In the evil faction's territory, inside the luxurious pavilion.
"Hang a banner at every gate! Don't fight. Let those demonic bastards march towards the center! We'll wipe them out all at once!" The Leader said to all the elders, including Seo Hwa-rin.
He thought about it again and again, racking his head for the past few days for ways to defeat those cultists before the cult invaded, and finally revised a brilliant idea—an effective one at that. He planned on using the loophole in Lucian's command.
In the present.
"These cowardly people... Yet they dare call themselves the Evil Factions?" One of the higher-ups of the Heavenly Demon Cult spoke with disdain in his tone.
He is Ryu-Jin, a disciple of Han Zhe, the Fist Emperor, and one of the five demonic generals that serve Lucian. He's as strong as Mo Haryun in terms of battle prowess.
Out of 30 Heavenly Realm masters, he's the only one who's been sent here. He's the leader of the advancing group. He was excited to kill the evil factions after being given the chance to prove his strength, but after marching for a week, not a single sect associated with the evil factions fought. They all hung the banner of the Heavenly Demon Cult, making him feel frustrated. How can he prove his worth when there's no stage? The lower-ranking demonic martial artists have also begun to rampage after not killing anyone for a week. Some even went berserk and killed each other. From 200 thousand, only around 150 thousand are left. This is a huge blow to the battle power of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
And since Lucian ordered them not to touch those gates that have their banners on, they can't do anything but sigh. It's not like he can question the order of his leader.
They walk for another day again; they're already closer to the Evil Factions' main base. Suddenly, in all directions, martial artists from the evil factions start ambushing them and attacking the demonic martial artists. The numbers are not small; it can be clearly seen that all their forces are here, and this is a planned ambush aimed to wipe them out.
Veins popped out from his head as he shouted, "HOW DARE YOU PULL TRICKS ON THE DIVINE GOD'S MERCY?!!! YOU DESERVE A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH!!!" He roared menacingly. "HEAR MY COMMANDS! TEAR THESE BASTARDS APART AND OFFER THEIR LEADER'S HEAD TO OUR GOD!!!! ATTACK!!!!!"
The evil factions indeed used cowardly tricks by ambushing them like this, pretending that they had submitted. But they are not a righteous alliance; they are the evil factions. These bastards are just like demonic martial artists—they just have different views in life. While the Heavenly Demon Cult moves to attain greater strength, these people move for money. They both would do anything to achieve that; they're the same, but at the same time, different.
The Evil Factions' leader's plan succeeded, and they even managed to kill Ryu-Jin. Of course, it also cost them three-fourths of their own factions. They previously had 25 Heavenly Realm martial masters, but five of them died at the hands of Ryu-Jin after he sacrificed himself when cornered, shouting, "GLORY TO THE DIVINE GOD!! GLORY TO THE CULT!!" Then he made himself self-destruct. The self-destruction of a Heavenly Realm martial master is nothing to scoff at; a wide range perished together with Ryu-Jin. It's like a missile was launched at that location. This caused both the Demonic Cult and Evil Factions' martial masters who were closer to Ryu-Jin to perish.
When the news arrived at Lucian, his whole troops that went to the Evil Factions were already wiped out.
A thundering laugh could be heard as Lucian finally stood up from his throne. "THEY DARE TRICK ME?" He laughed again. "To think they would pay my mercy with the blood of my subordinates... How daring."
But even after hearing such news, none of the 30 people here were a bit worried at all. Actually, Lucian knew about this loophole in his command. It's not a plan painstakingly made; it was nothing to him but a last mercy he granted them as his last tie to humanity. Whether they killed his subordinates and wiped them all out, he didn't care. To him, those were just his pawns, and he is the real power. Where he is is the Divine Cult, not the members of it. As long as he's not dead, the cult won't fall, even if he's just the only member left.
He finally stopped laughing. "Leave them be. Now that that side has failed, let's focus our forces on the Righteous Alliance instead. Once we're done there, let's kill those bastards. Let them taste victory and freedom for a little while~" He laughed again, finding it really amusing.
His subordinates here just looked at each other. "Now, now... I'm already starting to get bored anyway..." Lucian began to walk towards the direction of the Righteous Alliance. "Let's start moving." As this group of monsters finally made their move and started heading to the Righteous Alliance's location one by one, at the lead of Lucian.
Word of these events reached both the Righteous Alliance and the Evil Factions. Each assigned a scout to monitor their movements. After all, they've been in that same location for a week, as if they're camping.
