Chapter 376: Invisible Squad
The encirclement put pressure on the civilians of Siren City. Many pet-like beastmen panicked, hiding in their houses.
Meanwhile, Huangjin Monastery's monks, orcs, and combatant beastmen were stationing on the walls, ready for the upcoming battle and protecting the north gate and the north wall.
Ma Moxi, Jia Wenhe, and his newly trained clansmen were in charge of guarding the south wall, facing Zhang Ren's army.
As for Mao Xueyan, Mao Dandan, and their 1,000 combat beastmen, they handled the east gate, confronting the massive army of Yuan Shaoqing.
Chang'e and the non-combatant mermaids hid in the city. However, they promised that they would provide support, such as medic duties.
As for Zhao Bao, Fogan, Ju Shoufen, Wei Yuan, Zhao Yun, and other yin slaves stayed at the center of the city, preparing to assist the other groups if they were to be besieged by super experts.
Also, anti-air arterially cannons had been installed behind every wall. Even the concealment and projectile barrier arrays had been reinforced.
Lu Fengxian, the acting commander of the city, had used the tower and the spring water reservoir as the main energy supply of his newly made traps, which had been hidden behind the concealment arrays.
Siren city had been fortified. Everyone was prepared to face the invader.
While everyone was nervous, Lu Fengxian stood on top of the pylon tower, observing the alliance armies.
'Are they playing a mind game, or are they just plain stupid?'
Lu Fengxian raised his eyebrows, checking the movements and the body language of each commander. Strangely, Zhang Ren and other military commanders simply stood in front of their men, staring at the city wall without doing anything.
The ex-immortal snorted and ignored them since they were harmless. He focused further east, where he could also sense super experts among them. Several 8th-stage cultivators and a 9th-stage cultivator had been hiding within these troops.
It was odd. They could have destroyed everyone in the city by just sneezing. Yet, they hid behind the weaker allies.
Their actions reminded him of his previous life. When Kishin Douji brought his demon armies to his world, his allies never cooperated and refused to take appropriate actions when opportunities arose.
This showed how selfish and unorganized humans were. Even in this mortal world, they were the same as immortals that Lu Fengxian knew.
'I guess I can't change their nature. It's better to raise new armies and discipline them myself! I rather have weak but trustworthy allies than strong but stupid friends. The brat that I fought was one of the moronic fools. Even if he's talented, his arrogance will kill his allies when he confronts real gods and immortals. I rather raise Miaomiao and Moxi instead.'
…
After Sun Wentai's army had reached the rendezvous point, he pretended to deploy his troops and stayed idle, watching the city wall from the southeast.
Despite having the advantage of flying battleships, Jiangdong White Tiger Sect and the Sun Clan refused to take the vanguard role or make the first move.
After all, they had another hidden agenda behind this deployment.
Sun Wentai had been standing on top of his flying mountain island, gazing at Siren City and Yuan Shaoqing's camps. He also glanced at Liu Biao's forces, who had been deployed behind them.
Huang Gongfu had also been staying by Sun Wentai's side, waiting for his lord's order. He looked at Liu Biao's fleet of battleships, which had been parking a kilometer east from them.
"It seems Liu Biao doesn't trust us," Huang Gongfu shook his head.
Sun Wentai sarcastically smirked, "Are you going to join the Huang Clan like your other relatives?"
"No, my lord. I don't like my patriarch. He's too selfish and arrogant for a 6th-stage cultivator."
"That's probably because of Huang Hansheng's presence."
"… Probably so."
Huang Gongfu was dejected as their strongest clansman, Huang Hansheng, decided to accompany Liu Clan's forces.
The situation became complicated. Had Huang Gongfu followed through with Sun Wentai's plan, he might have had to fight against his clansmen, including the 9th-stage super archer.
Furthermore, Huang Hansheng could singlehandedly destroy Siren City before Sun Wentai's forces could even defect to Miaomiao's side. Even if they were to switch sides first, Huang Hansheng could still obliterate Jiangdong White Tiger Sect and the Sun Clan's fleets alone!
