A newborn had appeared in the village, and after a busy period, the village chief realized there wasn’t much need for his assistance, and eventually he just gave some instructions and stopped bustling about.
The folks from the Three Great Families also sent over some tonics when they heard the news. Having powerful backing sure did eliminate a lot of trouble, at least that’s what Li Yongfeng believed.
Wang Sheng had been paying attention for a while, and then quickly immersed himself in cultivation.
In this world, do you want peace?
Sure, but you must have the strength.
No one understood better than Wang Sheng what the peace of Qingshan Village and the three counties truly entailed.
And, indeed, just as Wang Sheng had thought,
In this world, only power could guarantee true peace.
In Shuzhou.
Shuzhou, with its rugged terrain, was known as “the difficult Shu path.” It was said that in the past, to carve a route into Shuzhou, the Great Zhou Dynasty had called upon tens of thousands of martial artists before successfully securing a safe passage.
Even the Master of Destiny had to personally intervene, altering the course of the Yellow Dragon River.
A giant city was also constructed at the critical junction of the road and the Yellow Dragon River as the gateway to Shuzhou—this city was Jiangyuan City.
The important position that Jiangyuan City held in Shuzhou was always the coveted prize for powers desiring to take control of Shuzhou.
At the same time, it was the necessary path for anyone wishing to enter or exit Shuzhou.
Before the outbreak of war, Jiangyuan City could be considered one of the most prosperous places in Shuzhou.
But after the battle between King Yong Nian and River King, and the explosion of the Mechanical Beast White Tiger, the vicinity of Jiangyuan City wasn’t completely deserted, but it nearly was.
The war frightened away some people, and the explosion scared off another batch soon after.
Even Jiangyuan City itself was largely destroyed.
However, after occupying Shuzhou, King Yong Nian did not return to his domain in Jianzhou but instead stayed in Shuzhou, where he had Jiangyuan City repaired. He stationed one of his main forces, the Heavenly Star Army, there.
The Heavenly Star Army was a top-tier military force within the Great Zhou, on par with the Celestial Army.
The Celestial Army was comprised of 108,000 martial artists and possessed the pinnacle military formation, Celestial Stars. Once deployed, even though now there were only seven instead of nine… seven Great Grandmasters would find it difficult to easily break through.
Although the Heavenly Star Army was not as strong as the Celestial Army, it could still hold off a Great Grandmaster for a short time.
By stationing them here, one could tell how much importance King Yong Nian placed on Jiangyuan City.
Ordinary forces wouldn’t even dare to approach it.
But today, an almost deserted Jiangyuan City once again saw the arrival of a massive army.
The leader of the Heavenly Star Army, Li Xing, looked at the endless troops without any change in expression.
The army outside the city numbered at least 150,000 men. With the presence of martial artists, it wasn’t difficult to scout out such a large force.
Heavenly Star Army scouts had already brought back news.
Their troops and core columns also followed the model of the Celestial Army, 108,000 people, but unlike the purely martial artist-composed Celestial Army, the Heavenly Star Army also had many commoners in their ranks, totaling over 200,000 people.
The forces below were a coalition organized by Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City, with martial artists far outnumbering the Heavenly Star Army.
But—
“War is no child’s play. Unless you bring a Great Grandmaster, no matter how many martial artists you have, I’ll crush them!” That was Li Xing’s judgment.
King Yong Nian might not care much for other matters, but he took great interest in his army.
Therefore, his military force was extremely powerful.
Easily gathering people who, even without deploying everyone, a chief would have the confidence to crush them.
Of course, as the military leader guarding a critically important city, Li Xing would not make such a mistake. Only his full strength would be responsible for his soldiers!
“General Li,” someone reported, “the enemy forces below are challenging us to a duel, proposing to fight tomorrow!”
Li Xing sneered coldly, “A duel? What a clever scheme!”
When two Grandmaster Level forces propose a duel, only a fool would use their own weakness to touch upon the other’s strength.
