Battle Begins

"Something went wrong inside the city. The experts lying in ambush there were ambushed instead!"

The Silver-Masked Emissary sighed.

The plan had failed.

The Lin Family's control over Lin City ran far deeper than they had imagined.

Those experts had infiltrated long ago.

They had lived within as ordinary people all this time.

They had only been waiting to strike at the crucial moment.

Unfortunately, judging by the current situation,

they had taken things for granted.

With their plan of striking from within and without having failed, they could no longer breach Lin City at the lowest possible cost.

Now, they could only launch a frontal assault.

"Everyone, carry out the second plan! Gather the Innate Grandmasters and force our way onto the city walls."

The Silver-Masked Emissary spoke.

Everyone nodded, raising no objections.

This had been part of their plan from the start. If the Incense Sect had not proposed attacking from within and without, they would have stormed the city long ago.

"Is it starting?"

Within the Book Repository, Chu He raised a brow and looked up.

A melee involving tens of thousands was a rare sight.

This spectacle was worth watching. It would at least add a little variety to his dull life.

He set down the book in his hand, rose to his feet, and took a single step. In an instant, he arrived atop the tallest pavilion in the Lin Family estate, gazing into the distance.

From so far away, ordinary people would likely see nothing at all. Even Innate Grandmasters would struggle to make things out clearly.

But Chu He saw everything with perfect clarity.

Resting his chin on one hand, he swept his gaze over both camps, comparing their strengths and weaknesses.

The Anti-Lin Alliance had the advantage in numbers and experts.

Their weakness was equally obvious: they were a complete mess. If not for their absurd individual strength, they would have been a textbook rabble.

The Lin Family, on the other hand, had the advantage of the city walls and disciplined troops. The martial artists they trained were cultivated along the lines of a legion!

Unfortunately, the Lin Family's Town South Legion had been wiped out in Annan. Otherwise, with the Town South Legion present, even if news of the Lin Family Ancestor's death had spread, the Incense Sect could never have gathered so many people to deal with the Lin Family!

Now, the ones defending the city were merely reservists. They numbered only twenty to thirty thousand, and their experts were fewer than those of the Anti-Lin Alliance.

"Judging by this, the Lin Family is playing with fire! Their intention in spreading false news to lure out the petty vermin was good, but they drew in so many people. Even if they resolve this, the Lin Family will suffer grievous losses and gain less than they lose."

Chu He shook his head.

He felt that if the Lin Family had no backup plan, then this was far too improper, not nearly steady enough.

Still, upon careful thought, it was understandable.

Lin Zhennan knew that he had only five years left to live.

He did not have the time to play hide-and-seek with those rats lurking in the shadows.

No matter what, a head-on collision was unavoidable.

The longer they dragged it out, the more unfavorable the situation might become.

Better to be tougher.

Fight to the death, seeking life amid death.

Very soon.

Amid cries of slaughter, the Anti-Lin Alliance launched its assault on the city walls.

A vast black mass surged forward like storm clouds.

One group among them was especially conspicuous.

They moved at astonishing speed, breaking away from the main force and gliding through a rain of arrows. Upon reaching the walls, they employed every sort of method, evading attacks from above as they used their lightness skills to vault onto the battlements.

They were all Innate experts.

And they were no ordinary Innates.

Against people like them, ordinary martial artists and military weapons had little effect, especially when they moved in groups.

Before long, a group of Innate experts stood atop the city walls.

At that moment, the Lin Family's Innate experts also rushed out and charged at them.

A brutal bloodbath began.

Terrifying True Qi erupted and ran rampant. The city walls were continuously carved apart, while figures locked in combat filled both sky and ground.

Innate martial artists soon began to fall.

Anyone who became an Innate martial artist could be called a grandmaster, a figure capable of guarding an entire region.

Yet now, they charged and fought like common soldiers.

Ordinary people simply could not participate in battles at this level. A touch meant death; even a graze meant injury.

One figure in particular stood out. His entire body was covered by armor, concealing his true appearance, but Chu He recognized him at a glance.

That was the Lin Family Ancestor.

He mingled among his family's Innate experts, striking in the shadows as he drifted across the battlefield, launching underhanded attacks everywhere. He forcibly made up for the Lin Family's shortage of Innate experts, causing the Anti-Lin Alliance's Innate experts to fall at an astonishing rate.

"This won't do. We can't keep fighting like this. This battle against the Lin Family was led by your Incense Sect, yet you still haven't contributed anything. This cannot continue."

Watching the savage slaughter on the walls, some finally could not bear it any longer after seeing their own Innate experts fall.

They had not expected the Lin Family's resistance to be so fierce.

The Lin Family was clearly already extremely weakened, and the Annan Legion that had once awed the world was gone!

They had originally come to fight an easy battle and reap benefits, but now their own Innates had died—and quite a few of them at that. Naturally, they were unwilling to accept it!

"Exactly! How can we fight like this? Didn't your Incense Sect say that a Half-step King would oversee this battle against the Lin Family? Where is he?"

"Indeed!"

"Well said!"

"Your Incense Sect took the lead, so how can you stand by and watch now? You spoke of attacking from within and without, yet there is not even a shadow of it. Could it be that you deliberately deceived us?"

The battle atop the walls grew even more brutal. Innates fell from the battlements like dumplings dropped into a pot, their fates unknown.

Moreover, most of those dying were from their Anti-Lin Alliance.

The major forces could no longer sit still. Some had even begun calling for their own people to withdraw.