“Carmilla has died?”

“Yes my lord.”

A tall old man with a clean-shaven visage was sitting in what looked to be a large throne-like chair. It had many strange engravings that depicted demonic-looking creatures. In his hand, he was holding a golden chalice in which a strange liquid was red and glowing. While speaking he took a few sips that when ingested made his eyes glow red.

The man’s pale face made him look like a marble statue devoid of life. This white skin tone contrasted with the pitch-black clothes that he was wearing. If Zhang Dong was here he would clearly know who this person resembled.

“Lord Valentine, what are your orders?”

“My orders? Just continue, if that stupid sister of mine had gotten herself killed by one of these savages then it was her fault but this makes things somewhat more interesting, do you know who it was that killed her?”

“Yes my lord, it was the one marked by the Emperor.”

The man that looked like a walking corpse perked up the moment his lackey gave him this information. Some time had passed since Zhang Dong had taken care of the soul vampire stronghold but only now did the information reach their real leader.

“Well that does make things more interesting… the Emperor’s chosen prey…”

The man that looked like a vampire straight from an old movie started rubbing his chin while looking at this scared follower. After a moment a devilish grin appeared on his face that sent shivers down the messenger's spine.

“My lord?”

Before receiving any orders the vampiric lord rose from his seat. He moved towards the side where a large gothic-styled window was peeking out into the horizon. There he saw a shroud of gray that was covering the whole landscape but with his enhanced eyes he could see all of the members of his tribe.

“I was bored out of my mind, maybe it's time to stretch my wings!”

In a flash, his body transformed into mist which somewhat mixed with the environment. Without asking the followers quickly followed after their master that had clearly made the decision to go out to hunt. They all changed into the flying bat monsters that were already known for terrorizing these lands.

On his way out a huge grim-looking castle could be seen in the distance. Surrounding it was a large wall of spikes that had thousands of human skulls pierced on the top. The moat that was around it was pitch black and the rancid smell of decaying flesh was everywhere.

….

‘Hm?’

Zhang Dong was done with his meeting, the decision to push into the enemy territory was made but suddenly something had changed.

‘Is there a large force coming this way?’

With the help of his mapping feature, he could somewhat see what was happening at the enemy lines. The largest concentration of energy that was the enemy base had shifted. The map was clearly showing him that the vampires were on the move.

‘Or did their leader decide to show himself?’

While he was planning to use some of his resources to help the refugees to escape the lands that were taken by the invaders, the stage of the last attack was not yet reached. Their enemies were spread between various tribes which didn’t really function well together.

This he confirmed by injuring the moleman that was quick to abandon the vampire mistress to save his life. They would rather have the allied tribes be eradicated than waste their own manpower for a potential hard-won victory.

Not like this was any different than how the human sects operated. But at least his side was more uniform in their beliefs and looks. It was a lot more difficult to see eye to eye with people that didn’t resemble each other, even more if they looked like they came from different planets.

‘Is this some kind of trap?’

Zhang Dong started contemplating this issue. Having the leader move out this soon was somewhat strange. Normally it was him that did these things as there were not that many people on his side that could handle themselves. Did the leader give up on their troops already? Perhaps there was fear of the Emperor mixed into it?

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‘The leader could also just be stupid, it didn’t seem that these vampires thought much of us… whatever the reason is, this might be a chance…’

“Patriarch, the main sect sends words, there has been movement from the enemy! A large shift in…”

Zhang Kuo was here to inform him about the movement on the map. No one knew that he had his own internal version of the map he left at the sect. The map that he left at home was there to help his soldiers make their own decisions.

With its help, they were successfully able to successfully win most of their battles and evacuate if trouble was coming. It was true, the person with more information would be victorious. Before Kuo could continue with the explanation he raised his hand to stop him.

‘I know, something is approaching, have the masters gather, we will meet them in the field, have the ships move in, this might be an important battle that we must win. Use the teleportation gates if you have to, we need all able experts on this one.’

The decision was made, while he could not be sure if the leader was moving out themself. The dimming of the spiritual markers on the map at the main stronghold indicated that at least it was a sizable force. If they could predict the movements of the monsters they might be able to take care of them in one fell swoop.

If they could get rid of a large number of them, then the stronghold could be for the taking. Yet the enemy numbers were unknown to them. They might be quickly replaced by another bunch of body refiners that had their bodies altered. This war was supposed to last for a hundred years and be the last scenario before its ascension. Then there were all the other empires that were still frolicking on the east and north side of the empire.

At this moment in time, they were further north of the Dragon Gate Sect. This place had been ransacked by the invaders but part of the old guard that ruled these lands had remained while escaping. For the time being, they took over the border region where small skirmishes were taking place.

‘Huo’s daddy should be wrapping out the battle, if we move fast we should be able to encircle them without them noticing us…’

With the help of this mapping feature, it was quite easy to prepare. One part was seeing the movement of troops and the other was the knowledge of the topography. From how it looked the enemies would be passing through a large gorge. It was an area where lightning energies ran rampant which made it even better for him.

‘The large storms would help push the vampires down on the ground and keep them from fleeing… but will it be that easy?’

They had a moment of surprise and more information. It all seemed to be going his way but he could not let his pride get in the way. For some reason, these invaders felt confident in defeating them. He mostly attributed it to the way they ate souls.

Even if their bodies were turned to meat pace, as long as their soul survived they could save themselves. Regretfully for them, Zhang Dong was in possession of the soul core that could easily eradicate their trump card.

The leader was probably assured that even if he did lose the fight he would be at least able to keep his soul intact and regain his form later. There were many demonic techniques that prolonged one's life but due to them mostly not exceeding the heavenly grade they didn’t last. With each use, these techniques would somewhat damage the original soul which would either kill the user or alter them in some kind of way.

‘Well then, this will be a good test…’

With the help of the map he knew where to set up the ambush but this was only a part of the strategy. This would be one of the first large-scale operations that his United Element sect would be performing. Cultivators ranging from the foundation establishment realm all the way up to the nascent soul one would be participating.

They needed to be fast though, there wasn’t much time to prepare. If they were too slow the enemies would be at their doorstep before they prepared their countermeasures.

“I’ll go on ahead, have all the formation masters gather, we will be moving out in ten minutes!”

He shouted a few orders before hovering towards the gathering location. They had set up a temporary teleportation gate that was now working overtime. Through it, many soldiers and experts started to appear. They were quick to bow towards their patriarch, in their eyes he was a god-like being by now. If they had a chance to prove their worth in the coming battle they were more than willing to die for it.

The faces of the people before him were mostly new to him. He did not go out of his way to mingle with his sect members. Spending time with his family was prioritized while his underlings like Zhang Kuo were the ones forwarding his orders and interacting with others. Luckily after that one lie he experienced in the past, Kuo had made up for the lost trust.

“Haha, to think I’d see a day like this!”

While there were many new faces there was one that was quite familiar. It belonged to Zhang Jin that had managed to condense his nascent soul well enough to finally join in the battle. He along with a couple of other nascent soul masters were also going to participate in this battle but mostly during the battle phase and not for their knowledge about formations.

“I’ll leave it to you, gramps. Gather the forces, it seems like a chance like this might not repeat itself, if the enemies discover that he can follow their movements they will surely change their strategy.”

“Aye, leave it to me, I’ll straighten them out, It’s been a while since I’ve been able to use this!”

Zhang Jin was like a new person, he had mostly remained back at the clan or sect to manage it. Now on the other hand as a nascent soul master, he could finally sink his weapon back into an enemy. He rested his brand new large saber over his shoulder while strutting towards the gathering forces which he would be commanding.

‘Well then, let us get this show on the road.’