"What???!!! They actually didn't attack us??? You say they're heading to the Righteous Alliance bastards instead???" The Evil Factions' leader's face was shocked after reading the report from the scout. He's sure that Lucian will come to them and engage in battle the moment he hears about this, but he's actually leaving them alone and attacking the Righteous Alliance instead?
While in the righteous alliance, the place is messy. Preparing for war here and there, sending back-up, rations, diversifying strategy again and again... Everything. First, the Moyong Clan Patriarch, Moyong Jihan, whose alliance strategies finally let out a sigh of relief after the news of the evil factions wiping out the demonic martial artists that went there. He is sure that the main group will finally move and wipe out those evil bastards... He actually thought they could just wait to see who wins if that fight broke out and then kill the group that will win in the end, but what's this? Lucian is actually targeting them instead now? "This insane brat..." Moyong Jihan cursed under his breath. He thought he could finally sleep after this hellish week, but what now? He needs to divert another plan once again.
Moyong Jihan immediately went to the alliance leader and asked him to hold an emergency meeting.
Inside the meeting room, only ten out of fifteen leaders attended. After all, five of them went to the battlefield because of the disastrous loss they suffered at the hands of those demonic martial artists who went wild on the battlefield. They can't even be proud of their numbers now.
Three of the five great clans attended. They're Moyong Jihan, Moyong Clan's patriarch; Namgung Clan Patriarch, Namgung Jinwoo; and lastly, Tang Clan Patriarch, Tang Woonha. The clans that went to the battlefield are the Baek Clan and Hwangbo Clan.
On the other hand, seven of the great sects attended: the Sect Leader of Iron Fist Sect, Jang Ryuseong; Beggar's Union Sect Leader, So Gwanho; Sect Leader Hyeon Daeseong from Mount Hua Sect; Sect Leader Zhang Xianwu of Wudang Sect; Temple Head Jueyuan from the Shaolin Temple; and Sect Leader Yin Lianhua, the leader of the Celestial Sound Pavilion.
The ones who went are the Emei Sect, Kunlun Sect, and Radiant Light Sect. Those who went either have a deep grudge against those people or are being scorned by the entire sect and have no choice but to volunteer.
"That brat Lucian... Just three months after he won the Dragon and Phoenix competition and raked havoc... He is now throwing the world into chaos. He's the worst Heavenly Demon Cult leader in history..." the Alliance Leader Zheng Tianlong spoke.
Tang Woonha spoke. "What should we do now, Alliance Leader? Those small to mid-size sects have already been wiped out by their advance group... we already sent our own people a while ago, and the situation didn't even change or get any better at all, and now their main group is heading here." His voice had a hint of panic. After all, his clan base is in the outermost place and is now facing those demonic martial artists to protect their base.
"Even if I plan again and again, that brat Lucian is just too unpredictable... We should just go all out now. If we keep sending our subordinates, they'll just get wiped out. And since their main force is already advancing, we should give up the Tang Clan's base and withdraw our subordinates. We will fight them ourselves and the elders of our sects and clans. This is the best action right now." Moyong Jihan said.
It makes sense. Lucian's main group is only thirty-one people. Twenty-nine of them are in the Heavenly Realm, and two are in the True Immortal. They also have two True Immortal-rank Martial Masters, the Alliance Leader and the Wudang Sect Master. The rest of the leaders are in the Heavenly Realm, while the elders are in Peak Realm. In this battle, those first-rate Martial Masters and lower have no chance... Even those in Peak Realm are on a tightrope; after all, the Demonic Cult still has a lot of Peak Realm members causing havoc on the front lines.
Although Tang Woonha is displeased with this, he can't do anything. After all, it's not that Moyong Jihan is lying. Everyone can see how dire the situation is. It's his clan's territory's fault for being on the front line. So, they immediately decided to withdraw their subordinates and start preparing to fight themselves, gathering their Peak Martial Masters and above in the Baek Clan territory. After all, the Baek Clan is just the neighbor of the Tang Clan.
On the battlefield between the Demonic Martial Artists and Righteous Alliance Martial Artists:
"KEKEKEKE!~ Those cowards are finally retreating!!! Fitting of people who hide in numbers as a pretense of strength!" one Demonic Martial Master on the battlefield said, laughing as he watched the Righteous Alliance withdraw.
"Witness the might of our cult!!!!"
"GLORY TO THE DIVINE GOD!!!! GLORY TO OUR DIVINE CULT!!!!"
All of them suddenly shouted like fanatics, not caring for those comrades who had fallen. After all, to them, those people probably slacked in their training. Since they didn't manage to prove their strength, it only means one thing: they are not members of the Heavenly Demon Cult.