Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1330 - 1323: Pre-war Duel

Chapter 1330: Chapter 1323: Pre-war Duel

Fortunately, despite the propaganda being skewed, the preparations for war proceeded in an orderly fashion. After five days of preparation, the Demon Clan army finally regrouped and marched out of Lingyuan City amidst the cheers of their people, heading towards Wufeng City over a hundred kilometers away.

As part of the military observation group, the Advance Team participated fully in this action, following the Demon Clan army to the front lines.

For this expedition, the Demon Clan had practically emptied the army from the city, leaving fewer than five thousand to defend it. The number of troops sent to battle was a massive fifty thousand, representing the entirety of the Demon Clans’ elite.

If these fifty thousand were lost, then even if the Demon Clan didn’t face immediate extinction, they would no longer possess the strength to counterattack, and the southwestern part of West Outer Heaven would effectively be incorporated into the territory of the Dongsheng Empire.

Moreover, if this military operation failed, the united front that had been so difficult to establish over the past month would collapse completely. The Beast Head Tribe might even abandon the Beast-Ear Race altogether and retreat to the northern part of West Outer Heaven, refusing to participate in any counterattacks.

Therefore, victory in this battle was paramount, both subjectively and objectively—they couldn’t afford to lose. Otherwise, the Leader of the Demon Clan would not have agreed to Luo’er’s plan to establish a connection with the Dongsheng commander.

Because of this plan, before the official counteroffensive began, the Demon Clan had eliminated most of the forces that the Dongsheng army relied upon—the Generals—thereby significantly weakening the military power of Dongsheng.

That’s why Luo’er didn’t take Xuan’s betrayal to heart; from the start, Luo’er had never expected him to abandon the city and retreat. It was easy to guess that Xuan wouldn’t be able to bear the blame for losing so many troops and even the city of Wufeng without having done anything.

Thus, Xuan had to put up resistance, even if it was just for show, to avoid the perception that he had retreated without fighting.

Understanding the concerns of the Dongsheng commander, Luo’er was full of confidence for this expedition, because after all, some high-ranking individuals within the Dongsheng Empire really didn’t wish to immediately exterminate the Demon Clan. They preferred to maintain a weakened state to avoid power imbalances within the Empire.

Although Luo’er was unaware of the political strife within the Dongsheng Empire, he saw this as a rare opportunity. The Dongsheng Empire appeared externally strong but internally weak. Their powerful armies were handicapped by a fragmented command structure which led directly or indirectly to many troubles.

Three days later, the Demon Clan army arrived at the frontline camp. After a brief adjustment, they marched directly towards Wufeng City, setting up camp about a kilometer outside the city, and issued a challenge to duel with the enemy.

This practice was baffling to the Advance Team, accustomed to modern warfare; the idea of sending a challenge for a duel when they could instead storm the city was incomprehensible.

However, a look at history reveals that this was how wars were conducted on Earth in ancient times—this was the so-called decisive battle. The aim of a decisive battle was to eliminate the enemy’s living forces, with both sides committing a significant amount of military power to the confrontation until one side was defeated and no longer capable of resistance, thus securing strategic victory.

Initially, Luo’er had suspected that the Dongsheng army would defend Wufeng City without venturing out. But to his surprise, the Dongsheng forces responded immediately, arranging for both parties to array their troops outside of Wufeng City for a decisive battle the following noon.

When the time came the next day at noon, as expected, the Dongsheng army emerged in full force outside Wufeng City, forming up against the fully prepared Demon Clan army.

At noon, in accordance with the agreement, both sides began the formal battle. But before the actual fighting commenced, in keeping with tradition, there were duels between warriors.

This was a tradition that the Advance Team found perplexing, yet both the Dongsheng Empire and Abisien adhered to it, with warriors from both sides dueling before the start of the actual battle.

They had already witnessed this custom back in Lingyuan City. Once the warriors began their duels, unless one side conceded, the duels would continue unabated until the sounding of the retreat at night, with the battle resuming the next day.

So when they saw that the warrior duels had begun, Hu Daoke and his group couldn’t help but let out a lament—if nothing unexpected happened, this round of duels would probably last until they had to cease fighting for the night.

