The forces of all three groups soon met up with one another. Besides Qian'Er and Xue'Er's forces sustaining about forty casualties, the other two groups barely suffered any damage to their troops. No surprise there, given the way they had been fighting.
When the three Mountain Chieftains met one another, they were filled with excitement. Not only did they successfully finished the Manor Head's commands, they even completely eliminated all their enemies.
"Brothers, we've won!" shouted Mount Spiritual Longevity's Mountain Chieftain Xiang Dongliu. Naturally, he didn't miss the chance to offer some shallow flattery as well. "This is all thanks to the Manor Head's brilliant strategy!"
"All hail the Manor Head!" the crowd cheered fervently.
Everyone was in high spirits and even felt a little full of themselves. After all, no one knew how many years it had been since a battle was last fought in the entire Suppressing Tenth Hall domain, much less Raincloud Manor alone. They could totally boast to the others after this— 'We've actually participated in a full-scale war! And one where we completely eliminated all our enemies, at that!'
As for the consequences, none of them were too worried about that. After all, the Manor Head would be the one to take responsibility if anything were to happen. They were just following orders. No matter what happened, they would not be blamed for it. In short, this experience alone was significant enough as bragging material to last them a long time in the Suppressing Tenth Hall.
However, Qian'Er and Xue'Er couldn't find it in themselves to rejoice. They were extremely worried about the situation in the other groups, and immediately assembled the remaining Mountain Chieftains and Troop Inspectors, requesting that they go forward to assist the others.
Since the two Aunties had spoken, and them realizing that the war wasn't actually as scary as they thought it would be, the crowd quickly cheered on in agreement without any hesitation.
Right as Xue'Er released the spirit eagle to send a message to Miao Yi, the Mountain Chieftain of Mount Spiritual Longevity raised his arm and shouted, "Brothers! Let us go assist the other groups! If things don't look too good, we'll give them a hand!" The crowd immediately cheered in response.
And thus, the massive army hastily galloped towards their next destination.
When they met up with the forces of Chen Fei and the other two Troop Inspectors, Qian'Er and Xue'Er found out that the other party had met with the same situation they had when they were attacking Mount Hui Yan earlier on. The enemies became desperate as Chen Fei and the others surrounded them, and around a dozen of them managed to escape. Chen Fei himself had sustained severe injuries as well. He was not as well-equipped as Qian'Er and Xue'Er were, and had almost lost his life fighting against a Blue Lotus cultivator on the enemy side. Had the enemy not been frantic about escaping—and the other troops had not been worried about something happening to the Manor Head's trusted aide and thus, risked their lives to save him—Chen Fei would have lain permanently to rest in this place.
However, Chen Fei could not accept this failure. He was Miao Yi's trusted aide who carried his master's expectations. How could he allow himself to suffer such a setback? He immediately rallied the troops and gave chase to the enemy.
Worried that something would happen to Chen Fei, Qian'Er and Xue'Er immediately commanded Mountain Chieftain Xiang Dongliu from Mount Spiritual Longevity to gather all the troops under his command and assist him. Meanwhile, the two young ladies led the remaining forces and rushed to meet up with the other groups.
When they met up with another group, they found that the other party had committed the same mistake that Mount Hongdong's Mountain Chieftain Cheng Hailiang had almost made earlier on. Troop Inspector and Advisor Hu Defu had ordered his troops to charge straight into the enemy lines and thus were only able to eliminate some of them. The enemy Mountain Chieftain was able to lead around several dozen men away in an escape.
Perhaps he thought the enemy could be easily defeated, or just simply afraid of failing in the Manor Head's task, Advisor Hu Defu also rallied a significant portion of his troops to chase after the ones that had escaped.
When Qian'Er and Xue'Er had finally reached the battlefield of a different Advisor, Advisor Han Chunfeng, they found that the other party wasn't engaged in battle at all. The two young ladies bumped into several of the Raincloud Manor troops and asked what happened. The answer shocked them greatly.
Even the other Raincloud Manor troops under the two young ladies couldn't help their shock!
After Advisor Han Chunfeng had met up with the other two groups from Mulberry Cloud Manor, which also had two Advisors as their Troop Inspectors, the three of them shared the same detestable notion of escaping. They believed that there wasn't any point to winning to such a battle, and were worried that the top brass would pin the blame on them for this incident, so they thought—'Why should we risk our lives for such a thing?' Thus, after some discussion between themselves, the Advisors from both Manors decided to encourage their troops to run away.
Of course, by running away, they didn't mean to run back to Raincloud Manor. They were not that stupid. They would just be delivering themselves into Miao Yi's grasp if they did such a thing. Naturally, they weren't intending on escaping to Mulberry Cloud Manor either. Instead, they planned to circle around Raincloud Manor and escape to the neighboring Pure Dream Manor. Once Suppressing Tenth Hall was done settling this troublesome affair, it would be safe for them to come back out again.
