Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 1302 - 1302 0745 Just Do It_2

Chapter 1302: Chapter 0745: Just Do It_2 Chapter 1302: Chapter 0745: Just Do It_2 Qi Tian didn’t waste any more time on military discipline and sent his orders directly to the five Princes, commanding them to take their respective palace guards to Chaoyang Palace and prepare to encircle it tightly, inside and out, disallowing any slack or errors.

Unable to haggle with Qi Tian, Emperor Wu and the others could only comply with Qi Tian’s commands, then, with their respective followers, they marched mightily toward Chaoyang Palace.

The atmosphere around Chaoyang Palace was bustling, as the cultivators from Xidu and North Capital didn’t consider it their home at all. Within the palace, they did as they pleased. Whether indulging in drink and merriment, or engaging in combat and sparring, all manner of people caused significant damage to Chaoyang Palace.

Some of them gathered outside Chaoyang Palace, and at first, some seriously began to muster troops to defend it, intending to make it their bridgehead for the assault on the Eastern Capital City. But these individuals were few among the crowd, and regardless of their efforts, they never gained support from their allies; eventually, the issue was dropped. However, these diligent and responsible individuals constructed a perimeter of sentry posts outside the palace, using all means at their disposal to bolster its defenses.

By the time Emperor Wu and his men reached Chaoyang Palace, the area was already on high alert, especially those newly constructed sentry posts, which were swords drawn, atmosphere tensed to the breaking point.

Emperor Wu, arriving first at the periphery of Chaoyang Palace with his men, did not attack the sentry posts but signaled his troops into action, swiftly building a blockade at strategic locations, particularly seizing the opportunity to capture more advantageous positions and shrink the maneuvering space for those inside Chaoyang Palace.

Many cultivators had received news of the siege. Some didn’t believe Emperor Wu would actually come with his troops, but others, adopting a better-safe-than-sorry mindset, walked out from Chaoyang Palace to its outskirts. Upon seeing Emperor Wu’s forces encircling the palace, they immediately sensed something was amiss and quickly joined their companions to prepare for defense against them. Some brazen ones stepped forward, demanding a dialogue with Emperor Wu, and without waiting for his response, they shouted at him, accusing him of lacking integrity, of breaking the pact to negotiate the day after tomorrow by taking action today, essentially calling him a fickle and despicable coward.

If this had happened before Qi Tian’s return, Emperor Wu, although displeased by such accusations, would certainly have weighed the pros and cons before responding formally, likely opting to compromise to avoid conflict and buy more time for ‘Chengzhang’.

But that was in the past. Now, the situation had changed. Qi Tian had returned, and regardless of whatever benefits he might have received in the core area, just the shift in mentality alone made Emperor Wu feel as if he had found his backbone. Things he previously dared not do, now he did; words he dared not say, now he spoke; he had become altogether more assertive.

Faced with these ignorant cultivators from other palaces, Emperor Wu simply waved his hand, and a group of cultivators stepped out from behind him, targeting those who dared to challenge him and unleashed a merciless onslaught of the most powerful spells.

The cultivators who had questioned Emperor Jianwu hadn’t expected such a cruel twist. They couldn’t react in time and were instantly engulfed by spells. The unluckiest one turned into a fireball, while the others vomited blood and sustained serious injuries.

Emperor Jianwu coldly looked toward Chaoyang Palace and declared loudly, “You wanted to resolve the issue, didn’t you? Now, I can tell you, if you want to solve this, then immediately roll back to where you came from. Vacate Chaoyang Palace for us and compensate tenfold for the losses you’ve caused our Eastern Capital City. As long as you do these things, we can continue to negotiate. But if you can’t even do this much, then I advise you to hurry up and leave. I promise you, if you delay even a moment longer, you’ll never have the chance to leave Chaoyang Palace.”

Although there were casualties among the cultivators, the remaining ones didn’t take Emperor Jianwu’s warning seriously and burst into laughter, not at all worried. Among the Three Grand Cities in the Imperial Family Secret Territory, the force of Eastern Capital City had always been the weakest. Cultivators from Xidu and North Capital often mocked those from Eastern Capital City. Their bold invasion and occupation of Chaoyang Palace, coveting the interests of Eastern Capital City, stemmed from this fact—they were stronger than Eastern Capital City and had greater force, so they dared to disregard the cultivators of Eastern Capital City.

They might have shared an ancestor a long time ago, but after thousands of years of development, their kinship had become very faint, having already exceeded fifth-degree relations. With this as a premise, robbing Eastern Capital City and divvying up its interests didn’t cause them any moral burden, nor did they feel they would be ashamed to face their ancestors after death.

Emperor Jianwu didn’t continue to waste words with them. He waved his hand again, and more cultivators stood out behind him. They used their strongest techniques without expression and launched their assault on Chaoyang Palace in unison.

At that time, the other princes also rushed over with their followers in a hurry. Seeing Emperor Jianwu had already engaged in battle at Chaoyang Palace, what was there to hesitate about? The princes began to command their subordinates, surrounded Jianwu Palace, and from other angles, started to attack Chaoyang Palace as well.

Almost from the beginning, the battle quickly reached an intense level. Emperor Jianwu and his forces had always been holding back anger. Previously, due to their own weak strength, they couldn’t quickly assemble a force that could contend with Xidu and North Capital, so they had to reluctantly swallow their grievances and fawn upon others, hoping to buy time for their development.

But that didn’t mean they lacked fury in their hearts; there simply hadn’t been the opportunity or the means to vent it. Now things had changed, Qi Tian had returned, and with Qi Tian’s resolute stance, they had nothing to fear and could directly fight following Qi Tian.

After some time into the battle, casualties began to occur on both sides. It must be said that the conciliatory approach Emperor Jianwu had taken in the previous days was not wrong. During the course of the ongoing battle, the side suffering more casualties wasn’t the cultivators occupying Chaoyang Palace but rather Emperor Jianwu’s side leading the attack.

Although there were more of them on Emperor Jianwu’s side, they had fewer experts, and even these experts generally lacked high-quality magical weapons and cultivation techniques; deficiencies abounded. Inside Chaoyang Palace, despite the total number of cultivators being fewer than on Emperor Jianwu’s side, each individual was extremely capable. Moreover, they came prepared, donned in fine armor, with weapons in the left hand and powerful talismans in the right, ready for every eventuality. Clearly, from the moment they entered Chaoyang Palace, they had anticipated today’s events.