Longzang

Chapter 858 On-the-Spot Deal
Wei Yuan stood in the air, gazing at the front lines where the fighting was still raging, and at the Wu Clan legions that were constantly moving to the flanks.

In this battle, the Wu tribe did not deliberately try to flank the enemy. One reason was that the Azure Nether was much larger than before, and if they wanted to flank it, the battle line would be stretched to several thousand miles.

However, as more and more Wu tribe troops arrived, the battle line inevitably began to extend to both flanks. Otherwise, it would be difficult to deploy so many troops and make full use of the advantage in troop strength.

In this round of battle, the Witch Clan changed their tactics, maintaining a constant frontal assault without pause. This tactic seemed somewhat clumsy, but after the attack had lasted for a full day and night, Wei Yuan had keenly sensed that something was amiss.

The garrison on the Qingming defensive line had already been rotated twice, while the attacking legions of the Wu tribe had been replaced six times. Every legion was crippled, and a new legion would take its place. As a result, the Qingming garrison never got a rest, and Wei Yuan had no choice but to pull out his reserve troops to fill in, while the troops that had been fighting for too long were withdrawn to rest.

In just one day, the number of troops withdrawn from the front lines for rotation had exceeded 300,000, and Qingming's military strength began to be strained.

But the Witch Army's tactics didn't stop there. While maintaining the frontal offensive, the two million-strong legions began to move to the flanks. This time, it wasn't to extend the attack, but rather to find weak points on the flanks, establish independent positions, and then launch another attack.

Wei Yuan had no choice but to mobilize the reserve legions again, with 100,000 troops on each side to follow the two legions. At the same time, he mobilized engineering units to prepare mobile fortresses to accompany the troops. There were also tank units on standby at the rear.

The two Wu tribe legions continued to advance deeper, taking the 200,000 men that Wei Yuan was dealing with further and further away from the main battleground. Just as Wei Yuan was worrying, he suddenly discovered that the Wu tribe legions to the east had stopped advancing and instead began to set up camp on the spot, preparing to attack.

This Wu Clan army has only moved a little over a thousand li, and that's on the outer line. Wei Yuan is on the inner line, only six hundred li away from the main position.

It's a good thing that the Wu Clan's flank legion stopped here, but why did they suddenly stop going deeper? The legion to the west is still circling around; if they go a little further, they'll reach Li Zhi's defense zone.

At this moment, a piece of intelligence was selected by the Human World and delivered to Wei Yuan. It turned out that just two days ago, a 300,000-strong army of the Wu tribe marched eastward, intending to infiltrate between Hanyang Pass and Qingming, in order to sever Qingming's connection with the Western Jin Dynasty.

However, this legion was suddenly attacked from the direction of Hanyang Pass. It is said that Xu Lanshan intervened, killing the commander and deputy commander of the Wu tribe legion with a single sword strike, and then retreated unscathed. The Wu tribe legion lost its commander and immediately fell into chaos. It was pursued and slaughtered for hundreds of miles by Xu's private army, suffering tens of thousands of casualties and being routed.

"The Xu family??" Wei Yuan really couldn't understand Xu Wangu's thinking.

Offering help in times of need? Absolutely not.

Qingming is now a powerful and well-equipped force. Even though more than 200,000 of its soldiers were killed by Tianwu's series of powerful curses, it still has an army of over a million.

Furthermore, every month, the number of reserve soldiers trained increases by hundreds of thousands. Currently, there are nearly three million Body Forging cultivators in the entire Qingming realm. Even if more than half are to remain in the rear to produce supplies, the remaining manpower potential is enormous. Xu Wangu certainly wouldn't be unable to see this.

So, was this a gesture of goodwill? Wei Yuan felt unworthy.

Aside from these two points, Wei Yuan couldn't think of anything else. Unless Xu Lanshan, out of consideration for their past relationship, intervened. But if she acted in the Shattered Realm, she would inevitably need the help of immortals to block the gaze of the extraterrestrial monsters; otherwise, she would suffer severe damage to her foundation, just like the Nether Witch back then, and might even have her mental world shattered, falling back to her physical form.