Furthermore, out of the three Mountains' worth of forces the three Advisors had brought along with them, almost two hundred of them agreed with their plans of escape. Meanwhile, the remaining forces decided to head back to their own respective factions. After all, it was rather dangerous to fight with their numbers alone. It was already good enough of them not to have escaped along with the others!
However, this subsequently caused the members of the entire Mount Iron Bar—which was their supposed attack target—along with the forces of their subordinate Caves, to rally together to defend themselves. It was likely that they had already gone and requested help from Tranquil Sun Manor as well.
Coincidentally, Miao Yi and his Raincloud Manor troops were rushing towards the battlefield here as well.
When he caught wind of the shocking news, Miao Yi bellowed furiously, "Deserters!" He turned his head and continued, "Mu Tailai!"
"Here!" Advisor Mu Tailai hurriedly stepped forward with cupped fists. The Manor Head's inconceivably speedy subjugation of the entire Tranquil Sun Manor already had him trembling at his feet.
Miao Yi quickly wrote down a letter and tossed it to him, instructing coldly, "I command you to lead the troops of our Raincloud Manor headquarters, and bestow upon you the authority to command five Mountains' worth of soldiers. Chase after those traitors this instant! Head straight into Pure Dream Manor territory. Regardless of where Han Chunfeng and the others choose to hide, surround them immediately! Don't let them escape! At the same time, present this letter to the party harboring them, and command them to hand over those traitors immediately. Otherwise, the next one to suffer my wrath after Tranquil Sun Manor will be them! I will personally lead my forces to trample all over their Pure Dream Manor and give them hell! Go now! I will join you after taking care of the remaining enemies! Remember to leave signs along the way!"
"Understood!" Mu Tailai immediately acknowledged the order, swiftly departing after taking command of the troops!
Miao Yi swept a cold gaze across the ones left behind. He pointed forward with his hand and yelled, "The rest of you, surround Mount Iron Bar this instant! Those who disobey will be shown no mercy!"
With around two hundred members remaining, Miao Yi galloped towards Mount Iron Bar. Once there, his forces immediately surrounded the one hundred people bundled up together. They still had no idea why all this was happening, primarily because there still hadn't been any word from Tranquil Sun Manor after their request for support.
"Our Tranquil Sun Manor has never done anything to offend your Raincloud Manor. Why are you doing such a thing?!"
The Mount Iron Bar Mountain Chieftain who had gathered about one hundred of his subordinates together shouted in bewilderment.
Miao Yi completely ignored him, and commanded his troops, "Make sure you don't leave any gaps in the formation. If any one of them makes it past, I'll kill you! Same goes to those who shirk away from battle. Your Manor Head will be joining in the struggle, so you idiots better open your eyes wide and watch how a battle should actually be fought!"
As he said this, the Inversed-Scales Spear danced in his arms and roared like a dragon. Miao Yi pointed the spear forward, and Charcoal neighed excitedly before charging out like a storm. Neither man nor steed was wearing a single piece of armor as they bolted straight into enemy lines.
'My god, he's going in alone!' The troops from Raincloud Manor were actually wide-eyed with shock.
When he noticed there was only one person charging towards them, even though he had heard that the other party was a Subjugation Crusade survivor, the Mount Iron Bar felt a surge of confidence as he shouted, "How dare you underestimate our Tranquil Sun Manor! All of you, attack! The one who takes Miao Yi's head shall be heavily rewarded!"
Immediately, his forces charged out. However, Miao Yi was already upon them, the spear in his hand flickered coldly, the powerful momentum behind it comparable to a fierce dragon.
As though a mighty wave had crashed onto a pillar, agonizing screams echoed forth as one person after another was overturned from their steeds wherever the cold glint passed. It was as though the vast sea had been split with a single stroke of the sword. A single rider charged headfirst into the enemy lines, with not a single person being able to stop him in his path! The Mount Iron Bar Mountain Chieftain didn't even have time to be astonished, not when Miao Yi was already in front of him the next instant. Despite how he anxiously tried to defend himself with a reckless swing of his sword, Miao Yi's spear struck through, piercing through his skull in a single breath and killing him instantly.
Miao Yi didn't stop there. He continued to thrash his way through the crowd, killing from one end of the group to the other. If there were any dragon steeds that dared to stand in his way, they were either knocked flying by Charcoal or sent tumbling across the ground.
In a single gallop, almost thirty people had died to Miao Yi's Inversed-Scales Spear. Those still alive were utterly horrified, and not a single one of them was brave enough to try and stop Miao Yi.
The troops from Raincloud Manor couldn't help sucking in a breath of cold air as they watched what was happening before them. 'This Manor Head is too ferocious! No wonder he managed to cut his way through the other 180,000 cultivators in the Subjugation Crusade and make it back alive!'
