The battle that Shang Bei Island launched under the cover of night had one primary target: Gu Han! He challenged Gu Han amidst the chaos of the armies, calculating that Gu Han, regardless of any reservations, would have to show himself. If he held back due to scruples, the blow to their own morale would be devastating.
Given Gu Han's character, he absolutely could not endure such an outcome; thus, he was forced to meet the challenge head-on.
However, the night was already steeped in darkness, and the strange race possessed the heaven-defying technique of invisibility. If Gu Han truly stepped out to fight, the probability of him being ambushed by the enemy was almost eighty percent! Such odds were virtually no different from sending him to his death!
If Gu Han were unfortunately defeated or even killed here, it would be a truly crushing blow to the Allied Forces of the Continent!
Yet, Shang Bei Island’s insidious plan was completely upended by Jun Mo Xie’s pure, unadulterated bull-headed obstruction!
Gu Han, with five thousand years of experience, was hardly foolish. How could he not understand Shang Bei Island’s design, or realize that stepping out meant certain peril, a one-in-ten chance of survival? But in this moment, if the decision rested with him, he still could not refuse the fight, he had to fight! Because he represented the ten-thousand-year glory of the Three Great Sacred Lands.
Gu Han could be defeated, even die, but the ten-thousand-year glory of the Three Great Sacred Lands could not tolerate being profaned!
When Shang Bei Island’s scheme was exposed, he did not rage but instead laughed heartily. “Precisely! This is a blatant, open strategy. I calculated that Gu Han would have to come out even if unwilling. I never expected your few words to neutralize it so completely! It seems you are the one truly worthy of my attention. Such a master, yet so stingy with your name?”
Jun Mo Xie chuckled darkly. “Your frank admission of your trick is generous, but I am afraid, although my name is hardly a great secret, I cannot tell you.”
“And why is that?” Shang Bei Island was genuinely frustrated now.
He couldn't fathom it: if the name wasn't a secret, why withhold it? Was it merely to leave him pondering?
“The reason is quite simple: you disgust me thoroughly, that’s all,” Jun Mo Xie drawled slowly. “If you were to know my name, it would be an unbearable humiliation for me, so the longer you remain ignorant, the better…” As soon as these words left his mouth, whether in the main tent, the encampment, or even on the battlefield, peals of laughter erupted everywhere!
Those warriors who had been blinded by the heat of battle, upon hearing Jun Mo Xie’s retort, felt an immeasurable relief and burst into loud laughter.
“Bastard!” Shang Bei Island roared in furious rage, screaming out: “You come out! If you have the guts, come out and fight me!”
Jun Mo Xie snorted and cursed dismissively: “Go screw your grandmother!”
This curse was delivered with such clean, sharp finality, it struck the ground like a resounding gong.
The crowd: …
No one could truly know what expression Shang Bei Island wore now, but on their side, it had become an ocean of joy. Even the experts from the Three Great Sacred Lands, whose faces had been grim with the shadow of death, could not suppress smiles.
In the tent, Jun Mo Xie looked at the assembled crowd, his tone turning serious. “The strange race is inherently brutal and savage, and furthermore, their numbers enjoy an absolute advantage. This battle will be fraught with extreme danger. We must have a precise strategy!”
“What arrangements does the Mansion Lord suggest?” Gu Han asked, his face grim.
“We currently have four top-tier experts on our side: you, myself, Xueyan, and the Fourteenth Young Master of Jiuyou…”
Before Jun Mo Xie could finish, the Fourteenth Young Master of Jiuyou snorted coldly, interrupting him. “Not four, but three! I am not considered one of your side. This war is between the Xuanxuan Continent and the strange race; it has nothing to do with this Young Master!”
“Say whatever you like, do as you please; I wasn’t counting on you anyway. Three it is. The three of us must each attend to our specific duties and must never abandon our posts! This point is of paramount importance.”
Jun Mo Xie rolled his eyes at the Fourteenth Young Master of Jiuyou and continued: “Xueyan must anchor the central command, managing troop deployment and general strategy. This is incredibly vital, coupled with the heavy responsibility of securing the rear, being ready to receive and integrate reinforcements from the continent at any moment. Moreover, she must dispatch armies according to the changing situation on the battlefield. She absolutely cannot slack off!” Mei Xueyan acknowledged this with a firm look in her eyes. Though Jun Mo Xie positioned her seemingly in the safest rear area, her burden was the heaviest! The success or failure of this entire battle rested in her hands, under Mei Xueyan’s orchestration! Mei Xueyan felt the weight of it deeply.
“As for Elder Gu, you are responsible for overseeing the combat strength from your Sacred Lands!” Jun Mo Xie looked deeply into Gu Han’s eyes. “Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps the day after, the full-scale war will erupt. At the opportune moment, your forces from the Three Great Sacred Lands may have to advance as the very first wave, all thrown forward! Elder Gu, do not forget what I told you!”
Gu Han’s expression became stern, and he nodded. “That is natural!”
“As for myself, I will remain at the front to take charge of specific battlefield deployments!” Jun Mo Xie placed himself in the most dangerous position. Looking resolutely at everyone, he stated clearly: “Everyone, regardless of which faction you belong to, must remember this point! What lies before us is a war, no longer the casual sparring of the martial world, nor a contest between two individuals! The outcome affects the safety of billions of lives!”
