War

Without any warning, the Mist Blades attacked, and battle erupted.

As nearly a thousand Mist Blade assassins launched an assault on the Longevity Cult's stronghold, Grandma Chi, Eunuch Gu, and Eunuch Lan sailed their three wooden boats in huge arcs, rushing back to the stronghold at full speed.

Five water pillars surged from the great river. Two Mist Blade experts, clad in tight leather armor with stern, chilling auras, along with three elders in long robes exuding an air of grace and authority, ascended into the sky. They flew forward, two ahead and three behind, to intercept the three wooden boats.

Grandma Chi shrieked, "Seventh Commander, Eighth Commander, what do you Mist Blades intend to do?"

The two Mist Blade Commanders sneered in unison, "Old Nine is dead. Did you think we'd let it slide? We Mist Blades always repay every grievance!"

The Seventh and Eighth Commanders of the Mist Blades, trailing gales, launched a fierce assault on Eunuch Gu and Eunuch Lan's boats. The two eunuchs dared not let them get close to their vessels and also took to the air, stepping on blood clouds as they met the attackers.

Four figures clashed in the sky, cold light and blood mist intertwining. At times, the blood mist ensnared the cold light; at others, the cold light tore through the blood mist. It was clear their strengths were evenly matched, and neither side could gain the upper hand quickly.

The other three elders in long robes joined forces to attack Grandma Chi.

Grandma Chi let out a series of cold laughs and also charged out, stepping on blood clouds. Her long hair flew wildly as she pulled a black iron spear from goodness knows where. The spear was half as tall again as she was, a full eighteen feet long. She swung it, creating rings of gale-force wind, and smashed down fiercely at the three elders.

"Lin Family Head, Jin Family Head, He Family Head, are your three families seeking death?" Grandma Chi, though not tall and appearing delicate, wielded her eighteen-foot spear with astonishing power. It moved like a monstrous dragon, creating dozens of afterimages that enveloped the three elders.

She clearly recognized the three elders. While attacking ferociously, she roared angrily, "Are your three families trying to annihilate yourselves?"

The three elders drew their swords and sabers, respectively. Instead of directly confronting Grandma Chi head-on, they moved like whirlwinds, circling her rapidly. Their blades constantly transformed into streaks of light, flying everywhere as they aimed for Grandma Chi's vital points, slashing and stabbing.

Hearing Grandma Chi's furious shouts, the three elders sneered in unison.

An elder with bulging eyes and a leopard-like head said sternly, "You planted those people within my Lin family, intending to wipe out my entire clan, weren't you? Why should we fear your Longevity Cult? My Lin family has had roots in the Azure Flame Domain for hundreds of years; why should we fear an outsider like your Longevity Cult?"

The other two elders also cursed vehemently. They spoke with full lungs, their voices incredibly loud. Coupled with the echoes from the cavern roof, their voices could be heard for tens of miles.

Wu Tie understood. It turned out the Longevity Cult had bribed traitors within the Lin, Jin, and He families through unknown means. Moreover, these traitors were high-ranking, influential figures who had already riddled the three families with corruption.

With their very lives directly threatened, how could the three family heads care about Grandma Chi's intimidation?

When the two Mist Blade Commanders invited the three family heads to attack the Longevity Cult together, it was a perfect match. The four parties joined forces, first eradicating the traitors within the three families, and then, under the Mist Blades' arrangement, they chose their moment to launch the attack.

Shuttle-shaped stealth ships emerged from the water one after another. Large formations of Lin, Jin, and He family warriors rowed towards the shore. After landing, they quickly launched their assault on the stronghold.

Inside the stronghold, the Longevity Cult's servant warriors had recovered from the fierce bombardment. They began organizing the Gray Dwarves and Rock Gnomes to counterattack. Facing the elite Mist Blade assassins, these Gray Dwarves and Rock Gnomes were clearly outmatched in combat effectiveness, but they had the advantage in numbers.

However, as warriors from the three families continued to land, with nearly a thousand more family warriors joining the attack, the Longevity Cult's slaves could no longer hold on.

Huts were destroyed, and large numbers of slaves were continuously killed. Blood stained the ground everywhere. The Longevity Cult's forces were in full retreat, on the verge of being completely driven out of the stronghold they had painstakingly built.

High in the sky, Grandma Chi, who was single-handedly holding off the three family heads and could only barely maintain a balance, let out a furious roar.

Eunuch Gu and Eunuch Lan roared simultaneously. Their three boats immediately began descending rapidly towards the ground. From the three boats, nearly a hundred young men and women emerged from the cabins, donned in armor, armed, and fully equipped.

