Chapter 588: Ambush on the March! All Three Fronts Victorious!

"All of you chase them hard! Whoever reaches Wang Cheng of the Silver Sand Kingdom first gets a million gold coins!"

On the front lines of the Silver Sand Kingdom, seeing the Silver Sand army in full retreat, the Fourth Imperial Prince shouted loudly!

By now, the Fourth Imperial Prince's army had fewer than half its original strength, and the troops sent by the nobles who supported him were also reduced by more than half.

The fortress tactics employed by the Three Kingdoms were too hard to crack.

One fortress after another had drained the Fourth Imperial Prince's forces.

After the Silver Sand Kingdom launched a furious counterattack, the Fourth Imperial Prince's army suffered devastating losses.

Of course, even without the Church and Imperial forces joining, the Fourth Imperial Prince still had little chance of losing.

The most likely outcome was mutual exhaustion.

But once the Church and Imperial forces joined, the tide of battle reversed instantly.

The Fourth Imperial Prince still did not know that the Church's Holy Son had decided to leave the choice of Emperor to the gods, still believing as before that whoever conquered the Three Kingdoms first would ascend the throne.

So now, whether the Fourth, Third, or Sixth Imperial Prince, all offered huge rewards to their troops to pursue the armies of the Three Human Kingdoms.

Now that the Three Human Kingdoms were in full retreat, capturing their Wang Cheng was virtually equivalent to conquering the Three Kingdoms first.

After all, a nation's capital still carried great significance!

It was the very center of the entire realm!

"Holy Son, all three Imperial Princes are leading their armies in pursuit of the Three Kingdoms' forces. Should the Church and Imperial forces follow?"

Asked the Grand Archbishop.

During the battle, the Church's Holy Son had intervened repeatedly, fighting against the powers descended by the Silver Sand Kingdom's god, depleting his energy greatly.

At this moment, the Church's Holy Son was meditating aboard a flying ship to restore his spiritual power.

Upon hearing this, the Church's Holy Son said: "Send the Imperial army to follow. The Church's forces may withdraw. Behind the Three Kingdoms lies the Endless Desert—no other power will interfere. Leave the State Tutor to hold this position; if any unexpected event arises, he can provide backup. We return to the Imperial City. My losses are heavy—I must recover properly."

"Yes, Holy Son!"

The Grand Archbishop went to make arrangements.

The flying ship carrying the Church's Holy Son then ascended, heading toward the Imperial City of the Zi Jin Empire.

Above this frontline command post hovered another flying ship—that of the State Tutor, the Zi Jin Empire's other legendary figure.

By now, the outcome was settled. Each of the Imperial Princes' armies carried Eighth Rank Forbidden Spell Mages, who could also invoke divine power.

The gods of the Three Kingdoms had also expended tremendous energy in this battle and might no longer wish to descend their power frequently.

So there was no need for the Zi Jin Empire's State Tutor to act.

He only needed to hold his position here.

The territories of the Three Kingdoms were vast.

Each kingdom's territory was roughly twice the size of the former Xiling Kingdom.

For example, the Silver Sand Kingdom stretched nearly two thousand kilometers from its border near the Endless Desert to the border of the Zi Jin Empire.

And Wang Cheng was over a thousand kilometers from the Zi Jin Empire's border.

The Silver Sand Kingdom's army now numbered only about one-third of its original strength, and the losses among Gao Jie elites were especially severe.

At this moment, these several hundred thousand remnants were fleeing in disarray, while behind them, the Fourth Imperial Prince's army pursued relentlessly, and even farther behind were two hundred thousand Imperial troops.

These two hundred thousand Imperial troops were here to support the Fourth Imperial Prince.

During the mass retreat, many Silver Sand soldiers were caught and overrun, their losses mounting continuously.

"Grand Archbishop, Wang Cheng has already been seized by another force. Where do we go now?"

Asked a wounded general in the Silver Sand army.

"We won't go to Wang Cheng. Head for Beiyan City. The Zi Jin Imperial Princes are fighting for the throne—they'll all head for Wang Cheng. That force occupying Wang Cheng is strong. Since they're also after the Silver Sand Kingdom, let them wear each other down."

Said the Grand Archbishop of the Silver Sand Kingdom's Church.

Immediately, they changed their escape direction.

The reason they hadn't used this "drive the wolf to devour the tiger" tactic earlier was simple.

Back then, they had a million troops—if they let the Zi Jin army in, their entire million-man force would collapse immediately.

The Zi Jin Empire wouldn't have given them any chance to retreat.

So they had no choice but to fight—and believed they could win.

Now, it was merely a desperate last resort.

"My Lord Fourth Prince, the Silver Sand army isn't fleeing toward Wang Cheng. Should we pursue?"

The movements of the Silver Sand army were quickly reported to the Fourth Prince.

Without hesitation, the Fourth Prince said: "Don't pursue. Take Wang Cheng first."

In his view, capturing Wang Cheng was the most critical matter.

As for the remnants of the Silver Sand army, they could be dealt with later.

Thus, the Fourth Prince led his army eagerly toward Wang Cheng of the Silver Sand Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the defeated armies of the other two kingdoms adopted nearly the same strategy: avoid fleeing toward Wang Cheng, and let the Zi Jin army pass through.

The other two princes made the same decision.

That was: take Wang Cheng first.

Suddenly, the three princes entered a race!

Since the outcome was settled and they were racing against time, none of them even bothered with proper reconnaissance.

In their eyes, every second counted now!

As for the Gao Jie mages in their armies, exhausted from prior battles, were hovering above the troops, recovering their strength.

Besides, Gao Jie mages held exalted status—why would they act as scouts?

Of course, they still sent many scouts—but because their advance was so rapid, they failed to notice that their scouts had stopped returning after nearing a certain region!

"They're coming."

When the Fourth Imperial Prince's army passed through a relatively narrow valley, Meng Ying had long since led her army to lie in ambush there.

After the Fourth Imperial Prince and the Purple Gold Empire's imperial army had all entered the valley, Meng Ying gave the order to attack.

"Boom!"

The first to strike was still Meng Ying.

As a legendary-tier mage, Meng Ying also possessed the ability to cast spells instantaneously; she immediately hurled down a legendary-tier spell, launching a decapitation strike against the Fourth Imperial Prince.

The Fourth Imperial Prince didn't even have time to react, and along with the Church's forbidden-spell mages, was swept up and taken down in one fell swoop by Meng Ying.

In addition, the other Gao Jie mages accompanying the Church's army were also nearly all killed by Meng Ying's strike.

After Meng Ying's decapitation strike, she consecutively used several high-powered spells, killing all the High-Ranking Members Within the imperial army.

Immediately after, five hundred thousand troops of the Flame Empire surged out from all directions, attacking the Fourth Imperial Prince and the imperial army.

Large numbers of arrows carrying Blazing Explosion burst open like flowers within the Purple Gold Empire's army.

"What's going on? Where did this army come from?"

The Purple Gold Empire's army was instantly stunned.

And because of Meng Ying's decapitation strike, the command of the entire army was thrown into complete chaos; under the Flame Empire's assault, they immediately collapsed into a rout.

This battle didn't look at all like a confrontation between two empires.

It looked more like bullying noobs.