In other words, Xu Lanshan must have obtained Xu Wangu's permission to take action.

Wei Yuan thought about it for a long time, but he couldn't figure it out, so he could only stop thinking about it and focus on dealing with the Wu Clan's offensive.

In the past few days, the Wu Clan's offensive has been methodical, gradually eroding their defenses and gaining ground, showing signs of fortifying their positions and engaging in a protracted war. After several days of bloody battles and repeated skirmishes, Wei Yuan's newly constructed defensive line has fallen behind the Wu Clan's lines. However, Wei Yuan has not only built another defensive line in the rear, but a third line is also more than halfway complete. In other words, if the current pace of the war continues, the Qingming defensive line will only continue to expand.

Wei Yuan stood in the air, his divine sense constantly handling military affairs amidst the mundane world, while pondering whether the Witch Clan only had these methods.
Although the Wu Clan's tactics were actually quite clever, seemingly suffering heavy casualties while maintaining a kill ratio of around ten to one, the two sides were in reality completely different in size. Qingming was bleeding from his arm, while the Wu Clan was bleeding from the little finger of a giant. If the stalemate continued, Qingming would surely die.

But this clever yet simple tactic made Wei Yuan feel uneasy. Even Hongye's attacks were full of intricate tactics, so why would Tianwu, who was personally involved, only have this much to offer?

Oh, right, the traitor!
Fei Yutong's betrayal back then already proved the pervasiveness of the Witch Clan's methods. Wei Yuan believed that as long as the Witch Clan put their mind to it, they could definitely infiltrate Qingming. Qingming is now enormous, with the vast majority being new members. Although many have contributed their luck, the majority still lack it, and these are the ones who might betray them.

Furthermore, even the new generation of core disciples that Shuiyue Palace was preparing to cultivate with all its might could be dragged down. Apart from the core cultivators of Taichu Palace, Wei Yuan didn't think there were many people who could definitely resist the corruption of the Wu Clan.

After studying history for a long time, Wei Yuan neither tested human nature nor believed in it. Or rather, he believed in the inherent nature of humanity.

But there was a traitor...

Wei Yuan meticulously examined the records of the Zhou Tian Star Array and the Peerless Dao Domain every day, but to no avail. All he found were petty thefts and trivial neighborhood disputes; many conflicts that would normally escalate were now being tolerated. The most common phrase people used was: "Let's see who's on the battlefield."

There was no internal sabotage, nor any sign of infiltration by the witch clan. The passing caravans were all behaving themselves, with no unusual personnel changes. All changes were documented and primarily concerned matters between men and women.

Everything seemed normal, but the more normal it seemed, the more abnormal it appeared. And this abnormality was so obvious that it was as if the Heavenly Witch on the other side was intentionally reminding Wei Yuan.

Although no clues could be found, Wei Yuan did not intend to launch a major attack. At this time, a great war was raging, and internal turmoil was the worst thing to do.

Therefore, Wei Yuan mobilized a thousand elite Dao Foundation soldiers to form a separate mobile force, and then began targeted training to specifically suppress small-scale rebellions.

Having made these preparations, Wei Yuan felt a little more at ease. He was now more accustomed to striking after the fact and holding people accountable afterward.

Although some losses are inevitable when such incidents occur, a severe enough punishment can deter such behavior. And these losses are actually much smaller than those caused by large-scale investigations and screenings.

At this moment, news came from the border that the caravan of the Desolate Ancestor Tribe had arrived again.

Wei Yuan was also taken aback. What was going on? Had the Heavenly Witch's control over the Witch Clan weakened to such an extent that it was even weaker than that of a mere Red Leaf?
Back then, trade was just small-scale, and even so, it had to be done secretly.

The Celestial Witch's ability to monitor heaven and earth is no joke. For her to trade with Qingming at this time—could it be that some extraordinary figure has emerged among the Desolate Witches, capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with the Celestial Witch, Kaguya?

This matter must be handled with caution, so Wei Yuan did not move his main body, but only sent an avatar to meet them, and did not allow the caravan of the Desolate Ancestor Tribe to enter Qingming, but instead handed them over at the border.

(End of this chapter)