They did not disembark but instead piloted their boats in rapid passes over the stronghold, using strangely shaped crossbows to rain down fire on the ground.

These young men and women were considered elites among the Longevity Cult's assassins, far superior to the family warriors of the three families. Their crossbows were extremely powerful and accurate, and their bolts were tipped with potent poison.

In just half an hour, during the three boats' two or three passes over the stronghold, two to three hundred Mist Blade assassins and family warriors were wounded by crossbow bolts. At least half of them, having sustained fatal wounds and unable to administer antidotes in time, died on the spot.

The fierce assault from the three boats caused the offensive of the Mist Blades and the three families to suddenly falter. The Longevity Cult's elite servant warriors stabilized their positions and, coordinating with the three boats, launched a counterattack.

The battle raged fiercely for a time, with constant casualties on both sides. The ground was littered with the wounded, and the air was filled with groans of pain and cries of anguish.

Wu Tie was witnessing a war of this scale for the first time in his life.

Thousands of people were repeatedly clashing around the stronghold, which was about two li long and wide. The roars, curses, the sound of swords cleaving into flesh and bone, and the death cries and pleas of the dying...

"They're insane!" Wu Tie's body trembled violently.

Not from fear, but from shock. A profound, complex shock that originated from the depths of his blood, a shock that Wu Tie couldn't explain.

His blood burned within him, and an impulsive thought seared his brain like a flame. Wu Tie clenched his spear, feeling an overwhelming urge to charge into the fray and fight without a second thought.

"This is nothing," the Metal Spider on Wu Tie's shoulder sneered. "This little scene... this speck of dust... what is this?"

Wu Tie fell silent, his hot-blooded impulse instantly extinguished by Old Tie's sarcastic remarks.

He glanced sideways at the Metal Spider and snorted, "Then, what is a real grand spectacle?"

Old Tie remained silent for a while, not speaking for a long time.

Just as Wu Tie was about to retort sarcastically, he suddenly spoke, "You will never imagine the scene unless you experience it yourself... I'm not educated, so I can't describe it well... But, is Ox Hero's size impressive?"

Wu Tie nodded eagerly.

Ox Hero was about a thousand meters tall; his size was truly immense.

"Imagine, as far as your eyes can see, both on the ground and in the sky, they are densely packed with muscular behemoths like Ox Hero, swinging their weapons against each other almost without gaps..."

"Blood pours down everywhere like a waterfall."

"Countless arms, countless legs, countless internal organs, countless noble hero heads... falling continuously."

"If you were shorter, in just one breath, you would be buried under a thick layer of flesh and blood from the falling hero heads..."

Wu Tie shivered all over, countless goosebumps covering his skin.

He couldn't imagine such a scene... countless Ox Heroes packed together, hacking at each other madly?

Looking at the sky, the battlefield where the two Commanders, three Eunuchs, and three Family Heads were fighting, their maximum area of impact was only a few hundred meters.

A single Ox Hero was over a thousand meters tall.

"It really is a small scene," Wu Tie exhaled, shaking his head.

Old Tie suddenly let out a soft "Be careful."

The invisible force field Wu Tie had projected outwards was suddenly triggered. He quickly sensed three people rapidly lunging at him from behind, three straight sabers thrusting towards his back with almost no sound.

The three came extremely fast, their straight sabers thrusting almost directly. The invisible force field had only just sensed their presence when the sabers were almost behind Wu Tie.

Incredibly vicious, incredibly professional assassination.

Even with the invisible force field spreading out a hundred-meter radius, Wu Tie could only barely turn around, watching helplessly as the three straight sabers stabbed into his soft ribs.

"Kid, you died again," Old Tie's cold mockery came from within the metal spider's abdomen.

Wu Tie let out an angry soft cry, his invisible force field churning. In a bizarre posture, without any visible exertion, his body inexplicably sprang upwards.

The three straight sabers fiercely struck him, sparks flying, the sabers snapping.

Instead of retreating, Wu Tie advanced. His spear brought with it points of cold light, stabbing with lightning speed into the throat of one of the Mist Blades assassins.

A flash of blood, and two Mist Blades assassins dropped their weapons, opening their hands and charging towards Wu Tie. Wu Tie saw clearly that in the hands of these two assassins were metal pellets used to bomb Longevity Cult strongholds.

These were weapons of the same type as the Mountain Splitting Thunder used by the Wu Family's mine slaves, possessing immense destructive power.

Wu Tie dared not, and certainly did not want, to let the two assassins get close. He suddenly widened his eyes, his brow suddenly burning. Wu Tie's 'Control Heaven and Earth' innate divine ability activated at full power, his powerful invisible force field surging out like an unseen tide.

