The First Collision

There is no snow in Southern Forest University in winter, but this winter seems to be colder. Starting from the third watch of the night, heavy snow began to fall and continued until noon the next day.

A Flying Boat full of Outer Disciple arrived above Heavenly Emperor City, then descended and floated in mid-air.

A man on the Flying Boat shouted, "I am Jiang Muyun, Outer Disciple the Taiheng Sect. Zhang Jiao, the Zhang Jiao of the Taiping Demonic Dao, come out and answer me!"

"Where did this Flying Boat come from? Flying is prohibited above Heavenly Emperor City!" On the city gate tower, a young general in white robes and armor, holding a long spear and carrying a longbow on his back, looked handsome and righteous. "You all come down!"

"Ha!" Jiang Muyun chuckled. "A mere mortal dares to speak to me like that?"

The young general was immediately enraged, drew his longbow from his back, and fired.

Jiang Muyun initially didn't take it seriously, but soon discovered that the arrow's speed was very unusual, and that a black stream of air was swirling around the tip of the arrow!

Qi and Blood cannot be released outwards, but if one comprehends the Martial Dao True Intent, one can temporarily allow Qi and Blood to leave the body, but only for a moment.

While its power is immense, mastering this technique requires an astonishing amount of time, effort, and even talent; very few people would dedicate themselves to mastering such a skill.

But this young general in front of me actually knows how!

And judging from his age, he doesn't seem very old!

Jiang Muyun turned her head to avoid it, the contempt in her eyes lessening considerably.

Since we are both cultivators, we can have an equal dialogue.

"Who are you?" Jiang Muyun asked.

"Li Ling, the Commandant of the Heavenly Emperor City Garrison of the Great Peace Army!" the young general said coldly.

"You're not a disciple of my Taiheng Sect?" Jiang Muyun was immediately surprised. He also had a cell phone and knew that there were experts in the Great Peace Army, but what kind of experts could a force formed by a bunch of rural rebels have?

Disdain was inevitable.

Who would have thought that a mere captain could possess such exceptional archery skills?

"Hmph, I, the Commandant, belong to the Great Peace Way from birth, and have absolutely no relation to your Taiheng Sect!" Li Ling said coldly. "I advise you to land your Flying Boat as soon as possible, or I'll be firing arrows!"

"Heh!" Since you're not from the Taiheng Sect, there's no need to be polite!

Besides, there are thousands of people watching me on this ship. Do you think I'd be intimidated by a mere general like you? Would I even be able to face anyone back home?

Jiang Muyun, too lazy to waste any more words, said, "Since you're not coming out, I'll go there myself and bring the Flying Boat closer!"

"Boom!" The airship could have easily flown over the city wall, but Flying Boat just kept crashing into it!

The city wall was also made of rock, without the slightest bit of cutting corners, but when faced with the wooden Flying Boat, it was like a piece of tofu, and was directly cracked by the impact!

Upon seeing this, Li Ling immediately ordered the messenger to ring the alarm bell, and then raised the flag. "Enemy invasion! All soldiers, heed my command, fire arrows!"

He was no nobody; he was a general during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, who led 5,000 infantrymen in battle against the Xiongnu. He was besieged by a Xiongnu army of 100,000 for several days. After his army ran out of arrows, he had no choice but to break out, but he was eventually captured because he was outnumbered.

He did not surrender at first, but a man named Li Xu was training troops for the Xiongnu. Emperor Wu of Han thought it was Li Ling, so he killed his entire family. As a result, Li Ling surrendered to the Xiongnu.

Later, when Su Wu was herding sheep by the North Sea, the Xiongnu Chanyu sent Li Ling to persuade him, but Su Wu scolded him and drove him away.

Li Ling had absolutely no intention of rebelling against the Great Han, but Emperor Wu of Han killed his entire family, leaving him with no possibility of returning home and forcing him to remain with the Xiongnu.

Yang Ning gave him a second chance at life. He naturally couldn't submit to the Xiongnu, and there were Han emperors, famous ministers, and generals recruiting people, but he didn't want to go. Coincidentally, Zhang Jiao was also recruiting capable ministers and generals in the virtual space, so he simply came.

Li Ling was able to lead 5,000 infantrymen to withstand 100,000 Xiongnu cavalry, which shows how formidable his defense was. His defense relied on his archery skills.

Therefore, after joining the Great Peace Army, he specifically selected soldiers with long arms and strong upper limbs to form a Divine Arrow Army!

The Divine Arrow Army had 400 elite soldiers and a total strength of 6,000, but only 2,000 were on duty at the city gate at this time.

But at a single command, the remaining four thousand men who were still training quickly rushed over.

The Outer Disciple of the Taiheng Sect are all cultivators. When they go on missions, they usually travel in groups of three to five. Even on a large battlefield like Jiang Yun Nation, they travel in groups of twenty or more, each fighting independently.

To put it nicely, they're a special forces unit; to put it bluntly, they're just a bunch of undisciplined rogues.

