Chapter 411

Wu Tie stood high in the air, watching the Da Jin troops retreat like a tide before him.

Zhang Xibai died, the hundreds of officers he brought died, along with a large batch of elite soldiers and many core officers.

A snake cannot survive without its head; how much less an army.

Moreover, the army under Zhang Xibai's command, aside from those officers who came from the Shenwei Army and the tens of thousands of elite troops that were its regular forces, the rest of the soldiers were private troops of Zhang Xibai and several major clans under Sima Lang.

The private troops' combat strength and fighting will could not compare at all to the Shenwei Army's elite.

Feeling cheated and trapped, the Silver Dragon King aroused his divine might, commanded the vast aquatic army, and in one fell swoop crushed the disordered Da Jin formation.

Tens of thousands of tenacious Shenwei Army officers and soldiers, after being routed by the Silver Dragon King in utter chaos, saw the other private troops scatter.

They tried to flee by boat, but the Silver Dragon King exhaled a mouthful of freezing mist, freezing dozens of the war barges into solid ice. The routed soldiers had nowhere to go and could only flee in panic toward Dazé City.

Upon reaching Dazé City they discovered that this damned city lacked even a single wall, let alone any defensive formations.

Thus, hundreds of thousands of scattered troops surged straight toward the spatial gate high in the east sky of Dazé City.

In their panic, these scattered troops utterly overlooked the fact that, unless they had reached the Life Pond realm or possessed a defensive secret treasure of Six‑Refined Spirit Weapon grade or higher, attempting to bodily cross such an ultra‑long‑distance spatial gate would surely crush their flesh to pulp.

Behind them came the vicious Silver Dragon King, leading countless feral spirits in hot pursuit, their battle cries shaking heaven and earth, while in the distance great rivers and streams continually surged upward with aquatic clans, excited to join this exhilarating slaughter.

The Silver‑Tongued King withdrew, but some of the ferocious birds he had summoned joined the Silver Dragon King's ranks, taking the lead in using their speed advantage to chase down the routed troops.

The scattered troops' minds were blank; they had no spare thought to consider whether they could safely pass the spatial gate, focusing solely on retreating this way.

In their minds, this was the sole path of escape from the Silver Dragon King's pursuit.

No matter how ferocious the Silver Dragon King, beyond the spatial gate lay a prefecture that had been opened for dozens of years, abounding with experts and garrisoned elite troops, its defenses flawless; should he dare to charge through, he would be the one to suffer.

Wu Tie stood with his hands behind his back, watching the dark mass of panicked troops fleeing from afar.

He shook his head and said coldly, "Ladies and gentlemen, under Da Jin military law, deserting in battle means losing your heads—each and every one of you!"

A commander who had just entered the Embryonic Treasury realm and had his left arm shattered by a single spell from the Silver Dragon King brandished his saber and bellowed hoarsely at Wu Tie: "Huo Xiong, this is none of your business—clear the way, or else…"

Suddenly the commander came to his senses, his eyes widened, and he exclaimed in astonishment, "Weren't you ordered to suppress the Black Phoenix Army? How are you here? What's the deal with the earlier Huo Xiong and Pei Feng? Who killed the prefect…"

Wu Tie flicked his right hand; the Six‑Refined Immortal Sword transformed into a fire dragon that roared as it pierced the commander's chest.

The commander stared blankly; vast flames erupted within his body, and he was quickly reduced to a wisp of ash.

Wu Tie lowered his voice and muttered, "You know too much—hey, why not play dumb instead of acting so clever?"

Naturally, the one who killed Zhang Xibai was Wu Tie.

The one who transformed into Pei Feng was Wu Tie's true self; as for Huo Xiong, that was Wu Tie using a divine ability from his Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique, formed from a single strand of his own hair.

Killing Zhang Xibai could not be done in a single blow by Wu Tie's ordinary strength.

Without mentioning that Six‑Refined Immortal Weapon armor protecting his body, just the pile of defensive secret treasures on Zhang Xibai would make it hard for Wu Tie, relying solely on his own power, to break through in a short time.

Thus, Wu Tie's single piercing strike through Zhang Xibai's body relied on the power of the Water‑Fire Divine Spear.

The Water‑Fire Divine Spear fused with his right arm; a swing of the arm was a swing of the spear, and the innate spirit treasure's power exceeded Wu Tie's expectations, instantly shattering Zhang Xibai's full-body defensive treasures and blasting him to nothing.

Afterwards Wu Tie transformed into a black dragon, posed as the Silver Dragon King's elder brother, and slew the core backbone of the large forces under Zhang Xibai's command.

