"Sect Master Zhou!"
Emperor Jianyuan narrowed his eyes, meeting the gaze of "Plucking Stars and Seizing the Moon" Zhou Zhi from afar with a trace of anger. "Since ascending the throne, I have always treated your Astral Immortal Sect with the utmost respect. In thirty years, I have bestowed seventeen investitures upon you, with honors second only to those granted to the Dutian Divine Palace.
"On this personal campaign, not only did I present lavish gifts in advance, but my officers and soldiers also left your sect entirely unmolested. How dare you collude with rebels, attack without a declaration of war, betray Great Ning, and make an enemy of me?"
The Astral Immortal Sect had come out in full force, adding ninety thousand elite martial cultivators and seven thousand spellcasters to the Iron Banner Gang's naval forces.
For the Imperial Court, this was undoubtedly a fatal blow.
The disciples the Astral Immortal Sect had sent were probably, at the very least, Outer Sect Disciples with sixth-grade cultivation bodies!
The fighting strength of these ninety-seven thousand people was truly equivalent to an army of two or three million.
And that was without even mentioning the Astral Immortal Sect's first- and second-rank experts.
They all possessed the power to shake mountains and rivers, move mountains, and fill seas. Often, one person alone could determine the course of a local battlefield, tipping the scales with immense weight.
Had Emperor Jianyuan not made other preparations, he would already have needed to consider withdrawing from the Tianhuai River's southern bank.
Great Ning's naval forces were practically doomed to defeat in this battle.
Under the Astral Immortal Sect's full-strength assault, even if Great Ning's fleet escaped total annihilation, few ships would remain.
Most of the civilian vessels used to transport troops, along with the hundred-odd thousand