Chapter 2219

The entire Central Region was anxiously awaiting the outcome of this battle.

When the fighting began, the ten thousand Imperial Guard, just as Ye Liuyun had expected, launched a fierce attack on Xiao Yunfang's large army.

But with Qiong Qi present, they could not break through the Defense Array at all.

Not only did they fail to break through, they kept attacking for three days, yet their own men were killed—over five hundred—by the many trap formations set by Qiong Qi.

Moreover, they did not even know that they had already been completely ensnared within Qiong Qi's formations.

Now Qiong Qi and Xiao Yunfang's army were merely watching them perform.

Xiao Yunfang's army only defended and did not counterattack, which the Zhongxing Wangchao also took as a sign of lacking strength.

Mo Xiaotian even changed his mind, ordering this line of Imperial Guard to continue the all‑out assault.

As for the other two armies, he wanted to see the outcome of the clash between the "Tiger Head" army and Ye Liuyun's forces, to confirm which was the main body of Ye Liuyun's army.

However, before Ye Liuyun's troops could meet the "Tiger Head" army, the Imperial Guard that had opened the first front was already nearly exhausted.

They had launched relentless assaults for several days, yet still failed to breach the layered formations laid out by Qiong Qi.

Their attacks would damage a formation only slightly before Qiong Qi repaired it, as if an endless drain on their resources.

At this moment, Xiao Yunfang and the others also prepared to go into battle.

The first line of Imperial Guard finally halted its attack to train and recover, but sudden successive explosions erupted in their camp, flinging many guards into the air.

Then endless sword qi rained down from the sky, dealing another heavy blow to them.

More than half of their entire camp was enveloped by formations, and was being attacked in segments by multiple arrays.

At the same time, inside the city Xiao Yunfang and many Martial Cultivators surged out, and the Imperial Guard outside the formation were immediately assaulted by Soul Cultivators led by Liu Yang and Mo Shaowen.

Qiong Qi was not idle either, helping capture many Imperial Guard soldiers.

The Imperial Guard trapped within the formation could not escape for a time; many were wiped out by coordinated attacks from the soldiers.

The formations Qiong Qi set up were designed to block attacks from the inside outward, while attacks from the outside inward faced no hindrance.

A large number of Imperial Guard became live targets.

Occasionally, some Imperial Guard broke through the formation together and fled, only to fall back into Qiong Qi's arrays again.

The entire battlefield was layered with Qiong Qi's formations; they could not escape at all.

Liu Yang and Mo Shaowen continued to capture prisoners.

Even when Imperial Guard rushed desperately toward Xiao Yunfang's army, the two thousand plus previously captured Imperial Guard prisoners that Xiao Yunfang and Ye Liuyun had, were immediately annihilated by those people acting together.

The swagger of this line of Imperial Guard was completely crushed; they were intercepted by formations, pursued by Xiao Yunfang's army, and ultimately all were eliminated.

In this full‑scale assault, Xiao Yunfang directly killed more Imperial Guard, mainly because she was still unfamiliar with Qiong Qi and lacked confidence in the formations.

In total she captured fewer than a thousand prisoners, but still achieved a great victory.

Mo Xiaotian's face, once beaming with smiles, turned iron‑blue.

He immediately ordered the other two lines of Imperial Guard to be cautious and preserve their strength.

At the same time, Ye Liuyun and the "Tiger Head" army finally met.

Upon meeting, both sides engaged in a rare, hard‑fought clash.

Ye Liuyun did not let the Song Girl act, but kept her resting inside the Space World, and with only the spear squad, he turned Yuan Hao and those five hundred Imperial Guard into a chaotic mess, charging through the enemy and scattering their troops.

"Retreat!"

Yuan Hao immediately judged that he had encountered Ye Liuyun's main army.

Although his own strength was great, he did not risk a direct clash with the spear squad.

But how could Ye Liuyun let him go easily? He kept his troops behind, pursuing relentlessly.

Fortunately, Yuan Hao commanded well; with fifty thousand soldiers he held off Ye Liuyun's pursuit and created distance.

Yuan Hao's retreat direction was also away from the Royal City, fleeing northward.

The fifty thousand soldiers that blocked Ye Liuyun were left with none surviving; Ye Liuyun annihilated them all.

The Magic Vine also seized the opportunity, continuously devouring.

When it could no longer swallow, it stored the excess in a Storage Ring, and unprecedentedly gave a good amount of Yuan Dan to Long Nv and Lei Ming.

Thus Yuan Hao dared not pause, leading his troops northward in a continual escape, while Ye Liuyun kept pursuing from behind.

Ye Liuyun knew he was trying to draw away his main force, but he didn't care about that trick at all.

Only when Yuan Hao felt he had run far enough, and Ye Liuyun's army would no longer be able to arrive in time to reinforce, did he rush to a ruined small town and stop.

He had previously ordered his troops to make preparations in this small town during earlier sweeps.

The civilians inside had long been evacuated; defensive arrays were set up outside the city, and another defensive array was prepared inside, allowing him to retreat at any time.

Thus, once he entered the city, the protective city array activated, and he was ready to stall here against Ye Liuyun.

At the same time, Mo Xiaotian also learned the strength of Ye Liuyun's army.

Yuan Hao told him this army was Ye Liuyun's main force, urging him to deploy the remaining Imperial Guard and join him in a full‑scale encirclement.

But he heard that Ye Liuyun's army consisted of only a little over three thousand spear squad soldiers, and thus doubted it.

Because earlier battle intel had claimed Ye Liuyun's spear squad numbered over ten thousand.

Therefore he thought Yuan Hao was exaggerating the unit's strength.

Yuan Hao only had five hundred Imperial Guard in his hand; being unable to defeat Ye Liuyun's three thousand was normal and did not prove that this was Ye Liuyun's main army.

Thus he never sent out his remaining ten thousand‑plus Imperial Guard.

Instead, he ordered the other two lines of Imperial Guard to strike briefly and then withdraw to defend the Royal City.

He was worried that Yu Xiaofeng's army might launch a surprise attack on the Royal City.

When the second road's ten thousand Imperial Guard reached Pei Yong's city, upon seeing a formation they merely pretended to attack and then prepared to retreat.

Unexpectedly, Pei Yong took the initiative, leading his army to chase out.

The sight frightened them so much that they turned and fled.

And the third route Imperial Guard simply never attacked Qiming City before turning tail and fleeing, fearing encirclement by Pei Yong's large army.

They were the farthest away and had penetrated deepest into the eastern interior, making them also the most dangerous.

The third route Imperial Guard, also fearing interception by Pei Yong's army, split into three columns, each with over three thousand, scattering toward the Royal City to retreat.

Seeing a chance to capture prisoners, Xiao Yunfang immediately sent Qiong Qi, Liu Yang, and Mo Shaowen, leading three thousand Ninth Realm prisoners and fifty Soul Cultivators, to let the second route Imperial Guard pass and go intercept the scattered third route army.

As a result, one of those columns was again halted by Qiong Qi's formation and then captured by Xiao Yunfang, losing over two thousand men.

Regarding this, Mo Xiaotian could do nothing but curse.

He now completely lacks the courage and strength to send out troops.

Thus Ye Liuyun immediately adjusted policy, letting Pei Yong sweep the Southern Region while joining Xiao Yunfang in advancing toward the Royal City.

Upon hearing of the Imperial Guard's crushing defeat, Yuan Hao let out a long sigh, knowing Mo Xiaotian had sent no reinforcements.

"There won't be such a good opportunity again!"