The Undying Immortal System
Chapter 330: Life 77, Age 74, Martial Sovereign 1

Our final meeting to prepare for the assault was held within my inner world. While this meant that Ning ZeKun couldn’t join us, it allowed Yan to discuss things far more frankly than would have otherwise been possible.

There were three different targets that we wanted to hit: the Zhuge Clan, the Li Clan, and the Nine Rivers Sect. However, because Yan had intimate knowledge of the Zhuge Clan’s defenses, that was where we would aim the main thrust of our first offensive.

Certain Oaths prevented Yan from participating in the actual attack itself, but under the protection of my inner world, he was able to provide us with detailed information about both the Zhuge Clan’s defenses and the weaknesses of said defenses.

The plan was for NiangBa to launch a frontal assault against the clan with the hopes of drawing Zhuge YeDu into a fatal confrontation. Then, during the height of this assault, I would sneak a small team into the clan to raid their vault.

A few of Liang’s enforcers would go with us to serve as muscle, but the two key players would be Meng LuYao and Cai XiaoYu. Having served as my Revered Elder of Light for over a century, LuYao had come a long way in her understanding of illusions. Cai XiaoYu, on the other hand, was one of our most talented users of dark qi. She had been working closely alongside Yan ever since her early days in the Yellow Orchid Academy, and she was more familiar with his plans and strategies than anyone else.

While LuYao and Cai XiaoYu focused on dealing with any illusions we faced, I would be responsible for taking out the clan’s formations. Yan had done the best that he could to prepare me for what lay ahead, but, unfortunately, his understanding of formations was somewhat limited. There was only one formation that he knew we would need to deal with: a Blood Lock. So, he provided me with a large vial of blood to help us bypass it.

Once our preparations were complete, we left Dragon Gate City and traveled to the northern border of the Twin Mountains Sect’s territory, where two armies were already waiting for us.

NiangBa and his lieutenants would lead one of these armies to attack the Zhuge Clan while Yan, Ning ZeKun, and Liang would take the other, larger force to assault the Li Clan. Guided by information provided to us by the members of the Li Clan who had been sent by Emperor Li, this larger force would, hopefully, be able to do significant damage. In truth, though, it was a feint.

Our most powerful warriors were in the smaller force that would attack the Zhuge Clan. The main job of that secondary army was simply to keep the Li’s preoccupied and prevent them from reinforcing the Zhuges.

As for the Jiu Clan and the Nine Rivers Sect, they were still a concern, but since they no longer had a Sovereign to facilitate their troop movements, our strategists didn’t feel the need to send an army to distract them.

Before launching our attack, NiangBa, Liang, Yan, and ShouLi all went up onto a small wooden stage and gave short speeches to the assembled warriors. As they did, I stood quietly in the back and reached out with my soul and spiritual senses to try and detect any energy fluctuations in our surroundings.

After only a few seconds, I let out a loud snort.

There were two portals suspended high in the air, overlooking everything below. Even though they were nearly half a meter in diameter, no one had been able to sense them. They had been hidden from sight by an illusion that was powerful enough to block even my energy vision. Once I knew what to look for, however, I found areas of the sky where the ambient qi flows didn’t quite line up and where the clouds looked… jagged.

It wouldn’t make much of a difference if the Sovereigns saw our last few minutes of preparation or not, but I had never liked the idea of them casually spying on me. Now, I was finally in a position to do something about it.

I began pacing back and forth behind the stage where ShouLi was still in the middle of giving her pre-battle speech.

Moving as nonchalantly as I could, I walked to a spot directly below the two portals.

There, hidden from view, I reached into my inner world and pulled out two handfuls of Rank 6 Explosive Pills. Then, after giving the pills a slight squeeze to activate them, I tossed one handful into each of the portals.

Initially, only a few people saw what I was doing. However, a moment later, when two massive fireballs lit up the sky, everyone took notice.

As a powerful shockwave rocked the world and forced everyone into silence, I stepped onto the small wooden stage and looked around at our gathered armies. After waiting for the noise of the explosion to die down, I told them everything I thought they needed to know. “Don’t die. Use all of your resources to save yourselves, and if you run out, retreat. As long as you survive, we cannot lose.”

Then, I backhanded the air to my left and created a massive portal. “Attack!”

To prevent the Zhuge Clan from immediately ambushing us, I created the exit of my portal atop a small mountain several miles to the east of Lang’ya City. This allowed our entire army to file through and establish a beachhead in peace.

Then, following NiangBa’s command, we marched.

Since the Zhuge Clan was well aware of our impending attack, there was a risk that they would try to ambush us, so NiangBa sent out scouting teams that were tasked with flushing out any hidden attackers.

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However, no ambushes materialized.

According to Yan’s analysis, what Zhuge YeDu prioritized above all else was the growth and development of the Zhuge Clan. Even though he might be able to do serious damage to us by sending ambushers to attack us while we were en route to his city, those ambushers would likely die in the attempt. Considering that, to succeed, those ambushers would have to be amongst the most talented Kings and Emperors in his clan, the chances of him risking them in such an ambush were rather low.

Still, NiangBa was not one to take any chances. He had spent more than a century raiding various empires and harvesting their essence, so he knew how dangerous a hidden enemy could be.

That said, Yan’s prediction was correct, and we made it to the edge of Lang’ya City’s domain without encountering any surprises. The Zhuge Clan and their allies were tucked safely away behind the city’s defensive formations.

