“Was our information faulty?”

“That’s a possibility or…”

“Or they lied to us? They wouldn’t have the balls to withhold information from the Long Clan, it must be something else…”

“Maybe those United Element bastards were smart enough not to trust them? This could explain why they were doing something idiotic like creating a fort.”

“That’s probably it, they might still be hiding here or chose a different area to occupy. We will have to search for clues but don’t forget your other duties.”

“Yes, Elder.”

A group of old men were standing around a map of this area. When talking they looked to the nearby settlement which was a city in which millions of people lived. They had interrogated some of the clans living there and managed to get some information. Apparently, a small unit of cultivators from their enemy had chosen to appear but no signs of them could be found. There wasn’t really a place to hide, the forests around here weren’t that dense.

They were quick to send out a scouting party to scour the area and wait. Thanks to the map they knew where the best spots for setting up a temporary stronghold would be. Apparently, their enemies were trying to create a stronghold in this area. To the people from the Long Clan and their affiliates, this was a strange tactic. It would have been much easier to just occupy the nearby city instead. Their presence here was a fact and defeating them with their larger numbers would be easy.

Yet they would soon have a rude awakening. As the group of cultivators was getting ready to go for another search their enemies weren’t that far away. To be exact they were right next to them, shrouded by the veil of the night. After their scouting party was marked by their leader, it was child's play to arrive at this base.

“The Elder was right, they can’t see us at all…”

“This opportunity is not something we can squander, get ready, and don’t embarrass our sect in front of the new elder.”

Zhang Teng called out to the other core formation experts that were behind him. Their group would form one attacking and one defensive formation in this battle each consisting of six core formation cultivators. The foundation establishment soldiers would be in the rear and help with the small fries that attempted to escape. It looked like they were outnumbered about two to one but with the element of surprise on their side, their morales were high.

“Elder Yinglo, everyone is ready, please give us the order to attack.”

Zhang Dong nodded while scanning through the enemy encampment. They had borrowed an abandoned mine and placed an illusory formation to hide the entrance. This world was vast, and finding such a location would have been quite a time investment. Even if they discovered it later he expected their opponents to be on the move. Their leaders weren’t stupid, everyone knew that creating a base wasn’t such an easy task.

He could feel two nascent soul masters on the inside along with around thirty core formation experts. The rest weren’t worth mentioning but one thing was apparent. These people did not belong to the Long Clan, only one person fit the bill and he was just a core formation expert. Both the nascent soul master on the inside was from other sects or clans that he wasn’t that familiar with.

‘They won’t even send out a master to guide their moves and leave it to other sects with promises of power. I guess we are doing something similar but not quite the same.’

Hiring mercenaries wasn’t anything new but he was sure that the Long Clan wasn’t paying these people much in return. They were probably strong-armed into complying with the superpower that was the Azure dynasty. Most of the oldies would not side with the new upstarts and probably hoped to gain an easy victory. Even if they wouldn’t be getting anything in return from the Azure Emperor, they could pillage whatever their enemies left behind.

‘A never-ending battle for cultivation resources to expand one's life and power… but is it really worth it in the end if immortality is impossible to grasp?’

He wasn’t sure if he had the right to ask that question. He had already reached the maximum level of power that this world allowed. Even without doing anything, he would be able to at least live a thousand years. Perhaps death seemed scarier to people that lived for longer than to ones whose lives ended rather fast. Without having a way of prolonging it, they needed to just accept the investable. Yet for a cultivator that was able to get to a thousand years there might have been a way.

“Elder, Yinglo…”

“Ah yes, we shall begin with the assault, leave the two nascent soul masters to me, I’ll be sure to remove them from this encampment.”

Lan Fei interrupted him while he was thinking things through. Even now he was not that keen on killing people. Yet after going through many battles there was one thing that he understood. These people might have not wanted to make this choice but they were hurting others by this choice they made. There was no reason for this war other than the Long Clan’s scheme and they were probably hoping for a reward after all the blood had dried up.

