Chapter 401 - Pincered
Chapter 401: Pincered
The sudden appearance of the Other Tribesmen caught the cultivators in the Nether Sect’s camp off-guard.
About half of the 1,000 cultivators stayed on top of the towering city wall to stop the enemies from getting a foothold in the city. At the same time, they activated the mini Formations on the city wall to attack the Other Tribesmen who were trying to invade the city from the air.
The soldiers on land fortified the walls and the gates while reinforcing, resupplying, and healing the cultivators on the wall.
When the battle between the cultivators was almost over, it was time for the mortals to take charge of the battlefield. The people on the frontlines in the wars between nations were usually cultivators unless there was no other choice. This was the foundation of Great Yan’s empire. This was also one of the most basic ways of fighting in the cultivation world.
When he saw the cultivators dropping above, Shen Liangshou was awestruck. For a moment, he was rendered speechless. He mustered up his courage and asked, “Old mister, I wonder if I may ask you a question?”
“What is it?” Lu Zhou had been stroking his beard as he observed the battle above them.
After the garrisons of Liang Province’s city were defeated by the Nether Sect, they could only rely on themselves to repel the Other Tribesmen. However, this should be within Si Wuya’s calculations. Why did they appear so flustered and powerless? Was this deliberate?
“Are you from the Luo Sect, old mister?” Shen Liangshou finally asked.
“Why would you say that?”
“Of the Three Sects, the Luo Sect is the one skilled in archery. There are many elite archers in that sect. The Luo Sect’s Patriarch is a peerless archer as well. He once killed a high-ranked beast with a single arrow in Heaven Moat Forest,” Shen Liangshou said respectfully. Fear still lingered in his heart from the arrow shot that he had endured.
“There are countless elite archers under the heavens. The Luo Sect isn’t worth mentioning,” Lu Zhou replied apathetically.
“…” For a time, Shen Liangshou was rendered speechless. He felt that Lu Zhou’s arrogance was on another level, he even thought the Luo Sect was too insignificant to mention. Naturally, he did not dare show his feelings. Instead, he asked, “Old mister, why don’t you shoot at the Other Tribesmen from the skies?”
Shen Liangshou was a Five-leaf elite, after all… And yet, he could not block Lu Zhou’s arrow. In his opinion, if Lu Zhou used all his strength and attacked the leader of the Other Tribes, it would do a lot to change the tide of the battle. He might be involved in many shady dealings, but he did not want the Other Tribesmen to set foot on Great Yan’s lands.
Lu Zhou continued to observe the battle on the city wall. He did not answer the question immediately. If he acted, he would surely expose himself. At that time, how was he going to capture Yu Zhenghai or Si Wuya? As usual, he was not in a rush to act. Finally, he replied, “With the Nether Sect’s strength, it should be sufficient to deal with these Other Tribesmen.”
“…” Shen Liangshou dared not say anything else.
Little Yuan’er hugged Lu Zhou’s arm. Most of her nervousness was gone by now. She was now curious. She said, “Master, I’d like to have a look.”
Lu Zhou had the same thought. “Let’s go.”
The two of them hurried toward the city wall.
Shen Liangshou started. He looked to his left and right. The camp was deserted. He hastily shouted, “Wait for me!” Currently, the safest place was being by the old man’s side.
…
In no time at all, the three of them were at the base of the city wall. They did not notice it from a distance, but the walls were extremely tall now that they were standing so close to it. They could not see the top of the wall from this spot.
If the elites with their avatars were not flying in the air, it was almost impossible for them to witness the interesting battle from within the city.
“Old mister, me, me… Don’t forget about me…” Shen Liangshou said anxiously.
Lu Zhou waved his arm. The three of them flew toward the top of the city wall.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The loud sounds of the battle reached their ears.
When the three of them landed on the top of the city wall, they were dumbstruck by what they saw.
Two avatars, one about 50-foot tall and the other was 70-foot tall, were fighting against the Other Tribesmen valiantly on the fields beyond the city wall.
The Vermillion Bird Hall’s First Seat, Yang Tan, swiftly increased the size of his avatar and repelled dozens of Rouli tribesmen.
