Chapter 180: Wang Yaozong's Fall

A red ring flew towards Wang Changsheng, appearing in front of the yellow shield in a flash. The yellow shield shattered with a single blow, and the red ring then struck towards Wang Changsheng.

"Changsheng, be careful!"

Wang Yaozong reacted the fastest, pushing Wang Changsheng, who stumbled to the ground. The red ring pierced through Wang Yaozong's body.

Wang Yaozong's pupils contracted. He looked down at his chest, where there was a bleeding hole. His body went limp, and he collapsed.

"Second Grand-Uncle!"

Wang Changsheng was overwhelmed with grief and indignation. He cried out and lunged towards Wang Yaozong.

Wang Yaozong was still alive, but blood flowed incessantly, his face was pale, and his breath was weak.

"Medicine, Second Grand-Uncle, you'll be fine!" Wang Changsheng frantically tried to retrieve a pill to treat Wang Yaozong.

Wang Yaozong's blood-soaked right hand gripped Wang Changsheng's arm. He spoke haltingly, "Changsheng, I... I can't go on. You must... you must return safely to Qinglian Mountain. The clan... the clan will depend on..." He breathed his last before finishing his sentence.

Wang Changsheng was consumed by grief and fury, his eyes filled with murderous intent. If Wang Yaozong hadn't pushed him, it would have been him who died.

The battle continued, with heavy casualties on both the Song and Wei sides. Just then, a deep horn blast sounded, followed by a heavy drumbeat.

"Retreat!" Chen Tianming and the red-robed youth simultaneously ordered their comrades to withdraw. Reluctantly, both sides retrieved their talismans and returned to their respective camps.

Wang Changsheng collected Wang Yaozong's body and returned to Xianyuan City with Chen Tianming and the others. His heart was heavy. He had thought it would just be a formality, but to his surprise, Second Grand-Uncle had died in the very first battle.

On the city walls of Xianyuan City, Zhao Yunxiao and the others looked grim. Their reason for retreating was the arrival of reinforcements from the Shu Kingdom, numbering over a thousand. These thousand individuals were seated on two giant green pythons and a large green vessel. If the fighting continued, the Song Kingdom would have to send more troops. If the Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment cultivators were exhausted, then the Core Formation cultivators would have to join the fray personally.

"The Shu reinforcements arrived so quickly? Speed is paramount in war; we should have started fighting yesterday."

"Who could have known the Shu reinforcements would arrive so swiftly? We don't know what benefits the five sects of Wei offered for Shu to dispatch troops so quickly."

"Never mind. We'll hold our ground and await reinforcements."

The four major sects sent people to count the numbers, then allowed everyone to return to their homes.

Back at the bamboo house, Wang Changsheng counted the remaining people, his heart extremely heavy. In today's battle, apart from Wang Yaozong, seven Qi Condensation clan members died, three were severely wounded, and six sustained minor injuries—a heavy loss.

"Seventh Uncle, didn't we train beforehand? Why are the losses still so severe?" Wang Changsheng asked with a grim face. Among the seven deceased clan members was Wang Yaohuan.

"The disciples of the Spirit Control Sect released too many spirit beasts and birds. It wasn't like our skirmishes in Baiyun Ridge. Initially, we were safe, but then several Foundation Establishment cultivators engaged, and Twelfth Uncle and others unfortunately perished." Wang Mingzhong was deeply saddened. He had thought that with the prior training, the losses wouldn't be significant, but who could have imagined that more than half would be dead or wounded on the very first day?

"Man proposes, God disposes. The severely wounded clan members should rest and recuperate well." Wang Changsheng gave Wang Mingzhong a thousand spirit stones, instructing him to buy healing pills. The other clan members remained in the bamboo house.

He took the identity token of the Spirit Control Sect disciple and exchanged it for a thousand points at the Sundries Hall. He didn't save the points, instead trading them for a bottle of Soul Nourishing Pills and three second-tier talismans: two Thousand Needle Talismans and one Earth Evasion Talisman.

