Declaration of War

The Longevity Cult had brought a large number of elite warriors.

Aside from all the forces directly under the Longevity Cult's Azure Flame Domain branch, Eunuch Gu and Eunuch Lan had also rallied the eighteen Lineages controlled by the Longevity Cult and transferred them all at once into this strange realm.

The eighteen Lineages had sent no fewer than three hundred warriors each, and as many as six or seven hundred. Their combined forces numbered nearly ten thousand.

Besides these elite warriors, the eighteen Lineages had also brought in vast numbers of young and able-bodied slaves. Gray Dwarves and Rock Gnomes were naturally the most common slave varieties, but several Lineages had even brought the rare Mermen and Frogmen.

Wu Tie lay prone amid a clump of giant ferns, gazing out across the river from afar.

Over two thousand Mermen and Frogmen were swaggering about in the great river, waving crude bone forks and howling hoarsely.

Mermen, as the name suggested, had heads like great fish. Their black fish heads and bodies were covered in dense, thick black scales, whose defensive strength was no weaker than ordinary iron armor.

Frogmen were, broadly speaking, frogs that walked upright like humans. Their dark green skin was covered in mucus and exceptionally tough; ordinary blades and swords could not harm them in the slightest.

These two kinds of slaves were massive, a head taller than ordinary members of the Human Race, and astonishingly strong. They were also more adept in water, where their combat power was formidable. Clearly, though, they were not very intelligent; the way they roared and postured was like wild beasts.

A wide stretch of shallows along the riverbank had been dyed red with blood.

Quite a few Rock Gnomes from the stronghold had just been drawing water there. When the Longevity Cult's army attacked, the Mermen and Frogmen had charged through the water with terrifying speed. Several hundred Rock Gnomes had been caught unprepared and slaughtered on the riverbank.

The Mermen and Frogmen were savage beyond measure. After killing the Rock Gnomes, they skinned and devoured them alive on the spot. Vast amounts of blood dyed the riverbank red and flowed downstream with the current.

Several enormous black shadows surfaced in the water. The vicious fish and aquatic beasts had been disturbed, but the baleful aura emanating from the Mermen and Frogmen intimidated them, and they did not dare approach this blood-reeking stretch of riverbank.

A large number of spindle-shaped stealth boats, crudely made and covered in tiny cracks, surfaced from the water. Amid Eunuch Gu and Eunuch Lan's shouts, the warriors and slaves within rowed the boats across and brought them ashore on the far bank of the great river.

Some stealth boats showed no movement at all. Their surfaces were densely webbed with cracks; clearly, the warriors or slaves inside had already been suffocated by river water seeping into their cabins during the long voyage through the underground river.

Nearly ten thousand warriors and tens of thousands of slaves swiftly came ashore. They brought out all manner of tools, dug foundations, gathered earth and stone, and busied themselves constructing a stronghold and shacks. At once, they also erected a row of more than ten tall watchtowers by the river.

Mist Blade reacted immediately. Quite a few Mist Blade assassins worked with the warriors of the three great Lineages to haul out stealth boats and rafts, intending to cross the river and attack the enemy.

But over two thousand Mermen and Frogmen moved through the river. The moment the stealth boats and rafts entered the water, they were smashed apart. Mist Blade assassins and Lineage warriors suffered dozens of casualties and could only retreat helplessly to the shore.

Unable to cross the river, Mist Blade's three Commanders soared into the air, stepping on black mist as they charged toward the six black wooden boats in the sky.

The six wooden boats hovered in a straight line over the great river. Eunuch Gu, Eunuch Lan, and five other men likewise rose into the air and went to meet the three Commanders.

The two sides merely crossed paths above the river. Black mist, blood clouds, and streaks of icy light flashed once. The three Commanders grunted and retreated several hundred meters, while two of the men accompanying Eunuch Gu and Eunuch Lan suddenly had long wounds split open across their chests.

A sharp, chilling voice rang out. "You are all natives of my Azure Flame Domain... do you know the consequences of offending Mist Blade?"

Eunuch Gu threw back his head and laughed. "Everyone, do not let Mist Blade frighten you... In such a land blessed by heaven and earth, move all your clansmen here. With the Longevity Cult protecting you, if we join hands, why should we fear Mist Blade?"

The three Commanders snorted coldly and turned away.

Eunuch Gu and Eunuch Lan had no intention of fighting to the death either. They descended onto the wooden boats, and the six boats flew to the far bank of the great river before slowly landing on the shallows.