The Rouli tribesmen reeled and spat out mouthfuls of blood as they reeled from the impact.
Even so, there were more Rou Li and Lou Lan tribesmen on the ground. The Lou Lan tribesmen were doing their best to cast spells as long as they could. Beams of purple energy shrouded the Rouli tribesmen in the air.
The battle was too chaotic.
Everyone was so preoccupied that nobody took notice of Lu Zhou and the others.
The three of them stood at a vacant corner and looked down at the battle from their high vantage point.
Shen Liangshou gulped and said, “Even Yang Yan, one of the Nether Sect’s Four Great Protectors, is this powerful… Just how powerful are the other protectors?”
“You’re familiar with the Nether Sect?” Lu Zhou glanced at Shen Liangshou.
Shen Liangshou seemed to have forgotten that Lu Zhou was the one who had shot him. He said with a smile, “Everyone knows the Sect Master of the Nether Sect Master is the Evil Sky Pavilion’s first disciple.”
At this moment, Lu Zhou noticed that the Rouli tribesmen who reeled from the impact moments ago had risen back to their feet. They were ganging up on Yang Yan.
“Rouli tribesmen are nimble and quick on their feet. They didn’t cultivate any of the Buddhist, Confucian, or Daoist methods. They worship the wild wolves and never act on their own… Their avatars are in the shapes of wolves as well. They have a tremendous self-healing ability and are incredibly resilient,” Shen Liangshou said, “However, the barbarians are barbarians, after all. It’s not without reason that Great Yan is capable of intimidating the 12 nations.”
Lu Zhou stroked his beard and said, “You seem very confident in Great Yan.”
Shen Liangshou sighed. “My confidence lies with Emperor Yong Shou. As for Yong Qing… forget it.”
“There are words even the person on top of the whitelist doesn’t dare to utter?”
“Old mister… the blacklist and whitelist don’t rank people based on their cultivation bases. My ranking on the whitelist is nothing but a joke,” Shen Liangshou said. When he spoke, it could be seen that he thought being on the blacklist had more prestige.
The first on the whitelist was merely a Five-leaf cultivator.
Swoosh!
At this moment, many Rouli tribesmen rose into the air.
A unique avatar sprung up from the ground.
“Master, what’s that?!” Little Yuan’er pointed at a huge wolf avatar in the distance.
“The wolf king avatar. Judging from its appearance, this should be a Six-leaf wolf king avatar,” Shen Liangshou replied with a dark expression.
At this moment, the wolf king avatar launched itself into the air. It stepped on its Golden Lotus, on which six leaves were spinning and blooming.
Little Yuan’er asked curiously, “Why aren’t their avatars in the form of humans? That’s strange… They have Golden Lotuses as well.”
Lu Zhou said slowly, “Cultivation is built upon the cultivation methods and sutras left behind by the predecessors. The sutras contain the cultivation concepts of various sects. The concepts serve as guides for the mind and will. For instance, if I want to shape my energy into a saber, it will be a saber…” He raised his right hand, and an energy saber materialized in his hand.
“If I want to turn it into a sword, it will be a sword…” The energy saber morphed into an energy sword. Then, it transformed into various shapes before Lu Zhou finally clenched his fist to disperse the energy.
“It’s the same with avatars… However, it’s difficult to change the shapes of avatars after they’re formed. Usually, its form is fixed in the early stages of cultivation. When the Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist Sects fought for dominance, human cultivation reached a sort of golden era… 30,000 years have passed since then, and cultivation methods have branched out into numerous categories. The three different branches gave rise to three types of avatars. The Other Tribesmen who’re influenced by Great Yan would cultivate the cultivation methods of Great Yan and obtain a humanoid avatar. On the other hand, those that are not influenced by Great Yan followed their own ancestral beliefs. The Rouli tribesmen worship the wolf king, therefore, they possess wolf king avatars.”
“Oh.” Little Yuan’er nodded.
“Ding! Instructed Little Yuan’er. Reward: 200 merit points.”
Shen Liangshou cupped his fists and said, “I’m enlightened.”
Little Yuan’er continued to ask, “Master, are there really 10,000 Other Tribes?”