The two Mist Blades assassins gave a strange cry, flailing their limbs as they flew into the air, blown back like leaves in the wind by a powerful force.

Wu Tie's spear tip flicked out, and two streams of blood spurted from the throats of the two Mist Blades assassins, killed on the spot by Wu Tie's spear thrust to the throat.

"Here's a tough one," a deep, gruff voice rumbled from dozens of meters away. Two Ox Tribe warriors, about ten feet tall, clad in crude, heavy iron armor, their bodies covered in bulging muscles, suddenly charged out.

It was unclear which of the three families these two Ox Tribe warriors belonged to. They carried massive iron clubs as thick as bowls, charging at Wu Tie with their heads down, swinging their clubs in a wild barrage.

Wu Tie rapidly retreated.

The iron clubs passed by, almost grazing his nose.

Wu Tie wasn't afraid of these two Ox Tribe warriors who hadn't cultivated and only relied on brute physical strength. He heard footsteps approaching nearby. Judging by the brisk, powerful strides, a large group of Azure Wolves or Gray Wolves warriors were closing in.

His close-fitting armor was indestructible, and Wu Tie wasn't afraid of being surrounded and attacked by wolf warriors.

He simply didn't want to fight or kill without reason.

The Longevity Cult, the Mist Blades, and especially the newly involved three families... Shi Lingqing was dead, Luolin and the others were also dead. Wu Tie had no enmity with any of these three factions. Why should he get involved in this mess?

While retreating at full speed, Wu Tie said in a low voice, "I am not your enemy..."

"Bullshit!" one Ox Tribe warrior roared in a gruff voice, swinging his massive iron club horizontally, nearly smashing into Wu Tie's waist. "Everyone here, except our people, is an enemy... Besides, you killed people from the Mist Blades."

The Ox Tribe warrior's simple distinction between friend and foe left Wu Tie speechless.

He could only retreat quickly. His speed was much greater than the two Ox Tribe warriors, and the encircling wolf warriors clearly couldn't keep up with Wu Tie's pace. After a few breaths, Wu Tie had escaped these enemies and quickly turned behind a patch of ferns.

By the time these Ox Tribe warriors and wolf warriors caught up, they could no longer find any trace of Wu Tie.

Wu Tie changed direction and lurked behind another small hill, watching the battlefield from afar.

The Mist Blades and the allied forces of the three families held the advantage. The Longevity Cult warriors within the stronghold could barely hold them off with the support of three wooden boats, but outside the stronghold, scattered Mist Blades assassins were already leading patrol teams from the three families in a pincer movement.

Teams of various sizes covered an area of over ten miles, encircling the entire Longevity Cult stronghold.

It was clear that the Mist Blades did not intend to let anyone leave alive.

Of course, that was assuming they could deal with Eunuch Gu and the other two.

Wu Tie looked up at the sky. The battle between the two Commanders and Eunuch Gu, Eunuch Lan, was still ongoing, while Grandma Chi was being forced to pant for breath by the combined efforts of the three family heads.

Individually, none of the three family heads were a match for Grandma Chi, and even two of them working together would struggle to suppress her.

But with all three of them joining forces, Grandma Chi was having a difficult time.

Three streaks of light darted rapidly around Grandma Chi. The spear in Grandma Chi's hand made the air roar, but she still couldn't do anything to the three family heads.

After a prolonged struggle of two to three hours, the ground battle had almost concluded. Suddenly, a scream was heard. Wu Tie hadn't even seen exactly what happened in the sky when Grandma Chi suddenly dropped her spear, turned, and fled, covered in blood.

Large amounts of blood continuously spurted from behind Grandma Chi. As she fled, she let out sharp roars.

But she didn't get far before the three family heads, along with a black shadow that appeared at some unknown time, pursued her and began attacking her fiercely.

Grandma Chi cursed repeatedly, managing to block for a dozen moves. Several flashes of cold light appeared, followed by a deafening boom, and a rapidly blooming cloud of blood enveloped hundreds of meters of the void.

Seeing that she was about to be killed, Grandma Chi resolutely self-destructed.

A black figure, dressed similarly to Commander Qi and Commander Ba, quickly fled hundreds of meters away. Wu Tie saw clearly that his left arm hung limply; Grandma Chi's self-destruction had only injured one of his arms.

The three family heads, however, had not escaped.

They were blown to pieces in Grandma Chi's self-destruction, dozens of mangled limbs and body parts continuously falling from the sky, landing in the great river and attracting large numbers of fish to fight over them.

Eunuch Gu and Eunuch Lan, without a word, broke free from their enemies and fled at full speed towards the direction of the waterfall.

"Mist Blades? This is war!"

"Wait for the full retaliation of my Longevity Hall... This is war..."