Chapter 312: 313. Ambush, Total Victory?

313. Chapter 313: Ambush, Total Victory?

He was able to obtain such detailed intelligence solely because of the Micro Card, which greatly enhanced his ability to transmit information and maintain undercover operations.

Without the Micro Card, obtaining this intelligence would have taken him at least half a month.

In half a month, the enemy could have made dozens of round trips to Mingdu.

But with the Micro Card, within a single day he could acquire vast amounts of intelligence from the Sun Moon Empire through his covert agents.

"What! Really!"

"Then this could be our opportunity!"

"Hahaha, regardless of what it is, let's first attack a few mine veins and see!"

The generals who had just opposed the plan now all turned red-faced with excitement, eager to launch an immediate campaign.

After all, what they feared most was the Sun Moon Empire's Four Great Soul Tool Legions—and now that this Soul Tool Legion had been completely withdrawn, and most of the other forces had also retreated, even if a major battle broke out, it would be the Sun Moon Empire that should fear, not them.

Moreover, they only intended to temporarily occupy some mine veins, not to march all the way to the enemy's Capital; even if the enemy counterattacked later, they would be prepared and could make the Sun Moon Empire suffer again.

Even if… in the end they couldn't win, they could still seize massive mineral resources sufficient to offset their losses!

"Yes, I think the same. This border region is critically important, yet the Sun Moon Empire simply withdrew without warning—this is an outright insult to us. If we don't strike now, what's the difference between us and cowards?"

"All generals, listen! Tonight, assemble one hundred thousand troops and march with me into the Ming Dou Mountain Range!"

Dai Hao spoke slowly, his aura steadily intensifying, his tone heavy with deadly intent.

"Yes, sir!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Upon hearing this, the generals surged with adrenaline, cheering wildly, desperate to engage the Sun Moon Empire's legions right then and there. Daily skirmishes had mostly left them at a disadvantage.

Though they hadn't lost territory, they had been humiliated time and again.

Especially in the struggle for critical strategic resources, they had never won a single victory.

This time, they must reclaim their honor and make the Sun Moon Empire's army bleed heavily!

Make them pay for underestimating their enemies!

…

That night.

Dai Hao led his army straight into the Ming Dou Mountain Range.

The Sun Moon Empire had already withdrawn most of its forces; what remained were mere foot soldiers, instantly routed—dead or fleeing, suffering catastrophic losses.

But Dai Hao's army fared no better…

After all, the terrain of the Ming Dou Mountain Range was complex, and the Sun Moon Empire had deployed countless defensive Soul Tools at every mine vein, causing explosions that shattered mountains and split the earth.

Each mine vein captured came at a heavy cost in lives for Dai Hao's troops.

Of course, war always claims lives—but what frustrated Dai Hao and his men most was that after capturing the Sun Moon Empire's mine camps, they discovered the enemy had already evacuated all stored ore.

Only freshly mined fragments remained…

Mining was time-consuming and labor-intensive, with extremely low efficiency; Dai Hao's true goal in seizing the mine veins was not to mine themselves, but to seize the ore already extracted and stored in the enemy's warehouses.

But now…

Though they had looted some rare ores, these were nowhere near enough to compensate for their losses.

"Damn Sun Moon Empire!" Dai Hao cursed inwardly as he led his troops—he strongly suspected he'd been tricked, but had no proof.

After all, the Sun Moon Empire's forces had indeed been drastically reduced, and the Claw Dragon Soul Tool Legion stationed here had not appeared at all.

If this were a trap, they might have struggled to take even a single mine vein.

Yet despite heavy casualties, Dai Hao still led his legion in a single night's surprise assault on over a dozen Sun Moon Empire mine veins.

He even eradicated more than twenty Evil Soul Master Bandit Groups in the process.

Compared to the heavily fortified Sun Moon Empire camps, these bandit groups offered no resistance against a full-scale army.

Normally, these bandits would vanish into deep forests and remote mountains—impossible to find.

After all, the Star Luo Empire could never send large armies into those regions without risking massive conflict with the Sun Moon Empire; even avoiding casualties would be a miracle, let alone exterminating the bandits.

But now, with the Sun Moon Empire nearly abandoning its defense of the Ming Dou Mountain Range, Dai Hao's army charged through unchecked—no bandit could escape.

Moreover, Dai Hao deemed it insufficient and summoned surrounding forces, increasing his total troop strength to 300,000—most of them elite soldiers.

With such a massive force, they could have stormed into Sun Moon Empire territory and captured several border cities in a single night—but the risk was too great. If the enemy had laid an ambush or rapidly mobilized a counterattack, all these men might perish within Sun Moon Empire borders.

Even if they succeeded, they couldn't possibly hold so much territory…

It would only provoke the Sun Moon Empire's fury and trigger a full-scale war with the Star Luo Empire. Though the Star Luo Empire's overall strength had grown manyfold since a thousand years ago, the Sun Moon Empire had also grown stronger—no one knew just how terrifyingly powerful it had become now.

A real war might cost the Star Luo Empire dearly…

So Dai Hao had acted with extreme caution—only looting mine veins and seizing resources to improve rations.

After all, the Ming Dou Mountain Range was essentially unclaimed land, belonging to neither empire; whoever seized it owned it. Even if the Sun Moon Empire raged, they could still argue the case.

The Sun Moon Empire was unlikely to launch a full-scale war over this minor incident right now.

…

…

Mingdu.

Inside the Time Tower.

Bai Zhou slowly awakened from his Cultivation.

He did a quick calculation and realized he had trained here for 120 days.

Through the Time Tower's sensing, only about one day had passed in the outside world.

Originally, time here flowed at 100 times the outside speed, but as his understanding of the Time Law deepened, the Time Tower's time flow naturally accelerated—soon it might reach 1,000 or even 10,000 days inside for every one day outside. "If Soul Beasts were placed inside the Time Tower to Cultivate, wouldn't it be possible to continuously produce Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts—and even Ten Thousand Year Soul Beasts?"

Suddenly, Bai Zhou had a bold idea…

However, ideas remain just ideas; putting them into practice would still take a long time.

The most urgent task was still to increase his strength first.

He still possessed vast Luck on his person, so Bai Zhou was in no hurry to make a wish; after all, this Luck was permanent and would not disappear.

Having stronger Luck was also beneficial to him; on the Sun Moon Continent, he could receive protection from the unseen forces, equivalent to being the Sun Moon Empire's "Child of Luck," temporarily granting him the fate of a "protagonist," which offered very high cost-performance.

(End of Chapter)