Chapter 1904: The Banner Hunts, Fortune as Sacrifice

On the day of setting out for the expedition.

Above the first floating island of Dingmao, a sudden gloomy rain fell.

The large banner embroidered with the two characters "Wu An" and the "Taihuang" banner of Ziwei were raised high in the sky.

Raindrops crackled as they hit the surface of the banners.

On the parade ground, the soldiers stood in formation, and all the generals stood quietly. No one made any unusual movements or sounds.

Because the commander-in-chief of the great army, the Marquis of Wu An, Jiang Wang, stood on the general's platform, also drenched in the rain, with his head held high.

Speaking of which, as the foremost military figure among the young generation of the Great Qi Empire, it was still his first time independently commanding an army, with dozens of generals and tens of thousands of soldiers under his command.

Although the troops under his command were not the elite of the Nine Armies, they were all strong soldiers tempered in the slaughter of the labyrinth world, amidst blood and fire.

Jiang Wang had originally thought of giving a speech before the battle to boost morale a bit and had even drafted something, "borrowing" some famous historical essays.

But looking at the pairs of bright eyes staring up from below the general's platform in the sudden rain, he suddenly felt that there was no need to say anything more.

He felt trusted.

Every warrior on the scene trusted him implicitly, believing that the Marquis of Wu An would surely lead everyone to victory.

This was due to both his past prestige and the interactions of the past few days.

What more was there to say?

Jiang Wang raised his finger to the sky and said softly, "Cut off this rain."

"This general receives the order!"

The garrison general of the floating island, Kuang Huiping, immediately straightened his body and flew out beyond the floating island, plunging into the thick clouds and gloomy rain. In an instant, a刀 light suddenly rose, splitting the clouds open, and a strong wind howled angrily, sweeping away the sudden rain.

The high sky, gloomy moments before, became bright.

Jiang Wang then pointed another finger at the flag platform, specifically at the ragged sea clan curled up below the flag pole, still trembling continuously, with body-imprisoning chains around his neck.

"Our heroic army sets out, and there can be no lack of a blessing ritual, nor can we offer common things."

"This sea clan is an absolute genius, a descendant of a true king, the strongest wise teacher of the younger generation, and that is Yu Guangyuan."

He finished the introduction so calmly, then his voice rose: "Kill him to sacrifice the flag!"

It had been more than five days since Yu Guangyuan was captured!

During these more than five days, Yu Guangyuan's cultivation had been sealed, his divine powers suppressed, his physical body's defense broken through, his mouth unable to speak, his ears unable to hear, his nose unable to smell, his eyes unable to see, and his body unable to feel. He was completely unaware of the outside world.

And at every moment, he endured the torment of the five senses' hell.

One could say his will was strong; he was indeed worthy of being a sea clan genius captured at the opportunity of the Cave True, and he had not collapsed mentally even now.

From the series of titles Jiang Wang spoke, anyone who had fought in the labyrinth world would understand their worth. And at this time, such a sea clan genius could only curl up in front of the flag, to be sacrificed as they set out.

The entire army was solemn.

Standing beside the Wu An flag, the fully armored Fang Yuanyou grabbed Yu Guangyuan's hair with one hand, pressed his head down, and with the other hand drew out a snow-bright military knife, aiming at Yu Guangyuan's neck.

The helmet cover concealed Fang Yuanyou's expression, but the bulging blue veins on his hand holding the knife could explain his excitement! This was the strongest and highest-status being he had ever been able to kill in his life, and in the manner of an execution.

Ending such a powerful life personally brought an indescribable feeling to his heart.

This noble lineage of the sea clan, the defeated general of the Marquis!

Fang Yuanyou took a deep breath, and the military knife was raised high.

Although all of Yu Guangyuan's senses of the outside world were sealed, and although he was still suffering in what seemed like endless torment, he seemed to sense that the time of death was approaching and suddenly twitched violently!

The snow-bright military knife fell!

Yu Guangyuan's head immediately separated from his body, rolling a few times, facing upwards, his face still contorted. His body then suddenly stiffened and no longer moved.

His corpse no longer turned into blood light, and that drop of perhaps innate source blood could no longer give him rebirth.

Jiang Wang waited for a very long time.

The entire first floating island of Dingmao, the great army in formation, the great array accumulating power, all waited for a very long time.

Yu Guangyuan's corpse showed no further changes, and no strong sea clan members came to attack.

Jiang Wang, of course, did not expect danger.

Even if according to the island defense, there was a great array with sufficient energy to protect the island, supported by the great army, and presided over by himself, it could withstand a period of bombardment from a true king. He had even reported in advance to Qi Shuai through a flag officer and contacted the nearest Cangwu realm.

