Chapter 2310: Chapter 2310 Claiming the Fee
Not long after Ye Liuyun finished speaking, the local martial cultivators who had charged forward were once again completely wiped out.
Zheng Huan immediately led the remaining forces to retreat outside the city walls before seeking Ye Liuyun’s assistance.
Fearing any misunderstanding, he specifically explained to Ye Liuyun that this action was taken upon the elders’ orders.
Ye Liuyun did not comment much, only stating that he would dispatch troops immediately. He then ordered his soldiers to form lines and march out of the city towards the encampment of the sanctuary knights.
The commander of the sanctuary knights had been closely monitoring Ye Liuyun’s movements.
Upon seeing Ye Liuyun’s troops advancing, he promptly ordered the formation masters to reapply the defensive formations, choosing not to send troops to pursue the fleeing martial cultivators.
Zheng Huan and his men did not go far, waiting nearby to observe how Ye Liuyun and his forces would engage in battle.
Ye Liuyun ignored them when he arrived with his troops. Instead, he commanded the beastman legion to surround the city, using chariots and energy cannons to bombard it from all sides.
The chariots and energy cannons prepared by the Blade Legion and Dark Legion were concentrated on the front lines, relentlessly pounding the defensive formations.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Ye Liuyun released the Devil Vine, instructing it to prepare for infiltrating the city.
Zheng Huan had previously witnessed the power of the chariots and energy cannons, but he had not anticipated how effective they would be in siege warfare.
The same defensive formations that had taken them half a day to breach were shattered by Ye Liuyun in just a quarter of an hour.
Once the defensive formations were broken, the Devil Vine infiltrated the city from underground. Meanwhile, Ye Tian Dao and the Dark Legion charged their chariots into the city, crashing into the sanctuart knights’ battle formations.
The moment these chariots appeared, the Sanctuary knights’ commander realized the imminent danger. However, with their forces surrounded on all sides, any attempt to break out would immediately draw attacks from these heavily armed vehicles, making it a suicidal endeavor. Instead, they chose to hold their ground within the city.
The commander quickly relayed the situation to the incoming reinforcements while organizing his soldiers for a desperate battle.
However, the onslaught of war chariots and energy cannons swiftly shattered their formation. The ambush by the Devil Vine caught them completely off guard, leaving them in disarray.
Following, the Blade Legion charged straight towards them. Ye Liuyun and his companions joined the fray, using the opportunity to hone their skills. Following closely behind was the Dark Legion, all surging forward in a relentless assault.
The five thousand martial cultivators led by Zheng Huan, witnessing how effortlessly Ye Liuyun and his forces breached through the city’s defenses, began to grumble about their own strategies.
"They broke through the defensive formation that easily?"
"If we had known this, we should have asked them to help us take the city earlier!"
"Had we sought their aid sooner, we wouldn’t have lost so many lives!"
They all shifted the blame onto Zheng Huan.
Mheng Tuo stopped them, "Enough of this nonsense! It was the elders’ decision. We’ve been suggesting they call for reinforcements all along!"
His sharp rebuke silenced the murmurs of discontent.
Zheng Huan watched as Ye Liuyun not only effortlessly dismantled the defensive formations but also disrupted the array of the sanctuary knights. He could only let out a deep sigh.
He realized that the elders had made a grave mistake. The heavy casualties they had suffered were entirely unnecessary.
The elders tried to be clever, hoping to deplete Ye Liuyun’s strength. Little did they know that Ye Liuyun’s strategy would result in minimal losses.
This time, Ye Liuyun unleashed even more war chariots and puppet beasts than in the previous battle. Most of the fighting was handled by these mechanical forces, sparing his soldiers from exhaustion.
Once the sanctuary soldiers lost their formation, they were no different from ordinary martial cultivators and stripped of their tactical advantage. This provided the perfect opportunity for Ye Liuyun and his companions to practice their combat skills.
However, both the Blade Legion and the Dark Legion fought more conservatively. Unlike the desperate way, they focused on maintaining strong defensive coordination among their units.
Reflecting on how Ye Liuyun’s army had arrived without any prior communication, Zheng Huan quickly surmised that Ye Liuyun might have uncovered their little scheme and was displeased with them.
Inside the city, the remaining sanctuary kinghts numbered over thirty thousand. Despite their numerical superiority, they were unable to form any effective formations. Most were slaughtered by the Devil Vine, Puppet Beasts and war chariots.
Post-battle, the city had transformed into a gruesome hellscape, with rivers of blood flowing through its streets.
He bypassed the commander and headed straight for the formation master, who had indeed prepared his array disk. However, before he could activate it, Ye Liuyun’s Scarlet Phantom Eyes had took control of him.
"Casualties and their levels?" Ye Liuyun inquired of Ye Tiandao and Yuan Hao.
Ye Liuyun and his clone confidently began their practice, waiting for the array disk to deactivate before implaniting him with a slaving seal. He was then kept into the spatial world and tossed to Qiong Qi.
Qiong Qi wasted no time in extracting the formation master’s knowledge of formation principles through soul searching.
Meanwhile, the commander was jointly slain by Zhao Hu and Mo Tianheng.
Once the leader died, the army became like a scattered mess and could only accept the fate of being destroyed.
Some soldiers attempted to flee the city but were mercilessly hunted down by the beastman legion.
In the end, only about five thousand soldiers surrendered. After swearing allegiance to Ye Liuyun, they were being kept into the spatial world, to be later commanded by Hhan Mutong.
After the battle, the city had transformed into a gruesome hellscape, with rivers of blood flowing through its streets.
Ye Liuyun retracted the Devil Vine and both the Blade Legion and Dark Legion had packed up their equipment, regrouping outside the city walls.
The beastman legion entered the city to clean up the battlefield.
"Casualties and their tier?" Ye Liuyun asked Ye Tiandao and Yuan Hao.
"Total of eleven casualties. Ten at the late ninth-tier and one of the peak ninth-tier."
"Thirty-three casualties, all at the mid ninth-tier."
"Now, tally up the number of spirit crystals consumed. Yuan Hao, take your troops and surround those five thousand martial cultivators. It’s time to demand the compensation!" Ye Liuyun commanded without hesitation.
Yuan Hao swiftly led his soldiers to encircle the group of spectating martial cultivators who was led by Zheng Huan.
Panic spread among the five thousand martial cultivators, fearing that Ye Liuyun might seize the opportunity to eliminate them as well.
"What are you doing?" Zheng Huan asked bewilderedly, suspecting that Ye Liuyun was about to retaliate against them immediately.
"In this battle, we lost one peak ninth-tier, ten of the late ninth-tier and thirty-three at the mid ninth-tier. According to our previous agreement, the compensation is fivefold. Correct?" Ye Liuyun countered ans asked Zheng Huan.
"That’s correct! But we just finished fighting..."
Zheng Huan did not deny the agreement.
However, Ye Liuyun cut him off. "You know what you’ve done. I’ll start selecting people now and you will compensate accordingly. Otherwise, I’ll consider it a breach of contract!"
Without waiting for Zheng Huan’s response, Ye Liuyun began scanning the crowd with his Golden Phantom Eyes to assess their cultivation levels. He then pointed out individuals one by one. Those who were pointed out were immediately seized by the soldiers of the Dark Legion.
Soon, Ye Liuyun had selected two hundred and twenty martial cultivators, including Zheng Huan and Mheng Tuo.
At that moment, the Tiger King, Ye Tiandao and Yuan Hao reported the amount of spirit crystals they had consumed.