“Soldier against soldier, general against general! This is the most fundamental common sense of the battlefield!” Jun Mo Xie continued slowly. “You must always remember—a Saint Sovereign has his match in a Saint Sovereign, a Saint Emperor has his match in a Saint Emperor! Do not let a momentary surge of valor lead you only to slaughter the enemy’s low-ranking grunts! Every bit of unnecessary energy you exert adds to the winning chances of the opposing expert of your same rank! Our high-tier experts are comparatively few; we cannot afford any waste whatsoever!”
“All Saint Sovereign experts—even if you die at the hands of their Heavenly Venerates without killing a single one of them, remember, you have not lost! Because you died at the post you were most meant to hold! And the strain you place on the enemy will be seized upon by someone else to strike down their counterpart! At that moment, your mission is complete, and you have no regrets in this battle! Conversely, even if you kill ten thousand common enemy fighters, yet fail to deplete the strength of an equal-level expert, then you will owe an inexcusable debt—a debt to the billions of souls on the Xuanxuan Continent!”
Everyone nodded silently, contemplating his words deeply. “You must remember, even if you ultimately kill ten thousand ordinary enemy warriors, it cannot make up for the loss of even one of our Saint Sovereigns! Therefore, this great battle is perilous. I will not offer any pleasantries. I will only say this: even if you die, you must die extracting your maximum value!”
Jun Mo Xie finished speaking gravely, his eyes flashing with sharp light as he scanned each person in turn. “Does anyone have anything further to add?” Jun Mo Xie keenly understood that these people were mostly rugged adventurers, not comparable to a formal army in the slightest! If he were addressing a regular army, perhaps not a single word of this would be necessary, but facing these individuals, reminder and emphasis were required again and again!
At their core, they were all fiercely brave men, and concepts like organization and discipline were never foremost in their minds or hearts. It was entirely possible that sooner or later, one expert, spurred by a flash of hot-blooded impulse, might charge into the enemy’s main formation and slaughter wildly. But if that happened, the resulting attrition would be one they absolutely could not bear.
The enemy could afford attrition because their foundation was deep.
But their side absolutely could not afford it!
Indeed, the consumption of even a single Saint Sovereign could determine the ultimate success or failure of the entire situation!
If their side lost one Saint Sovereign even after killing twenty thousand of the enemy, it would still be a colossal loss; because the void left by that expert could allow an enemy Saint Sovereign to inflict losses upon them numbering in the thousands!
Let alone thousands—even hundreds, even one hundred people, was a loss they could not sustain.
But the strange race, even if tens of thousands of their numbers were consumed, it would be insignificant!
Therefore, caution was imperative!
And such a choice was undeniably a terribly cruel decision!
Because if they proceeded according to this plan, countless brothers and comrades with lower cultivation levels would inevitably be killed while wrestling with the enemy. Their side clearly possessed many powerful experts who could rush to their rescue, yet due to this cruel command, they would be forced to watch from the sidelines, witnessing the deaths of many battle-worn companions!
Yet, this bloody and cruel order was also the correct decision!
The combined forces of the Evil Monarch’s Mansion, the Heavenly Punishment, and the Sacred Lands, facing the strange race army whose numbers far exceeded their own, if they focused solely on eliminating sheer numbers, it would be fundamentally neglecting the root cause and inviting defeat!
The only truly correct path was to first use every means necessary to eliminate their high-end power! Regardless of the cost, even if it meant mutual destruction, to wipe out all the high-tier fighting strength of the strange race, and their leaders—that was the key to annihilating the enemy!
The remaining ordinary strange race members, even if they managed to infiltrate the continent, could easily be encircled and destroyed later!
Therefore, this seemingly cruel decision was the prerequisite, the foundational condition, for achieving this objective!
Such matters are commonplace in worldly wars. When two armies clash, the main generals observe from the sidelines. Before the battle is decided, even if their troops are annihilated, no one moves first. Because any rash movement could allow the opponent to strike at the central command, leading to a total rout!
But although this was also a battlefield, the majority of the combatants were men of the martial world.
The golden rules enforced on the battlefield might be worth less than nothing in the eyes of these martial artists!
But it was precisely this characteristic that forged the greatest trait, or perhaps the greatest weakness, of martial world practitioners—fiery passion and impulsiveness!
In the martial world, being passionate and impulsive is often acceptable, but bringing that impetuosity onto the battlefield is absolutely the first thing deserving execution. Not by being besieged and killed by the enemy, but by military law…
For a moment, the atmosphere in the main tent became strange.
The remnant forces of the Three Great Sacred Lands, the experts of the Heavenly Saint Palace, the personnel of the Evil Monarch’s Mansion, the Beast Kings of the Heavenly Punishment Forest, and the Fourteenth Young Master of Jiuyou, who might not even count as being involved in the situation... all these groups were gathered together, and the grudges entangled among them were truly difficult to unravel.
No matter who faced whom, deep, irreconcilable hatred was lurking beneath the surface.
But now, everyone sat together in mutual peace, for one purpose only: ready to fight at any moment!
This scene stirred a complex, undefinable feeling within everyone present.