Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1388 - 1381: Testing Engagement

Chapter 1388: Chapter 1381: Testing Engagement

Due to the failure of negotiations, the Demon Clan army did not abandon their intention to attack. After a month’s preparation, the Demon Clan army decided to launch a probing attack on the three great aristocratic families, regardless of the ultimate outcome. The first step was to gauge the level of their opponents.

The three great Dongsheng aristocratic families, occupying the last third of the land in West Outer Heaven, were the Yichuan Clan, the Zixia Clan, and the Dangyang Clan. In the context of the Kyushu language, "氏" actually refers to a surname, not a clan, so these families should not be called clans.

These three great families, Yichuan, Zixia, and Dangyang, directly translated into Chinese, simply mean those with the surnames Yichuan, Zixia, and Dangyang.

Such surnames are unique to the Dongsheng Empire, or should I say, to Kyushu. It is regulated by the Dongsheng Empire that only aristocrats have surnames, which are generally compound surnames with two syllables. Moreover, their names are also interesting, generally consisting of only one syllable.

To give a simple example, Feng is considered part of the Royal Bailong Clan, so her surname is Bailong, and her name Feng also happens to have only one syllable. Therefore, her full name would be Bailong Feng, and Cheng Ziang and his peers should refer to her as such.

However, it’s clear that Feng does not approve of such a title, for she does not consider herself part of the Kyushu Bailong Royal Family. She prefers to be called Feng or Little Fengye.

By the same token, the commander of the Dongsheng army named Xuan should have only the name Xuan. As for his surname, that remains unknown, but it is certain that he is definitely an aristocrat, hence he must possess a prestigious compound surname.

So, what about commoners? Commoners generally only have names, often consisting of two or three syllables, distinguishing them from the aristocratic names. For instance, the merchant named Boyan whom Cheng Ziang and others met has the name Boyan and, being a merchant, he does not bear a surname.

These three great aristocratic families occupy the remaining cities of West Outer Heaven, which holds the most fertile lands of the region. Not only are the resources abundant, but the climate is also very pleasant. Consequently, whenever a war breaks out, these strongholds are always first to bear the brunt, being engulfed by invading forces from Kyushu.

Summarizing the history of wars, Luo’er and others have found that the invasions of West Outer Heaven by the Kyushu Empire are invariably for Magic Crystals. This war, which has lasted for hundreds or even a thousand years, can almost be termed the Thousand-Year Magic Crystal War.

And resisting the invasion of the Kyushu Empire are not only the members of the Demon Clan. Historically, the Thousand Peaks Cloud Top, Yipa, and even Shanyue Fengyu have participated in the wars to resist the invasion by the Kyushu Empire.

A typical example is Shanyue Fengyu, the main body of which is the Shanyue people. The commander being bordering on West Outer Heaven means that there are many demon hybrids within the country, and of course, they can be directly considered as members of the Demon Clan.

The Demon Clan cannot cultivate, and the innate talents of the Shanyue people also do not allow for cultivation, thus Shanyue Fengyu generally adopts an indifferent attitude towards cultivation.

This very indifference has made them an important land route connecting Kyushu and West Outer Heaven. Their merchants turn over Magic Crystals to the plague-of-cultivation Kyushu, making a fortune. Whenever the Kyushu Empire decides to invade West Outer Heaven, it is essentially cutting off their source of wealth.

Thus, before Fengyu submitted to the Dongsheng Empire, it was consistently the most steadfast ally of the Demon Clan, and there was even a time when it nearly counter-attacked towards the mainland of Kyushu with the Demon Clan.

Moreover, disputes are not only economic; there’s mutual disdain among the civilians. Owing to the poor cultivation talents of the Shanyue people, the people of Kyushu seldom interact with them, considering them as lowly as the Demon Clan and subjecting them to various forms of discrimination and ridicule, which sharpens the contradictions between the civilians of both sides.

It is because of these reasons that when the Demon Clan invited the demons from within Fengyu to join them, the official stance of Fengyu was to turn a blind eye, pretending to see nothing and allowing its subjects to flee to West Outer Heaven.

