as possible.”

Curo’s eyes then turned cold as he said determinedly, “If you threaten the survival of me and my Squad, I will kill you myself.”

Hearing this and seeing the killing intent in Curo’s eyes, the four people could only suck in a deep breath. Curo was far too mysterious, he had cultivated for too short of a time, his name was resounding however, no one had seen him fight an all out battle. If he were to fight an all out battle, he may be a direct match against a Heavenly Saint for all they knew. There were too many unknown things about this young fellow before them.

The man that helped Curo fight the 10 man Squad resolutely stood up and cupped his hands, “I, Shin Haotian, am wiling to follow Captain Ji’s orders!” Seeing this, the other three pondered for only a moment before one of the Earthy Saint’s stood up as well and cupped his hands as well, “I, Chen Heng, am also willing to follow Captrain Ji’s orders!” Hearing this Curo nodded his head towards the two and looked at the remaining two.

The other Earthly Saint could only sigh as he also cupped his hands, “I, Huang Feng, am also willing to follow Captain Ji’s orders! I trust my life to you, help me keep it.” Hearing the additional sentence, Curo let out a smile as he nodded his head. Then, all of the gazes converged on the last remaining Heavenly Saint. The man seemed to be in deep thought as he was unsure on what to do.

However, suddenly, he opened his eyes and looked at Curo with determination as he asked, “Before I make my decision, let me ask, who is Mo Zheng to you?” Hearing this question, Curo was startled but he quickly fixed his expression as he answered, “Uncle Zheng has been at my Father’s side from when they were young. Uncle Zheng is like family to me as he has looked over me since my birth.” Hearing this, the man’s eyes grew soft as he said, “My son finally has a family as well….”

Hearing this, Curo raised his brows but before he could ask, the man cupped his hands and said, “In honour of my son being your family, I dare not make any more mistakes. I, Mo Hao, am willing to follow Captain Ji’s orders!” Hearing this, Curo’s expression was complex. He wanted to ask about his Uncle Zheng, however, he knew that his was neither the time or place to do so.

Curo then let out a smile as he withdrew four small black scaled shield from his Spacial Ring. He threw each of them one and said, “Although these are only Top Grade Defensive Artefacts, they have a will of their own. Once you bind them with your Qi, by using minimal amount of Qi, they will revolve around you and meet incoming attacks by themselves. They can at least defend your back against a sneak attack or two.” Hearing this, the four’s eyes were wide. Although, the four of them were all old monsters compared to Curo, they had never heard of such a wonderful Defensive Artefact.

When the four bound the small scaled shields, they discovered that if they imbued the shields with a bit of Qi Sense, they could actively control them to meet any attack they wish. However, what made them most happy was that, besides these functions, there was one called, [Absolute Defence].

This required them to pour all of their Qi into the small shield to create a black scaled barrier that was able to withstand a full on strike of an Early Stage Sovereign. As a Defensive Artefact, even one of these small scaled shields was priceless. They were on the level of a Clan Ancestral Treasure.

Seeing the complex gazes of the four, Curo let out a smile as he said, “I told you, if you follow my orders, I will do my up most to bring you all back alive from this war. This is one of the ways I have prepared.” The four completely confused on what to do.

These shields were far too precious to be handed out so easily, while at the same time, they were extremely reluctant to give such a treasure back as it would play a huge role in their survival in this war.

Curo then said seriously as he cast his gaze towards the battlefield, “Watch your backs and keep an eye on your Squad members backs. If you see anyone in a dangerous situation, immediately help out.” Hearing this, the four nodded their heads with a serious expression. A hint of killing intent entered their eyes as they looked towards the distant battlefield.

Curo smiled lightly as he nodded his head and said, “Withdraw your weapons and prepare to battle, we are heading to battle.” Saying this, he withdrew his Halberd and charged towards the battlefield. Seeing Curo charge ahead, the four immediately drew their weapons and chased after him. When they reached the battlefield, the five man squad turned serious, they did not dare to make any mistakes any more. As the five man team arrived to the battlefield, the Five Academies side was jubilant when they noticed the Squad arrive.

Any one more man on their side, increased their chances of victory. Even if the chances were increased by only an unremarkable margin, any increase was welcomed by everyone. Curo quickly surveyed the battleground and immediately located the battlefield of the Saints. Curo immediately said with voice transmission, lets head over there and team up with our side.” Hearing this, the four nodded their heads as they followed Curo towards the Saint’s battlefield.

They then found that everyone were locked in a one on one duel. They quickly located the people that were in a disadvantage on their side and split up to go and reinforce them. The addition of Curo’s Squad tilted the battleground heavily. The number of Saints on each side was the same and the addition of Five Saints from the Five Academies side, made the face of the Nine Clans Saints go grim. However, these five Saints that had arrived were not your average Saints.

Each of them was a person that was considered a genius. Their strength and Arts were in no way inferior to them and they have been fighting this battle for nearly a day now, they were running low on Qi and they were exhausted. However, Curo and his Squad were full of Qi and were well rested.

It didn’t take long before the Nine Ancient Clan’s Saint’s were forced to withdraw. They had suffered a loss of nearly 30 Heavenly Saints, 70 Earthly Saints and over a 100 Saints in the short period of time that Curo’s Squad arrived.