When Wu Guang killed Wang Tu, the sun was a few hours from fully setting, and when he had broken his forced deep meditation, the next day of the war had already started. With no pills or potions to actually regenerate lost parts or organs, Wu Guang was forced to use almost half of his reserves of both, powered by his own qi, to at least barely recover to a fighting condition.
It could not be blamed on anyone except him for not preparing for such an eventuality, still, Wu Guang knew that he never expected to meet a Sage realm opponent so soon.
In any case, the Black Eagle was dead and he was alive. Not being reached by any glyphs also meant that more or less everyone was coping with their own share of problems. The actual issue now was to find out what was the Black Eagle objective, and regretfully the latter was dead, but maybe his possessions would reveal something?
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About the time Wu Guang vs Wang Tu fight was taking place, Blue Tree City, Lord's Manor - Temporal HQ of the Eagle Kingdom Blue Army.
*CRASH*
An intricately carved stone table crashed against the wall of the room that had previously served as the Council Room of the City Lord.
"HOW?! HOW DOES A HEAVENS FORSAKEN SECT HAVE A FORMATION?! AN ACTIVE FORMATION?!" General Ou, nicknamed the 'Blue Wings of the King' bellowed while setting his foot down with a loud stomp.
This wasn't his first outburst by now, but it was by far the strongest one. They had conquered all the other so-called powers on this island in less than a day for each, but... The 'Three Hills Sect' somehow surrounded itself with a working formation around the entire Sect's lands and none, not ever the general own, attacks had managed to leave a single dent on it.
It was also covered both heavens and earth, making all attempts on avoiding it unsuccessful. Even more, the formation seemed to allow the Sect's trash to shoot from inside, making the Blue Army suffer losses without even having a chance to inflict a single one in return.
Even more infuriating was that General Ou could not call the troops circling the more than 4-mile wall. After all, if he did, the Sect's cultivators could either escape or worse, begin to mount counterattacks before safely retreating behind the formation.
Vice-General Fu knew all of this, after all, most of the reports that had been provoking the General's anger during this day were his own. Still, he had come to pass the news on the development of the operation led by Vice-General Luo, and gods, how he wished to be the one leading the forces away from this room...
"My General" Vice-General Fu saluted, making his best attempt at ignoring the table that went flying a few breaths ago when he had entered the room.
"WHAT?!" The General shook his head after the exclamation and regained at least some composure before asking again
"Do you have anything to report, Vice-General Fu?"
"Yes, my general. Vice-General Luo has sent us a runner, and the message was passed to me as I was coming here" Making the best possible effort to avoid mentioning that the aides were simply too scared to enter the room, the vice-general answered.
"Oh? Go ahead"
"The detachment sent to subjugate the remaining lands under the Sect's control was... mostly successful in their task"
"Mostly?" The general did not allow the small pause before the term used for the result escape him.
"Yes, I'm sorry to say that Vice-General Luo has met the same situation as my own forces tasked with subjugating the nearby villages. There were hardly more than a few dozens of people in each mapped spot, and they were simply people who refused to leave their homes and decided to die in them. Even more, Vice-General Luo reports that most of the ones he encountered directly suicided or forced the soldiers to kill them by assaulting them"
"Weren't his orders to kill them anyway?"
"Yes General, but... We require at least some source of information to go by. Without offending the Black Eagles, but their men on the island have not provided us with nothing during the past two days, while Commander Zuo's lost scouts amounted exactly to this region"
"I see..." General Ou muttered while recalling the information he had before asking
"And the cities?"
"Coastal Hill City cultivators remained behind to defend their land and died to the last man along with the City Lord. Vice-General Luo reports that they had no knowledge of the 'Rune Canceller' and so simply did not expect him to destroy both the wall and most of their defenses right away. Still, they fought bravely with the remaining numbers, and at least a third of the soldiers accompanying the Vice-General are out of combat, either dead or wounded"
"Prisoners?"
"None, the City Lord was the last to fall, and he made sure to kill any remaining injured before taking the field, and being killed by Vice-General Luo. There are strong suspicions that a few cultivators escaped, and so a search operation was started"
"Oh? Would not have expected that from the Half dogs" The General acknowledged the report far more calmly than Vice-General Fu expected. This meant that the General was far from being blinded by anger, and so he recalled the matter that the Vice-General had tried to not mention
"What about the remaining city? And the access to the Wildlands?"
"It..."
"WHAT?!"
"...The city was empty and there is a formation blocking the way into the Wildlands"
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
"..." To say that the General was speechless was to say nothing. One formation was enough to make him remain near the Sect without any hope to break through before at least one of the Throne Protectors came to the island, but... Two?!
"So albeit I would not want to be the bringer of this news... We have no access to the Wildlands. Unless we find a new route" Vice-General Fu knew that he had just nailed the coffin, but he had no other choice. After all, he was asked to report, and report he had to.
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A few breaths after Wang Tu's death, Eagle Island, Eagle City (Royal Capital).
A nondescript manor that stood amongst a group of equally unadorned manors suddenly was enveloped by an aura of anger. The aura was extremely strong, forcing the runes engraved on every stone of the walls to shine brightly.
A few moments later, the sudden outburst subceeded, and everything returned to normal. Or at least everything that concerned the outsides of the manor, as inside, an air full of anger mixed with grief permeated from practically every one of the people inside a room hidden below the basement.
"My brother, no, our Wang Tu is dead" Somewhat hoarsely a man in his old forties said. Even though the room was brightly illuminated, one could not describe his face. It wasn't because it was hidden, no, it was because it was just... so common that even after staring at it for a long time, no one could recall anything to describe.
