Matt looked at his new opponents, he had to back away while the enemies recovered. The four other elders were now hovering around their sect leader that was right in the middle. The soul beasts were recalled by the four grand elders that stood against him, his own golden dragon also retreated and was roaring at the enemies.
'Outnumbered five to one... '
This reminded him about the time when he protected his clan from the initial invasion of some other clans. He was also outnumbered at that time, but there were differences. For one, these people were all the top brass and from one sect while the old enemies that he faced were far lower on the totem pole and their teamwork wasn't that great.
"I see that the noble Dark Palm sect knows how to gang up on people, very honorable of you..."
Zhang Dong chuckled while rubbing his forearm that was still a bit jittery. The five cultivators stared daggers at him as they knew that he was making fun of them.
"Being noble has no worth in battle, the victorious ones are always just."
Yang Guanyu replied while moving forward. The five nascent soul elders moved in some kind of square formation with their leader in the middle. Their spiritual power had a serious spike in energy as they advanced. Zhang Dong moved his hand forward as he signaled his Dragon to attack.
The beast released a massive blast of golden energy from its maw at the approaching cultivators. Sparks flew as the massive beam of golden plasma hit some kind of barrier that it couldn't get through. The four soul beasts charged forward and Zhang Dong's dragon charged in to intercept as they returned to their own battle. This left Zhang Dong against the four grand elders and their sect leader with his reaper like beast in the back.
More explosions resounded throughout the Zhang Clan region, the large galleon ships flew through the air while suffering some casualties. They finally managed to get into range and returned fire at those anti-aircraft weapons in the city. The cannon fire was exchanged and the protective formation that was keeping the walls in place crackled and was close to shattering.
The people that were on the city walls knew that the outer protective formation wouldn't hold out for long. They continued to stay and return fire though, none of them was willing to give the enemy even an inch.
"Keep firing, don't let them get near the city!"
"The Patriarch is holding the sect masters at bay, we must aid him!"
"We need more spiritual energy!"
Various battle shouts filled the area but they were quickly drowned out by multiple cannon fire coming from both sides. From the hundred ships, about eighty remained and they were continuously falling from the sky while slowly approaching. The enemy's barriers were slowly giving out but they were right at Spirit Spring Cities doorstep. The outer barrier finally fell and the anti flying ship weaponry started receiving damage. Various explosions filled the city walls and towers as the advancing armada pushed further in.
"It is time brothers, let us destroy this clan we had suffered enough loss to our face!"
A Dark Palm Sect elder in the core formation realm charged out while shouting. His bravado didn't last for long as he received a stray hit from a Qi blast from one of the intact Zhang Clan cannons. He was the first of the core formation warriors to die, he wasn't the last one charging forward though.
The City defense force found themselves getting pushed back, soon enough the enemy cultivators reached the walls and started destroying the weaponry. Shouts and cries of the defenders were quickly drowned out as the Dark Palm sects blades fell onto their necks and turned everything crimson.
The enemy cultivators charged into the city premise only to find the place abandoned. All of the city population was evacuated and there was not a soul to be found here. Some of the defenders from the walls had escaped before the sect warriors could get to them. The pursuit continued as the sect cultivators wanted vengeance for their members that died under the cannon fire.
"Senior brother, we found some of the enemy cultivators in that building!"
One of the sect members shouted out while a group of others charged at the spot he was pointing at. They kicked down the door to discover two people inside. The person was an old man that was wearing a blue robe, one that showed that he was a regular member of the Zhang Clan. The other one was an older lady with a more brownish tint to her skin and wearing a Feng Clan robe. The two were huddled together and the old man was holding something in his hand.
"Heh, what do we have here, two old love birds?"
The Dark Palm cultivators walked forward while brandishing large sabers that were already red from blood. Before they could deliver a deceive blow the two cultivators from Spirit Spring City nodded to each other and shouted out.
"For the alliance, For the new Sect! May it live long and prosper!"
A clicking sound was heard afterward, followed by a bright light that came from the ground. Before the Dark Palm cultivators could react the whole place exploded. The city defenders had placed massive amounts of explosives and attacking formations around the premises. With the people that lived here gone, there would be no civilian casualties.
The shouts and cries of the invading forces were drowned out by the booming sounds of detonation. The ones that were on the ground looking for survivors suffered a quick death, some of the people that were hovering in the air and close to the blast radius suffered crippling injuries.
"Get back into the sky, those bastards are blowing up the city with themselves in it!"
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The invading forces fled back into their ships or onto their flying swords, the less powerful ones suffered from the various traps that were placed around the city. This was long from over though as there was still a large force hovering in the air going towards the main Zhang Compound where most of the city cultivators were in.
"The city is on fire..."
