Chapter 2262: Chapter 2262 A Sacrificial Deemed Necessary
Ruan Haotian’s anger was boiling up, but he knew he needed Ye Liuyun’s reinforcement.
While he arranged for his troops to retreat, he dispatched emissaries to plead for Ye Liuyun’s reinforcement.
"Tell me which way Ye Liuyun’s army advanced. Someone needs to request for reinforcements right now! We will retreat as we hold our ground as long we can." He instructed.
He sent over a dozen experts to locate Ye Liuyun, instructing them to approach him with utmost respect and humility. "Don’t provoke him," Ruan Haotian warned. "If he gets angry, he might leave us to our fate."
However, before the expert could find Ye Liuyun, the enemy’s new batch of fifty thousand armies began advancing on them.
They were still under intense pursuit by the enemy’s 20,000 forces they engaged with. Worse yet, Ruan Haotian discovered an additional 20,000 enemy troops advancing from behind.
However, the couriers he dispatched were able to locate Ye Liuyun’s army.
As a last resort, Ruan Haotian reached out to Li Yuanlang, pleading with him to contact Ye Liuyun.
Li Yuanlang immediately inquired about Ye Liuyun’s whereabouts.
"He refused to trust me and forbade me from staying there when I went to warn him earlier. So, I left. Now, I’m too far away to return." Ye Liuyun replied.
"How far are you from where he is?" Li Yuanlang pressed urgently.
"I’m half a day’s march from the foreign race’s main camp. Their defences are weakest there, and I plan to strike while I have the chance," Ye Liuyun revealed, finally sharing his plan.
"Are you out of your mind? Even if their main camp is undermanned, it’s still teeming with experts. You’re walking into a death trap!"
Li Yuanlang spoke out in strong opposition to the notion, requiring Ye Liuyun to retreat immediately.
However, Ye Liuyun remained resolute. " Even if I turn back now, I won’t have enough time to save him. But if I attacked the foreign race’s main camp, they would probably divert their forces and relieve the pressure on him." He argued.
"You..." The arrogance of Ye Liuyun rendered Li Yuanlang dumbfounded.
Under such circumstances, it was clear that Ye Liuyun wouldn’t make it back in time to provide any effective assistance. The only viable option now was for Ye Liuyun to launch an attack on the enemy’s base camp, hoping it would force them to retreat to defend their base.
Nevertheless, Li Yuanlang was consumed by an uneasy feeling that Ye Liuyun might perish while attempting to achieve his objective.
"Don’t worry. I can always flee, even if I fail to defeat them!" With a self-assured smile, Ye Liuyun attempted to comfort Li Yuanlang.
Li Yuanlang reluctantly informed Ruan Haotian about the information he received from Ye Liuyun.
However, Ruan Haotian deduced from his time observation that Li Yuanlang had deliberately decided not to assist him.
How Ye Liuyun managed to get to the enemy’s base so quickly was a mystery to Ruan Haotian, who had no idea that Ye Liuyun possessed the Cosmos Battleship.
Not even Li Yuanlang knew of the Cosmos Battleship’s astonishing speed. However, Li Yuanlang had no reason to question Ye Liuyun’s ability, given that he lacked complete information.
A twinge of helplessness washed over Ruan Haotian. He had, after all, left Li Yuanlang in perilous situations on multiple occasions, failing to come to his aid when he was under the enemy’s attack. Now, it seemed Li Yuanlang was returning the favour, and Ruan Haotian couldn’t blame him.
As a result, Ruan Haotian refrained from taking further action. He believed there was a gap in their defences, so even if they suffered heavily in the south, they wouldn’t be exterminated.
But soon, he realized his miscalculation. The gap in the south was swiftly narrowed by fifty thousand troops rushing in from the west.
Ruan Haotian’s anxiety grew and he hurriedly summoned all of the martial artists from his base to reinforce the region. In his last-last-ditch effort, he begged Li Yuanlang to send Ye Liuyun to his aid.