Accustomed to one-on-one and squad-to-squad battles, they were suddenly faced with a two-thousand-against-two-thousand legion battle, and were immediately caught off guard!

Let alone cultivators at the seventh or eighth level of physical cultivation being dumbfounded, even cultivators at the Ninth Level of Body Refinement cultivation, no matter how powerful their Spiritual Manifestation, would be dumbfounded in the face of this rain of arrows!

However, he was only stunned for a moment before Jiang Muyun was the first to react.

He was chosen as the leader among the people on the ship because he was the most powerful.

He took the lead and stood at the bow of the ship, and then a chilling, knife-like aura instantly enveloped the entire city tower.

Spiritual Manifestation, martial arts pressure!

"How dare these mere mortals launch an attack against us!"

Why can't mortals fight against cultivators? Putting aside the difference in physical strength, just one person's martial arts pressure alone can suppress ten thousand people in an instant!

Jiang Muyun had already anticipated the scene of soldiers lying sprawled on the ground, but to his surprise, these soldiers, despite being covered in sweat and trembling with fear, did not lie down!

And they were even able to draw their bows and keep shooting arrows!

Jiang Muyun had no idea how strong a person's willpower and adaptability could be.

These soldiers already possessed cultivation, and every day they were suppressed by martial arts generals with martial arts willpower using martial arts pressure. Over time, they naturally developed resistance to martial arts pressure!

Seeing this, Jiang Muyun blushed deeply and angrily waved her hand. "Everyone, get off the ship! Leave no one alive!"

Upon hearing this order, Li Ling was first taken aback, then overjoyed.

They were originally standing on the Flying Boat, which was equivalent to standing on top of a city. Their soldiers attacking from below was almost like besieging a city.

The difficulty of besieging a city is something everyone knows.

But this person actually gave up his advantage and chose to fight in the open field!

Little did he know that the commander on the other side had never participated in any wars and had no war experience whatsoever. His level was at least on par with Li Jinglong, if not equal, and at least on par with the legendary Emperor Zhu Qizhen.

