Chapter 361: How to Continue the Past

The envoy left in a dejected manner, and Li Zhi walked into the council hall with several generals.

Looking at the miserable cultivators of the Primeval Palace, Li Zhi gave a bitter smile and said, "I burned two substitute puppets in a row before I knew something big had happened here, so I brought troops to take a look. It seems that under the Great Karma Curse, everyone is having a hard time. Brother Wei... he... he..."

Li Zhi's words were suddenly interrupted.

Standing at the main peak, he could gradually feel that the Qingming domain was dead and silent, with less than one-tenth of the domain power remaining.

This was a sign that the Domain Lord had completely lost contact with the Domain Stone, and the Domain Stone was sleeping on its own. After some time, the domain would slowly retreat, returning to its most basic state. For Qingming, the domain would shrink back to about one hundred miles.

Li Zhi's voice suddenly choked with sobs; he was now a Domain Lord himself, so he naturally knew what this sign meant. Wei Yuan had already fallen.

Li Zhi did not hide it either, reaching out to wipe the tears from his face, gritting his teeth as he said, "Brother left suddenly, and I suppose he didn't leave any last words. But as far as I know, even if Qingming were fed to the dogs, Brother would never want it to fall into the hands of the Xu family! I don't have anything to help him with, but I must at least fight this battle with the Xu family!"

All the cultivators said, "It should be so!"

"Good!" Li Zhi turned his head and said to a Dharma Form cultivator behind him, "You return to the domain now and mobilize another five thousand light cavalry! Be quick!"

"Then there will only be two thousand guards left in the domain."

"Don't worry about that for now. I'll go back after this battle is fought."

The Dharma Form cultivator nodded, turned, and left, disappearing in an instant.

Li Zhi said, "I brought twenty thousand elites this time, plus the subsequent five thousand light cavalry, totaling twenty-five thousand. I'll say this with the earth as my witness: I have some small insights into governing troops; I will command this battle, how about that?"

The cultivators of the Primeval Palace discussed it and had no objections.

During the last great battle with the Xu family, everyone had seen Li Zhi's ability to lead troops. Although he was not as much in the limelight as Wei Yuan, he could defeat the many with the few, using five thousand light cavalry to successively defeat enemy forces several times his own size, and even broke into a large camp, capturing tens of thousands of laborers.

In terms of leading troops in battle, all the cultivators knew they were not as good as Li Zhi. Fighting a war was not like a duel of magic; it was not that the higher the cultivation, the more powerful one was.

Seeing that everyone had no objections, Li Zhi said to Cui Yu, "How many troops are currently in the domain, and what are their branches?"

In the past few days, Cui Yu had ignored his physical weakness and walked through the entire domain, figuring out the losses and available troops. If Li Zhi had not come, he had intended to lead the troops to fight the Xu family to the death.

Cui Yu immediately said, "Under the Great Karma Curse, over fifty thousand people died in the domain. Although body-forging cultivators are better at resisting, they have a deeper bond with the Domain Lord, so the casualties were heavy, with eight thousand dead. Originally, two towns of elites totaling ten thousand had just been trained, and now seven thousand remain. The standing army in the domain was trained to twenty thousand, and now ten thousand six hundred remain. The rest of the peasant soldiers lost one thousand."

Li Zhi was stunned on the spot: "So many died?! Is the bond actually this deep?!"

Li Zhi considered himself to govern troops with a balance of leniency and strictness, following the righteous path of kings. Although the elite soldiers under his command had been with him longer than these people had been with Wei Yuan, he asked himself, if the Great Karma Curse fell on him, how many people would be implicated and die?

Li Zhi felt it was probably not even one hundred.

How could this barbarian Wei Yuan win the hearts of so many people?

Li Zhi composed himself, spread a map on the table, and began to deploy: "Although the Xu family has many troops, their elites suffered heavy losses last time, and they are mixed with many official troops, so they are large but not elite. I expect them to be slow in action and inflexible in mobilization, so this time we will use Xuan Wei San as a pivot, deploy heavy troops for defense, and withstand their first few waves of attacks. My Southern Qi elites will be deployed on the flank; when the time comes, we will first use light cavalry to cut off their supply lines, and then use elite soldiers to strike from the flank and rear; there should be a chance for victory."

The cultivators could not think of a better method for a while, so Li Zhi began to deploy them on the battlefield according to the strength and configuration of the remaining troops in the domain.