With tens of thousands of slaves working together, a fairly sizable earthen city rapidly took shape on the far bank. As the light of the "Void Sun" gradually dimmed and "night" approached, the Longevity Cult's stronghold had begun to take form, with wisps of cooking smoke curling upward.

As if deliberately provoking them, shrill horn calls sounded from the Longevity Cult's watchtowers. The Mermen and Frogmen in the river howled excitedly, waving their bone forks toward Mist Blade's stronghold in provocation before swiftly swimming back to the opposite bank.

That night was calm and peaceful. Neither the Longevity Cult nor Mist Blade launched an attack.

When the "Void Sun" shone once more and its warm light illuminated the vast territory below, a team of Mist Blade warriors left the stronghold.

Those Lineage members and slaves were easy enough to feed; the rapidly growing mushrooms were sufficient for them. But Mist Blade's assassins, especially high-ranking figures like the three Commanders, could not endure such coarse fare.

There was abundant game by the great river. Whether Water Pythons, Giant Hippopotamuses, or even those great fish and aquatic beasts, all were excellent prey and the finest delicacies.

This squad of more than two hundred Mist Blade assassins advanced cautiously along the riverbank, glancing out over the water from time to time. The Longevity Cult controlled more than two thousand Mermen and Frogmen, giving them an immense advantage. If those creatures came ashore in a surprise attack, they would be extremely troublesome.

The heat radiated by the "Void Sun" evaporated moisture from the ground. Thick fog rose over two meters high like milk, winding through clusters of ferns and mushrooms. Many venomous snakes, poisonous insects, and all sorts of small creatures moved about uneasily, while faint sounds came from every direction.

The small creatures in these caverns had yet to grow accustomed to the "day-night shifts" brought by the "Void Sun." They were striving to adapt to these changes of light and darkness, altering their hunting habits accordingly.

Several hundred meters away lay a river bend where the current was gentle. The water was only a little over a meter deep, but enormous quantities of aquatic plants grew there.

A lush expanse of ferns covered the riverbank. Several dozen Giant Hippopotamuses lazily swam in from deeper waters, entered the river bend, lowered their heads to gulp down water, and sucked huge mouthfuls of aquatic grass into their mouths.

Two male hippopotamuses even led several young beasts onto the riverbank, opening their mouths to tear at the fat, tender fern leaves.

This group of Mist Blade assassins cautiously spread out. More than thirty people were dispatched to watch the river's movements, while the others encircled the Giant Hippopotamuses. These two male hippopotamuses were enormous, each weighing at least a hundred thousand jin. Together with the young beasts, they would provide Mist Blade's assassins with a hearty feast for more than half a month.

Over a hundred assassins advanced slowly through the fog. They did not dare underestimate these massive prey animals.

Mist Blade's assassins were skilled at killing people, but they were not adept at dealing with such giant beasts.

The fog drifted. Wu Tie carried a long spear on his back and held a flagpole, standing silently in the path of the advancing Mist Blade assassins.

The river wind howled past, and a great blood-red banner fluttered fiercely from the flagpole. On the banner, one and a half meters wide and three meters long, a ghastly white tiger head bared its fangs with its jaws agape, incomparably savage and ferocious.

This was the White Tiger Blood Banner. Wu Tie did not know what it represented, nor did he know where Old Tie had gotten it.

In any case, after he completed the preliminary warrior training course, Old Tie had handed this great banner to Wu Tie.

"Even if one man forms an army... an army must have a military banner." Wu Tie remembered clearly that when Old Tie handed him the White Tiger Blood Banner, an "aura of humanity" had actually flickered across that lifeless skull face cast from metal.

Wu Tie had even wondered whether something was wrong with his head.

How could Old Tie's metal-lump face possibly possess an "aura of humanity"?

Yet Wu Tie had truly felt that heavy, surging radiance. He had also felt the weighty strength in Old Tie's "claws" when he handed over the White Tiger Blood Banner.

The river wind howled, and the great banner whipped in the air.

The three-meter-tall flagpole tilted slightly. Wu Tie suddenly raised the flagpole made of white metal and drove it heavily into the ground.

With a sharp hiss, the pointed flagpole plunged more than a foot deep into the earth. The sound immediately alerted the Mist Blade assassins a hundred meters away. They all halted, silently drawing their straight blades and aiming them toward Wu Tie.

Wu Tie stood motionless where he was, calmly watching these Mist Blade assassins.

These Mist Blade assassins were very young. Many looked only a little over twenty, while the oldest were no more than around thirty.

Wu Tie bore them no personal grudge.

"You bear them no personal grudge, but they have invaded your territory and are plundering your prey." Wu Tie remembered Old Tie's words. "You may have no private enmity with them, but you stand in a fundamental opposition to the force they belong to."