Ruan Haotian remained unconvinced, despite Li Yuanlang’s repeated explanations. With no other option, Li Yuanlang personally decided to lead his forces to Ruan Haotian’s aid.
At the same time, Ye Liuyun knew that Ruan Haotian was surrounded by the intel he got from the scouts he left behind.
"Consider that as your contribution to our fight against the foreign race," Ye Liuyun muttered to himself with a determined glint in his eyes.
Ye Liuyun had no intention of rescuing him. In a way, Ruan Haotian was indeed contributing to the fight against the foreign race by holding back 140,000 foreign race troops.
He chose not to inform Li Xianying of this development to minimise unnecessary worry.
At this point, being ready to face the foreign race danger was his sole concern.
His Golden Phantom Eyes could already see the distant walls of the foreign race base.
"Disembark and form into lines!" Ye Liuyun commanded his troops with calm authority in rallying his troops for battle.
He kept the battleship on standby, assigning Liang Xue and a thousand soldiers from the Dark Legion to operate it during the fight. His objective was to use the ship’s Crystal cannons to bombard the foreign race’s defensive formation.
In the lead, the Beastman troops arrayed their war chariots and puppet beasts, while behind them, a column of men wielding crystal cannons advanced.
Behind the Beastmen troops were Ye Liuyun’s Blade Legion and Yuan Hao’s Dark Legion. They were ready to strike at any moment upon instruction as their battleship trailed from behind.
The troops were lined in a staggered formation, ensuring each soldier had a clear line of attack.
The small cannons integrated into their armour were already linked to the Alora crystals.
Ye Liuyun estimated that a single blast from his soldiers could annihilate tens of thousands of foreign races, and even the experts among them would be overwhelmed.
The Devil vines had already burrowed underground, lying in ambush right outside the foreign race’s camp wall.
Once everything was in place, Ye Liuyun ordered his troops to advance in Formation.
Inside the foreign race’s city, the defenders had sprung into action upon spotting Ye Liuyun’s forces. From a distance, their soldiers could be seen moving back and forth along the walls.
Ye Liuyun’s Golden Phantom Eyes caught sight of the foreign race mobilizing over ten thousand corpse demons, preparing them for a head-on attack.
The number of foreign races within the city was accurately predicted by Ye Liuyun. It wasn’t a large number. Apart from the ten thousand Corpse Demons, there were slightly over twenty thousand garrison troops.
However, the number of experts was significant, with at least a hundred of them.
Even among the corpse demons, there were more than twenty experts.
A twinge of worry washed across Ye Liuyun. His army could suffer a major loss this time with so many strong opponents.
However, retreat was no longer an option. It was a sacrifice deemed necessary.
Once the foreign race’s base was seized, the remaining enemy forces would be isolated and their reinforcement would be cut off, which would effectively boost the morale of his martial practitioners.
Meanwhile, the foreign race surrounding Ruan Haotian soon received news of their base being attacked. In response, they launched an all-out, frenzied assault.
An instantaneous wave of terror washed over the martial practitioners under Ruan Haotian’s command. Surrender was not an option in this fight. Their only options were to perish in battle or be turned into corpse demons.
“What’s gotten into these foreign races? They’re stricken mad!”
"We need reinforcement now! We are at our breaking point!"
Ruan Haotian was stunned. He was surprised by Ye Liuyun’s fierce retaliation to his earlier provocation.
He had only ever carried out small-scale plots in the past, killing a few people at most. In all his years, he had never dared put so many lives in peril. On this occasion, he brought together thirty thousand troops, completely unaware that Ye Liuyun would go so far as to trap them all.
He questioned the scouts he sent to look for Ye Liuyun, but they all reported that they couldn’t locate him.
With no other option, he told his soldiers that reinforcements were coming from the base. After that, he mobilised all the martial practitioners and led them in a last-ditch southward breakout.
Everyone knew that it would still take at least three days for the reinforcements to arrive, even if they rushed at full speed from the base. There was no chance they could survive so long under attack from the foreign race.
