Chapter 916: The Great Battle Approaches

The "encircle the point to strike the reinforcements" great battle has continued for several days.

Wei Se participated in several of the plans to lure the enemy into ambushes, and on the whole, things went quite smoothly. The enemy was completely unprepared in this regard at first, and under Wei Se's vivid acting and ability to react to changing circumstances, they were mostly just led into the ditch.

Although he did not personally annihilate all those enemies in the end, it could still be counted as a great merit for him. Within a few days, the number of enemies he had accumulated on his battle record had already reached ten thousand; calling him a "match for ten thousand" would not be an exaggeration.

In most of these instances, he was able to retreat unscathed and without a scratch, though accidents were inevitable; he was injured twice, neither of which were serious, and he recovered quickly under the treatment of the camp physicians.

In this regard, he was considered lucky; other scouts carrying out missions had their covers blown and never returned. Some missions failed, and some even resulted in heavy losses for the ambushing troops—these are things difficult to avoid in war. When two armies are pitted against each other, even with careful planning against the unprepared, casualties cannot be entirely avoided. Being able to trade a small cost for a large number of enemy casualties is already very cost-effective.

However, such smoothness is not the norm and could not possibly continue forever.

"It seems the news has already spread?"

Han Shengyuan said, "It must have spread. The enemy is no longer rushing to reinforce in small groups, but is gathering troops in the central area they control. They have already assembled over one hundred thousand people now. Naturally, they know that sending small squads back is just delivering food to us, so they want to concentrate their strength to crush us in one fell swoop."

Wei Se nodded and said, "This is already not bad; their reaction is still considered slow."

He also knew that any trickery cannot last long. A so-called brilliant plan generally relies on an information gap, striving to obtain the greatest battle results while the opponent is poorly informed. If one can cut the Gordian knot and end the battle quickly, then it is a total victory. But generally, there is no such good fortune.

These past few days have already buried tens of thousands of troops, all taken down by surprise attacks using overwhelming local superiority; it is equivalent to having slashed a great blade out of thin air. Now that this slash is finished, no matter how many remain, one can only face them head-on in a hard grind.

"So... are we going to have a decisive battle?"

Han Shengyuan said, "Yes. The higher-ups have already ordered our camp to temporarily cease activities and wait in place. Perhaps the next order will be to dissolve the Scout Camp and reassign us into various units, waiting to fight the decisive battle on the battlefield."

Wei Se was startled and said, "Why dissolve it? We still have great use on the battlefield. For example, infiltrating the enemy's camp, getting close to those key high-level figures, and delivering a fatal blow at a critical moment—at the very least, we could gain some advantage."

Han Shengyuan said, "Your thinking is good, but the Evil God's side is not stupid either. We have had squads that failed completely, some even taken prisoner; our methods of disguise can no longer be hidden. Under these circumstances, they naturally pay special attention to friend-or-foe identification. Nowadays, they don't know what methods they have used, but they can certainly distinguish who is one of their own and who is an impostor. If we try to get close by pretending again, I fear we will be recognized before we walk a few steps."

He patted Wei Se and said, "In short, we have already done very well this time; we have practically added a layer of buffs to the decisive battle out of thin air, but it has reached its limit. The final great battle still depends on whose strength is greater and whose foundation is deeper. In a head-on collision, I don't think we will lose."

Wei Se said, "Yes..."

Han Shengyuan said, "Why do you still look like you lack confidence? I think we have the advantage. We were already evenly matched with the Tianmo, and now the Tianmo have split out of thin air, with one part joining us to fight the other part. With the rise of one and the fall of the other, we are definitely in the upper hand."

Wei Se revealed a faint smile and nodded in agreement.

However, he clearly did not agree in his heart, because the calculation is different. It is now clear that there are two camps. The Tianmo side that was originally similar in level to humans was actually the Traditional Faction—the Hundred Races camp led by Wanshendian and Haotian—which has now been almost swallowed up, wiped out by the Evil God Camp. This means the Evil God Camp far exceeds the Traditional Faction that was once a match for humans. Now that the remnants of the Traditional Faction have joined the human side, the bonus is actually close to zero. Isn't this just the Human Faction pitted against the Evil God Camp?

Can humans really defeat the Evil God Camp, which was able to crush the Traditional Faction—which had maintained order for thousands of years—into a disastrous defeat within a few years?

He did not share his worries with others because some information was known only to him, coming from Tang Zhao's letters. This was news that someone at his level should not know.

However, thinking of Tang Zhao's letters, he regained some confidence: although Tang Zhao's letters would describe the power of the Evil God and the Tianmo, they were generally full of confidence and high fighting spirit. These might be feigned, but Wei Se felt it didn't look like a pretense; that confidence, sure of success between the lines, could not be faked easily.

Besides, why would Tang Zhao bother to fake things even in private letters to him?

Perhaps he really is confident?

Since the strategy had been adjusted, Wei Se naturally had to obey the orders. He submitted his follow-up plans to the Scout Camp, but did not receive a reply like last time; perhaps it was because the higher-ups considered that the focus was no longer on the scouts?