Lu Zhou was not too familiar with this topic. He could only give a general answer.
However, to his surprise, Sheng Liangshou answered with a smile, “Indeed, there are 10,000 Other Tribes recorded in the books… Liang province’s city alone has tribesmen from all over Great Yan who speak different languages, let alone Rongxi and Rongbei. Throughout the years, they have been assimilated through wars. As time went by, it gradually led to the current state.”
“As amazing as Great Yan?”
“I won’t go so far as to say that,” Shen Liangshou replied.
Little Yuan’er pointed at the wolf king avatar in the air and said, “Why does the wolf king avatar have a Golden Lotus as well? That is, if they hadn’t learned Great Yan’s cultivation methods in secret…”
“Uh…” Shen Liangshou was stumped by the question. He had never considered this before.
“Master… why is that so?”
‘Little Yuan’er’s asking too many questions today.’
Lu Zhou’s expression was calm. Fortunately, the skin on his wizened face was sufficiently thick. Nobody could read his thoughts. However, he found it strange as well. Even with Ji Tiandao’s rich experience, he found no answer in his memories.
If it were the theory of the cultivation methods of the Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist sects, thoughts supported the spirit and will, and the will determines the appearance of the avatar… If the Other Tribesmen did not understand these theories, why did they manifest Golden Lotuses as well? Who could explain this?
Lu Zhou stroked his beard before he finally said, “Perhaps… It’s just like how humans and animals need food for sustenance. They’re fundamentally the same.”
Little Yuan’er scratched her head to show that she did not understand this.
At this moment, the Six-leaf wolf king avatar lunged at Yang Yan’s Six-leaf avatar.
Boom!
Energy flowed turbulently in the air, and a strong gust of wind blew violently.
Anyone who was too close to the fight was swept off their feet by the wind…
“Protector Yang, I’ll help you!” Yu Hong shot toward Yang Yan with his Four-leaf avatar in tow.
It was now a two-against-one battle.
The Rouli elite fought more valiantly as the battle dragged on. There were several hundred Lou Lan tribesmen behind him. They supported him with witchcraft spells.
“What a pain!” When Little Yuan’er saw the spells, she stomped her feet. She wanted to charge into the battlefield and slaughter the witchcraft cultivators.
Lu Zhou said, “There’s no need to worry about minor witchcraft cultivators.”
Without a grand shaman like Mo Li and Ba Ma, these supporting spells would not be able to turn the tides of the battle. Moreover, this was outside Liang Province’s city. There was no huge Formation. Witchcraft was not very powerful here.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Rouli elite launched three attacks in quick succession. His wolf king avatar split into three. Two of them pounced at Yang Yan while the other pounced at Yu Hong.
Yang Yan retreated hastily. He moved his avatar toward the city wall.
Yu Hong was only a Four-leaf cultivator. Having been hit by that heavy blow, he reeled. Halfway in the air, he recalled his avatar.
“That Rouli elite is powerful!” Little Yuan’er was shocked. Her urge to charge into the battlefield was instantly quelled. She quickly hugged her master’s arm.
“The wolf king avatar has great explosive power and has amazing offenses… Yang Yan must’ve spent too much of his energy before this battle. If this were a fair battle, Yang Yan would never lose,” Lu Zhou said.
“Oh.”
The problem was, there was no fairness in the world.
The archers on the city wall nocked their energy arrows and shot volleys after volleys arrow at the flying Other Tribesmen.
At this moment, a cultivator flew toward the city wall and announced loudly, “This is bad… the Fourth Prince is launching a counterattack from the south!”
Yang Yan hovered in midair. The city wall was too vast. He could not even see who had made the announcement, let alone Lu Zhou and the others who were standing on the crowded city wall.
Yang Yan said, “Liu Bing has colluded with the Other Tribesmen. Notify Mister Seventh of this!”
“Understood!”
The Nether Sect was instantly put in a precarious situation. They were pincered.
At the moment, they could rely on the city wall and the protection of the Formation. There was no rush for now. However, if this dragged on, the Nether Sect would surely fall into a disadvantageous position.
‘What’s Si Wuya playing at?’