Chapter 1165: Chapter 616: Four Hundred Thousand (Three Chapters in One), Part 4
She nodded. Initially, there might be possibilities for blitz tactics, but once the surrounding Immortal Sects become aware, the war waged by Hidden Stream naturally would shift to siege battles and trench warfare.
He Sect Leader said: "However, the Immortal Sects we aimed to capture have basically fallen into our hands. Next, Lord Divine Monarch had preparations ready, immediately changing tactics. Before any attack, if they surrendered, not a single life would be taken; if they resisted stubbornly, the entire sect would be slaughtered."
Hidden Stream dared to put forth such an ultimatum based on the fierce notorious threat of previously wiping out entire sects. Their brutal methods, formidable combat power, are already evident for all to see. Seeing a hope for survival, who would wish to die? After Hidden Stream accepted the surrender of the first Immortal Sect, indeed, after merely collecting deeds and city seals, they drove the cultivators out of the sect, letting them seek their own paths without taking their lives.
With this first successful precedent, the subsequent surrendering Immortal Sects were not few. Naturally, there were also the defiant ones determined to resist to the end, leading Hidden Stream to once again display what it means to carve out a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
By the time Guangcheng Palace, far away in the Central Region, responded, the Northwest Alliance had already collapsed, with most of its territories annexed by Hidden Stream. Established major sects in the Northwest Region were few; mostly small sects and clans were easily conquered under Changtian’s command.
Within the sect there were flying shuttles, these magic artifacts capable of transporting troops at incredible speeds, and Changtian distributed the Sea Bags from the God Demon Prison to the captains of his various squads. With supplies and logistics no longer being an issue, and no longer relying on slow and perilous ground transportation, Hidden Stream’s mobility immediately received an unprecedented boost.
Three months later, Hidden Stream already occupied twenty-nine Great States, vaguely displaying an ambition to unify the Southwest.
By this point, Hidden Stream exterminated two hundred and twenty thousand cultivators, paying the price of thirty thousand demon crowd casualties, which in terms of the death toll on both sides, was quite a bargain.
Following this, Guangcheng Palace declared war on Hidden Stream, with over a dozen Immortal Sects aligning themselves with it.
This time, it was truly a case of being heavily outnumbered. Led by Guangcheng Palace, the Immortal Sects collectively had nearly seven hundred thousand cultivators.
When Changtian received this intelligence, his lips surprisingly curled into a smile. Even Guangcheng Palace lacked the warfare artifacts like flying shuttles; the cultivators at best had artifacts able to carry dozens of people. Even if they gave it their all, traveling without stopping from the Central Region of the Southern Continent to the Southwest would take them about half a year. Not to mention, cultivators are also human, they get tired and weary, unable to maintain such high-speed movement; besides, these artifacts require enormous amounts of Spirit Stones and Spiritual Power to operate, by the time they reach their destination, they would be a fatigued force.
Therefore, for Guangcheng Palace to make such a long journey to the Southwest isn’t a simple task at all, it would take at least half a year from departure to landing. Hidden Stream had long planted spies in every corner of the entire Southwest, tightening control over all cities under its name in this half year.
At this time, Ningyuan Hall had already encountered several dangers in the Central Region of the Southern Continent due to its association with Hidden Stream. Changtian straightforwardly closed Ningyuan Hall, withdrawing Ning Yu and others from the Central Region, assigning them to manage the cities in the rear. The demon crowd of Hidden Stream lacked experience in this area, but Ning Yu was different. The once impoverished Rock City was transformed by him into a thriving place bursting with prosperity. Years of being sent out by Ning Xiaoxian honed a team of strategic talents under him, combined with the capable demons trained within Hidden Stream over the years, nearly all were dispatched for this task.
But even this was far from enough. Thus Ning Yu adopted another simple approach, summed up in four words: "let the sheep graze the grass." After consulting Changtian, he issued the order - under Hidden Stream’s control, the tributes of Immortal Silver from towns and counties would be reduced by thirty percent for ten years!
This decree instantly won the hearts of the people, invigorating public sentiment. Seizing the moment before Guangcheng Palace’s troops arrived, Hidden Stream made a significant impact on the leaders of mortal settlements, combining stern measures and rewards, and promising that if governance achievements emerged, with people living in peace, Hidden Stream would bestow Spiritual Medicines to cure illnesses and avert disasters. So through these actions, satisfaction was achieved on all sides.
Ning Xiaoxian, upon hearing this, felt deeply perplexed.
Changtian was different from her. Such a giant demon favored by Heaven, born with little regard for mortal life, how could he comprehend what it means to sympathize with the people or to allow them to recuperate and build? However, observing his actions upon taking over those regions with Hidden Stream clearly showed a desire to rally humans, invoking a sense of allegiance and gratitude.
