176 Mongol Invasion (1/2)
With Sect Leader Li's surrender, the war had finally ended. The Purple Origin Sect and Fire Dragon Sect had been defeated, and Xia, Wan, and Dongfeng had all lost their lives. An awkward silence descended upon the battlefield as Sect Leader Li, Sect Leader Fang, and Sect Master Long ordered a stop to the fighting. The remnant forces of each side eyed each other warily. Everyone had lost multiple love ones on the battlefield today, and their emotions ran rampant as a result. The three sect leaders continued their discussions in the sky.
With the war over, Ed cautiously watched the battlefield. If Dupe was right, then Mongolia should invade very soon while Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar invaded other territories in the south. The war would break out again, and the fighting would become even deadlier than before. While watching, a frown covered Ed's face. 'Where the hell is Tai?' No matter where he looked, he saw no sign of him. Suddenly, he spotted Haru standing alone nearby. He seemed exhausted but appeared uninjured.
”Hey.” Ed called as he walked towards Haru.
A complicated expression covered Haru's face as he glanced at Ed. ”Forge.” He nodded, dropping the former honorific he used in the past.
”What happened with Bai?” Ed asked, ignoring the awkwardness between them.
Haru sighed while shaking his head. ”I couldn't beat him. We fought to a draw before the war ended, and afterwards, he went towards the Purple Origin Sect's headquarters.”
”Eh, really?” Ed turned around to look at the Purple Origin Sect's barrier. He hadn't seen Bai pass him on his way down, but they could have easily missed each other.
Small pockets of conversation sprung up across the battlefield as the various cultivators finally started to relax a little. Now that the civil war was over, it was time for healing and reunification. The remnants of the sects would likely be absorbed into the Purple Origin Sect to centralize the country's power. This was really their only choice, as otherwise they wouldn't be able to effectively defend the country.
Suddenly, the sound of a winding horn bellowed throughout the area. Shocked, the crowd of cultivators all turned towards the north.
A tall brawny man sat atop a horse-like mutant beast at the peak of a faraway hill. The muscular beast had yellowish scales and a sharp horn on its forehead. The man sitting atop it had long messy black hair and wore fur clothes. He held a winding horn in one hand and a steam rifle in his other hand. The ground trembled as nearly a thousand identical beasts with similar looking men galloped up the hill to stand behind their leader. Each one wielded their own steam rifle.
'So, that's the so-called Great Khan?' Ed rose an eyebrow curiously. He could now see why Dupe had said that the Great Khan's military was weak. After all, they were bringing steam rifles to a cultivator war! Even if the Great Khan was comparable to the sect leaders, they could always work together to defeat him. His army would quickly be trashed, and then the sect leaders could focus their efforts on repelling the countries to the south. Overall, it should be a fairly easy victory.
Sect Leader Fang's face grew dark as he and the other two sect leaders flew towards the Great Khan. Their discussions didn't seem to be going well, as angry shouts could be heard even from far away. Finally, it seemed enough was enough, and Sect Leader Fang released his elemental clones to attack!
Surprisingly, the Great Khan did not return the attack. Instead, he led his horse backwards to hide within his own army. Then, a white light covered both him and his entire army. The Mongol Army became unusually coordinated as they all lifted their rifles simultaneously to aim at Sect Leader Fang. Their movements were perfect to the point of being eerily unnatural and discomforting to watch.
BANG!
A thousand steam rifles fired at once. The bullets seemed to be backed by wind, greatly increasing their speed. A huge elemental explosion followed, engulfing all three sect leaders. The blinding explosion was easily 500 meters in size! Such an explosion outclassed Ed's mana-batteries when exploded many times over. Such an explosion would likely even push back a nightmare!
After watching for several seconds, an elemental breeze passed over the army of cultivators. Some felt their skin singed by heat while others felt freezing cold. Just the remnants of the terrifying elemental explosion were enough to terrify them.
Ed's eyes widened in shock. This was far beyond what he had been expecting from the Mongol Army. Individually, they could be considered weak, but together, they were absolutely horrifying. It reminded him of his own forces in Harmony, such as his superhumans that used flames. They were ridiculously weak when separated, but together, they made for a terrifying air force. The Mongol Army clearly followed the same guidelines, except for the ground instead of the air. ”Tsk.” He clicked his tongue. 'So much for weak. Dupe was completely off the mark. Nexus must have supplied them with top of the line mana ammunition. Does the white glow covering their army enhance their abilities further? Or did it just allow them to coordinate better?' He rubbed his chin. 'Maybe I should set up a similar force in the future? Cavalry was the key to winning battles in the past, and with the strength of mutants it may become a viable strategy again.'
The elemental explosion slowly cleared, revealing the three sect leaders to be mostly unharmed. Li hadn't taken any damage at all, and she continued to defend herself with a golden-black glow. Sect Master Long had similarly defended himself with golden flames. Chonglin had created an odd golden armor to defend himself, though his clones didn't manage to withstand the explosion.
Not waiting for the sect leaders to recover, the Mongol Army immediately fired another volley. Another elemental explosion followed, and the Great Khan led his army forward towards the cultivators atop Mount Dongling.