Cui Yu and the other leading cultivators memorized the battle map and were just about to go and deploy them when a cultivator ran in in a panic and said, "It's bad! All the Xu family's envoys have been killed!"

The cultivators were all shocked, and Cui Yu asked, "What happened? Who killed them?"

"It was me." Just as the door opened, Bao Yun walked in.

Cui Yu could hardly believe his eyes and said, "How did you come? Would your family let you come out?"

Bao Yun said, "There was a price."

Cui Yu understood and stopped asking.

Li Zhi looked at this opponent from the imperial examination back then, his expression very complex for a moment, and sighed, "When two countries are at war, do not behead the envoy. He was just a small Dao Foundation cultivator; even if you killed the entire envoy group, what could it change?"

Bao Yun said, "I just killed everyone in the envoy group!"

Li Zhi was stunned, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Bao Yun came to the map, looked at the deployment map on it, and said to Li Zhi, "Is this your strategy?"

"Yes."

"This plan won't work; the chances of winning and losing are equal."

Bao Yun spoke without any politeness, and Li Zhi could not help but feel a bit annoyed, but looking at Bao Yun's slightly tired face, he suddenly saw a huge surging sorrow beneath that superficial calm.

Bao Yun said calmly, "You don't mind if I take command, do you?"

Li Zhi hesitated for a moment, but finally spread his hands, signaling her to do as she pleased.

Bao Yun asked Cui Yu about the remaining troops in the domain, then came to the map, removed the original markings, and said, "I killed the entire envoy group and had people hang the corpses on the edge of the domain, and passed the heads to all the cities in the domain, just to let everyone know one thing: this is a life-and-death feud; either the enemy dies or I die; there is no room for any relaxation."

Li Zhi opened his mouth, but finally said nothing.

Bao Yun pointed to the front of the Xu family's army and said, "Set up a defensive line here, led by Senior Brother Cui with five thousand men to hold firm, and form a mutual support angle with Xuan Wei San. These five thousand men don't need to be too strong, nor too weak; medium is fine. When only two thousand remain, you can retreat. But before retreating back to here, no more than five hundred can be alive." Cui Yu was stunned and said, "Is this sending us to die?"

"It's not sending you to die; it's dying in battle." Bao Yun's voice was very calm.

"With Senior Brother Cui's fight to the death and these people's feigned defeat to lure the enemy, the Xu family will definitely think the domain is at its wit's end and all elites have been wiped out, and they will definitely drive straight in. As long as they chase for dozens of miles, the Xu family's army will definitely be scattered and in a mess. As long as you can lure fifty thousand people here, it will be enough."

Bao Yun was referring to a flat valley with some small hills of dozens of feet around it, which could barely be used for an ambush.

Bao Yun divided the Xu family youths into left and right teams to ambush here, and when the Xu family army entered the ambush, they would attack from both sides.

Finally, Bao Yun said to Li Zhi, "When the time comes, Brother Li, lead your Southern Qi elite soldiers and kill from where the Xu family's private army and official army meet. Don't worry about anything else along the way; head straight for their rear, and then establish a defense on the edge of the domain to prevent the Xu family army from escaping. The five thousand light cavalry will then bypass the flank to cut off their supply route, but you must let them see the movement of the cavalry."

Li Zhi nodded.

"Then everyone take your positions; the decisive battle is the day after tomorrow!"

After the Xu family commander received the news that the envoy group had been completely slaughtered and the headless corpses were hung for display, he was furious and led his army straight in, then met Cui Yu, who was building fortifications to defend outside Xuan Wei San.

The strength of both sides was vastly different, yet they fought for nearly the whole day. All the cultivators of the Primeval Palace went into battle, and although there was only one Dharma Form True Person, True Person Chuhe, they severely injured three Dharma Form Elders of the Xu family.

Near dusk, Cui Yu was also severely injured and had to lead the remnants to retreat. And at this time, the enemy had already left thirty thousand corpses on the battlefield!

After this battle, the Xu family commander picked out four thousand corpses of domain warriors on the battlefield. Eight out of ten of the defenders led by Cui Yu had actually died in this battle.

!.

The commander of the Xu family army was also chilled by this, ordering people to give all the Qingming warriors a thick burial, while he led the main force to pursue Cui Yu, heading straight for the core of the domain. At nightfall, the vanguard entered the ambush circle, the main force was still ten miles away, and the rear guard was even fifty miles away.

