Whitetown was once again surrounded by the dark races after the troops under Zhao Jundu’s command entered the city. The great army Qianye and Song Zining had brought into Whitetown was now down to little over two thousand men.
Everyone, including Song Zining himself, had never imagined that the siege would be this bitter. The dark races had left nearly a hundred thousand corpses in and around Whitetown, equal to two entire corps.
With the addition of Zhao Jundu’s subordinates, there were over three thousand men in the city. However, the dark race army outside was over thirty thousand. Despite the enemy enjoying a ten-time advantage and the presence of a duke, the soldiers in the city were completely fearless, confident even.
The only difference was that Zhao Jundu had arrived in Whitetown.
It was just as he had said—even though Doer was stronger than the rest of the crowd, he might not have the courage to enter the city for a showdown.
Zhao Jundu had grown at a shocking rate during this war. His cultivation was only one step away from the divine champion realm, but that wasn’t all. What stunned everyone was that his pristine temperament was now stained with an intense aura of blood and fire. No one could tell just what level this cold, majestic youth’s combat strength had reached. All they knew was that his destructive potential had risen sharply since the start of this war.
Qianye’s upgraded Shot of Inception was extremely powerful and difficult to evade, inflicting grave injuries once struck. Song Zining, on the other hand, was adept at strategic control. With the three of them working together, even a duke would be easily defeated.
Outside of Whitetown, Doer was standing with his hands behind his back while a row of titled experts knelt before him. These were Evernight experts who had failed to escape following Romier and Pratt’s retreat. Doer’s army immediately rounded them up after their arrival.
Doer’s gaze swept across these experts, but no one could guess what the expressionless duke was thinking.
A werewolf count kneeling before him said, “Sire, surrounding the city won’t do anything. Unless…”
“Unless I enter the city and fight a decisive battle, is it?” Doer completed the sentence.
The werewolf count lowered his head. “I think that’s the only way.”
“Which tribe are you from?” Doer asked.
“Windtakers.”
“What, do you have complaints about our Summit of Peaks?” Doer sneered.
The werewolf count replied, “I wouldn’t dare. The surroundings of the battlefield aren’t peaceful, and there are numerous human experts appearing here. If we want to open up a retreat path, this is the only chance. It won’t be good if the people in the city reform their defensive structures.”
Doer was just about to say something when his face went pale. Although he suppressed it immediately, many people noticed that he had suffered serious injuries.
There was an injured duke right before their eyes. This was no small temptation.
Observing the scene, the werewolf duke unleashed his aura without restraint. The powerful suppressive might crushed all experts below the count-rank to the ground. Even the counts could barely kneel.
He snorted loudly before slowly retracting his aura.
After this little incident, no one dared to go against Doer’s decision anymore. It was just that Whitetown’s geography was unique, making it difficult to encircle the entire city with the manpower they had. As such, Doer reorganized the entire army and placed the bulk of their forces toward the east, between Whitetown and Princess Haimi’s direction, to prevent being flanked on both sides during the fight.
With this rare gap in events, Whitetown wasn’t about to stay idle, either. Song Zining took this time to tend to the injured, inspect the field, and set up defenses. The large number of fallen dark race warriors actually provided them with a significant amount of supplies and equipment. That was why the mercenaries never lacked armaments at this point.
Unlike Whitetown, the other parts of the void continent were embroiled in fierce combat.
The central army was rolling its way majestically toward Whitetown, its flagship slowly hovering above.
On the bridge, a dignified middle-aged man and a young man dressed in Chinese clothing were playing chess.
The young man played a piece, saying, “Duke, your chess abilities are getting better and better. It seems you need to give me a handicap next time.”
The middle-aged man was just about to say something when he began coughing severely. The young man went to support the man and pat his back, saying, “Are you okay?”
The middle-aged man was Duke Wei. He gasped for a while before saying with a smile, “It’s just a minor injury, don’t worry. That werewolf had it worse. You don’t need to worry, Fourteenth Prince.”
The Fourteenth Prince sighed. “Your old injury hasn’t healed completely, yet you went into battle again. Sigh, this arrangement wouldn’t have happened if the Empire had more people to use. I’m too useless as well.”
Duke Wei replied, “You’re already able to use Mortal Emperor at your age, the future is boundless for you. You shouldn’t speak irresponsibly like just now, or some of those wavering people will lose confidence.”
There was a hint of warning in what he had said. The Fourteenth Prince’s expression turned cold as he replied with a nod.
The two were no longer in the mood to play chess, so the prince said, “Jundu went deep into enemy lines on his own, will he be fine?”
Duke Wei said, “Jundu is not yet a divine champion, but he’s just one step away. Those marquis commanders on the ground are not his match. After he joins Qianye and Song Zining in Whitetown, their forces will have both brains and brawn. It won’t be a problem if they focus on defense. We will sweep the left and right with the main army, denying the dark races any opportunities. Once we arrive, it will be the end for those dark race bastards.”
The Fourteenth Prince praised, “Now that’s the path of a hegemon!”
