Chapter 283 - 165: Intercept
Meanwhile, in a forest not far from the fortress, a few sentries from the Sniper Corps noticed a change on the battlefield. Although they didn’t know exactly what had happened, the constant stream of refugees appearing before them made it clear that something was wrong with the Northern Expedition Legion.
The sheer number of refugees was simply too large. Even if the lords of the two fortresses had suddenly dropped dead, it wouldn’t have produced this many displaced people.
This had to be the opportunity Lord Li Hua had spoken of. They immediately sent up a signal and sprinted back toward the forest where the rest of the Sniper Corps was resting.
In a forest farther back, sentries from the Sniper Corps saw the signal from the direction of the pass and hurried to report it.
In the center of the forest, inside a simple camp, Li Hua received the sentry’s report and looked toward Lin Kong.
Lin Kong responded with an "OK" sign, confirming that his people had indeed made their move.
Li Hua was in high spirits. There’s a saying: "The more you tolerate, the more you lose; the more you back down, the angrier you get."
He, Li Hua, was a Sword Immortal, leading a large group of Sword Immortals, yet he had been sent running for miles by a bunch of trash-tier soldiers.
If he hadn’t been afraid of revealing his true strength and attracting more vultures, he wouldn’t have been so damn frustrated.
Li Hua had already figured out a way to return to Cuiwei Star and shake off those second-generation heirs pestering him, but his plan was based on the level of strength he had currently revealed, and it wasn’t even a sure thing.
So, being able to eliminate the troublesome Northern Expedition Legion without exposing his true power would be absolutely perfect.
"Gather everyone! Form up! We’re counter-attacking immediately!"
...
When the main force of the Sniper Corps arrived at the pass once more, the sight that greeted them was the routed Northern Expedition Legion and their own defensive forces, who had charged out of the fortress to cut down the enemy.
Li Hua saw the Zhao Family brothers having a blast leading their troops in the pursuit, so he brought some men over to greet them.
"Zhao brothers~~ How’s it going? Having a blast with the slaughter?"
Only then did the Zhao brothers notice the large Sniper Corps army approaching from the rear. They quickly halted, ordered their men to continue the pursuit, and went forward to greet them.
"Lord Li, how did you guys pull this off? We brothers were on pins and needles all night, and then you go and wipe out the Northern Expedition Legion’s main camp."
"Haha, all credit goes to Lord Lin Yu. He knew we were having a rough time, so he crossed the mountains overnight, got behind the Northern Expedition Legion, and really gave it to them."
"To be honest, the original plan Lord Lin Yu and I discussed was for him to send people behind enemy lines to create chaos. We would then seize the opportunity to attack, forming a pincer movement."
"I never expected that when they said ’create chaos,’ they meant they would directly take out the Northern Expedition Legion’s lords."
Lin Kong, who had been traveling with the Sniper Corps, was also a little stunned. The message he had received was: "Surprise attack successful. Enemy camp is in a state of chaos. They have no capacity to attend to the battlefield."
He hadn’t expected that the raid by Yuan Xiaobo and his team would end up wiping out more than half of the Northern Expedition Legion’s lords.
Now, hearing Li Hua’s praise, he could only offer a weak explanation. "It was probably an accident! When we were making the plan, we didn’t know where the Northern Expedition Legion’s lords were hiding."
"According to our intelligence, the lords of the Northern Expedition Legion are supposed to be extremely cautious. They don’t usually gather together and don’t even attend war councils. We’re not sure how our team managed it either."
Lin Kong spread his hands, suggesting that perhaps the Goddess of Destiny was on their side.
"Let’s stop chatting for now. While the enemy is in disarray, we should hurry and wipe them out."
Lin Kong’s proposal met with the unanimous agreement of the surrounding lords. Before, they had been terrified of being crushed by the Northern Expedition Legion. Now, they were chomping at the bit to go on a killing spree. After all, the Northern Expedition Legion had lost more than half its forces in an instant. If they didn’t hurry, there would be no kills left for them to claim.
Sure enough, when the Sniper Corps reached the Northern Expedition Legion’s main camp, they didn’t find a single person.
Inside the Northern Expedition Legion’s camp, a bone-chilling cold filled the air. Countless ice sculptures stood throughout the grounds.
"Whoa! Is this the ’chaos’ you guys created?" Li Hua asked Lin Kong, pointing at the ice sculptures in the camp.
"I suppose so!"
"Tsk! A truly fatal blow," Li Hua remarked. He looked at a group of people at the edge of the camp, frozen solid in the middle of their escape. He recognized a few familiar faces among them and knew these were the lords who had died.
Everyone stared at the ice sculptures in the camp for a moment before continuing their pursuit into the forest behind it. Traces on the icy ground indicated that the Northern Expedition Legion had retreated into the woods.
The army skirted around the ice in the camp and chased after them into the dark forest.
The rain clouds in the sky had not yet dispersed, plunging everything into darkness. The Sniper Corps sent their heavy Cavalry to clear a path, charging straight into the rear.
In the dark forest, intermittent flashes of light guided their way.
...
Behind the Northern Expedition Legion’s main camp, Amuti and Manqiluo took advantage of the chaos to find Yuan Xiaobo with their people.
Once the two groups rendezvoused, they immediately set up a defensive line on the vital path that led both to the main camp and from the camp into the rear forest.
Not long after their defenses were in place, the main army of the Northern Expedition Legion arrived.
Without their peripheral lords, the entire Northern Expedition Legion still had nearly two million soldiers left.
The retreating column was incredibly long, stretching from the mountains on both sides of the camp all the way to where Yuan Xiaobo and his people had set up their defense.
"On guard~"
Upon seeing five thousand Steel-backed Porcupines lined up in a row, a vanguard soldier from the Northern Expedition Legion began to laugh.