Compared to the resistance on the agricultural planet, the fighting on the steel planet was easy. The steel planet was unsuitable for human habitation to begin with, and most of the people who remained there were workers or captured slaves. Its garrison was less than a fifth the size of the agricultural planet's.
As a result, the fighting went very smoothly for Wanmeng's group. The entire force attacking the planet suffered less than twenty percent casualties.
Compared to the thirty percent casualties on the agricultural planet, things could hardly have gone more smoothly for Wanmeng and her people.
"Sister Wanmeng, the Garden has been a little too quiet lately."
Wanmeng looked through the starship's window at the sea of stars outside. In the darkness, aside from the starlight glimmering from the planets, all she could see were the fires burning across the planet before her.
The vast sea of stars looked like a gaping maw, waiting for food to enter it of its own accord.
Wanmeng frowned. The feeling was growing stronger, making her increasingly uneasy, but the decisive battle was approaching. She couldn't shake the army's morale.
"Mm, the Garden is most likely preparing a way to deal with us. Tianque, pass on my orders: all troops are to remain stationed on the steel planet for now and wait for the reinforcements from the agricultural planet. Then we attack the Garden!"
Qi Tianque left. She sat wearily in the main seat, rubbing her forehead with her right hand. No matter what happened, she trusted that Qingzhu would arrive in time!
She had great confidence in Qingzhu's combat strength. After all, she was the Arbiter of Life's first Emanator. The Arbiter of Life was generous to His own people, to say nothing of His first Emanator.
"Achoo! Who's talking about me?"
"Hey! Don't push your luck! You dare get distracted while fighting me? I'll make you my first kill!"
The Houyhnhnm facing Qingzhu roared in anger. Getting distracted in the middle of a fight was a tremendous insult to him!
What was more, his opponent looked exhausted and unsteady on her feet. She was clearly at the end of her strength.
It channeled the Power of Abundance within its body into the spear in its hand and charged eagerly at her. Killing Qingzhu was its chance to make a name for itself. Yaoshi might even promote it to Emanator because of it.
At the thought, the greed in its eyes grew even more intense. A promotion and a raise were immensely tempting, no matter the universe or the species.
After all, didn't people spend their lives pursuing wealth, glory, and fame? The opportunity it believed in was right before its eyes. How could it not be excited?
Seeing the greed in its opponent's eyes, the exhaustion faded from Qingzhu's face. Expressionless, she raised the long spear in her hand and thrust it forward, so fast that the naked eye couldn't follow. The Houyhnhnm felt a chill in its chest and looked down in disbelief. A bowl-sized hole had appeared in its abdomen, with Qingzhu's spear right in the middle.
The strike was plain and unadorned, but it was just right-just right to kill it. It raised its head in shock and looked at Qingzhu.
Not a trace of her earlier exhaustion remained. Qingzhu's eyes were cold and devoid of emotion, as if she had killed nothing more than an insignificant ant.
To it, that look was deeply ironic. Was it incapable of stirring even the slightest emotion in her? She didn't even show the Daiyu natives' loathing for the Denizens of Abundance.
That dealt a vicious blow to its pride. It was a commander of these Denizens of Abundance, after all. Did she truly consider it beneath her notice?
Anger robbed it of reason. It gathered the last of its strength into its spear and drove it down hard. At a distance of less than five meters, there was no retreating from the strike.
But Qingzhu had no intention of dodging. With a mere jerk of her arm, she unleashed a vast surge of the Power of the Path of Existence from her spear. The Houyhnhnm froze, and before the shocked eyes of the other Houyhnhnms around it, their commander crumbled into specks of powder and scattered.
Qingzhu coldly withdrew her spear and brushed her shoulder twice with her left hand in disgust. "Got dust on me."
She turned to the Houyhnhnms who had already boarded the Xianzhou, her eyes growing cold once more. "Kill them all. Leave none alive."
At Qingzhu's command, the Manifest Existence Army soldiers who had been putting on an act stopped hiding their strength and began the slaughter. Killing an enemy with a single strike was a common sight.
One Houyhnhnm squad leader shoved a member of its own kind forward to take a blow, then quickly ran back toward the beastship docked on the Xianzhou.
It ran as hard as it could. It treasured its life. It didn't want to die.
The next moment, a spear burst through its chest. Feeling the chill there, it turned and saw a familiar face.
A blade was still lodged in the Manifest Existence Army soldier's chest, but now he grinned viciously at it like a demon that had crawled back from hell.
This was the man it had killed with its own hands!
"H-how is that possible?! How can you still be alive?!"
Its eyes were full of terror. Was the person before it a man or a ghost?
Muyun wiped the blood from his face, then used his free hand to pull the blade from his chest. Blood gushed out.
Muyun said, "If the Helmsman hadn't ordered us to lure you in, do you think you could have killed me? You don't understand Path of Existence Striders at all. The price of letting your guard down is death."
Muyun kicked it in the back and used the force to pull his spear free. But just as he withdrew it, a Houyhnhnm in front of him aimed a bow at him.
"Heh, surrender quietly, or I can't guarantee the next arrow won't land in your head!"
Its eyes held the certainty of victory, and its face was smug. In his view, these Xianzhou natives were nothing but uncivilized brutes. As long as he had a bow and arrows, he could keep him firmly under his thumb.
Muyun looked at it as though it were an idiot. The next moment, he drew a gun from the holster at his waist and fired. The explosive round burst, and its head burst along with it.
"Where'd this hick come from? You really thought we were barbarians who'd just entered the stars? We didn't use guns so you'd let your guard down. Hick, ptooey!"
Muyun turned and left. He still had enemies to reap and military merits to earn. What if he was too late and everyone else got them first?
Before long, all the Houyhnhnms had been wiped out, while the Xianzhou had lost a hundred people. Those hundred were all ordinary people who had joined during the later expansion of the army. Though they had received blessings and gained physiques far superior to those of ordinary people, they were still too weak compared to the Xianzhou Daiyu, where everyone was a Pathstrider.
The Xianzhou Daiyu's population was now twenty-five percent Daiyu natives, five percent Halovians, and fifty percent migrants. Though the Daiyu natives were few, they held absolute control over the Xianzhou. The Xianzhou Daiyu's two Emanators alone were enough to suppress any other troublemakers aboard.
"See that the fallen soldiers are buried. Also, register the families of the dead and make sure their compensation is paid."
Qingzhu gave her orders solemnly. The families of the dead must not be neglected. Those soldiers had died for the Xianzhou, and she ought to help their families.