'This isn't as easy as I expected, they decided to fortify themselves here…'
Zhang Dong looked at the volleys of spiritual cannon fire going back and forth between the two armies. One was composed mostly of flying ships and attacking formations while the other was a fortress. This time around he was the one performing the siege while the people from the Emerald Phoenix Empire were on the defensive.
"Everything is going according to our plan, Golden Dragon, we should be able to crush them in but a few months!"
"A few months, huh?"
"Yes!"
He looked towards Leader Shen and the other big wigs from the Heavenly Crane Sect. More of them had appeared, bringing the number up to six of the leaders being there. It seemed that they were becoming more and more convinced of their victory. The invaders that murdered their people were on the retreat and they were even able to capture some of them to gain more resources.
"I hope you are right Sun Shen."
"Is there something troubling you, honorable Golden Dragon?"
"I'm not sure yet, I'll let you know if I find some proof, for now, remain vigilant."
"We will."
The elders clasped their hands at him while he decided to fly over to his own army of puppets that had managed to be expanded in scope. Even though the enemy combatants went through the trouble of destroying everything, metals and materials for his factory couldn't be damaged that easily. Whatever he could use to create more of these automatons to help the refugees were taken in. Even though he had to make weaker medical units they weren't meant for combat and allowed him to resume the offensive.
While they were starting to win he couldn't help but think that there was something wrong. They went through some reinforced cities and even came across Saint Emperor generals. Usually, a commander would not throw away their troops so wantonly. He expected to be stalled by a skeletal army with maybe a few treasured items to back them up. Instead they were fighting full regiments not much weaker than the one the Princess arrived with.
'There could be an easy explanation for this but usually, they don't catch on this fast…'
There was one main reason that they were able to continue to push back into the eastern regions and that reason was called Zhang Dong. Without him around the Heavenly Crane Sect would be quite equal to the other troops composed of Saint Emperor, Martial Saints, and Supreme Saints. He always went for the strongest fighter in the group while everyone else had an easy time against weaker opponents.
Normally people like the Prince would gather all their forces in an attempt to drive him back. At that moment he would let his allies stall the others while he contended with their leader and some of their most powerful aids. He always took out the heads of the hydra and left the rotting body to his allies. Now on the other hand they were slowly cutting off the heads one by one. This probably left the main body some time to regenerate its head with perhaps an even stronger one.
'Is this guy actually wise enough to see that he wouldn't be able to beat me in a fair battle or even in one skewed in his direction? This does require some knowledge or he might be scheming something else…'
After capturing the Princess he had some idea about what kind of a man this Prince was. From her point of view, he was a schemer but he could also be something else, a coward. The two didn't exclude each other and it was possible that after the easy defeat of the sister, the prince decided that the juice was not worth the squeeze. He was an old monster at the ripe age of half a millennium. Perhaps he was dead set on living out the second half of it and facing Zhang Dong would not be the brightest idea.
'Asking for reinforcements would be the smart choice but these cultivator types usually try not to do anything that would make them look weak…'
His expectation was for the Prince to not call for the Emperor's help. It would make him look like a weakling that could not do anything without his parent around. This move would however be the correct one if he measured Zhang Dong's power to be at the same level as their emperor. He would certainly not be able to win in a direct confrontation thus these stalling tactics were probably meant for this.
'Shit… it would be nice if I didn't have to face any more of those guys and he might not even be the one that I need to watch out for.'
Perhaps the Emerald Phoenix Emperor was not as strong as the Demi-Human Emperor but there was a difference between the two, one of them had a more organized army. Zhang Dong felt that even if this leader were to perish or run he would still have a fully functional army to contend with here. They were made up of other cultivators from many smaller sects, it wouldn't be strange for them to scatter or join the Prince faction to spread chaos through the lands.