As we approached, NiangBa gave the order to take out our siege formations, but the moment he did, the city before us began to blur. Then, over the course of half a minute, Lang’ya City vanished.

A city large enough to house over half a million people had simply… disappeared. The only thing left behind was a barren field.

NiangBa chuckled and shook his head. “Fire!”

Two dozen Rank 6 siege formations lit up with blinding light.

Six formations pulled massive 20-meter-wide stones from the earth, six created giant 15-meter-long spikes of ice, six summoned humongous fireballs nearly 25 meters in diameter, and six sent out torso-thick bolts of lightning.

24 monstrously powerful attacks flew from our ranks.

24 monstrously powerful attacks thudded harmlessly into a barren field.

These attacks kicked up a large cloud of dust and gouged deep furrows into the earth, but it was all meaningless. The attacks had hit nothing but an empty field, after all.

NiangBa furrowed his brow and looked at me.

I wanted to laugh. “Just keep firing.”

Hesitantly, he nodded.

A second round of attacks went out. Then, a third. 72 attacks in total. All of them landed harmlessly in an empty field. However, those who were paying attention would have noticed that the dust cloud had become a bit fuzzy.

When the fourth round of attacks landed, the world in front of us shattered, and we saw 10 of our attacks bounce harmlessly off an invisible barrier while the remaining 14 barreled ahead and smashed into Lang’ya City, which had suddenly reappeared.

The moment after these attacks landed, I sensed a disturbance in space behind NiangBa’s back.

Without pausing for even a second, I rushed over, pulled NiangBa out of the way, and threw a handful of Rank 6 Explosive Pills through the portal that had formed where he had just been standing.

A plume of fire barreled out of this newly formed portal, and an explosion lit up the far side of Lang’ya City.

Then, before I could do anything else, the portal vanished.

In no rush to press his advantage, NiangBa ordered his army to continue its long-range bombardment.

Despite this, Zhuge YeDu refused to send out soldiers to attack us. The only offensive moves he made were two more attempts at using portals to ambush us. However, with my exceptional soul and my high-level space affinity, such attempts were pointless.

Still, as the bombardment dragged on, it was clear that NiangBa wasn’t in as advantageous a position as we might have hoped. He could continue to work on reducing the city’s outer defenses to rubble, but unless one side or the other was willing to commit to an all-out attack, the damage that this bombardment caused was meaningless.

This was precisely what we were hoping for, though.

I stepped up to NiangBa and put a hand on his shoulder. “By now, YeDu is hopefully a bit wary of creating any more portals, but keep a sharp eye out for them just in case.”

NiangBa nodded. “Yes, Ancestor.”

I gave him a soft smile. “Just… stay safe.”

Then, I turned, made a portal, and disappeared.

I appeared in a dimly lit corridor deep in the heart of the Zhuge Clan’s compound.

According to Yan, while the vault didn’t have any formations that could prevent people from directly entering it through a portal, it did have formations designed to sense spatial fluctuations and attack anyone who tried to do so.

To get around this, he had directed me to a corridor that was near the vault while still being outside its protective envelope.

After I appeared, I immediately pulled out LuYao, Cai XiaoYu, and two of Liang’s enforcers. I might have been able to move a bit more stealthily on my own, but pulling them out near the vault would have triggered its defensive formations.

Cai XiaoYu took a moment to gather her bearings. Then, she gestured down the passageway. “Follow me.”

As we walked, I kept my eyes fixed on XiaoYu’s back. Around me, it looked like we were walking down an endless straight corridor, but I knew that this wasn’t the case. I wanted to reach out with my soul to pierce the illusions surrounding us, but since Yan wasn’t sure if this would trigger the formation’s defenses, I held off.

After walking for several minutes, XiaoYu stopped in the middle of the corridor and looked at Meng LuYao.

LuYao nodded, raised her right hand, and shot a beam of light in four different directions.

When the last beam struck an invisible barrier, a huge metal vault door appeared in front of us. In its center, there was an imprint in the shape of a hand.

I looked at one of the enforcers, and he nodded nervously.

Holding his palm in front of him, he used his water qi to drain all of the blood from his hand, causing it to turn ghostly white. Then, I passed him the vial that Yan had prepared for me, and he injected his palm with Yan’s blood.

With a look of absolute concentration on his face, the enforcer then placed his palm onto the door’s imprint.

A thin needle stabbed into the enforcer’s hand and drew out a portion of Yan’s blood. Then, the door swung open on silent hinges.

After ejecting Yan’s remaining blood back into the vial, the enforcer relaxed his qi and allowed his blood to flow freely once more.

With the door now open, I looked into the room beyond.

The sight of all the treasures it contained was enough to make even me feel a bit greedy. Only a bit, though. I was still in control, and I was easily able to hold both myself and the others back as I carefully studied the Zhuge Clan’s vault.

Once I was confident that I understood how the last line of defensive formations functioned, I waved a hand and guided our team inside.

Stealing everything in the vault was a bit tricky. If I had tried to pull anything into my inner world, the spatial fluctuations would set off a series of alarms, and I would have been attacked from all sides. So, the five of us separated out, ransacked the place, and threw everything into one large pile.

Then, I surrounded both the pile and my four companions with my intent and drew everything and everyone into my inner world all at once.

As expected, this caused several formations to instantly target me, but before they could launch even their first attack, I stepped through a portal and appeared next to NiangBa.

Walking up to his side, I nodded. “It’s done. Now, let’s see if we can grab YeDu.”

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