Off from a far distance came a long, sharp bugle call that was filled with anxiety. Troops of Qin army, with each soldier stepping on a wing-shaped magical item, were seen flying at top speed towards the battlefield from the horizon, blotting the sky like many large dark clouds. The man who led this aggressive army was Ying Ziying, with eight alligators hovering above his head and issuing loud dragon cries that shook the sky, and wielding the spear in his hand, killing any enemies that came in front of him.
Regardless it was the elite army of Great Yan or the mighty army of Great Chu, all the soldiers and captains that came before Ying Ziying would have their throat pierced through by his spear. Wherever he went, there would be no enemies left within a circumference of ten miles. The spear pierced through the sky and left behind dazzling golden specks, while countless elite soldiers of Chu and Yan fell from the sky with blood spraying from their bodies. Nobody could withstand even a single strike from Ying Ziying's spear.
Resting his eyes on Ying Ziying, who came menacingly with the great army, Jing Ke pulled out a dagger and said coolly, "He is just a junior, let me kill him."
Sticking out his tongue and moistening his lips, Qin Wuyang said with a cold voice, "Don't fight with me this time. Despite everything, this Ying Ziying was once the Emperor of Qin as well. Killing him would be a great enjoyment."
"Don't get too excited, Chief Generals... it is not the time for you to strike yet!" said Mo Di coolly.
As Mo Di's voice rang out, at a distance of about one thousand miles, a few lofty mountains suddenly began to tremble violently amidst a mountain range. Then, these mountains abruptly crumbled, revealing an enormous hole in the ground. From it, a city, purely made using iron and steel, was being pushed high up into the sky by several tens of feet wide fire pillars. It hovered quietly before the Qin army, emanating a dreadful heat and stopped the menacing army from going further. This city was the Mo City, and it was at the tall tower erected right in the center of this city that Wu Qi met Mo Di for the first time.
Although it was an enormous city of steel and iron, it was being secretly transported to this place, and was stealthily hidden under the ground. The energy veins of Earth fire that were flowing under the ground here had provided a sufficient energy supply to Mo City. The crimson red Earth fire pillar kept rushing into the energy core of Mo City, activating the countless defensive runes that were found both outside and inside, making it glint and shimmer, looking a few times larger than its actual size. Like a city of the Heavenly Gods, it peremptorily stopped right before Ying Ziying's chariot.
Following the appearance of Mo City, many rocks on the surrounding mountaintops were removed as well, revealing many caves behind them. Then, numerous disciples of Mo Sect were seen pushing one huge machine after another out from these caves. Like the canon that Wu Qi was rather familiar with, these gears of war aimed their muzzles right at the incoming Qin army. At the same time, a massive amount of fire element energies was being supplied into these machines from the underground Earth fire energy vein, causing them to emanate a blinding light, and sending forth an immense murderous aura that wrapped around the incoming Qin army, causing an aura of death to rise from the bottom of their hearts, and a shiver to run down their back.
Suddenly, a large mountain rock splintered, as Bai Qi shot up into the sky from behind it, his body covered in blood. Upon his arrival, he immediately cried out at the top of his voice, "Your Majesty Ziying, retreat now! These are gears of war constructed by Mo Sect. No ordinary soldiers can withstand a single strike from them! Unless it is a cultivator of Gold Core realm and above, no one should stand within their range!"
Before Bai Qi's voice could fade away, over several tens of thousands of Mo Sect's gears of war burst out with a blinding light at the same time from the peaks of several thousand mountains in the vicinity. Large sheets of glowing raindrops swept across the sky, piercing through the bodies of countless Qin soldiers and captains. Shrill and miserable howls filled the atmosphere, while countless bodies turned stiff and fell to the ground.
Deep, muffled booms kept ringing out, as some extraordinarily heavy gears of war shot out one strong beam after another, each about several tens of feet in diameter. When these heavy machines were firing, the underground energy veins were rocking and boiling, the mountain ridges were shaking violently, and the tremendous backlash caused numerous cracks to be opened up in these mountains. A massive amount of earthy gas shot out from these cracks, while the bright beams pierced through the air and plunged right into the dense battle formation of Qin army.
The bright beams exploded, instantly turning many groups of Qin soldiers and captains into nothingness. No matter it was Xiantian, Houtian, or even Human Immortals of early-stage Gold Core realm, when faced with the raging attacks from the weapons of mass destruction secretly produced by Mo Sect, they could only suffer the beating without the ability to fight back. Eventually, they turned into wisps of green smoke that vanished into thin air.