Sun Wentai was now stuck in a rock and hard place. He couldn't make the right decision under this circumstance.
The lord grumbled, "I guess we have to maintain our formation and wait for the right opportunity. Tell our men not to make a single move."
"Understood, my lord."
…
As Siren City refused to fight outside the city while the invaders never took an initiative, everyone simply had a staring contest, glaring at their enemies.
The attacker's side had it easy since they had more room to relax, and they didn't think that Siren City's forces would come out to fight in the open.
On the other hand, the defenders suffered from the pressure of being surrounded by overwhelming joint armies. They maintained their focuses, believing that they might be attacked at any moment.
They were mentally exhausted just by standing still and waiting for the start of a battle.
The trend continued until nightfall.
Seeing the current action of Yuan Shaoqing's alliance, Lu Fengxian had concluded that the enemies wouldn't attack them with their large forces. He sent the yin slaves to relay his messages to the sentries.
[Arrange troops into three units. Let them guard the city in shift, 8 hours at a time. Even if we're under attack, don't let the resting soldier fight until it's their shift.]
The defenders immediately reorganized their soldiers to ease the pressure. Two-third of the troops were pulled off from the wall to rest while the others continued to pay attention to the frontline.
However, Lu Fengxian wasn't satisfied with just defending.
That night, he deployed Ma Moxi, who specialized in hiding his presence, to make things a bit more complicated for the attackers.
…
11 PM
Ma Moxi, Ku'er, Chang'e, and 50 mermaids moved like the wind, sprinting from the east gate toward Yuan Shaoqing Mercenary's camp. Their transparent bodies blended in the night even though the plowed plain, east of Siren City, had nothing to hide them.
Chang'e had a hard time following Ma Moxi as she couldn't sense or see his trace. The only way she could detect the general direction of her leader was Ku'er, who could sense her husband's location.
This mermaid was the same entertainer that Miaomiao had encountered at a brothel when he had plotted against Ma Moxi. She and her friends had secretly sneaked in Siren City's sewer system and bypassed the defensive mechanism of Jia Wenhe.
Chang'e and the others continued to live in the sewer, drinking Life Essence water from the pylon tower as their primary source of food.
Even though Jia Shan and Ma Ping had detected them the first day they had snuck in there, the elders simply visited them and warned them not to harm the local people. Then, they left Chang'e and her friends alone.
Chang'e and others agreed. But in the end, Jia Wenhe discovered them and forced them to migrate out of the sewer system.
Now, Ma Moxi forcefully drafted them into his temporary assassin squad for this mission.
'Hurry, you dumb fishes!'
Ku'er, the fox girl, whispered and revealed her current location while she was invisible like the others.
The mermaid chief was on the verge of crying, 'But I'm a musician! I didn't sign up for this!'
'You sneaked into the city on your own, and we let you live! Now, it's time for you to earn your keep. If you go home before we complete our mission, I'll tell Ding Bu to kick you back to the Blood Sea!'
'No! Please! Let us live in the city. We want to live there.'
'Then, earn your keep! Follow us and help us kill those idiot humans!'
Chang'e and other coward mermaids shed tears as they were afraid of war.
The physical strength and the direct combat prowess of the mermaids were weaker than average 5th-stage cultivators. However, they were born with an innate talent to cultivate the water element Qi, so they were still useful at supporting others.
But Lu Fengxian had taught them a certain technique, which allowed them to be silent assassins.
After the mermaids had followed Ku'er a kilometer, they got in front of the human encampment, where volunteers, rogue cultivators, merchants, and greedy fighters had gathered to tag along with Yuan Shaoqing's main forces.
The camp was unorganized. Tents of various colors and sizes had been erected without a preplan as if they were temporary tents of homeless commoners. Bonfires, make-shift kitchens, stables, random trash heaps, and public toilet holes made this place look like a slum rather than a military camp.