Even Qian'Er and Xue'Er couldn't help looking at one another in surprise, their eyes gleaming with admiration. As expected of their Master! It was nothing but a piece of cake for him to deal with these people. There was no need to worry at all!
Soon, Miao Yi turned his dragon steed around and chased after those that were trying to escape. Both his steed and spear were so impeccably fast that all who stood before it perished almost instantly. In just a few moments, the battlefield was filled with the screams of people dying here and there.
Miao Yi constantly went back and forth on his dragon steed, the spear in his hand utterly cold and merciless. In the blink of an eye, over seventy percent of the hundred-strong army had died. As for the rest, they threw caution to the wind and charged straight up against the forces surrounding them, no longer caring whether there were enemies in their path or not. It was simply because they couldn't withstand Miao Yi's assault at all. After all, they didn't see a single person survive a single strike of his spear. Thus, they grew incredibly desperate, running frantically against the encirclement in an attempt to break free.
Meanwhile, with Miao Yi's strength so vividly displayed before them, none of the people encircling the Mount Iron Bar troops dared to dally in their duties, and they immediately cut off all possible paths of retreat for the enemy.
In a little under an hour, the entire battle had ended. The ground was littered with corpses, their blood seeping into the earth along with the pouring rain.
Miao Yi stood in the center of the encirclement. Seeing that the battle was over, he hastily charged out. He didn't slow down in the slightest as he passed everyone by, and simply said, "I want ten of you to stay behind and clean up the battlefield. The others will follow me to Pure Dream Manor and take care of those traitors!" He then continued charging off into the distance.
Still in trepidation over the scene that their Manor Head had just shown them, the forces of Raincloud Manor didn't dare to drag their feet, and they quickly followed after Miao Yi.
If they spared the time to look at the situation before them at the moment, they would realize that when faced with an actual battle, it didn't matter how nice their formation looked.
The grey clouds soon parted and made way for the radiant sun. Miao Yi rode in front, leading his troops across the muddied plains. They didn't stop for anything, charging day in and day out as they galloped all the way across Raincloud Manor, heading straight for Pure Dream Manor.
Miao Yi needed time. He had already cut communications between Tranquil Sun Manor and Suppressing Tenth Hall. And for Pure Dream Manor to get in touch with Suppressing Tenth Hall evidently required a little bit of time as well. As such, he needed to deal with all these traitorous bastards before Suppressing Tenth Hall could even react to this incident. Those bastards must not be let off. Otherwise, it would be hard for him to establish dominance over his subordinates later on!
Little did Miao Yi know that Sikong Wuwei was also stomping his feet in rage when he met up with his own troops. It was bad enough that these new subordinates were utterly useless. To think they were traitorous on top of that as well!
Without any hesitation, Sikong Wuwei immediately led some of his troops in the direction of Pure Dream Manor as well. He too, intended to clear out these seeds of discord and treason from his camp!
Meanwhile, the battles had gone quite smoothly on Thousand Lake Manor's side. After all, Zhao Fei had brought quite a number of his old subordinates along with him, and each of them had strong leadership abilities. However, presently, Zhao Fei was still wearing a cold expression on his face. It was because one of his subordinates had actually done something ridiculous simply because none of his trusted aides acted as Troop Inspectors for that particular group.
His decree clearly stated that all their enemies must die. However, even though those idiots did manage to win in the end, and almost effortlessly at that, they had the bright idea of convincing their enemies to surrender. As a result, there wasn't a single casualty on either side of the battle. Rather, their troops had managed to easily obtain over a hundred prisoners of war!
When Zhao Fei arrived on the battlefield, he asked, atop his mount, "Troop Inspector, Mountain Chieftain, are you two aware of the decree I passed down?"
The Troop Inspector replied, "Yes, my lord!"
"Repeat it again for me!" Zhao Fei said coldly.
After the other party repeated his decree word for word, Zhao Fei said blankly, "Seize them!"
The trusted aides that he brought along with him immediately charged over and restrained the Troop Inspector along with the Mountain Chieftain. The two of them were still wondering whether it was wrong of them to have won the battle, when Zhao Fei commanded coldly, "Death awaits those who disobey my orders!"
Before the Troop Inspector and Mountain Chieftain could even react, Zhao Fei's trusted aides already chopped down with their swords. Two heads then rolled on the ground, shocking all the other troops from Thousand Lake Manor!
Shortly after he had killed those two idiotic subordinates of his, Zhao Fei pointed towards the bound captives they had taken and shouted, "I said not to leave a single survivor. Kill them!"
His trusted aides immediately dashed forward to execute his command. They weren't fazed in the slightest by the other party's pleas at all—no matter how hard they begged, all of them were quickly dispatched. Soon, the battlefield was filled with bloodied corpses.
Zhao Fei turned back to the Thousand Lake Manor troops and said plainly, "On the battlefield, if any of you make the same mistake of disobeying my commands, you will suffer the same consequences. I will kill all of you if I must. There shall be no mercy!"