Chapter 2966: Chapter 2966
Tang Xinyao, engaged in her first battle, was understandably nervous and failed to notice the movements around her—until a group of women warriors suddenly charged into the fray.
Her spiritual senses were naturally sharp, but this was her first direct confrontation with the alien horde, and the sheer scale of the battlefield had overwhelmed her focus.
Initially, the surprise attack launched by her Exorcism Corps had caught the enemy off guard, easing some of her tension. She had feared her leadership might falter, leading to heavy casualties among her troops.
Now, as she extended her awareness over her unit, she saw them cutting down the aliens with relative ease. Relieved, she concentrated on directing her soldiers—dashing left and right, preventing the enemy from regrouping against them.
Yet, for a commander, focusing solely on one’s immediate battlefront without grasping the bigger picture was a glaring shortcoming.
Even the approaching group of women had escaped her notice until they were nearly upon her—clear proof of her inexperience.
Xiao Yunfang and Meng Qingyin, fighting alongside the women, were far more seasoned, as was Helian Xiu, who had prior military command experience. After a fierce assault, they suddenly pulled back.
*"Why are they retreating?"* Tang Xinyao wondered. Perhaps they had exhausted their energy and needed to withdraw. After all, these women weren’t exceptionally powerful; once their true essence was depleted, retreat was inevitable.
But then—a distant, guttural roar.
A force of 100,000 alien warriors was closing in, encircling them. When she focused, she realized the left flank was already hemmed in by a fan-shaped enemy formation.
**"Push right!"**
She immediately ordered her troops to break through the right. Yet the aliens they were already engaged with had anticipated the move, reinforcing their blockade on that side. Frantic, Tang Xinyao led Tang Hao and other elites in a desperate charge, carving a bloody path through the right flank before rallying the troops to surge forward.
But no sooner had they broken free than she froze in horror.
Another 100,000-strong alien reinforcement had arrived on their right, arrayed in perfect formation—waiting.
**"What... what do we do now?"** Panic flickered in her voice.
**"Fall back,"** Tang Hao urged. **"Let the Spirit Cat Battleship support us—break their encirclement from within and without."**
**"Fine!"** Without hesitation, Tang Xinyao prepared to lead the retreat.
But suddenly, they received orders from Yu Xiaofeng, instructing them to hold their ground and forbidding any retreat.
"Huh?" Tang Xinyao was stunned.
If they stayed put, their two thousand troops against over two hundred thousand would surely be wiped out.
"What do they mean by this? Are they deliberately trying to get us killed here?" Tang Hao was equally baffled after receiving the command.
"That can’t be right. They wouldn’t go that far to harm us!" Tang Xinyao quickly reasoned that Yu Xiaofeng must have some other plan. Without hesitation, she led her forces to continue striking in all directions, refusing to stay in one place and risk being surrounded.
Now trapped within the enemy’s massive army, she finally unleashed her divine sense, searching for an escape route.
It was then that she saw—Tie Jun and Pei Yong’s forces had already begun charging into the flanks of the two incoming enemy reinforcements.
Relieved, she focused entirely on annihilating the alien troops she was engaged with, planning to reinforce the others once this battle was won.
Meanwhile, Qin Peng, Yuan Hao, and Man Feng had already led their troops to attack several planets occupied by the aliens. These planets were slightly farther away, so the enemy hadn’t yet had time to deploy reinforcements.
The two hundred thousand alien troops that had already been transported were the first wave, which was why Tie Jun and Pei Yong had immediately changed course to strike at their flanks.
These aliens weren’t particularly strong, so Tie Jun and Pei Yong also dispatched teams to assault the alien altars, preventing any further reinforcements from arriving.
On Yu Xiaofeng’s side, a squad of elite soldiers had been sent to the alien-occupied planets to destroy their altars.
As the pressure on Tang Xinyao eased, she finally expanded her divine sense fully. Only then did she realize—battles weren’t just happening here. Conflicts had erupted on several nearby planets as well.
And against these lower-realm aliens, the other allied forces were fighting with relative ease, even encircling and systematically eliminating the enemy.
The alien altars on those planets had already been destroyed. It was then that she remembered—the altar on the planet under her command still stood.
Ye Tiandao had already informed her that the altar needed to be destroyed first; otherwise, reinforcements from the alien race would continuously pour in through it.
She realized now that her failure to prioritize the altar’s destruction had allowed the enemy reinforcements to arrive. But when she looked over, she saw that soldiers from other battalions had already demolished it.
At this sight, the last traces of her earlier pride completely vanished.
"To think my very first battle would require rescue from others—even relying on them to destroy the altar for me. What a failure!" she lamented inwardly.
Tang Hao, meanwhile, spared no thought for such reflections. He and his team were wholly focused on cutting down the remaining aliens. The two waves of reinforcements that had initially been poised to attack them had already withdrawn to aid their own forces. The enemies before them were now few in number, and Tang Hao’s group dispatched them with ease.
The soldiers of the Demon-Slaying Corps, exhilarated by the slaughter, felt certain that their first battle—having claimed so many alien lives—would earn them fame and glory.
Yet Tang Xinyao stood awestruck by the sheer scale of the battlefield. She had never witnessed combat on such a grand scale—stretching across five entire planets, with clashes erupting everywhere as the alien forces were systematically exterminated.
She had once dismissed the soldiers of these armies as weak, but now she understood: a battlefield of this magnitude could not be overcome by individual strength alone.
Moreover, the bloodshed on each planet truly drove home the brutality of war. Wherever the armies advanced, destruction followed—corpses littered the ground, rivers of blood flowed, and everything was crushed like withered grass.
By comparison, their own victory here seemed insignificant. Given their higher cultivation levels, the fact that it had taken them so long to eliminate these aliens was hardly worth mentioning.
At this point, Tang Hao ceased fighting, leaving the remaining aliens for others to practice on.
"Ah! The other battalions have joined the fight too!" Only now did he take in the full scope of the battlefield. Watching as the other forces surged forward like a tide, overwhelming the aliens, the triumphant expression on his face faded.
He murmured, "These armies aren’t half bad either."
Tang Xinyao nodded in agreement and commanded, "Take your team and push left—help our forces wipe out the remaining aliens there as quickly as possible."
"Understood!" Tang Hao responded promptly, leading the Demon-Slaying Corps into action.
When the Iron Army saw them coming to assist, they immediately adjusted their formation, diverting a portion of the aliens toward Tang Hao’s group for them to eliminate. Meanwhile, the Iron Army concentrated their greater numbers on annihilating the rest.