Several tents were illuminated by lamps, torches, fire Qi, and mysterious artifacts. However, poorer and shabby tents were dark and gloomy as if the residents had already fallen asleep.
Ku'er scanned the sentries and the patrol guards' strength. As expected, they were weak 4th-stage cultivators. As for the stronger ones, they had gathered at the center of this massive encampment.
The fox girl, while being invisible, turned around and wrote a few words on the ground, hinting the clueless mermaids to follow her instruction.
She wrote, 'Moxi has already entered the camp on his own. We'll do our things.'
Chang'e laid prone next to Ku'er. She also wrote on the soil.
'What do we do?'
Ku'er grinned and erased the written words. She wrote a new instruction.
'Create the most potent and poisonous wine you can make with your water Qi. Then, stuff them into the lungs of those humans. Suffocate them and make them die like they had partied too hard.'
'Oh? That's easy. We did it all the time when idiot customers tried to ravish us!'
Chang'e turned around and relayed her order to the other mermaids.
These demi-humans might not be suitable for a direct confrontation. However, their Qi and Essence had been boosted by the little orclings, the sons of Miaomiao. With the dual-cultivation techniques that those children had used on them, their Qi and Essence had been purified, turning them into Life Essence.
Now, even if their average physical strength was weak, the quality and the efficiency of their Life Essence were a lot stronger than the beastmen, who never dual-cultivated with Miaomiao's perverted children.
After the platoon received their command, they created floating bubbles of purple liquid using their index finger. Then, they pointed their fingers at their targets.
The purple bubbles became transparent and slowly floated toward their victims. None of them emitted a tinge Qi as the bubbles had already become high-potent alcoholic wine.
One after another, the bubbles entered the victims' noses, mouths, and anuses. The targeted guards dropped their weapon and whatever they were carrying, having a seizure. Then they collapsed to the ground.
The alcohol flooded their lungs as requested. However, the mermaids intentionally sent the poisonous wines through their backdoors as the deadly alcohol could be instantly absorbed into the bloodstreams, causing the victim's brains and kidneys to be instantly intoxicated or destroyed.
Furthermore, when these guards had been found, no one could tell that they were assassinated. Anyone would have thought that they died from overdrinking or they had health issues.
'Smart,' Ku'er grinned.
Chang'e puffed her chest, 'Have I earned my keep?'
'Yup! You've passed! You've earned your keep for a day!'
'Yay… Hold it a second. Only a day?'
'Every human you killed, we'll let you live in our city for another day. If you want to live there longer, you need to kill as many as you can. Also, a 5th-stage cultivator counts as 100 kills. Good luck!'
"…"
Chang'e cried again.
…
Ku'er commanded the mermaids to kill patrolling guards and the cultivators who didn't pay attention to their surroundings. After killing 500 men, the group sneaked inside the camp and assassinated sleeping humans in several tents.
While they were on a roll, Ma Moxi had been busy, scouting the camp and mapping the layout for future attacks.
5th-stage and 6th-stage cultivators couldn't detect Ma Moxi's invisible form. Only 7th-stage grandmasters could sense the trace of Ma Moxi's Heaven and Earth Escape technique.
So far, Ma Moxi hadn't found a single 7th-stage cultivator in the camp. After 30 minutes of scouting, he gave up looking for top experts to kill.
'No worthy opponent? Well, don't mind me if I start working…'
Ma Moxi sneaked into tents with drunk cultivators, gently snapping their necks, making it so that nobody could smell blood or hear anything. He also didn't forget to store their corpses in his spatial ring, preventing possible mishaps from happening during his stay.
Most importantly, he never forgot to extract their spatial rings even though these victims didn't carry anything worthwhile.
After all, the city needed spatial rings to store the overflowing spring water. Every storage ring was necessary!
Ma Moxi and the mermaids did their job, slipping into tents after tents, murdering people inside without letting out a sound.
The killing spree continued for hours. Only when it reached 3 AM, the gang retreated back to the city, waiting to see their reaction tomorrow.
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