No one of the people present in the room responded, but seemingly the man did not require any response, as after a brief pause he continued
"I received the report of them landing on the Wildlands, so that means someone killed him there. Judging from the fact that he was the strongest one amongst the others, I can only think that the entire operation was discovered, and all of the actors were eliminated..."
This time the silence continued for far longer, but again, no one attempted to speak.
"Contact General Ou, pass him what we know about the manner to approach the landing point, as well as all the specifics to land. Minister Kiang informed me that they encountered some kind of difficulty with the Sect, so this will give him a trump card. After all, even cultivators have families, and all of theirs are currently taking refugee in the Wildlands"
"Understood" This time a black-cloaked woman responded. She then asked after hesitating for a moment
"Any other instructions?"
"Hmm? No. If the cultivator that killed Wang Tu is present, he will definitively try to fight against the General. Whatever the result, we will know who it was, and if... if he survives, we will take care of him"
"Understood, I will send a glyph to the nearest point right away. Considering the time our runner would require to reach the General, I suspect the latter will act on this information in three days"
"Do make sure that he acts" As the man said, he suddenly jerked his head and turned towards another person in the room
"Has Flaming Sparrow returned?"
"Yes" An equally black-cloaked man answered
"Pass my instructions. She is to move towards Half-Island. Make her attempt to contact our man in the Sect, and find out anything she can. Leaving the formation aside, which is something that we missed and the King has already shown his displeasure, the Sect is acting strangely"
"Strangely?"
"Yes, they are not trying to negotiate or fight back earnestly. It's like... they know that something will change in the war. And we need to know what that something is!"
"Understood"
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Eve of the 7th day of the war, Black Island, Imperial Capital, Emperor's Grounds.
The Emperor's grounds was the name assigned to an enormous plaza located just a mile from the enormous, more than a thousand feet, exterior wall of the Black Palace.
It served as both the place where any imperial decree was announced to the populace, as well as the stage for any minister official declaration.
At this moment, the enormous plaza was filled to the brim with people. Even a mortal would easily count more than a hundred thousand!
An important note to be added to that was that all the people present in the Plaza were cultivators, and at least three-fifths of them were dressed in the blackened armors of the Imperial Army. As for the remaining part, they were a strange assortment of sailors, cultivators, and even monks.
On the hundreds of years old stone stage that stood at the edge of the plaza, a single man was standing upright. The man could not be called impressive, measuring hardly over five feet and with sparse, greyish hair. His face was covered in wrinkles, and his robes could be hardly considered luxurious, being of common black cloth.
Still, this man was the center of the attention from every fighter, and indeed all of them were fighters, present on the plaza.
"By his Imperial Majesty decree, I, Chen Jiahao, currently serving the Empire as its Minister of War proclaim..." Chen Jiahao, and indeed it was no one else than him took a brief pause during which a heavily adorned scroll materialized in his hands
"That the Empire goes to war!" With these words, he unfastened the golden lock on the scroll and threw it up.
One could expect that the scroll would fall right afterward, but no. On the contrary, it slowly unfurled by itself while floating over Chen Jiahao's head and an even, heavy voice began sounding
"I, the 74th Head of the Huanglong dynasty, Emperor of the Black Empire, Emperor of the Seven Islands, Emperor of the Dragon Claw Empire, Emperor of the Seas order My army to subjugate, eliminate, and bring ruin to Mine, and the Empire's enemies. Of this order, all of my ministers be certain and work towards fulfilling it. Of this order, all of my people be certain and work towards fulfilling it. May the Heavens be the witness of Mine order. The 1st day of the 1st month of the 99th year of Mine Reign"
A pause ensued as the words landed into the ears of everyone present, after which all the thousands of people, including Chen Jiahao, bowed in unison before roaring
"May the Emperor's command be fulfilled. May the enemies fall and know despair. For the Empire! For the Emperor!"
***
As the people in the plaza began dispersing, most of them led by officers, captains, or even nobles from the Empire towards their assigned points, Chen Jiahao slowly descended the stone steps behind the stage he had been upon.
A single person hurried to meet him, and if Wu Guang was present, he would be surprised to see that it was someone that bore an extreme resemblance to Deng, no, Chen Zian.
"Lord Minister" The man bowed in a respectful salute
"I take that you have the reports from our spies?" Chen Jiahao motioned for the latter to stand up and asked right away
"Yes, as expected the White and Green armies of the Eagle Kingdom have been assembled. It's only a matter of time for them to launch. It seems that the Kingdom has decided to launch the other planned operations without waiting for the Blue army" The man moved slightly closer and after crushing a jade that released a concealing formation began talking.
"I wonder whose decision is that, the King's? The Prime Minister? Or it comes from that Venerable All-Seeing?"
"It is unknown, but our sources say that it was proclaimed by Minister Kiang, or no, Prime Minister Kiang"
"Mmm, you say the White and Green armies? Has the Crimson army begun gathering?"
"No, neither of the officers from that army has been recalled from their garrison positions. It even seems that some of them are being reassigned to the farthest forts of the Kingdom, namely the White Lands"
"Hoh? And General Luan?"
"Openly he is guarding the King and the Kingdom. But neither of our sources, even inside the Eagle Palace have seen him"
"Hmm... Even if he is hiding, for now, he will most probably reveal himself when Kong Ming forces start acting. Anyway, I doubt that even he will fare well against Protector Long, the latter has been waiting for too long to settle his debt with the Eagle Kingdom"
"..."
"Anyway, the time has come. Go send the orders to Kong Ming and the other task forces... It's time for them to begin"
"Understood, and..."
"I know what you want to ask, I'll obviously make sure to inform our boy about everything. It will be a bit harder to do now that glyphs don't work around the Sect, but there is always a way" Chen Jiahao allowed himself to flash a small smile before dispelling the formation with a simple wave of his hand and flying away from the plaza...