Thousands of Outer Disciple swarmed off the Flying Boat, and a war between the Outer Disciple the Great Peace Way and the Taiheng Sect broke out unexpectedly!

~~~~~

"Is that...? Someone's attacking the city directly?" A group of people looked at the Flying Boat on the city wall from afar in the snow outside the city, their faces full of surprise.

"They are different from us. There are only six of us, but they are a whole boat!" The leader was actually a woman named Gao Liu. She had a high ponytail, and her snow-white neck was exposed to the air. Despite it being a snowy day, she was only wearing a small vest and a pink skirt, and her snow-white thighs were blatantly exposed.

Taiheng has a conservative atmosphere, not because anyone is in charge, but because people are too ignorant and don't know how vast the world is.

With the widespread use of mobile phones, fashion trends from other places suddenly appeared before the cultivators of Taiheng through the mobile phone platform.

The bold, avant-garde, and revealing clothing of the female cultivators of the Tianfei Palace immediately attracted the attention of countless people.

It's the type where the man drools and the woman curses at him.

However, there is no way to report such incidents on mobile phones. Even if someone is not wearing anything at all, let alone just wearing revealing clothes, they have no say in the matter!

But the less they wear, the more attention they receive; if you're dressed conservatively, ordinary people won't bother to pay attention to you.

The Tianfei Palace only seeks attention to make money, while the people of the Taiheng Sect gain real fortune!

In an effort to gain attention, some female cultivators of the Taiheng Sect began to try out the clothing style of the Tianfei Palace. Some even opened online clothing stores, specializing in customizing various Tianfei-style garments according to the cultivators' body shapes.

Gao Liu was wearing a type of Tianfei Skirt.

"Should we join them?" someone asked. "If they break through and capture Zhang Jiao, we'll be out of a job!"

"No rush!" Gao Liu shook his head.

Her ability to advance to the outer sect as a woman, and to command the obedience of so many Outer Disciples, is not solely due to her outstanding appearance.

"Before this Flying Boat, many fellow disciples had already entered Heavenly Emperor City, yet Zhang Jiao is still alive and well!" Gao Liu said, "This is enough to prove that the Great Peace Way is not simple!"

What's more, this is the first time Gao Liu has ever seen a mission to quell a rebellion that doesn't limit the number of people who can accept it!

What does that mean?

This means that the sect's higher-ups really believed that this task might require the participation of hundreds of thousands of Outer Disciples, or even all of them, to suppress!

"So we're just going to do nothing?" the henchman asked.

Gao Liu shook his head. "We went to assassinate Zhang Jiao, ostensibly to complete a mission, but more importantly, to gain attention!"

After all, there were over 100,000 people—no, now it's 230,000!

The person who completes the task, which has been claimed by 230,000 people, will undoubtedly receive a great deal of attention.

That's exactly why they came.

"Now that we've discovered this task is difficult, we can simply abandon it and do something else!"

"For example?"

"How about we livestream this battle?" Gao Liu took out his phone, first coming up with a good title: "Live Coverage of the Taiheng Sect's Suppression of the Taiping Demonic Dao's Rebellious People," and then started the livestream!

Deep Blue Live has always attached great importance to major news events, and some bloggers on Jiang Yun Nation's live stream have been consistently on the traffic charts for years.

Gao Liu dared not go to Jiang Yun Nation, as he couldn't get any attention there, but the Taiheng Sect's suppression of the Great Peace Way was just as important!

Naturally, the moment she started broadcasting, her live stream was pinned to the top of the news section's homepage!

What followed was a crazy surge in popularity!

"This step was absolutely right!" Gao Liu thought with delight, and quickly cleared his throat.

She needs to say something for people to pay attention to her!

"Good morning, friends from all over the world. This is Southern Forest of the Taiheng Sect, formerly the capital of Pingkang Prefecture. As you can see, the city's plaque has been replaced with the words 'Heavenly Emperor City.' This was done by the Taiping Demonic Dao."

"As for what the Taiping Demonic Dao is, it is an organization founded by Zhang Jiao."

"In just three years, this organization has expanded from a mere dozen or so people to cover more than ten prefectures and counties in the southern part of Southern Forest. Currently, the Great Peace Way Dao has 30 million direct members and as many as 200 million indirect members!"

"Seven days ago, this organization suddenly launched a riot. They shouted slogans such as 'The heavens are dead, the emperor shall rise, the year is Jiazi, great fortune for the world,' and then stormed the county and prefectural cities, massacring officials and noble Aristocratic Clan and looting gold and silver treasures."

"According to reliable intelligence, the total number of people killed by this organization has now exceeded seven million!"

"What you are seeing now is the Taiheng Sect's operation to suppress the Taiping Demonic Dao. Due to some special reasons, the Taiheng Sect did not send any inner disciple or Spiritual Law Realm elders. All those participating in this mission are Outer Disciple!"

"On that Flying Boat is the team led by Senior Brother Jiang Muyun, who is ranked sixteenth on the Mountain River Ranking. They have already climbed the city wall and are fighting with the defending army. I guess this battle will end soon, because how can mortals fight against immortals!"

"What? Senior Brother Jiang is retreating??"

Jiang Muyun felt extremely frustrated during the fight.

He couldn't unleash his full potential because these soldiers had arrows for ranged combat and shields and spears for melee. Although each of them was far inferior to him in strength, speed, and reflexes, they wouldn't engage in one-on-one fighting; instead, six, seven, or eight of them would surround him and attack!

Three of the men were carrying shields, followed by three more carrying guns, and then two more carrying very long, unidentifiable objects—what looked like sticks with a dozen or so random blades stuck into them.

Moreover, these things are extremely hard. Although they are not ordinary weapons, their hardness is not much less than that of ordinary weapons. A shield can only make a shallow mark when it hits them, and a spear needs three hits to cut through them!

He held a Supreme-grade Mortal Artifact longsword in his hand, Heavenly Queen, the blade had long since become dull!

He was also unable to break through the two shields to attack the people behind them, because the two men with very long weapons would immediately swing their strange weapons at him if he made any move forward.

This weapon requires absolutely no skill; it relies solely on the numerous blades strapped to it, making it virtually impossible to touch.

Yang Ning had tried it himself; with his Body Refinement Tenth Layer, he could already withstand sniper rifle bullets, and even Electromagnetic Cannon could only create a very small crater.

However, he possesses the White Dragon Swallowing Absorption Technique and the Purple Gold Coiling Dragon Body, a physique resulting from the combined effects of two Peerless Divine Abilities.

Ordinary cultivators at the Body Refinement Realm practice ordinary Cultivation Method. Even if they can withstand swords and blades, they rely on their vital energy and Qi and Blood. However, a person's Qi and Blood are limited; they will be gone after a while.

Li Ling's strategy was simple: when you were surging your Qi and Blood, he wouldn't fight you head-on, but would defend with a shield, and only use his sword and spear when you were exhausted.

His soldiers were no ordinary people either; this was Heavenly Emperor City, equivalent to the headquarters of the Great Peace Way.

Even the ordinary soldiers in the capital's garrison are among the elite of the elite.

Most of them are at the Fifth Level of Body Refinement, and even squad leaders have Sixth Level of Body Refinement. By the time they reach the centurion level, they have reached the Body Refinement Seventh Level or eighth level!

The realms that best increase strength are the Fifth Level of Body Refinement.

The latter three levels focus on cultivating the spirit, and in terms of strength, the difference between them and the Body Refinement Seventh Level is not that great!

Li Ling's adoption of Qi Jiguang's Mandarin Duck Formation was the result of more than two years of practice, and it was not just theoretical; it was actually tested with super geniuses.

Using it on the city gate tower at this time would be extremely effective!