The Shanyue people and the Kyushu people disdain each other, and hence naturally dismiss the stranded aristocrats of Kyushu in West Outer Heaven. In fact, if possible, these three great aristocratic families, relying solely on their own financial power, could expand their armies to more than one hundred thousand or even over two hundred thousand.

Regrettably, the Shanyue people showed little interest in joining the private soldiers of the aristocratic families. Only a small portion of the Shanyue people, lacking money, joined the private soldiers, becoming mercenaries. However, since these individuals already harbored animosity towards the people of Kyushu, one could imagine their combat effectiveness on the battlefield.

Therefore, whenever the three major aristocratic families sought to resist the counterattack of the Demon Clan army, their reliance was still solely on their foundational members; the additional recruits were merely for show.

After ten days of marching, the grand army of the Demon Clan was approaching Linshui, a city occupied by the Yichuan Clan. The Yichuan Clan hastily dispatched the Nine Thousand Battalion to intercept them, and both armies met in a canyon, poised for battle.

Since it was a probing attack, the Demon Clan army was very cautious, not intending to directly confront these adversaries. Once they arranged their formation, the Demon Clan artillery directly opened fire on the Nine Thousand Battalion.

The Nine Thousand Battalion of the Yichuan Clan seemed no different from the Dongsheng army at the outbreak of the retaliatory war; they first thought about sending a General to challenge for a duel. However, the Demon Clan army had no interest in engaging and bombarded them with artillery, killing the General’s mount and forcing the General to flee in embarrassment.

Cheng Ziang personally saw a solid cannonball hit the General, but he, acting as if nothing had happened, took a tumble and continued running, clearly also a master of the Ba Path.

The Nine Thousand Battalion of the Yichuan Clan never seemed to learn from the continuous defeats of the Dongsheng army, still adhering to a conventional visual range warfare layout. This time they faced a disastrous outcome, with the Demon Clan’s direct-fire infantry artillery hitting their command formation and mortars devastating even their rearguard.

The Demon Clan artillery’s barrage threw the Nine Thousand Battalion into disarray, but they managed to stabilize their formation eventually. Realizing they couldn’t fight as before, the commander of the Nine Thousand Battalion took the initiative to attack.

The canyon terrain was unsuitable for a cavalry charge, so the Nine Thousand Battalion dispatched an elite force of over three hundred men who rapidly advanced toward the Demon Clan army.

This was the first time Cheng Ziang had seen such a tactic, sending out three hundred men recklessly. However, he noticed that these three hundred men certainly had the credentials to be reckless, as they were all Cultivators.

It goes without saying how strong Cultivators are. The Demon Clan army managed to defeat the Dongsheng army precisely because they had eliminated scattered Dongsheng Generals in previous battles, leaving the Dongsheng army with no room to resist.

These three hundred men charged through the artillery fire, which didn’t cause them too much harm; two rounds of artillery resulted in only a dozen casualties. Cheng Ziang even saw someone catch a cannonball, something he could never have imagined.

Soon, the remaining men entered the musket range of the Demon Clan army. The line infantry of the Demon Clan moved forward and, at the commander’s signal, began firing continuously, echoing through the canyon.

Disappointingly for them, if the cannonballs couldn’t stop these men, the muskets stood even less of a chance. After three volleys, more than two hundred men remained, having the ferocity of wolves as they launched their charge.

Realizing the situation was unfavorable, Yunji immediately ordered the line infantry to retreat, while the spear and shield bearers moved forward to prepare for the incoming attack.

The spear and shield bearers of the Demon Clan had just formed up when the two hundred-plus men reached them, and the mortal bodies of the Demon Clan soldiers were no match for these Cultivators. Soon after contact, the Demon Clan formation suffered heavy casualties.

Faced with this situation, Yunji grew nervous and looked to Cheng Ziang and others for help.

Noticing Yunji’s gaze, the three exchanged looks and then took up their weapons, beginning to fire toward the front line.

It must be said, although these men were impervious to blades and could catch cannonballs, they were no match for Yuanzi weapons. To avoid friendly fire, the three adopted an arcing fire method, but the Yuanzi Group’s projectiles still tracked precisely like homing bullets, striking the Cultivators’ abdomens where they gathered their qi in the Dantian, shattering it completely.

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