But once a true king arrived, the situation in the Dingmao realm domain would be unpredictable, and the casualties on the Dingmao floating island would be immeasurable.

It was also common for a big fish to eat the bait but not bite the hook.

Qi Shuai had a famous saying - "If the knife is not horizontal, it is vertical; if the soldier does not attack, they defend. If you don't give me danger, I will give you danger."

Thus Jiang Wang pointed his halberd towards the distance: "Set out!"

Of the four floating islands in the Dingmao realm domain, each only left a thousand people to garrison, just enough to ensure that the island defense array could be operated in time.

The remaining warriors all boarded the warships, following the Marquis of Wu An to set out.

With Yu Guangyuan as the sacrifice for the flag blessing ritual, the morale of this army was simply sky-high.

The great banner lifted in the wind!

Warriors all in armor, warships crossing the sky.

Black like a sky flood.

The labyrinth world was from the beginning a synonym for danger and chaos, but this army rampaged, heading straight for the first sea nest of Dingmao, completely without cover or concealment!

Although the Dingmao realm domain had six sea nests, they were all like shrinking turtles.

These sea clan members, who once mobilized their army for open warfare, possessed the strongest individual combat power in this realm domain, thus coming and going freely. Jiang Wang, who possessed the right of free strike, could let them know what it meant to be unable to attend to everything, what it meant to be unable to attend to both head and tail.

Under the situation of absolute advantage in open warfare, Jiang Wang also did not play any tricks - of course, in leading troops to fight, he also didn't have many tricks to play - so he chose to use the method of pulling nails, directly pulling them out one by one.

First, starting from the strongest, the first sea nest of Dingmao, destroying the city, killing the generals, slaughtering the army!

The Wu An great army surrounded the sea nest, with two thorn boats suppressing the outer encirclement of the great army array.

The flying cloud building ship also lined up in the attack array, to resist the oppression of this ferocious sea nest.

The shoot moon crossbow roared infrequently, continuously hitting the protective nest array and causing ripples.

Instead, Jiang Wang himself remained firm and unmoving, observing in all directions.

His trip was to practice his ability to command troops in battle, and to avoid personally risking arrows and stones as much as possible.

Whether a sea nest had a great army garrison or strong generals sitting, its ability to resist war risks was completely different.

Earlier in the Xinyou area, in the process of rescuing the floating island, Jiang Wang first broke the central army, forcefully assassinated the Bat Mountain King, and then crippled the main force of the Xinyou sea clan army.

Thereafter, he again attacked the sea nest, directly and forcefully bombarding it. He hit them until their qi and blood were difficult to sustain, and they could not timely grasp the energy supply to the protective nest array, thus strongly destroying the array and slaughtering it clean.

This time was different; the Dingmao realm domain sea clan army had retreated early to garrison.

Jiang Wang also gave them quite a lot of preparation time.

Now there were no sea clan members in the wilds of the Dingmao realm domain; every sea nest seemed like a steel fortress.

Military strategy says: The best strategy is to attack the strategy, next to attack alliances, next to attack soldiers, and the lowest to attack the city. The method of attacking the city is a last resort.

Attacking a city truly leaves no room for military strategy. It is nothing but a hard collision, exchanging injuries for injuries, deaths for deaths, until the opposing army's heart collapses, and then the city can collapse.

Jiang Wang had previously gone out personally, serving as a scout and patrol, which could also be said to be a kind of focused attack on aid. If he was lucky, he could capture and kill one or two famous sea clan generals, which would undoubtedly be a destructive blow to the morale of the sea clan army. Even controlling certain sea clan generals and tricking open sea clan passes would be of even greater benefit to the military.

It was a pity that the Dingmao sea clan forces had sought aid for a long time, but they did not see any important figures come over.

Jiang Wang hid in ambush multiple times, but the results were all small fry, and he was simply too lazy to expose himself. A commander-in-chief personally acting as a scout, after all, did not help the evaluation of "knowing soldiers."

The attack on aid was unsuccessful, so only a strong attack remained.

Following the old example of the "Twenty-Six Sea War Collection," Jiang Wang commanded the great army and arranged a tide array.

With Kuang Huiping, Tu Liangcai, You Yuxin, and six other officers as the front of the array, each leading three thousand warriors, they launched a continuous and unceasing offensive against the first sea nest of Dingmao. The soldiers were like a vicious tide, surging back and forth.