Only Human Immortals of mid-stage Gold Core realm or above, and Earth Immortals or Nascent Soul realm, or cultivators who owned defensive items of magical treasure grade, could keep their lives safe under this ruthless slaughter. Among all the soldiers and captains that Ying Ziying brought with him, only several thousand middle and advanced grade captains, and several tens of thousands of practitioners, could barely form a formation. Relying on the defensive runes unleashed by those practitioners, they managed to survive in this wave of destruction.
When faced with the rapid attacks from several tens of thousands of war machines, in just less than the time to finish a pot of tea, all the ordinary Qin soldiers were already smashed to shreds.
A dead silence reigned the battlefield, as all the generals from three parties stopped their combat at the same time. Even Yuji, Yue Tan, and Yuyao, who were fighting merrily with each other, had halted their attacks. Their faces blanked, looking at the direction where the Qin army was completely wiped out. Body trembling from head to toe, Yuyao looked into the direction and murmured under her breath, "So many people, so many elites, how is it possible to kill all of them in such a short amount of time? How long does it take them to do it?"
Mo Di took a deep breath and said with a very loud voice, "Everybody, we are not in those years anymore, and this place is not the same homeland as where we came from. Let's forget the approaches of besieging cities and fighting with two armies like we used to in those years, as everything is different now. No matter how many soldiers you have in your hand, they can be wiped out completely with just a powerful talisman or magical item!"
He smiled coolly, then continued saying with a soft voice, "As a matter of fact, for the war between us, the Great Yan, Great Chu, and Great Qin, the final victory will be determined by us, the cultivators who lead the dynasties. So, what's the point of having those soldiers below Gold Core realm to participate in the battle? In the end, they contribute nothing but more bloodshed to the warfare."
Hiding deep under the ground, Wu Qi could not help but nod his head, agreeing with what Mo Di just said. It was as if the human race back on earth had invented the nuclear warhead, and they could use it to attack the opponent without any restriction. So, what was the point of deploying ordinary soldiers under such mode of warfare? The high-end power was more than enough to determine the rise or fall of a country. Under such circumstances, Great Qin's action of deploying several millions of soldiers in attacking other dynasties actually did not serve any meaning.
It merely brought Mo Sect more military merit, and made Qin army spill and shed more blood.
Suddenly, Mo City began to tremble violently, with countless runes blinking and glinting on its surface. Then, a loud boom rang out, as the fire pillar shot out from the ground suddenly expanded, now over one thousand feet in diameter, while it kept sending enormous amount of Earth fire energies into Mo City. After that, a cry was heard coming from the city itself. Then, the city wall that was facing Ying Ziying and his company opened slowly by sliding to the left and right, revealing a pitch-black metal cylinder, glinting with a dazzling glow.
An energy that equaled the sum of the energies owned by one hundred Earth Immortals of peak-stage Nascent Soul realm had been gathered right inside this cylinder. It turned into a violent and brutal thunderbolt and shot whistling out from the barrel, then fell right into the defensive formation that was deployed by Ying Ziying and his companies.
The thunderbolt, although less than ten feet in diameter, contained all the energies from one hundred Earth Immortals of peak-stage Nascent Soul realm. It ripped apart the defensive formation very easily, piercing through the bodies of several hundred captains and practitioners from Qin army, and burning them into nothingness in just a blink of an eye. The thunderbolt did not stop there, as it went through the formation and shot into a distance of over one thousand miles, and finally landed on a remote mountain ridge. A blinding light burst out from the horizon, while many mountain ridges near the vicinity turned into nothingness amidst the strong light.
Ying Ziying let out a muffled snort, as he was caught unprepared and had his shoulder grazed by the thunderbolt. A large chunk of his muscles was charred by the thunderbolts, while the tremendous force that came from it knocked him flying far away. He coughed out a mouthful of blood, which was filled with tiny flashing electric arcs.
Looking at the Mo City, and the countless war machines scattered across the battlefield, Ying Ziying appeared to be in a trance, and did not say a word for a very long while.
In the right place, at the right time, the alliance of Great Yan and Great Chu had occupied all the advantages in their hands. Because of a slight reckless decision of Ying Zheng, Great Qin had fallen into the most desperate situation. When Mo Sect finally revealed its ferocious claws, the mighty army of Great Qin, who once unified and ruled the land under the heaven over two thousand years ago, became so weak that they could not even withstand a single strike from their enemy.