He was not sure if he did the right thing now. Perhaps if he had gone with a more quiet approach things wouldn't be escalating this fast. His assumption of the cultivator's hubris working against them was probably wrong. With them running back to their fortress things would become a lot harder. At least when he was fighting the demi-human's their numbers were quite low and concentrated. They might have been the weakest of all the enemies he was to face with the exception of Lucius and his people.
This didn't mean that he did the wrong thing. If the plan was altered then more of the Heavenly Crane Sect cities would have been captured in the time he took in investigating the eastern region. It would take time for him to sneak up and prepare the teleportation gate for his own forces to arrive. With how the northern region was becoming harder to predict the more time he spent the more lives would be lost.
'Should I toss out safety and go for it? How many troops did they leave to keep us here and when will their reinforcements arrive?'
Time was running out, the longer this war continued the more likely it was for the last boss to arrive. There were two options that he had, either he continued at this pace and slowly helped the Heavenly Crane Sect to push back their defense line. His power was still limited, there was no way of him just charging there and defeating everyone by himself. If that was possible then he wouldn't have had to seek help from Lucius and the Heavenly Crane Sect.
'If I fail, it will be over for everyone involved…'
He could only grit his teeth and set out into the battlefield. Instead of doing a maddened push by himself, he decided to keep with the current slow and steady approach. Even if the Emerald Phoenix Emperor arrived it wouldn't pose a problem to him, that was what he truly believed. The Prince that decided to retreat was probably still underestimating his power or had another plan in motion that he couldn't entirely dismiss.
…
"So these are the promised lands?"
"Yes, my Emperor!"
"The spiritual energy is indeed refreshing but besides that, it's a shit hole of nothing… were my stupid son and daughter really that inept?"
"Y-yes, my Emperor!"
An awkward silence filled the large room where a bunch of Saint Emperors were standing around. In the middle, there was a giant throne veiled in mystery. A figure of a somewhat thin man was radiating a greenish light while he was talking but his form could not be seen by anyone in this huge chamber. In front of the throne was a giant window through which everyone could see the massive lands before them.
"Can someone give me an answer, why do I the Emerald Phoenix Emperor have to be dragged here to clean up after those two brats? Did I not give them enough? Were their masters inept at teaching? The pills and elixirs that they devoured cost a fortune and this is all that they amount to!"
A surge of ferocious Qi filled the entire chamber. The Saint Emperors that could easily be masters of their own large-scale sects fell to their knees. Their hands started clutching at their hearts which were close to bursting out of their chests. Their Emperor was enraged and they could not muster up even one word when under this much pressure.
"I have paved the path for those ungrateful brats, bring them over now, where is my useless son now?"
"P… please E-emperor…"
Even though the people wanted to reply they could not. The magnificent window that was presenting the lush forests and mountains outside started cracking before finally bursting into millions of tiny pieces. What should have been able to last through an assault from Saint Emperors could not resist the angered man's aura.
"Hoh… I might have lost myself a bit there, Ho ho ho… I've become irritable in my old years, this is unbecoming of an Emperor."
Soon the anger turned into laughing which made the Phoenix Emperor Sound like a jolly old man. No one besides him was laughing though, they were only glad that they weren't getting squished into the ground anymore by their enraged leader that had been losing it due to his advanced age. They knew that he had already reached an age that shouldn't normally be possible but no one was certain how.
"Now then, where is my son? You there, answer me!"
"Yes my Emperor, The Prince is already waiting for you at the nearby palace, it had been created in the image of the capital…"
"Ah, yes… it does look like that shitty palace… quite the eyesore it is, so wasteful, maybe if he invested that in the army he wouldn't have failed…"
"Yes, Emperor…"
A scared Saint Emperor general continued to nod while hoping that his life was spared. Neither the Emperor nor his son was simple and most people considered both to be worse than the other. They could only show fake smiles and continue with the charade while the old man went on another rant about his useless children. The Emperor was finally here and everyone knew that things would become difficult for anyone that opposed him.