Chaotic World Book
Chapter 420 - 409

Chapter 420: 409

Those who left were not many, some left while others stayed.

The ones in the crowd, whether considered prey or wishing to become the hunters, the truly scheming were all keeping their composure. Those who couldn’t help but show impatience in front of everyone were essentially spoiled playboys, still playboys even though they were now leaders.

When Cui Wenjing and Yang Jingxiu stood here, wisely, even those who had been very reactive just now should have thickened their skins to stay...

Those who could still leave under such circumstances were not to be feared as enemies later, being too superficial.

Tang Buqi didn’t despise them because it reminded him of his past self.

At that moment on Wan Dongliu’s diner when he thrust his sword towards Zhao Changhe, what was the difference between him and them... And Wan Dongliu back then, who kept his composure, was just like these old foxes still present.

All parties were present, it seemed they all thought back to those past events, sharing a look and a smile between them.

Despite not much time having passed, there was always a sense of immense changes, as if everything had changed yet nothing had changed.

Wan Dongliu was still keeping a low profile, Zhao Changhe remained as untamable as ever, Tang Buqi was still a beloved fool.

"I’ll catch up with you later," Tang Buqi murmured softly, striding towards the door, "Please, uncles, come and have a seat..."

Cui Wenjing shook his head, "We won’t steal the spotlight... We are only here to take a look at the corpse of this monk soldier and make some judgments."

Tang Buqi hurriedly said, "Senior, how can you be considered mere guests..."

Yang Jingxiu waved his hand, "You are the chief commander, we are naturally the guests."

Tang Buqi: "..."

Who am I to be a chief commander for these two?

Both of them had led troops before... Cui Wenjing was easier to explain, holding no official Imperial position, merely "an idle gentleman at home", leading troops was a thing of the past for him. Yang Jingxiu was different though, what’s a Grand Commandant? That’s the highest military officer, theoretically overseeing the national military! The reinforcements and ration allocations my side received recently were all signed by Yang Jingxiu, not Tang Wanju.

Of course, Yang Jingxiu didn’t have actual military power. In a time where the Imperial power weakened and each family had a strong sense of independence, not to mention a Grand Commandant, even the Emperor’s power was just so-so. What was truly important was the family identities they represented, and their top-tier personal martial skills.

However, these two were currently examining the corpse, and Tang Buqi, opening his mouth, ultimately refrained from any idle talk.

Zhao Changhe asked, "What do you all think?"

Cui Wenjing said, "These Maitreya Buddhist practitioners don’t have sufficient cultivation, unable to withstand too much empowerment; they can only reach basic invulnerability to blades and spears, and even a strong strike can break it, far inferior to Situ Xiao’s. Moreover, the aftereffects are extremely severe; if my judgment is correct, these thousand monk soldiers are now all useless."

Tang Buqi suddenly realized, "No wonder they only sent out a thousand men, I was thinking before, if they sent out ten thousand, Luling’s troops would surely have been annihilated, I wouldn’t even dare to meet them. Now it seems they couldn’t send more, due to the losses; it’s not possible they transformed everyone..."

He said this, frowning.

If this empowerment state needs time to prepare, meaning they can only transform in batches of a thousand, that would be fortunate. But if they are conserving energy by only empowering a thousand, and they could empower everyone instantly during a major battle, that would be the real trouble.

Although the exact number of remaining soldiers in Huiji was hard to ascertain, results from previous confrontations suggest that the number of remaining Maitreya soldiers definitely would not exceed twenty thousand, half of them wounded at least.

Given what was assumed to be low morale within the city before, thus Zhu Huan’s belief that over ten thousand elite troops could easily take Huiji.

Now knowing there’s no possible morale issue, it could only be nearly twenty thousand invulnerable madmen.

They say this state can only last for the duration of an incense stick when fiercely battling; it’s impossible they were tricked into "activating" and then running off, waiting to be defeated on their own, the other party isn’t foolish. Thus, they must withstand it physically, and it’s not going to be easy.

Both Cui and Yang remained silent, continuing their examination of the monk soldier. Their specific visit’s purpose, evidently more than just contemplating how to counter the monk soldiers, was to catch a glimpse of the magical cultivation level and characteristics from this sort of energy.

After a moment, both nodded their heads, looking quite solemn, "Very strong."

Zhao Changhe heaved a sigh.

There’s a saying, isn’t there... "As long as you show your health bar."

The fear is about barely being able to speculate about the opponent’s level from such a fleeting edge, hearing things like "unfathomably deep" or "unable to estimate" would truly send chills down one’s spine. Being able to solemnly declare their strength indicates that the opponent’s power is not beyond their understanding or scope.

That means there’s still a fight to be had!

"We’ve made some judgments..." Cui Wenjing paused, not publicly stating specific conclusions, just saying to Tang Buqi, "The monk soldiers don’t require preparation time; they can be empowered at any moment, don’t be too hopeful... But the good news is there won’t be many types of these methods acting on others, they should hardly undergo other transformations."

