Ju Hua waited for about a quarter of an hour. At last, all the commanders of the great clans had arrived in the central command tent.
"Everyone!"
Immortal Jiuhua suddenly spoke. In an instant, every gaze turned toward him. Ju Hua quickly gathered his thoughts and looked toward Immortal Jiuhua, seated in the place of honor.
"This time, the fiends of Autumn Mountain Great Marsh ambushed us on the road that the clans outside the marsh were bound to take, inflicting heavy losses on us. By a rough estimate, our army has lost at least thirty percent of its forces!"
When Immortal Jiuhua finished speaking, the expressions of many tribal commanders changed. Attacking Autumn Mountain Great Marsh was already fraught with danger, and now they had lost nearly thirty percent of their forces in one fell swoop. There was no doubt about it: this was adding frost to snow!
"Moreover, according to the intelligence I've received, among the fiends who laid this ambush, a full thirteen different Void-Return Fiends have appeared!" Immortal Jiuhua added another piece of news that made everyone's expressions change.
The eight Void-Return Fiends openly known to dwell in Autumn Mountain Great Marsh were already frightening enough. Who could have guessed that five more would suddenly appear?
One Void-Return Fiend was practically the equivalent of a Celestial Immortal in combat strength. Every additional one was deadly, let alone five!
More troubling still, they didn't even know whether this was the full strength of Autumn Mountain Great Marsh!
"Fellow Daoist Jiuhua, how should we proceed with the attack?" asked an old man in a somewhat hoarse voice.
"The fiends of Autumn Mountain Great Marsh dared to leave their familiar surroundings and ambush us out here. That was indeed unexpected!" Immortal Jiuhua said, then continued with a faint smile:
"But there's no need for everyone to worry. Though our casualties are heavy, our overall strength still far exceeds that of those fiends! There may be many Void-Return Fiends, but the Celestial Immortals who have come from our clans are even more numerous! I've discussed this with the other Celestial Immortals. From now on, they'll stay close beside the army. If those fiends dare to leave Autumn Mountain Great Marsh again, we'll make sure they never return!"
"If so, then I'm relieved." The old man slowly nodded, then fell silent.
"Then please give the order, Immortal Jiuhua. Autumn Mountain Great Marsh has existed long enough!" A burly man whose body was tattooed with images of towering mountains suddenly spoke in a cold voice.
"God Mountain is quite right. Those fiends made us suffer such a great loss not long ago. If we don't even the score quickly, they may think we're afraid of them!" said a young woman from the Heishen Clan nearby, her tone calm.
"Haha, good. Then listen to my plan." Immortal Jiuhua clapped his hands and began to lay out his plan.
Immortal Jiuhua had certainly not lived for more than 1.5 million years in vain. He was clearly well versed in the art of war. For this campaign, he would divide the army into three forces and send them into Autumn Mountain Great Marsh from three different directions.
With the strength gathered for this campaign, even divided into three, the forces would remain formidable. If the fiends of Autumn Mountain Great Marsh dared to throw all their strength against one force, that force could hold them in place while the other two rushed to its aid, surrounding and annihilating every fiend in one decisive battle!
If the fiends stayed within Autumn Mountain Great Marsh, the three forces could advance from the outside inward, surrounding them and eliminating, one by one, the dangerous strongholds they relied on. They would slowly tighten the noose, like boiling a frog in warm water, until every escape route was sealed and the fiends were forced into a decisive battle!
The combined strength of the three forces far surpassed that of the fiends in Autumn Mountain Great Marsh. In a head-on battle, the fiends would be doomed to defeat!
"Do any of you fellow Daoists have questions?" Immortal Jiuhua asked.
"How will the three forces be divided, Fellow Daoist Jiuhua?" The commander from the Quge Clan cupped his hands and asked.
"I'll lead the Yinglong Army along one route. The Zhuanshui Clan, Baiji Clan, and Quge Clan will take another. The Heishen Clan, Shaoyan Clan, and the remaining clans will take the last. What do you all think?" Immortal Jiuhua stated his arrangements without hesitation.
"My Zhuanshui Clan has no objections!" Ju Hua said at once.
Immortal Jiuhua's arrangements were quite sensible. Nearly all the great clans that had deep enmity with the Zhuanshui Clan had been assigned to another route. Most wonderful of all, the Shaoyan Clan wouldn't be marching alongside them!
Otherwise, he would probably have spent every day worrying over how to keep the Zhuanshui Clan's army from clashing with the Shaoyan Clan's!
"My Shaoyan Clan has no objections either!" the red-robed old man from the Shaoyan Clan said, unwilling to be outdone.
"..."
After Ju Hua and the red-robed old man had spoken, the commanders of the other clans also nodded in agreement.
Immortal Jiuhua's arrangements had clearly been carefully considered, taking the needs of the top great clans into account.
As for the clans whose needs hadn't been given much consideration, their strength was far below that of these top great clans. They had little say in a meeting like this!
Suddenly, the young woman from the Heishen Clan spoke up: "Fellow Daoist Jiuhua, the Yinglong Army's route will naturally follow your orders. But what about the other two forces? Surely they can't each fight on their own?"
"There's no need to issue orders. We only need someone to coordinate the forces!" Immortal Jiuhua said calmly. "We're all cultivators, so strength naturally takes precedence! The strongest should command the army. None of you have any objections, do you?"
"Of course not." Everyone nodded. That was the rule of the cultivation world, and it held even within an army.
"Good. I happen to have a strange piece of deadwood from the 'Northern Underworld Space'!" A pitch-black stump appeared in Immortal Jiuhua's hand. He continued:
"It has no special qualities, except that it's extremely hard and can restore itself automatically. You may all attack it as you please. Whoever leaves the deepest mark on it will command the other two forces. What do you think?"
"An excellent method!" The burly man covered in mountain tattoos laughed heartily.
"It's a good method!" The others nodded in agreement as well.
"Fellow Daoist Jiuhua, is the 'Northern Underworld Space' you mentioned that strange space above the Northern Underworld Sea?" someone suddenly asked.
"Indeed. Do you have some advice to offer, Fellow Daoist?" Immortal Jiuhua asked calmly.
"Heh, what advice could I possibly offer? I've only heard that danger lurks everywhere within that space, and that none but Celestial Immortals dare enter. Fellow Daoist Jiuhua's strength is unfathomable. I truly admire you!" The man cupped his hands and showered Immortal Jiuhua with praise.
"You flatter me!"
Immortal Jiuhua shook his head, then slowly walked out of the central command tent. The others followed without hesitation.