Yet Wei Se knew the story of the scouts was not over. They, these fake insiders, were no longer of use, but there were still many real insiders in the opposing camp. Those students he had taught at the Research Institute were still lurking in Tianmo Jie. Some had naturally completed their missions or had become "one of their own" in the Haotian Faction, but there were always a few who were truly lurking in the Evil God Camp.

Those spies were the Evil God Camp's own people and would not be screened out by methods detecting temporary external enemies; they might exert unexpected effects in the final battle.

Spies are the "extraordinary"; in the vast and mighty momentum, the role of the extraordinary might flash like a meteor, drawing a brilliant radiance, but what can truly shine upon the sky is the sun, the "orthodox."

The big figures who can determine the fate of the world had already gathered at this time to hold their final deliberations.

In the great camp.

"Haotian Priest, Hutian Priest, Mingtian Priest, and this one..."

"Juntian."

"Oh, I haven't heard of you. Is it my ignorance?" Zhen Jian, who was in charge of reception, was somewhat surprised. "Does your Shendian have a new High Priest? Congratulations."

"Hmm, this is the High Priest of the Taixiong God," Haotian explained to the Human Faction. "He was originally the Great Elder of the Fire Spirit Race, but later received the favor of the Taixiong God, his strength greatly increased, and he stepped into our ranks. He can also represent the will of the Taixiong God."

A strange feeling flashed through Zhen Jian's heart, and he smiled, "So it is the messenger High Priest of the Taixiong God. That is indeed a distinguished guest. Speaking of which, we haven't seen the Taixiong God since that time at Tian Jiang Dao. His status today is pivotal. I was thinking it would be great if the Taixiong God could descend in person, but since his High Priest has come, I suppose that is about the same?"

Zhen Jian felt strange in his heart, and High Priest Juntian felt even stranger.

You say he was originally just a Great Elder of a tiny Fire Spirit Race, so how did he become a top-tier Heaven-reaching High Priest of Lingjie?

Because of the Taixiong God, not only did he become a top-tier High Priest, but even the Fire Spirit Race ascended along with him, and now they are almost becoming the "First God Race."

This was originally a once-in-a-millennium opportunity. If he didn't know the inside story and only served the Taixiong God wholeheartedly, he would certainly be very excited and very honored.

However...

He knew the truth. He knew how the Taixiong God came to be!

That damn thing... is a human impostor god! How can he be the main god of Lingjie? And rule over the Hundred Races of Lingjie?

But things had reached this point, and he absolutely could not turn back. Since he was already unable to get off the ship, he still hoped the ship could sail as far and as fast as possible.

Besides... if he could be a captain or something on this Great Ship, Great Elder Juntian would not be very resistant.

However, seeing this human Sword Saint praising the Taixiong God so much, he muttered even more in his heart: You should know who the Taixiong God is, right? He should be from your side, right? Are you acting as a "shill" for him?

But regardless, the Taixiong God did not give him the task of making contact with the humans, so he naturally would not risk exposing it. He smiled, "I am merely a pair of eyes and ears for my God; I only look, only listen, and do not speak. Priest Haotian is our leader; he makes the decisions. If my God has any instructions, he will descend and speak them in person at the right time."

Zhen Jian clapped his hands and said, "That couldn't be better. We are also waiting to see the demeanor of the Taixiong God. If he can face the Evil God directly, that would be a tremendous help to us."

Haotian said in a deep voice, "Let's not talk about the Evil God for now. Perhaps the Evil God will wake up unexpectedly, but that is just an extra variable; we are mainly here to deal with the Evil God's believers."

The few of them entered the large tent, where Qian Jian and the other Sword Saints were all present. This time, both sides had arrived in full, and it was the final war meeting before the decisive battle. All tactical decisions would be given here; even if there were changes in response to circumstances later, the major strategy would not be shaken.

It is like a hand holding dice; once it leaves, the dice are cast, and one can only look to fate for the result that falls.

In the center of the large tent, there was a huge screen. On the screen was a map; besides the usual icons, there were some arrows flowing, and some numbers on the side were changing in real-time.

Of course, in the corner of this exquisite map, there was, unsurprisingly, the "White Jade Shines" trademark.

"Five hundred thousand..." Haotian saw this most conspicuous number as soon as he entered and read it aloud: "The enemy has already gathered five hundred thousand... damn it."

Haotian was, of course, not ignorant of the battlefield situation; what shocked him was the growth rate of the enemy's army. The number he received when he set out was still four hundred and twenty thousand; it had increased by eighty thousand in just this short while!

These five hundred thousand are not small-fry cannon fodder, but official Tianmo—that is, powerhouses capable of rivaling Sword Guests. As a High Priest of Wanshendian, he didn't even know that Lingjie had such usable combat power! Now they have been rounded up by the Evil God, and seeing that they are all about to die at the hands of humans, while he himself has become an accomplice to the humans—where is the justice in that?

"The news we received here is that if you count the Tian... the Evil God believers who are currently on the march, it can definitely easily exceed eight hundred thousand," Zhen Jian said sternly. "And the limit on our human side is two hundred and eighty thousand, Sword Guests and Spirit Officials."

Haotian said, "Add us... let's count it as one hundred and fifty thousand."

Zhen Jian nodded and said, "Then we have four hundred and thirty thousand standard combat power. Hmm, this time the troop ratio is... two to one."