Yang Jingxiu added, "Another piece of good news is they probably can’t endlessly use this empowerment; their numbers can’t be unlimited, at least it’s not possible to empower every citizen in the entire city."

Heavenly List and Earth List, the decisions are made here. Tang Buqi also let out a sigh, clasped his hands, and said, "Now, we have an idea."

Both of them left with a smile, "Alright, whenever you’re ready to move, wait for your military orders."

Tang Buqi felt immense pressure.

Is this battle really that dangerous? It’s already serious that these two were deployed together, but to also personally come to inspect the bodies... What about my aunt?

Tang Buqi finally asked Zhao Changhe in a low voice, "Hey, where’s my aunt? Is she alright?"

Zhao Changhe appeared somewhat helpless, "No, she’s resting, conserving her energy. Wanzhuang feels too responsible, always thinking she’s the main force, putting too much pressure on herself..."

Tang Buqi lowered his voice again, "Shit, there are so many people here, can’t you use a different term to call her? Show some affection?"

Zhao Changhe: "...I’m used to it..."

"Forget it." Tang Buqi sighed, "Are there still people on your side who haven’t arrived?"

"Actually, everyone is here, but these people each have their own temper, and they refuse to come meet and hold meetings..." Zhao Changhe countered, "If you plan to deploy troops, when would you consider?"

Tang Buqi asked, "The Cao Gang and members of the Blood God Sect, after the exhausting journey, do you need some time to rest?"

Xue Canghai said, "We weren’t rushing, so there’s nothing special we need to rest from."

Wan Dongliu laughed, "We came by boat, we’ve had plenty of rest already."

Tang Buqi hesitated for a moment, then asked Zhao Changhe again, "How long does aunt need to recover?"

Zhao Changhe laughed, "It seems Wanzhuang really understands you well... From what you’re suggesting, you really intend to deploy troops immediately?"

"We’ve just suffered heavy losses, and normally, we wouldn’t push back so soon after retreating... but actually, the composition of our troops ensures it really doesn’t affect us..."

This composition of troops meant not only was the timing of deployment unaffected, but fighting independently was also common. Similarly, the newcomers from the Blood God Sect and Cao Gang didn’t need to assimilate with the others, they could just fight on their own.

Tang Buqi said, "Maitreya has never been knowledgeable about military affairs; his past battles were all commanded by his top generals. Now that his renowned generals are in decline, he will definitely not expect that we had just retreated and then suddenly counterattacked. We can certainly catch him off guard."

Zhao Changhe was quite unaccustomed to Tang Buqi’s recent progress and held back a bellyful of quips in front of numerous people in the hall, only managing to seriously say, "I’m even less knowledgeable than Maitreya about military affairs, I’ll listen to you."

"Then..." Tang Buqi’s gaze swept over the people in the hall, and he said word by word, "Gentlemen, we lead the attack, and please don’t just stand by... History is made today!"

On March 18th, the Governor Zhu Huan of Luling had just died in battle outside Huiji city at dawn, Tang Buqi led his troops to assist the returning defeated soldiers.

The Maitreya had just let out a sigh of relief and started a three-day closed-door healing session that same evening. By that evening, a massive army descended on Huiji again.

Although the main forces were not large—the Gusu troops of the Tang family only about ten thousand, and the manpower of the Blood God Sect and Cao Gang even less than ten thousand.

But outsiders did not know that.

If counting all the aristocratic alliance army, they would have tens of thousands; twisting the facts a bit they could even claim to be an army of "eight-hundred-thousand", a massive force covering the sky and shadowing the sun, surround Huiji tightly sealed off.

The temporary Buddhist leader, Fa Zhen, was stunned, his token even dropped from his hand.

The Upper Buddha thought that having just won a battle, they wouldn’t return so soon, and had relaxed into a closed-door session that had just started an hour ago...

Could the battle be fought like this? Could it be that the person who died here at dawn was just part of a decoy strategy you played?

Fa Zhen quickly arranged the city defenses and sent a message to the Maitreya in the Secret Realm. As the command was issued, sword light cascaded like water, covering the setting sun.

Tang Wanzhuang.

Huiji had originally been a land of the Wu, and Tang Wanzhuang was no less familiar with it than the Maitreya Sect that had only been stationed for a year. Even before the great army arrived, they had already quietly entered the city.

Maitreya making such a fatal misjudgment to retreat for closed-door cultivation was as if even the divine wills in the Secret Realm had stopped focusing on the city, leading directly to these people sneaking into the city unnoticed, with no one aware. Meanwhile, the monk soldiers guarding the city were completely unfortified, making Huiji at this moment like a defenseless young girl.

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PS: Speaking of which, we reached the highest historical record with an eighth place on last month’s monthly ticket, very satisfied, thank you, everyone~

But it seems I’ve become the number eight dame...