Forty thousand youths from both wings killed their way out, advancing slowly with guns, and the firelight sprayed from the gun muzzles lit up the entire battlefield as bright as day. The moment they engaged, the Xu family's vanguard suffered heavy casualties, and the army immediately collapsed.

Under the slow pressure of the forty thousand youths, the collapsed vanguard all surged toward the main force. At this time, Li Zhi led the Southern Qi elite soldiers to kill their way out, tearing the enemy army into two pieces.

This invincible elite team did not linger in the slaughter, heading straight for the rear. Now everyone in the Xu family army knew their rear was about to be cut off, and being rushed by the collapsed soldiers, they instantly fell into chaos, and many took advantage of the night to flee for their lives.

At this time, the seven thousand elites trained by Wei Yuan and Li Zhi's five thousand light cavalry emerged from left and right, surrounding and slaughtering them all the way, leaving the enemy's corpses strewn across the field.

Above the firmament, a white and chubby Daoist saw the army below collapsing and could not help but be furious, hoisting a magic treasure.

At this time, a calm voice sounded from the side: "It's better if we don't interfere in the affairs of the juniors."

The Daoist turned his head abruptly and saw a refined cultivator in silver clothing looking at him with a smile that was not a smile. The Daoist's expression suddenly became solemn, saying, "Bao Manshan! Our families are one; you wouldn't be standing on the side of the Primeval Palace, would you?"

Bao Manshan chuckled and said, "That's a heavy statement; it's just that the junior in the family has an obsession, and we elders naturally cannot watch her path be blocked."

"My Xu family disciples below have suffered heavy casualties; I have to take action."

Bao Manshan said with a smile that was not a smile, "I think it's better not to; if it affects Yun'er's Dao heart, it won't be easy to clean up. Anyway, your Xu family's young people aren't worth much; if they die, just give birth to more, right?"

The white and chubby Daoist became anxious and said, "I'm only saving my Xu family's people; it won't affect your family's junior's Dao path."

Bao Manshan's face suddenly sank, and he said coldly, "Brother Taotie, if fewer of your people below die, it will affect Yun'er's Dao path! Have I made myself clear enough? Or is it that Bao hasn't taken action much in the past two years, so even you dare not give me face?"

The white and chubby Daoist's face changed uncertainly, but seeing the killing intent in Bao Manshan's eyes growing stronger, he finally gritted his teeth and said, "The Immortal Ancestor will naturally want an explanation for this!"

Bao Manshan let out a long laugh and said, "Then ask the ancestor to come earlier; in another ten years, when my Bao family's second Immortal Lord is born, it won't be as easy to talk as it is now!"

The white and chubby Daoist snorted and turned to leave.

Bao Manshan shook his head and sighed, "In the end, he's still timid; he ran really fast! Fellow Daoist Zhu, come out."

The red-clothed woman appeared from the void and said, "He is suspicious by nature and will definitely suspect the possibility of you and me joining forces; it's normal for him to run."

Bao Manshan looked the red-clothed woman up and down and suddenly said, "The Great Karma Curse fell; you definitely couldn't have escaped. I'm very curious now, just how severely injured are you?"

Zhu Yuanjin said, "Why don't you try and see?"

Bao Manshan looked like he was eager to try, but in the end, he did not take action. And just at this moment, a shout suddenly sounded behind Zhu Yuanjin: "Let me try!"

Taotie had actually gone and returned, quietly hiding nearby. He used all his strength the moment he took action, directly using a killing move!

A flash of light in the firmament, followed by blood spilling across the sky!

A long trail of blood trailed behind True Lord Taotie as he fled in an instant, his painful roars along the way sounding like thunder, *boom-boom-rumble*.

Zhu Yuanjin tucked a shiny little knife into her sleeve.

Bao Manshan shook his head with a laugh and said, "This guy is really not very smart; he wouldn't think, how could you sit in the fragmentation for so long without means to deceive the heavenly secrets? It's not impossible for you to want to deceive the Great Karma Curse."

"I must also thank Fellow Daoist for your cooperation."

Bao Manshan looked down and said, "I was only doing it for little girl Yun. After this matter, her fate with you will be exhausted."

"It should be so."

Bao Manshan suddenly smiled and said, "If that kid Wei Yuan is still alive, tell him that if he still wants to continue this past fate, then come to the Bao family. At least I won't make things difficult for him here."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 362 =====