Thus the water grew ever murkier, the pits more numerous, and many people fell into them.

Wu Tie recalled the whole series of events, then suddenly laughed: "Don't blame me; I merely guessed you'd do this—who knew you actually would?"

A single sword strike killed that commander just moments ago; the routed troops stared, then let out a shout and continued charging at Wu Tie.

Behind Wu Tie loomed the enormous spatial gate; the fleeing troops stared fixedly at it, calculating that if they could burst through that gate they could escape this damned Dazé Prefecture.

Wu Tie shook his head, turned back, and swung his right hand hard at the ultra‑long‑distance spatial gate just beginning to open.

A flash of red lightning streaked by.

This was the power of the Water‑Fire Gourd, the thunderous force within the Water‑Fire Gourd.

Thin rays of lightning struck the spatial gate just beginning to open; its huge curtain shuddered violently, accompanied by a piercing rending sound, as vast amounts of grayish spatial ripples spewed from within the gate, followed by gouts of flame, and continual booming erupted from the crystal pillars composing the gate.

All the routed troops stood frozen in place, staring blankly at the continually exploding spatial gate, each face ashen as they looked at Wu Tie.

"Huo Xiong!" a high‑ranking officer shrieked hysterically, "What are you doing? You've destroyed this gate—we'll all die!"

Wu Tie let out a wild laugh, transformed into a golden streak that howled to the Silver Dragon King's front, then thrust his arm like a spear, striking hard at the Silver Dragon King's chest.

The Silver Dragon King, his eyes red from slaughter, gave a grim chuckle, lowered his voice, and swiped at Wu Tie's fingertips with a claw.

Countless aquatic clans shouted in unison.

Hundreds of thousands of routed troops turned their heads, watching Wu Tie boldly move against the Silver Dragon King, and they could not help but shout in astonishment.

The Silver Dragon King is a colossal demon of unknown age; the dragon race is famed for its formidable flesh, and his bodily strength can only be described as terrifying. At the very least, ordinary immortal weapons striking him would only lightly injure his scales, and actually wounding his flesh is basically impossible.

Wu Tie thrust his arm straight out, his fingertips slamming hard onto the Silver Dragon King's dragon claw.

The Water‑Fire Divine Spear's power burst forth; a flash of black‑red light flickered, then a wail rang out, the ear‑splitting crack like thunder.

Countless aquatic clans shrieked in unison.

Hundreds of thousands of routed troops raised a disbelieving cheer.

Wu Tie's single blow actually shattered the Silver Dragon King's dragon claw, his entire right arm sinking deep into the beast's chest.

"Your arm…" the Silver Dragon King stared blankly at Wu Tie.

"Great demon Silver Dragon King, colluding with native barbarians to assassinate Prefect Zhang Xibai of Dazé Prefecture—your crimes are monstrous, deserving myriad deaths. I, Huo Mou, as commander‑in‑chief of the Da Jin Dazé Prefecture forces, behead this great demon; it is my duty."

Wu Tie looked at the incredulous Silver Dragon King and shouted loudly.

Then he gave his arm a slight tremor, a wisp of the Water‑Fire Divine Spear's aura erupted, and the Silver Dragon King's whole body exploded into a cloud of blood mist.

A dragon pearl the size of a water jar, wholly silver‑white, hovered before Wu Tie; he slightly opened his mouth, the Water‑Fire Gourd flashed within his lips, and the pearl was sucked into the gourd in one gulp.

Wu Tie turned, gazing at the hundreds of thousands of stunned troops, and said coldly, "Swear allegiance to me, and you shall be safe… otherwise, under Da Jin military law, each of you is guilty of a capital crime!"

Hundreds of thousands of routed troops looked at one another; their commanding officers and higher‑ranking commandants had already been slain by that black dragon just moments ago, leaving them leaderless, and having witnessed Wu Tie's might in slaying the Silver Dragon King, within a few breaths low‑rank soldiers began to drop to their knees before him.

Gradually, groups of soldiers knelt in midair before Wu Tie.

Finally, the few remaining officers who had just entered the Embryonic Treasury realm also trembled as they knelt before Wu Tie.

Wu Tie gave a slight smile and nodded in satisfaction.

Behind, the space gate kept exploding open, countless big and small fragments fell from the sky, dragging long black flame tails as they continuously fell into the Great Swamp.

The space gate was destroyed; from the nearest prefectural seat, even using the fastest tower ship, it would take more than three months to reach Great Swamp Prefecture.

Wu Tie thus gained a full three months to increase his strength.

Night fell.

