Pingyang Mountain, a pavilion nestled within the mountains.
The aroma of spiritual tea lingered in the air, a faint verdant glow rising from the teacups, occasionally forming fleeting images of various spiritual flowers and herbs. It was as if the tea contained the essence of countless plants its fragrance unique and enchanting.
Li Ye took a light sip of the tea, savoring the ever-changing blend of herbal flavors clashing and mingling on his palate. He gently closed his eyes, a look of contentment on his face.
With his other hand, he casually flipped through the latest intelligence reports delivered that day and couldn't help but shake his head and mutter,
"Leaked like a sieve… Jing Kingdom is rotting from the inside out."
What kind of Golden Core sect sees major families openly rebel and offer to act as inside agents every other day?
Even Purple Profound Sect back in the day wasn't this bad.
Comparing Purple Profound Sect to Thousand Island Water City now almost felt like an insult to the former.
Despite being dealt a vicious betrayal, Purple Profound Sect Master had held the line against Daoist Feiyu himself, even while injured, stabilizing the situation.
Purple Profound Sect had then launched a swift and thunderous counterattack, quelling dissent on multiple fronts.
They followed that with a decisive battle at Zimo Market, dealing a heavy blow to the Flying Feather Sect coalition, and used the momentum to launch a major counteroffensive.
Had the Ancient Tree Secret Realm not suddenly emerged and diverted everyone's attention followed by the descent of the Demon Clan who would've won that war remained uncertain.
In contrast, though Thousand Island Water City had also harshly punished its traitors, the results paled in comparison to what Purple Profound Sect achieved back then.
The core issue was that they still hadn't fielded any Golden Core-level power to decisively turn the tide!
The Wu Kingdom, the invading force, had been rampaging through Jing Kingdom territory while suffering losses, yes, but they had the support of Jiuding Valley behind them.
What's more, their troops were well-fed and brimming with morale, showing no signs of flagging.
But Thousand Island Water City? Its grip on internal factions had weakened drastically they simply couldn't match the momentum.
Which had led to the current lopsided state of the war.
If not for the lingering threat that Flying Feather Sect might still intervene at any moment, Li Ye would've seriously believed Wu Kingdom might conquer Jing Kingdom outright.
That said, despite the intensity of the war, the Chidi Mountains had been far less affected than Li Ye had originally anticipated.
Only a few cultivators, attempting to use the region as a springboard to attack neighboring countries, had caused minor disturbances.
Nothing Li Ye needed to personally bother with his four Foundation Establishment subordinates could handle it with ease.
His daily life remained entirely undisturbed, to his great satisfaction.
He set down the reports with a thoughtful look that lingered on his face.
"I can't shake the feeling that Jiuding Valley's aggressive tactics are meant to provoke Thousand Island Water City, to force them into deploying that third-rank Black Flood Dragon, hoping to trigger a counteroffensive and halt their territorial losses…"
"Indeed… from a tactical standpoint, if Jiuding Valley wants to take out the Black Flood Dragon, it'd be far better to do it away from the Water City, in open terrain."
"After all, the city's grand formation and natural terrain would provide significant boosts to the dragon's power. Even if Jiuding Valley had ways to counter it, those advantages would likely negate much of their efforts…"
Thinking of this, he let out a faint smile.
"Still… whether it's caution, or whether they've already seen through Jiuding Valley's scheme Thousand Island Water City has shown remarkable patience, refusing to send the Black Flood Dragon to the battlefield no matter how bad things get…"
"Maybe they're playing it safe, hunkering down and maintaining just enough resistance to hold out. If the situation deteriorates, maybe they're ready to abandon the rest of Jing Kingdom and cut their losses."
"If this stalemate keeps dragging on, the outcome might hinge entirely on what move Thousand Island Water City makes…"
Faced with the situation, Li Ye remained utterly calm.
For now, he would simply continue observing. Until things reached a point where he felt compelled to act, let the two nations fight however they liked it had nothing to do with Li Ye.
.......
The war between the two nations raged on.
As the cultivator army of Wu Kingdom advanced with unstoppable momentum, Jing Kingdom was on the verge of losing nearly a third of its territory in the blink of an eye.
Thousand Island Water City seemed to have lost the will to resist. Instead of sending forces to fight, they dispatched teams mainly to gather and transport spiritual resources from various collection points back to safety.
Unless the enemy was especially weak, they rarely engaged in direct battle or bloodshed.
Quite a few sects and clans were simply abandoned under such circumstances, left to make their own choices.
As a result, one rebellious sect or clan after another began switching allegiance to the Wu Kingdom, sprouting up like bamboo shoots after the rain.
At this point, aside from the direct forces loyal to Thousand Island Water City, almost no one in the entire country remained truly loyal to them.
If not for the fact that defecting now might not win any special favor from the Wu Kingdom and worse, risk having their foundations carved up some of these factions might have continued resisting just to bargain for a better deal.
Otherwise, Jing Kingdom would already be a nation in name only.
But that still couldn't stop Wu Kingdom's invasion, especially after Jiudingzi, a Golden Core expert, personally joined the battlefield.
Jing Kingdom's cultivators could no longer resist the might of Jiuding Valley's assault. They pinned their hopes on Thousand Island Water City deploying their third-rank Black Flood Dragon to turn the tide.
If they could seriously wound or repel Jiudingzi, there might yet be hope to break the current stalemate.
But now that things had reached the point of no return when abandoning their legacy was unthinkable no one cared anymore about arguments like "a monster-beast ruling the country."
Yet, Thousand Island Water City not only refused to send the Black Flood Dragon to face Jiudingzi, they instead withdrew all their forces, concentrating everything within their own city, protected by the great formation of Thousand Island Chaozong.
They then sealed off the entire city, cutting themselves off from the outside world intent on holding the line and refusing to come out.
It was effectively a total surrender, handing over all of Jing Kingdom's vast lands just to protect their final stronghold.
With no resistance left, Wu Kingdom's army surged forward unimpeded.
Led by Jiuding Valley, the coalition of cultivator forces took just two years to push their way to the shores of Thousand Island Lake, completely surrounding the region.
All that remained was to storm the city, and Jing Kingdom would be theirs.
...
"Any troop movements from Flying Feather Sect or Purple Profound Sect?"
In the strategy hall aboard a flying ship, Jiudingzi sat at the head, asking calmly.
"Flying Feather Sect took advantage of the earlier chaos to seize some border resources," Yu Junli replied respectfully. "Other than that, no movement."
He added,
"Thousand Island Water City has sent a message seeking peace. They're willing to cede half of Jing Kingdom's territory in exchange for a truce."
"A truce?"
Jiudingzi snorted coldly.
"Then have them hand over the Condensed Frost Water and the demon core of the third-rank Black Flood Dragon, and I'll withdraw."
"We've already given them those terms…" Yu Junli quickly responded.
"But they're only willing to offer a portion of the Condensed Frost Water and half the territory. The demon core is non-negotiable."
"Non-negotiable?"
A cold gleam flashed in Jiudingzi's eyes.
"Then let them wait for the army to knock on their doorstep!"
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