Xing Zhao’s deep laughter was so loud that not even the deafening noise of a thousand galloping horses could fully drown it out, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t one to restrain himself before his subordinates, especially not on such a grand occasion.

  He had ached to deliver that strike for decades now. That damned hag with her stubborn sect and her unbearable arrogance. She and her insulting alliance against his rightful hegemony had grinded on his nerves for longer than anyone could rightfully be expected to bear. And he wasn’t anyone, he was the mightiest cultivator on the peninsula, a fact that this pretentious wench and her lackeys had always seemed all too eager to forget. The reminder was overdue.

  Well, now she was dead. At least that was highly likely, considering just how well his attack had landed. He had, regrettably, not been able to stay around to confirm it. He would have very much enjoyed watching the light fade from her eyes, but that would have been a foolish move to attempt.

  Apart from that, everything had gone to his satisfaction. He had even been able to give one of the idiots who had dared to follow after him a pretty good hit as well. Not fatal, but certainly something that would take him out of the upcoming war for quite some time.

  Lightning was deceptive in its destruction. On first glance, the wounds it caused seemed to be simple burns. Anyone with experience with it knew, however, that this was merely the most superficial layer of damages it could cause. Regardless of whether they were immediately treated, the lightning would commonly cause much less visible injuries that would take a lot longer to properly heal.

  Pretty much all of the members and most of the disciples had successfully escaped, – the few that had been at the arena were a bearable sacrifice – and Xing Zhao had joined up with them after he had shaken off his pursuers.

  The only thing that remained was waiting for the elders to catch up with them and seeing how their little maneuver had played out. It had already been a while since Xing Zhao had taken his place at the head of his horde, so they ought to be close by now.

  …

  Night had long fallen, and the horde had encamped to rest from the day of travel when Xing Zhao’s elders finally appeared at the edge of the massive area covered by his soul sense. He didn’t move an inch from his meditative pose, opting to wait for the arrivals to approach his tent by themselves.

  It took several minutes for them to reach him and only when the entire group had appropriately kneeled down in the dust before his seat, did he slowly open his eyes to meet them with his strict gaze.

  What kneeled before him didn’t so much resemble the council of elders belonging to the most prestigious sect in the lands as it did a ragged pile of misery. With the sole exception of Elder Fan, who was also the only one who hadn’t kneeled down, instead standing behind the others with his hands clasped behind his back, all of them had sustained at least minor injuries and torn clothing.

  Yongnian Zhou, his own nephew, looked the worst of them all. He had sustained a brutal wound to his stomach and what remained of his robes was drenched in dried blood. Even more damningly, Elder Duan was missing. Xing Zhou felt the tiny remnants of his good mood that had them making him wait for so long wash away.

  “What happened?”

  Elder Fan answered, his tone calm, almost casual.

  “Well, as you might be able to infer, we were attacked. Tengfei Ye descended upon us, accompanied by over a dozen elders. They were there much sooner than expected. Lijuan didn’t make it, she was caught by Ye himself while trying to flee. I would’ve tried to free her, but I still had to pluck your nephew off the side of a mountain.”

  “So we have truly lost Elder Duan… Tengfei Ye and his group pursued me when I retreated but gave up rather quickly. They must’ve headed straight for the sect after that. Probably had a hunch that something was off. Oh, and be mindful with your snarky remarks, Elder Fan. You are not exactly returning victorious.”

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  “There is no war without sacrifices. Lijuan’s death is unfortunate but tolerable; there is no changing it now. We have done a great deal of harm to their sect. We took what we could and destroyed what we couldn’t. The resulting chaos will slow them down immensely, a tactical advantage weighing much heavier for our plans than the life of a single low-ranking elder.”

  If Song Fan was at all impressed or intimidated by Xing Zhou’s irritation, he at least didn’t show it. Ignoring the disapproving glances from several of the other elders who were still kneeling on the ground – undoubtedly aware that Song Fan would probably stay just as cold had they been the ones killed today –, the Sect’s Chief Strategist continued unfazed.

  “We have been outnumbered from the start and many of the small sects involved in this conflict are led by equally strong cultivators. That makes each of them, individually, replaceable. Much more replaceable at least, then, say, Elder Ding Xiao of the Parting Clouds Sect. Whom I personally killed today.”

  “Wait… you killed the old archer?”

  Ding Xiao was well known to be an extremely tough enemy, always finding some way to escape from even the most impossible situations.

  “Well, she was the one to pin your nephew to the cliff. I couldn’t let that stand now, could I? I took her arm, grilled her alive and watched her collapse with my own eyes. She is as dead as a rotten fish… and probably less pleasant to the nose by now.”

  Xing Zhou immediately lightened up. Song Fan was right, that was worth more than the death of Elder Duan. Ding Xiao had not only been dangerously skilled in all matters of war, she had been a hero and a symbol to her sect. Her death would devastate their morale and throw their command chain into chaos, especially in the absence of their matriarch.

  He hated that his strategist was constantly playing games like this with his mood, holding back critical information just long enough that he would get worked up over nothing. Sadly, good subordinates were in short supply and with Elder Fan’s recent breakthrough to the seventh stage, he was now undeniably not only the most capable, but also the strongest elder that his sect had.

  “Very well, Elder Fan. I will concede that that is a great achievement. It doesn’t wipe away the fact that your plan is responsible for the death of an elder of our sect and I expect you to exercise more care from now on, but it does bode well for our position in the coming war.”

  Then, addressing the other elders, he spoke with a measured tone.

  “You can rise. Rest for tonight and take care of your wounds. Tomorrow morning, those of you who are not severely hurt will return here. We will assign you your tasks and forces, then split up like we discussed. Our time before the enemy properly organizes themselves is limited and we ought to make good use of it. Dismissed!”

  As the elders left his tent, Xing Zhao closed his eyes once again but refrained from returning to his meditation. Instead, he thought over their plan for the war once again.

  For all his personal strength and the success of their surprise attack, the simple fact remained that the Roaring Thunder Sect was severely outnumbered. The problem lay less with the two major sects they were facing and more with the myriads of minor sects that were their allies.

  Sure, the Parting Clouds Sect and the Serene Plains Sect possessed some of the most powerful cultivators on the peninsula, but with Jinjing Liqiu eliminated, they had already lost their most fearsome fighter. Tengfei Ye matched her cultivation level but had never been as much of a warrior as her. Xing Zhou was strong enough to take him and several of his strongest allies on by himself and while few, he did have some very powerful elders at his disposal as well. There was a reason the two sects had had to bound together to stand up to his sect in the first place.

  The picture became much more problematic once the smaller sects were counted. The Roaring Thunder Sect had always had fewer subordinate sects than any of the other three. They demanded strict obedience and rich tributes from those under them, so they weren’t exactly the most attractive ally and those below were held in place by fear, not loyalty.

  This strategy paid of well when it came to amassing resources for their cultivation and holding a tight grip on their territory, but it did mean that now, with an upcoming war, they could count on only about fifteen, at most twenty cultivators of the Dao Contemplation Realm, including their own sect, while they would have to face at least fifty. Individually, most of them were weak, but in their entirety, they were overwhelmingly strong. The Situation was even more dire when considering the numbers of lower ranking cultivators.

  For that reason, the Roaring Thunder Sect was naturally not planning on meeting them in an all-out battle. Their warhorses gave them a great mobility advantage and by the heavens, they were going to use that. It just so happened that an absolute majority of their enemies were currently concentrated in a single place…

  Tomorrow, they would split their force and start paying some visits to the many undefended minor sects that had tragically chosen to oppose them. Time would surely tell, how quickly they would change their stance…