The sky held a bright round moon; fish‑scale‑like thin clouds lay neatly across it, turned translucent by the moonlight, making the whole sky look like the belly of a gigantic flood dragon, exuding an enchanting charm.

Great Swamp City, the residence of Zhang Xibai.

Oh, wrong—this now‑multi‑courtyard residence has become Wu Tie's residence.

Li Erhaozi wore the heavy armor only a Commandant could wear, held a spear shining with silver light, stood proudly at the gate, and looked haughtily at the timid figures peeking from afar.

The prefecture's braggart swaggered, puffing out their chests like they had pigeon breasts, deliberately weighing their steps, marching heavily in circles around the residence.

Zhang Xibai died, his hundreds of officers died, the army he brought to Great Swamp Prefecture surrendered to Wu Tie, and after spending most of the day Wu Tie finally placed a soul seal on all those surrendered troops.

Now Great Swamp Prefecture is dominated solely by Wu Tie.

As the earliest followers of Wu Tie… well, they had followed him only a few days, and were either forced or tricked by Huang Lang into joining his camp, but they were after all the first to follow Wu Tie.

As senior veterans, these prefecture braggarts acted arrogantly, treating themselves as the masters of Great Swamp City.

Inside the residence, in the spacious central audience hall, Wu Tie sat in the chair that had belonged to Zhang Xibai, leisurely examining the gilt‑and‑colored great desk before him, occasionally reaching out to flip through the documents left on it.

The hall was filled with Wu Tie's officers and the core members of the Black Phoenix Army.

Although Zhang Xibai and his trusted officers were all killed, among the army he brought there still survived a few who had previously commanded battlefield formations.

They numbered less than a hundred, yet each had attained the Fetal Storage Realm.

These officers were merely at the entry level of the Fetal Storage Realm, practiced only commonplace techniques, came from low origins, and were all ordinary military households.

Wu Tie was pleased with them.

Their ordinary military household origin shows Wu Tie can easily control them.

Though they practiced only commonplace techniques, they still reached the Fetal Storage Realm, proving their aptitude is good; with a change of technique they could become capable pillars of a region.

Compared to the fierce veteran officers of the Black Phoenix Army, these newly surrendered officers drooped, their faces ashen like defeated roosters. Yet Wu Tie believes that with a little time to cultivate his Ten Divine Arts Secret Techniques and some precious resources, they will quickly regain their brilliance.

Wu Tie's men and the Black Phoenix Army officers stood on either side of the hall; in the center, Huang Lang and Pei Feng glared at each other like fighting cocks.

Great Swamp Prefecture has effectively fallen into Wu Tie's hands.

According to the earlier agreement between Wu Tie and Pei Feng, Great Swamp Prefecture will become a territory jointly enjoyed by them.

But Wu Tie merely reached a rough cooperation plan with Pei Feng, using that as a pretext he single‑handedly killed Zhang Xibai and slaughtered his many officers.

Now Huang Lang and Pei Feng are arguing over the details of the cooperation.

After all, it is about how to make the vast Great Swamp Prefecture more productive, increase its output, and divide its profits.

Ultimately, it comes down to 'profits'.

Pei Feng has her profit demands; she represents the Black Phoenix Army.

At least for now, the Black Phoenix Army is the strongest armed force on Great Swamp Prefecture's territory.

Wu Tie also represents the profit demands of a certain group of people.

For example, Sima You's, Mr. Li's, the master behind Mr. Li's…… even Huang Lang, Huang Yu, Li Erhaozi, and even those worthless prefecture braggarts……

Unbeknownst to him, Wu Tie has also become entangled in countless karmic ties in the Great Jin Divine Kingdom.

Huang Lang and Pei Feng exchanged sharp words, fiercely arguing over the future division of profits.

Without a doubt, Huang Lang held the absolute advantage.

Wu Tie's actions gave Huang Lang ample confidence, while correspondingly Pei Feng's confidence felt a little weak.

After all, he killed Zhang Xibai, the Heavenly Centipede King, the Silver Dragon King, and countless Fetal Storage Realm officers under Zhang Xibai—this achievement is astonishing no matter how he did it.

Soon Huang Lang seized the absolute advantage.

Soon Wu Tie and Pei Feng signed a formal cooperation agreement and each swore a solemn oath.

They agreed to share all profits of Great Swamp Prefecture, with Wu Tie as the lead and Pei Feng as the assistant, working together to enlarge the pie and gradually strengthen their respective powers.

Most importantly, everyone must mobilize all available strength, whether their own or that of their backers.

United against Sima Lang!