And the shoot moon crossbows on the flying cloud building ship continuously adjusted their landing points, comparable to the attacks of divine arrival cultivators, increasing the defensive pressure on this sea nest.

This attack continued for two days.

The stubbornness of the first sea nest was not beyond Jiang Wang's expectation. After all, it was a race war, life and death were at stake, there was almost no room for maneuver, and it was difficult to develop a heart of surrender.

Although the war array was always rotating, many warriors already showed signs of fatigue.

Under this form of attack, the garrison army inside the sea nest would only be more tired.

Jiang Wang observed the overall situation, suddenly lifted his hand and pressed down, just as a strike from a shoot moon crossbow landed and the protective nest array was mobilized, pressing down a brilliant, blazing firework that burned the city!

The Wu An great banner shook three times, and with this firework burning the city as the start, the total attack was formally launched.

Instantly, flame flowed like dragons, and arrows flew like rain.

Large-scale army array Dao techniques, like giant hammers, fiercely smashed onto the light shield of the protective nest array!

The continuous normal attacks for two days had made the sea nest garrison army already accustomed to the Wu An army's offensive. At this moment, the intensity instantly went to full, and the protective nest array was visibly struggling to bear it, the light shield shaking.

Suddenly, a flood rose, and violent water elements exploded above the sea nest. A vast blue water flow condensed into a huge sea snake with a bulging belly and a forked tail.

Opening its large mouth, it was actually like propping up a giant umbrella, intercepting the second round of attacks from the Wu An great army.

This spell sea snake was instantly hit and exploded.

But the protective nest array of the first sea nest had also already stabilized.

The honeycomb-like steel tunnels of the sea nest opened on both sides, and that figure suspended above the crisscrossing bridges in the sky appeared so clearly before the ten thousand armies.

That was a young sea clan member with slightly dim eyes and a very old air.

The reason he was called young was because his qi and blood were lively, his breath was vivid, and he was full of vitality.

He wore a lead-yellow robe and very politely saluted Jiang Wang from a distance: "This king is Ao Huangzhong, greetings to the Marquis of Wu An from the Qi country."

A previously unknown sea clan expert appeared in the first sea nest!

Jiang Wang had even personally investigated several times.

It was precisely because he had personally investigated that he thought these supports for the Dingmao sea clan were nothing but military achievements, the attached gift of his Jiang Jueye extinguishing the six sea nests and clearing the Dingmao realm domain.

But reality was obviously not so simple.

The sudden appearance of Ao Huangzhong at this moment was a strong answer.

Why had multiple secret probes before failed to discover such a strong person as Ao Huangzhong?

At least in terms of intelligence, they had already lost one move!

The enemy knows me, and I do not know the enemy, this is a military taboo.

If they hadn't been suddenly pressured to this extent, Ao Huangzhong probably wouldn't have suddenly appeared and might still have been waiting for the right time.

If he hadn't always been in the central army, and the rotation of the great army's attacks had always been orderly, they might have had an accident.

Jiang Wang secretly alerted himself in his heart, but on his face, he only gave a heroic laugh, seemingly having expected Ao Huangzhong's appearance early: "I thought who was waiting for me! Since Brother Ao has appeared, why not come out of the array and meet me, and play with me in front of the three armies array!"

Ao Huangzhong smiled lightly: "No need."

At this time, Tu Liangcai had already sent intelligence via sound transmission that this Ao Huangzhong was a famous general among the young generation of the sea clan, whose reputation had risen in the labyrinth world in recent years. His famous battle was leading the breakthrough of a "human race camp" and counter-building a "Huangtai."

Jiang Wang's voice was like thunder, with the posture of a brave man who enjoyed the thrill of the hunt: "Genius struggle should be performed to the extreme, the ultimate sublimation! Ao Huangzhong, do you not have this courage?! If we do not fight today, your lifetime Dao path will be difficult to advance, and I will become your heart demon!"

Ao Huangzhong's faint smile turned into laughter: "The Marquis of Wu An is really keen and studious, ah, this speech is so familiar! It seems that you chatted for a long time before Yu Guangyuan died!"

Jiang Wang was no longer excited and asked lightly: "Are you all very familiar?"

Ao Huangzhong laughed: "Initially, when Aosheng was suppressing Yu Guangyuan, he said this very speech."

"Then what?" Jiang Wang asked.

As he chatted, he lifted his finger to signal the great army to continue the attack.

Ao Huangzhong commanded the sea clan army to defend while saying in a relaxed tone: "Aosheng just let him go, let him prepare well... and then Yu Guangyuan brought five king dukes to surround and attack Aosheng together."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but laugh, obviously having a deep impression of this这段 history of Yu Guangyuan.