The people inside looked in shock at the happenings outside. The city that housed millions of people was getting destroyed, the springs of water were erupting from all the heat and the buildings were crumbling the further the enemy army went in. The only thing keeping them out now was the new grand defensive formation.
"Everyone stay inside, the new grand defensive formation can defend against nascent soul threats, we will be safe inside."
Zhang Liu shouted out while trying to calm some people down, he and his sisters were helping out the soldiers that managed to return from the defensive walls. The two were also performing their duties but were forced by their elders to retreat faster than the other united elements sect members.
Zhang Xue was quite adept at the water Dao recovery arts. These were boosted by their Patriarch to a new level and could even regenerate severed limbs. The process was quite slow though and required an ample amount of spiritual energy. She wasn't the only one helping out though, her friends from the once established 9th Platoon were all here with her.
Her senior sister Zhang Ai that got relocated to Moonlight City with her snake faced senior brother were both here. She was actually tending to his wounds he was badly injured from one of the explosions that occurred, his fingers were blown off and she was frantically trying to help him regenerate.
Zhang Bao and Zhang Peng that looked even more muscular than two years ago were helping carry the injured people in. Both of them were in the mids of the evacuation and also helped during the bombardment. The only reason they were alive now, was that the older members from the triforce alliance decided to stay behind while the youngsters could evacuate. They were carrying them over to the twins Zhang Yuu and Mii for healing as the two were quite adept at it.
Zhang Tai was also there, he had Zhang Hong's large arm around his neck as this large junior brother had suffered the most. His body was riddled with holes and scratches as he had used his larger body as a shield to protect some of the junior members during the retreat. The war was now upon them at there were casualties on both sides.
The attackers were now slowly encircling their main base while bombarding it with various attacks. The barrier rippled and shone in bright light as it managed to repel all of the attacks. After the smoke cleared the Dark Palm sect cultivators were surprised that the barrier didn't suffer any damage.
Everyone inside gave out a sigh of relief. The enemies couldn't get to them but they were still trapped here and could only wait for the battle outside to go their way.
The enemy sect didn't just wait there while twiddling their thumbs. The flying ships that survived the offensive encircled the Zhang Clan compound. Their cannons were continuously blasting at the defensive formation as they tried testing its defensive features. Even a powerful battier like this would run out of spiritual energy eventually.
"The formation is holding out, someone give me a report!"
Back at the command base, the Zhang Jin shouted, a cultivator with a mustache that was sitting to the side quickly replied.
"The Patriarch has engaged the enemy nascent soul cultivators in battle, an hour has passed since then and there is no clear winner yet."
The man gave a recount of the situation, mostly mentioning that even after an hour Zhang Dong wasn't able to deliver a killing blow to any of the five enemy nascent soul cultivators.
"That Yang Guanyu is really powerful and also looks to be a demonic cultivator... how can the other sects allow him to roam free?"
Zhang Zhi asked while looking at the little dots on the screen. The large golden one was bouncing about on it, it indicated Zhang Dong. Five other red dots were circling around it, this indicated the battle that was taking place between their Patriarch and the Dark Palm sect masters.
"Alas, no one will make a move on someone of that caliber. They are afraid, afraid of the repercussions. They can't risk losing valuable masters in a drawn-out fight. They might be able to bring the demonic cultivator to justice but then they will find themselves at the mercy of the other big sects."
Zhang Zhi sat down after Zhang Jin did the explanation. He more or less knew why this was happening but it was a hard pill to swallow. There was no trust between the large factions and they cannibalized themselves constantly. Battles for resources and terrain occurred and if one side showed any sign of weakness they would get probed and then attacked. This was the type of world they were living in, if there was uncertainty the other large factions wouldn't act.
The people glued their eyes to the screen. The large golden dot was slowly decreasing in size, each time the smaller red ones moved closer to it, it would slightly waver.
"Can the Patriarch win alone... are we supposed to wait here for our deaths after he draws his last breath?"
The others in the room deliberated. Zhang Dong had ordered them to stay behind the fortified barrier and just wait for the battle to be over. This didn't sit well with the warriors here, they would rather fight to their deaths than just wait for their demise. Still, they knew that they wouldn't be much of help against that many core formation and nascent soul cultivators. They knew that they could at most be meat shields for their leader.
While they were contemplating a loud sound could be heard outside. The large defensive formation churned with power and shone brightly. The trapped people looked with astonishment as they saw all the large ships in formation around an even larger one. This larger one had a massive cannon at the bow. This cannon was blasting a condensed stream of spiritual Qi at the forcefield, slowly eating away at its defenses. Would the formation hold up, or would the beam of Qi cut through in time no one knew, the people inside were aghast as they could only watch as the barrier was slowly thinning.