Duke Wei smiled faintly. “I’ve led armies throughout the years, this is nothing. It’s just that Zhao Jundu and the others will have to suffer a bit for the first few days. With you and me on the central route, Her Highness Princess Haimi in the east, and the western route moving along with great stability, the dark races should realize that the situation has changed. They will need to make an early decision. We changed our landing point to Whitetown in order to leave them a thread of hope. Otherwise, if we take the airship port directly, they will throw everything they have at the place, and Qianye and Song Zining would be in danger.”
The Fourteenth Prince nodded. “Indeed, the first plan was too decisive and leaves no room for maneuver. Qianye and Song Zining may be talented, but their troop strength is a bit lacking. It won’t be hard to capture the place, but it’ll be difficult for them to defend. Song Zining might not agree if we had used the first plan.”
“We were never afraid he wouldn’t agree, at most, we would just have to pick a new leader. What we were afraid of is that he would accept and then retreat immediately after seeing that the situation isn’t quite right.”
“That makes sense.”
Duke Wei said, “Currently, the battlefield is like a big water bag with a small hole on it. As long as a stream of water can flow out, as long as there’s a thread of hope for survival, the dark races won’t fight to the bitter end.”
At this point, there was a knock on the door, and a chubby old man walked in. He was dressed in ordinary clothing, but it wasn’t too hard to see that he was someone who had served in the palace for a long time.
The man said in a shrill voice, “Fourteenth Highness, Mortal Emperor has been nurtured and is ready for use.”
The Fourteenth Prince said, “Thank you, Eunuch Duan.”
Eunuch Duan said, “This servant doesn’t deserve it.”
After Eunuch Duan was gone, Duke Wei picked up a chess piece and said, “Let’s continue.”
The Fourteenth Prince was in no mood to play chess. He said with a distressed expression, “Will Jundu be in danger? If something happens to him, I won’t be able to explain it to Aunty Gaoyi.”
Duke Wei said with a smile, “If something happens to you, I won’t be able to explain things to His Majesty.”
The Fourteenth Prince said, “You’re too serious.”
Duke Wei put down his chess piece. “Your Highness, there’s you, me, and Princess Haimi in the east, and as far as I know, the Nineteenth Princess is in Whitetown. Add to that a handful of your royal uncles, it can be said that the Imperial family has invested quite a lot of manpower here. The Zhao clan is also here in full force. You might not know, but Princess Gaoyi has also arrived because she’s worried about Zhao Jundu and Zhao Junhong.”
The Fourteenth Prince’s expression changed upon hearing the Nineteenth Princess’ name. It seemed like he wanted to ask something but was astonished by the last part of the sentence. “Aunty is also here?”
Duke Wei nodded. “The Swallowcloud Zhao Clan has marital connections to the Imperial family in every generation. Strictly speaking, they have a lot of Imperial blood.”
The Fourteenth Prince clearly hadn’t thought about this. After some thought, he was immediately drenched in cold sweat. He said after some contemplation, “What should we do now?”
Duke Wei said, “The scale of this scheme is so large that we don’t know who’s behind it, or why. Why not just watch the developments quietly and see what will happen.”
The Fourteenth Prince nodded.
Having spoken to this point, it was only natural that the two of them would be in no mood for chess. Duke Wei was injured, so he went back to recuperate in isolation. Meanwhile, the Fourteenth Prince went forth to the command room to oversee the movement of the army.
The central army was fifty thousand strong—the backbone was made up of the Imperial regular army and mixed in with elite corps from various private armies. Among the latter, the Zhao clan’s units were the primary force.
The fifty-thousand troops, heavy armaments, labor, and logistics formed a long, winding procession. A complete mixed corps was at the van, accompanied by several gunships. Zhao Jundu had pierced through the path forward, but he didn’t have enough troops to clear out the sides. Hence, the main forces still had to be wary of sudden enemy appearances.
Along the way, they saw the remnants of battle left behind by Zhao Jundu’s vanguard. The Fourteenth Prince was astonished because every battle seemed like a bitter fight.
The prince felt that he would be hard-pressed to win even one of those battles without using Mortal Emperor. Yet Zhao Jundu had fought every battle with the intent to win, crushing all adversity in his wake and leaving the main army behind.
Just as the Fourteenth Prince was deep in thought, a streak of fire descended from the sky and slammed fiercely into the flagship. A violent explosion ensued, causing the flagship to dip sharply!
This was clearly the work of a warship’s main cannon. Without waiting for the Fourteenth Prince’s orders, a shrill alarm rang out across the flagship. The captain issued a series of commands for the flagship to speed up and evade the next attack.
The Fourteenth Prince dashed to the window and looked out. There, he saw one Evernight warship after the other piercing through the clouds and making straight for the central army below. At a glance, there were at least a dozen vessels big and small, led by two cruisers. There were even more warships appearing through the clouds in a seemingly endless stream.
The Fourteenth Prince’s hands went cold. He thought to himself, “How can there be so many? Haven’t we already gained control of the void?”