The two sides first sent out lesser warriors to duel. Unlike previous encounters, the area was large enough to allow for mounted combat. After a fierce exchange, both sides had their victories and defeats, fighting to a standstill.

With the escalation in scale, the great generals of both sides began to ride out, and representing the Demon Clan’s army in the duel was Bai Po of the Luwu Clan. To tell the truth, Luo’er was really worried about him because in the duels, the defeated side would either die or flee.

And for the Luwu Clan, it was absolutely intolerable for their leader to flee in defeat. So Luo’er was very concerned that once Bai Po was defeated, death would surely be the only thing awaiting him.

However, Luo’er’s worries seemed somewhat superfluous because Bai Po was the leader of the Luwu Clan not only because of his lineage but also because he was really capable in combat.

This time, Bai Po wielded a weapon similar to a glaive, with the blade and the pole each making up half of it, and he swung it mightily, creating a whooshing sound. And beneath him was a fierce beast baring its fangs, looking a bit like a wolf at first glance, but with a much shorter snout; a mount only the leader was qualified to ride.

On the side of the Dongsheng army, the one who stepped forward was a young Ba Path Zhongyan Military General, a very common and unsurprising kind of general in the Dongsheng army.

Although the horses of the Dongsheng army were very tall, when faced with the fierce beast under Bai Po’s loins, they inevitably hesitated, pacing in place and unwilling to move forward.

As the leader of the Luwu Clan, Bai Po never had any fancy combat skills; his method of decapitating generals relied on speed, accuracy, and ruthlessness.

Bai Po didn’t even care whether the Dongsheng General was ready or not, he just urged his fierce beast to charge at him like lightning. He then raised his weapon and brought it down in one swift cut, directly knocking the general off his horse.

But the general was, after all, General Zhongyan; although not as skilled as Bai Po, he still had considerable defense. So, even though the blade struck right on his neck, it didn’t kill him but only knocked him off his horse.

Bai Po had clearly anticipated this outcome. Calmly, he raised his hand for another cut. The general hurriedly raised his weapon to resist, but it was immediately broken by Bai Po’s strike, and the blade hit his shoulder directly.

The general had no strength to resist this blow, and though his state of Ba Path withstood the chopping of the blade, his legs gave in and he knelt down from Bai Po’s slash.

His plight drew a round of mockery from the Demon Clan’s army and caused the Dongsheng army to lose face. In such a battlefield, both sides would rather die in battle than suffer disgrace. It seemed that if the general were lucky enough to survive the ordeal, he would be too ashamed to continue living.

Thinking of his own embarrassing state, the general’s face flushed with anger, and he grabbed Bai Po’s blade trying to stand up. But Bai Po, clearly intending to humiliate him, laughed heartily and pulled his blade free before slashing down again, forcing the general to kneel once more.

"You are not worthy to be my enemy, be gone!" Bai Po clearly didn’t want to waste the effort to kill this General Zhongyan, so instead, he swung his blade and decapitated the general’s horse as a substitute.

The general’s face turned from flushed to pale as he burst into tears and broke out in a cold sweat. Bai Po’s action had undoubtedly signaled his social death; even if he didn’t wish to die, the Dongsheng army would expel him, and Kyushu would no longer have a place for him.

As the general contemplated his future miserable experiences, his eyes reddened with rage, and he let out a roar as he charged at Bai Po. Bai Po turned around and delivered a cut.

This time, the general clearly sought death, so he released his Ba Path state. Bai Po’s blade sliced off his head in one stroke, and blood sprayed everywhere. The general’s head flew into the air and then landed heavily, maintaining an expression of fierce defiance even in death.

"He was a brave man," Bai Po shrugged, seemingly unmoved.

Bai Po’s victory brought cheers from the Demon Clan’s army while the Dongsheng army’s morale plummeted. Facing this scene, another general charged out and spurred his horse toward Bai Po.

In the blink of an eye, the first round of their clash ensued. Bai Po withstood the attack but couldn’t help feeling a numbness in his wrist.

This was a Ba Path Banshan General, specializing in physical strength, which made that last blow incredibly powerful, leaving a clear notch in Bai Po’s blade.

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