A darkened blade appeared in his hand and was pointed toward the enemy encampment. The element of surprise was on their side so he could take care of many of the enemy combatants on his own. The faster this was over, the less people needed to die. Thus he aimed for one of the nascent soul masters that was there.

“Huh?”

The old man was just walking through one of the mine shafts when he felt something coming. There was not enough time to evade, he could only look up and put his guard up. A massive black and purple energy strike pierced through the rocks above and collided with his chest. Even with all of his magical trinkets and powerful treasures, it went right through like a knife through butter.

“W-we are getting attacked!”

Zhang Dong moved his hand back after thrusting his sword forward. A torrent of sword energies that contained some of his Dao pierced through the ground and connected with the weaker of the two nascent soul masters. The strike went right through his chest and was an instant KO. With the infusion of his own Qi, the man was incapacitated and his life was now dangling on a thread.

‘One down, one to go…’

He flew forward as the vanguard at the remaining master that was quick to abandon the mine to intercept him. Even though he was much stronger than his opponents he was worrying about other things. This fight was different from the ones that he had in the previous few years. He wasn’t fighting demi-humans or creatures from the treacherous seas. His opponents were now just regular humans that inhabited this empire. While he had gotten somewhat used to delivering killing blows by now, if he could save some people by not having them die through collateral damage, then he would.

“Follow after Elder Yinglo, for the United Element Sect, and for the Patriarch!”

Zhang Teng, who was the second in command, raised his own sword at the enemy. All of the core formation experts assembled to create a massive water dragon and turtle. These elemental entities made from their Qi pushed into the mine in hopes of collapsing it and bringing death to the people in it. While their leader was against pointless killing, they weren’t as lenient.

“Ack, the walls are coming down, quickly evacuate outside! Activate the defensive formations! ARGH!”

Zhang Dong identified the nascent soul elder who fled outside instantly after his initial sword strike. The man was a great circle master and the one he defeated was in the later stage. These two probably never expected to get this much resistance with the amount of power they should be capable of producing.

“Who are you? How can you wield so much power?”

“Surrender and I might tell you.”

“You want me to surrender? You might have gotten a lucky strike on my junior but I’m not as weak!”

It didn’t seem that the man was capable of judging the true power of his enemy. A large number of spears along with a soul beast that looked like a giant with eight arms appeared. There was some circle of fire spinning behind this beast and his feet along with his hands were clad in fire energy as well. This being was also holding multiple weapons of various types like axes, swords, and even a hammer.

“You shall be defeated by this Xiuo H… huh?”

The man was trying to pronounce his name but before he could finish a shadowy figure appeared right before him. The vast quantity of spears that were part of a formation of flying weapons was somehow miraculously seen through and dodged through.

“Ugh…H-how…”

A metallic taste entered the man’s mouth as a palm connected with his chest. It send an ungodly amount of spiritual energy into his solar plexus along with his other organs. All of them started rapturing in a moment and even before he could call his massive soul beast for help.

“My apologies but I want to end this fight fast, you won’t be able to cultivate anymore and your life will be short… but this is the price that you’ll pay for taking part in all of this…”

Zhang Dong looked at the old man’s body crumbling as his Qi started going berserk. Ending a fight between nascent soul masters fast wasn’t that easy. This was even harder when one of the combatants didn’t truly want to destroy their enemy. It was possible for him to go for the kill shot instantly but instead, he decided to crumble the man’s dantian to destroy his cultivation.

“N-no… I will not… it… it can not end here… ugh…”

The man retreated while throwing all of the flying spears his way. Zhang Dong moved his body in strange, incomprehensible ways to evade everything. He could not let up, the man was in possession of a teleportation talisman. Before it could be activated he slashed forward with his black sword. Instantly the man’s arm had been severed but to his surprise, the talisman that was in that hand was still activated.

‘Am I still too soft?’

Zhang Dong remained in the skies while looking at the falling hand. The man was able to escape and even if he was heavily injured he still posed a future threat to his people. If anyone died by his hand in the future then it would be on his continence.

‘I should return to the mine and stop the fight…’

Yet now was not the time to deliberate this, the fighting below was still ongoing and now that the other nascent soul masters were gone he could just end it.