As bad as things looked, there was still someone with a fervent look in his eyes. The Shou Clan Ancestor turned towards the three polearm wielding mercenaries and offered them a Storage Ring, “Consider this a new contract. You three will take the Little Miss and escape from here.”
The other leaders of the Artful Life Alliance were flabbergast, but then they realized the problem. There was no way these mercenaries would give up their lives to fight for them. An honorable mercenary would never betray his contractor, but they also weren’t obligated to die for them. Once things reached a certain level, the mercenaries would not hesitate to save themselves and flee. The Shou Clan Ancestor’s wisdom was apparent. The mercenaries took a look inside the Storage Ring and were astounded at the riches within. From the look on the Shou Clan Leader’s face, they realized it was substantial.
If they stayed they would not fight fully. If they merely left, they might be tempted to finish off the Shou Clan Leader and rob her. Only by asking them to leave and requesting a new contact could he be assured that these three would do their best to help her escape. As for the other four of the Artful Life Alliance, they were quite annoyed and jealous, but the Shou Clan Ancestor was the strongest and the Shou Clan Leader was the most thoughtful. They all realized that their descendants would not be mistreated by her. Even if she had strange taste and was far too flirtatious, she would still treat all of their people with care. The Sound Sword Sect Master cared only about fighting. The Yincha Sect Leader was a bit too self centered, and allowed Lady Diyin to handle all of the Yincha Sec’s matters, while Lady Diyin was too serious and rigid. She was great at getting things done, but she wasn’t very good at social niceties. If she were left in charge it was only a matter of time until they got into a new war.
The Artful Life Alliance finally came to terms with their situation and the Shou Clan Ancestor raised his voice, “I am proud to die together with so many great warriors. Our ancestors will welcome us with open arms, the proud ones that fought to the very end.”
Sage found such a speech to be ridiculous, especially since half of the rank fives that he was trying to rouse were not yet members of the Artful Life Alliance. Sage had already recognized many of their uniforms. He had been collecting information in Western Peace City for a while before starting his attack and after coercing information out of one clan he’d done the same with others. The Alliance thought it was so smart, concealing so much power and getting the whole city to team up with them. They had made such big plans, wanting to surprise him with such a big force and then annex all the forces of Western Peace City. Then they would take control of the county and prepare to take the Province. They were aiming to become a first rate power, but now they were merely fighting to survive.
Half of those rank fives were not from the Alliance, but even those that were in the Alliance were not happy with this plan. They immediately called out to the Shou Clan Ancestor, “You have to let my Xiao Mu go with the Little Miss!”
With that sudden request came dozens more. All sorts of shouts about who should be saved, why they were important, and what they meant for the future. The Shou Clan Ancestor had intended to raise morale and prepare them for a last stand, but instead it turned into a clamp of desperate pleas over who should be spared from this calamity.
On Sage’s side, he was happy to let them wail. This sort of infighting would only harm their unity and make it easier for them to defeat. The worst enemy was one that did not fear death. Without regard for their lives, they would dish out death in return. They might catch a sword with their own body in order to strike back, then detonate their cultivation and destroy all their treasures. An enemy with nothing to lose would not only cause them great damage, they could also be spiteful enough to die without leaving anything behind.
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While they were arguing, Sage flicked something through the air.
Eventually, the Shou Clan Ancestor had enough and he roared for silence again, “Fools! We are all going to die here! Do you wish for that to be in vain? We have to help someone survive so that others will get revenge for us. We can’t let Lang Sheng silence us all here, and I have decided that the Little Miss will survive. Anyone who disagrees will be going to the grave first!”
He released a powerful aura and the hundreds of remaining rank fives could only shut their mouths. They recognized a cruel and ruthless gaze, and knew they were helpless to fight back.
“If you kill the leaders of the Artful Life Alliance, I will let the survivors live.”
Sage called out to them from afar, throwing fuel on the flames. He smiled when he saw the Alliance leader’s faces contort with fury. The rank fives turned to look at Sage to see how sincere he was. Then an Oathstone appeared in Sage’s hand and he held it up for them. He pushed his Qi in to activate it, causing the stone to slightly glow, “I, Lang Sheng, swear that those who participate in killing the leaders of the Artful Life Alliance will be allowed to live.”
What was to follow was utter chaos. The hundreds of Core Formation Cultivators that had come to support the Artful Life Alliance in hopes of joining them on the rise were now aiming their attacks at those they had come to flatter. Others from the Alliance tried to fight against them, while others were busy facing the sudden storm of attacks released by the Purple Mist Sect. Shard Rifles appeared in their hands and they joined Sage in opening fire. They hid behind the poisonous purple mist and fired at the Nascent Souls that were battling with their former allies.
Boom!
The earth shook and hundreds of the weaker cultivators were blasted aside. The Shou Clan Ancestor had both his hands on the dirt, and the ground was quivering uncontrollably. An earthquake rippled through the area, causing even Western Peace City to shake. Lady Diyin rushed forward, smashing her fists together and using an immense sound wave to punch a hole through the poisonous mist. The Yincha Sect Leader rushed up beside her, ripping off one of his sleeves and putting a hand on his own shoulder. Then he slid his hand down his arm, rubbing against the skin with his nails. His whole body quivered and a piercing sound was released.
Even Sage was taken aback by this strange technique, the sound was quite high pitched and it made his ears ring. The energy carried by that sound wave caused the Qi flow inside his body to be disrupted. The moment of interruption gave the Sound Sword Sect Master time to rush forward and slice the arm off one of the Purple Mist Sect members, while kicking away another to open a gap. From behind him, the Shou Sect Leader and the three mercenaries rushed out. They forced back Purple Mist Sect members who came from the sides to try and box them back in, freeing the four Nascent Souls a path to flee.
The four remaining Nascent Souls of the Alliance attacked ferociously towards the Purple Mist Sect that was trying to chase after the four that were escaping. The Shou Clan Ancestor, the Yincha Sect Leader, Lady Diyin and the Sound Sword Sect Master were successful, freeing the other four to flee, but only at the expense of their own lives. They took hits from the rank fives who had turned against them as well as the members of the Purple Mist Sect. With the four having fled into the distance all the focus was now on the four of them and their bodies were destroyed within just a few minutes. Their Nascent Souls were bombarded with energy attacks as soon as the bodies were destroyed, not giving them any chance to reincorporate and flee as a spirit being.