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Chapter 222: Chapter 219: Geographical Advantage
The troops marched forward.
Riding the Mechanical Tyrannosaurus, Gu Jinlai was like a flag, moving in the middle of the troop.
Any soldier who looked back and saw the ferocious and terrifying face of the Mechanical Tyrannosaurus, along with its enormous stature, several stories high, would feel a sense of security from deep within.
This heightened their fighting spirit.
At that moment, Lu Zhanfeng approached Gu Jinlai and communicated through Divine Thought, "Venerable Daoist Elder, it’s not that the other Supreme Elders are unwilling to come to our aid, but the Netherworld Sect is watching us closely, tying down our forces. Our Purgatory Sect really is powerless. Before we learned of the Netherworld Sect’s arrival, Venerable Daoist Liu Jingtiao had already informed Supreme Daoist Lu Zhanxian, planning to lead all the Elders to come and assist us."
"I understand,"
Gu Jinlai calmly replied.
Better to rely on oneself than on others.
This principle required no one’s teaching.
Although he had become a Venerable Daoist Elder of the Purgatory Sect, he hadn’t brought any substantial benefits to the Purgatory Sect. In the face of the Netherworld Sect’s threat, it was not surprising for the Purgatory Sect to make this choice.
The main point...
He himself also hoped not to get too entangled with the Purgatory Sect’s affairs.
"It’s good that the Venerable Daoist Elder understands. The truth is... the Netherworld Sect has long been eying our Purgatory Sect. Though they haven’t formed a complete alliance with Dragon Sparrow Manor, they also do not wish to see our sect grow powerful. Once we truly conquer Dragon Sparrow Manor and occupy the territory of three states, the Netherworld Sect will no longer have the power to resist, so they had to take risky military actions, even if it means a full-scale war with our sect,"
Lu Zhanfeng explained.
Gu Jinlai nodded.
The army marched on.
Many Meteor Star Guards dispersed, continuously sending back intelligence.
Nian Buwang also dispatched numerous scouts, staying cautious and preventing any ambushes en route.
Handling an array of big and small issues for an eighty-thousand-strong army is indeed too much, and although the military discipline in this world is strict, people like Nian Buwang who were not of military origin occasionally showed inadequacies.
However, the true purpose of these soldiers was essentially for capitalizing on victories and seizing cities to maintain order.
The real responsibility for storming fortresses still lay with those thirteen hundred Demon God Guards and the artillery troops.
Despite their small number, their well-equipped capabilities made them, in terms of combat effectiveness, superior to the eighty thousand troops.
The army maintained a pace of traveling a hundred miles a day, quickly crossing the borders of Star State and Jiangzhou State, and after several days, arrived at the first city of Jiangzhou’s border, Que Xian City.
Since Dragon Sparrow Manor did not plan to engage in a decisive battle with Gu Jinlai in Que Xian City, there were hardly any soldiers in the city. Additionally, the city’s residents and affluent households had packed up their belongings and food and fled to the capital, Dragon Roar City, leaving behind only the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled.
With no food in the city, those left behind, being unable to fend for themselves, constituted not a source of support but rather a burden for Gu Jinlai.
For this reason, Gu Jinlai had to stop in Que Xian City for a day, delegating a group of people to stay behind and maintain order in the city.
The army continued to move forward.
After five days of marching, they finally entered the territory of Jiangzhou’s capital, Dragon Roar City.
Along the way, they encountered many harassments, but none of these disturbances had any substantial impact on them.
Besides, Gu Jinlai occupied three cities along the way, where he faced almost no resistance.
Although this was partly because Dragon Sparrow Manor had withdrawn their elite forces, as Gu Jinlai closely observed, he noticed one common trait among the residents of these three cities—numbness.
It was similar to the indifference he had noticed among the people of Lingxiao City the first time he visited.
As he delved a bit deeper, soon specific intelligence related to the civilian life in Jiangzhou appeared in Gu Jinlai’s hands.
"The system is similar to that of the Purgatory Sect, with a Supreme Elder who is a Primordial Spirit True Monarch, Divinity Transformation Elders, Refining God Elders, down to Hugging Pill Dharma Protectors, Gang Condensation Supervisors, and Qi Refining Deacons. Besides this system, each city, equivalent to each Elder’s fiefdom, is guided but not directly interfered with by the sect, although a portion of the output from each fiefdom belongs to the Elder and another portion to the sect..."
Gu Jinlai looked at the description in the document in his hand.
An Elder was equivalent to the City Lord of each city.
For example, the first city he occupied, Que Xian City, was actually the fief of Elder Ye Dongliu who had ambushed him earlier.
Beyond the highest ruler, the Elder, typically three institutions were set up: the government office, the Military Affairs Department, and the Martial Arts Association. The government office handled trivial matters within the city, the Military Affairs Department trained the troops to defend the area, and the Martial Arts Association was targeted at the local martial arts schools.
Only masters comparable to the ranks of protectors in Dragon Sparrow Manor could establish martial arts schools, and only disciples from these schools could join the Military Affairs Department.
If not admitted into a martial school and not becoming a disciple or soldier, one virtually had no rights.
Once someone reached the Body Refining Realm and became an official disciple of a martial school, they immediately elevated to a higher societal status. As long as they had a justifiable reason, they could even kill one or two commoners and merely have to pay compensation.
And this world was never short of excuses.
Thus, these official disciples of martial schools would use their martial power and privileged identity to exploit and oppress the surrounding populace to the extreme.
Moreover, local government offices and Martial Arts Associations not only failed to stop this practice, but they also turned a blind eye, thus encouraging the common folk’s aspiration towards martial arts.
