Imperial Palace
The Chief eunuch entered the Hall Of Might and bowed to the emperor and his entourage.
"Your majesty, the Grand General's troops have withdrawed from the palace, but they didn't join the troops heading to sleeping serpent pass.
It seems like they are heading off to the Han region to try and force the Lion Fang guards to march towards the capital" The Chief eunuch reported.
"Does that mean the Grand General is now left with only 50,000 men?" The advisor asked.
"I believe so", replied the cheif eunuch.
All of them looked at each other and could see the surprises on their faces. Was the Grand General retarded? How was he going to fight the elites of the Moonshade Sect with such a measley number.
The emperor sat on his throne with a blank expression, they were definitely doomed.
The emperor couldn't help but sigh loudly, the immortal empire was the longest surving dynasty in the entire lower realm, he couldn't believe their dynasty was about to end during his reign.
What a failure he was?
"Your majesty, If the Lion Fang guards arrive in time, then we might be able to turn this around", The chief advisor tried to comfort the emperor.
The emperor sat on his throne and shaked his head, "Even if those 500,000 Lion Fang troops miraculously get here on time, they are still going to lose to the Moonshade Sect" The emperor said grimly.
All of them couldn't help but sigh in agreement.
The sect disciples were all cultivators, but the Lion Fang army was just an army made up of mortals, how were they going to stand the might of the cultivators?
All the clan leaders and scholars who had come in the morning gradually asked permission and left, including the acting lord of the Qing Clan.
The Purple Qilin Cavalry had withdrawed, so no one was blocking their path. Besides it was about to get bloody in the palace and they surely didn't want to be there when that happened.
In the hall, it was now left with the emperor, his secretary and chief advisor.
"Such treacherous subjects" The emperor muttered with a mocking smile.
They were all leaving because they knew things were going to get messy.
The imperial palace was going to be overturned and possibly be destroyed by sunrise. This unloyal subjects didn't want to be here when that happened.
Who could blame them though?
This fight was already a lost battle.
The imperial secretary just sighed and prayed for a miracle to happen.
...
Outside the outskirts of imperial domain, a large fleet of people could be seen marching towards the domain, thousands of them flew across the sky, whiles the rest marched on the ground.
A large ship could be seen flying in the sky along side those in the air.
This fleet was so mighty that the world trembled at their feet, all the nearby peaple and beast around the area couldn't help but tremble as the troop passed.
They blotted the sky and the earth with their numbers and aura's.
A man and a beast fighting a vicious battle 100 miles away couldn't help but stop to hug theirselves tightly when the aura passed them as they trembled.
It seemed as if judgement day had come for the immortal empire.
On the large ship were the high elders and core disciples. They all looked relaxed as if they were on vacation, there was no nervousness or fear on their faces.
One might think they were going on a picnic or vacation, but not to war.
"Haha, it seems like the heavens really want us to succeed" The right elder couldn't help but laugh out loudly after reading a message that was sent from the capital.
"The Grand General is now left with only 50,000 troops to defend the capital" He said loudly.
"Hmm, I thought he had a hundred thousand men, so why are we fighting only half" The left grand elder asked.
"That idiot has deployed 40,000 cavalry troops to try and get his Lion Fang troops marching towards here, he's also left ten thousand to defend the domain"
The right grand elder explained.
"Does this mean the number of points to accumulate has reduced?" A Core disciple asked.
"Unfortunately yes, but let's hope his reinforcement arrive early, so that you can have more points to farm" He replied whiles stroking his beard.
The Moonshade Sect had 12 core disciples, but only the lower six joined the expedition, the upper six didn't have the time.
At the front of the ship, the six lower core disciples stood there arrogantly, they were all dragon among men.
"How long do you think this resistance would last?" The 7th core disciples asked.
He was a handsome young man and also the strongest among the lower disciples.
"I have my money on half an incense stick" The 11th disciple answered causing them all to chuckle.
"Those fools would be waiting for us at the pass thinking they can use the terrain to their advantage.
They must've forgotten we could just fly above them" The 8th disciple added in disdain.
"Don't worry, our forces on the ground will still trample their hopeless resistance and show them what it means to dispair" An elder chipped in with a vicious look.
They all nodded, that was the way it has to be done.
"Why don't we have a bet to see which one of us can kill the Grand General?" The 7th suggested.
"You should forget about that, you are not his match. He's definitely a peak Quasi Immortal, we'll deal with him ourselves.
You guys can focus on his eight emissaries" The left grand elder said.
"We are almost there!" Someone shouted.
They turned their attention to the entrance of the pass, but there was nobody there.
They were surprised and wondered whether Gu Shang and his troops were late or had flee in fear.
"Stop the ship here, and tell the rest of our forces to move, they are not at the entrance of the pass, they are blocking the exit, advance and show no mercy!!!" The right grand elder shouted.
He's was a peak Quasi Immortal so his awareness was better than the others, he ordered the ship to come to a halt because his gut feeling told him so.
The disciples drew their weapons and charged at the pass with their war screams, whiles those in the air all prepared long distance attacks.
They entered the narrow pass and continued their advance.
After reaching the middle of the pass, they could see the soldiers at the exit waiting for them.
The soldiers stood neatly in a row a role and held large rectangular shield. The looked calm and composed.
The soldiers were in all black armor with masks.
All this troops were on the ground and not on horses, they looked like an infantry and not a cavalry.
The Purple Qilin insignia slowly wavered in the foggy night of dawn.
This scene sent shivers through the approaching disciples causing them to slow down.
They genuinely looked like an army of the dead.
Above the troops was a silver haired man in white battle robes holding a golden arrow with a red ruby in the middle.
"Archers!!!... Releas!!!" The silver haired man in white robes commanded in a loud voice.
The disciples couldn't help but snicker, they were cultivators, what could mortal arrows do to them.
They couldn't believe this bunch of troops had made them feel fear with just their posture. They felt extremely ashamed of themselves.
Just then they all heard screeching sounds of black arrows rise to the skies like a dark storm.
The piercing sounds of the arrow almost sounded like the screach of a sacred beast.
All they saw were thousands of dark arrows flying towards the sky like a black storm.
The right elder heart couldn't help but beat loudly and repeatedly.
"Why are they shooting arrows into the sky and not at their opponents?" The 7th disciple asked in a daze.
The right elder scrutinized the arrows and examined it. He was a high cultivator so even from that distance, he could still see everything as clear as day.
"What's that!!?" He asked in full panic mode. There were small vials of some dark matter attached to the arrows.
Just seeing those vials made his heart beat faster.
Fortunately he didn't have to wait that long to see what it does.
The arrows reached a very high altitude before the vial attached to it all burst at once.
A dark poisonous gas looking substance appeared above the dark skies and descended on the disciples and elders in the sky.
Something shockingly happened as skeletons started dropping from the sky.
This were the bodies of the cultivators in the sky.
"All of you get down on the ground, that gas is poisonous!!" The right grand elder voice boomed across the land.
But he's words was maybe too late, the black gas substance devoured all those it touched and left nothing but their bones.
Scream of pain, dispair and anguish were heard as the disciples in the sky cried in pain as their flesh were melting.
Some lucky ones who landed started spreading the gas attached to their bodies.
Anarchy broke out on the ground as people began to step back from those suffering from the infection.
But it didn't stop the gas from spreading, the ground forces had no choice but to kill their comrades and prevent it from spreading on the ground.
After dealing with all the affected comrades, the place fell silent as an eerily dark gas hovered above them in the sky.