Returning to his dwelling, Wang Changsheng took out the Spirit Control Sect disciple's storage bag and emptied its contents. There were six magical artifacts, two of which were mid-grade, one low-grade defensive artifact, over two thousand spirit stones, a dozen first-tier spirit talismans, and a pile of bottles and jars. One blue porcelain bottle had a red paper label indicating "Spirit Nurturing Pill." Spirit Nurturing Pills were specifically for feeding spirit beasts. It was said that regular consumption of these pills by spirit beasts and birds could be beneficial for their advancement. Wang Changsheng opened the stopper and found three Spirit Nurturing Pills inside. As for the other porcelain bottles and wooden jars, they contained either insect eggs or first-tier spirit insects.

Wang Changsheng sorted and put away these items. He then refined the two metal-attribute flying swords he had obtained. In the short term, his cultivation wouldn't improve, but controlling an additional magical artifact would give him a greater chance of victory against enemies.

Inside a magnificent grand hall, Li Haifeng and eight other Core Formation cultivators were discussing something. The eight sects of Wei and Shu had allied. The three Shu sects each dispatched over three hundred cultivators. The leading Core Formation cultivators were Qu Xiong from the Poison Gu Sect, Ye Ying from the Five Poisons Sect, and Wei Nantian from the Poison Dragon Cult. Qu Xiong had the highest cultivation, at Core Formation Stage Seven.

"Fellow Daoist Qu, your arrival is timely. With your assistance, conquering the Song Kingdom is only a matter of time," Li Haifeng said with a smile. The Song Kingdom was a huge piece of fat meat. Even if the Wei Kingdom could devour it alone, it would incur resentment, and someone might stab them in the back someday. After discussions, they had brought the Shu Kingdom into the alliance, sharing both benefits and risks. The Shu Kingdom had only three sects, so even if they conquered the Song Kingdom, Wei would still get the lion's share.

"Fellow Daoist Li, the five sects of the Song Kingdom will certainly not sit idly by. Perhaps the four Song sects have already sought aid from the Chu Kingdom or other states. Let's finish this quickly! The longer the war drags on, the greater our losses will be."

"Of course. With your support, we will continue fighting tomorrow. The five Song sects have conscripted many cultivation families, but their fighting strength isn't strong. A few more battles will break their confidence."

Qu Xiong's gaze shifted, and he said, "That's fine, but the purple copper mine in Yizhou can be given to our three sects, right? We don't know how long this war will last. What if we can't conquer the Song Kingdom? We can't come all this way for nothing!" Li Haifeng frowned slightly and secretly discussed with Guang Dongren and a few others.

After a moment, Li Haifeng smiled and said, "No problem, but in the upcoming battles, you must exert more effort. Our disciples have suffered heavy casualties, and our reinforcements haven't arrived yet."

"Easily done. This matter is on us. Please arrange for someone to handle the handover to avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings," Qu Xiong readily agreed, urging them on. The Shu people were more pragmatic; the benefits in hand were the real ones.

Early the next morning, a solemn bell rang again. Wang Changsheng had already been on the battlefield yesterday and had slain a Foundation Establishment cultivator, so he didn't have to go to battle. Thanks to his protection, Wang Mingzhong and the others also didn't have to go. Wang Changsheng hesitated briefly, then walked onto the city wall to observe the battle.

This battle was even more brutal than the previous day's. With the addition of the three Shu sects, Wei's strength greatly increased. The three Shu sects were skilled in using poison; the magical artifacts used by their disciples were all poisoned. If they merely scratched a cultivator's skin, the cultivator would dissolve into a pool of blood. Furthermore, the spirit beasts or insects released by the Shu cultivators could spray highly corrosive venom. Combined with the magical artifact attacks, many Song cultivators died tragically at the hands of the Shu cultivators. The Song cultivators threw away their armor and abandoned their weapons. After less than half an hour of fighting, more than half were dead or wounded, forcing them to retreat to Xianyuan City.

The dark cloud of defeat hung over the hearts of all cultivators.

Over the next month, the Wei cultivators launched attacks almost daily. If the Song Kingdom didn't meet them in battle, they would attack Xianyuan City. While the city's third-tier formation could fend off attacks from hundreds of cultivators, operating such a formation consumed a vast amount of spirit stones. More importantly, allowing the Wei and Shu cultivators to continuously attack the formation would severely dampen the morale of the Song cultivators.