Therefore, for these commoners, practicing martial arts, becoming an official disciple of a martial school, joining the army in the future, and eventually becoming an official disciple of Dragon Sparrow Manor represented the only way out for everyone.
Yet, martial training consumed a great deal, and many families, despite pooling all their resources, struggled to support even a single person to reach the Body Refining Realm.
For this reason, often a large family or several households, place all their hopes on a single person.
Once that person entered the Body Refining Realm, in order to repay their family, they would exhaust all means to further oppress and exploit others.
Others, in order to escape this phenomenon, had no choice but to spend large sums of money to train Body Refining Martial Artists.
This consequently formed a cycle.
Everyone was a competitor.
But in this competition, Body Refining, Organ Refining, and Blood Exchange Martial Artists either became the backbone of martial arts schools or joined the military, becoming elite soldiers and fierce warriors. The exceptionally outstanding ones could even break away and join Dragon Sparrow Manor, becoming Outer Disciples. Should they cultivate True Qi and become True Disciples, it would truly be a meteoric rise that brought honor to their ancestors.
"If ordinary people cannot successfully undergo Body Refining, they don’t even have basic human rights; their lives hinge on Martial Artists’ whims. Moreover, some top forces in Dragon Sparrow Manor collude to inflate the prices of all martial arts-related resources, exploiting the populace. Ultimately, countless people exhaust their efforts to train a Body Refining Warrior, working diligently over time until they become indifferent and zombie-like..."
Gu Jinlai put down the intelligence report in his hands, "Thus, these cities appear lifeless, but correspondingly, the number of experts in Dragon Sparrow Manor, Hugging Pill, Refining God, and even Divinity Transformation, far surpasses Star State and even forces like Purgatory Sect."
Similarly, having gone through countless hardships to rise from the bottom to the privileged class of Dragon Sparrow Manor, they naturally make every effort to maintain their status, ruling, and interests.
Therefore...
Dragon Sparrow Manor can maintain an unparalleled unity and resolute determination in their actions.
"Six Great Immortal Sects."
Gu Jinlai said impassively.
He had long known that there was no difference between the Six Great Immortal Sects and the Ten Great Demon Sects, it was merely that the victor is king and the loser the outcast.
Now it seemed...
Indeed, it was true.
"A hundred miles ahead is Dragon Roar City."
Xin Tianqi stepped forward and asked, "Dragon Sparrow Manor and other forces differ; local martial arts schools assist the government in maintaining order. If there are disturbances, they let the military suppress them, and if the military cannot handle it, then experts from Dragon Sparrow Manor intervene. Their military uses purely elite troops, where even the weakest soldier has attained the Body Refining Realm, and now, centering on Dragon Roar City, such elites amount to a total of fifty-six thousand."
Gu Jinlai nodded.
He had well understood this point earlier.
The total military strength of Dragon Sparrow Manor was about eighty thousand.
Dragon Roar City had gathered over fifty thousand...
That already amounted to more than seventy percent of Dragon Sparrow Manor’s forces within their territory.
This battle, Dragon Sparrow Manor indeed intended to wield the entire might of Dragon Sparrow Manor and fight a major decisive battle.
"What do you plan to do?"
Xin Tianqi asked.
"What to do..."
Gu Jinlai’s gaze shifted to a small mountain more than sixty li away from Dragon Roar City.
This mountain was called Dragon Ascending Mountain, stretching forty li long and only thirty li wide, part of the Yunqi Mountain Range, named for its extreme proximity to Dragon Roar City.
And this mountain was also the main battlefield Gu Jinlai had chosen.
"First step, take control of Dragon Ascending Mountain and set up layers of defenses there," Gu Jinlai said. "Dragon Sparrow Manor intends to use the terrain advantage of the Dragon Mysterious Array to wait for our attack. The garrison is basically concentrated in the core area of Dragon Roar City. After all, attackers generally suffer more losses compared to defenders. They only need to wear us down for a while, and gradually, the offensive and defensive dynamics will shift, but..."
He looked up at Gu Chifeng: "Dragon Ascending Mountain cannot be lost, you will lead the Demon God Guards personally."
"Yes." 𝓷ℴ𝓋𝓅𝓊𝒷.𝒸𝓸𝓶
Gu Chifeng responded emphatically.
Seeing this, Xin Tianqi did not say much, merely quietly following behind Gu Jinlai.
The troop continued to advance.
As they neared Dragon Roar City, within a hundred li, scouts were noticeably higher in number, and during this time, elite squads formed by Dragon Sparrow Manor experts even tried to ambush the artillery brigade.
Unfortunately, before they could get close, they were directly shot down by the Demon God Guards.
Thousands of Demon God Guards, along with Divinity Transformation Cultivators like Cheng Wanli, Lu Zhanfeng, Shi Chen, Sha Wujin, and others guarding the flanks, unless Dragon Sparrow Manor’s top experts poured out, such disturbances were merely minor itches to Gu Jinlai’s group.
Dragon Sparrow Manor seemed to realize this, and the frequency of these harassments noticeably decreased.
The next morning.
Gu Jinlai led the Demon God Guards and officially ascended Dragon Ascending Mountain.
After a site inspection, they chose a peak only fifty-some li away from Dragon Roar City as the artillery position.\
Meanwhile, the surrounding people set up various defenses in preparation for Dragon Sparrow Manor trying to retake the mountain.
"You think you can take advantage of the land and defend? Wrong! The advantage of the land belongs to us, Lingxiao City."
