Chapter 1313: Realistic Acting

Emperor Xia slowly replied to the Supreme Emperor: "In principle, you shouldn't be harming the imperial dynasty!"

"What? What do you mean? What does 'shouldn't' mean? Are you doubting me?" the Supreme Emperor assumed an aggressive stance.

"Nothing special! It's just the literal meaning!"

Emperor Xia said it lightly, ignored the Supreme Emperor's attitude, and left directly. Infuriated, the Supreme Emperor vented against the wall, pounding it with a bang‑bang sound.

Emperor Xia returned to his own study and frowned again.

The Supreme Emperor's behavior was too suspicious. If it were another person, Emperor Xia would immediately suspect him of being a Foreign Tribe spy.

However, the Supreme Emperor had been in seclusion for years, and the Foreign Tribe never had a chance to contact him.

Yet from his attitude toward Ye Liuyun and his probing of Ye Liuyun's arrangements, it was indeed overly obvious. Moreover, the Supreme Emperor's involvement in military and political affairs had recently increased markedly.

In response, Emperor Xia also had to be on guard.

He rubbed his head, feeling a headache.

Then he clapped his hands, and a Black Shadow suddenly appeared before him, bowing and saluting.

Its movement seemed to rival that of the Black Tortoise. Ye Liuyun had come by a few times but never noticed it.

Emperor Xia ordered directly: "Investigate the Supreme Emperor; I think he's problematic. Keep a close watch on him, and report to me immediately whenever he makes a move!"

The Black Shadow said nothing, merely nodded in agreement and bowed again. Then its figure vanished from the room, its whereabouts unknown.

Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun was contacting the few retreating armies.

He deliberately frightened those Leaders: "Within half an hour you must withdraw immediately! The Foreign Tribe is about to surround you! When that happens, I won't be able to save you!"

That caused the Leaders to panic.

The memory of previous encirclements lingered, forcing them to issue orders at once, break camp, and retreat at full speed.

Term (exclude) receiving the order also panicked, unable even to gather ordinary gear before they got up and fled.

Everyone feared another encirclement by the Foreign Tribe. This time Ye Liuyun explicitly said he would not let that happen to them.

Their retreat was very orderly, and their marching speed was fast, soon catching up with the main force.

At this point Ye Liuyun told them: "You are safe; just stay behind the column and continue retreating."

The Leaders, unaware of the situation, kept thanking Ye Liuyun, grateful that he had saved their lives again.

In fact, there was no Foreign Tribe intending to encircle them.

The Foreign Tribe was now busy consolidating and concentrating forces for the final desperate battle.

They had no room to retreat any longer and could only burn their boats.

Ye Liuyun feared they would fight recklessly, causing excessive losses to the imperial dynasty's army. So he ordered a withdrawal, relinquishing the territory.

His purpose was to deflate the Foreign Tribe, draining the desperate courage and confidence they had bottled up for a final showdown.

The reason he misled the last few armies into a hasty flight was to make the Foreign Tribe believe the imperial dynasty's forces were in trouble, so they would not persist in attacking them.

Otherwise, how would they dare release their troops again, spreading them across the vast territories?

If they didn't disperse, Ye Liuyun couldn't defeat them one by one.

And to appear authentic and lull the Foreign Tribe, he could only resort to deception, so that these few armies could perform a very realistic act.

The entire Great Summer Imperial Dynasty's army was withdrawing at full speed. Ye Liuyun gave them only a few days; if they didn't hurry, they wouldn't make it back to their original city to receive supplies.

Ye Liuyun's sudden retreat naturally raised suspicion among the Foreign Tribe's Grand Leader Tuomu Hai and others.

They dispatched many people to investigate, and only then confirmed that Ye Liuyun's army had indeed fled, and fled very hastily.

Many Foreign Tribe Leaders said the imperial dynasty's army was merely the last gasp of a strong bow. They knew they could no longer hold out, so they only frightened the Foreign Tribe briefly before retreating immediately.

Tuomu Hai also harbored doubts. He repeatedly sent people to verify before accepting that Ye Liuyun's forces were fleeing rather than conducting an orderly withdrawal.

"What happened that made them retreat so hastily?" he wondered, yet received no information from any spy.

Gradually, he also accepted the numerous Foreign Tribe explanations.

The imperial dynasty's army was just the last gasp; a quick retaliation and intimidation, then they fled. If they kept going, they would be defeated.

Once this idea was confirmed, Tuomu Hai immediately dispatched troops to retake the lost lands.

This time the Foreign Tribe's large army's occupation plan proceeded smoothly, encountering no resistance.

Ye Liuyun directly led his men back to the original city.

"It seems these Human Martial Cultivators were scared off by us!" several Foreign Tribe Leaders began to boast.

After all, they had indeed annihilated the imperial dynasty's army of over a million; the numbers this time were already considerable.

Although their later casualties far exceeded those of the imperial dynasty.

Yet they believed the imperial soldiers fought just the same; even though they no longer held a manpower advantage, it didn't matter—the imperial soldiers were still not their match.

After Ye Liuyun's army returned to the city, they immediately began hurriedly replenishing supplies.

Term (exclude) only had five days to rest, and everything was arranged very tightly.

Some commanders, confused, came to ask Ye Liuyun, but he didn't even look at them, sending Qin Peng to dismiss them back.

Yet every day, Ye Liuyun sent people to supervise each army's supply situation; any lax commander was dealt with directly by Ye Liuyun.

He now held the officially conferred title of Leader of the Imperial Family, with absolute authority.

Therefore, these Leaders had no choice but to obey his orders.

Five days later, the army's supplies were completed.

At that moment the Foreign Tribe's large army was moving out toward various cities.

After Ye Liuyun sent scouts for information, he issued a strict decree: no Leader may communicate routes or objectives with another; any leaker will be treated as a traitor of the imperial dynasty.

Upon issuing the order, all Leaders immediately understood that Ye Liuyun was exposing a spy.

Hence the orders Ye Liuyun gave them would naturally not be leaked, lest the Foreign Tribe discover them and fall into a trap.

Then Ye Liuyun assigned tasks to each Leader one by one.

This time, each army's Leader received a different order; they were unaware of each other's missions.

Ye Liuyun then monitored the overall situation, coordinated the progress of the parts, achieving the overall strategic effect.