“Send them a reply. If they’re scared, let them retreat. We will strike out tomorrow and crush them!”
“Yes!”
Li Xing held great prestige within the Heavenly Star Army, and no one believed that his judgment would be mistaken.
In the year 535 of the Great Zhou Calendar, January, in Jiangyuan City of Shuzhou, the clash of arms surged once more!
This time, King Yong Nian, who had been the aggressor two years earlier, had become the defender.
On one side, the forces from Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City, a few of the upper echelons were gathering—not so much to discuss as to indulge in revelry.
“Report, Military Leader Li Xing has refused the duel challenge! He says that tomorrow, in front of Jiangyuan City, they will fight a decisive battle to the death!”
Several high-ranking officers burst out laughing.
“Haha, see, I knew they would refuse!”
“They must be scared out of their wits by now!”
“With our one hundred and fifty thousand army, including fifty thousand Martial Artists, the Heavenly Star Army only has a little over twenty thousand, how could they possibly be our match.”
“Even without a duel, we can easily crush them!”
“A decisive battle to the death? The only ones dying will be from the Heavenly Star Army!”
Time quickly passed, and the next day, both sides established their formations.
Li Xing, a Grandmaster Level Martial Artist and Military Leader of the Heavenly Star Army, looked at the group opposite him with disdain.
These people still didn’t understand why the Heavenly Star Army, which was clearly the defending side, would take the initiative to attack!
“Soldiers of the Heavenly Star Army, form up!”
“Ho!”
Two hundred thousand soldiers roared in unison, their voices echoing to the heavens!
“Charge!”
War was on the brink of eruption!
Both sides clashed head-on.
At the moment of contact, the Heavenly Star Army instantly tore through the enemy’s formation.
The melee ended, blood spurted, and in just an instant, over ten thousand lives had vanished, their spilt blood seemingly saturating the entire land.
And the majority of these fallen were from the coalition forces of Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City.
Gathering such people in a short time made the two powers strong, but how could a hastily assembled group compare to a battle-hardened regular army?
Not to mention, the Heavenly Star Army was the very force that had previously captured Jiangyuan City.
Even within the vast expanse of Great Zhou, they were a first-rate army.
Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City’s massive army, hoping to crush the opposition with their fifty thousand Martial Artists, were instead suppressed under the might of the Military Formation’s Blood Qi; most Martial Artists, being First or Second Grade, could barely exhibit much power.
Meanwhile, the soldiers of the Heavenly Star Army, bolstered by their formation, became exceptionally courageous and fierce in battle.
The coalition’s strong fighters attempted to engage, but found that even Grandmasters could not exert significant influence under their own Military Formation.
What good was killing ten or a hundred men?
The Heavenly Star Army had two hundred thousand!
Moreover, the Heavenly Star Army was not without its own experts, being a formal military force that could easily pinpoint the location of the coalition’s strong fighters. Once discovered, these powers were besieged by strong fighters from the Heavenly Star Army.
They stood no chance of retaliation.
This time the coalition had brought over ten Grandmasters. In less than half an hour, three had been slain. The remaining Grandmasters, realizing something was amiss, sought retreat only to find they were already deeply ensnared…
A battle involving more than three hundred and fifty thousand people, lasted an entire day, ultimately ending with a resounding victory for the Heavenly Star Army.
“General, the casualty statistics are in!”
“Read them!”
The reporter respectfully recited the results: “Our Heavenly Star Army lost twenty thousand men, among them three thousand eight hundred Martial Artists, annihilated over eighty thousand enemies, captured ninety thousand prisoners. Of these, tens of thousands fled; all ten Grandmasters of the enemy forces killed…”
As the battle approached its end, the coalition soldiers broke ranks; a significant number fled, including many Martial Artists, and the Heavenly Star Army could not capture them all.
Nevertheless, it was still a grand victory.
Casualties of one to four and a large number of prisoners taken, a major triumph, a victory of monumental proportions!