"Then he did indeed prepare well." Jiang Wang became interested: "What was the result?"

Ao Huangzhong shrugged his shoulders: "All six were defeated by Aosheng."

The two strong figures just chatted as if nothing was happening at this moment of fierce attack and defense between the great armies.

Although arrows filled the sky and techniques illuminated their bodies.

Their intentions were relaxed, like sitting in a leisurely courtyard.

Jiang Wang was gentle and polite: "I feel like I've known Brother Ao for ages, and I really feel like practicing a bit. How about we spar a few rounds? Just sparring, three or five rounds. I suppose a sea clan genius isn't afraid of the human race."

Ao Huangzhong's face was full of innocence: "I can't even beat Yu Guangyuan, so naturally I can't beat you either."

He was so honest that this "will" could not continue.

Jiang Wang then raised his palm.

The great army's offensive suddenly stopped!

"Ao Huangzhong is an interesting person, and this Marquis cannot bear to hurt him. Moreover, release this nest and go to the next place!" Jiang Wang declared a halt, then turned back and walked to the cabin.

Letting Ao Huangzhong shout behind him, "Chat a few more sentences," "Have the guts not to go," he left without looking back.

The entire Wu An great army also, like Jiang Wang, left when they said they would, withdrawing in an orderly manner. One moment they were attacking like fire, the next moment the soldiers retreated like a tide.

This instead left the sea clan warriors on this first sea nest looking at each other.

Ao Huangzhong also stopped clamoring.

He deeply knew that although Jiang Wang had left very decisively and no matter how he called or scolded, it was useless, as long as he stepped out of the sea nest with his front foot, Jiang Wang would step back onto his foot with his back foot.

"Your Highness." An officer flew in behind Ao Huangzhong: "What do we do next?"

Ao Huangzhong said to himself: "Looking at its war array command, it is quite sluggish. If I were of equal strength with it, I would be able to lead my army to break it. But looking at its army's power, when it comes, it is magnificent like waves, and when it leaves, it cuts nails and iron. It is also indeed worthy of being a Marquis who has obtained military achievements. Such a contrast. Is it hard to say that the commander of the attack before was another person? Or is he deliberately showing weakness and selling me a flaw?"

In the silence of his subordinates, he took out an ancient flag plate with an ancient aura from his bosom.

The pattern on this flag plate was magnificent, yet also deeply ancient and profound, seeming to come from a distant era.

In fact, it was indeed a treasure passed down from the era when the dragon clan and the human race co-governed the present world. King dukes like Ao Huangzhong, who were of prominent origin, could not even touch it.

Even its symbolic identity was stronger than its function.

"How we do is just to see how he does. He wants to fish us out now!" Ao Huangzhong said calmly: "This person is not easy to deal with; we need to boil him slowly."

Blood King Yu Xinzhou had indeed never felt so tormented!

He was also a famous genius, who rose mythically all the way, finally becoming a true king, and among true kings, he was considered strong!

But his most excellent descendant had just been captured away, and he personally came to chase, yet he had chased after a shadow without catching it!

Time passed moment by moment, and he became more and more anxious.

Stepping over the boundary river, his chest full of nowhere to vent his violence, he suddenly saw a mountain of flesh horizontally in front of him!

Blood King's heart suddenly went cold.

This was a king duke who had shown his true form as a sea lord and had been easily killed.

This was another strong person he had sent out to chase back Yu Guangyuan.

How was he silently killed and encountered by himself here?

He raised his body and indeed saw another corpse in the distance, in the same dead state without any waves.

By this point, the two king dukes under his command who were best at tracking had already been wiped out.

Who did it?

Blood King's killing intent boiled in his heart.

"I thought it was him!" A Daoist with crane eyes and a short beard, stepping on the wind, came and struck a palm from afar, like the sky tilting to cover: "Why is Blood King so leisurely today, touring here with these small fry?!"

His voice was unrestrained, and his power was heroic!

Blood King's pupils shrank, and his body moved, his power shifting.

True Person Meng Yu, who had guarded the Cangwu realm for years! How could he not recognize him?!

This person was once a strong contender for the position of commander of the Demon Execution Army. In the competition with Yin Xiaoheng, he lost by one point in military strategy and then handed over the position.

That was Jing's eight sets of armor!

Meng Yu's strength, naturally, needed no further elaboration.

And counting this route, he had continuously encountered True Person Xu Wuming of the Law Family, General Yang Feng of the Xuanwei flag, and now this Meng Yu.

It was simply three yang opening the tai, great luck!