"War has never begun because of private grudges." Old Tie had put it bluntly. "War has never had any so-called right or wrong. There is only life and death."

"To put it even more cruelly, even more shamelessly... if you win, you are certainly right; if you lose, you are certainly wrong."

"Who is there?" a leading Mist Blade assassin shouted coldly.

Wu Tie said nothing, merely watching them in silence.

After cultivating the Foundation Establishment Form, Wu Tie's physical capabilities far exceeded those of ordinary people. These Mist Blade assassins could not see Wu Tie clearly through a hundred meters of fog, but Wu Tie could clearly see every movement they made.

Moreover, the radius covered by Wu Tie's invisible force field had already reached over two hundred meters. Every one of these assassins stood beneath its shroud.

"Kill him!" the leading Mist Blade assassin decisively ordered.

Several dozen poisoned throwing knives tore through the fog and flew precisely toward Wu Tie's position.

These Mist Blade assassins truly were terrifying. Separated by a hundred meters and thick fog, Wu Tie had only driven the flagpole into the ground and made a slight sound, yet these assassins had already determined his exact position.

Wu Tie did not move. The throwing knives struck his fitted armor, scattering sparks. Several dozen powerful knives snapped in two, rebounding several meters before falling to the ground.

A sudden gale swept in, stirring the fog for several li around. The mist near the riverbank swiftly dispersed, exposing Wu Tie before the Mist Blade assassins.

His fitted armor was ghastly white. Beside him, a blood-red banner fluttered from a ghastly white flagpole, its ghastly white roaring tiger head looking so ferocious. At the same time, it exuded an inexplicable, overbearing savagery, an utterly unreasonable brutality.

More than a dozen Mist Blade assassins shot forward like fleas. After only a few leaps, they reached Wu Tie.

Their straight blades drew streaks of cold light as they chopped down at Wu Tie from every direction.

Wu Tie raised his left hand and clenched his five fingers tightly.

The air within ten meters around him wriggled violently. Its density rapidly increased, waves of air squirmed, and the atmosphere became blurred and thick as gruel.

The movements of the dozen or so Mist Blade assassins swinging their blades suddenly became extremely slow. As their blade edges cut through the viscous air, the naked eye could see clear ripples splitting through the air before them.

"Explode!"

Wu Tie roared, and the air suddenly blasted outward in every direction.

The dozen Mist Blade assassins groaned as the gale hurled them seven or eight meters away. They staggered backward in disarray. Several even stepped on slippery moss, lost their footing, and crashed headlong to the ground, scrambling and rolling about in utter embarrassment.

"This is my territory. Every beast, every insect, every fern, every cluster of mushrooms here, even the fish and giant pythons in the river, are my private property." Wu Tie looked at the stiff-faced Mist Blade assassins and said slowly, "You have invaded my land. You are harming my private property... That is wrong..."

"Kill this brat." The Mist Blade assassin leader swung his long blade and drew a circle above his head. "Chop him to pieces!"

Nearly two hundred Mist Blade assassins let out sharp cries at once, trailing afterimages as they rushed toward Wu Tie.

They could not be bothered to reason with Wu Tie.

This fertile land spanning a thousand li was his territory?

Everything here was his private property?

What a joke.

Even if it was, once they chopped Wu Tie into pieces, everything here would belong to Mist Blade!

Reason? There was no such thing... How could Mist Blade, the powerful and savage local tyrant of the Azure Flame Domain, possibly reason with anyone?

Streak after streak of lightning-like blade light chopped toward Wu Tie.

Wu Tie gripped his long spear and traced one smooth arc after another. The spear wove a perfect circle around him. Amid piercing clashes, dozens of long blades struck the spear in succession, then snapped apart one after another.

Though the arcs appeared gentle, Wu Tie's pure physical strength had reached fifty or sixty thousand jin. Any casual blow was like a boulder plunging from the sky. The straight blades wielded by the Mist Blade assassins might have been forged from refined steel, but they could not withstand such overwhelming force.

Dozens of long blades broke, and dozens of Mist Blade assassins had both arms shattered by the shock. They spat blood, screamed miserably, and flew through the air, tumbling away in every direction.

Wu Tie's strength was too immense. These Mist Blade assassins were as vulnerable as fallen leaves in the wind.

"This is my territory," Wu Tie said deeply. "Whether it is you Mist Blade or the Longevity Cult, you have invaded this place... What awaits you is nothing but war!"

One man, one spear, one blood banner.

He declared war head-on against two powerful organizations.