As per what Mo Di said earlier, the times had changed, and the people had changed as well. Even armies consisting of several hundred million soldiers were merely cannon fodders to them. Under such circumstances, the scramble for supremacy between different dynasties had to be fought by the cultivators with profound cultivation base. Even Gold Core cultivators did not have the right to participate in the warfare that determined the future fortune of all the dynasties, let alone ordinary soldiers below Gold Core realm.
Using the bloody fact, Mo Di had taught Yan Dan and Qu Ping a very realistic lesson. The warfare in the present times was completely different from those years.
Yan Dan took a deep breath, throwing a look at Mo Di with the utmost respect, then said, "Ying Ziying, bring the rest of your men and leave now! Today, we will claim the life of Ying Zheng. Without the Emperor of Qin Dynasty, without the Imperial Seal, without the Cauldron of Yu, how are you, the Great Qin..."
Hiding under the ground, Wu Qi could not help himself but shake his head. Without the Emperor of Qin Dynasty, Ying Zheng, without the Imperial Seal, without the Cauldron of Yu, could Great Qin still be considered as Great Qin?
All of a sudden, a crazy, a loud and long laugh echoed out, "Stop uttering that nonsense!! Set my Imperial Father free immediately! Or else, I'll drag both of you, Great Yan and Great Chu, to the death with me! Bring me my Imperial Father and all the other ministers and generals now. If you fail to comply, both you and I shall perish here!"
The words then followed by a jarring noise of metal chain, and a prison wrapped in a dark cloud was seen flying quickly towards the battlefield.
Even Wu Qi had poked half of his head out from the ground, looking at the approaching dark cloud. Sure enough, it was a real prison wagon, measuring eighty feet in both width and length, and about thirty feet in height, with four walls made from thick iron bars. Inside the prison wagon was an iron table, an iron bookshelf, and a man with a head of disheveled hairs, messy clothes, and wrists and ankles chained by iron chains. He was sitting behind the iron table, laughing loud and long.
The man had his visage covered by his long hair, and one could only see a pair of fiendish and crazy eyes through the tiny opening between his hair. It was a pair of eyes that looked like a mad dog, flickering with a dazzling green gleam, and lack of any emotions that were owned by ordinary human being. Instead, they were filled with countless crazy and negative emotions. He laughed strangely, then cried out at the top of his voice, "Yan Dan, Qu Ping, come out right now, you two impoverished fellows! Haha, so you two have schemed against my Imperial Father and trapped him here? No bad, huh? It seems like you've improved, becoming stronger than before... Tsk, tsk... I really wish to chop off your heads and make them my urinals pots!"
Suddenly, Qu Ping emerged out of the void, face pale and body bathed in sweats. "Guigu'zi's cultivation base is too profound to be fathomable," whispered Qu Ping. "He had freed himself from my distraction and disappeared without a trace."
Surprised by the news, Yan Dan gave Qu Ping a look and replied in a low voice as well, "It doesn't matter now, as that won't hurt our plan. In just a moment later, all of Ying Zheng's energy will be completely devoured by the Master of Enchantment Palace. He is destined to have his soul disintegrated today, and no one can save him now!"
Yan Dan then took a deep breath and asked with a loud voice, "Who are you? How dare you to utter such wild language?"
The man controlled the prison wagon and came before the Mo City, cackled shrilly and said, "I'm the Prince of Zui of Great Qin, Huhai[1]! Hehe, you should have heard my name before! Set my Imperial Father free now! Or else... twenty-three kingdoms to the west of Great Yan will have their land sinking under the ground, and all the people in those lands will be completely wiped out in an instant!"
Wu Qi shuddered. Abruptly, he shot out from the ground and cried loudly, "Huhai, what did you just say?"
Yan Dan had his body trembled as well. "Huhai, what have you done?!" He roared furiously.
Yet Huhai did not answer them, but kept laughing wildly and said, "Set my Imperial Father free, or destruction shall fall on you and me! Haha, justice and morality have never been my things. Even if I am smitten to shreds by the Heavenly Thunder one day, having my soul completely disintegrated and never to be reincarnated again, I'll have no fear of doing what I'll do! Hahaha, I'll count to three. If I still don't see my Imperial Father, all the hundreds of millions of people in the twenty-three kingdoms to the west of Great Yan will perish together with my Imperial Father!"
Then he raised both hands up in the air, laughed wildly and said, "Oh Heaven, f*ck you! Haha, one!"
A dead silence reigned the place, as no one dared utter a word.
[1] Huhai - He was the son of Qin Shi Huang, and the second emperor of Qin dynasty. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Er_Shi)